Change Your Life in Seven Days: An Excerpt From a New Bestseller by Paul McKenna

This book that has the power to change your life forever.

Does that seem like an outlandish claim? So many of the people I’ve guided to achieving their desires started out wondering how it is possible and ended up astounding themselves. Now it’s your turn. Don’t underestimate the power of the system in this book- I promise you, it will change your life!

Success and happiness are not accidents that just ‘happen’ to some people and not to others – they are predictable results created by deliberate ways of thinking and acting, ways that I’ll be sharing with you over the next seven days. As the saying goes, success is all about luck — ask any failure!

Can I Really Change My Life in Seven Days?

People are always amazed on my seminars when we cure lifelong phobias in less than an hour, or clear up supposedly “deep-seated issues” in just a few days. But most people can think of a time when their lives changed in just a few moments. Perhaps it was getting a new piece of important information, or meeting a special someone and knowing that your life will never again be the same.

Here is the reason why change can happen so quickly:

The changes which matter most are more often changes in perception than changes in the world outside us. And we can change the way we perceive the world in a heartbeat.

In fact, the myth that it takes a long time to change has only been around for about 100 years, when Freudian analysis became the dominant influence in the treatment of psychosomatic illness. What makes this point of view ironic is that the goal of psychoanalysis has never been to change people, but rather to help them gain a deeper understanding of why they are the way they are. In my work, understanding is the booby prize!

Sometimes even a small change can make a huge difference. For example, imagine you and another person are driving along two straight roads, stretching side by side off into the infinite distance. Now imagine that one of those roads shifts even a tiny bit away from the other. At first the difference might seem imperceptible. But over time, that small change in direction would take you to an entirely different destination than the other person.

The techniques contained in Change Your Life in Seven Days are state of the art, offering not only the latest software but a whole new operating system for your body and mind.

***image1***Each day, you will make tiny changes, changes which may be imperceptible to you at first. But as you continue moving forward, you will begin to realize just how far you have already come and just how much you have changed.

Let’s face it – if you do virtually anything consistently for seven days it will change you. What makes this system different is that many of the techniques you will be learning as you read will go on working, helping you long after you stop using them. Over the next seven days the actions you take will set up a wave of change in your life that will in turn effect many other areas of your life that in turn effect others. Just as an oil tanker takes a little while to start moving, it becomes difficult to stop once it builds up sufficient momentum.

A Question of Perspective

One of the most powerful framing tools we all use on a daily basis is also one of the simplest – the power of questions.

Questions determine the focus of our perception, as well as the amount of success, love, fear, anger, joy or wonder that we experience on an ongoing basis. Some of the people I meet and work with are stuck or in pain because they are continually asking themselves negatively orientated questions.

Consider the question ‘Why can’t I do this?’ This question assumes that a) there is something to be done and b) you can’t do it.

In order to even understand the question, your mind automatically begins to search out all the reasons why ‘you can’t do’ whatever it is that you perceive needs to be done. No matter what answer you give, you are accepting the basic premise of the question.

Alternatively, imagine asking yourself ‘How can I most easily make this work?’ This question pre-supposes that a) ‘this can work’, b) ‘there are a number of ways this can work’, and c) ‘it can be done easily’. These assumptions or pre-suppositions act as a directional compass and your mind then searches for how to make things work.

Questions direct your focus, and you always get more of what you focus on in life. If your quality of life is poor, examine your inner questions ask yourself how much more empowering can you make them.

Some examples of common, but unhelpful, questions are :

Why does this always happen to me? Why don’t I like myself? Why can’t I ever lose weight?

Now, ask yourself a new question:

“How can I ask this in a way that points towards the positive?”

So let’s learn how questions can empower us. Start by asking questions that pre-suppose the positive like:

What is the most elegant way I can solve this problem? How many different ways of solving this problem can I come up with? How can I most easily stop doing ____?

These questions make your brain sort for different information and put you in a different and more resourceful state. If you are not happy with the answer you are getting back, you can either change the question or keep asking until you are. Your brain will keep searching for you until a useful answer has been found.

Possibility Questions

One of the differences between geniuses like Einstein and many of the other scientists of his day was that he asked smarter questions. The type of question Einstein particularly excelled at are what I call ‘possibility questions’. These are questions which focus the mind on what is possible but may not have ever before been considered.

Think of a situation where you’ve been feeling a bit stuck and ask yourself the following possibility questions:

“What would happen if this just wasn’t a problem anymore?”

“What would it take for everything to be alright?”

“If I knew there was a simple solution, what would it be?

“What haven’t I thought of yet?

“If I made an astounding breakthrough in this area, what would it be like?”

Remember the golden rule:

You always get more of what you focus on in life .

So it’s vitally important to acknowledge and concentrate on your successes, great and small — on what’s really healthy and rewarding around you.

“Whether you think you can or you

think you can’t, you’re probably right.”

– Henry Ford

Empowering Questions

Here is a technique you can use to put the power of a positive perspective to work in your own life, starting now. I ask myself these questions every morning , they force you to go in to a positive state in order to answer them. The more specific you are the richer the positive state you will create!

Who or what in my life makes me feel happiest?Who or what in my life makes me feel most loved?Who or what in my life makes me feel richest?Who or what in my life makes me feel most passionate? Who or what in my life makes me feel most empowered ?

As I answer each question, I build up a vivid representation of whatever it is I am thinking about, then amplify it. For example, when I am thinking about what really makes me feel happy, then I make the colours brighter, the sounds louder, and the feelings stronger. By the time I’ve asked and answered each question, my entire outlook has changed for the better and I’m ready to take on the day!

A New Perspective on Relationships

The secret of getting on well with others is to be able to see the world through their eyes, or as the Native American’s put it, “to walk a mile in their moccasins.”

The power of perspective helped the great Indian leader Gandhi become a legendary negotiator. Seeing from many perspectives gave him flexibility in his thinking and actions that helped him to become a powerful negotiator. Some say he even brought about the end of the British Empire because he was flexible enough to imagine seeing things from the perspective of his opponents. During the negotiations over the future of India, he would view the situation from every possible perspective, even imagining himself standing over the shoulder of his negotiation partners and sitting in their seats until he felt he almost ‘knew their thoughts’. Because he took the time to prepare so thoroughly, it was as though he had an answer for all of their considerations and concerns before discussions started.

In my own experience, I believe that when attempting to see a situation from the viewpoint of others it is important to bear one thing in mind:

People do what they do in order to achieve some purpose or fulfil some need.

I personally prefer to believe that most people have a positive intention behind their behaviour, even when they are taking a position that seems contentious or contrary to our own best interests. When I encounter a situation such as that I often ask myself; “What beneficial intention could be behind this behaviour?” This helps me to approach the conflict from a much more resourceful perspective.

If you’re currently experiencing a conflict in one of more of your relationships, put this simple exercise to the test:

Putting Your Relationships Into Perspective

1. Think of somebody you are having a problem with. Return to the situation where you had a conflict or imagine that person is standing in front of you now. See what you see, hear your internal dialogue, and take note of how you feel. Now float up out of your self and let those feelings go.

2. Next, float in to the shoes of that person you don’t get along with. If you like, you can even imagine putting on their head like a virtual reality helmet. Notice how the world looks from their perspective. See yourself through their eyes. What might they be saying to themselves about the situation? How does it feel to be in their shoes? Now float out of that person and let those feelings go.

3. Next, think of someone whose intelligence and wisdom you admire. It can be a friend, mentor or even a character from history. Step into their shoes and imagine they are watching the two of you interact. How would they perceive this situation as a neutral observer? Move to a position where you can see both yourself and the person you were having the problem with. Observe what’s going on with ‘those people over there’. What’s are they doing? What kinds of things are they saying to another? What kinds of insight do you gain inside the mind of this wise mentor? What advice do they have for you?

4. Finally, take what you’ve learned and step back in to your own shoes. Look at that person you were having the problems with in new ways, and choose at least one thing to say or do to move towards a happy resolution.