Brand New You

Adam Eason is running the 2009 London Marathon

Just a quick note to ask readers of this blog to sponsor Adam Eason as he is running the 2009 London Marathon. Find out more and sponsor him as he raises money for an amazing charity by clicking here.

Learn to Speed Read

I have to say I’m impressed. Joseph Clough of Empoweringsounds.com was kind enough to provide me with review copies of his “Achieve Speed Reading”, “Enhance Learning and Revision” and “Overcome Exam Stress” titles. I’m also very grateful for Joseph for his offer to help me get the most out of the Join Martin Challenge.

I’ve been using hypnosis, NLP and other similar personal development techniques for 11 years now. I realise it might sound a bit “trite” to say so but they helped me change my life. All the successes in my life and all the achievements belong to me and hypnosis can never turn me into something I’m not. But it has helped me believe in myself enough to take the opportunity and take a chance on the many occasions I have felt unsure about which direction to take.

When you’ve been using hypnosis and hypnosis products for 11 years, you get used to them. Some (like those produced by Adam Eason, Glenn Harrold, Steve G Jones, Adam Sargant, Hypnoshop.com and Roseanna Leaton) are amazing. Others, such as the odd hypnosis CD I’ve bought off ebay, have been less than great. So, when I downloaded Joseph’s “Achieve Speed Reading” title onto my iPod, I didn’t know what to expect. Of course, there was every chance the product would be good. But would it impress me? Would it have the wow factor?

The simple answer is: yes. Joseph’s product had the wow factor. An interview with Joseph will hopefully appear on this blog soon but for now, find out more information at www.empoweringsounds.com.

This article previously appeared on Join Martin.

Get fit for the new year

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Welcome

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Welcome: Welcome to a Brand New Year and a Brand New You. Journalist Marty Drury has spent 12 years "experiencing" self improvement products and techniques from all over the world. He's listened to the brilliant and the down-right-awful and he's met, interviewed and befriended many experts in the self development industry. If you're looking to improve your life but aren't sure where to turn, this is the place on the web for you.

After years of research, Marty is an expert on the best the self development world has to offer and you can find links to the products and services Marty currently recommends throughout this website (for Glenn Harrold and Paul McKenna products click on the widgets on the far left of this site. To visit the other recommended websites, click the links in the navigation bar running across the top of this site).

If you've got a hypnosis, personal development or self improvement product you'd like us to sample and review, email martydrury@mail.com with your details.We'd love to hear from you.

This site is about so much more than product reviews. This site is the record of a personal, on going journey. In collaboration with the Beyond The Question Blog: Believer Not An Idiot, I'm putting all things personal development and all things spiritual to the test in an attempt to get what I want out of life. Can we really live the life we want? Is success all in the mind? Find out here and share in my journey.

Thank you for choosing a Beyond The Question Blog. Beyond The Question is launching in stages so we appreciate your patience as the blogs come online.

There's Still Time To Join Martin On His Language Learning Challenge. Join Martin here.

See Adam Eason in action

Watch Glenn Harrold videos on Youtube

Visit Glenn's websites:

www.hypnosisaudio.com

www.divinitihealth.co.uk

Resolutions bad for your health?

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Resolutions bad for your health? Can making a commitment to change in 2009 be bad for your health? The mental health charity "Mind" seem to think so according to this article published on the BBC News website.

The charity said: "resolutions which focus on issues such as the need to lose weight or job worries create a negative self-image and if the plans fail to materialise, that could trigger feelings of failure and inadequacy."

Mind do wonderful work and far be it from me to disparage them but is what they are saying basically: "don't try anything because you might fail and that might make you feel bad?" I fell over and hurt myself quite a bit whilst I was learning to walk. I looked like a right idiot as I somehow pulled myself back up onto my feet and tried again. My self image, had I been old enough to comprehend such a power, would no doubt have been screaming at me that it was under attack from the thoughts of a group of assembled adults. Half thought I was cute and half thought I took some perverse delight in falling over and hitting things with my body.

Paul Farmer, Mind's Chief Executive, says: "We chastise ourselves for our perceived shortcomings and set unrealistic goals to change our behavior, so it's not surprising that, when we fail to keep resolutions, we end up feeling worse than when we started."

Granted. We are often too hard on ourselves. Granted. We focus on perceived shortcomings when, 9 times out of 10, those shortcomings either don't matter to other people or else don't exist in the first place. We do tend to see our differences from others as "problems" rather than expressions of our individuality. But is Mind's Chief Executive really arguing against the setting of goals?

Isn't the setting of goal a pretty good antidote to personal insecurities? Isn't such an action a pretty blunt statement of: I think I'm good enough to try this out and, hopefully, succeed at it? What about motivation? Mind's alternatives to New Year's Resolutions include "being more active",  "going green", "learn something new" and "give back to the community". Without a goal of some sort, there's very little motivation to stay active for extended periods of time or to take up and enjoy exercise. Surely going green is part of a goal to save money and try and improve the state of the planet? 

My language learning challenge (www.joinmartin.wordpress.com) would have gone nowhere fast and attracted little interest had it not had a goal at its heart. Lastly, giving back to the community with no thought of return for yourself is, of course, admirable. But where's the motivation to keep going? What do you want to achieve by giving back to the community? Do you want to raise funds for a charity? Improve a children's play area? Perhaps you'd like to volunteer? What's your goal and what's your motivation?

That isn't to say that we should suddenly take on a military mindset about this whole endeavor. Oh no. Plans change and it's important we remain flexible enough to adapt to that change. For instance, you're goal is to save enough to buy an expensive car. However, a few weeks into your saving regime, you spot a much better car on sale for half price. What do you do? Continue saving until you can afford the original car you set your heart on or change your plans and buy the other car? 

Should we have targets? Yes but this is not a competition. This is personal development. A process that can take a life time. Indeed, that's pretty much the point. If you can't speak French right now that doesn't mean you're an incomplete or bad person. Not being able to speak French isn't evidence of personal failure. Personal development isn't just about the person. By setting goals and having targets and taking actions, you influence other people and the world around you. You stimulate change, you meet new friends and you discover more about yourself.

Mind know more about mental health and safeguarding our mental health than I do so I must assume they know best and, like I said, far be it from me to disparage them or their advice. Please read the article and take heed of it if any of it should speak to you. For that is the irony of this whole thing, this article has a goal and there's motivation behind it: the motivation to make sure our minds remain healthy. Perhaps goals are a good thing after all?

Image copyright BBC News Online 2009.

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