Patient Attention

Hi Persuader,

When I was a kid I was raised on a farm. I used to help my grandpa plant fruit trees. Some of them were hybrids – really cute little trees.

I remember saying to him, “Grandpa, we worked hard in the garden this year and I can’t wait. I’m going to really enjoy the tomatoes and the carrots and all these vegetables, but what I really want are some of these apples that are going to come on this tree. It seems to me that the tree is pretty little, but I guess because it’s a dwarf tree it’s still going to have apples.”

And my grandpa said, “Well, you know, you first have to plant the tree and then the tree has to mature a bit and then it will be producing apples and you’ll be able to eat the apples, but that’s going to take a couple of years. These trees don’t produce immediately. It’s going to take a couple of years.”

In our businesses, some of us don’t have to wait a couple of years to reap the rewards. But we do have to plant the seeds and we have to nurture it, water it and we have to take care of it while that’s happening.

I don’t mind working hard, putting in the time, the sweat, the financial investments for more education and state-of-the-art equipment because I know, ultimately, that apple tree is mine and that fruit is going to be delicious and will sustain me in every way.

What is it that will carry you through the growth period, enabling you to work and do what needs to be done such that you can reap the “apple” – the time and freedom that you really want?

Many of my students have been with me for years. I’ve watched them as they’ve – for lack of a better word – blossomed into amazing persuaders. We’ve all grown together. And as we take on new students of all different persuasions – realtors, financial advisors, copywriters, – we are able to see the amazing richness this diversity brings us.

It’s not a farm with only carrots. We’ve got variety and that variety shows us how to apply persuasion in so many different facets of life. We are amazing resources for each other and I am particularly excited about what we bring to each other through the forums, the blog, and at the seminars and in the Elite Coaching Club.

Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.”

Patient attention. This is a concept I want to explore with those of you who feel they are struggling with a huge amount of information that seems to be opening itself up to you.

I caution my new students all the time, not to be too hard on themselves for not getting it all right away. Not only is it training the other-than-conscious mind to experience undue stress, but it’s really counterproductive. Despite your current level, if you’re on the calls, if you’re doing the light and sound sessions, if you’re thinking about persuasion and your skills daily, then you are getting it. It’s sinking in. Please believe me.

And while I suggest that this is all sinking in, I’m also going to tell you that if you’re not making the most of this – say by not doing the home play or by not coming to the quarterly meetings, or not showing up for the weekly calls – then something needs to be adjusted.

In order to “get it” you need to be present. You have to have the “attention” part in play for it to begin to bear fruit.

With that said, if you are receiving these newsletters in your inbox every few days and you’re feeling as though you need to step it up a notch, then look into my Persuasion Factor program to learn how you can really get involved and actively learn this material.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 3 comments

Dave - October 1, 2007

The biggest accomplishments that have occured in my life have been due to the concept of patient attention. After working on a project or skillset for up to a couple of years, it suddenly dawns on me that a little twist right ‘there’ makes the results maginify considerably.

With dilligence and patience, a work day is compressed to under two hours of actual work time, then an hour, then 15 minutes. Athletic accomplishments come as the result of training for a half hour on only two days a week with the patient attention to detail. Persuasion skills tend to come in small jumps throughout years of study by displaying themselves every couple of months or so. And the most dynamic of rewards comes from the result of patient attention to the dollars coming in and the dollars going out. Perhaps the second greatest feeling is awakening one day after many days of patient attention to growing your savings to the point where saving six months of living expenses has occurred. Then onwards to a year, two years, and extrapolation to the ability to retire at will.

James - October 1, 2007

I grew up and still live in the city and while I can see an image of a young boy helping his grandfather on the farm, that is something that I just do not relate to much, even though I see the value in the metaphor. You see I, like most of America would naturally prefer instant gratification. After all who would not not prefer to have something NOW as compared to later, maybe that is why sod is so much more popular than seed when it comes to planting a lawn.
So as I thought about this idea of patient attention. I realized something, something that made more sense to me, something that I could relate to, something that gave me fond memories of my childhood as well. Marbles, I can carry around a single marble in my pocket every day and use this marble to remind me of a certain persuasion technique. As I use this technique and become proficient at this technique I could deposit the marble into a fishbowl that I place somewhere I can see everyday to remind myself of my accomplishments. Then retrieve a new marble from my bag and carry that sphere around with me until I become competent using that persuasion skill. As I see the fish bowl grow abundant, more full and closer to the top of the rim of the fish bowl I will have achieved this idea called patient attention. After all didn’t Lao-tzu say the journey of a thousand miles started with single step?

Joshua - October 1, 2007

James, that reminds me of an approach to affirmations/self-hypnosis/manifestation that I ran across recently. You have a bucket full of water. Every day, if you do your affirmation, you drop a pebble in the bucket. If you have a day when you don’t do your affirmation, you take a pebble out. When you’ve filled the bucket with pebbles and there’s no more water, you get a new bucket and start on a new goal.

It’s both a reminder to do it, and a metaphor in itself. Every pebble is new programming. The water is the old programming. With every pebble that goes in, you replace a bit of the old programming, and eventually you’ve completely replaced the old programming. Without even really noticing it; the water comes out of the bucket gradually and without conscious awareness, necessarily.

Patient Attention

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