You have probably heard the saying that “You are who you hang out with the most.” This is because you are known by those with whom you associate. However, you are also known by what you say, do, and represent on a daily basis.

For example, I used to have a friend that ran ten miles a day (5 to 6 days a week). A slow day for him was 5 or 7 miles. He always had energy and was in great shape. I began to notice that everyone I bumped into around the neighborhood formulated the opinion that he was generally healthy and an all-around good fella. Why? Because his “presence” of discipline and doing something healthy every day lead people to the assumption he was a disciplined person and that he was a man of great conviction. By the way, this all came from people who really didn’t even know him all that well. They only knew the actions he took every day.

We, too, have the same opportunity to have others judge us in a profound way by the daily actions that we take and the “presence” they see, hear, and feel from us when they meet or see us.

The truth is…you have a sub-conscious presence that I like to call a “default” presence—it just automatically happens for us. We also have what is called the conscious presence of what and who we want to be and represent to the world. Most people live through their default un-conscious presence, and that is a shame.

Now, it does take the power of self-discipline and your ability to re-train your actions so that the healthy and rewarding actions become automatic habits for you. Yes, you can fuse the two un-conscious and conscious presences together—and here’s how.

Once an action has been determined to be a pathway to success (and/or health and happiness) it can then become an automatic habit that produces a good flow of what you want and need in your life.

Example: As a student in the Martial Arts, I learned movements and was told to allow my techniques to become automatic so that I can react quicker without my thoughts slowing down my actions. When the technique is right for the situation—and works by producing the required affect—it is a good thing. But, it takes conscious action to get the good automatic reaction to appear and be there reliably. So this is why it’s crucial to be able to create a conscious presence of what and who you want to be in life.

The ability to consciously create who and what you want to be in life is a powerfully life changing tool and is absolutely required in order for creative change to come about. So, decide who you want to be and why you want to be that character or “presence.” Start taking the conscious actions to make that presence real and you will change yourself, your life, and how others brand you.

There is little doubt about the contribution that Bruce Lee made to the world of Martial Arts. And my goal of this particular blog is not to point out the great Bruce Lee’s flaw in his concept, but to make it clearer. Let’s start with the first “Empty your mind” statement.

“Empty your mind” means leave behind all beliefs and thoughts about the concepts that you think are real and unreal. It means to completely quiet the mind until there is only a feeling of complete stillness and oneness. There is no inside or outside stimuli. No rush or feeling or thought to do or not to do something. There is only the moment of perfect stillness and no anticipation of anything. You just flow into the present of what is. It can make you feel spatial and very calm. It is the perfect time to enter all that is and to leave behind all that you think there is or is not. It is the perfect release.

The next statement tells us to “Be formless, shapeless, like water.” Water has no apparent form until it is added to a structure and then it assumes the form of the entered structure. So your mind is free of ideas, concepts, and beliefs. It is ready to form to any structure that it enters at any moment. The water does not judge the structure, it just feels the structure. It is perfect with the structure and assumes doing as the structure’s being.

“If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.” No it does not…it becomes the mode of the structure of the cup. It becomes the substance that fills the structure and formulates its dimensions and becomes the dimensions of the structure. The same hold true for the next two statements: “You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.” The water will become the substance of the structure—and in some cases like the teapot with other ingredients added—will become another substance all together like tea itself.

“Water can flow and it can crash.” Water can certainly do both of those, and if you were to focus it, it can also cut through things. Water will crash and look for other ways to continue its flow. If no other way is present, it will become the substance of the structure. But water is always ready to change structure and reformulate itself. That is the true power of water (and your mind). Be like water my friends.

When making changes in yourself, oftentimes it feels as if you are leaving behind an old friend. This is because oftentimes you have become so accustomed to how you feel and look that it feels like you truly are losing a part of yourself.

When people say things like “you should accept me as I am,” they are really saying that they are simply unwilling to change—whether for themselves or for you.  There are times when changing is absolutely a needful thing. But how do you make the changes, and why?

People are slow to accept change in themselves or others. However, here is a list of times when change is needed and should be accomplished.

1. When there is a consistent pattern of people not liking you and they’re being very negative against you. The pattern is always repeatable and you find yourself without friends or family wanting to be around you.
2. You can’t find work in your related and trained field and you refuse to learn new skills in order to compete.
3. You feel unhappy and sad all the time and feel that everything is always another’s fault.
4. Your life has stayed the same and not changed and you are not happy about that.

Of course, you have to be the one to make the decision to change, but you are going to need help. To start, I suggest reading books on personal transformation, emotional control, and mental management, which are crucial to long term success.

Naturally, I recommend getting involved in some form of direct learning and training program, because a personal development training course—like Creotology Personal Development (with learning tools and procedures)—can help you make meaningful transformation. At the very least, find another similar type of course to ours that is proven to work.

Making the changes you need, no matter the fear that you have towards the subject, will go far in making you feel happy and in flow with yourself. Here are some ideas to help you make the life changes you need.

First, ask yourself… “What new skills do I need in order to compete in the marketplace that also raises my value to my employers and to the degree that I desire money and power?”

Second, “What new skill would make me feel more comfortable around other people and more in flow with the crowd?”

Third, “What changes could I make that would make me—and my loved ones—happy? (This makes a mutually beneficial change for everyone.)

When you really want to change your life, you are more likely to do it, but, again, you will probably need help. This is when you turn to personal development training for the help to do so. Change can be the greatest thing in your world, providing you give yourself the chance you deserve.

We, at Creotology, are in your corner and believe that you can change. In fact, you are already changing simply by reading this article. Now, it’s time for you to believe that you can change and finally make that transformation. You can do it!

It’s been my belief that most people feel and believe that they themselves have been placed here (in life) with a format for learning that has been assigned to them by some higher power or force. In other words, they feel compelled to discover and find the “meaning” to a life that has already been created for them by another entity or divine force of some sort. To me, this creates confusion and allows others to easily manipulate people into doings they don’t want to do otherwise—or wouldn’t want to do.

Essentially, what I’m talking about is taking control of your life and the ability to create into your life whatever you chose. I understand that it takes a big leap of faith to believe that you are in charge of your life and that it’s up to you to make the difference in what you want to experience firsthand. I know this is a scary thought! However, the road to your happiness—and the true meaning to your life—is found along the pathway of your desires and what you want to experience from life.

Remember, you are the cause-and-effect that makes all things in your life happen. While it’s true that you cannot control all things in your life, it’s better to focus on what you can control. Although this is not a complete list, here are some examples of what you can control in your life:

1. You can control what you believe, why you believe it, and what you will do with your beliefs.
2. You can control what you act upon in your life.
3. You can control your responses to others and to life events.
4. You can control what you eat and how much you exercise daily.
5. You can control your learning in life and why you are learning.
6. You can control your directions in life and why you want to go in that direction.

So, for sure you get the idea by now.

If you want to find happiness and the true meaning and purpose of your life, you need to create that meaning in your life and then enforce it. That’s right! You have to define and enforce your personal meaning in life. You are the only one that should assign yourself the meaning and purpose of your life. After all, it is your life to live. And the only life worth living is one for which you have passion (one that has a road with your heart).

Furthermore, no one should dictate your life path for you (except for you, yourself). So, figure out what you want from life and how you want your life to feel to you. Then, get busy with your personal development training so that you have the needed skills to make your life the one you want to live—and enjoy doing so.

I read an article (The 12 Greatest Entrepreneurs of Our Time and What We Can Learn from Them) in the April, 2012 edition of Fortune magazine, written by John A. Byrne. Much to my delight, I found this article to be short and to the point—as well as very informative about the beliefs of each of the great leaders Byrne spoke about in the article.

What I took away from the article was the fact that each entrepreneur was well versed in their own belief system about business and about how to succeed in business. While there were some major differences, there were, however, several common denominators, as well. For example, several entrepreneurs believed in surrounding themselves with intelligent people who could challenge their assumptions and ideas as well as tear down their ideas, which really helped evolve their original idea. In large part, it was about finding the flaw and then fixing it, which in turn made their original idea stronger.

Most notable in their personal development was that they had many discoveries about business and what it took to run one with great success. Another common denominator was customer service. They all believed in making sure the customer was happy at all costs. Service the customer with respect and happiness—and be willing to truly help them—in order to leave a happy and fulfilled customer. I think this procedure is excellent advice for all business people to follow.

Additionally, they also talked about having a product and/or service at an affordable price. I guess, however, that depends on the level of business you want to run. In other words, do you want your pricing to be like a discount store or a specialty store?  For example, if you are looking to run a large-volume retail outlet (like a Wal-Mart)…cheaper prices may be great. However, if you are running a low-volume higher price point type of product or service, customer satisfaction should still be your number one priority; however, understandably, the product and/or service may be priced higher, as well.

For a few entrepreneurs highlighted in the article, isolation was a major contributing factor for their success because this allowed them to get away in order to think of more ideas and to go outside the box, thus thinking differently.

For example, Steve Jobs, in the face of conventional thinking, did not believe in market research for his products. He believed that the customers, not fully knowing what was available to them, could not give a fully informed opinion.  In other words, Jobs, thinking outside the box, thought of and put his products into motion because of what he envisioned and believed. Now that is a man of strong convictions. That’s a great ability to have; however, it takes time to develop it through regular personal development training.

The biggest take-away message from this article for me was the fact that all of these great entrepreneurs each had strong convictions and powerful belief systems behind their products and services—and they would not stop at anything until their products and/or services were complete and successfully brought into the market place. What was amazingly evident to me was how their personal development training came through the fire and brimstone of the often harsh business world and how they were willing to lay it all on the line for their success and happiness in order to change the world.

Do not be afraid to get your personal development training the same way these great entrepreneurs did…through belief, action, and a “never stop” attitude. Now that you know some of the rules, it’s time to go play the game and win!! J

However, it was a Martial Arts seminar that changed my perspective and helped me make the changes needed to truly help people (especially me). Let me explain!

Once, I attended a weekend Martial Arts seminar in which I learned a few new things and met several nice people. However, when I returned home, I noticed that I had forgotten a lot of the material that was covered, and furthermore, I had no one to consult with over the forgotten lessons. I wasn’t sure that what I was practicing at home was 100% correct and accurate. It got me thinking, however, because, this is what I had experienced at several personal development workshops and seminars, too.

The idea came to me that I should start personal development institutes that operate “like” martial art schools but only teach personal development skills (rather than fighting skills), and make them schools for life success. The idea would be that you can receive constant training, motivation, and advice on how to achieve your personal and business goals.

For starters, you will have hands-on personal development material and lessons that are practiced during class. In addition, you will be assigned small amounts of homework to apply what you’ve learned in the classroom in real life training situations. This allows you to practice your personal development skills and definitively prove to your instructor (but more importantly…to you, yourself) that you truly know and understand how to apply the personal development skills in your life.

“A skill is only worth having if you can apply it when needed in order to achieve your desired goal.”

You see, too many people leave personal development workshops and seminars just to go home and forget why they went there in the first place—or even worse, they become discouraged that personal development training does NOT work.

Now, before you discard personal development altogether, remember that it’s not your fault if your personal development training doesn’t initially work—nor is it the fault of the personal development technique, itself. The problem typically lies within the set-up and delivery of the information.

Follow-through is what’s needed to make your personal development skills complete, as well as your life transformation. However, you need a qualified instructor, proper motivation, and the correct skills. In addition, properly understanding your motivations and practicing your personal development skills in real life situations demonstrates your ability to wield such skills.

Just know the Las Vegas Creotology Personal Development Institute will be ready to properly deliver the life changing information you need, this summer. Once open, you can receive real life personal development principles delivered over a six month training schedule in which you attend one class a week.

If at the end of your first level Initiate graduation you want to open your own Creotology Personal Development Institute and teach others how to succeed in life, you may qualify for a business license; however, you must complete your second level Adept training.

Keep in mind, it’s inexpensive to start your own institute and you are your own boss. Furthermore, you are protected by a growing business model and a family of Creotology licensees (entrepreneurial-minded people who think alike and help each other succeed).

Go to Creotology.com and download your free Initiate book. Your life transformation can begin right now!

Resiliency is the key factor and common denominator that I have consistently found within happy and successful people. In fact, resiliency can look magical in someone’s life because all things come so easily for those people—as if by “magic.” However, closer observation (with an open mind) will reveal that all these people have this common denominator (resiliency) developed through personal development.

The truth of life is that some of us have real resiliency and others don’t. Resiliency is a trait that is linked to the development of your “personal will.”  The greater your personal will is at making things happen (or making things enter and leave your life), the greater the chance of things actually happening for you on a consistent basis.

Some believe that they cannot achieve what they desire in life because the odds are stacked against them. In some cases, this is true—if you have handicaps, for example. However, the only handicap that most of us have is…mediocre thinking.

That’s right! Most of us are small thinkers, and we restrict the way we live our lives—and that in turn restricts how we experience things. However, those that have strong resiliency will move forward and have larger and larger life experiences because they never give up in their life. They may change their approach at doing something, but they stay the course until they succeed.

Think of where your life would currently be if you had not given up on some things in your life that were important to you. How would you feel differently about life today? Where would you be financially? Where would you be romantically? Where would you be spiritually?

Things would be much different for you right now. You may have had great resiliency but you were placing your attention and efforts into the wrong things. If you were to create an alignment with what you truly want (and place the same energy and effort into that), your goals would create more easily as you move forward in life more happily while becoming more resourceful at the same time.

Being strong in your convictions comes from being strong in your resolve for what you want to experience in life. However, most of us follow dead interests because we are too afraid to forge ahead with new ones because of the change they represent to us.

Building your resiliency automatically makes you happier and charismatic to others. Being seen with great resiliency makes you more charismatic to others, and that is important because it is other people that will open more doors for you in order for you to be successful and help motivate others.

Rarely do people without resiliency motivate and inspire others to be happier and more successful. So, whenever you have great resiliency, you help others to become more within their own lives—and everybody wins. Essentially, we (who care to develop resiliency) all succeed.

Resiliency Exercise:

Think about something that is important to you and don’t stop thinking about it until you have completely thought it through.

1. What are you trying to accomplish?
2. What do you need in order to accomplish your goal?
3. Who can help you with your goal?
4. What special skill will you need?
5. Can you delegate some other work? And to whom?
6. What is the project date of completion?
7. How will you feel when the goal is done?
8. And what will completing this goal specifically do for you?

Now, commit to a plan of action and do not stop until you finish, allowing nothing (and no one else) to stop you.

Soke Draconis continued, “Most parents do way too much for their children and never allow them to experience the world for themselves. So as young adults they grow from a root of learned helplessness. And as they grow older they become older adults working from this same principle. So they are always crying about wanting more and needing more and wanting others to do it for them.”

To this concept I remarked, “That does not sound like a very effective way to live!”

Soke was on it right away, “It is not, Brady.  In fact, it is cruel and heartless. The parents think they are showing love by being so caring and doing so much for their children. However, the children become dependent on the parents and the cycle for most kids never breaks, Brady.  If you love something you create a space for it to grow and to experience the skills it will need to take care of itself forever. Only the most prepared people will make it in the world to the degree of success they want to have for themselves and for those around them, Brady!

“Personal development training teaches people to assume self-responsibility for their own life and to make things work through them. There are times, Brady, when a hand-up is needed not hand-outs. Brady, hand-outs will never work as proof of what we are seeing in America today. More and more people want the freebies from the Government and do not care that the Government gets their money from other working Americans who are taking risks and running and operating companies. To say nothing of their own money they are laying on the line towards the personal and individual growth of others.

“I myself am a small business owner, Brady, and I am considered in the so-called Top 1%, and why? Because I earn a little bit over $380,354.00 a year. So when people are being mad at the Top 1% they are making the enormous mistake of taking out the small business owner who are not the target market but have been lumped in there with the so-called Top 1%. You have to weed out the small business owner in the rant against the rich or you hurt a ton more innocent people than you do the very rich.

“However, Brady, the real situation to dissolving the problem with the truly rich is to become rich yourself. Then you can change the game of how the rich control things and be the integrity in business that is greatly needed. That is why personal development must be about personal integrity and it filters over into your personal habits. Any other way of trying to change the powers that be serves to create a power struggle. Change comes from within not from without.”

“Soke Draconis, how would people do that?” I asked.  “Let’s go to lunch, Brady!”

As you can guess, being in the martial arts for thirty years I have experienced all types of anger. I have seen it in all its many ugly forms.

Anger is never a pretty thing when you witness it, and most of the time anger does more harm than good. In fact, I have never seen a time that anger made situations better—except under certain conditions that I will speak about later in this article.

My thirty years of personal development and martial arts training has taught me that whoever best controls their temper wins the match—or the situation in which they’re involved. Anger will blind you of what you need to see and numb you to what you need to feel. This makes anger a bad companion to success in any area of your life.

Think about times when you were so mad you did not listen to reason. What was the outcome to those times? I’m sure you will recall…most likely, not so very good! Believe me I have a plethora of them myself!

In any environment you will find that anger makes situations and conditions worse, rather it be in your personal/professional relationships or in simply your personal goals that you set for yourself.  The bottom line: anger clouds your judgments and makes you use your emotions incorrectly.

Personal development will give you the training that you need to control your anger and teach you how to use the saved energy to create something greater in your life.

Something else…through my own martial arts and personal development training, I myself have felt the effects of using the energy it takes to be angry and I used it for something greater in my professional and my personal life. In fact, I have lost out on many great personal relationships and many business relations because of anger issues I had early on in my life.

Anger can also be a warning signal that something is not right and needs to be addressed by you, yourself. Furthermore, you may feel angry because someone continues to abuse you physically or emotionally and that you are not going to take it anymore.

I have seen people make the decision—in a moment of anger—to redirect the energy of their anger into a believable action and change their situation completely.

However, personal development training will teach you to accept this anger and dissolve the anger energy and move on with the creation of your life. This is absolutely the best way to use anger. In fact, in the Martial Art form Aikido they use anger and aggression against you. The energy of anger from the attacker is always redirected—usually back at the attacker because they allowed it to happen. That is why it is also important to master your anger so that people can’t use your anger against you.

So get yourself into a good personal development course and take the training as seriously as you would take anything else of great value, and your anger issues will change and your life will turn for the better because you will have a lot more energy to benefit from.

It is your choice, so make the right decision for you and the loved ones in your life.

Life can be very confusing and it can get us to the point that we feel separated and dazed. It is no wonder that we feel so disconnected from our life that we want to live and settle for the existence we inch out every day. I too lived like that in my early life—until I found the secrets to living…and not just existing.

Personal fears will rob you of life and replace it with a battle for existence. We run around looking over our shoulders while making little steps in life in order to avoid making any real noise for fear that we might be noticed and put down for trying to be different and blazing our own path. We have plenty of evidence of this: most great people have had great opposition from all those around them. Some of the greats were lucky enough to have maybe a few people support them, however.

It is a mistake to think that others can give you flow and happiness. However, here is what I learned from empirical evidence. (Yes, from my own real life trials and errors.)

• Life will get better to the degree that you do.




• Whatever you want to improve in your life, it will do so when you improve at being that person.




• Integrity is the key to success and happiness.




• When you feel in control of your actions (and why you do them), you will feel happiness about yourself because you are leading yourself properly and have control of your life.




• The more you subtract from your life, the more consciously you will live.




• Too many things will make you feel out of control and not focused on the important things in your life.




• When you have a system that works, life can become automatic in happiness and success.




• You want to automate all that you can so that life is set up on a process and keeps flowing—just like an automatic draft or direct deposit on your bank account.




• When you learn to allow your energy to flow in the direction you want it to flow, life will cease to be a struggle.




• Goals will manifest where you place the conscious and sub-conscious desire for them to do so.

We do not get what we want from life by wishing and hoping. We get from life what we take the time and effort to become. We attract that which we are. Everything in our life is great to the degree that we make the conscious effort to become great ourselves.

It is very reasonable for us to expect back out from life what we place into it. So give yourself the opportunity to grow and you will find happiness and success—and…you will have flow.