Hollywood legend Morgan Freeman didn’t always want to be an actor. As a young black man growing up in the American South in the 1950’s, you can imagine that he wasn’t starting out with the best of advantages. But that didn’t deter him, because what he wanted more than anything, was to become a fighter pilot. 

He joined the US Air Force at age 16, as an engineer, and studied and worked hard until finally, at age 21, he was given the opportunity he’d dreamed of for so long – to train as a pilot. Given the prejudice and barriers in place at that time, this was an incredible achievement. But as he sat in the cockpit of the plane for the first time, a transformation came over him. A fundamental change took place. This wasn’t what he wanted at all.

Freeman realised that he was sitting in a machine designed specifically to kill and destroy. That would be his job – his role in life. And that wasn’t the idea he’s fallen in love with. What Freeman had fallen in love with was some Hollywoodesque notion of what a fighter pilot was and represented – how they were seen, perceived and treated. He wanted to play the role of a fighter pilot, but without having to do what a fighter pilot does. He walked out on the US Air Force that day and never went back.

Here’s another story. I suspect this one isn’t true, but it further illustrates the point I’m hoping to make.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his catch. “How long did it take you to get those?” he asked. “Not so long,” said the Mexican. “Then why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was quite enough to meet his needs and feed his family.

“So what do you do with the rest of your time?” asked the American. “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evening, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar and sing a few songs. I have a full life.” 

The American interrupted. “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”

“And after that?” asked the Mexican. “With the extra money the bigger boat will bring, you can buy a second boat and then a third boat, and then more until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants. Pretty soon you could open your own plant. You could leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York! From there you could direct your whole enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican. “Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American. “And after that?” mused the fisherman.

“Afterwards? Well, my friend,” laughed the American, “that’s when it gets really interesting. When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” said the Mexican. “After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a beautiful place near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take siestas with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends.”

We all have goals and aspirations. We often spend years dreaming about them and working towards them, but without giving a great deal of thought to the key questions…

Why do I WANT this? Do I REALLY want this?

These are uncomfortable questions because they get right to the heart of who we are, what really motivates us, and what we really want out of life.

Morgan Freeman discovered that he didn’t actually want to be a fighter pilot, he’d just bought into a myth about what a pilot was and wanted the status, prestige and standing that a pilot enjoyed. The Mexican fisherman realised what the American tourist couldn’t yet see… that he already had what great wealth would bring – the time and freedom to live exactly as he pleased. He didn’t need to invest the 20 years of blood, sweat and tears to become wealthy to get the benefits he wanted. So what about you?

What are you dreaming about or working towards? If it’s a particular business or career, do you really want to go into that business or career? Or when you think deeply about it, are you doing it to garner some social or financial benefits that you feel will come with it. And if that’s the case, is there some (perhaps easier or more palatable) way you can enjoy these same benefits without spending a huge portion of your irreplaceable life working towards something you don’t really want?

Morgan Freeman discovered his outlet through acting. The Mexican fisherman was smart enough to realise that he already had what he wanted. Very few people do this – unless they happen to be fictional characters, created to make an important point! So again, what about you? 

What do you really want? Is it to be at the top of the ladder you’re currently climbing? And even if it is, might there be another ladder somewhere else that gets you exactly where you want to be without the steep climb or the feeling of vertigo when you get to the top. These are questions that only you can answer, but I hope I’ve at least given you a reason to ask them.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

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Dear Streewise Customer,

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Kind Regards

 John Harrison – Streetwise Publications

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If you’ve ever visited Edinburgh, I’d be prepared to bet you’ve also visited its castle. Most visitors do. It’s one of the most photographed buildings in the UK and famous around the world. It’s on the tick list of every self-respecting North American, Australian or Japanese tourist. So would it surprise you to learn that 20% of people living in Edinburgh have never visited it?

If I look out of the window right in front of me as I write, I can see The Magna Science and Adventure Centre. Whilst it’s not quite on a par with Edinburgh Castle, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the North of England. And yet less than half the people in my office have ever visited it. They could walk there, and yet more have visited Alton Towers than the attraction on their doorstep. So what’s going on here?

Between 1900 and 1925 a gentleman by the name of Russell Conwell delivered the same iconic speech around 5,000 times. And the fact that 20% of Edinburgh’s residents haven’t visited the castle, 50% of my staff haven’t visited Magna (and someone sitting six feet from me right now has been to most corners of Europe, America and the Far East, but has never visited the Yorkshire Dales) suggests the message Conwell delivered, in that oft-repeated speech, is as relevant today as when it was first delivered. What’s more, it’s a message that could be the key that unlocks a number of financial, psychological and social treasure chests for you.

Conwell’s speech centred on the apparently true story of a North African farmer who became frustrated at being poor. He heard tales of how other farmers had made millions by going out and discovering diamond mines, and got very excited by them. In fact he became so excited that he couldn’t wait to sell his farm and go out prospecting himself. With his farm hastily sold, he set off to roam the African continent, searching for those elusive diamonds. He had no success, and several years later, tired, beaten and disillusioned, he threw himself in a river and drowned.

Meanwhile, things were going a little better for the man who bought the farm. One day, he was walking across his newly acquired land when he spotted an attractive blue and red rock on the bed of a small stream. He didn’t know what it was, but liked the look of it and so picked it up, took it home and placed it on his mantelpiece as an ornament. A few weeks later, a visitor to the farm picked up the rock and almost fainted. He asked the owner if he knew what it was… he didn’t. The visitor told him that it was a huge rough diamond – as it turned out the largest ever discovered – a fact that was of intense interest to the owner as there were hundreds of similar stones in the stream. The farm, which the original owner abandoned in search of diamonds, turned out to be the source of one of the largest diamond mines in the whole of Africa.

I’m sure you can see what pulls all this together. The human psyche default position seems to tend towards attempting to fulfil wants, needs and aspirations externally. The unwritten, underlying subtext is clear –the answers to our needs and problems are to be found far away. They can’t possibly be close or we would already be benefiting from them. I can’t pretend to understand the psychology of this, something to do with taking for granted what we already have and over-valuing what others have perhaps, but whatever it is, it creates it’s own reality.

So what’s to be done about it? Well let’s stick with the farm analogy for a moment. Your farm might be a business, a job, a relationship, a house or something else that’s important to you. Heck, it might even be a farm!

Have you really had a good look around your farm recently? Do you know everything that’s there? Might there be undiscovered diamonds lying hidden in areas you haven’t recently explored? Might the diamonds be in the rough and difficult, at first, to spot? Do you know anyone who might be able to help identify and then polish these rough diamonds? Do other farms only look good from a distance? Might the diamonds in other farms be just as difficult to harvest once you get there?

The truth is that when you see other folk showing off their diamonds, they don’t necessarily have a better farm than you. But what they’ve learned to do is:

1. Search their farm properly

2. Recognise what rough diamonds look like

3. Polish these rough diamonds effectively.

You see, it’s only when you’ve done all this that it makes sense to move off the farm. Every one of us is sitting on our own personal ‘field of diamonds’. No two are exactly the same. Your knowledge, skills, experience, contacts, strengths, weaknesses, interests and preferences all determine your field’s boundaries. And the great thing is that to mine this field, you don’t have to go anywhere. Because the excavation tool you need is located right between your ears.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

“Is This The Fastest Way To a Luxury Retirement?”

Dear Streewise Customer,

Did you know that by doubling your money, you’re only 16 steps from turning £100 into more than £1,600,000 – (THAT’S ONE MILLION SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS!)…

This powerful wealth strategy is THE fastest way to a luxury retirement. What’s more, it’s now available in one full package for the very first time.

Let me introduce you to one of my most trusted insider sources. To meet him visit:

www.streetwisenews.com/onemillion

It took me a while to arrange this invitation, so I hope you’re going to take advantage of it. Don’t waste this chance, you’ve just been referred to someone who can change your life.

Kind Regards

 John Harrison – Streetwise Publications

PS This comes with a full cast iron money back guarantee. Take a look today with no risk what so ever.

My daughter’s school choir wasn’t behaving well, and their teacher wasn’t happy…

“You lot are a disgrace, ”he complained. “You only behave properly when there are visitors here. I went to another school last week and you should have seen those children. Well-behaved, polite and a pleasure to be around… not like you rabble. Why can’t you be like that?”

There was silence in the room, until one young girl, aged seven, had the courage to raise her hand. “Yes? ”said the teacher, more than a little irritated. “But sir, ”she protested, “you were the visitor!”

The seven-year-old had identified what millions of adults fail to grasp, that the grass only seems greener on the other side of the fence. When you get to look at it properly, more often than not it’s just a brown and weed-ridden, as you perceive your field to be.

Most people are keen to create a positive impression. That means they tend to emphasise the positive and hide or suppress the negative when presenting themselves and their lives to others. As an outsider, you rarely get a realistic impression. You’re not going to get a true picture of their school and you’re not going to get a true picture of their life either.

It’s very tempting to look at someone else’s life, business, job or relationship with envy. From the outside it can look more fulfilling, simple, lucrative or whatever it is that you feel yours isn’t. But you must always bear in mind that as a ‘visitor’, you can’t possibly see the full picture. That can only come when you get inside, and stay there for some time – when you get beneath the beautifully presented veneer surface.

People who neglect what’s underneath this veneer often spend their lives being seduced by the surface only to be disappointed by the harsh reality beneath. And what’s worse is, they repeat the same cycle over and over.

The key is to understand that, in most situations, you’re the ‘visitor’, and to treat what you hear, see and experience accordingly. This doesn’t mean replacing open-mindedness with cynicism, but it does mean abandoning the rose-tinted specs. Equally important is the necessity to fairly evaluate and appreciate what you already have. It’s a shame if you have to go to the trouble of clambering over the fence, before you can appreciate how green your own grass really is. And sometimes, the climb back over, is less than straightforward.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

Dear Streewise Customer, 

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a guy making an astonishing claim. He claimed to be making £3,000-£6,000 a month using a gambling system which, when used correctly, could never lose!

Needless to say, there were all sorts of questions flying around my head…

 . Is there really no risk?

 . Did he have proof?

 . Can anyone do it?

 . How is it done exactly?

For the answers take a look here:

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I’ve seen detailed video evidence of this being done and it’s no exaggeration  to say that this is the holy grail.

If you hate losing, you’re going to love this.

Take a look now. 

Kind Regards

 John Harrison 

   P.S I’ve arranged for you to try this out risk free for the next 90 days.
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You’ve no idea how lucky you are that I’m here today writing this, because if it weren’t for Steve Ashman and the insatiable appetite of the Skegness slot machines, my life would almost certainly have taken a completely different path. I think I’d better explain.

Back in the days of flared trousers and platform shoes I harboured ambitions of becoming a pop star. I had the electric guitar, knew five chords (two more than Status Quo) and had practised signing my autograph to the point of inducing repetitive strain injury. I was ready. All I needed now was a band.

As luck would have it, I was surrounded by four equally deluded mates, one of whom couldn’t play anything at all but who lived in a pub with a perfect rehearsal room. Obviously, he’d be the lead singer. We were ready to go – all apart from one thing.

Steve Ashman was to be our drummer – a drummer who had just one thing standing between him and rock super-stardom – he didn’t own a set of drums. Rumour had it, that he’d once owned a set, but had traded them in at the local swap shop for some fishing tackle and an air pistol. Not a problem though. He’d saved £50 from his summer job on a burger van and would use that to obtain the missing piece in our jigsaw… just as soon as he returned from his holiday in Skegness. I think you can probably guess the rest.

When Steve returned from Skegness he didn’t have a penny to his name, all £50 had been donated to the amusement arcade owner’s benevolent fund. And that was it – the dream was over. The world had lost what would almost certainly have become one of the all-time great bands. And all for the want of a set of drums.

I was thinking about that while watching a TV programme called Before They Were Famous.

I’m sure you have probably seen it, or shows like it. The idea is that they dig into the archives and find footage of famous people before they made it ‘big’, and here’s what’s interesting. No matter who the ‘star’ is – no matter how they might seem to have burst onto the scene from nowhere, there’s always plenty of footage.

One show featured, amongst others, Ricky Gervais, who nobody had either seen or heard of before The 11 O’Clock Show and The Office. And yet, there he was on a TV show from the early 1980s as a singer in a New Romantics-style group… twenty years before he became an ‘overnight success’. It’s the same story with all the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent-type show contestants. The impression given is that they’ve all just walked in off the street for their one and only shot at fame and fortune. But, once the winners have been chosen, the old video clips start to surface. And what you see time and again is evidence of a life dedicated to the pursuit of fame: childhood TV advertisements, small appearances in plays and soap operas, singing and dancing spots on various TV shows. In fact, anything which furthers their craving for fame.

The point I’m trying to make is this. It takes years of effort and sacrifice to become an overnight success. When you see someone burst from nowhere to great success, you’re only seeing the very tip of a massive iceberg. And what lurks below the surface is the hard work and persistence that put that person in a position to break through and give the impression that it was all fairly effortless.

If by some miracle, I do become a star of either stage or screen, there would be no appearances on Before They Were Famous for me, because I’ve never done anything anybody ever thought was remotely worth filming! Contrary to my opening remarks, if I’d had even the slightest talent or aptitude for life as a rock god, I wouldn’t have let Steve Ashman’s deficiency in the drum department hold me back. I’d have found another drummer, or raised the £50 we needed some other way. I’d have persisted.

Fact is, it was one of those daft pipe dreams that all teenage lads have, and I had neither the talent nor the commitment to even give myself a ghost of a chance of success. I gave up at the very first hurdle – it just wasn’t easy enough for me. Overnight success is a perception for the audience, but never a reality for the performer.

I’m sure you’re ahead of me here, but this holds true for whatever it is that you’re striving for. There will be setbacks, failures and disappointments along the road to achieving success in every field. There will be an apprenticeship to serve, almost certainly some pain and anguish to endure.

But when you get there, when you reach your goal, all your ‘audience’ will see is the success. They won’t see anything of what went in to achieving it.

A lot of people give up on what they’re trying to achieve because they spend too much time in the ‘audience’. Whatever field you’re in, you nearly always spend quite a bit of time in the ‘audience’ before taking the plunge as a ‘performer’. And from the audience’s perspective, success is easily obtained. Just the tip of the iceberg is visible remember. Now, step over the threshold from audience member to performer, from spectator to player, from wage slave to businessperson and it all comes as a bit of a shock. The success doesn’t come anywhere near as quickly as it appears to everyone else. You’re still coming to this from the perspective of a spectator remember… a place where only the end result is visible. And so the temptation, the instinct, is to give up because your spectator’s expectations have come up against the harsh reality of life as a player. And you’re just not prepared for it.

I remember very well being totally demoralised when my first attempts at making some money by my own efforts (rather than just turning up and being given a salary at the end of the month) didn’t get the results I felt they deserved. I looked around at the other people who’d stepped out of the audience to become performers, and couldn’t believe that they were prospering so well while I was struggling. But what I couldn’t see was the ‘iceberg of struggle’ that had already taken place for them in the past, and which to a certain extent, was still taking place on a daily basis.

I said earlier, that if I were to become famous, there would be no old video clips to show. Well I didn’t become famous, but I have had some business success. There are no video clips, but there’s plenty of evidence of earlier efforts to create an independent income that resulted in less than glittering success. There was the dating agency, and the CV writing business and the multi-level marketing business and the… no… it’s too painful to go on!

Now to be fair, some of these efforts couldn’t be called a failure… but just like Robbie Williams’ appearance as a dancer on children’s TV, they do look fairly pathetic in the light of what was to come later. But they were a necessary stage in the transition from audience member to competent performer.

Sadly, most people are so traumatised by the reality of taking the first steps to becoming a performer – it’s so much more difficult than they expect – that they give up very quickly; often believing that the established performers must have had some lucky break or advantage they don’t know about. How else can you explain the ease of their ‘overnight’ success?’

The answer is that all massive overnight success is the end result of years of ‘invisible’ experimentation, persistence and hard work. And there’s little point in stepping out of the audience and onto the stage unless you’re mentally prepared for that reality.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

 Dear Streetwise Customer, 

Imagine if your betting profits were a nailed on 100% certainty…that you wereguaranteed to never lose a bet…and that there was a totally fool proof system youcould deploy that would only ever win or break even at worst. Well thanks to a rule which every bookmaker in the UK is forced to follow, you dont have to imagine it.

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For full details Visit:  

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Take a look now. You’re going to love this one!

Very Best Wishes,

John Harrison

Streetwise Publications

A key theme in just about every self-help or self-improvement book is goal setting, and it’s easy to understand why. If you don’t know where you want to go, how can you expect to find your way, or indeed, know when you’ve arrived? But it’s a more complex process than you might think, and an over-emphasis on the achievement of goals is something of a red herring that can lead you along the wrong psychological track. 

Your life is made up of a series of journeys. Sometimes you embark on them one after the other, and at other times they’re concurrent. Each journey usually has a goal or target attached. It could be the attainment of a qualification, a promotion, a new job, buying a house or other asset, perfecting a skill or ability, building a saleable business, achieving recognition in your field, progressing a relationship to the next level, achieving financial security, or something else. It’s perfectly natural to become focused on the destination but a big mistake to neglect the journey.

The nature of worthwhile goals is that they are rarely achieved quickly. The journey to each is what life is all about, but many people miss out on much of what it has to offer – because their focus is on where they want to go. The irony is that reaching the destination is almost inevitably an anti-climax. There is invariably an: “Is that it?”moment when you realise you’ve reached your goal and it doesn’t feel how you expected it to.

Few achievements can match the expectation and anticipation, and this feeling of slight deflation is then replaced with a realisation that this isn’t the end of the journey at all; it’s a brief stop-off before embarking on the next leg. Once you’ve arrived at one destination, it’s vital that you immediately embark on another journey. There’s no ultimate destination– not in this life at least. The journey is the thing.

All of this may sound negative, but it isn’t. It’s merely to alert you to the fact that the journey is what really matters. Destinations are merely brief stops on a longer route and it’s only by going on the journey and experiencing the highs, lows, successes and failures along the way, that you can really appreciate the destination. So take the time to enjoy and appreciate the journeys you embark upon.

By all means, garner all your efforts to reach your destination quickly and smoothly, but not at the expense of looking out of the window every now and again and stopping off to enjoy all the fascinating stuff along the route. When you look back on any achievement or goal you have reached it will be the journey you’ll remember, not the ultimate destination. If you start out with the right attitude, it’s within your power to make those memories great ones.

Kind Regards

John Harrison  

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

 Dear Streetwise Customer, 

Imagine if your betting profits were a nailed on 100% certainty…that you wereguaranteed to never lose a bet…and that there was a totally fool proof system youcould deploy that would only ever win or break even at worst. Well thanks to arule which every bookmaker in the UK is forced to follow, you dont have to imagine it.

Becouase It’s The Loophole To End All Loopholes! 

And for reasons I’ll explain fully, it’s a loophole that’s open to anyone and everyone with an internet connection…and it will be open forever.

Here’s your chance to find out about this secret loophole for yourself, because Nick
has come up with a unique offer that will put almost £300 in your pocket…even if you
prove him wrong!

For full details Visit:  

www.streetwisenews.com/hogf

Take a look now. You’re going to love this one!

Very Best Wishes,

John Harrison

Streetwise Publications