The Culture Blueprint is LIVE (with bonuses)

January 20, 2015

In my last post, I shared how Amazon pulled my book due to an error, and all my customers’ pre-orders were cancelled. I was in a state of shock all day, until I realized how awesome it was…

 

I could sell it directly to customers (with bonuses!). And here it is – The Culture Blueprint.

 

I was so focused on driving my rank on Amazon that I forgot what I really cared about.  Selling it through my site I can build relationships with customers (since I have their contact information). I get better profit margins, and customers get their books sooner because Amazon is on back order with my book.

 

There’s a phrase I’ve always loved: “Turn in the direction of the skid.”
When a car is skidding out of control, instinct tells us to turn the wheel the other way. And yet, that’s how we really lose control. To get it back, turn in the direction that the car is skidding.

 

In other words, fully embrace where things are going. Go in that direction that you think is so “terrible” and then see how much choice you are truly given, rather than fighting the reality.

 

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. As well as something called the Law of Reversed Effort.

 

“The harder we try with the conscious will to do something, the less we shall succeed.
Proficiency and the results of proficiency come only to those who have learned the paradoxical art of doing and not doing, or combining relaxation with activity, of letting go as a person in order that the immanent and transcendent Unknown Quantity may take hold.
”

 

The book I’m studying for Stand-up comedy talks about it from the perspective of Taoism:

 

“The secret in Taoism is to get out of one’s own way, and to learn that this pushing ourselves, instead of making us more efficient, actually interferes with everything we set about to do…following the Tao is the art of feeling our way into our own nature.”
There’s really something to this – the way artists say work comes through them as if they are the channel more than the creator.  And I remember an interview with a gold medalist Snowboarder who said he literally blacked out as he pulled the maneuver the won the medal.

 

It’s so paradoxical – To accomplish so much, let go.

 

I’m sure I’ll be exploring this more in future posts, and… my podcast!