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Archive-name: self-impr-faq/part1 ------------------------------------------- alt.self-improve FAQ revision 1.1 Sept 16, 1994 ------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER This file is a collection of Frequently Asked Questions from the alt.self-improve group. This document is information collected by the editors for public use. The information is not guaranteed to be accurate and may not reflect the opinions of the editors, the editor's employers, or associated institutions. This document may be freely distributed provided this disclaimer is included with all copies. All contributions and suggestions for improvement are welcomed. The current editors are: Loren Larsen Computer Science Department Clemson University Clemson, SC 29634 llarsen@cs.clemson.edu and Aaron Lewis University of Kent Canterbury, England asl2@ukc.ac.uk ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ is posted on the 17th of every month. A how-to-find-the-FAQ article is posted on the 7th and 27th of every month. This FAQ is also available via World Wide Web (Mosaic): http://diogenes.cs.clemson.edu/~llarsen/llarsen.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes since version 1.0 - Addition of Internet resources list (Appendix B) - Addition of section on Marshall Sylver (Chapter 20) - Addition of Appendix C. This has a list of books, audiotapes, and seminars rated by readers. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction to alt.self-improve 2. Accelerated Learning 3. Stephen Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People, etc.) 4. Est 5. Financial Improvement 6. General Learning and Study Skills 7. Hypnosis 8. Landmark (The Forum) 9. Lateral Thinking 10. Life-Long Learning Association 11. Meditation 12. Memory Systems 13. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) 14. Physical Health 15. Anthony Robbins 16. Sales and Negotiation 17. Scientology/Dianetics 18. Software Packages 19. Speed Reading 20. Marshall Sylver 21. Time Management Appendix A. Resource List Appendix B. Biographies Richard Bandler Stephen Covey John Grinder Anthony Robbins Appendix C. Reader Ratings of Books/Audiotapes/Seminars 1. Introduction to alt.self-improve The alt.self-improve group provides a forum for discussing strategies, techniques, and principles for self improvement. The table of contents gives a good overview of the breadth of topics discussed. This FAQ has been created to provide a single document that contains a sort of history of what is has been discussed in the newsgroup. New readers may find the answers to many of their questions already answered in this document. We have attempted to categorize questions by topic for easy access, but many issues don't fit neatly into a single category. The contents of this document are collected by the editors from past postings in alt.self-improve, personal e-mail correspondence, and outside sources. All suggestions and contributions are welcome. The newsgroup is not intended for commercial uses or promotion of, commercial products, however a section has been added to this document with information about contacting many of the companies whose products, seminars, or books are discussed in this newsgroup. The last section provides brief biographical information about some of the self-improvement personalities frequently mentioned in this group. This document is still in it's infancy. Most of the material collected so far has been summarized based on past postings to the newsgroup. There are bound to be a number of errors. The information presented so far is probably biased toward the interests and perspectives of the editors. Hopefully both the errors and bias will rapidly be diminished with your feedback. Please help to expand and perfect this document by contributing your knowledge. Quoted articles are acknowledged by placing the poster's name in parentheses (e.g. (From: llarsen@cs.clemson.edu). Information which is not explicitly acknowledged has been compiled by the editors from a variety of sources including past postings, external sources, and reader responses to the editors. We are considering different methods of compactly recording comments from a wide variety of sources. One suggestion is to create a rating system for books, seminars, etc. For example if you have attended a particular speed reading course or a Tony Robbins seminar, send us your opinion by rating it on a scale of 1-10. The average could be used as opposed to a huge collection of personal responses. Any other suggestions are welcome. 2. Accelerated Learning Q. What is accelerated learning? A. This question comes up periodically, but the editors of this FAQ have not succeeded in compiling a sufficient answer. If anyone has additional information about this topic please post to the group or send us e-mail. 3. Stephen Covey Q. Who is Stephen Covey? A. Stephen Covey is the author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" which has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for the past several years. The subtitle of 7 Habits is "Restoring the Character Ethic". This sums up how Covey's work is different from many other approaches. While at Harvard doing his MBA he researched a large portion of the self improvement literature going back as far as the 18th century. What he noticed was that early on the work focused on character traits and principles and that long term success depended upon this. Early this century, the focus shifted to what he calls the "personality ethic" which became the dominant theme in success literature. In the personality ethic, success is viewed as a function of personality, public image, attitude, skills, and techniques. If you learned the right techniques and could impress the right people and you would be successful. Much of Covey's work is focused on restoring the character ethic as the principle focus, skills and techniques can only be successful in the long term if they are built upon a strong character ethic. Covey received his PhD from Brigham Young University where he spent many years as a professor in the School of Management. He is also the founder of the Covey Leadership Center and the nonprofit Institute for Principle-Centered Leadership. Stephen and his center are widely sought by major corporations as speakers and consultants. In addition to his 7 Habits he has authored, "How to Succeed with People", "Principle-Centered Leadership", "First Things First". In addition to his business writing Covey is also very popular among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for writing books dealing with religious and spiritual topics. Some of these books are, "Spiritual Roots of Human Relations", "The Divine Center", and "Marriage and Family Insights". 4. Est Q. What is Est? A. Est (Erhard Seminars Training) was started by Werner Erhard and was one of the most popular and influential self-improvement movements of the 1970's. Q. Is Est still around? A. Est is no longer taught in its original form, but a number of groups have evolved from Est and their current teachings borrow heavily from the original Est. The most prominent is Landmark Education which offers The Forum. 5. Financial Improvement Q. What are some available resources for managing finances? A. The most well known source of information about personal finance information is probably Charles Givens (see next question). Another book that is highly recommended is called _Your Money Or Your Life_ by Joseph Dominguez and Vicki Robin. This book takes a "holistic" approach to financial success, meaning that it treats finances as an integral part of your entire life, not one seperable part that can be talked about separately. It discusses attitudes toward money, spiritual feelings about money, whether how you are making money is consistent with your values, etc. Q. What do people know about Charles Givens? A. Charles Givens is probably the biggest name in personal finance these days. He gives seminars around the country and is the author of the best-selling books, "Wealth Without Risk", "More Wealth Without Risk", and "Financial Self-Defense". He is also the founder of the "Charles J. Givens Organization" which is supposedly the largest organization of it's type in the world, that is dissiminator of personal finance information and advice. His organization was recently sued (and lost) for giving misleading financial advice. He has also reportedly lied about the story he often tells of losing his fortune 3 times and coming back as a millionaire 3 times. Many people have used his book and there is certainly some very good advice there. The key is choosing what information will be useful for you and that which won't. No readers of this group have reported gaining great wealth from following his advice. 6. General Learning and Study Skills 7. Hypnosis Q. What is the relationship between hypnosis and self-improvement? A. Hypnosis is used by many different forms of therapy. Self-hypnosis is also possible and many people report positive experiences with hypnosis. This topic is not often discussed in much detail in alt.self-improve. A related newsgroup is alt.hypnosis. A new personality, Marshall Sylver has appeared on the self improvement scene recently which seems to combine work in hypnosis with some of the ideas of Tony Robbins. To date, no one has reported any direct experience with his tape program. 8. Landmark (The Forum) 9. Lateral Thinking Q. What is lateral thinking? A. The term lateral thinking was coined by Edward deBono in his books "Lateral Thinking" and "The Use of Lateral Thinking". The basic idea of lateral thinking is that instead of moving directly and automatically from a goal to a solution, the mind searches in many different directions to find a solution. It involves avoiding solving problems in the most familiar or obvious way. His books are quite readable and enjoyable. 10. Life-Long Learning Association Q. What is Life-Long Learning Association A. The LLL association is a source of self improvement products. The assoc. sends you the product of the month ( usually a 6 audio or video seminar) or you can choose an alternate selection if the program doesn't suit your interests. You also get a subscription to the world premiere audio magazine "Inside Edge" which covers current trends in development, etc. and a subscription to "The Destiny Report" newsletter. The above is sent to you monthly for $50 US. The assoc. was set up to make LLL affordable on the monthly basis which it is required for results. The retail of what you get is close to $100. A good portion of the product comes from Nightingale-Conant, a company LLL recently merged with. See Appendix A for contact information about the Life-Long Learning Association if you are interested. 11. Meditation Q. What experiences do people have with meditation and what results have they experienced? A. Many people in the group have some experience with meditation. Some report very good results, others have had less dramatic experiences. This topic is not often discussed in detail in alt.self-improve although it does seem relevant. A related newsgroup is alt.meditation 12. Memory Systems Q. What's the deal with all these memory systems? A. Quite often the question comes up regarding memory systems. One has either read a book, or has seen an infomercial concerning it. Do they work and are they worth the money? A quick bit of history. Recorded history concerning memory systems is documented to about 500bc. There are indications that these were in existence as early as 1500bc, but only fragments exist supporting this claim. The ancient orators used these systems to help deliver their famous speeches. In modern times we have books, audio cassettes, and video recordings all teaching memory systems. One cannot really compare one system to another. All have some good features to them. All are taught by people who have been in the business or have studied it. Most of the systems utilize a principle called mnemonics. Simply stated, this means assisting the human memory by artificially adding mental pictures or images attached to the item to be retained in our mind. These systems DO work, but you have to put in some time and effort to learn the basics. Once you do this, you will find the systems learned will be invaluable to you for the rest of your life. Virtually anything you wish to remember can be memorized by utilizing these systems. They are not a waste of your time. Often the question of cost is raised. The books cost a few dollars while the book, audio/video combinations are much more expensive. Usually this is in the area today of $200 - $300 or more. Obviously the utilization of the audio/video is more effective due to the learning principles involved. Our retention is greater and our learning time is shortened. Books, on the other hand, are less expensive, but take a bit longer to learn from. An on-site seminar is the best possible way to learn these systems. Books on the retail market by Harry Lorayne and Tony Buzan are among the best available, although others are published that are equally effective. One of the best background texts I have ever run across is by Kenneth L Higbee of Brigham Young Univ. He is the only one that has done the homework in this business although others are now coming on line with more current study findings. His book is titled "Your Memory - How it Works and How to Improve it". (Contributed by: r.follmer@genie.geis.com) --------------- Here is a brief overview of some of the basic ideas common to most of the available memory systems. (Contributed by Aaron Lewis): MEMORY Throughout history there have been cases of people whose memories where astounding....people who never forgot a face in their whole lives, people who could memorize books, musical scores, packs of cards, numbers and formulae; all apparently effortlessly. Is it possible for anyone to have a memory like this? You bet! Let's start by finding out how good your memory is now...I'm going to ask you to memorize a shopping list of ten items, in order. You have three minutes. Start now! 1 a newspaper 2 a bottle of wine 3 some cheese 4 a hairbrush 5 a loaf of bread 6 some toothpaste 7 some tennis balls 8 a book 9 some shoe polish 10 a bunch of bananas OK, time up, let's see how many you can recall! You have two minutes. If you can't remember them in order, just try and recall as many objects as you can... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Now, probably you didn't get them all right. In fact, if you got half or more then you have good reason to congratulate yourself! Faced with situations like this in everyday life, people forget regularly. Then they decide that they have a faulty memory, and start to forget even more. For some people this becomes a vicious circle, the. The more they forget, the worse they think their memory is, and they forget even more. Well, the reason you forgot is that your mind never really received the information properly. In other words, it is not that your brain can't remember the list, it is that you never really gave it a fighting chance. The brain likes to be used in the way it was designed too. During the course of this article, I hope to show you just how to do that. THE PERFECT MEMORY Have you ever heard someone descibred as having a `photographic' memory? Perhaps you know someone personally who claims to have one. Perhaps you even have a photographic memory yourself! Let me start by shattering this illusion.....as far as we know, photographic memories don't exist. Period. No-one has the ability to take a `mental photograph' of anything, and to recall that information, perfectly and without distortion, for the rest of their lives. The brain simply doesn't work like that. There are, however, two types of memory that can appear to be `photographic' under most circumstances... (1) Eidetic memory The ability to capture pictures and to recall them in great detail. Seven in every ten children below the age of 10 have this ability. Asked to study a colourful photograph for several minutes, they could later recall small details in their mind's eye. In one study, a child was able to remember the wording on a shop sign, a small part of a larger picture, even though it was in a language the child did not understand! This ability seems to fade rapidly with time. Precious few adults could do what has been described above. Why? Probably because of a school system that teaches its students to fail rather than to succeed - but that's for another time. (2) Synaesthetic memory The word `synaesthesia' roughly means `the blending of the senses'. In the brain of a person who is synaesthetic, a reaction in one of the body's senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) sets off ASSOCIATED reactions in the other senses, The person will see the colour red, but will also be able to smell it, to taste is, to touch it and to recall previous occasions when they have seen it. Now, we are all synaesthetic to some extent. Have you ever smelled something that reminded you of an event in your childhood? Perhaps you buy a hot-dog, and you suddenly find yourself thinking of that fair you visited when you were six years old, and the smell that was wafting from that hot dog stand. You might also think of the rides, the bright lights, the sounds of people chattering and the feel of the nice, warm hot-dog in your hand. That word `associated' is very important. The brain uses association to remember everything. That's how it's built. Countless millions of brain cells are each connected to hundreds, perhaps thousands of other individual brain cells. So it is not surprising, therefore, that it works best when it can associate things. I wonder how many times you have thought of one thing, and it has reminded you of something else? Several times today already, probably! What are your most vivid memories of childhood? The ordinary, dull, routine things, or the outstanding events? How much of last week can you recall? I'll bet the things that spring to mind easiest were the ones that were the most outstanding, the most unusual. Your Aunty Doris unexpectedly arrives with an ENORMOUS birthday parcel, wrapped up in shiny red paper. You were walking down the High Street, when suddenly two men dressed as clowns run out of the nearby bank, clutching large sacks of stuffed full of money! You would probably remember that for some time to come! To summarise, the associations that are best remembered are the most unusual, unexpected, colourful, positive ones. You would not remember an ordinary person in a grey suit walking out of the bank....but you would certainly remember two clowns hotly pursued by policemen! You can use this fact to memorize anything you like. From a shopping list, to several inter-shuffled packs of cards, the names and faces of 100 people you've never met before, or even whole telephone directories if you've got time on your hands!! All you need to do is to associate the new material to something you already know, making the associations full of colour, sounds, smells, and unusual (imaginative, unlikely, humorous) events. And that, in a nutshell, is the secret of a perfect memory!!! Enough theory. Let's put it into practice. We are going to have another go at memorizing that shopping list. Here it is again! 1 a newspaper 2 a bottle of wine 3 some cheese 4 a hairbrush 5 a loaf of bread 6 some toothpaste 7 some tennis balls 8 a book 9 some shoe polish 10 a bunch of bananas We are going to learn the list, in order, by associating or `linking' the newspaper to the number 1, the bottle of wine to the number 2, and so on. However, numbers are fairly abstract, so we're going to replace each number by an object which rhymes with it. These objects are called `hooks' - because you can hang anything you need to remember on them, and they'll still be hanging there when you next look.... 1 bun - newspaper 2 shoe - bottle of wine 3 tree - cheese 4 door - hairbrush 5 hive - loaf of bread ( a bee hive) 6 sticks - toothpaste 7 heaven - some tennis balls 8 eight - book 9 mine - shoe polish (a gold mine perhaps?) 10 den - bananas ( a lion's den) So, we can now create memorable associations between (1) bun and newspaper, (2) shoe and wine, (3) tree and cheese. Here are some examples to start you off! (1) Newspaper Hook word is `bun' Imagine an enormous, man-like bun in your living room, sprawled out across YOUR favourite armchair (the cheek!), whilst reading a heavy broadsheet NEWSPAPER! Remember, don't just see the image in your mind's eye, but listen to the pages being turned, taste the bun, notice the crumbs all over the chair and the floor. In short, make the image as imaginative as possible, involve all your senses! (2) Bottle of wine Hook word is `shoe' Imagine a party with all your closest friends and family invited. You are opening a vintage bottle of wine to celebrate. However, none of the guests are using wine glasses - they are all drinking from their shoes! Imagine tasting the wine, which has a distinct leathery, sweaty taste to it (yuck!!!) Imagine making a toast with the shoes! (3) Cheese Hook word is `tree' The apple tree in your garden is not producing apples this year.... but large, tasty-looking lumps of cheese! See all the different varieties hanging from the branches....cheddar, Red Leicester, Camonber....taste them all. The combined smell is almost overpowering! Ok....you finish off the rest. (4) hairbrush (hook words are... door (5) loaf of bread hive (6) toothpaste sticks (7) tennis balls heaven (8) book gate (9) shoe polish mine (10) bananas den ) Now find yourself a blank piece of paper, and see if you can write down the whole list from memory. No peeking now! Start with the first image....now what was that man-sized bun doing? How did you get on? With a bit of luck, you rememberd most of the list! Don't worry if you didn't get 10 out of 10. Like everything in life, this needs practice. Go back over the items you got wrong. Try to make the images stronger. The more imaginative your images are, the longer you will remember them! Some people find that, however hard they try, they just can't conjure up pictures in their mind's eye. If this includes you, then don't worry! Everyone's ability to `visualize' improves with practice. Try making sketches of the images on paper. They don't have to be works of art, 30-second doodles will do. After a while, you will find that pictures start to form in your mind. As I said, it's all a matter of practice! This method of hooks, where each hook rhymes with it's number, is an example of a memory `system'. There are countless different memory systems, and more are being thought up all the while. For example, instead of using hooks that sound like numbers, how about some hooks which LOOK like numbers? 1 paint brush 2 swan 3 heart 4 yacht 5 hook 6 elephant's trunk 7 cliff 8 snowman 9 balloon on a stick 10 bat and ball The systems so far are OK for lists of ten items....but how about longer lists? This is where the number-letter system comes in. THE NUMBER-LETTER SYSTEM This system was devised as far back as the seventeenth century, by Stanislaus Mink von Wennsshein. Every number is allocated a consonant..... 0 z 5 l 1 t 6 j 2 n 7 k 3 m 8 f 4 r 9 b The reason for each hook is not as obvious this time. `z' (0) is the first letter of the word `zero' `t' (1) has one downstroke. `d' (2) has two downstrokes. `m' (3) has three downstrokes. `r' (4) is the last letter of the word `four'. `l' (5) is the shape made by the five fingers and thumb of your hand. `j' (6) is the mirror image of `6' `k' (7) is made up of three sevens (when capitalized) `f' (8) when handwritten, has two loops, as does the number eight. `b' (9) is the mirror image of `9' Now the beauty of this system is that numbers can be translated into words. Take the number 41 for example. The hooks are `r' and `t'. Filling in with vowels, we get the word `rat'. Is item 41 on your shopping list `magazine'? Then simply associate `rat' and `magazine' together! (I imagine a female rat, covered in make-up and wearing very little clothing, posing on the front cover of a magazine!) Let me give you another example of how it can be used. My friend Adrian is an amateur conductor. His phone number is 227 123456. This is how I would memorize it... NO. HOOK 22 `n' `n' NUN 71 `k' `d' KID 23 `n' `m' NAME 45 `r' `l' RAIL So, I imagine Adrian conducting an orchestra consisting entirely of NUNS. The front row of seats are full of KIDS, listening intently... this is a children's concert! Each child has a colourful badge on which their NAME is written in big, friendly letters. One of the younger children at the back, a bit too young to be interested, is playing with his train set...RAIL. For brevity, that was just an outline, but I would also imagine the sound of the orchestra, feel the vibrations of the tubas and trumpets, imagine myself travelling round on the toy train, smell and taste the chocolate bar one of the kids is munching on, and so on. You can use this system for making any number easy to remember. It's probably a good idea to think a word for each number from 00 to 99, learn them (the best way is through practice of the system) and use the same words all the time. These are the words I use..... 00 zoo 01 die 02 noah 03 ma 04 ra 10 dice 11 dad 12 dane 13 dam 14 dare 20 nasa 21 net 22 nun 23 name 24 nero 30 mess 31 mat 32 man 33 ma'am 34 mare 40 race 41 rat 42 rune 43 ream 44 roar 50 lice 51 lord 52 lane 53 lamb 54 lair 60 chase 52 chat 62 chain 63 chime 64 chair 70 kiss 71 cat 72 can 73 comb 74 car 80 face 81 fat 82 thin 83 foam 84 fair 90 bus 91 bat 92 bun 93 bum 94 bar 05 law 06 jaw 07 key 08 foe 09 bay 15 dale 16 dash 17 deck 18 daffy 19 dab 25 nail 26 nash 27 nag 28 navy 29 knob 35 mail 36 mash 37 mac 38 mafia 39 map 45 rail 46 rash 46 rack 48 rave 49 rap 55 lily 56 leash 57 lake 58 laugh 59 lab 65 chill 66 chacha 67 cheque 68 chaff 69 chip 75 kill 76 cash 77 cake 78 cafe 79 cab 85 fall 86 fish 87 fork 88 fife 89 fab 95 ball 96 bash 97 bake 98 beef 99 baby SOME DEFINITIONS..... 04 ra the raft used by Thor Heyerdahl to prove that pre-historic man could have travelled the oceans 15 dale a valley 18 daffy Daffy Duck! 19 dab a marine flat-fish 20 nasa the American space agency 24 nero Emperor Nero....fiddling as Rome burns? 66 chacha the Latin American dance 68 chaff a bundle of corn 89 fife the high-pitched flute used in military music It is your associations that matter, not mine. You will notice that in some of the words letters have been changed.... `d' is sometimes replaced by `t'. `j' is sometimes replaced by `sh'. People often use consonants that sound like the hooks, as well as the hooks themselves, for any given number.... 0 z also s 1 d also t 2 n 3 m 4 r 5 l 6 j also sh, ch 7 k also c, ck, qu 8 f also th 9 b also p This allows for a greater choice between hook words...instead of `dip' for 19, how about `tub' or `tab'? Instead of `chat' for 52, why not `shed'? On the other hand, if you want to stick to the basic list of ten hook letters when you're choosing your words, go ahead. It goes yet further! You should be able to find words for 100-999 as well. Tony Buzan in his excellent books on memory has expanded the system from 0-100, through 0-10,000 and even up to 0-100,000!! An entire mental filing cabinet instantly constructed using just 10 basic letter hooks! The only limits to the system are the limits of your inventiveness, which is by definition unlimited. In the rest of the article, I will be talking about some more specialised memory system. Many of them are based on the number-letter system, but all use association and imagination in exactly the same way as we have already been using them. GEOGRAPHY Did you know that, statistically, the number of people who can recall the capital of EVERY country of the world is about one in a million? (At least it was before the memory systems began to become popular!) With a memory as fabulous as yours is, joining this elite club should prove no problem. All you need to do is: (1) Find yourself a list of the world's capital cities. (2) Use association to link each country to it's capital. Here are some examples.... COUNTRY CAPITAL ------- ------- EstTONIA TALLINN Imagine a tiny David, throwing STONES (Estonia) IN the mouth of a very TALL (Tallinn) Goliath! LATVIA RIGA Imagine one of those toffee-nosed people of the arts world (a LOVEY) (Latvia) trying to take a rehearsal for a ballet on the deck of an oil-RIG (Riga). The floor is slippery, what with all that oil on it, and the dancers keep slipping over! Of course, once you've done that, there is nothing to stop you learning the population, land area, imports and exports, major rivers, prime ministers/presidents of all these countries too!! HISTORY Ever wanted to learn the terms of office of all the Presidents of the United States? The reigns of all the monarchs of England? The years of major historical events? No problem, just use association to link them all together! CARDS The current world record for memorizing a pack of cards if 56 seconds. My personal best is a poor in comparison six minutes, but I'm still practising! You can give each card a hook word, just like any number, by using the letter-number system. Here is a list of suggested hooks.... HEARTS DIAMONDS SPADES CLUBS Ace hat date sit cat 2 hen dane sion can 3 ham dam sum cam 4 hoar dare sore car 5 hill dale sale kill 6 hash dash sash cash 7 hack deck sack cake 8 hive daffy sive cafe 9 hub dab sap cab 10 haze daze size case Jack headed dotted seated cadet Queen heathen deaden satan cotton King heart diamond spade club Each hook word is formed by taking the first letter of the suit (h for hearts, d for diamonds....), a consonant for the numerical value of the card, and by filling in with vowels to make the word. Note that the Jack and the Queen become the numbers 11 and 12 respectively, and the hook words for the King of each suit are the suits themselves. You may find that linking 52 objects together in one continuous sequence to be a bit dull. There is a more structured way of doing it, however.... THE ROMAN ROOM SYSTEM Named after the Romans, who were masters of the art of memory. Politicians would often be judged on their ability to put long speeches into their heads, and deliver them without refering to notes. The idea is to link things we want to remember with a journey. Use any journey you like....the walk to work, a tour of your house, a stroll around a tourist town. Each journey has a number of `stops'. At each stop we make an association. For example, if we were memorizing a pack of cards, we would have 52 stops on the journey. The first card would be associated at the first stop, the second card associated at the second stop, and so on. Here is an example...a walk around my house, starting in my bedroom. First card : 3 of hearts. (hook word: ham) Stop on the journey : my bedroom. I imagine waking up one morning, to find a huge slice of ham in place of the sheets on my bed. I imagine the feel of the ham across my body. Feeling somewhat hungry, I take a bite. Yum! Second card : 5 of spades (hook word : sale) Stop on the journey : the hall outside the bedroom. I get up to find that someone has stripped my bedroom of all my clothes and is holding a `second-hand sale' in the hall! There are strangers wandering around handling my clothes, trying them for size, walking out of the door with them! My face goes a deep shade of angry red! Third card : King of hearts (hook word : heart) I go into the bathroom for a nice, warm bath, only to find a huge, man sized, blood red, beating heart in the bathtub! (And so on....) When you want to recall the cards, walk through the journey in your mind, going past each stop, and looking at which hook object has been put there. Want to instantly be able to tell which was the 32nd card memorized? Or the 15th? Then organize the route carefully...perhaps every 10th stop can be some stairs of some description. The 5th, 15th, 25th stops could all be roads, or trees, or signs. Then, to find stop number 32, count through to stop 30 (the 3rd set of stairs!) then count on to more stops to get to 32. CHESS You should have no problem working out a system for remembering chess. Every square on the board can be given a grid reference, which can be translated into a hook word.... +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |81|82|83|84|85|86|87|88| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |71|72|73|74|75|76|77|78| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |61|62|63|64|65|66|67|68| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |51|52|53|54|55|56|57|58| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |41|42|43|44|45|46|47|48| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |31|32|33|34|35|36|37|38| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ LANGUAGES Now that you have a perfect memory, learning languages will become much quicker. Just link the foreign word to its English translation. Here are some examples from the French language.... ENGLISH WORD FRENCH WORD PRONOUNCED horse cheval (sher-val) Imagine a big, muscular horse, wearing sweaty working clothe s, digging the ground with a SHOVEL. dog chien (shee-an) Imagine a well-groomed dog with SHINEy hair. English is unusual in the Indo-European family of languages, in that its nouns (words that are objects) are all given genders, even though the object may be genderless or even inanimate., So, in French, the words for father and brother are `male', the word for horse is `male' (even if you are talking about a female horse) and the word for `ceiling' is also male. We can easily use association to remember which word belongs to which gender, by linking the word to a male or female symbol..... WORD GENDER IN FRENCH horse male - `le cheval' Imagine a boxer (a male symbol) riding into the ring on horseback. cow female - `la vache' Imagine a young girl (a female symbol) milking a cow. In fact, most grammar problems can be dealt with by using association. Memorizing the plurals of words, the form of nouns in different cases, verb endings and so on should be much easier. It will take a few seconds to recall the associations and the grammar they represent at first, but you'll quickly be speaking the language quickly. For those of you seriously interested in learning a language this way, then I can recommend the LINKWORD books created by Dr. Mike Gruneberg. They teach a vocabulary of several hundred words, giving associations for all of them, plus a fair bit of grammar. As far as I know there aren't any other language courses which use an association method. (Anyone know differently?) SUMMARY And that is as much as I can teach you. You now have the knowledge to create all manner of memory systems for any purpose. The current World Memory Champion, Dominic O'Brien, regularly creates new systems. `There's room for a lot of creativity there,' he says. Above all, these things need PRACTICE. Getting good at the systems is easy, but getting REALLY good at them, so you can apply them instantly and almost without thinking, is much harder, but ultimately rewarding. Good luck! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 09-17-94 Msg # 27434 To: ALL Conf: (2120) news.answers From: alt.self-improve FAQ Coo Stat: Public Subj: alt.self-improve FAQ (Par Read: No ------------------------------------------------------------------------ @FROM :llarsen@cs.clemson.edu @SUBJECT:alt.self-improve FAQ (Part 2 of 2) @PACKOUT:09-17-94 Message-ID: <alt.self-improve-2-779814613@cs.clemson.edu> Newsgroups: alt.self-improve,alt.answers,news.answers Organization: Clemson University Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2 Archive-name: self-impr-faq/part2 ------------------------------------------- alt.self-improve FAQ revision 1.1 (PART 2) Sept 16, 1994 ------------------------------------------- 13. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Q. What is NLP? A. The following answer was contributed by (stever@mit.edu): This is a merging of several sci.psychology messages defining NLP. Please feel free to ask questions, etc. If you would like a list of NLP resources (books, training centers), I have one of those, too... Enjoy, - Stever -------------------- NLP was developed in the mid-70s by John Grinder, a Professor at UC Santa Cruz and Richard Bandler, a graduate student. Neuro-linguistic Programming, as most people use the term, is a set of models of how communication impacts and is impacted by subjective experience. It's more a collection of tools than any overarching theory. NLP is heavily pragmatic: if a tool works, it's included in the model, even if there's no theory to back it up. None of the current NLP developers have done research to "prove" their models correct. The party line is "pretend it works, try it, and notice the results you get. If you don't get the result you want, try something else." Much of early NLP was based on the work of Virginia Satir, a family therapist; Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt therapy; Gregory Bateson, anthropologist; and Milton Erickson, hypnotist. It was Erickson's work that formed the foundation for a lot of NLP, thus the tight connection with hypnosis. Bandler and Grinder's book "Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, Volume I" is one of the best books I've ever read on how language influences mental states. NLP consists of a number of models, and then techniques based on those models. The major models usually associated with NLP are: (a) Sensory acuity and physiology: thinking is tied closely to physiology. People's thought processes change their physiological state. Sufficiently sensitive sensory acuity will help a communicator fine-tune their communication to a person in ways over and above mere linguistics. (b) The "meta-model." A set of linguistic challenges for uncovering the "deep structure" underneath someone's "surface structure" sentences. [Sorry for the transformational grammar lingo.] (c) Representational systems. These actually appeared in Erickson's work and the work of others, though Bandler and Grinder took them much further. Different people seem to represent knowledge in different sensory modalities. Their language reveals their representation. Often, communication difficulties are little more than two people speaking in incompatible representation systems. For example, the "same" sentence might be expressed differently by different people: Auditory: "I really hear what you're saying." Visual: "I see what you mean." Kinesthetic: "I've got a handle on that." (d) The "Milton-model." This is a set of linguistic patterns Milton Erickson used to induce trance and other states in people. It is the inverse of the meta-model; it teaches you how to be artfully vague, which is what you use to do therapeutic hypnosis with someone. (e) Eye accessing cues. When people access different representational systems, their eyes move in certain ways. Lots of research has been done on accessing cues. Most of it has "proven" they don't exist. My thesis was on accessing cues and concluded the same thing. My real conclusion was that a person is too complex a black box to test this effectively. Also, eyes move in ways that are NOT related to information accessing. While I can visually tell the difference between an "accessing cue" and a non-accessing movement, I can't quantify the difference enough to base research on it. (f) Submodalities. The STRUCTURE of internal representations determines your response to the content. For example, picture someone you really like. Make the colors more intense, as if you were turning up the color knob on a TV. Now turn the color down, until it's black and white. For most people, high color intensifies the feeling, and B&W neutralizes it. The degree of color, part of the STRUCTURE of the representation, affects the intensity of your feelings about the content. (g) Metaprograms. These are aspects about how people process information and make decisions. For example, some people are motivated TOWARDS GOALS, while others are motivated AWAY FROM non-goals. TOWARDS or AWAY-FROM tells how they respond to their world; which one a person prefers in a given context will dramatically change how they behave. -------------------------------- NLP has several techniques for diagnosing and intervening in certain situations. They have a phobia cure, a way to de-traumatize past traumas, ways to identify and integrate conflicting belief systems that keep you from doing things you want, etc. I first read about NLP in 1978, and though it sounded great, but couldn't possibly work. The founders made lots of claims about one-session cures, which seemed implausible. [Fourteen years later, I still think they overexaggerate at times, but I *have* seen two or three session results that rival traditional therapists' results over months.] In 1984 I took an introductory workshop and discovered, much to my surprise, that it worked well. After messing someone up to the point where he almost needed hospitalization, I decided to be trained in it fully, so as not to repeat the mistake. I find it works scarily well. So well that even someone with poor training in it can do a lot of damage. There was no quality control in the field, and a lot of people go around teaching NLP who know very little about it. Performing NLP techniques is a skill. Probably only one in ten NLP Practitioners are in the top 10% of NLP skill level, and maybe even fewer than that(*). ONE WAY an NLP therapist might approach a client session is by understanding the cognitive structure of how a client creates a problem. They then help figure out the cognitive structure of an area of life where the client deals satisfactorily. Then they would teach the client to use the good strategy in the problem situation. For example: a friend of mine was obsessed with her ex-boyfriend. She was in such fear of him that she would fly into hysterics at the thought of him. Cognitively, she made a big, bright movie of him physically harassing her, with a soundtrack of him whining and lecturing her. The soundtrack seemed to come from around her left ear, and was in the boyfriend's voice. She had another ex-boyfriend who she was fine about. Cognitively, his picture was small, framed, and in the distance. The soundtrack was her voice talking about how nice he had been, and how the relationship was firmly in the past. The work I did with her involved representing the problem boyfriend with a small, framed picture. We removed the soundtrack of his voice, and added her narration, instead. The result: she stopped obsessing about her ex, and went on with her life, able to deal with him. Some people have run into NLP trained people who annoyingly mimic body posture to distraction, in an attempt to gain "rapport." They were poorly trained. Go out in public; watch couples; watch good friends. They walk in synchronization. They move in synchronization. They NATURALLY mirror each other movements. NLP just noticed this, and says "if you don't have rapport, here's one thing to pay attention to." A common question is "Does knowing what's being done make it less effective?" I've found that knowing what someone is doing lets me barricade against certain things, but there are definite cases where knowledge is not sufficient to keep it from working. I was once in a group dynamics experiment where an outsider watched our group and pointed out to us how we kept getting stuck, because of certain behavioral loops we were in. EVEN WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE, we were unable to break the loops without incredible effort. And then our efforts to break the loops fell into the same loops. Certain aspects of NLP are like this: if someone is matching your representational systems and doing it well, even if you know they're doing it, they'll still communicate better to you, as long as they're not incongruent about it. Alas, there are few good NLP books out there. In part, that's because NLP is about communication on all levels, and is much easier to demonstrate than to write about. In part, that's because the people who have done the most creation of the models are out there creating new models and pushing the technology further. Writing books isn't high on their list of priorities. If you'd like to read about NLP, I recommend: Using Your Brain--for a CHANGE, by Richard Bandler Frogs into Princes, by Richard Bandler and John Grinder Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, Vol I, by Bandler and Grinder TRANCE-formations, by Grinder and Bandler An Introduction to Neuro-Linguistic Programming, by Joseph O'Connor I hope this was useful. It was written off-the-cuff after a day in the sun :-) Please feel free to send followup questions. - Stever Footnote: (*) This is humor. \By definition/, only 1 in 10 are in the top 10%. Q. Where can I get more information on NLP? A. There are a number of ways to learn about NLP. There are many books written about NLP. Here is a short list of some of the best known books: Heart of the Mind - Connirae and Steve Andreas Frogs into Princes Trance-formations Use Your Brain for a Change - Richard Bandler Neurolinguistic Programming vol. 1 - Dilts Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson - Grinder and Bandler Structure of Magic vol.1 - Grinder and Bandler Structure of Magic vol.2 - Grinder, Bandler, DeLozier Turtles All the Way Down - John Grinder ....any many many more.... Appendix A has a number of phone numbers you can call for more information. The major provider of NLP seminars and books in the U.S. seems to be NLP Comprehensive run by Steve and Connirae Andreas who are leading figures in the NLP community. 14. Physical Health Q. What are some ways to increase my physical health and energy? A. Many approaches to increasing physical health are available. One perspective on this subject that is popular in alt.self-improve is a philosophy called Natural Hygiene. The most well-known book on this topic is by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond called "Fit For Life". This approach to health advocates a vegetarian diet, very few dairy products, an emphasis on natural, unrefined, uncooked foods. Another source of information on this approach is through Tony Robbins' Living Health seminar. This is available on cassette and is usually presented live as part of his Unlimited Power Weekend seminar. A number of newsgroups have discussions on this topic, such as: sci.med, sci.med.nutrition, misc.fitness, rec.fitness, alt.health.ayurveda, misc.health.alternative, misc.health.diabetes, rec.food.veg, rec.food.veg.cooking. Q. What are some methods for naturally improving eyesight? A. There is a book written by Aldous Huxley called "The Art of Seeing". This book describes the Bates Method for improving your eyesight. Huxley wrote the book because it helped him to dramatically increase his eyesight naturally. It is based around specific exercises that can be performed to return the eye to what is called "state of dynamic relaxation". The the eye returns to this state it returns it's natural and perfect shape allowing perfect vision to return. 15. Anthony Robbins (Editor's Note: The following comments on Tony Robbins are based on personal recollections of past discussion in the group and personal experiences, additional contributions are as always more than welcome). Q. Who is Anthony Robbins? A. Anthony Robbins is one of the most prolific self-improvement personalities currently around. He is probably best known for his infomercials pitching his 24 cassette self improvement program called "Personal Power" (see the next question). He is the author of two bestselling books, "Unlimited Power" and "Awaken the Giant Within". He started his public speaking career giving seminars with Harvey and Marilyn Diamond (see the section on Physical Health). Soon they parted company and Tony began offering seminars on a fairly new subject called Neuro-linguistic Programming. After a very short training, he began to aggressively promote himself at the "foremost NLP practitioner in the world". For a short time he was a business partner with John Grinder who helped invent NLP. He began going on television shows like Sally Jesse Raphael and cure people of serious phobias right there on the spot. Soon he was asked to write a book and put together a series of tapes based on the live seminars he was giving all around the United States. His infomercial soon followed which made him very famous. Tony is now involved in running at least 8 companies from financial planning to a Fijiian resort to his self improvement seminar company. In recent years his schedule has reduced the number of live seminars he does around the country, but he still does an average of 5-6 seminars a month (see later question). Q. What exactly does one learn from a Tony Robbins program? A. Tony's programs vary tremendously and have a large scope. Tony's material varies from changing your values and beliefs to managing your emotional states. One simple technique he teaches is called "Morning/Eveing Questions". The idea is that when you wake up in the morning, you ask yourself questions that will put you into a peak state and focus you on the positive, exciting, truly motivating aspects of your life. For example you might ask, "What am I really excited about in my life?" or "What am I really grateful for in my life?" or "What could I accomplish today that would really make life better for myself and those around me?" Tony's philosophies focus on contribution and creating value for others as an integral part of creating success for yourself. If you create more value for those around you than anyone else and do it with a sense of fun and enjoyment, how can you fail to be happy and successful? Q. Does the Personal Power tape program (as seen on TV) really work? A. As anyone who reads alt.self-improve for very long, you will find that there are many many Tony Robbins enthusiasts in the group. This question is one of the most frequently asked. In general when this question is raised, a wide variety of answers are naturally given ranging from "Personal Power totally turned my life around" to "It's a good program and I got a lot out of it." to "it didn't help me very much." I've heard very few really negative responses. In future versions of this FAQ, we will be include specific comments from people. The program is fairly costly ~$179. Success in this like anything depends very much on one's commitment to follow through and apply what you learn. Q. Is attending a live seminar worth the money? A. Attending one of Tony Robbins live seminars, as almost any who has been will tell you, is a fairly amazing experience. Tony is a vibrant, energetic, and very entertaining speaker. His shortest seminar lasts on the order of 10-12 hours (Strategic Influence, cost ~$179) to the 9-Day Mastery Program (cost, ~$5000). His seminars are very high energy and there can have anywhere from 250 - 3000 people attending a single seminar. In spite of the large attendance Tony seems to make the seminars very personal and interactive. Not everyone who goes feel that it changes their life or that it is an amazing experience (especially those who shell out $5000). General comments are usually very very positive and I seriously doubt that Tony has lectured to any non-capacity crowds in the past few years. I have heard several people say that the Mastery program was not worth $5000. Most people seem to feel that seminars such as "Unlimited Power Weekend" and "Strategic Influence" are fun experiences if not wonderful investments. For information on how to contact Tony Robbins' company see Appendix A. 16. Sales and Negotiation Q. I wonder which of you know anything about using NLP and learning negotiation skills, or just plain negotiation? A. You have touched on a subject that is very important to me. Negotiation and NLP are, IMHO, so closely linked that they almost become one subject. The "ethical outcomes" and "win-win" approaches that both require naturally complement each other. I have done much training in negotiation, but am self trained in NLP techniques, concentrating more on the results I can achieve, than the technical reasons as to how it works. The best, most effective, negotiation techniques are those explained in Getting to Yes by Fry and Ury, and the follow on books from the same authors, who work with the Harvard Negotiation project. Simple guidelines, no "aren't I smart" techniques, and an easy set of principles to remember. Because they are based on relationships and long term outcomes, using NLP to build rapport can only aid the process. (From: imarks@cix.compulink.co.uk ("Ivor Marks")) 17. Scientology/Dianetics Q. What is the Church of Scientology (Dianetics)? A. The Church of Scientology (originally called Dianetics) was founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The probable goal of someone in CoS is to become a "clear". A "clear" is someone who is free of all "engrams". An engram is a trace left by a traumatic experience that limits your happiness. The major book on CoS is called "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard. For more information about Dianetics and CoS, a separate newsgroup exists called, alt.religion.scientology. It should also be mentioned as a word of caution that many consider Scientology to be a cult and that a number of ex-members report the Church using intimidation and control tactics while they were members and after they left the Church. There is a Scientology Orientation Seminar which you can sign up for at your local Church of Scientology (cost $15.00). You can also call 1-800-334-LIFE for more information. 18. Software Packages Q. What are some software programs that aid in self improvement? A. One of the best selling software packages of all time was Mind Prober, by Human Edge Software. I was quite surprised not to see it mentioned in your list of self-improvement aids. Human Edge is now out of business, but there are a few amazing software packages currently out there that cover each of the areas you have mentioned: learning and intelligence, motivation, and sales and negotiation. The best of these are grounded heavily in strongly validated research in social and behavioral science. I know that Neuralytic Systems of Redwood City has put out a brain-builder called IQ smarts that assesses one's strengths in areas of Analytical (Abstract/Symbolic), Creative (Lateral/Associative), and Practical (Problem Solving/Memory) Intelligence. It then selects a series of exercises that bring stronger areas to bear on weaker ones. I believe that Human Edge had also put out products called Negotiation Advisor, Sales Advisor, and Motivation Advisor. Whoever bought them out may still own the rights to these packages. Those products generate a frightfully accurate assessment of the personalities of both indivduals involved in a negotiation and generate a report with incredibly specific strategies for dealing with the other person. I have all of these on my shelves. Being interactive and adaptive, I have found software to be much more effective than broad global strategies. Software can provide very individualized solutions that a book or a set of tapes can not. (From: roberts108@aol.com (RobertS108)) 19. Speed Reading Q. How does speed reading work? A. Most speed reading courses focus on a number of similar principles. One major impediment to speed reading is subvocalizing (saying words to yourself while reading). The motion of the eye is another key factor. Instead of reading just one word at a time, you are taught to pick up phrases, sentences, lines, or groups of lines in a single glance (depending on the method being taught). In order to increase comprehension, some methods try to make the user more active in the reading process by having the user take notes in a specific way, ask questions before and after reading, etc. sakamaki@flex.com writes: Just a couple tips that I learned from the Evelyn Wood Course: * To increase comprehension and retention, you need to read faster, not slower. * Speed forces you to concentrate intently, thereby increasing understanding. * Need to practice reading and "seeing" bigger chunks (maybe 1 1/2 in diameter) at each eye-stop. * Reading word-for-word is too slowm *and* this decreases comprehension, at least for me. * Need to decrease the amount of eye-stops per page. Q. Is speed reading really effective? A. The success of speed reading varies from individual to individual and is likely dependent on commitment and practice. The average reader reads about 350 words/minute. After speed reading training speeds of 500-2000 words/minute are not unlikely. It is difficult to measure exactly how this effects comprehension. I am not currently aware of scientific studies which show the effectiveness of speed reading programs. Q. What is Photo-Reading? A. I took it here in California. I was very disappointed and got a refund on the class fee. Most of the class time was spent on standard speed reading techniques, such as preview, skimming, review (they use other terms to describe it). The 'Photo' part is, as best I could tell, more a gimmick than a real technique. After doing the 'Photo' process you still have to go back and apply standard reading and/or speed reading techniques to 'activate' the information. Without the 'activation' step they assert that your 'subconscious' knows the information but you don't have conscious access to it. The brochure I have from them says "...mentally photograph the printed page at rates exceeding a page per minute..." but the class teaches, in effect, that's an undeveloped photograph and if you want to know what was in the picture you have to go back and use other techniques -- skimming if you want a general idea of the material, and maybe old-fashioned reading and study if you want detailed understanding. Our instructor wasn't able to demonstrate anything better than this. In discussing my refund with Peter Bissonette, president of Learning Strategies Inc. which developed Photo Reading, he admitted to me that's about how it is -- but he still asserted that on the whole it's a more effective reading method than anything else out there. Maybe so, but the spread between promise versus delivery was too great for me. It DOES teach some useful (standard) speed reading/learning techniques. But if you really want to read 12,000 WPM, then question them very carefully on just what they mean by that claim versus what you're expecting. (From: fluke@netcom.com (Fred Fluke)) Q. Where can I learn more about speed reading? A. The most famous speed reading method is called 'Evelyn Wood's Reading Dynamics'. You can learn this method through a number mediums including seminars, books, cassette tapes, or computer software. The number to call for more information is 1-800-447-READ. A book is also available called "The Evelyn Wood 7 Day Reading & Learning Program" , ISBN 0380 715775, $4.99. A computer software program is also available called "The Evelyn Wood Dynamic Reader" from Timeworks. See Appendix A for details. Another program is called 'Speed Learning' from Learn Inc. They claim their program goes beyond ordinary speed reading. 20. Marshall Sylver Q. What is the general opinion of Marshall Sylver's Program "Power, Passion, Profit"? A. Nearly all the comments recently have been quite negative about this program, but the number of people who have actually listened and those that have only seen the infomercial is hard to determine. Here are some assorted comments from people who HAVE listened to the tapes: Joe Slattery <pp000586@interramp.com> writes: ... His tapes sound like you're listening to "Eight hours of cliches on how to get off your butt." His examples reduce his discussion to incorporate the rare ten year old who wants Passion, Profit and Power. His section on "Passion", although he says his comments apply to all relationships, really apply 75-80% to troubled love lives. If you've listened to Tony Robbins as much as I have, you can't help but notice the virtual quotes. (Like "the quality of your life is the quality of your communication", even though that isn't TR's quote either.) What I did like - he dares to discuss the possibility that being a nice guy is part of life long success in all areas of life. ... ajop@aol.com (Ajop) writes: ... Yes there are some universal truths that Mr. Sylver covers that others do. Why? because they are true and need to be said. Heck a lot of Tony's book is based on Bandler and Grinder which is based on erickson. Take all the good things of the world and time transform it into an understandable straight to the point program that gets to the subconscious of peoples minds and creates the change people want , and you have Passion, Profit & Power. ... 21. Time Management Q. What are some good books on time management? A. One book that has been highly recommended by a number of readers is "Time Power" by Charles Hobbs. The books helps you explore your belief systems and work towards achieving "congruence" so that your fundamental beliefs, goals, and actions are as free from conflict or contradiction as possible. ------------------------------------------------------------ Some other suggestions are: "How to Get Control of your Time and Your Life" by Alan Lakein "Getting Organized" by Stephanie Winston "Overcoming Procrastination" by Albert Ellis "Executive Time Management" by H. Reynolds and Mary Trammel "The Organized Executive" by Stephanie Winston Although some of these cater to business folks if you grasp the principle ideas then you should be able to apply them to any situation. Alan Lakein's six simple but powerful ideas are helpful: 1. List goals 2. Make a Daily To-Do list 3. Start with the A priorities, not the C's 4. Ask yourself "What is the Best use of my time right now?" 5. Handle each piece of paper only once. 6. Do it now!!!!!!!!!!! You really don't need anything else except your own motivation. Happy Reading! (From: hughes@atlanta.emna.slb.com (Jeff Hughes)) Appendix A. Resource List (The following are phone number posted in request to various questions. The accuracy of this information has not been verified. If you have corrections or updates please advise one of the editors.) Church of Scientology 1-800-334-LIFE Est (new organization) 415-882-6300 (San Francisco) 408-522-9600 (Sacramento) Guthy-Renker 1-800-274-4910 Landmark Education (415) 882-6300 (916) 648-1060 Life Long Learning Association 519-725-2152 NLP Books Etc. 1-800-783-1184 (Colorado) NLP Comprehensive: 1-800-233-1657 NLP Meta Publications (415) 626-1333 (Voice) (415) 664-8044 (FAX) New Jersey NLP Inst. (201) 736-2836, (201) 770-1084 New York Training Inst. for NLP: (212) 473-2852 New York Milton H. Erickson Soc. (212) 628-0287 (Info) (212) 505-6141 (Mailing list) Robbins Research International: 1-800-445-8183 Timeworks 708-558-1300 1-800-323-7744 (order) Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics: 1-800-447-READ (Voice) (312) 939-1680 (FAX) Internet resources ------------------ HabitSmart (info on addictive behavior): http://www.cts.com:80/~habtsmt/ Big Dreams (hypertext personal/business success newsletter): http://www.wimsey.com/~duncans/ SuccessQuest (Magazine for Entrepreneurs): Free copies of this on-line magazine may be requested by sending email to MAALLEN@DELPHI.COM Appendix B. Brief Biographies (If anyone would like to submit biographical information about personalities in the self improvement community please do and help us expand this section, please limit submissions to 400-500 words if possible). Richard Bandler - Richard, along with John Grinder, is one of the co-founders of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP). He is considered by many to be an incredible genius in spite of his personal problems. At one time he was addicted to cocaine and was arrested for murdering a dominatrix and was later acquitted. He is currently performing advanced NLP trainings. Dr. Stephen Covey - See separate section on Stephen Covey John Grinder - John, along with Richard Bandler is one of the co-founders of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP). John brought the expertise in linguistics to the partnership. John was an expert in Transformational Grammar which created the basis for their first book (Structure of Magic vol. 1). Anthony Robbins - See separate section on Anthony Robbins. Jim Rohn (bio. to come) - Appendix C. Reader Votes (Books, Audiotapes, and Seminars) The question frequently comes up about "What do people think of product X?" This appendix will try to create a fast way of viewing the general opinion. Obviously no product can be summarized with a single number and hopefully this won't discourage questions and discussion, just provide a more concise way of capturing the general view. You can vote for a book, audiotape, seminar that you have experience with by sending me a list with your vote. The easiest way is to just cut out the list below and put your vote out to the side. If you are posting a book review, including a rating on a scale of 1-10 and I'll add it to this list automatically. So far, this list just includes things I have read or that I could think of right off the top of my head. I'll keep adding to the list based on your feedback (all votes so far are mine - so much for anonymity). Books Avg./Voters ----- ----------- As a Man Thinketh (Allen) 9.5/1 Three Magic Words (Anderson) 4.0/1 Frogs into Princes (Bandler, Grinder) Structure of Magic (vol. 1) (Bandler, Grinder) 8.5/1 Structure of Magic (vol. 2) (Bandler, Grinder) Use Your Brain For a Change (Bandler, Grinder) 9.0/1 Procrastination (Burka, Yuen) 5.0/1 Make The Most of Your Mind (Buzan) 7.0/1 Speed Reading (Buzan) 7.5/1 Use Both Sides of Your Brain (Buzan) 6.5/1 Use Your Perfect Memory (Buzan) 7.0/1 Creating Affluence (Chopra) 9.5/1 Perfect Health (Chopra) 6.0/1 Quantum Healing (Chopra) 8.0/1 Richest Man in Babylon (Clason) 9.0/1 First Things First (Covey,Merill, Merill) 9.9/1 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey) 9.5/1 Principle Centered Leadership (Covey) 7.5/1 I Am Right You are Wrong (de Bono) 7.5/1 Lateral Thinking (deBono) 7.5/1 Use of Lateral Thinking (deBono) 7.0/1 Fit for Life (Diamond, Diamond) 8.5/1 Fit for Life II: Living Health (Diamond, Diamond) 8.5/1 Gifts From Eykis (Dyer) No More Holiday Blues (Dyer) Pulling Your Own Strings (Dyer) Real Magic (Dyer) Sky's The Limit (Dyer) Your Erroneous Zones (Dyer) 7.0/1 You'll See It When You Believe It (Dyer) Overcoming Procrastination (Ellis) The Evelyn Wood 7 Day Speed Reading and Learning Program (Frank) Man's Search For Meaning (Frankl) 9.3/1 Financial Self Defense (Givens) Super Self: Doubling Your Personal Effectivenss (Givens) Wealth Without Risk (Givens) 7.0/1 Think and Grow Rich (N. Hill) 8.0/1 Time Power (Hobbs) Dianetics (Hubbard) 5.0/1 Breakthrough Rapid Reading (Kump) How to Take Control of Your Time and Your Life (Lakein) Thinking Better (Lewis, Greene) Always at Ease (McCullough) 2.0/1 Time Management for Unmanageable People (McGee-Cooper,Trammel) Executive Time Management (Reynolds, Trammel) Awaken the Giant Within (A. Robbins) 9.0/1 Giant Steps (A. Robbins) Unlimited Power (A. Robbins) 9.5/1 Accelerating (R. Sterling) Getting Organized (Winston) Audio Tape Programs ------------------ Succeeding Through Inner Strength (N. Branden) Personal Power (A. Robbins) 9.5/1 PowerTalk (A. Robbins) 10.0/1 Unlimited Power (A. Robbins) 9.0/1 Power, Passion, Profit (Sylver) Mega-memory (Trudeau) Seminars -------- Photoreading Mastery (A. Robbins) Date With Destiny (A. Robbins) Strategic Influence (A. Robbins) 9.5/1 Unlimited Power Weekend (A. Robbins) 10.0/1