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Slide 1: The Business School of Consciousness HOW TO BUST LOOSE FROM THE “OLD” BUSINESS GAME Robert Scheinfeld
Slide 2: © 2009 by Robert Scheinfeld Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 2.5. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Special thanks to David Meerman Scott for suggesting that I write this e-book and encouraging me to write it, and to Richard Narramore, my editor at John Wiley & Sons, for his continued support of my work. The graphic design of this e-book was done by the amazing Dale Novak. Contact Dale at http://www.novakcreative.net/ Please feel free to post this on your blog or website and/or email it to whomever you believe would benefit from reading it. Thank you, Robert Scheinfeld The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 2
Slide 3: Are You Ready To Play The “New” Business Game? Hallmarks of the “old” Business Game: • Get results, no matter what price you must pay • Vulnerability to people and forces beyond your control • Scarcity • Endless to-do lists • Fear • Stress • Pressure and struggle Hallmarks of the “New” Business Game: • Extraordinary results without focusing on them or paying a “price” • People and outside forces align to support you • Abundance • To do lists take care of themselves • Fun • Joy • Ease • And so much more … There’s an old saying “thinking outside the box” which refers to being creative and innovative. The Business School of Consciousness goes beyond that to “dynamite the box” and open a gateway into The New Game. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 3
Slide 4: Table Of Contents Introduction 5 7 10 18 27 30 34 The Big Price You’ve Been Paying The Big Tease The Big Lie 13 The Big Truth The Big Opportunity The Big Invitation About The Author The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 4
Slide 5: Introduction Throughout this e-book, I’m going to speak very boldly and directly with you, and I’m going to start now by asking you two critical questions: Has your experience of playing The Business Game (my label for all aspects of being in business) changed recently in dramatic ways? Has your desire to play The Business Game in a different way reached a fever pitch? If you answered “Yes” to one or both questions, you’re not alone. Feelings like that, and other similar ones, could accurately be called a worldwide epidemic. While it’s an extraordinary game, and the rewards for “winning” can be extraordinary too, The Business Game is an extremely difficult game to play well. There are so many moving pieces that must be aligned and maintained in a world that never stands still. There are so many sales, marketing, management, and financial strategies that must be isolated, developed, and optimized. Most importantly, there are so many forces affecting your bottom line that are beyond your control: employees, competitors, the global economy, emerging technologies, recessions, depressions, stock market crashes, etc. No matter how smart or skilled you and your team are, no matter how great your products or services are, it’s impossible not to feel small and vulnerable in the face of all the “power outside” issues you fight each day – especially during tough times. At the time of this writing, there is talk, worldwide, about how the old economic and business models are broken and new ones need to be developed. I agree with that. But the new models won’t come from politicians passing new laws; or from entrepreneurs creating more innovative products or services or executing more efficient sales, marketing, leadership, or finance strategies; or from a renewed commitment to honesty, fairness, and integrity; or from the elimination of greed as a motivator; or from anything else that involves trying to manage, Robert Scheinfeld The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 5
Slide 6: manipulate, or control forces that are outside of you. As I’ll show in the pages that follow, an external focus ultimately dooms you to failure in playing The Business Game – in some way, shape, or form. This e-book is called “The Business School of Consciousness.” Wikipedia defines Consciousness as “the specific way in which humans are mentally aware in such a way that they distinguish clearly between themselves (the thing being aware) and all other things and events.” In short, the real key to transforming your experience of playing The Business Game and the results you produce is in shifting your focus inward and working to alter and expand your own Consciousness. When you do that (and I can show you how), and your Consciousness expands to a certain point, you begin playing what I call “The New Business Game,” which I’ll define in a later chapter. Expanding into being able to play The New Business Game isn’t for everyone. It requires an extraordinary degree of open mindedness and a willingness to explore uncharted territories and use unfamiliar navigation tools. If you can make the leap, however, you’ll experience financial and personal transformation and rewards beyond your wildest dreams. The picture I paint for you in the pages that follow may surprise, delight, and excite you in what you instantly recognize as extremely positive ways. It may also shock you, disturb you, or seem unbelievable or even crazy to you. Regardless of your reaction (initially and over time), this ebook will open your eyes to many new possibilities. It will stretch and challenge you in powerful ways and open new doors of opportunity. This e-book will open your eyes to many new possibilities. It will stretch and challenge you in powerful ways and open new doors of opportunity. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 6
Slide 7: The Big Price You’ve Been Paying When I was in my early thirties, living in a city whose name shall remain anonymous, I bought a house from a bank that had foreclosed on the owner. The owner had been a famous, high-flying, big-money-earning quarterback for the professional football team in that city. But he’d gone bankrupt. When I moved into the house and got to know the neighbors, they told me stories about how the quarterback had been so physically beaten up by the game and was in so much pain that on some mornings, he couldn’t walk down the stairs from his second-floor bedroom and had to stay in bed all day. The quarterback played football, a game he loved, as a child, in high school, then in college and the pros. He had lots fun, won championships, earned many honors and a lot of money. But there was a HUGE price to pay later in his life in the form of physical pain and limitation. Perhaps he anticipated that consequence and it came as no surprise, but the odds are, he didn’t consciously think about the price he might one day pay as he played all those years. He was just focused on playing! If you’re like me, you love playing The Business Game, whether you own your own business or you’re an employee. It challenges, excites, and exhilarates you at a very deep level. Playing The Business Game may even be one of the things you enjoy most in life. But if you’re like I used to be, and like the quarterback I just described, a big “price” will always be paid from playing the “old” Game – a price you can see and feel. I call this “The Visible Price.” Maybe you’re paying The Visible Price right now and you’re already aware of it. Maybe you’ve been paying it for many years, also aware of it. Maybe you’ll pay the Visible Price later on in a way that will come as a surprise to you. The Visible Price may be an emotional one, in the form of negative emotions like burnout, stress, fear, anger, or frustration. It may be physical, in the form of exhaustion, pain in your body, If you’re like me, you love playing The Business Game, whether you own your own business or you’re an employee. It challenges, excites, and exhilarates you at a very deep level. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 7
Slide 8: illness, or disease. It may be in paid in the form of limited free time, loneliness, troubled relationships, or constantly repeating up-and-down or “failure” patterns in your business affairs. The possibilities for when, where, and how you’ll pay your Visible Price are unlimited, but The Visible Price will be paid, and will continue to be paid, in one way, shape, or form, if you continue playing The Business Game in the way you were taught and the way you’ve been playing until now. What I just shared comes as no surprise to you, I’m sure. Numerous experts, authors, speakers, consultants, and coaches have discussed the most common prices being paid for playing The Business Game, the need for balance, reducing stress, and playing The Business Game differently. Many formulas, techniques, and strategies have been offered to remedy the situation, but few, if any, work in an ultimate sense, for reasons you’ll soon see. I must also share that there’s a price to be paid for playing The Business Game “the old way” that you can’t see or feel. I call it “The Invisible Price,” and the impact of paying The Invisible Price in your life is even larger than that of the Visible Price you can see and feel and may already be experiencing. If you choose to give me the opportunity after completing this e-book, I have a lot to share with you about The Invisible Price, and how to escape paying it. You originally began playing The Business Game with specific goals in mind. I divide them into two types: True Goals: These are the goals, generally beneath your conscious awareness and hidden from view, that if achieved, would absolutely provide consistent and deep, deep, deep levels of satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, and pleasure for you. I refer to True Goals as what you really want. True Goals do not change as you and your circumstances change. They’re a constant because they relate to who you really are, deep down. Hypnotic Goals: These are the always-conscious goals that are very seductive and get a lot of your attention. You work very hard to achieve them, thinking that if you do, your business and life would improve in major ways. Common examples of Hypnotic Goals are increases in sales, True Goals do not change as you and your circumstances change. They’re a constant because they relate to who you really are, deep down. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 8
Slide 9: profits, or personal income, and new or better “stuff ” like homes, cars, and gadgets. I refer to Hypnotic Goals as what you think you want. Hypnotic Goals often change as you and your circumstances change. True Goals occasionally find their way into your conscious awareness and seem like Hypnotic Goals, but from my experience, it’s rare. No matter what your personal story is, I can virtually guarantee that three things are True for you: 1 2 3 You haven’t achieved many of your Hypnotic Goals yet, despite investing lots of time, money, and energy in pursuit of them. When you have achieved Hypnotic Goals, some if not all of them didn’t provide the ultimate satisfaction, joy, or pleasure you thought they would – or such feelings didn’t last long if you did experience them. You haven’t achieved any of your True Goals. I’m not going to offer you any advice in this e-book on sales, marketing, management, leadership, finance, or any of the subsets within those Business Game topics. I must also share that none of this will change – ever – unless you stop playing The “old” Business game and begin playing The New Business Game, which I can show you how to do. This e-book will not help you play the “old” Business Game better, faster, or more efficiently. It isn’t designed to support you in pursuing the Hypnotic Goals of growing your business, income, and wealth, of living and working in more luxurious surroundings, etc. I’m not going to offer you any advice in this e-book on sales, marketing, management, leadership, finance, or any of the subsets within those Business Game topics. This e-book is designed to open a gateway that can support you in busting loose from the “old” Business Game – completely – and beginning to play an entirely new game that will amaze and delight you. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 9
Slide 10: The Big Tease An amazing journey led to me to busting loose from The “old” Business Game. That journey began with a conversation I had with my grandfather, Aaron Scheinfeld, when I was 12 years old. Aaron was an amazingly talented man – he might be called a “Renaissance Man.” Among his many extraordinary skills and accomplishments, two stand out most in my mind: He turned a simple idea into one of the world’s largest and most successful international businesses – Manpower, Inc. – now a Fortune 150 company and the world’s largest temporary help service with sales in excess of $18 billion. That global success made possible levels of financial abundance and freedom most people (even extremely successful people) would drool over. He was the happiest person I’ve ever known, and he lived a lifestyle with more freedom than any of his contemporaries in Big Business at the time. I can still see and feel his joyfulness in my mind, especially when he played the piano or ukulele and sang or told silly stories. Here’s a picture of Aaron: As I grew up, I became aware of rumblings within the family that there was something mysterious about Aaron’s gigantic success. When I was 12 years old, in response to my relentless nagging about the mysterious secret of his success, he started chatting with me about a very unusual philosophy, mindset, and series of strategies related to what he called “power in the invisible world.” This is what he told me was the true source of all his business success, happiness, and lifestyle. These were his first words to me on the subject: “There’s the visible world, and there’s the invisible world. Most people think the power is in the visible world, but it isn’t. The REAL power is in the invisible world. Everything I have, everything I am, I credit back to my ability to map out and tap the invisible power sources.” Aaron Scheinfeld The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 10
Slide 11: He also said something I’ve found to be true from my own experience: “There are a lot of people out there talking about the invisible world that appear similar – universal laws, subconscious and unconscious mind, but I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about something very different, something very few people know about, and those who do know rarely talk about it.” Gramps died shortly after our chats began, before he could finish mentoring me. What he shared ultimately amounted to a gigantic tease that created within me an obsession to find and map out the invisible power sources he described. His final words to me were: “As you grow up, you’ll be taught many things about money and business. They will all seem to make sense, appear true and logical, but they aren’t. It’s the illusion of them being true that causes so much pain and struggle for so many people.” I spent 34 years following that obsession, what I now call “The Treasure Hunt of the Century.” As I searched for The Treasure, finally found it and busted loose from The “old” Business Game myself, speaking metaphorically, I stumbled into quicksand, had flat tires, ran out of gas, saw my radiator overheat, drove down numerous dead ends, careened off cliffs, and got lost, confused, and extremely frustrated by the many twists and turns in the road. Along the way, I had tremendous success playing The “old” Business Game, starting and building extremely profitable multi-million dollar businesses on and off the Internet, both for myself and others. One of my greatest achievements playing the “old” Business Game was building and operating a marketing machine that propelled Blue Ocean Software from $1 million to $44 million in sales in less than four years, resulting in the company being named three times to Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 500 list. That tremendous growth, accompanied by outrageous profitability during the Internet boom and bust “Tech Wreck,” led to Blue Ocean being acquired by software giant Intuit for $177 million in cash. “As you grow up, you’ll be taught many things about money and business. They will all seem to make sense, appear true and logical, but they aren’t.” –Aaron Scheinfeld The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 11
Slide 12: As it relates to money and business success, however, prior to expanding and playing The New Business Game, I repeated over and over an up-down, boom-bust cycle that caused me to feel tremendous frustration and anger. When I crashed and burned the first few times, the numbers were smaller and I was single. Losing everything was excruciatingly painful, but I’ve always had a high threshold for pain. As I got older, and the cycle continued, the numbers grew larger. Eventually, the up-down cycle moved into multiple millions of dollars, and at that point, I had a wife and two kids. We’d created a home and lifestyle we all loved and thrived on. If I crashed and burned again under those circumstances, I knew the pain would be unbearable for me because I’d have to watch them lose everything too. I knew I couldn’t survive that experience and I became desperate to find a way to avoid it. As you’ll discover in the pages that follow, and as you may already know from your own journey and studies, I’ve always had a Knowing that we each have an expanded aspect of our Consciousness that designs and creates our experiences from behind the scenes, like the Director of a Hollywood movie. I’ll be discussing that part of us, what I call our “Expanded Self,” in great detail in the pages that follow. When it felt like I might crash and burn again with my wife and family at the multiple-milliondollar level, I got angrier than I’ve ever been in my life – at my Expanded Self. “Look,” I said to Him, my eyes tilted up toward the sky, “I’ve been searching since I was a kid. I’ve worked my ass off to do the work you asked me to do in assembling the puzzle pieces you and my grandfather gave me. I’ve paid my dues. Obviously, there’s something I’m still missing here. So, either you show it to me – NOW – or get me the hell out of here because I won’t run this up-down, up-down cycle anymore.” I’ve been angry at my circumstances many times before, yelled at my Expanded Self like that about them too, but for some reason, this time there was movement, and eight months later, I had a HUGE breakthrough that ultimately led to me completely busting loose from The “old” Business Game and entering into The New Business Game. When it felt like I might crash and burn again with my wife and family at the multiplemillion-dollar level, I got angrier than I’ve ever been in my life. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 12
Slide 13: The Big Lie Right now, billions of people throughout the world are playing The Business Game and doing their best to win. Some play as employees, others as owners, and at various levels in between. Every month, thousands of entrepreneurs start new businesses – on and off the Internet – with dreams of success, abundance, and freedom flowing from their efforts. The odds are, you’re one of those people. As the players begin playing The Business Game, they’re taught the rules and regulations and do their best to follow them. They’re then guided to huge storehouses of guidance and advice within what I call “The Five Power Centers Of Business” – Sales, Marketing, Management, Leadership, and Finance – designed to help them succeed. Armed with the rules, regulations, and an everexpanding supply of theories, tools, techniques, and strategies, the players set off like warriors on the road to success and victory. The odds are that this describes you too, right now or many years ago when you first started playing The Business Game. Yet despite the best of intentions, following the “best of the best” advice, and investing tremendous amounts of time, energy, and money, every single player will ultimately fail to win The Business Game. Whether you’re aware of it consciously or not, whether you want to admit it or not, whether you’ve reached that place in playing The Business Game yet or not, that applies to you too. What do I mean by “fail to win The Business Game?” Here’s a quick summary of the most common “failure” scenarios: As owners, they fail in the traditional business sense, meaning closing their doors, going out of business, etc. As owners, they keep their doors open, but despite tremendous investments of time, energy, and Despite the best of intentions, following the “best of the best” advice, and investing tremendous amounts of time, energy, and money, every single player will ultimately fail to win The Business Game. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 13
Slide 14: effort, they experience struggle and stress and are barely able to squeeze out a decent “living” from the business. As owners, they succeed in the traditional business sense, in a small, big, or HUGE way – meaning creating a profitable business, making a good “living,” building wealth, and living a comfortable or opulent lifestyle – but paying a huge Visible Price for their success in the form of unhappiness, stress, anxiety, pain, disillusionment, health issues, relationship issues, lack of free time, etc. As employees, they’re limited, restricted, and frustrated by job conditions controlled by others and never feel properly rewarded for their efforts or contributions to the company. As employees, they’ll give generously of their time, energy, and effort, perhaps over years or decades, only to be fired when new management steps in, down-sized during tough times, hit a “glass ceiling” in their advancement, see associates leapfrog past them on their rise up the corporate ladder, etc. As owners and employees, they’ll be forced by internal or external forces to invest huge amounts of time doing things they don’t like to do, tasks that aren’t fun for them, activities that may even be painful, etc. As owners and employees, they’ll work their butts off and create one degree of success or another, only to find it wiped out or compromised by fluctuations in the economy or stock market, shifts in industry trends, new technological innovations, a bold new assault from a competitor, etc. On and on it goes with additional variations on the same basic themes – “It’ll be different for me…” or “It’ll be different this time…” being the familiar battle cry as such patterns repeat themselves endlessly over time. I’ve had tons of intimate experience with this myself. Finally, even if a player of The Business Game escapes one or more of the scenarios listed above, they’ll still pay a HUGE “Invisible Price” for playing it the old way. More on that later. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 14
Slide 15: Let’s go into more detail about the rules and regulations you were given for playing The Business Game and the beliefs that naturally flowed into your conscious awareness from these beliefs. I call that entire package “The Big Lie.” The first step in busting loose from The “old” Business Game is really “getting” that everything within the business dynamic – sales, marketing, leadership, management, I.T., human resources, expenses, accounts receivable, accounts payable, profits, competition, the economy, the stock market, and so on – is part of an amazing, elaborate, gigantic, unique, and complex game that was created with specific goals in mind. When you take a close look, you see that most games have rules, regulations, and a clear structure. Everyone who chooses to play a game agrees to follow the rules and regulations and observe that game’s structure. This is required to make the game work. As we pass a certain age growing up, we become players in a Business Game that was set into motion long ago. Like athletes and other game players, we never question what we’re taught about playing The Business Game. We just accept the rules, regulations, and structure we’re taught, and we play as if it was all etched in stone and nonnegotiable. We just accept the rules, regulations, and structure we’re taught, and we play as if it was all etched in stone and nonnegotiable. 5 Here are five of the primary “rules and regulations” for playing The Business Game that we’ve been taught are etched in stone. There are dozens of others, but the following are the ones we’re most familiar with, and the ones that do the most “damage,” as you’ll soon see: 1 You have a limited supply of money to play with (capital). 2 You have income (money flowing in). 3 You have expenses (money flowing out). 4 Your income must exceed your expenses (“profits”) or you lose the game. 5 You must maximize, grow, and sustain profits to “win.” An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 15 The Business School of Consciousness
Slide 16: Seems obvious, doesn’t it? Not much to challenge or disagree with there, right? Wrong, as you’ll soon see! There are numerous rules, regulations, and “magic formulas for success” beneath the five basic rules in terms of how you’re supposed to manage capital, generate income, reduce expenses, and grow profits, and boatloads of strategies for: Increasing sales Improving marketing Managing cash flow Hiring, firing, motivating, and compensating employees Minimizing employee turnover Increasing employee morale, productivity, and efficiency Effective time management In support of the Big Lie driving The Business Game, here are just a few common beliefs that are also generally accepted as True: The tax service is your enemy (to one degree or another). Your competition is your enemy (to one degree or another). You’re vulnerable to the state of the international “economy” (boom times, recessions, and depressions). You’re vulnerable to movements within the international financial markets. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 16
Slide 17: Your freedom to make decisions and act is limited by bosses, stockholders, partners, and investors. You’re always vulnerable to new products, services, and technologies that can hurt or even obsolete your business (or job) in the blink of an eye. “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.” All of these beliefs are what I call “power outside beliefs” – the significance of which you’ll soon understand. Like the five basic rules, they all seem to be True and an accurate description of “the way it is.” I’m here to tell you, however, that none of the rules, regulations, or beliefs I just shared are True, and none of the many subset rules, regulations, and beliefs that flow from them are True. Not one. They’re all completely made up, as are the rules of all games. They’re all big lies. You just accepted them as True and accurate on what might be called “blind faith.” You now have the opportunity to change that. You now have the opportunity to bust loose from the old game and begin playing The New Business Game. None of the rules, regulations, or beliefs I just shared are True, and none of the many subset rules, regulations, and beliefs that flow from them are True. Not one. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 17
Slide 18: The Big Truth Throughout recorded history, three questions have haunted humanity: >>> Who am I? >>> Why am I here? >>> What’s my purpose? Ironically, bringing our discussion back to Consciousness, the answers to these three questions hold the key to busting loose from The “old” Business Game – not the strategies you can apply from within The Five Power Centers Of Business (sales, marketing, management, leadership, and finance). My belief is there’s no way to know the absolute Truth about the answers to those questions. Why? Because there are certain mysteries about the human experience that are so huge and complex as to be beyond our understanding at our present level of Consciousness. Since we can’t be absolutely certain about the answers to the three haunting questions, all we can do is create a model that gets us close enough to The Truth to give us practical benefit in our daily lives and businesses. Therefore, what I’m going to share with you now is a working model that will empower you to bust loose from The “old” Business Game. But it’s just a model. You can break it if you want to. You can argue with it if you want to. You can reject it as being “woo-woo” or “too out there for me” if you want to. Despite that, the model does get very, very close to The Truth and it does empower you to receive practical and transformative value in your business affairs and personal life. I say that from deep and consistent personal experience on my own journey, and from witnessing the journeys of What I’m going to share with you now is a working model that will empower you to bust loose from The “old” Business Game. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 18
Slide 19: thousands of others throughout the world who’ve traveled the same path you’re discovering here. Let’s take a look at the first haunting question. >>> Who am I? If you’ve had exposure to information about what’s been called new age, metaphysical, esoteric, or spiritual thought, you’ve no doubt heard something like this: “We are spiritual beings having a physical experience.” I agree with that statement, and it aligns perfectly with the model I’m presenting to you. Who you really are is what I call an “Infinite Being.” Who you really are is an infinitely powerful and magnificent being. No concept of power you’re familiar with comes even close to the creative and manifesting power possessed by who you really are. Depending on your history and the beliefs you formed living through it, this is something that may sound/feel familiar or alien to you. Regardless, it’s one of the things you’ll be able to prove to yourself and actually experience if you choose to travel the path shared in this e-book and in the additional resources that complement it. Because The Real You has the power to create absolutely anything, your natural state is one of infinite abundance. In your natural state you don’t “lack” anything. Nothing is missing. No desire ever goes unfulfilled. As an Infinite Being, you’re also in a constant state of what I call “True Joy.” What is True Joy? If you created a container and put every desirable positive emotion inside it – happiness, fun, peace, contentment, satisfaction, fulfillment, unconditional love, etc. – the combination of all of them, the contents of that container, would be True Joy. The Real You knows no other feeling but True Joy. Who you really are does not experience negative emotions such as anger, fear, worry, frustration, depression, sadness, insecurity, etc. Because The Real You has the power to create absolutely anything, your natural state is one of infinite abundance. In your natural state you don’t “lack” anything. Nothing is missing. No desire ever goes unfulfilled. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 19
Slide 20: As an infinitely powerful, wise, abundant, and Truly Joyful being, you have an unlimited desire to express yourself creatively and experience the fun and exhilaration that comes from that expression in all its shapes and forms. In fact, as you’ll soon see, the entire human experience is essentially about creative expression, fun, and exploration, no matter what it looks like or what story could be told about it from a judgmental perspective. Now let’s take a look at the second haunting question. >>> Why am I here? You came here to play a game! In your daily life, you go about your daily routine. Then, from time to time, you step out of your routine to play games of various kinds. When I say games, I mean sports, board games, cards, mountain climbing, bike riding, bungee-jumping, driving cars at high speeds, watching TV or movies or plays, reading great novels, painting, singing, playing musical instruments, listening to music, etc. – whatever you really love to do. You choose to play those “games” for fun, enjoyment, entertainment, to challenge yourself, explore what’s possible, stretch, and expand. The same is true when it comes to why you’re here. As an Infinite Being living in what I humorously refer to as “InfiniteLand,” at another level of Consciousness, you decided to take time away from your daily routine to play a game, too. That game is called The Human Game of which The Business Game is a major subset. Does this surprise you? Does playing a game seem too trivial a reason to be here or to explain what we call the pain, hardship, and complexity of the human experience? If so, stick with me as I reveal more and more puzzle pieces. This is another concept that you will ultimately prove to yourself and directly experience if you follow the path outlined in this book. Let’s now look at the third haunting question. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 20
Slide 21: >>> What’s my purpose? Your purpose is to play The Human Game and receive the benefits people receive from playing all games: fun, enjoyment, entertainment, challenge, stretching, expansion, exploring “what would happen if...” scenarios, and so on – in the unique and precise way you choose as a unique Infinite Being. We all play The Human Game, but we do it in completely different ways. Even when it looks like we’re doing the same things, doing things the same way, or for the same reasons, we’re not. Everything is custom designed for us as unique Infinite Beings, as you’ll clearly see if you begin the “busting loose” journey. All games start out with a concept. Then a playing field is built, then necessary tools and support resources (like golf clubs, footballs, baseballs, tennis rackets) are created, then rules, regulations, and structures are developed to which all players must strictly adhere if they want to play. It’s the same with The Human Game. The concept behind The Human Game is exploring what happens and what’s possible when you limit unlimited power, limit the infinite ability to express creatively, limit the infinite wisdom, abundance, joyfulness, that is your natural state. All the games we play were originally invented by someone who had a specific reason and motivation for creating them. The Human Game is no exception. From an expanded and infinite perspective, imagine that an Infinite Being thought, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what would happen if I limited myself, restricted myself, hid all my power, wisdom, abundance, and joyfulness? Could I actually convince myself it was gone? Could I actually convince myself I’m the exact opposite of who I really am? What then? What would the whole journey and experience be like if I could pull it off ?” Since you’re an Infinite Being, if you want to play a game of limitation and restriction, you have to create an alternative aspect of Yourself to be the main player of that game. From this moment Could I actually convince myself I’m the exact opposite of who I really am? What then? The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 21
Slide 22: forward, I’ll be referring to that part of you as the “Player” of The Human Game. You must then hide all awareness of who you really are and all your power, wisdom, abundance, and True Joy from your Player aspect. You must then create a playing field on which to play, and other Players to play The Human Game with you. Your Infinite Being Self then manages the entire experience from behind the scenes while you’re blind to the Truth about who you really are and what’s really going on. Again, I call that part of you your Expanded Self. The Player of The Human Game is the part of you who’s reading this book right now – the part you’ve always thought of as “you.” The other Players are the people you see around you and interact with. The playing field is what we call the physical universe, physical reality, or threedimensional reality (which has visible and invisible components). Words get tricky here, but it’s important to understand that while the Player and Expanded Self aspects of you feel and appear separate, they’re actually one and the same Infinite Being that’s unified at a very deep and profound level. The apparent separation is a necessary part of the illusion created by an advanced form of sleight of hand employed by your Expanded Self. From the moment you are born as the Player, you actually begin hiding your tremendous power, wisdom, abundance, and True Joy from yourself and constructing an alternative or “illusory reality” (playing field) on which to play The Human Game. Before we continue our discussion of limitation, restriction, and The Human Game, allow me to plant the following seed in your expanding awareness which comes from Barbara Dewey in her book Creating Cosmos: “We mistakenly believe, therefore, that we are at the mercy of life rather than its creators. Such beliefs make us feel impotent, and we have hastened to fill in for these perceived weaknesses with technological aids. We are not encouraged to use our natural telepathic capacities. We have phones. We do not need total recall. We have computers. We do not need our homing instincts. We have maps. We do not need to practice health. We have doctors.” Just as a baseball game has nine innings, football games have four quarters, and golf has 18 holes, The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 22
Slide 23: the Human Game has two phases. >>> Phase 1 During Phase 1 of The Human Game, your Expanded Self uses all of His or Her power, creativity, and ingenuity to hide all awareness of who you really are and what your natural state is – and to keep you from finding it at any cost. Everything possible is done to convince you that three-dimensional illusory playing field is real, has more power than you, and to limit and restrict you more and more until you’re absolutely convinced you’re the exact opposite of who you really are. In the popular success and self-help literature, this process is defined very differently and is generally called “programming” or “conditioning.” As you ponder this, ask yourself if you think it’s any accident that The Human Game begins with us being born as helpless infants with no power, knowledge, or abundance of any kind. >>> Phase 2 After forgetting who you really are and deeply immersing yourself in severely limiting and restrictive experiences in Phase 1, your Expanded Self starts nudging you into Phase 2. At that point, you begin to feel incomplete, like you’re missing something, like nothing makes sense any more, like there must be something else going on that you don’t know about. You then start looking for answers and a higher purpose for your life. At that point, you still don’t remember who you really are or how much power, wisdom, abundance, and True Joy you actually possess, but you begin seeking a direct experience of that Truth nevertheless. Your Expanded Self then flips roles, takes you on what I call “The Treasure Hunt of the Century,” and supports you in reclaiming all the power, wisdom, abundance, and True Joy you hid in Phase 1. Once you reclaim your power, wisdom, abundance, and True Joy, you can then start playing The Ask yourself if you think it’s any accident that The Human Game begins with us being born as helpless infants with no power, knowledge, or abundance of any kind. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 23
Slide 24: Human Game without limits or restrictions of any kind. I call that crossing the Busting Loose Point. That’s when things get very cool – especially with business! As you’ve been following along with me, this thought may have crossed your mind: “Why would anyone want to play a game like that: having so much power, abundance, wisdom, and True Joy, hiding it, then finding it again? It sounds crazy.” If thoughts like that crossed your mind, let me ask you three questions in response: Why does anybody play any game? If you take an honest and objective look, are the rules, regulations, and structure of The Human Game really any more arbitrary or crazy than those of golf, baseball, basketball, soccer, football, chess, checkers, or Monopoly? What greater challenge could there be for an Infinite Being? As we discussed earlier, people play games for the sheer fun, challenge, and exhilaration of playing, no matter how crazy they may seem at first glance or how difficult playing gets at times. That’s the point of it, not the literal details about how the game is played. People spend enormous amounts of time, energy, and money training for, playing, and watching games of all kinds, and they feel it’s a perfectly legitimate activity. Why would it be any different for an Infinite Being with much more power, wisdom, abundance, and True Joy? It wouldn’t, except that if a Being like that is going to play a game, it’s got to be one hell of a game or it wouldn’t hold His or Her interest. Or think about this: Why would someone willingly leave their warm and comfortable home to experience pain, hardship, and risk of death to participate in activities like climbing Mt. Everest or driving a high-speed racing car? Plus, consider this. Imagine you’re an architect and you’re hired to design an amazing building The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 24
Slide 25: for a client. You visualize it in your imagination, then draw up the plans. That’s a lot of fun and very rewarding, but it’s even more exciting to see the building actually rise up in three dimensions and become “real.” The challenge, fun, and reward that come from embracing The Human Game idea, then seeing it manifest in three dimensions, then actually playing it is enormous. Just let this thought incubate for a while as I offer you more and more puzzle pieces. The following may also have occurred to you: “Okay, maybe I can buy the idea of life being a game, but why, as part of playing that game, would someone willingly choose to experience such horrors as abuse, sickness, poverty, struggle, starvation, rape, murder, and death as part of playing? Those things don’t seem particularly fun or entertaining to me.” I have much more to say about this, but it goes beyond the intent for this E-Book. In simple terms, however, your Expanded Self, The Real You, sees no horror in any of those experiences and is actually having an absolute blast playing The Human Game, no matter what story is playing itself out on the illusory playing field. The Real You knows none of those experiences are real and it’s all just a game – just like an actor playing a role in a movie knows the same thing as he or she watches their performance on the big screen. Your Expanded Self knows all experiences in The Human Game are simply made up to create a game and a playing field on which to play. Your Expanded Self knows all your experiences only seem real and “horrible” to the Players who are totally immersed within them and convinced they’re real – and that’s the whole point of The Human Game – to make it all seem real when it isn’t. Making the illusion appear real was the biggest challenge in the design of The Human Game. However, beyond appearing real, as I mentioned, The Human Game must be fascinating and hold our interest. Consider what Sol Stein, a master editor for some of the most successful writers of our century, wrote about the art of crafting truly compelling fiction: “When the baseball, football, or basketball season is at its height, a considerable portion of the American male population and a not insignificant number of females deploy hours away from The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 25
Slide 26: work watching their sport on television. What the baseball fan, for instance, hopes for, consciously or not, are the moments of tension and suspense when a ball is hit but not yet caught, when a runner is headed for a base and has not yet reached it. The same applies to other sports as well. The spectator rooting for his hero experiences tension, suspense, anxiety, and pleasure, all things the readers hope for when they turn to a novel. The reader is enjoying the anticipation and excitement that are often worrying in life but a pleasure when they are happening on the ball field or in a book.” The same is true for us as Infinite Beings as we play The Human Game and The Business Game. In Phase 1, we too want to experience tension, suspense, anxiety, and pleasure through our experiences. Stein continued by saying: “But let us remember that when a team – even the team we are rooting for – is winning too easily, our enjoyment of the game decreases. What the sports spectator and the reader enjoy most is a contest of two strong teams, a game whose outcome hangs in the balance as long as possible.” Stein’s wise observations also shed additional light on why Phase 1 life isn’t perfect and why we therefore create ups and downs, challenges, and the illusion of conflict in our total immersion movie experiences – including within The Business Game with all its instability and power outside dynamics. If you start out as an Infinite Being, and the goal in Phase 1 of The Human Game is to limit yourself and convince yourself you’re exactly the opposite of who you really are, things can’t work perfectly. You must have problems. Things can’t make sense if examined closely and objectively. You have to be uncomfortable a lot of the time. When playing The Human Game, the experience of True Power, True Abundance, True Wisdom, and True Joy doesn’t “return” until you’ve been playing in Phase 2 for a while; I can show you how to do this. It’s in Phase 2 that a gateway opens that allows you to bust loose from The “old” Business Game. What the sports spectator and the reader enjoy most is a contest of two strong teams, a game whose outcome hangs in the balance as long as possible. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 26
Slide 27: The Big Opportunity I’d now like to introduce a metaphor that will support you in understanding the true nature of The Human Game, The Business Game, and the “field” on which we play both games. The metaphor is the sun and clouds. As we’ve discussed, who you really are is an infinitely powerful, infinitely wise, infinitely abundant, and Truly Joyful Being. Compare that to the sun. When you think of the sun, you think of enormous amounts of energy, power, light, and heat, right? It’s a good fit. When you play The Human Game, however, you must create illusions to convince you that you’re the exact opposite of who you really are – that is, convince you you’re a severely limited, restricted, vulnerable, fragile, poor, weak, and powerless creature (to one degree or another, in one or more areas of your life) who gets tossed about by people, places, and things you can’t control (including the tax service, the economy, the stock market, competitors, employees, etc.). All the things you do to convince yourself you’re the opposite of who you really are is the equivalent of creating a very solid and dense layer of cloud cover, putting it in front of the sun, and convincing yourself there’s no sun, the clouds are real, and the clouds are all there is. To extend the metaphor, if it’s cloudy out, is the sun still shining? Yes. When there’s a hurricane blowing, is the sun still shining? Yes. If it’s raining, is the sun still shining? Yes. If it appears to be night in one part of the world, is the sun still shining? Yes. No matter what happens on our planet, the sun is always shining. It’s the same with you. No matter what’s going on in your business, no matter what the circumstances look like, who you really are doesn’t change – the sun of who you really are is always there, The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 27
Slide 28: always shining. You’re still an Infinite Being who is infinitely powerful, abundant, wise, and Truly Joyful. You can’t make that Infinite-ness go away. All you can do is create the illusion of it being gone (the cloud cover) and convince yourself the illusion is real. We all did a magnificent job of doing that in Phase 1! If the sun of who you really are is still there, has always been there, has just been hidden and blocked by the illusion of cloud cover you created in Phase 1, and you want to see and feel the sun shining on you again (re-experience your natural state of infinite abundance, including in your business), what do you need to do? Knock out the cloud cover, right? If the sun is just blocked from view, and you remove the block, the sun must automatically shine in, right? So that’s what you do as you play in the early stages of the Phase 2 game. You combine a specific set of tools I developed into a “drill bit” you use to drill tunnels through the solid, dense, cloud cover, poke holes through it, and, over time, allow more and more of the sun of who you really are to shine in. This is once again why I call this e-book the “Business School of Consciousness.” Each time you poke a hole through the cloud cover and some of the sun of who you really shines through, your Consciousness expands, and when that happens, your entire world, including how you play The Business Game, transforms in radical and dramatic ways. This is the opportunity offered by Phase 2 and the work I share in the world with those who feel motivated to play the Phase 2 game. Where does it ultimately take you? I could write an entire book on just that, plus share my own story as well as the stories of hundreds of other Phase 2 players whose journeys I can detail for you. But for now, let me sketch out the key points about what happens as The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 28
Slide 29: you begin playing The New Business Game after knocking out a lot of cloud cover in Phase 2. Phase 2 Playing The New Business Game means: Living in an inner space that’s joyful, peaceful, and serene – no matter what’s going on around you, or what anyone else says or does. Playing The Business Game for the sheer pleasure of playing, without any specific conscious agenda, goals, or attachment to producing specific results, yet creating extraordinary results – financial and otherwise – anyway. Having a strong positive impact on your customers and the world at large through the distribution of your products and services – but again, without any effort, specific intent, goal, or agenda to do so. Doing only what you love to do, what really floats your boat, every day, all day, and leaving everything else up to someone else (or eliminating the need for it entirely). Only working when you want to, and having more free time and freedom than you can possibly imagine right now, while still “effectively” playing your chosen role. Being completely unaffected and unconcerned by the economy, the stock market, gas prices, competitors, employee turnover, industry trends, technological innovations, or any other factors that now make you feel vulnerable. Having amazing things “come to you” in joyful, fun, surprising, and effortless ways, instead of you having to “go get them,” or pushing, pushing, pushing to “make things happen.” And so much more.... The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 29
Slide 30: The Big Invitation The popular movie called The Matrix includes some extremely supportive and Truthful material in it that directly applies to the Phase 2 journey and The New Business Game. If you haven’t seen it before, I strongly encourage you to go out and rent a copy of the first movie in the trilogy as soon as you finish this book. You have to filter out some of the Phase 1 dynamics highlighted in the storyline (especially the “good versus evil” battle) but once you do that, what’s left is Phase 2 pure gold. The journey of Neo, the main character in The Matrix, tracks very closely with the journey Phase 2 Players experience. At the beginning of the movie, Neo is going about his business playing with limits and restrictions in a world he thinks is real. Then along comes another character named Morpheus who tells him the world he thought was real is really an illusion. At first, Neo doesn’t believe Morpheus, can’t believe Morpheus, because The Truth Morpheus shared is too alien for the belief systems Neo had in place at the time. Morpheus then tells Neo he is “The One,” which means Neo has more power than he can possibly imagine and a glorious destiny. Neo isn’t able to accept that either. But Morpheus then guides Neo on a journey of discovery through which he ultimately opens into a direct experience of The Truth of who he is, the power he has, and what he’s really capable of while still playing within his illusion. In one of the early scenes of the movie, when Neo has been drawn to Morpheus in search of The Truth, Morpheus offers Neo the choice of a red pill or a blue pill. “You take the blue pill,” Morpheus says, “the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” The Neo character pauses, then leans forward to take the red pill. Morpheus pauses, then says, “Remember, all I’m offering is The Truth, nothing more.” Neo then swallows the red pill and begins his journey of expansion. Then along comes another character named Morpheus who tells him the world he thought was real is really an illusion. From the movie “The Matrix” The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 30
Slide 31: Just like Neo found his way to Morpheus, you found your way to me and this e-book because of your desire to know The Truth. Like Morpheus, I’ve introduced it to you here – as close as I can get to it – through The Busting Loose Model. Like Morpheus, I’ve taken you on a journey of discovery and shown you how deep the rabbit hole goes – how you too can open into a direct experience of The Truth of who you are, the power you have, and what you’re really capable of while still playing within the illusion called The Human Game. Perhaps like Neo at the start of his journey, you’re not yet ready to fully accept what I’ve shared with you. Perhaps you’re right there with me, anxious to begin your Phase 2 journey. Perhaps you’re somewhere in between. You now have a choice and I’m extending you an official invitation to make it. Will you take the red pill? The blue pill? The blue pill for now with a plan to take the red pill later? Only time will tell. But I can tell you that The Business School of Consciousness isn’t casual, “dip your toe in the water” stuff, or something you wander into accidentally. You wouldn’t have created me and this particular e-book unless one of the following is true for you: 1 2 3 You’re ready to enter Phase 2 – now – and this e-book is your Launch Point. You plan to enter Phase 2 soon and wanted to get your feet wet before reaching the Launch Point and taking the leap. You want to play the Phase 1 game a while longer but with enhanced awareness of The Truth about what’s really going on. As you wait to see how your Human Game and Business Game storylines unfold after completing this e-book, the obvious questions are: What now? What’s my Expanded Self going to do? How will I know what the decision is? If this was your Launch Point into Phase 2, you’ll know. You’ll get what I call a “knock me over the head so I can’t miss it” sign. Perhaps you already have. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 31
Slide 32: This e-book was not designed to actually give you the red pill, the tools and the drill bit, or navigation support for playing the Phase 2 game and The New Business Game. It was only designed to create a certain “frequency,” so to speak, that readers who are ready to leap into Phase 2 will resonate with and be motivated by – and to open a gateway into Phase 2. The process of actually drilling through the cloud cover, expanding into a direct experience of who you really are, and playing The New Business Game requires more foundation building, preparation, guidance, and support. If you want to actually swallow the red pill, leap into Phase 2 and begin the drilling operation, the quickest and easiest way is to grab a copy of my book, Busting Loose From The Business Game, published by John Wiley & Sons. You can get it from Amazon at the following link, or in your favorite bookstore (on the shelf or as a special order): http://www.rasd1.com/bg/ The book will walk you through The Busting Loose Model, step by step, introducer you to all the tools you’ll use to drill through the Phase 1 cloud cover, and give you comprehensive navigation support for playing the Phase 2 game and The New Business Game – all in a quick, entertaining and inspiring read! Remember, here are the hallmarks of The New Business Game: Producing extraordinary results without focusing on them or paying a “price” People and outside forces align to support you Abundance To do lists take care of themselves Fun Joy Ease And so much more … The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 32
Slide 33: What others are saying about the book: “The picture Scheinfeld paints for you in the pages that follow may surprise, delight, and excite you in what you instantly recognize as extremely positive ways. It may also shock you, disturb you, and seem unbelievable or even crazy to you. Regardless of what your reaction may be, initially and over time, this book will open your eyes to many new possibilities. It will stretch and challenge you in powerful ways and open new doors of opportunity for you.” — From the Foreword by John Assaraf, New York Times bestselling author of The Answer “I approach business no longer from a perspective of scarcity but from abundance. I see the game of business not as war, where any opposition must be wiped out, but as a game in which each player is in a dynamic interplay of offense and defense.” — Karl Edmunds, Managing Principal, DMG Financial The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 33
Slide 34: About The Author For more than 20 years, Robert Scheinfeld has been helping people worldwide create extraordinary results, in less time, with less effort, and much more fun. You could call this “Spiritual Counseling,” although there are many labels that apply to your personal life, business, and career. As a Spiritual Counselor, he’s the author of a best-selling Nightingale-Conant audio program and three best selling books: the New York Times bestseller, Busting Loose From The Money Game, and also the bestsellers The Invisible Path to Success and The 11th Element. Robert captivates audiences through his unique and memorable personal stories of personal growth, spiritual growth, and transformation, and by sharing valuable and empowering insights from his own rich life. Robert is the grandson of Aaron Scheinfeld, founder and original Chairman of Manpower Inc., the world’s largest temporary help service. Manpower is a Fortune 150 company with sales in excess of $18 billion a year. When Robert was just 12, Aaron began teaching him a very unusual personal growth philosophy, “mind-set,” and set of strategies about what he called “tapping rare power sources in the invisible world” – and creating True Joy, Success, and Financial Abundance through the process – but Aaron passed away before he could finish mentoring Robert. Robert spent the next 33 years on what he now calls “The Treasure Hunt of the Century” gathering up the missing “puzzle pieces” his grandfather referred to but didn’t fully reveal and expanding his own spiritual development. Along the way Robert became a multimillionaire (and self-proclaimed stressed-out maniac), plunged $153,000 in debt, and spent seven years struggling before discovering the final missing pieces, busting loose from the limiting and restricting aspects of The Human Game, and beginning to live what he calls his “Ultimate Lifestyle.” His journey of triumph over confusion, anger, desperation, and roller-coaster ups and downs qualifies him as an undisputed expert in the arena of business success and personal fulfillment. As a Spiritual Counselor, Robert is often referred to as “the wild man of self-help” because his transformational models, ideas, techniques, and strategies are way “outside the box” (they actually dynamite the box) and challenge the status quo of “how to succeed in business and life” in significant ways. The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 34
Slide 35: Along his journey, Robert became a master of applying cutting-edge sales and marketing strategies and has had in-thetrenches experience of creating profitable million-dollar businesses (on and off the Internet). For example, Robert helped grow Blue Ocean Software’s sales from $1 million to $44 million in less than four years, resulting in the company being named three times to Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 500 list. That tremendous growth, accompanied by outrageous profitability, led to Blue Ocean being acquired by software giant Intuit for $177 million. He also played a key role in growing a computer store franchise company called Connecting Point of America from $90 million to $350 million in sales. In addition, the marketing model and system Robert created has been used to pack the room for Tony Robbins’ multi-media seminars. Robert’s live events, seminars, books, audios, and other learning resources have helped tens of thousands of people in more than 190 countries transform their definitions of success, and the pathways they follow to create True Success and Personal Spiritual Growth in their lives, businesses, and careers. More than providing more of the “same old, same old” Spiritual Counseling, self-help, or personal growth strategies and techniques, or another rah-rah motivational pump-up job that doesn’t last, an interaction with Robert enables you to: Tap new sources of power to create from. See The Truth with unusual clarity. Act with newfound confidence. Radically transform the results you produce in every aspect of your life – and the Joy you experience as you produce them! Robert writes and works from his home in Virginia, where he lives with his wife Cecily, his daughter Ali, his son Aidan, and his dogs Peri and Lulu. At right is a photo of the family (including Aidan when he refused to smile): To learn more about Robert and the Busting Loose/Phase 2 Model: Websites: http://www.robertscheinfeld.com/ http://www.bustingloosefromthebusinessgame.com/ Blog: Twitter: http://www.dynamitethebox.com/ http://twitter.com/phase2player/ Robert and his wife Cecily, daughter, Ali, and son, Aidan (who was too cool to smile!) The Business School of Consciousness An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld 35
Slide 36: The Business School of Consciousness HOW TO BUST LOOSE FROM THE “OLD” BUSINESS GAME An E-book by Robert Scheinfeld © 2009 by Robert Scheinfeld http://www.robertscheinfeld.com/