I’m writing this email with tears of inspiration running down my face after watching this video…

Here are some powerful lessons I took away from this video.

1) You need to have a BIG goal in order to succeed. Put another way, your goal must have meaning for you. In the video, the buffalo were prepared to risk their lives to accomplish their goal and save their young calf. Are you willing to put that much at stake to create the life of your dreams?

2) Next, you need the courage to take action, even when you’re scared. These buffalo were scared, no doubt about it, but they didn’t let their fear stop them from moving forward and reaching their goal.

3) Then you need a great team. One buffalo could never have taken on 6 lions and won. Are you a solo buffalo, or do you have a herd backing you up?

4) Make a choice and stick with it. In life, shit happens, but successful people never let that distract them, and stay focussed on fulfilling their vision for their lives.

Know this. In making a choice to go for your dreams, you are also inviting challenge and failure into your life. You can’t have one without the other. The buffalo, in choosing to save their calf, were inviting challenge and the real threat of death into their lives. If you’re prepared to stick with your vision even when the going gets tough and the naysayers are saying “It’s too late…”, then you have a fighting chance at success.

Again, nature comes in with all the answers…

Now, I don’t mean to paint a gloomy picture of what it takes to achieve massive success, but I do want to paint a REALISTIC one for you. Any goal that’s BIG enough to excite your spirit is going to challenge you, so make sure that you’re really in love with your goals.

The Olympic cyclist climbs many mountains before winning a gold medal. Why? Is he a sucker for punishment? No… He loves cycling.

The successful entrepreneur often goes though financial failure, only to bounce back and start another business. Why? Is she stupid? I don’t think so… She loves business.

The buffalo clearly loved their calf enough to risk their lives…

Life’s short, so make sure you do what you love, and love what you do.

Till next time, be like a buffalo.

Your partner in success,

Bruce

P.S. If you feel that you lack the courage or the team or even the clarity to go for your dreams, go get yourself a copy of the Relaxation For Manifestation. It’s designed to reprogram your mind to see your goal clearly, build courage within you and get you to take action.

What an exciting week! I did my first ever book signing… For those of you who don’t yet know, I just became a published author. The story I wrote tells the tale of how I spent SIX months living as the only white man in an African township (shanty town). It just got published in a book called “Thank God I…”The book is a compilation of inspirational short stories about regular people overcoming extraordinary circumstances. Each story is entitled “Thank God I…” e.g. “Thank God I Was Raped” and “Thank God I Went Bankrupt” etc… To see photos of the book signing and order yourself a copy of this inspiring book, check out my Blog at www.designer-life.com/blog.

THIS WEEK’S LESSON – Thou Shalt Not Want

If you’ve seen the movie, The Secret, you’ll remember the fabulous Rev. Michael Beckwith (the guy with dreadlocks). I had the privilege of attending a Sunday service at his spiritual centre in Los Angeles on Sunday (just before my book signing).

Rev. Michael gave one of the most inspiring talks about the biblical verse “Thou Shalt Not Want…” I walked out of the service totally inspired and I know that you would have loved it too, so I’ll do my best to recreate for you what he taught this weekend.

When I heard the title of the talk, I was expecting a full-on sermon about how bad it is to want something. The bible teaches “Thou Shalt Not Want”, but most people take this to mean that it’s bad to want something – that somehow the desire to have something is evil. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised.

As Michael began speaking it became clear that he is no ordinary preacher. He began softly teaching about how when we WANT something, the very act of wanting assumes that we believe that we do not have that thing.

Now, if you know the Law Of Attraction, you also know that your beliefs shape your reality and attract circumstances to prove you right about your beliefs. For example, if you believe that life is hard, your mind will show you proof that life IS hard. However, if you believe that life is an exciting adventure, you mind will prove this right too.

Think about this for a minute…

If you want something, for argument’s sake, a high paying job, your unconscious belief has to be that you don’t have a high paying job (forget the reality of the situation for a moment). What do you think that you are going to attract into your life? More proof that you do NOT have a high paying job!

The message contained in the phrase “Thou Shalt Not Want…” is that is you want something, you will keep attracting more WANTING it. Did you get that? The more you want, the more you believe you don’t have and the more you attract not having.

Ok, Ok, so you might be thinking “Well, in reality, I DON’T have a high paying job, so what do I do?”

Instead of focusing on the fact that you do not have a high paying job, you FOCUS on what you DO have, in this case, a job that pays you money. It might not be as much money as you’d like right now, but if you can be grateful and focus on what you DO have instead of what you don’t have, you’ll begin attracting more of what you want. Ironic, isn’t it?

Ever heard the phrase ‘What you FOCUS on expands?’

Well, “Thou Shalt Not Want…” is just another way of saying ‘Focus on what you do want.’ Isn’t that cool? I thought so.

Anyway, by the end of his 30 minute talk, the good Reverend was preaching up a storm, eyes closed as if receiving some download from the divine. It was truly inspiring. If you are ever in Los Angeles on a Sunday, go check out Agape. It rocks!

From California, I wish you another great week. Here’s a great clip of Micheal Beckwith in full flow. You just gotta love this guy!

What you are about to read may PUSH your buttons or EXCITE you, depending on how OPEN minded you are… Let’s see which it is.

In my early twenties, I met my first real African Sangoma (an African medicine man) while travelling through the country of Botswana. Not only was he a Sangoma, but he also trained others to become Sangomas.

His name was Brian and I had the privilege of being invited to spend THREE days living in his Sangoma ‘school’ where FOUR of his students were being trained to eventually practice as qualified Sangomas in their communities.

I never got over those three days and some of the things I witnessed are still pretty hard for me to explain using only logic and reason. For example…

THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN WATCH

A Sangoma is possibly the most revered member in an African tribe. As a Sangoma, you must be able to access your INTUITION to help diagnose an illness or ailment etc… To make sure that his students could do this, Brian had designed a test for them. Here’s what he did…

In the early hours of the African morning, while we were all sleeping, Brian sneaked out of his mud hut and hid his watch. During breakfast, while sitting around the campfire, Brian asked one of his students to go and fetch his watch.

The student respectfully asked, “Where is it, teacher?”
“Ask your Ancestors…” Brian replied.

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Last year, Roger Hamilton introduced me to a concept he calls ILR or the ‘Illusion of Limited Resource’.

We have all faced ILR from time to time, for example:

- When we don’t have enough money to do what we want to do.
- When we don’t have the know how to make something happen.
- When we don’t have the time to do something.

What most people do when faced with ILR is give up on their goal and return to their daily lives, citing their limitation as the reason they cannot live the kind of life they want to live.

All of your so called ‘limitations’ are actually ILLUSIONS.

- “I’ve got kids to think of!” = Illusion of Limited TIME or MOBILITY.
- “I can’t afford it!” = Illusion of Limited MONEY.
- “I don’t know how!” = Illusion of Limited KNOWLEDGE or SKILL.

People who use this kind of language don’t accomplish much. They don’t get to experience the excitement, adventure and joy of living a Designer Life because they don’t allow themselves to overcome their Illusion Of Limited Resource.

If YOU don’t have the MONEY, someone else does.

If you don’t have the TIME, someone else does.

If YOU don’t have the KNOWLEDGE, someone else does.

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GET CREATIVE

One of my best friends, a singer, recently bumped into ILR when she discovered that it was going to cost her R300,000 ($40,000) to record her debut album.Instead of giving up, she decided to do something CREATIVE. She decided to sell her album before it had been recorded. She called the album “Yet To Be” and when you buy one, you receive a demo CD and become a FUTURE OWNER of “Yet To Be”.

As a ‘Future Owner’, you get to actually help create the album by choosing which songs go on the album, by having your name listed in the artwork as a contributor and by helping choose the final album title. Pretty creative, don’t you think?

This amazing woman has now sold 1800 copies of an album that does not exist to people in 25 countries around the world. She needs to sell only 200 more before she reaches her financial target and the album will be shipped to the 2000 future owners in the next few months.

So, who is this resourceful woman? Her name is VERITY, and I just interviewed her (see video to the right).

You too can be a part of music history by becoming a ‘Future Owner’ at www.IAmVerity.com.

So, next time you find yourself facing some kind of limitation, just know that it is an illusion and ask yourself, “Who does have the resource I need and how can I access that resource from them?”

Just asking yourself this question will force your mind to think in a totally new way and come up with a creative solution.

So, till next week, get CREATIVE.

Bruce

Petr Muzik is an extraordinary man. Not only is he my father, but he has just returned from fulfilling his life long dream – to sail around the world on his yacht, ‘Shoestring’.

For many years, my dad had a goal of sailing around the world. He built three yachts in our back yard as I was growing up. His last yacht, ‘Shoestring 3’, took him 15 years to build, between raising a family and running a business.

Some people thought Petr would never set sail, but in 2005, my dad set to sea for what would become a three year epic journey that changed his life forever.

Tragedy struck one month out to sea when Roy, my step brother, was killed in a motorcycle accident and my dad had to turn around and sail one month back to Cape Town for the funeral. However, by the time he arrived in Cape Town, he had to postpone his trip for another year, waiting for the trade winds to blow again.

Having sold his house and car to go sailing around the globe, my Dad and his partner May, lived aboard Shoestring in Cape Town harbor until the trade winds returned one year later.

Undeterred, they left Cape Town for South America, traveled through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean and on to New Zealand and Indonesia. From there, he crossed the Indian Ocean where his boat was shipwrecked in a coral atoll called Cocos Keeling.

In the middle of the night, anchored in a small bay in paradise, the wind changed and threw Shoestring onto a coral reef. Water flooded the boat and Shoestring began to sink. Miraculously, there was a boat anchored nearby who had a generator and a pump (Shoestring’s pumps could not cope with the rate of water coming in) and came to the rescue. During the shipwreck, the rudder had broken off and the propeller was so damaged that Petr had to cut it off with a hacksaw. Things were not looking good. Shoestring had sustained intense damage and was now left with a hole in the side of the boat, no propeller, no rudder and a bent keel!

Again undeterred, my dad pulled the boat into shallow water and waited for the tide to go out. He then had a 6 hour window in which to repair the holes in the hull. Amazingly, with the help of some fellow yachtsmen, they slowed the leaking down to a manageable level. Now, all they needed was a rudder and they could limp home across the Indian Ocean.

Miraculously, one of my Dad’s crew found an old catamaran rudder lying in a bush on the coral atoll!!! What are the chances? It was as if god had reached down and placed the rudder there just for ShoestringDad attached the rudder to Shoestring and sailed for 30 days across the Indian Ocean, finally completing his amazing trip in December 2007. The sailing community put him on the cover of Sailing Magazine, acknowledging his accomplishment.

The moral of this story in the words of my father: “If you have a dream, just do it!”

Watch this fascinating video interview with my dad and hear the story from the horse’s mouth with photographs too.

P.S. Please leave your comments below…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbcNuaatFRA]

“If you want one year of prosperity grow grain.
If you want ten years of prosperity grow trees.
If you want one hundred years of prosperity grow people.”
- Chinese proverb

A dear friend of mine, Matthew Brown, called me last week and asked me if I would like to be involved in raising $25,000 to build a school in Vietnam. I get a lot of requests from people wanting me to donate to their charity, but something about this one caught my attention.
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