W01.04 9 Ways to Distract Your Self, Verses 1 Way to Propel Your Self.

In yesterday’s blog, I urged you to put “making money from teaching Alexander Technique” as your first or second priority. It seems easy to do, but as in all processes of change, what you are already doing prevents you. As Alexander sagely commented: “You can't do something you don't know, if you keep on doing what you do know”. What are you already doing?

Many of you - as I did - blame your difficulty to make money on Alexander Technique itself, or on a unenlightened society, or disinterested people. These things are only true if you decide they are true. It’s that simple. You have the power to change that. Isn’t it wonderful to know you can move out of the victim role into an entrepreneur role? (even if a reluctant one!)

But how do you make that move?

You start collecting information on behaviours that distract you from making money out of Alexander Technique. Today I am offering you a list of 9 such behaviours. I know that making money is not the most important thing for you - and I am glad of that. My point today is that you can’t have too many additional things you want aside from the money objective. Something has to give way for that objective to rise up as your second priority. When you make this change, the ramifications can be huge - be ready for that. One reason I lost my marriage was because of this.

You need to prioritize making money out of teaching Alexander Technique if you want to make money out of teaching Alexander Technique. It sounds simple, because it is simple. If this is not happening for you, then obviously you have other things you give a higher priority too. And there’s nothing wrong with that either - I am not making any moral judgments here. What you do is up to you. I am just pointing out how it works. You are reading my blog because you want to earn your living from Alexander Technique - so I am giving it to you straight.

Of these nine behaviours, you may operate several: they all have an upside and a downside. I have tried to show that relationship. The upside is noble, the downside is distracting. We all work towards the noble, but make sure it produces income too!

Therefore, after clarifying your noble calling, you need say: “I want to make money from teaching Alexander Technique so I can [noble calling]”. Then every decision you make towards your noble calling is filtered through the success driver of "will this support me too?", rather than through one or several of the other filters listed below…

(First comes the noble intention - then the way that intention can distract you.)

1. You want everyone to get along - it makes you lazy, reluctant to commit to anything.

2. You want to set the world right - it makes you angry, unable to see how things are.

3. You want people to care - it makes you prideful, willing to sacrifice your welfare.

4. You want to be number one - it makes you conceited, putting “show” over “substance”.

5. You want to be “original” - it makes you envious, and dismissive of others.

6. You want to know the most - it makes you miserly, holding back information from others.

7. You want to seek justice - it makes you hate, dividing your world into white and black.

8. You want to be creative - it makes you greedy, unable to stick at anything for long.

9. You want to be in control - it makes you paranoid, unable to co-operate with others.

List these from 1 to 9 in terms of their relevance to you. Can you insert “I want to make money from Alexander Technique at the first or second position? Your new success driver becomes: “I want to make money from teaching Alexander Technique so that I can (insert your pick here)”. Some of you will find what I am writing about incomprehensible at first - I know I did. That incomprehension is the start of a change process - welcome it, savour it, dissect it, explore it. This is an exercise in awareness, that is all. A wake up call into a new life…

My personal plan is to end my life making over a million dollars a year from Alexander Technique - I can already see my path to that outcome. I am sure I will be one of hundreds to follow. When the British Medical Journal points out that the application of Alexander's discoveries could save the British National Health Service billions of pounds - and that is just one country - there is no question in my mind that there are fortunes to be made. You could be one of those people. It really is up to you.

TOMORROW: My 12 Case Studies of Real Live Alexander Technique Teachers…

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