A. Why Should We Care

• Because everything we want is controlled by someone else. Without effective struggle, this condition will continue. Without skilled activism, the struggle will be fruitless.
• Purpose of workshop: To expose you to obstacles, opportunities, and techniques for being who you really want to be, perhaps even an activist; to be effective, need to know self

B. What Makes Us Tick?

• Leading lives of quiet desperation in the land and time of greatest opportunity
• Most complex device on earth with no instruction manual; takes half a lifetime to learn
• Mechanistic product of past experiences; past behavior predictor future; rat story, my story
• We are defined by our self-concept: self-ideal (who would like to be), self-image (who think we are), self-esteem (how feel about it)
• Self-ideal and self-esteem easy, so dwell on self-image, key to controlling future behavior; defined by stories, rackets and fears, and winning formulas (Forum)
• Stories: personal perceptions of reality dealing with location, resources, appearance, age, genetics, intelligence, education, experience
• Rackets: unfounded beliefs, based on stories, that prevent us from pursuing our goals
• Fears: change (if it ain’t broke), confrontation (not my problem), control (when my time comes), decision (I’ll try), failure (I can’t), rejection (he/she hates me), responsibility (not my fault), sexuality (won’t satisfy), solution (won’t work), success (won’t last)
• Winning formulas: behavior patterns that replace open, honest interactions
• Exercise: list your stories, rackets, fears, and winning formulas; how they affect your behavior?

C. And How?

• Born with clean slate, spontaneous, uninhibited, no stories, no fears, no rackets, no self-image
• Role models and shapers of self-image: parents, peers, teachers, bosses, spouses
• Tools: guilt, shame, conditional love, destructive criticism, punishment, humiliation
• Conscious mind: filters and interprets our experiences and stores them in subconscious mind; discriminating, analytical, single thought; like CPU
• Subconscious mind: stores perceptions of experiences filtered/interpreted by CM; also repeated notions; unable to discriminate between fantasy and reality, large storage; like HD
• Stories, rackets and fears, and winning formulas accepted by CM, because generated by us or by role models or bypassed through repetition, and stored by SM
• They lead to reaffirmation of self-image and repetitive behavior patterns; also to destructive coping mechanisms like anger, alienation, psychotic behavior; self-image is key to change
• Exercise: list your behavior modification tools for your children, mate, peers, subordinates

D. How Successful?

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: physiological (food, shelter, rest, sex), security (physical, financial, emotional), acceptance (approval, recognition, love), self-actualization (living your ideals)
• Each level’s needs must be fulfilled before those in next higher level and vice-versa
• Success as fulfillment of needs at various levels; the role of money; can forgo/reduce needs
• Exercise: list your own unfulfilled needs; how do they fit in Maslow’s hierarchy?

E. Breaking Out of the Rut

• Goals define direction, but vague about results and timing; two dimensions: personal, professional, ideological, but also physical, intellectual, emotional; can be negative too
• Objectives map steps toward goal; attributes: short-term, attainable, measurable, consistent
• Calculated risks (not flapping arms from tall buildings) - key to greatness (Moses, Jesus, Columbus, Gandhi, King); ordinary people averse to risk (insurance industry, stock market)
• Set goals (five years to live), objectives (details), priorities (include forgone/reduced needs)
• Develop monthly, weekly, daily schedules and review/reward process
• Exercise: list a couple of goals and define attendant priorities and objectives

F. Now the Hard Part

• Reinventing ourselves is a long and arduous process; requires breaking the vicious cycle of reaching for higher goals while held down by our stories, rackets/fears, winning formulas
• Consider personal growth courses by institutions like the Forum or Church of Scientology
• Take full responsibility for your life: question and take control of your stories, rackets, fears, winning formulas; be open and whole with others
• Use visualization and repetition to improve self-image and substitution to ban negative thoughts
• In setting goals and objectives, expand comfort zone: take calculated risks, learn to live with consequences, turn failures into opportunities, make unreasonable requests
• Turn destructive emotions from masters to slaves: anxiety (turn to motivation), jealousy (turn to friendship), anger (forgive); it’s not about them, it’s about you; you must give permission
• But cherish and cultivate powerful constructive emotions: joy, passion, outrage
• Exercise: prepare plan for improving your self-image

G. Activism 101

• Three stages of activism: participation (1-2 hrs/wk, no problem), involvement (10-15, potential time conflicts), preoccupation (60-80, major lifestyle changes); consider hierarchy of needs
• If you want to get something done, assign it to a busy person; time management is not
• Getting things done: simplify lifestyle, combine intellectual/physical activities, monetize your time, screen new activities (acceptance, delegation, refusal), schedule your time, be mindful of Peter Principle, law of diminishing returns, action vs activity, and effectiveness vs efficiency
• Dealing with procrastination: not urgent – set and observe late deadline, too overwhelming – break up, too unpleasant – psyche up and reward, missing components – get them, don’t agree – work it out, might fail – deal with fear of failure, put off before – sound alarm bells
• Exercise: prepare plan for enhancing your productivity

H. Taking Care of Number One

• A sane mind in a healthy body buys a lot of activism for a long time; consider hierarchy of needs
• Healthy body: plant-based diet, clean air and water, daily exercise (aerobic, toning, stretching), ample rest, safety precautions, preventive care for special conditions
• Sane mind: focusing on goals and objectives, dwelling on accomplishments - not failures, dealing with crises, "living in day-tight compartments," peaceful environment, good self-image, positive feedback, warm strokes, rest and relaxation, planned recreation
• Exercise: prepare plan for attaining a sane mind in a healthy body

I. Dealing with Other Perverts

• Doing unto others (Carnegie 101)
• The four magic words
• Communicating effectively
• The art of attitude adjustment
• All in the family – the secrets of teamwork

J. Secrets of Leadership

• Assuming responsibility for your life and tasks
• Getting things done well and on time
• Applying vision, creativity, judgment, and confidence
• Delegating and learning to live with human failings
• Earning the trust and respect of your peers

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