Three Part Post....actually a RE-post from Oct. 13, 1999

[GordonJ]

Let me use myself as an example.

See when I was young, I was told by many adults that I would not be able to speak and to be understood. This was reinforced by taking all those speech sessions in school and doing all those mouth and tongue exercises. I was forced to do it, but at the same time what I was hearing was how terrible I was at speaking. So here is a surprise, I went for months on very few words. And even today, in person, I am a man of few words. Which explains why I get wordy in writing.

Now add to this childhood ENVIRONMENT my heredity, which includes certain neurological disorders. I have Attention Deficit Disorder. My nephews have it, and one has Tourette Syndrome. Many of my cousins have children that have been legitimately diagnosed as ADD Hyperactivity. But I did not know this growing up, and in fact only learned about it a few years ago, when my nephew was diagnosed.

It was like a light bulb was turned on, and it explained so much of my life, like why I've had a million jobs, and can't stay focused on things.

Oh drat where was I.

OH, OH, If I had someone that would have made me examine my childhood and inherited characteristics somewhere along the way, I could have saved years of struggle seeking my place. Like many of you are doing now.

You are looking for your place in life.

NOW, some are looking for a business, or money making opportunity, the RIGHT ONE. Because if you choose the wrong business, it is very easy to become a slave to your business.

Here is the assignment.

Get a few sheets of paper. Draw a time line across the center. Then write 1 to 12 across the top. These represent your first 12 years of life. Then below each number, write out the year, where you lived, what school you attended. Do that for each year up to 12. If you lived in the same place for the whole time, then this will be easy.

Now write down the names of all the people that were in your life during this time. Include mom and dad, or foster parents, or adopted parents, brothers and sisters, friends, Anyone and everyone you can think of.

Try to do this quickly, without emotion, without falling into a state of either pleasant or unpleasant memories. The point of this exercise is to SHOW you what the major influences were in your life at the critical DEVELOPMENT periods. Because who and what you are today, is for the most part, the same person you were when you were 12.

Ideologically speaking. These are the hidden forces that you may have never considered.

Now also, on a different piece of paper, write down all the information that you can about your parents, grand-parents, or if you were adopted or a ward of a state, write down the names of all adults that in your life during these years.

Now, remember, we are not looking for trauma or emotional memories, just the facts Mam, just the facts.

Why should you do all of this busy work? Because in going through this process, it is very possible for you to uncover some of those forces I talked about,

forces that could doom you before you even start a project.

Knowing what you know about me, do you think that as a younger man it would have been a good idea to go into any business that required a lot of talking or speaking? Yet I did.

And I had a lot of failure in those early years too.

End of original post.



Gordon