If you're old like me, you may remember the television show Get Smart.
The show was a parody of the James Bond films.
Maxwell Smart was the bumbling secret agent who was fighting against KAOS the international organization of evil (the Russians during the cold war).
He had an array of secret weapons like his shoe phone and the cone of silence, a plastic bubble that lowered from the ceiling so others couldn't hear the conversation.
Of course, the cone of silence always malfunctioned causing all sorts of chaos.
Maxwell Smart's go to phrase was "Would you believe?" followed by an outlandish statement that was never true.
You're probably wondering where I'm going with this...
Beliefs play an important role in our lives.
Many of my beliefs came from my parents.
When I wanted to go skiing with my friends, my mother told me I would break my leg if I went skiing.
When my sisters wanted to go skiing, my mother told them they would get pregnant by someone in the ski lodge (yes this really happened. My sisters were in their early teens and our local ski area didn't even have a lodge).
For years, I always believed what my parents told me.
Turns out, many of their beliefs had nothing to do with reality.
I'm getting to my point, I promise.
It's been a long week...
I'm reading Ray Edwards new book, Read This or Die which happens to be the book of the month in our Mastermind Book Club.
Ray goes very deep into beliefs.
His business was struggling and he was diagnosed with Parkinson's.
He believed he was a failure and was going to wither away.
For years, he tried a variety of alternative treatments, prayer, healing and meditation.
Nothing was slowing down his Parkinson's.
He realized many of his beliefs were lies.
Letting go of these lies was difficult.
He had to face reality if he wanted to turn things around.
I've known Ray for a long time and I had no idea he was struggling financially, mentally and physically.
I was shocked when he went public with his diagnosis of Parkinson's.
It took a lot of courage for him to share his personal struggles.
Reading this book is difficult for me because I'm friends with Ray.
Reading this book is inspiring many members of the Mastermind Book Club.
>>> Join the discussion in the Mastermind Book Club.
Tom Ruwitch and I read the books for you if you don't have time.
The next live discussion is coming up on Thursday, September 28th at 11:30 AM Pacific/1:30 PM Eastern.
Tom and I would love to have you join us.
See there was a point to this story.
Have a great weekend.
- Ted
