Find Your “It” By John Smart Copyright, 2007 Contents 1. Why me? 2. The foundation of your “It” 3. Your “It” Revealed 4. Why you alone must find “It”. 5. Learn “The Secret” First 6. What you seek may be closer than you realize 7. Your Passion is the start 8. Ask and Believe for “The Answer” 9. Talk with those Close to You 10. Negative forces will drive you to “It” 11. Don’t be Afraid to Receive your Answer! 12. Guard your “It” from any Thief ! 13. The Nine Steps to Finding Your “It” 14. Share the Answer with Everyone you Love! www.FindYourIt.com 2 Introduction Before I say anything, please understand that you may freely give a complete, un-edited copy of this book to anyone. If you bought the print version, please give away your copy to someone you know who needs it, and download another free electronic version at http://www.findyourit.com! I know this does not make sense for an author to give away his work for free, but when you have read this book completely, you will have a better understanding of why this is the only way I can succeed in getting this message into the hands of everyone who needs to hear it!!! Life is a funny, yet complex and wonderful sequence of events. I began to write this book in 2006. I put the file away (electronically) and then forgot about it until 2007 when my passion was re-ignited for the concept of “Finding Your It” again. The problem was, I had misplaced the file. Such is the life of a disorganized computer geek. Too many files and too many places they could be. All my little plug-in, pocket sized portable file drives had nothing to offer. Nowhere was it to be found. I had switched computers several times and actually could not even remember if I had started the book. I might have only jotted a few notes down in my $.89 Wal-Mart pocket ledger that I use to capture my fleeting thoughts. So in order to take action and not allow my loss of the original Word file to slow me down, I decided to start the book over again from scratch. I reasoned that if the earlier file actually existed, that I would “find it” magically in the process, and continue from there. No sooner had I opened a new file with the tile of “Find You It.doc”, did I open my pocket ledger and read a few paragraphs which jogged “something” in the Universe! I heard a synapse fire in my brain that said, “Go to your pocket file drive again.” I had looked high and low several times on all three of my pocket USB thumb drives which I carry daily on my person as a “security blanket”, just in case I need an important file. It was just not there. Why was I being sent back against my “conscious reasoning” which told me there was nothing there to be found? www.FindYourIt.com 3 You see, an important event had slipped from my mind. A year ago, one of my original pocket drives was “dying”. The plug connector on the drive had broken and it was hanging by a mere thread of wire. I had copied all its contents onto one of my newer pocket drives under a special folder. I was reminded of this fact, returned to that folder and voila, there sat “Find Your It.doc”. The Creator of the Universe had returned my request! His “Greater Power” had filed away my document until the time was right. You might say, I Found My “It” twice! The significance of this event will be much greater after you read the chapter on “The Secret”. Perhaps if I had gazed at this file name every time I accessed my drive during that past year, I would have grown more complacent with the whole concept. I may have never taken the action that I am now proceeding with. That’s only one possibility. For whatever the reason, the file was “hidden away” until the time was right! Right for me to take action in a way that provides the “Answer”, hopefully to millions of people around the world. That is, the “Answer” to the question that every man and woman has posed to themselves for millennia: Why am I here? For the next several hours, the next day, the next week or for whatever length of time you require to finish reading this text, you will be given the 9 steps required to obtain the answer for you and you alone. Neither I nor any other mortal can answer this question for you. You must provide the answer yourself. I can, however, lead you to information hidden “between your ears” that can help unlock “The Answer” to your future! The “Answer” has always been there. Events, people, and circumstances that we encounter during our lifetime can block out or cover up the “Answer” for us personally. In some cases, we actually can forget what we really want from our life! We don’t even remember that perhaps, when we were younger, we actually had DREAMS and GOALS! www.FindYourIt.com 4 Detours and bypasses along our “path” have caused us to become misdirected along the way. We often loose the passion for the “real” reason that we exist. Sometimes it’s our own family that creates the misconception that we are not supposed to do the thing that we love and have longed for our whole life! This book will attempt to open these closed doors of your mind. It will challenge you to reach into the depths of your subconscious and pull out the “you” that may have been hidden inside there for many, many years! The choice is yours. Read on if you dare, but beware that your life my never be the same again. Hopefully, that is your goal! Respectfully, John Smart, the author www.FindYourIt.com 5 1. Why Me? I am about to share every reason that you should not listen to what I have to say, and then tell you why you MUST listen to my message. Earlier I said earlier that I am a self proclaimed computer geek. Things like data file servers and building “enterprise” computer networks have been part of my daily work environment for the last 20 years. I guess Microsoft would even say that I am a “certified” geek, based on several tests which I have passed. My point here is that I am not formally trained in the area that this book encompasses. I am not a “personal development” guru. Maybe after this book hits the mainstream world of self-development, that will change, but for now, that’s not the label that I have been wearing in life. I believe that I have been “given” this directive by someone “bigger” than either you or me. I have been asked to supplant this message to the masses in the most efficient way possible. I may be answering the question posed by this chapter’s title. You probably know that computer networks are a very efficient way to communicate any important concept to a large number of people very quickly. The Internet is, of course, the best example of that process in action. Don’t you find it strange that the original intent for the Internet was to provide a reliable method of communication after a nuclear holocaust destroyed most of man’s civilization? Today the Internet provides many life enhancing benefits like tracking weather, alerting third world populations before a Tsunami hits and providing answers to global climate changes for all mankind. Ironic? Maybe not. At this writing of “Find Your It”, my initial plan is to deliver this message electronically over the Internet and through “viral marketing”. Please don’t be alarmed, I’m not talking about using a real computer virus! Viral Marketing, is a term coined by the Internet marketing experts who have studied some of the most effective ways to convey the “message” regarding a product or service. It can be used to attract the potential buyer for anything of value. The best example of this in the non-Internet, brick and mortar world is “Word of Mouth Advertising”. While www.FindYourIt.com 6 it’s not considered a literal “computer virus”, Viral Marketing can take on many of the attributes of a real software program that copies itself VERY RAPIDLY across the Internet. One popular example of Viral Marketing uses a combination of web pages and email to give the reader the ability to “Tell a Friend”. The “Friend” receives an email with a recommendation about the product, and a “link” on the Internet back to the original product source or web site. Could the Internet be used, perhaps, to covey a message to all mankind that we can find our own “purpose” individually? Is that why I have been prompted to dig up “The Lost Files” from my thumb drive? Is it possible that my self dilemma is actually taking place in parallel to your own discovery? The text you are reading was highly organic at the time that I collected these thoughts. I am still finding my specific “It” using this process myself. I am making the case that we can all “change” our roles as required by our “It”, during our lifetime. What you are doing right now with your life may not be, and probably is not fully what your future “It” is all about. And, your past “It” may have been something completely different as well. If we agree that history is an accurate example of life’s possibilities, consider the previous labels worn by these few highly influential people: Albert Einstein: Patent Clerk, Sean Connery: Coffin Polisher, Bette Midler: Pineapple Canner, Sylvester Stallone: Lion Cage Cleaner, George Washington: Surveyor, Abraham Lincoln: Farmer, Golda Meir: Chicken Farmer, Tom Clancy: Insurance Salesman, Ronald Reagan: Radio Announcer, Harrison Ford: Carpenter. By assigning these labels I do not intend to belittle or downplay any of the professions previously held by these well known people. My goal is only to illustrate that a person’s role in life can evolve. Life changes. Events that occur will alter our path along the way. It’s OK to allow our path to change during the course of our life. We should seldom expect to always “stay” on our initial course, which most of our parents exclaimed was the “right thing” to do. “Don’t cloud your head we with foolish notions”, was the message which I believe I heard. www.FindYourIt.com 7 So, for the question about, “Why Me”?, I can now respond, “Why Not Me”? If I didn’t reach you with this message, would you have stopped what you were doing and thought about what your “hot button” was? Would you have been prompted to think about your life-path? I rest my case! Once you are given these answers, I advise you not to question them but simply ACT !! I have already delayed the delivery of this message for two years. Don’t add any more delays to your own situation by questioning fate! You need to understand that we are each given special abilities that we at first do not understand and can’t explain exactly how we obtained them. They appear to be given from some source totally foreign to our personality. For that reason alone, shouldn’t you assign more value to what you have been given? If some “Greater Power” cared enough to assign these qualities to your person, would not these powers be given for a reason???? Read On!!! www.FindYourIt.com 8 2. The Foundation of your “It”? If I told you that the key to life’s riches, your health, your happiness, your love interest, and all that you ever wished for was sitting right before you, how would you respond? Would you call me a liar? Would you dismiss this as hogwash? Would you say that I was only interested in taking your money? Or would listen intently as I explained my new found realization? Let me assume the last option is your only choice. If you insist on any of the other responses, then please delete this copy of my book and do not tell anyone else about this. I do not want my name associated with the notion that I was attempting to lie to or mislead anyone. That being said, I will now proceed. You must first understand what your “It” really is. What I am about to disclose has been presented in many forms by others in the past. ”It” has been handed down for centuries from father to son, from mother to daughter. “It” has been suggested in a countless number of other books on the subject of success. “It” has given wealth and prestige to a select few who knew how to correctly apply the power of this method to their own lives. “It” has the potential to bring “true happiness” to everyone who applies it to their current circumstance in life. “It” is “The Answer”. From another viewpoint, a failure to apply this principle to your life will create certain chaos. You will sense that things just never seem to “work out” for you. You constantly find yourself repeating many of the same mistakes over and over again. You somehow feel trapped in a “time warp” of sorts, where you see yourself from a distance as frozen in time and unable to break out of an eternal rut. Individuals in this state are not operating with “The Answer” as their guidepost to life and are ill prepared for the circumstances they encounter. They are doomed to repeat the same painful mistakes that would be avoidable if they could only open their eyes to the truth. www.FindYourIt.com 9 Let me illustrate this reality in another way. Think of a particular person you know, who is always “at the top” of his or her game. We all know someone in our life like this. Everything seems to work out for them. They constantly benefit from unexpected good “coincidences” that occur on a regular basis. Their efforts consistently result in gain, often a significant gain. They look great, feel wonderful, and never appear to have a problem or concern over the matters of finance, relationships, their family, and their outlook for the future. If this is you, then Great! You probably don’t need to read much more, since you probably have already found your “It”! More than likely, you belong to the group which most of us are members. We can’t understand this perfect person’s life! What is he or she doing different? Even if we match them step-by-step and copy their exact formula of day-to-day actions, we don’t receive the same results!! Why doesn’t life work the same for us? It can’t be our education, since PhD’s often die broke. It can’t be our heredity, since children from the same parents often have very different success outcomes. “It” must be some hidden aspect of our life that we can’t see, feel or touch. “It” is our “It”. In reality a hidden force or “Voice” is guiding all of us. It allows us to reach certain waypoints in our life, and then stops influencing us just long enough to take a reading of our progress. “Yes, you are on the right track, PROCEED!” or “No!,…. stop, stop, stop! Stop what you are doing and rethink your choices!”, are just two of the responses that I believe this “Entity” may “speak” to us everyday, after watching the actions of people like us. Unless we are tuned in closely, we may completely miss this “secret advice” from our hidden benefactor without ever knowing it. The first requirement is to realize that the Voice is really there. I am not talking about a “literal” voice in your ear talking, but only a sense of direction which this force is telling you to take. You may be thinking of a word called your “conscience”. I can say you are on the right track. However, it’s something more. It’s a force that you can give requests to and receive answers. I always imagined my conscience as fairly one dimensional, and only telling ME what to do. But what if I were able to throw out a request to It and allow It to return www.FindYourIt.com 10 an answer to my current dilemma in life? This creates a whole new list of possibilities for asking and seeking directions in life. Wow! I can actually ask someone who cares for advice in my life! Beware that the answers may not come immediately, but they WILL COME! The Bible says, “Ask, and you shall receive!” The real trick to this is that you must also BELIEVE! Without believing, there is no answer. You must believe that all this is possible, or nothing will happen to direct your requests. The Creator of the Universe is not stupid! He knows if you don’t take Him serious! How would you feel if you offered someone the keys to wealth, happiness, endless joy, and all that man could ever wish for, and that person looked you straight in your face and laughed their pants off? Would you be insulted by their foolishness? Would you give them any more help? Would you be compassionate and forgive them and allow them to have a second chance for the same offer? This is your “Second Chance!” By simply making a choice to believe that this is possible, you have opened the door to a FREE SERVICE that can literally offer you the “Keys to the Kingdom!” So now you need to decide, “Do I take door #1 (for fools)” or “Do I take door #2”, the one that has never been opened by me yet? The choice is yours and yours alone! www.FindYourIt.com 11 3. Your “It” Revealed Now that the foundation has been laid, I can proceed to unveil this Great Mystery that man has sought for many centuries……. Your “It” is your “Passion”! Austin Powers would say it’s your “Mojo”. Others have referred to “It” as their “Hot Button.” Whatever name we assign to this quality, we can rest assured that our “It” defines who we are and what makes us tick. “It” is the internal force that generates an unstoppable resolve to get what we need, what we want and what we deserve from life. “It” is the stuff that makes a person climb Mt. Everest. “It” was the “Force” that propelled George Lucas to create, direct and produce “Star Wars” against all the advice of many wise people around him in Hollywood. Think of the so called ah ha moments in your life. A moment when you were so taken back by some event, a movie, a book, a concert, a theatre play, a sporting event, a friend’s career choice, something that struck you so intensely that you identified with it personally. You may have said to yourself, “This is what I really want to do!” You experience a sort of spiritual revelation that opens your mind and your personality to a choice that you may have never considered. You may have actually experienced a physical chill, a tingle down your spine or the sensation of “goose bumps” at the same instant that one of these events occurred. This was the unconscious mind (your internal guiding force) crossing over into the physical side briefly to send you a signal of affirmation. Your “It” was actually trying to say to you, “You may want to take note of this!!” www.FindYourIt.com 12 Perhaps this idea was in the back of your mind, but you never fully considered this option for yourself, personally. You may have wanted this as a child but totally forgot about it when you “grew up”. The inspiration for your “It” may come from a variety of sources. “It” may even come from the recommendations of others around you. I will explore this in more detail in a later chapter. I will relate my own personal example here. Among other things, I believe one of my dominate “Its” is writing. Yes, this book is a product of me accessing or utilizing the power of my “It”. I hope you agree that I am gifted in this capacity! But let me use my example to explain what signs I would receive that led me to this realization. One early indicator appeared in grade school: I liked to read. I always received good grades in literature class, which was sometimes embarrassing for a guy!! But these classes were too easy for me. I did not realize this at the time, but I was experiencing the power of my “It”. Later in life, in my career in computer science and network engineering, I have been able to document complex computer systems with little effort. I am not trying to blow my horn here, since I could care less about any of the systems I documented. What I am trying to convey is how my “It” has allowed me to gravitate toward excelling in these activities effortlessly. Now I want to illustrate how my emotion indicators led me to the realization that I COULD BE a writer! I first noticed a peculiar reaction I would have when watching certain movies. I would find myself happy when watching a movie where the story was told by a person writing a book or there was a writer character in the movie . I would identify with the fact that the person telling the story was an author. The best example I can think of is the movie “Stand by Me”, where Richard Dreyfuss is the writer who narrates the entire movie involving his childhood during one summer day set in 1959. It may also be that I identified with this time period since I am a baby boomer and grew up during the ‘60’s but I mostly loved it at the end when I realized HE was the writer telling this story! I liked this more than the actual story! www.FindYourIt.com 13 Another example was the original “Back to the Future”. At the end of the movie George McFly, played by Crispin Glover, is a successful science fiction author and the McFly household is a very different place compared to the beginning of the film, where George was a failure in life. This change occurred due to his son’s journey back in time. His son, Marty, played by Michael J. Fox, confronts his father George and motivates him to challenge a bully, Biff. When he returns to the future (the film’s title!), Marty finds both his parents, including his siblings, are now all successful and confident individuals as a result of his father’s single action in the past. This results in an alternate reality! I was very pleased to find that his father was now an author. That made the whole movie work for me! Both of these examples were actually Ah Ha moments where I identified with the possibility of being a writer myself! But more importantly, being a successful writer making a living at what I love the best…writing! Please don’t despair, if this type of event has not struck you in the past. Not everyone is presented with a “light bulb” drawn over their head in a cartoon! Your “It” can be suppressed in many ways. There are several techniques we will discuss to determine which “It” applies to your life and how to fully experience the benefits it can provide. For now, I want you to accept the fact that we all have this “life force” within us, that defines our personal strength and our potential to experience great things in life. And since it is a personal quality, only you, or those who are very close to you, have the ability to identify the nature of what your “It” really is. There is one other important aspect of your “It” that I need to clarify. You will likely find that you have “multiple” Its! You will probably notice that you gravitate to more than one or several areas of interest in your life. Even so, you probably have one “It” that is more dominate. This is very normal and usually does not present a problem. The other parallel aspect is that your “It” can, and probably will, change during your lifetime. This probably will not happen every year, but as life’s circumstances evolve, so will your current “It”. You will always have a degree of attraction to your previous “It”, but another will likely dominate your personality for a given time. The concept of your dominate “It” is what you should hold as your priority. Know your dominant “It” and Know Yourself! www.FindYourIt.com 14 4. You are the only one qualified to find your “It”! Would you say that you know yourself better than anyone else? Most people would answer yes. Not everyone has this advantage. It’s entirely possible that you will need to consult with a close friend or family member in order to shed some light on your personal strengths. You may be thinking this is all too obvious. My career was decided early on in my life, and I made those choices and already have lived with them for X number of years. Why should I entertain the idea of changing my direction at this point in my life? No one said you had to change! You are the one reading this book. You made a conscious choice and for some reason, you were drawn to this text. The “Answer” may be seeking you out. I’m not kidding! I will discuss shortly the current phenomenon known as “The Secret” that is sweeping the World. Part of this premise is that our true calling, or our “It” ,is actually seeking us. We simply need to allow “It” to find us! For now, please accept that we may seek out our calling only if we consciously desire to. We must consciously express this desire first before the required sequence of events will follow that directs us to the “Answer”. No other human being possesses the unique qualities and abilities that belong to you. These traits make you completely unique in the World. Think of your “It” as a fingerprint. You are the only one that defines You! The trick to all of this is that you know yourself better than anyone else! www.FindYourIt.com 15 5. “The Secret” You may already be familiar with the international phenomenon known as The Secret. On the surface it will sound like hocus pocus to most people. But once you understand the concept and look back in your recent past, you may notice that certain experiences in your life have taken place due to some type of a “hidden influence.” Something or some force is connecting the dots in our lives. This happens completely in the background. Believe me, this is real! I heard about The Secret after I had already formulated the concept for “Find Your It.” I understood what The Secret was because I had read the book, “The Attractor Factor” by Joe Vitale. This book describes the use of “The Law of Attraction” which is the foundation principal behind The Secret. The problem for me was The Secret was missing a personal element. It lacked a clear, specific method that would allow you to identify YOUR life’s passion for What you want to “attract” into your life!!. Of all the tools and techniques you may use to find your “It”, The Secret is probably the most important. The Secret is a book and a DVD by the same name, which are currently gaining worldwide acceptance in the area of Self Discovery. Later, I will offer you total access to many resources that will fully explain how to use The Secret to find your It. The “Law of Attraction” is the best way to explain The Secret. The Law of Attraction states that we attract: all things, events, people, and our life’s outcome by the thoughts that we generate everyday, every hour and every minute of our life! Essentially, what you think about is what you become. If you constantly think of only despair and constant poverty, then you will only experience despair and constant poverty. If you are positive and upbeat, most of the time, you will obtain mostly positive results in your daily life. The Secret Works! www.FindYourIt.com 16 You may not have a rational explanation for certain significant events that have occurred in your life. Chalk these up to The Secret! Think of the times in your life when you were most successful. Did you have a positive attitude? Were you motivated by some positive outcome that you were intensely focused on? Did people around you believe in you and your abilities? When you send out these “vibrations” through your thoughts and personal actions, then people and circumstances around you become “in tune” with your desires. Zig Ziglar likes to say “Your attitude determines your Altitude!” The Secret explains why events and circumstances totally unrelated can interact together to create a “synergy” that moves our lives to a whole new level. Consider this illustration: A person looses their job. A friend offers to help that person begin a new career, perhaps an extension of their hobby. A business is created and flourishes. Their new career grows by leaps and bounds, all made possible first by a seemingly negative event. The Secret allows these events to align for a more positive outcome in the end. Oprah Winfrey embraced the author of The Secret recently, by dedicating a whole day on her show to the author and several “contributors” who appeared on the DVD version of The Secret. Oprah said, “I have been using The Secret for years without knowing it!” You should buy the book and / or DVD and absorb the concepts that they illustrate. I will share several examples in my own life that I totally attribute to The Secret and it’s impact on each of these circumstances. www.FindYourIt.com 17 6. What you seek may be closer than you realize! Russell Conwell, was a gifted Pastor who founded Temple University in Philadelphia. In 1914 he delivered a very moving and timely sermon titled: “Acres of Diamonds”. The story is about a young man from the Middle East, named Ali Hafed, who always had a great desire to be rich! So great was his desire, that one day he decided to set out and search the world for diamonds. He had learned that finding diamonds would bring great wealth to their owner. “This was the answer,” he thought. “I will set out on a journey to find the world’s greatest diamonds!” Ali Hafed left all that was dear to him, family, friends and home to seek out his wealth in other lands far from his home. Day and night he traveled. Further and further from his home he ventured, until one day he found himself so hungry, so financially broke, and so mentally depressed that he literally flung himself into the ocean, never to return to his home again! A few weeks after his death, a close friend, unaware of his passing stopped by his former home in the Middle East. The visitor had spied a strange large rock sitting on Ali Hafed’s mantel and exclaimed, “He’s back! He’s returned with his riches!” Ali Hafed’s house keeper replied, “No, he has not returned” and went on to explain that the item on the mantel was only some glass rock which Ali Hafed had found earlier before leaving on his journey. The rock actually proved to be one of the largest diamonds ever found by man! The irony was that Ali Hafed had found this huge diamond, virtually in his own back yard!! What he held so dear to him, and sought for so long in far away places had been sitting there all along, right under his own nose. Had he known this before he left on his journey, he might still be alive and would have attained the riches he so desperately sought after in another land. www.FindYourIt.com 18 The moral of the story: “The Riches you seek, are right before Your eyes!” Do not waste your time looking over the rainbow for the answer to all your desires. The answer is usually sitting right under your nose. It’s up to you to realize this before you spend your entire life looking for something that does not exist. The Answer which is under your nose is “Your It” ! www.FindYourIt.com 19 7. Your Passion will drive you to achieve greatness. There are people who have faced unbelievable pain, anguish and loss in their lives, but have also been given unstoppable determination as a result. Consider Vince Papale. In 1974 he was a substitute school teacher working as a part time bartender in South Philadelphia. He was down and out like many of his friends and his wife had just left him. Vince had one passion: football. He played it one year in high school, but after that only in pick up games with his neighborhood buddies. He loved the game and loved the Philadelphia Eagles. He attended St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia on a track scholarship because the school had no football team. He did play the game briefly with the World Football league which earned him the attention of the Eagles new coach Dick Vermeil. The Philadelphia Eagles had 2 loosing seasons, in a row. They were down and out and so was their city. Philadelphia was hit hard by the recession of the mid 1970’s. Factories were closing or on strike. The mood was somber over the whole city. Philadelphia needed a change, and a big one. Head coach Dick Vermeil, who had never coached in the NFL, was given the job to “Make this Team a Winner”!! The city needed it, the people needed it and everyone was looking to the Eagles to change the whole mood of those tough times. Vermeil did something bold. That is the mark of someone who will make a difference. He held an open tryout for walk-on’s. Anyone who thought they had what it took to be an NFL player was given a shot. Vince Papale’s buddies put him up to going out for the tryouts. “What did he have to loose??” In 1976, at the age of 30, Papale tried out for the Philadelphia Eagles, and made the team as wide receiver and special teams player. He became the oldest rookie in the history of the NFL, a record he still holds. Vince was with the Eagles for four seasons before a www.FindYourIt.com 20 shoulder injury ended his career in 1979. While active, he was voted special teams captain. Vince also was voted "Man of the Year" by the Eagles in 1978 for his many charitable activities In 2006, Disney released a movie about Vince called "Invincible" that opened to rave reviews finishing #1 at the box office for two weeks. It featured Mark Wahlberg as Vince, and Greg Kinnear as former Eagles coach Dick Vermeil. His story is the real deal. In the face of total adversity, some of us actually become better. Better at finding our true passion. Better at making the required changes, and better at believing in ourselves! This is where the rubber meets the road. The adversity which he faced could have broken him completely. Many men who face just a broken marriage never recover to lead a “normal” life again. They blame themselves or their ex-spouse for all the negative events and never regain faith in anything. In his own words, here is what Vince Papale had to say about the movie and his story: “Invincible is not just my story but it can be anyone’s story as well. It’s about having a dream and overcoming the odds, adversity, and obstacles that go with making that dream come true. It’s about anybody who was told they were an underdog or couldn’t do something, yet had the tenacity to pay the price to make their dream come true. It’s about the fulfillment of one’s life potential and the seizing of an incredible opportunity.” If you find yourself in this position, go get a copy of the DVD “Invincible.” This movie will change your life! Words cannot describe the determination that this man developed due to the adversity in his life. You will connect with his pain and understand that: “Quitting is not an option!” True character is forged by the sacrifices that a person will make in order to achieve what they believe in. They either find a way to overcome the adversity or allow it to consume them until they give up on living. Don’t give up!!! If you cannot afford to buy www.FindYourIt.com 21 or rent this movie, then check with your library. Ask them to buy a copy if they don’t currently have one. You will not believe the impact this story will have on your confidence and determination! www.FindYourIt.com 22 8. Ask and Believe to get your “Answer” The Secret explains that you must “send out” a request for the thing or outcome that you most want to receive! The Bible says, “Ask and you shall receive.” Another way to look at this is to realize that you are in control and only you can determine what you really want for yourself. I guess we wrongly assume that the Creator of the Universe is watching over us and could read our minds and give us what we really want without us “asking” for a specific request. I think the real reason is that The Creator wants us to consciously realize what we really want, before He will take any action to make it happen. God wants us to be really “sure” we want something, before He takes the time to realign people’s lives, alters events, the weather, world politics and other courses of action that may be required to “deliver” our request. The Creator of the Universe is patient but will not respond until you request that he does something. You will not receive any outcome or material gift, unless you request it and expect that it will come true. The requesting part and the believing part are the key pieces to this process. We have all heard about the person who decides that they are going to win the lottery. They have been given the impression from some unknown source that they are surely destined to win. This person decides that winning is so certain that they park themselves at home and wait. Wait for the certain shower of riches that will follow. They buy a ticket on every drawing. Nothing happens. They continue to wait. Nothing happens. This will go on until they either starve or give up and go find a real job. The missing piece was, “They never asked The Creator to let them win!” In this example, the person really “believed” that they would win, but they never made the request. If you don’t ask, you will never receive! The opposite example would also be true. www.FindYourIt.com 23 Consider the young man who wants to date a beautiful girl who is a movie star or pop singer. He prays every night that one day he could meet her by accident, they would talk, exchange phone numbers, and would meet the next week for a real date. He asks for this over and over every night, but nothing ever happens. The missing piece in this example is that he never really “believed” that any of this could happen. He sent out a request that he had little or no faith in to begin with. You will never receive if you don’t Ask AND Believe! Both elements must be present in order to convince The Creator that you are worthy of His intervention required to make your wish a reality. www.FindYourIt.com 24 9. Talk with a “Close” friend or family member Those around us often know who we “really” are better than we do. The real problem is that we usually never allow these people to open up on this subject. Their opinion of you is something they may assume that you do not want to hear about! They may think you will be insulted (and you might be!) by what their impression of you turns out to be. You need to be willing to take this risk and to assure them that it’s OK to open up with you on this subject. You may be surprised to find out what you learn. You may find that they view you in a completely different capacity from what you view yourself. They may see you as someone with strong leadership abilities that are not being put to use. Once you have an idea what you are looking for in your personality, then it becomes easier to establish a target for you what you believe your “It” might be. Allow yourself to expand upon what you have learned from your friends and colleagues. Try to look at yourself from another angle. Please consider more than one person’s opinion! Don’t make the mistake of taking your first friend’s opinion as gospel. If you take the approach of asking several people what they believe your “hot button” is, then you may be amazed to find an small consensus of what your true “It” could really be. If this happens, it becomes a powerful statement that you should strongly consider. It’s important to ask those close to you WHY they feel this aspect they have described about you is truly your calling. What is it about this trait that makes it “yours”? Do they connect this to something in your personality? Was there an event in the past that registered in their mind? Ask them to expand on why they feel this about you! www.FindYourIt.com 25 10. Negative forces may direct your path. Believe for a moment that Creator of the Universe is pushing you toward your “It”. Now the Creator himself does not create negative energy, but He can allow negative events to transpire. Our initial reaction to bad things which happen in our life is that we become downtrodden or broken. We feel that it’s our own fault that this thing has happened. I say Rubbish! Certainly there are specific cases where you could bring on your own downfall, but most of the time, the events are totally driven from the outside. Consider my example. Suppose you are working in a great office environment. You have a good job, a close circle of friends, great rapport all working together, Life is Good! Then one day, out of the blue, your manager quits. He or she just walks out for no reason. The group is stunned. Rumors fly and it becomes clear that the company’s executives were not happy with the “metrics” of your team. They just didn’t see quite enough efficiency from the group. So out with your manager! The following Friday, management announces that the new supervisor for your department is starting Monday. Everyone needs to be present for his introduction meeting. Monday arrives along with your new boss! Wow, he’s a nice enough looking guy, maybe he’ll be just as friendly as your old boss. Everyone gathers in the conference room with nervous apprehension about what the new guy is really like. The CEO of your company introduces a man I’ll refer to here as Roger, to the group, with an energizing speech, flowing with Roger’s accolades and accomplishments from his illustrious career. Wow, this guy sounds great! Maybe he’ll really bring some needed change to our company! The CEO has finished his introduction and then excuses himself to his next meeting. He invites the group to introduce themselves to Roger one by one. The CEO exits the room with the door shutting softly behind him. www.FindYourIt.com 26 Suddenly, a loud crack of a hand and a notebook slamming against the table drives everyone’s eyes in Roger’s direction. He is now standing at the head of the table with everyone’s eyes and ears locked in his direction by a calculated design of theatrics! “I only have Three Rules…..” announces Roger. “Rule #1…. You lie to me and you’re fired !” “Rule #2…. You conceal anything or go behind my back and you’re fired !” “Rule #3…. You reveal anything that’s said in here outside these doors, You’re Fired!” “I like to keep things simple,” is his comforting follow-up. Suddenly, you realize Roger bears a remarkable resemblance to Donald Trump! The only words from his mouth that are still ringing in your ears are, “ You’re fired…., You’re Fired!...., You’re Fired!....” Your boss from Hell has arrived. Three days later his first victim falls. A contractor that was not yet part of the company was terminated swiftly at days end. The next day, Roger calls a brief meeting to explain why. He says she broke Rule #1., or was it #2? I guess it really didn’t matter which one! He said she tried to give herself a raise by negotiating for a higher starting salary with someone else. To which he added, “She was wasting her time, because there is no one greater than Me and God!” “ My word is the last word about anything affecting this group!” Yes, Roger, there is only one being that compares himself in power to God! You are that being! I guess that would give him too much credit because even Satan is a little more discreet about his true identity! It becomes clear that Roger is a desperate artifact of the “Fear by Intimidation” management style of the 1970’s. He has remained intact, completely untouched by the www.FindYourIt.com 27 1980’s and 1990’s. He still wears open collared Hawaiian shirts, with a heavy dose of Old Spice aftershave! Weeks pass by, as most of the original group either quits out of fear or are fired by his paranoid interpretation of people’s actions. Roger is left with a skeleton staff of employees who either have no other options or no backbone to standup to him. Management eventually terminates Roger after he commits a third “EEO Violation” offense against a female minority employee who threatened to sue the company. Roger told her that because she was Chinese, she needed to sit on the floor as punishment for not meeting the deadline for one of his reports. Unfortunately, he never had the chance to enforce Rule #2 or #1, or #3 again. The Security guards escort Roger, not to the front lobby but to a waiting Sheriff’s patrol car. The company, now aware of the numerous infringements committed by Roger over the space of many months, is rightfully forced to offer up Roger as their Fall Guy to the State’s Prosecuting Attorney. Roger now faces a number of new “Rules” enforced at his new home, a Federal Prison. You, on the other hand, choose to leave the company, long before any of this transpires. You see the writing on the wall very early, and choose to take another direction. You eventually break off on your own, become independent, and start your own company. Looking back, several years later, it becomes clear that you were driven closer to your independence because of these events. You vowed that someday, you would never need to be accountable to the likes of a “Roger” again. You would be your “Own Boss” and certainly be much nicer to yourself than Roger would be! Negative events always will eventually create a positive outcome. Good Always Wins over Bad! The Dark always eventually turns to Light! While it may not appear that way during the time you are experiencing the adversity, your patience and determination will www.FindYourIt.com 28 eventually win out over the negative aspects you are experiencing. Hang in there and the sun will eventually start to shine again! Just remember, if you are experiencing anything that you don’t want in your life, try to not dwell on that aspect, but focus only on the positive experiences you wish to receive. You must also believe that they are possible and your negative experiences will quickly pass by and be replaced by the positive outcome you desire. The Law of Attraction will insure this result! www.FindYourIt.com 29 11. Don’t be afraid to receive your “Answer!” There can be times in your life when you deny your own potential. For some strange reason, this appears to be a common human trait. Opportunity will be staring us in the face and we often miss out on the chance of a lifetime, and for reasons that we can’t even explain later. This trait alone may be the single greatest human character flaw that will limit the degree of success you will receive in life. As a younger person, you may receive news that you have been accepted by one of the finest universities on the country. You are briefly excited, but then doubt and other emotions begin to fill your mind. “How can I afford this?” “What will my friends say?” “What if I’m lonely?” All these negatives begin to race through your mind. Close friends and family attempt to comfort your fears, “Don’t worry!” “You don’t have to go there, if you’d rather stay closer to home!” You later decide to do something “more reasonable,” something “more down-to-earth.” You decide on a college nearby and now everyone is “happy!” But are You happy? Why do we do this? Why do we often behave as if we don’t deserve to have a better chance in life, a better income, a better relationship, or any of the common comforts of life? Why do we tend to sabotage our own future? The answer is simply, “FEAR” ! Fear is one of the most primal motivators that will impact everything you do. It is an instinct built into us by design for survival purposes. When we are burned by an open flame for the first time, we are taught to shy away from fire, for fear of being burned again. The first time we ask a girl or a guy for a date, and we are turned down, we can become totally crushed and afraid to even talk to someone of the other sex for a very long time! Fear modifies your behavior in ways you alone cannot understand. www.FindYourIt.com 30 Our mind is like a filter that processes all the information it receives. It compares the information coming in with a set of “beliefs” that your sub-conscious mind believes to be the “real truth”. These filters in your sub-conscious will cause you to react to information based on what these “true” beliefs are. For example, suppose when you were a small child, your parents taught you that water was dangerous, mainly because they also believed this and since they had never learned to swim themselves. You were told that you must never go near water that was over your head. You became intently scared of any large body of water or even going near the swimming pool with your friends who appeared happy and carefree in the water. You could not understand their behavior at all. Didn’t they realize this danger? Then, after returning to school in the sixth grade, after summer, you are told that one boy will not be returning, “Because he died during a swimming accident in a pond over the summer!” The teacher makes a point that he did not know how to swim, and she is sure we are all sad about his loss. This event reinforces your filter further. Your new belief is that: “Any boy who cannot swim will certainly die if they get into water over their head!” Later in life, you have the opportunity to go on an ocean cruise with friends, but decline due to your intense fear of the water. Your mind created this filter early in your life which still remains. It impacts your beliefs about water and the self-preservation instinct that in built into every living creature, including man. Another example might be, “Don’t dream big dreams, because they will never come true and you will only set yourself up for disappointment!” Again, this could be a thought that a parent, a teacher or someone of authority has shared with you in the past. They were likely given the same discouraging advice when they were younger. Think about WHY you believe what you hold to be true. Ask yourself if this belief seems reasonable. Have other people with less ability achieved more than you? Could it be you www.FindYourIt.com 31 were given bad information even by those who “love” you? You may be surprised what you find to be the “real truth” about what you are asking yourself. You may want to begin to make it a rule to only listen to someone who claims to be an authority on any subject if they can demonstrate their abilities by what they have already accomplished. For example, if you decided that you wanted to learn to fly an airplane, you would probably feel safe if you were taking flying lessons from someone who had already been flying for 5 – 10 years and had a log book of all the hours they had flown, correct ? How would you feel about getting into the cockpit with an instructor that had only flown once but had read every book about flying that you could imagine? Would you really “believe” he could fly with this amount of “proof”? Just make sure you carefully consider all the sources of your information!!! www.FindYourIt.com 32 12. Guard your “It” from any Thief! In the previous chapter, I explained that sometimes, even those close to us do not like to see us succeed. They may not realize they are consciously doing anything to prevent our success when this happens. This is another strange element of the human personality. Some experts have explained that this is the result of another person’s inability to accept your success. They may believe that your success will jeopardize their relationship with you. They may fear that you will never treat them the same once you are “famous”. This flaw of human nature often appears when you “share” your goals and intentions with friends and family. At the first sign of your attempt to break out of what is a “normal” life in their mind, these people may attempt to de-rail your hopes, dreams and aspirations. They will point out all the examples of people they know who have failed in the past when they attempted to achieve the same goal you are planning to accomplish. “It will never work! Save your time and money and do what you know will work for a living,” might be their advice. Or they will point to examples in the past when you tried something similar and failed before. They will not let you forget your shortcomings! You could describe this as a type of jealousy, and you would be partly correct. But the actual fact is, “They are afraid you will succeed!” If you actually do this, you will prove them wrong. You will conceivably be “Buying your Ticket” out of this little one horse town and make it in the Big City, far from their little “patch” of reality. The filters which their mind is using, are telling them they could never do the same as you. This realization strikes such a large amount of fear in your friend’s mind that they act in this manner. It’s their only hope of maintaining their concept of what is real. A comical twist of this phenomenon is the movie “Envy”, starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black. You’ll need to watch it to see my point. www.FindYourIt.com 33 The best defense to prevent this sabotage from happening is ignorance! In other words, don’t share your important dreams with anyone who could be threatened by your success. When you consider who you can really trust with these priceless gems, which are your ideas, you may be surprised how short the list really is! I can’t stress this enough. I truly believe that 90% of individuals who fail, do this because they are told by someone very close to them, that they are foolish to even consider this idea, plan, business venture or anything that may make the person more successful than the person giving them advice! They are programmed to make you fail only because they never see themselves succeeding at anything. To make sure that this risk doesn’t stop your plans before they blossom: Don’t share your dreams with anyone until they are already becoming a reality! This will insure that your dreams are protected and have a fighting chance to becoming reality. Do this and you will never regret the decisions you make to succeed! www.FindYourIt.com 34 13. The Nine Steps to Finding Your “It”! 1. Stop doing everything for ONE ENTIRE DAY and focus all your attention and energy on answering the one question, “What is my IT?” The next step is extremely critical! 2. Before you proceed, block yourself from all outside influence. One day in my life (07/13/08) I was so distracted by everyone and everything, as I was trying to complete this book, that I almost left home and got a hotel room! Instead of doing that, I wrote this step because I now realize that I was attracting these distractions for a reason! Turn off your cell phone. Get away from all TV and radio noise. Close your email and instant message software if you are using a computer. These actions are critical for your undivided attention to function correctly. You will not be able to proceed correctly if you skip this step. Take no shortcuts here! 3. Start by finding a quite place and dress in some very comfortable clothes. Listen to your “inner voice”….. What are your feelings about your current direction in life? Focus this emotion toward a search for what you want it to be. 4. Do not attract “negative” energy or feelings about your current state, but do just the opposite. Focus only on what you are thankful for about everything you are experiencing. Even the small things like having a day off from work. You will only progress to a “higher” level in your journey when you become completely content with where you “are” now! 5. Watch “The Secret” DVD. Go to the library or Blockbuster and get it or buy it the FindYourIt.com/Resources page. You need to really absorb the “Law of Attraction” and understand how finding this book, finding my website, watching “The Secret” and connecting with any other people who brought you here are not random events! These elements are all working together to give you access to this information for a reason! www.FindYourIt.com 35 6. Create a “Want List”. Make a list of everything you would like to have, both material and non-material. Do not attach limitations to anything on this list. For example, instead of saying you want $400,000 / year income, you would say “ I want AT LEAST $400,000 / year income! Make your list as long as you want and do not limit yourself in any way on these desires. Do not overlook the small things that may really make big difference overall! 7. Return to your focus and listen for your “inner voice”. Think back as far as you can remember in your past. When you were a young child, what hopes, dreams and fantasies did you have? Jump from here to your teen years. What did you like (besides girls or boys!) about your experiences that really gave you a zest for life. Try to step though your entire life in 10 year increments. Start as young as, say at least 10 years old. Depending where you are in life, this may take some time. You will undoubtedly note that your hot buttons may change with time. That will be expected. 8. Make a list of these “Its”. List them all in no particular order at first. Study these descriptions and words. Now when you look at these words, which ones bring you any thought of a positive emotion? It must be positive to be considered. Now I want you to think about the word “passion”. What does this word mean to you? Are there any words on your list of “Its” that you can honestly say fit the word passion? Circle any word that you feel brings you passion. 9. This is the final and very important step. You have been working long and hard up to this point. You need to take a break for at least 1 – 2 hours. One and ½ hours is just about right. Do nothing with this material during that time. Go on a walk in the park, take a drive along a scenic road, meet a friend for lunch, go to a movie (but nothing strongly negative), or read something off this topic. The goal here is to free your conscious mind and allow your subconscious to digest everything up to this point. Try not to think about anything you have done with this so far. Now you are complete! Well don’t panic, as I can’t promise the outcome here. Read on! www.FindYourIt.com 36 You have now completed the 9 Step Process. What happens next can be a process of minutes, days or weeks! You may know instantly after completing these steps what you think your “It” really is. However, you may need some time to absorb your thoughts before “It” strikes you. I cannot predict how long this outcome will take because it apparently is a function of the subconscious mind revealing the emotional reaction to these steps. Just be patient, you will arrive with at least one “It” after some amount of time, usually within a few days or weeks. What you do next with this information is the important thing! Living with your “It” could involve some changes. This is likely the subject of a whole new book. What I would encourage you to do would be consider how this new information could be used in your daily life. I will stop short saying you should change your whole life and career to better match the power of your “It”, but that is obviously one solution! What I will say is, “Consider how these internal powers could be used in your present vocation, without making a complete career change. This is far less disruptive to your life and will allow you to make sure you are on the correct path with your findings. I will need to stop here. I must now draw the line and force myself to distribute this book. I have taken far too long to complete this, mainly because of the amount of detail that I wanted to include and because of many other distractions in my current state of affairs. These issues must no longer prevent this information from being released to the World. But I must ask for your help in making this possible. I mentioned earlier that I will be using the Internet to distribute the electronic version of “Find Your It”. This is where you can assist me in this effort: If you truly have been motivated by the message in this book and you believe that you some of your friends of family members could benefit by reading these words, then please send them to: www.FindYourIt.com ! They will then have access to their own copy, and for a LIMITED TIME……… for FREE! Please read the next chapter for full details….. www.FindYourIt.com 37 14. Please SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE !! Maybe the most important message I need to communicate to everyone who is reading this is that FOR A LIMITED TIME, I am offering A FREE ELECTRONIC COPY of this ebook to ANYONE who visits my website. You may copy and email the link below to anyone you know and they will have access to it directly. Copy and send this link: http://www.FindYourIt.com Why is this all FREE for a Limited Time?? The answer is simple. In my own mind, I feel guilty charging everyone for something they already own! It’s just not ethical to do this, in my opinion. If I found a diamond ring which you had lost, would it be right for me to charge you for returning it? In the same way, "Find Your IT" holds a tremendous value to me, far greater than any diamond ring, Rolex watch or even a large amount of money. By giving you this, I will benefit indirectly in so many other ways. It is called the "Law of Reciprocity" which basically states that you will "receive back" all that you give away, plus much, much more! How long is this Limited Time going to last? I want to see the lives of millions of people around the world changed as a result of reading "Find Your It". I would severely limit the number of people reading my book, if I charged for every copy. However, the reality is that my website and the system that supports it will need to grow as the demand for my book hopefully grows. There will be costs associated with this growth and I will attempt to absorb as much of this cost as possible. I am attempting to offset this cost with my personal funds and by offering other related items For Sale online under the Resources section of my website: http://www.FindYourIt.com/resouces . Please visit this page for more details. www.FindYourIt.com 38 With your help, and with enough support through online purchases, I may be able to defer these costs without charging for the sale of “Find Your It” I am also planning to release this book in printed form and I will use a portion of those funds to support the FREE ELECTRONIC version. Hopefully these measures will prevent the need to charge for the electronic version. With your help and support I believe this may be possible and for now I suggest that you share this with your friends since it is still FREE as of this writing! By giving it away, I am offering it to everyone on the Internet. If everyone could use this information to develop their "God given" abilities to their greatest possible level, I truly believe this could help end poverty, end wars and change our World as we know it! Happy and successful people become prosperous people who naturally pass their success on to others. Please Share my website link with Everyone you know! If you truly believe that my book and my website have helped you understand what your passion in life really is, then PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE...Tell everyone you know! Only by sharing this concept, can we change they way people think about themselves and their lives. And then maybe they can change their futures! But, I need your help to do this! Please continue to the Next Page for an Additional Way to Share this! www.FindYourIt.com 39 “Tell a Friend”! There is a second method to share this book with your friends more directly. Please go to my web site, www.FindYourIt.com and access the “Tell a Friend” feature. Just click the “Tell a Friend” tab at the top of the page for more information. I have made this so easy I think my Mother could do it! Your friend will then receive an email with a download link for “Find Your It”, assuming I am still providing it for free. I truly want to Thank You for reading my book. I can only hope and pray that it has the same impact on you as it did for me when I realized how important this concept would be to everyone who reads about “It”! May God Bless You, and may you forever Prosper from Finding Your IT !! Sincerely, John Smart www.FindYourIt.com 40