DAN PENA: A LIFE TIME OF AMBITION TO ACHIEVEMENT FOR OTHERS!

Will you follow my challenge below? WILL 2013 BE THE YEAR YOU BECOME WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO BE AND ALWAYS WANTED TO BE?

Thought of the year: the man/woman who doesn’t reach decisions promptly when he/she has all the necessary facts at hand – cannot be depended on to carry out decisions after they make them! More on this later – but already in the New Year – this is hampering many of you!

Ever wonder why high performance individuals rule out so many people that procrastinate? Do you procrastinate – put off the obvious due to lack of self-esteem, or caring what others will think – but call it something else? There are many words we use to frame procrastination – in accordance with Freud, the pleasure principle may be responsible for procrastination; humans do not prefer negative emotions, and handing off a stressful task until a further date is enjoyable!

Thank God – I never took pleasure in not doing the necessary – but many do!

This is the most important newsletter I have ever written, since 1993 – if super achievement is your real goal for 2013? It puts my and others success in perspective and will certainly assist you to place your achievements in real time perspective!

No doubt – it is certainly my longest newsletter!

Read on only if you dare!

Dear QLA devotees and High-Performance People:

HAPPY NEW YEAR! AND I SINCERELY HOPE YOUR HOLIDAYS WERE EXTREMELY ENJOYABLE!

As I sailed through the Caribbean on my way to the Amazon and back and went on my 3^rd cruise in 35 days (and now just ending my 50^th day on the road with my lovely wife Sally), I have reflected on my 20^th anniversary for coaching QLA, coming up May 2013 and my long 40+ year career! At 67 years of age, I know what I have accomplished and left on the table! I have assisted countless individuals, leave their marks on the lives of even more than I could touch personally! But having said that, I will speak of the regrets we all have later in this newsletter. Ladies and gentlemen – boys and girls – if I have REGRETS – what do you and the preponderance of mankind possess? Or have you convinced and, or deluded yourself it is something else?

LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT 

As I have written and had written about me most of my adult life – I have had a run in life not bettered by many on the planet! Not trying to be braggadocios, but reflecting on a very long career, I have thought of many things on this long 50 day trip I just completed! Most people on earth can’t take 50 days off, ALL AT ONE TIME, to tour a certain area of the world in depth as my wife and I just did! Sitting with my kids, wife and future daughter in law the last few days of the 3^rd cruise in a row has added extra reflection on my long life and career! Hell – I have done stuff that books and legends are made of – or as the replicant Roy Batty  in the movie Blade Runner said- “if you could see what these eyes have seen” – when he was trying to describe what he had been through as a robot in the future! For example: I made a great deal of money before I was 40; been Chairman and founded numerous companies of distinction; took Great Western Resources, a company I founded from scratch, public on my 39^th birthday; turned $820 into a market value of $450,000,000 (in today’s dollars almost a billion) in 8 years in a collapsing market environment; received many awards and accolades; run a 3:05 marathon and 50 miles in 7:55; lived and travelled all over the world and travelled to fantastic places for 45 years; turned $60,000 into 50 million pounds sterling in 3 ½ months; had 3 wonderful kids that I am extremely proud of; flown on the edge of space; hunted big game in many exotic places and was run down by a charging buffalo; had homes that were very special, including Guthrie Castle with my own golf course; involved in hundreds of financial transactions amounting to many billions; for the first time in history took an option public on The London Stock Exchange; helped a mentee attain being CEO of the 20^th largest company in the world from a middle management position in 7 years; served my country with distinction entering a private and leaving an Officer and Gentleman by an act of the USA Congress; founded QLA Methodology; wrote Your First Hundred Million; assisted countless individuals achieve their dreams; met and socialised with billionaires; sky dived; swam with dolphins; shark hunted; saw Silver Back Gorillas eye to eye; had the love and friendship of a few great friends, some more than 50 years; had the love and support of great parents and grandparents; had a Mother who gave me my self-esteem; had 3 extraordinary and exceptional mentors in Ormand, Gratsos, and Newman who each in his own manner showed me the light of being a high performance and effective person;  had the toys of super success including boats and planes; met 3 USA Presidents; met 5 British Royals; had The Church of England, The Bank of England, Vatican, world governments and many large financial institutions  as business partners; was featured by a Pulitzer Prize winning article on the front page of THE LOS ANGELES TIMES; visited the White House; plotted to over through a dictatorship; met many dignitaries and luminaries; chased, threatened and coerced by THE MAFIA; have the support, love, admiration and loyalty of a super extraordinary beautiful wife; and too many other things to list – including MANY failures that could have hampered me from my successes, if I had allowed them to influence my overall high performance plan! But having said all this – I still feel I have MUCH MORE to give, do and accomplish at 67!

As many of you realise from my Tweets, FB and Newsletters, I have been working on my BUCKET LIST of places I want to see and visit and stuff I still want to do! To date I have been very fortunate to have accomplished a great deal in my long life and especially the last few years to complete that list! And now in my second half of my life (yes second half) – I want to still do a lot more! How many of you readers can relate? How many that are – let’s say – 50 and older still feel you have 50% of your life left? As I wrote in a tweet a few weeks ago on my 1^st cruise of this trip – a man in his 90’s while hunting Piranha said – the problem with you young kids (people in their 60’s and 70’s) is your expectation are not high enough! Well I can certainly relate! I see it every day in life and have seen it again in recent days visiting mentees on my long trip! The relative exception to that (most of the time) is my QLA following! Of course not all of them feel that way as much as I do! But they certainly are way closer to that thought process than almost all else! They separate themselves from the masses! And I am extremely proud of what I have done to assist them in their endeavours! In that regard, I am blessed to be able to have been involved with an exceptional group of men and women! With that in mind I have written this newsletter to begin 2013!

SUCCESSFUL QLA CASTLE SEMINAR

The last 2 QLA Castle Seminars in May and Oct 2012 have been extraordinary and have both broken new ground and set new standards! With the additional topics including: Internet marketing; video visual aids; extensive email chat and phone call support from me personally for an extended 12 months subsequent to the seminar; YouTube; additional role playing; the personal extended monthly video conference calls with Castle attendees for 12 months and the extra 6^th day (free) – the event has turned out to be even more of a happening than in past years! Of course not raising the investment cost of 10,000 pounds sterling ($16k) for more than 12 years also adds to the value column – NO I AM NOT RAISING THE COST! LOL. BTW: I am often asked. Why do you spend so much time for so little cost each day 12+ hours – at the Castle Seminar and the countless hours for 1 year subsequent to the Seminar? Good question! Think about it! But if you have to think about it – you should not be reading my Newsletters because you REALLY don’t understand what I am all about, or more importantly why I started QLA! As I will say later in this Newsletter – it was never about making another fortune! But in line with this – I have continued to keep the Seminar investment at 10k pounds sterling, because it is high enough to get serious people’s attention – yet not so high to keep people from making the financial and emotional commitment and sacrifice!

Back in the mid 90’s, I didn’t understand the sacrifice AND COMMITMENT RATIONALE AS WELL, AS I DO NOW! In fact for those that remember I use to give the QLA Seminars FREE! Yes I did! In fact in the mid 90’s, QLA were the only PD Seminars that received FREE Public Service TV advertisement in the USA! In fact we received Public Service Awards for the good we accomplished! Those were terrific days and I would fill up auditoriums with 700- 800 people to hear QLA – ALL FREE! We had pyro techniques and sound effects like a large Hollywood Production! I felt like a ROCK STAR with no visible talent – LOL! It was a lot of fun getting up on those stages at that time. I even had well known speakers that were co-founders from KFC and FED EX. But the sad truth was QLA given FREE was not very effective in getting people out of their Comfort Zones (CZ)! And the results were pretty mediocre! In fact they were piss poor! At the time, I didn’t appreciate without sacrifice of some kind to stretch people out of their CZ’s – QLA or anything else didn’t do much good to get people to – TAKE ACTION! And guys taking action is what it is All about – because I can give ALL the great information on the planet – but without YOU taking action it is not worth much! Take a little test. What goals, etc, did you give yourself in 2012? And what actions and timelines did you put together? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY – WHAT ACTIONS DID YOU TAKE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN? Forget last year – what about the goals for this year 2013? What action plan have you put together? And what actions have you taken so far?

Hell, if I had wanted to have QLA a BIG money making model, I would have structured it quite different! In fact in the early 90’s, I spent almost a year going around to view all the competition in PD, at the time! You name him and I went and heard him! In fact I learned later I was one of the few that paid in FULL to attend the various events! No one ever told me early on many of the seats filled were there for free (to fill up the room) or at a great discount! Oh how naïve I was about the PD industry in 92/93! And I was even more astonished to see how little there was in real facts and, or substance! Because low and behold – almost all the PD speakers were broke and merely putting bums on seminar seats and flogging their wares – many in the back of the rooms at big “1 time only” discounts! LOL! And almost none of them had made any money in the real world I had! Of course, little of that has changed in almost 20 years, but not much! In fact, at the time, I sat with All the BIG PD hitters (that would talk to me) of the time and they ALL said the same­ – WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO PD SPEAKING DAN? YOU ARE ALREADY WHERE WE ALL WANT TO BE! WEALTHY! SUCCESSFUL! LIVE IN A CASTLE! WITH ALL THE TOYS WE ALL ASPIRE TO ACHIEVE! In fact, the late Gary Halbert and living Ted Nicholas told me in The Florida Keys at Gary’s 55^th birthday this very sad fact in great detail! Many others, including Legrand, Casey, Abraham all told me the same! So I have never been trying to make another fortune in PD! In fact, I have always tried to change the lives of as many people that I could since 1993! In fact, for the first few years I coached, I had no QLA product! Again, I didn’t know you were supposed to up sell, back end, cross sell, etc, your customers! LOL! I didn’t know you were supposed to build a customer list, etc! In fact, after almost 20 years I have no more than about 200 on a QLA list! It’s a list of ostensibly interested people (aka wannabees) in future QLA Seminars! Only after attending 2 Guthrie Castle Seminars did Deann and George Verdier tell me, I needed to find a better way to get the seminar attendees to grasp what they learned by repetition that audio and video products  provided! Then and only then did I produce QLA products! So some 20 years later we now have a full complement of QLA products, including my book – Your First Hundred Million 2^nd Edition with the Foreword by Mentee DR Klaus Kleinfeld (Former CEO of NEOM, Former President/CEO of Siemens; Former Chairman/CEO of Alcoa; Former Chairman/CEO of Arconic).

LAST TWO CASTLE SEMIANRS

The last Oct castle event was even more special than any including the event in May 2012! As I told the attendees in Oct, I went back to analyse carefully what worked with the various personalities and levels of experience, leadership, and prior success? I reconfigured the QLA info to make it easier to ascertain the core principles and also get the desired action – as soon as humanly possible (ASAHP)! You can see the new look and feel on YouTube! Even to the casual observer, there is a massive difference! And I am happy to announce the results from May to now have been astounding! For example, since May we have had; A European grow his business by 100%; a European grow revenue by 40%; a European from scratch grow 115% on invested capital; a European grow 60%; another European grew his business 20%; an American 1000%; and an Israeli kid who dreams of being a movie maker in Hollywood shot his “entrance film” to get accepted into film school in the USA – while bombs fell on Tel Aviv!  And more, but Hell that is in only 6 months! I am positive you can’t find any other results that compare to these – anywhere! Any place on the planet! So I have plenty to be happy about! And even more to be proud of vis-à-vis my endeavours to get people across the goal line! And those that HAVE WORKED WITH ME KNOW CATERGORICALLY – I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET YOU ACROSS THE GOAL LINE – INCLUDING KICKING, PUNCHING, PUSHING, PULLING, OR DRAGGING YOU! In fact occasionally I scare some off the course of even trying because their self-esteem isn’t up to it! And as I have said for almost 20 years – SUCCESS BUILDS SELF ESTEEM! NOT ATTENDING SEMINARS, LISTENING TO DVD’S, OR READING BOOKS – AND CERTAINLY NOT WRITING STUFF ON SOCIAL MEDIA!! TAKING ACTION TILL YOU SUCCEED BUILDS SELF ESTEEM AND SUCCESS – AS IT ALWAYS HAS SINCE MAN CRAWLED OUT OF A CAVE! THE 1^ST CAVE MAN THAT KILLED A SABER TOOTH TIGER WAS CERTAINLY A QLA DEVOTEE!

HOW DO YOU GET PEOPLE TO TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION AND USE THE EXTRAORDINARY QLA INFORMATION?

One of my main frustrations since 1993 has been understanding why it was sometimes almost impossible to get well intentioned intelligent people to act on what they had learned! AND I WENT THROUGH A LEARNING PROCESS SINCE 93 with imparting QLA to others: 1) 1 day 15-18 hours QLA Seminars; 2) Dan Pena website; 3) 3 day 10 hour QLA Seminars; 4) 10 hour individual QLA topic Seminars like Raising Capital; 5) 5 day Guthrie Castle Seminars; 6) various QLA products, including YFHM; 7) Dan Pena expanded website and content; 8) QLA and Dan Pena social media; 9) new 6 day 2012 Guthrie Castle Seminar! In fact it became painfully crystal clear to me from about 1995- The man who doesn’t reach decisions promptly when he has all necessary facts in hand cannot be depended on to carry out decisions after he makes them. This being so, made it extremely difficult to get high performance results in the early years of the QLA Seminars! But in spite of this we had some of our greatest results in the 90’s – like the Verdier’s, Crump, Whipple, Abingdon, Casey, Legrand, Smolholtz, Kleinfled, Baily, Burke, Pierce, Scheaffer, Dillon, Stephenson, Scott, Fairgrieve, and others! But it was always hard work for the QLA devotee and me as a coach! So what could I do to enhance the overall Castle Experience (since I had stopped non Castle events due to lack of attendee achievement), was my personal driving short, intermediate and long term goal? And in the spirit of complete disclosure and candour – it was extremely tough!  But I never gave up and I forced in some cases the results down the throats of my students! For this I am not ashamed! They came to me for results and results is what they got! Of course when they came to me – they had NO F _ _ KING idea what my threshold for pain was in comparison to theirs! LOL!

But as good as the May seminar was the October seminar appears to be even better – though it is too early to see hard stats – I can tell by the actions the October attendees are already taking! I strongly feel the big difference between May and October was an entire section on – how we are genetically coded to be afraid and how dramatically it drives us toward not making the decisions required for super success! In fact because of our genetic programming, we almost always defer from the hardest most difficult way to do things in business and life! Of course we all have experienced what I am referring to in life and business! When was the last time we postponed something because it was very difficult to do, or take responsibility for? We can all relate! AND AGAIN I ALREADY SAW IT IN THIS NEW YEAR – WHERE AN ACTION(S) WILL CAUSE REGRET DOWN THE LINE! OF COURSE THIS IS NOT THE WAY WE WANT TO BEGIN FRESH A NEW YEAR!

The direct results from this new information to the outcomes of the October attendees has already been remarkable in the last 8 weeks! Never before have we had such results! Never! Hence, I was having reservations of not having a QLA Seminar in 2013 – even before the October event! And anyone that knows me realises I may be wrong, but I am NEVER IN DOUBT! But, I didn’t want to have regrets about not having another Castle Seminar going forward! Again I will discuss regrets later on in this newsletter.

My QLA research has always told me the challenge was to get people to take action – especially when it gets tough out there in the dog eat dog world we all are trying to succeed in! This is a no brainer and a simple fact of life that separates the high performance people from all else! I have known this since I was a young man applying for Officer Candidate School (OCS) , after volunteering for the draft,  while in the USA ARMY in 1966! Many in addition to myself applied and few were accepted – but not many took the opportunity! Of course like a lot of things in life – there were various reasons, or excuses – of course a BIG one was the FEAR of the unknown, and or possibly dying at that time in Viet Nam! (Funny but I thought I would rather die as an Officer than an enlisted man! LOL!) There always are reasons – but the bottom line was it took a direct action on the part of the individual. In fact, I still know guys who were of the same vintage as me who now say – I should of gone to OCS!  And how do you think it changed your life Dan? Well – more about that later!

I had said, in an earlier newsletter and various tweets and Facebook posts, I would not be giving a Castle Seminar in 2013, due to a very heavy schedule, including climbing Mt Kilimanjaro. Well as I have said many times – Man Plans and God Laughs! And unfortunately, I have recently been told, I need 2 surgeries to repair my torn rotator cuff and ruptured long head bicep, which I reinjured climbing after Silver Back Gorillas last summer in Rwanda. Hence, I will be out of commission and in rehab for a few months. Of course this is not the end of the world for me – and I have decided due to the time I will now have – to give another QLA Castle Seminar in April 2013.  Again whether it is my last or not remains to be seen! All I can say is I know now I don’t want to allow this opportunity to pass without giving at least one more Castle Extravaganza! Because another thing you learn as you get older is you MUST take advantage of the opportunities you have in life! Because you never know when they will appear again – or if they will appear!

So the good news is I will have another QLA Castle Seminar in April 2013!  The challenge for me – how do I make it even better  than the last 2 events? Of course I am up to the challenge! LOL!

REGRETS

You are only as Free of guilt as your BIGGEST SECRET! Please think about this very carefully BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE SECRETS! 

While discussing in depth how we become the way we are over many seminars and years of experience, it is obvious to me that we become who we are exposed to – or as the kids say – who we hang around with!  As Sigmund Freud said: What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult. As I have said in the QLA Seminars since the 90s – what happens to us? We are products of our social and economic milieus! Or, in other words, for almost all of us it is our parents who structured our little lives as we grew up! It might not sound palatable – but that doesn’t make it any less true! As the Catholic Church says: give me the child the first 7–8 years and I will show you a sound Catholic for life! It is a given fact – self-esteem is built the first 7-8 years of life! And yes, I was raised a Catholic and mostly by my dearly departed MOTHER! WHO WERE YOU RAISED BY?

Hence, this begs the question why this happens? Meaning what changes us? As castle attendees know we discuss this concept, but we now spend a good bit of time trying to understand why we do the things we do, so we can better adjust our actions going forward? Or more importantly – how do we CHANGE our actions to improve our probabilities of success and even super success? Or how do we program ourselves to be a high performance person? I am happy to say the May and October attendees took to this idea like fish to water!  And as I told both groups, though they were smart they were not anything special! LOL!  OF COURSE THIS IS NOT WHAT CONVENTIONAL WISDOM TELLS US TO DO WITH STUDENTS THAT ASPIRE TO BE SOMEHTING MORE THAN THEY ARE! LOL! And as I have said for many years conventional wisdom is mostly CRAP!

After a lot of research and running different models over many years and comparing results from countless business relationships and QLA attendees – it came down to our basic primal instincts! Flight or fight! And it is much easier to turn to flight – than to fight! Hence, we our coded from 10s of thousands of years to run and take the easiest – less hard or difficult – solution! Please don’t shot the messenger! LOL ! This is true whether you’re a top CEO of a world organisation or an owner of a corner shop!

During the seminar for many years I have talked about the high performance persons like Gates, Thatcher, Hitler, Trump, Lincoln, Churchill, Ellison, Jobs, Ford, Edison, Stalin, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Caesar, Napoleon, Attila the Hun, Mao Zedong, Tom Watson, Onassis, Alexander The Great, and many others all weren’t disposed to flight! In fact they were inclined to fight! All came to this persuasion based on a multitude of methods! But the bottom line is “most learned the actions” necessary to succeed for their own personality! Few if any are born with these traits inherent in them! Even the Spartans began training their male children at age of 7 to build the character and will to fight! Hence, their self-esteem was rarely in question due to the timing of their training. And personally having recently visited Sparta, I felt a kindred experience it is hard to describe in words! People have said – Dan you should of lived in ancient times! In fact some say, I did live in ancient times!  And perhaps I did!

What has changed in the last 2 Castle Seminars is we have addressed this politically incorrect idea in a pin pointed and laser beam focused manner! As you can see in the recent responses from the May Seminar below – virtually all the attendees came away with basically the same conclusion! Meaning taking more risk and expanding their Comfort Zones was the key, or secret to their individual future success as a high performance person!  Of course this is not new info! As Tom Watson CEO of IBM said: Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up. Or as I said, the corollary to that is – DON”T MAKE FRIENDS! LOL!

Now this sounds simple, but those of us that are in the real DOG EAT DOG, cut throat day to day business world know it is very difficult at best! Ergo, as I changed the Seminar emphasis not to merely include what to do following the detailed QLA methodology – but how to react in a positive manner in the face of adversity! Now that is the real essence of the QLA Castle Experience! Or put another way: the main deliverable of the QLA Castle Seminar is taking direct action related to your specific and unique situation in a positive manner! Or as my mentor Jim Newman (founder of PACE and inventor of the Comfort Zone) used to tell me – being a high performance person is reacting positively under pressure! And the more the pressure, the more the higher performance the person excels! This is easily seen in world class athletes when the pressure is on to win, almost at will!

HOW DOES THE QLA CASTLE SEMINAR BRIDGE THE GAP?

After almost 20 years of coaching, teaching, leading, and mentoring QLA – the 2012 Castle Seminars have evolved and show the phenomenal results due to:
1)      The continued feedback and input of countless QLA devotees
2)      Revamping of the QLA model to keep up with the times since 1993
3)      Following best QLA practices based on success, including Internet marketing
4)      Advanced individual role playing to simulate actual presentations to funding sources and interviewing board members and other professional advisors
5)      Use of audio and video visual aids
6)   Extensive personal email chat and phone calls support to all attendees for a year, or more
7)   YouTube
8)   Extended monthly personal video conference calls for a year
9)   An extended FREE 6^th day
10)                Network of fellow QLA devotees
11)                Extensive and expanded Free www.danpena.com site content
12)                Extraordinary QLA product line including Your First Hundred Million (2^nd edition) and the QLA Mega Pack
13)                And the overwhelming continued progress and super success of the QLA Castle attendees that always inspires me and all involved

1.   As you can read the QLA Experience has evolved! I am proud of what I have founded and grown to assist people achieve their dreams the last 20 years! These achievements have included: CEO of a Global 25 company; an Astronaut; owner of a billion dollar private equity fund; to corner shops in India! If this coming Seminar in April 2013 is my last, I will feel no guilt or regrets! I set out what I wanted to do in 1993 – change the manner in which people perceived business success coaching and how the individual high performance person can achieve their dreams AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE (ASAHP)!! A few changes and firsts made by me:
1)      QLA –  Quantum Leap Advantage
2)      Dream Teams and how they geometrically enhance your probabilities to achieve your goals
3)      Hands on mentoring with coordinated detailed weekly (and sometimes daily) follow up and accountability
4)      Role playing to simulate actual financial presentations and recruiting Dream Teams
5)      QLA Castle Experience
6)      Raising Capital Seminar
7)      Deals and Acquisitions Seminar
8)      Financing Your Dream Seminar
9)      Extended 1 on 1 personal time with Castle attendee
10)  Success, Optimism and Pessimism tests
11)  4 and 13 step business action plans
12)  QLA 7 Steps to Super Success
13)  Interviewing financial pros as opposed to merely presenting to them
14) Your First Hundred Million –step by step guide to build wealth from scratch

LEARNED FROM MAY SEMINAR

As you can read below, while all the attendees used different words – self-esteem, self-confidence, expanding their comfort zones, expanding their emotional bank accounts and judging and assuming more risk are the action points they considered as the main QLA CASTLE SEMINAR deliverables!

• Better to keep a small, tight team under the same roof … and keep them accountable
• You have to do the necessary thing, even if it’s uncomfortable.
• 10 Million is not being rich
• Living on a castle is great – or a villa
• Don’t hang around with morons – avoid them
• Dream Teams are a necessity
• I have 20 million euro deals at hand, even if I haven’t done one yet, they are at hand, something I couldn’t have imagined before and didn’t think was possible before
• The amount of money you earn is proportional to your self-esteem and your emotional bank account
• Man plans, God laughs
• I understood the true power of vision retrospectively
• Hire the best people and get out of their way
• A banker is no one holy, they are mere doofusses  
• Dress like A BANKER
• Being honest to oneself is a Revelation, e.g. I know my emotional bank account and self-esteem is still way to little even though I am far above average I am still far below brutal high performers
• Get yourself out of the business day to day in order to grow it
• I don’t have to put up with people that can hurt business. Either they are the right match, or out of the way
• Surround yourself with good people and get out of the way. Delegate. Focus like a laser beam
• It’s always about the people. If I win or fail, it’s me! If the business works or no, it’s again me and the people I’m surrounded by
• You become who you hang around
• Everything relates back to high self-esteem.

BIGGEST CHANGE SINCE MAY SEMINAR

• Thinking bigger and approaching larger (intimidating) deals.
• Not afraid of failure as much as I used to (not much to lose… and always a lesson to learn).
• Focus on the positive most of the time.
• Work with top talent and we fire mediocre players.
• Initiated that I am solely doing the leadership. No more consensus. I listen to the opinions of other people but ultimately I am the one who says the last word.
• My understanding of myself started to change. I am today much more myself then any time before
• I have the funding and am now searching for companies to buy. There really are quite some out there, but a lot of trash.
• The biggest thing I have initiated is that I lost almost all fear of acquisitions, growth, of failure by growing too fast, of but-what-will-others-think-if-I-do-X. I am much more self-confident, took steps out of my comfort zone and realized there is ground to walk on out there.
• More detached, less fearful, more daring:
• Productivity on all goals have improved tremendously, learned what to focus on in my own emotional development, and I’ve replaced who I hang around.
• I know deep in my gut that going to QLA was the best decision ever because 10 – 20 years down the line I’ll be so much better off than I’d be if I’d not gotten this influence @ this point in my life (most earlier influence in my life came from people with small CZ’s/low self-confidence and that whole thing just never felt right with me). 

WHAT HAVE THE OCT SEMINAR ATTENDEES DONE IN THE LAST 8  WEEKS?

1)   2 young NYC Americans moved to London directly from the Castle Seminar and will stay there till they raise finance for their separate deals
2)   A young European came to Castle Seminar with a 1 way ticket to Scotland and no return ticket
3)   Older German brother brought younger bro and partner having attended in May 2012 and Aril 2010 and are now engaged on an aggressive acquisition model in their industry
4)   Older brother having attended in May 2012 brought younger Doctor brother to initiate QLA growth in their internet publishing business
5)   Bavarian Bob from April of 2010 (BIGGEST SUCCESS SINCE 2010!) returned to take to the next level his already very successful alternative energy deals
6)   Another German from April 2010 who doubled his business returned to gain insight how to go to next level and change industries
7)   USA lady returned for the 3^rd time to ascertain best way to exit long time existing business model where she is considered the best and begin yet another business

GRATITUDE IS GREAT BUT CHANGING LIVES FOREVER IS INFINITELY BETTER!

But even after the statements and thoughts given above there is always someone that is touched in a very special way! A way that stands the test of time and transcends dollars, Euros or Pounds Sterling! I am proud to have impacted some of the truly significant high performance people of the last 20 years: syndicated columnist; pro athletes; Global CEO’s; writers; actors; lawyers; medical doctors; teachers; movie makers; accountants; carpenters; French Foreign Legionaries; PD gurus; genesis; astrophysicists; dentists; all religions; atheists; Olympians; PHD”s; World Champions; Mom’s; Dad’s; Grandparents; and kids of all ages- but I am probably proudest of the life I changed of a Romanian Greek Orthodox Priest who attended the Castle Experience in Oct 2012! Father George is a very special man – not just because he is a Man of God – but because he understood better than any entrepreneur that has ever gone through the QLA training – what I was trying to accomplish – though he readily ADMITS IT IS NOT EASY TO BE A HIGH PERFORMANCE PERSON, EVEN AS A PRIEST! But he above all else, who I have coached/mentored, understood my frustrations with why people do the things they do – albeit engaging in self-sabotage – just as they see the goal  line in view! I have asked myself why people go off the rails and fall into despair? Why is the abyss of life so damn inviting? Of course I could write about the former head of the CIA and many others that attained the pinnacle of success. But those are not the ones I am referring to. I am alluding to those that don’t quite make it, though they ARE PERCEIVED TO BE SUCCESSFUL by others! I have had many of these as well and I discuss many of them at the Castle Seminar, to show what not to do! But Father George just plane got it, as reflected in his very kind and gracious words below.

MORE THAN A SEMINAR!

Mr PENA’s Seminar is MORE THAN A SEMINAR.

It’s a very important fact to read about Daniel S. PENA, Sr. [or others world top leaders] – his life and work, to read his Newsletters and to take the Success-Test – from his site, etc., but to attend his Seminar in his 15.th century ‘Guthrie Castle’-home is essential different.

It’s not about cerebral motions, raising your sales 20% or more, or only think about your success, to gaze into your boyfriend’s/ girlfriend’s eyes and understand/ feel anything, or walking on glass pieces – although it could be all of them…

But it’s MORE: it’s a REBIRTH! You will revalue yourself: your childhood, youth, adult time, current time, your family, your parents, kids, friends; ALL the areas of your life; and NO DOUBT you will ask yourself some questions… And you also will SEE your future…

The ‘7-DAY CASTLE EXTRAVAGANZA’ is unique… The Castle, the estate, the plate, the drinks, the staff, everything… is EXCLUSIVE.

And the Lessons (10 hours/ day), the whole presentation, the SPECIAL INDIVIDUAL time with Mr. Pena – one of the WORLD CLASS business living legends – to discuss your Dream, Vision and Future, his no-tire work WITH YOU… are till inside your very soul.

You will come back home ANOTHER person, ANOTHER YOU; prepare to say ‘Good bye!’ to you, as you are now, FOREVER… Like Saint Apostle PAUL said: a new man/ woman will be born from the old you; because of GOD, Mr. PENA and YOU!

So, go to his ‘Extravaganza’ Seminar, at his fabulous castle in Scotland, learn, accommodate with the HIGH PERFORMANCE and we will talk AFTER!

Father

George N. MOROSAN
15.08.2012, 
Suceava City, ROMANIA

P.S. Mr. Dan PENA, may God bless you!

MORE ON REGRETS

Every single person that has attended the Castle Experience has divulged during their private time with me various regrets they have had over their lifetimes! I am not going to reveal any personal things here (THOUGH I COULD WRITE A VERY INTERESTING BOOK ON THEM), or am I going to embarrass anyone! But suffice it to say these regrets have been from the spectacular to the sublime! But perception is reality and if the person thinks it was a big deal – then it certainly is to that person! But in virtually all cases, no one related that missing a little  league game, or a camp out with the kids and family, or other parental event was what they felt regret that accompanied their guilt! In just about all the cases it was something they didn’t do that was associated with not taking a risk and, or expanding their comfort zones by not expanding their emotional bank accounts! Or not manning up – when the opportunity presented itself!

Now this notion of what common consensus says we regret, is so much BS it is hard to imagine it is so widely believed! In the QLA Castle Seminar we spend a lot of time discussing this so no one leaves thinking guilty thoughts that don’t really matter! In my particular case I have few regrets and, or guilt for anything I have ever done! I do have regrets for things I didn’t do! As I have said at Guthrie my main regret is – I am a combat trained infantry officer – who has NEVER seen combat! Of my US ARMY Infantry Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Benning, Georgia, 107 young men graduated the extremely intense 6 month course in the mid-60s! And of those I was 1 of the handful that didn’t go to Vietnam! At the time, I thought I was very fortunate that I went to UNITED STATES ARMY EUROPE/NATO! Of course, so did virtually ALL I knew, thought I was a very lucky young man! Even now I am often told how lucky I am that I didn’t see combat, etc.! They say someone must have been looking out for me! Remember what I have said about common consensus – almost always being wrong!

In those days the Army was a very different place! Unlike the politically correct conditions that exist now – then they literally beat us like rented mules! (For example, now even Navy Seal Team training, arguably the toughest on the planet, allows married men to go home on weekends and in the mid 60’s in 6 months we had no days off!)  For example: in escape and evasion exercises if captured you could be staked on an ant hill and honey poured over your body and left for a day, or so till you talked; hung from a tree and having your genitals electrified with battery wires; or tied to a limb of a tree and thrown out of it possibly breaking your bones! The moral to these examples was you were taught NOT to get captured! It was an extremely grueling experience and as a 21 year old kid it was very very tough! I graduated in the bottom third of my class – due mostly to immaturity and lack of physical stamina compared to most of the older guys! But I graduated and it was a very proud day when my Mother pinned my brown bars on my shoulders, as a 2LT, July 1, 1967! In fact – it was the only thing I had ever done till that time to distinguish myself as a high performance person and still stands out as 1 of my proudest accomplishments! Of course – as they say – the rest is history! Upon leaving the military I went back to Uni and graduated on the Dean’s List finishing 4 years in 2 ½ years, while attending 2 Uni’s simultaneously. People ask why I didn’t graduate magna, etc? Well – when you are reversing many D’s and F’s from flunking out the first time in Uni – it is impossible to graduate at the top of your class!

As an aside, General (4 STAR) Tommie Franks was a graduate of OSC in 1967 and went on to command Desert Storm! Hence, I have always thought with my leadership skills, grit, determination and focus, I would have been a force to reckon with as a Career Army Officer!  So my biggest regret – I will never be able to take away! And as I write this newsletter it is alive and well in my conscious and subconscious mind! Hardly a day goes by, I don’t think about what might have been! And when I read about the young children being gunned down by a “sick 20 year old” in Newtown, Conn, I think about the guys I was in OCS with that didn’t live to see their grandkids, who could have been about that age! I ask myself – why ME? Why was I spared and not the many others? An answer – but not necessarily the correct answer – is I was able to come back after being very successful in business and life to change the realities of many people who might not of been able to do so without my QLA and ME!

I mention this personal regret to make it very clear we all have something we would like to have done differently! Many of our personal feelings are masked and they in turn mask our effectiveness to accomplish our goals! All the attendees above from May and October have regrets and some of them can easily be recognized. And some are much more difficult to ascertain. But that is my task as coach, teacher, mentor and leader of high performance individuals. And I must say – I continue to get better at it with age! LOL! What I am really saying – is with over 40 + years of “in the trenches” experience, it is hard to find a scenario I have not experienced myself! Hence, all Castle attendees benefit! I sometimes don’t realize, or perhaps forget how damn much I enjoyed being in the “EYE OF THE TIGER” for so many years! And if you have never experienced the “EYE” then you have no idea what your missing and what YOU MUST strive to achieve to be at the pinnacle of a high performance life!

Having shared this very personal insight – I sincerely hope it helps all readers to find their way! But admittedly, sometime I feel like Forest Gump in the movie, saving LT Dan! Even though Gump saved LT Dan’s life – he received no thanks from LT Dan till many years later! In that regard I receive many emails from the past telling me how I changed and in some cases saved people’s lives! Of course this is very gratifying – but I continue to ask why is it so f —ing hard? And now after almost 20 years of experience assisting others achieve their goals, I know more than ever it is an individual’s Comfort Zone and Emotional Bank Account that will make them free to achieve!  Of course, if I had listened more accurately to my MENTOR JIM NEWMAN from 1976, who invented CZ, it would of not taken me so DAMN long! LOL!

YOUR ONLY AS FREE AS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET!

By speaking to the castle attendees about my own regrets it allows them to better understand their own. And more importantly how they can structure, or restructure their own goals to take advantage of their strengths and use them in conjunction with the QLA Methodology! Because even if you understand QLA in detail – IF YOU CAN’T LASER BEAM FOCUS, EXECUTE AND IMPLEMENT THE KNOWLEDGE IS ALMOST USELESS!  Knowledge is great and terrific – but without ACTION all efforts will be less than desired! It is QLA ACTION that will “make you free of the chains of REGRET!”

To Your Quantum Leap,

Dan

P.S. If I really thought I might not coach anymore when I get something like this below, I feel I would have regrets if I quit now! This young lady is the girl friend of Mikey the Pizza Boy who now makes movies. I have written about a few times. I met them both for a tea while I was in LA a few months ago. She is a very attractive 6 foot tall blond that is polite and articulate – of course I called her BLOND BIMBO! She told me her story and I was stunned! I asked her to put it in writing:

At 19 I decided I wanted to work for myself and own my own business. I had a dream to own my first business by the beach, I figured if I was going to live where I worked I might as well be somewhere I love. Two months later I visited a business for sale two blocks from the ocean in Hermosa Beach. Six months later at the age of 20 I bought that first business with a SBA Loan and moved to Manhattan Beach, CA. 

I knew I wanted to own more businesses but thought I was lucky to get financing the first time how would it be possible again. Mikey introduced me to your QLA Methodology. Soon after I saw a posting for a beautiful Pilates studio for sale, I told Mikey that I would love to own another-one like that someday.  He said why not now?! I was 21 and had owned my own business for 1.5 years so far, I though it’s was too soon for another business and not possible. He continued to explain the QLA methodology, by the next week I had a meeting. 

Within 2 weeks I had visited every bank in the area looking for funds. The business asking price was $150 thousand. They had just done over $250 thousand in renovations and equipment purchases 1 year before. This place was the most beautiful studio I had seen so far, plus in the nicest area of Santa Monica. I thought it was an impossible task and I would never get the funds needed. Mikey stepped in and explained how I could structure a deal anyway I wanted to make it possible for me to buy. That’s when he began to really teach me about QLA and mentor me with structuring the deal. 

Within a month I had a deal structured and signed that would allow me to buy the studio for a deposit of ONLY $10 thousand and pay only 50% of the NET income each month until the total $90 thousand purchase price was paid off.  “Down from $150 Thousand”. In addition to that they had put down a $50 thousand dollar deposit on rent that I could use towards future months! “FREE MONEY” In the end I could have walked into the business with only $10 thousand down and only paid them if the business made income after all the expenses were paid. Plus I would have $50 Thousand of their money towards future rents. In the end I didn’t go through with the deal but learned through the QLA Methodology that any business deal is possible and can be structured in my favor. Now I am a whole 22 years old and have additional companies targeted for acquisitions. The more I interview the banks the more i know what their looking for and the easier I can help take their MONEY off their hands. 

QLA
Jennifer Swarbrick – aka Blonde Bimbo 😉 

As life would have it this larger acquisition didn’t happen! Jenn felt she was too young and could not find someone to manage the larger facility, even though she could buy it! What she learned at a very young age was to always be ready to expand you need additional people! Needless to say,  I was and am extremely proud of her! And stories like this make my 20 year career in coaching massively worthwhile! As a coach it doesn’t get much better than this! Of course if I had known about this situation, she would of purchased the studio! Of course she is now 22 and may think she will not have an opportunity like this again! Of course, we older folks know much better!

P.P.S. In late Nov I spent 7 hours taping a new format for me that should air shortly! I say should, because I am dependant on the whims and vagaries of scheduling by others in the new year! All I can say at this juncture is – it is definitely something I have never done be for! In fact, when I told my kids over Xmas they were shocked at what I was doing! I would like to say it has stretched my Comfort Zone (CZ), but it has not! I had my first TV program on Financial TV 40 years ago! And back then I looked like a young Mr Rogers with a 3 piece suit on! LOL!

P.P.P..S. Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

P.P.P.P.S. Will you accept my personal challenge for 2013? will you ride into the glory of being a high performance super successful person? I sincerely hope and pray you will and I am willing to put my money where my mouth is towards this objective! For the first time ever – I am going to put my own money towards projects that meet high performance goals and endeavours! Yes you heard me correctly! What better way for me to usher in possibly my final year coaching? I will personally read and filter all projects submitted to me!  Those I accept, I will give an outline and conditions on which I will invest and, or co invest, with a timeline and deliverables! All potential projects will be submitted to my assistant Thelma at thelmag@guthriecastle.com where she will coordinate and give them to me! This is not a completely new idea for me! I am presently support the underprivileged in manila in 2 different ways: with techie projects http://www.izone-ihub.blogspot.com/; and I continue to support 3 orphanages with about 150 kids. I hope many of you take advantage of this one time offer – and believe me this is not a Gary Halbert type hype! I really mean it is a “1” time offer! There is no limit to the amount I would invest! Though there is a limit to the number of projects, I will be involved in. as you can imagine, I only have so much time – after all I am supposed to be retired now! lol! And speaking of retirement, I was recently asked by a mentee after I questioned his work ethic – how my schedule breaks down now? – reference me being a senior citizen in retirement, etc.? So, I checked for 2012 and even with my many trips (50 days land/air trips) and 5 cruises (70 days), I averaged working about 45 hours a week in 2012! Hell, to me that is retirement – considering I used to work 90 – 110 a week most of my life! No wonder I am so rested in retirement! lol!