Orrin Woodward on LIFE & Leadership

Imagine buying a classic Porsche 911, a luxury 2-door sports coupe made in Stuttgart, Germany. As one studies the distinctive design, the powerful rear engine, the independent rear suspension, and swing axle, one is filled with awe at the engineering masterpiece.  As the new owner, one decides handle with care, ensuring nothing but the best for the classic car.  When people buy cars of this caliber, they go the extra mile in taking care of their new possession, requiring garages, premium gas, planned maintenance, and special parking to avoid other cars who may ‘ding’ your masterpiece.  None of this is out of line, per say, but to the extent that people carry the care for their automobile, as compared to the lack of care, most people have of their true masterpiece, their brain, it does seem peculiar.  How can a car be considered more worthy of care than a person’s brain, since one is replaceable, the other is not.  I love fancy cars as much as the next person, being an engineer by training, but the mind of any healthy human being is exponentially more valuable than any car ever produced.

The brain is capable of mental gymnastics beyond the most powerful computer ever designed.  It can assimilate data into working models of life, identifying similarities in multitudes of disparate data points, finding patterns where chaos seemed to reign.  Even something as simple as language to the mind is extremely difficult for a computer to recognize as the mind quickly determines the meaning based upon emphasis of words or syllables, where the computer is lost.  Engineers have worked for decades attempting to re-create, what so many people take for granted; the one of a kind ability of the human brain to collect, sort, recognize patterns, make predictions, and produce results.  Billions of dollars have been invested to manufacturer a computer like the brain that everyone is born with, and engineers are not even close to replicating the power, scope and magnitude we are all given at birth. With such an incredible asset, why is it, that people treat their brains so nonchalantly, when it is, by far, the most important gift God has given them at birth?  When studying the mass of humanity, one notices that few will do the routine maintenance necessary for the proper working of their brain; few will feed their brain only the best thoughts; and fewer still, will exercise their mind towards a goal or dream.  We are born to win, but learn to lose. Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.”  Having a brain with the power to accomplish nearly anything, with the ability to change your circumstances when programmed properly, but choosing not to take responsibility for the implementation, is a plan for failure and the subsequent quiet desperation ensues.

Any veteran computer programmer knows that ‘garbage in’ equals ‘garbage out,’ meaning the outputs are only as good as the inputs.  If this is true for a computer, then it is much more true for one’s brain.  The brain is beyond the Porsche 911 of computers and needs to be treated as such.  Every person is responsible for the upkeep of his prized possession.  Sadly, most are failing in their responsibility, feeding their brains a steady diet of junk thinking, mixed messaging, and doubt filled programming.  If I poured water into the Porsche, thinking that the superior design will overcome my poor behaviors, what chance do I have of driving successfully to my destination?  It’s the same principle with one’s brain.  If one pours improper programming into one’s mind, what chance of success does one have?  Regardless of the beautiful, literally priceless design, the brain is only as good as the source code fed to it.  The good news is that when a person takes responsibility for the source code, deleting the garbage, replacing with the good, the results produced can change dramatically in a short amount of time.  Since ‘garbage in’ equals ‘garbage out,’ perhaps it’s time to take responsibility for what one is feeding his brain.

If one does not program his brain with the source code for success, others will gladly program his brain with their planned programs.  For example, advertisers spend billions per year with the specific intent to program your mind to desire the products that they have to offer.  Maybe one needs them, maybe one doesn’t, but when one surrenders the programming of his mind to someone else, one also surrenders the leadership of his life to another.  Like the old saying goes, “When in charge, take command.”  You are in charge of your life, you are in charge of your brain, take command of the programming to produce the results you desire in life, not what the advertisers desire, or what your boss plan for your life is, or what your environment predicts for your life.  One of the greatest breakthroughs that you will experience on your success journey, is the realization, that you can accomplish nearly anything that you are willing to design into the source code programming inside of your brain.  Ideas have consequences in life, and the ideas that your brain feeds upon, on a daily basis, will produce fruit.  Whether it is good fruit or rotten fruit is up to the programmer, meaning it’s up to you.

What is the correct source code for success principles, producing the results one desires in life?  I believe that there are twelve source code principles, that, if implemented, can produce results beyond most people’s current power of imagination.  Let me give you just a few examples that I have witnessed first hand, watching the person change before my eyes as they implemented the new source code of success, the new operating system for their minds.  I could write a whole book on people’s stories that I have had the pleasure to view first hand, but I will share just a couple to give an example of the amazing power of the changes possible when one changes the source code of the mind.  The following stories are true, each having gone through the discipline of re-programming their minds to produce different results in their lives.  I share these stories, not only to shed light on the idea that one can change, and, not only to recognize the courageous individuals who stepped up to the plate and changed, but also to help the readers understand the joy of making the changes and winning in life. Success can be painful temporarily, as one makes the programming changes, but failure is painful permanently.  As you read these examples, realize, that they are no different than you; they had dreams; they had fears; they had hopes; they had struggles; they had defeats, and they ultimately had victories, overcoming their original poor source code programming.  The same success journey is available to you.

The first couple was over one hundred thousand dollars in consumer debt outside of their mortgage.  Through improper thinking (source code) on finances, this couple habitually overspent, spending money on things not necessary to live, even when massively in debt. They racked up a debt that consumed most of their discretionary money through interest payments and were in bondage through stress engendered from poor behaviors.  With little money remaining, but habits (source codes) that still desired the finer things, this couple proceeded to go further and further into debt.  People will only change for two reasons – the pain or pleasure associated with the change.  When the pain of staying the same becomes too great, people will change.  When the pleasure of a new condition becomes big enough, people will move in the desired direction.  In this case, the pain of staying the same drove this couple to change.  The young man sat down and reviewed all of his bills, laying out each credit card before him, studying each bank loan, car loan, and credit line, until he broke down inside, finally, admitting that it was his thoughts had led to the actions, which had led to the poor financial results.  By implementing the source code changes discussed in this book, the couple transformed their finances, from over a hundred thousand dollars of consumer debt, into a debt free life, enjoying the finer things on a cash lifestyle.  Financial debt can be crippling, but one can use that pain to drive the programming changes producing future victories.  By applying the goal setting principles to their finances, the couple changed their source codes, and thus, their financial destinies.

The second couple allowed fear to control them.  The man being so fearful of people, that he refused to hand out candy at Halloween trick or treating, begging his wife to do the ‘fearful’ activity.  Fear isn’t rational, but it can hold one back from greatness, until one is ready to rewrite the source code.  Action conquer fears or fears will conquer actions.  This young couple decided to act towards their dreams, focusing, not on the fears, but on the future reality imagined in their dreams.  Today this couple speaks in front of thousands of people, inspiring others by their courageous lives, leading others to make the programming changes, creating lives of their dreams, not of their dreads. If one will practice the correct skills, acting out the skills in life, one can conquer nearly any fear, creating the results through facing one’s fears.  This couple went from a mechanic and day care provider to one of the most inspirational speakers and leaders, taking charge of the mental programming in their minds.  From a fearful existence, laden with debt, this couple now lives debt free, and fear free, chasing dreams not even imaginable, when fear controlled their lives.  This is the power of the source code of success in one’s life.

The third example is a young couple who started on the wrong side of the tracks. He, started in the inner city ghetto culture.  Raised by his mother, in a single parent home, he quickly learned the street smarts to survive.  Accepting no excuses from himself, he made paid his way through college while working, but knew he wasn’t fulfilling his potential.  She, was a single mom, having had a baby shortly after high school, her association prohibited her from achieving the potential she had inside of her.  When these two met, they both had dreams, but both had to change their associations and internal labels.  By developing the source code explained in this book, this young couple has accomplished in the less than a decade, more than most will achieve their entire lives.  They recently moved into an 8,000 plus square foot house, with a pool, pool clubhouse, pergola, a thirty person fire pit, and many other amenities.  Through the courage to delete the ‘garbage in’ and replacing the a new source code (good stuff in), this couple has radically transformed their lives.

I shared the above example to help you understand the extent of the changes possible when you take control of the programming coming in to your masterpiece mind. The fourth example, the one most important to you, is still being written, because it’s your example.  What dreams do you have?  What fears do you have?  What temporary sacrifices are you willing to make to rid yourself of the bondage of debts and fear and improper thinking?  Each story is different, but all have an essential pattern of the dream, the struggle and the victory.  Your story must start with a dream, a dream that drives you to change, even though its uncomfortable.  The dream drives you to make the changes, creating the momentum necessary to break the old programming and replace with a better, more productive source code.  Dreams are great, but every dream is birthed amidst struggles.  If you aren’t struggling then you aren’t dreaming big enough.  Big dreams require big struggles, but they are so worth it, not just for the accomplishment of the dream, but even more so, for who you become in the process of achieving that dream.  One will find, than in life, real success is not in the material things, but in the better person created along the journey to success.  Your story will have a dream, it will have a struggle, and it will have a victory through your willingness to change and grow.  Dream, struggle, victory, this is the process for re-writing the source code and developing a game plan to create success in any area of your life.

Let’s examine the twelve source code changes necessary to re-program the mind for success.  The source codes are pre-suppositions of life that help create a success minded world-view, a world-view that helps you see opportunities in every challenge versus the challenges that most see in every opportunity.  Here is the twelve source codes for success:

1. Learn to feed you sub-conscious along with your conscious mind.
2. Decide that character is more important than reputation.
3. Learn that attitude determines your altitude.
4. Learn that failure to plan is a plan for failure.
5. Learn that talent is a gift, but work ethic is a choice.
6. Learn to keep score of the results in the game of life.
7. Develop the art of leading people.
8. Learn that individuals grow, but teams explode.
9. Learn the secrets of emotional intelligence.
10. Develop the art and skills of conflict resolution.
11. Learn to confront the brutal reality.
12. Create a legacy, when you are blessed, be a blessing.

Learning and developing the twelve crucial source code changes will produce results, happiness, and a sense of fulfillment in life, giving one the opportunity to spend most of his time sharing the source codes of success with others.  If you are blessed in life, the Good Book teaches one to be a blessing to others.  The purpose of this book is to pay the blessings in my life forward to others by sharing the source code for success.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward