The Psychology of Survival

DID YOU DO IT?

DID YOU???

• Did you find that financial adviser?
• Did you open that savings account?
• Did you work out how to commit just that little extra to your existing savings
  plan?
• Did you start marketing through your System Ultra K affiliate account?
• Did you read my suggestions and take action?

Did you do all the things needed to get your on-line business off the ground?

WELL DID YOU???

Some of you will have an account open right now. Some of you will, at this moment have savings in the bank. Some of you will be in the enviable position of having already starting to save a few dollars, euros or pounds a week - some will be harnessing the miracle of compound interest we talked about in the previous chapter.

Some of you will have racked your brains to think of ways to find just a couple of dollars in order to sow them on fertile ground.

Some of you will be laying the first slabs of stone , the inception of your very own Great Pyramid.

Not a temple to the king, a temple in honor of you. A POWER TEMPLE, a legacy that will remain long after you are dust in the ground.

Already your income should be starting to grow - If you have marketed an online product or business, especially the ones I suggest your bank balance may now be growing ... slowly at first because the systems takes time to generate the residual income from the repeat subscriptions. Income will be growing, I can guarantee that if you've followed the systems, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it now.

When some of you took the decision to make a difference in your life, to take control of your own destiny, you took a monumental leap.

You stepped out of the light into darkness ... this is unknown territory.

You took a quantum leap. You are learning to fly, and Lord only knows where you’ll be when your feet next touch the ground.

Imagine having left the warmth and sanctuary of your home. Imagine getting into your dependable, reliable motor car - air bags, crumple zones, side impact protection, ABS, traction control. You glide along well drained roads prudently keeping to the speed limits which are rigorously enforced to ensure your continued existence as a taxpaying motorist - after all you are incapable of judging a safe speed for yourself!!!

You arrive at your destination.

The Airport, a marvel of human achievement and engineering. Did you know that the most expensive buildings in the world, per square meter are air traffic control towers?

All that technology, all those people. They’re there to look after you, they’re working 24/7 committed to your survival.

It’s a smooth take off - why shouldn’t it be? The pilot has thousands of hours flying time; he is as highly trained as is humanly possible. He is regularly re-trained. You are in safe hands now.

You’re off on an exciting break. You’ve splashed out and are spending a fun packed weekend skiing in Alaska. What you hadn’t planned on was the catastrophic failure of both starboard engines.

The explosion in the first has taken out the second, and this in turn has severed the main hydraulics to the airfoils. The pilot loses control.

Inevitably, inexorably the plane banks steeply, stalls, and plummets like a stone from the sky.

To make matters worse - as if that were possible! - You are over Northern Canada, and it’s winter. It’s minus thirty out there, although you’d never have known cocooned in the climate controlled body of the beast. The only indication of the conditions outside is the LCD display in the bulkhead which reads ‘FLIPPIN FREEZING’.

The plane hits the side of an icy mountain. The gradient is just right to absorb most of the momentum whilst not too steep as to create a massive impact. Nevertheless, there is an horrific, gut wrenching sound of metal being torn from the framework and the aircraft is blown apart.

Miraculously, you are thrown clear through a gaping gash as the twisted wreckage plummets over the next precipice into oblivion. Everyone else onboard is killed...

...Silence...

You are injured, but not terminally. You are all alone - it’s cold, desperately cold. The terrain is as inhospitable as is survivably possible. This is a barren, icy wasteland and it’s going to kill you if it can.

NOW WHAT THE HELL DO YOU DO???

Some of you will survive.

Some of you won’t.

Some of you will take the necessary steps to continue living, to go on and recount your adventure in front of the open log fire to your grandchildren.

Some of you won’t.

Some of you will be following the steps to total personal and financial freedom.

Some of you won’t!

Although you have forged ahead into the abyss this is not uncharted territory. Others have already been there.

If the great explorers hadn’t gone out and mapped the world, others couldn’t have followed.

Great explorers have charted your map ... you’re reading it right now!

Stepping out of your world is at best intimidating, at worst terrifying. But - to survive doesn’t mean you have to rely solely on wit and intuition. It’s like you’re not the only survivor in that plane crash...

Luckily another person was also thrown clear. Someone else survived and incredibly their limp body landed only a few meters away from you. As you cautiously approach life begins to course through his limbs. His eyes flicker as he regains consciousness. A blush slowly returns to his ashen cheeks.

It turns out that this guy just happens to be a Special Forces Veteran on leave who was flying out to take a well deserved break.

You take him in your arms and talk him round. You manage to get his circulation going and get him to his feet ... WHAM!

The gravity of the situation has hit you like a freight train. You break down uncontrollably. The soldier stays calm, he has been trained to think clearly under pressure. Your new friend brings the awesome might of the military to bear. Hundreds of years of accumulated survival and bush craft skills are drawn down. Over the following days he supports you, helps you and teaches you how to survive until you are found. He leads the way.

He saves your life.

The incredible thing is that getting through this ordeal was just a walk in the park for a special forces soldier. He trained rigorously for this very situation, he has fought in these conditions before and survived numerous times. Once he’d survived the initial crash there was never a doubt of his getting home.

Now the question is, would you follow the soldier or do you think you know a better way?

Some of you are following the rules now and will get to your destination.

Some of you will know better!!!

You’ll know by now that I spent some wonderful years as a yacht skipper in various parts of the world. During many voyages I was blessed with a lot of time with not much to do, especially on the longer ones. I always remember a letter a crew member sent home:



During a particular Atlantic crossing I was running around the boat in the early hours, as one often did, when the enormity of where I was suddenly dawned on me. I was right on the bow with no harness, not recommended but was standard practice for me!!!

It was an eerily still night. The moon had waned to nonexistence and there was only blackness.

There is a beautiful phenomenon which can be seen at sea on nights like these. As the boat pushes through the water tiny plankton-sized sea crustaceans, billions of them light up like fire flies .

It’s called phosphorescence; it’s magical. It is as though the boat is being carried along on a blazing wave of green fire. When dolphins play in front of the bow as it pierces the glassy surface they leave spectacular trails of light.

It’s hypnotic and as I watched a thought hit me like a ton of bricks: "if I fell overboard now where would I be?"

The boat would sail on because it was on autopilot, and it could be hours before anyone realised I was gone. I would be treading water in the middle of an ocean. To get to safety I would have several choices:

1. Swim 1,500 miles back to the Canaries.
2. Swim 1,500 miles on to Barbados
3. Swim North
4. Swim South - well there’s not an awful lot North or South.

Phuuuttttt!!!

I dismissed the thought with a shake of the head. Not healthy thinking when you’re out there.

People survive; they survive impossible conditions - in mountains, in deserts, in oceans, in jungles...

This fascinated me. What is it that makes people so different from each other?

Why do two fit and healthy people with virtually the same attributes cope so differently when the cards are stacked heavily against them?

Why, when two people abandon a sinking ship in a storm for the relative safety of a life raft does one stay alive for months while the other dies within days?

I was intrigued by this and studied many real life survival stories; amazing tales of pain, tenacity and suffering. It never ceases to amaze me how much the human body can endure.

So what is it that makes some go all the way yet leaves others by the wayside?

Eventually the answer dawned upon me, and as it did it took my breath away. It’s almost inconceivable that something so seemingly insignificant can make such a fundamental life or death difference.

It defies belief that the gift the true survivor has is nothing more than this:

THE ABILITY TO BREAK AN EXTRAORDINARY SITUATION DOWN
INTO SMALLER ‘MANAGEABLE’ PARTS.

That’s it!!!

I believe that this is the only difference between the survivor and the dead person.

Stranded person #1 says: "Oh my god, I’m in a life raft with no food and water, thousands of miles from land - we’re all going to die!"

Stranded person #2 says: "Bloody hell we’re in trouble now! This is day number one of what could be a very long wait. What do I need to do today in order to
survive until tomorrow?"

I’m telling you that’s the only difference. I’ve read hundreds of accounts and that’s it; that and a bit of luck!

#1 dies because the task seems too immense.

#2 lives because they don’t dwell on the task as a whole, they concentrate on the smaller things needed to get through TODAY.

They survive that then proceed to concentrate on the next day, the next task - and they survive that.

Their all important ‘overall’ goal is in place - ‘to get back home to family and friends’ - but they get there by tackling each day and each problem as it happens. They deal with them, move on and eventually achieve the ultimate goal - SURVIVAL.

Many people end up in difficult situations and because they sat down on day 1 and said: "Blimey, how am I going to survive 100 days at sea, no food, no water", they were dead by day 3.

If they’d have simply changed one small thing, ‘their attitude’ and said to themselves: "I’ll achieve what needs to be done today, and tackle tomorrow as a fresh set of problems", they’d have stood a far greater chance of getting through.

People have survived against all the odds when many others failed because they broke the task down into small, manageable parts. People have got through 100 days, and more at sea with no food and water because they didn’t let the enormity of the task overwhelm them.

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO BECOME PERSONALLY AND FINANCIALLY FREE???

This is day 1, and that’s the massive task you have to overcome.

If you dwell on this one question I’ll tell you right here, right now that it ain’t going to happen.

You’ll not cope with the enormity of the task and you’ll give up - you’ll fade away and die.

It’s a lot easier to die than survive. There’s no effort required in giving up!!!

To survive and win? Now there’s a whole new ball game!

Your question isn’t: "How do I become a millionaire?"

The question is: "What do I need to do ‘TODAY’ to survive, and what do I need to do to achieve ‘TODAY'S’ goals?"

Get through each day and overcome its obstacles - that’s an achievement,
but do not lose sight of the ‘overall’ plan for tomorrow.

Don’t get so blinkered by the smaller tasks that you lose sight of what you are aiming for. Conquer the small problems of today, you can then go on and survive tomorrow.

You surmount tomorrow’s challenges, tomorrow.

Eventually, when you have made your millions, or whatever your main aim was, you will look back.

You will have achieved that ambition by overcoming hundreds of little goals, one by one.

You’ll look back and see that all those days you struggled and survived cumulatively broke the back of hopelessness.

What small steps do you need to take TODAY in order to achieve the great goal of tomorrow?

Rules For Survival