And here are some more entries…

Andy D’Silva at the airport with his red bag and The Brain Audit.

I know this should be the first photo π

The last red bag has been taken off the conveyor belt but I think Andy has disappeared.
Andy D’Silva: Toronto, Canada
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I was lucky enough to be able to attend Ken McCarthy’s System Intensive UK seminar. In a master stroke of opportunism, I managed to grab Ken to pose for a photo with myself and the Brain Audit book. Unfortunately, the photo doesn’t really do either of us justice – but who cares!!
I am just thrilled to have been there and met the man who introduced me to yours and Sean’s crazy, but thoroughly entertaining and educational world.
Stephen Nettleton: Norwich, UK
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Here are a couple of photos from a very intelligent and wise marketing bird called Shaggy!

Stephanie Philp: Raglan, New Zealand
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>>Click to see the other Brain Audit Book Photos
The entries for The Brain Audit Competition are pouring in. Over the next few days I will keep adding the photos.
The Brain Audit: Sydney Australia

Lance Scoular: The Savvy Navigator, Sydney, Australia
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Bob Janes: Brittany, NW France
The Brain Audit at the end of the world (this area is Penn-ar-Bed in Breton, Finistere in French). Somewhere out there is Canada, taken about a mile from here in strong winds and cold rain π

Bob Janes: Brittany, NW France
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Mike Hayden: Mountain View, California, USA
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Retro Photo
A picture of me and Laurens Janszoon Coster in our hometown Haarlem. Coster is considered to be the inventor of the printing press, but… mainly in the Netherlands. Worldwide some German guy gets the credits. The story is similar to that of Tesla and Marconi. Coster and Tesla might have been the first to invent, but the other guy’s marketing was better. If only they would have had a copy of The Brain Audit… π

Modern Photo
In case you said: “Lawrence Who?”
Coster on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurens_Janszoon_Coster
The Legend of Koster: http://www.psymon.com/koster/
Erwin van den Boogaard, The Netherlands
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>>Click to see the other Brain Audit Book Photos

What’s talent got to do with insulation? (Photo Courtesy: Businessweek.com)
So are we born with talent? Or is there a code?
Of course there’s a code. And that code is embedded not in what you learn, but how that learning is insulated?
Huh?
Think of it as a pipe filled with water. Which one will allow the water to get through faster? A pipe filled with holes? A pipe that allows leaks? Or the pipe that’s well insulated?: A pipe that allows almost no waste.
We’re talking about myelin. It’s an insulator for your learning. The more you learn, the more the myelin wraps insulation around that learning, so that you get faster, and faster, and faster. But not just faster, but every freakin’ pipe in your brain gets faster. Imagine having squillions of pipes pumping waterβand with little or no waste.
This is what so-called “talented” people do. Their pipes have little or no waste.
They have developed thousands of pipes that pour thousands of gallons of water at a single moment. So when you look at headline and I look at a headline, we’re not looking with the same brain. I’m looking at the headline with thousands of gallons of water pouring into what I’m looking at. You on the other hand are just looking at a headline. Which is why I can tell you how what’s wrong with a headline a mile off. And you can’t.
It’s not because I was born with superpowers to read and de-construct headlines.
Rather it’s that I’ve learned. Just as you can learn.
And what’s more it’s teachable.
And you can do what every untalented person does: Make excuses.
Or you could start working on your myelin today.
The insulator that hates waste. π
And see this video too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPACS8ogqus
P.S. If you’re interested in headlines, then these videos may help too.
http://www.youtube.com/user/psychotactics

The poster for the the movie “Elf”
Now I don’t want to boast, but this is what I do.
I run blogs at:
http://www.psychotactics.com/blog
https://brainaudit.com
http://www.spidersecret.com/
Less frequently at:
http://www.cavechronicles.com
http://www.stickybusinessbooks.com
Write articles, per year:
http://www.5000bc.com (about 100-300 a year)
http://www.psychotactics.com (about 50 a year)
And monitor no less than four to five forums:
On the Psychotactics Courses forum, just this year, the tally is 4000 posts (This includes reviews of articles/websites/and detailed answers to questions which may take as long as twenty minutes per post to answer). On 5000bc, you can find 7000+ posts (we lost about 5000 of my earlier posts when 5000bc crashed in 2007).
I write two courses a year at the very least
Each course has about 200+ pages of notes/graphics (these take a lot of time–the graphics)
There’s audio.
I also present these courses live (which means the Keynote/Powerpoint slides have to be created as well).
I will often do mini courses or mini products.
e.g. The re-write of the Brain Audit book.
On top of this there’s assorted stuff like:
Full colour cartoons for the blog.
Audio files for the blog.
And other assorted requests like Vanishing Reports in 5000bc. etc.
And in the past I’ve created the entire website design, HTML, graphics etc.
I still do the graphics and website design for any new website or revamp (e.g. new Psychotactics and now 5000bc revamp in Dec 2008).
And then I respond to every email for every subscriber (yes, every subscriber).
The question is when do I sleep, let alone go on vacation or anything.
Just reading this list should make you tired.
But here’s what’s happening.
In about 25 minutes I’m off to play badminton.
I’ll be back in 3 hours.
Then have lunch.
Probably go to the cafe.
And that’s the end of the day.
How is this possible?
It is. And there are ways to do all of the above, because though it seems like there’s an army of elves doing all of the above, there’s just Renuka and I. And she likes the trips to the cafe as much. Plus she takes her parents out twice a week, so those days are half-days for her.
How does this all happen?
Where are the elves?
Aha, you didn’t think I’d give the answer so easily, did you?

My wife Renuka, sniffled.
She sniffled. She sneezed.
Achoo!
Achoo!
Achoo!
For thirteen years she sneezed.
Her eyes would get all red and puffy.
She tried all types of anti-allergy medication.
It would work for a while, then it was back to achoo!
Incredible as it seems, the problem was in her brain.
Your brain reacts to allergies with a code. And that code has a ‘virus.’ So when you run into dust or pollen the virus kicks in. It says: Execute command, and the virus starts rolling out.
How do we know it’s a virus? And not a program instead?
We know it because most of us don’t sneeze with pollen. Or dust. Or after drinking wine. But Renuka’s brain had accumulated a whole bunch of viruses. And to try and subdue these viruses, she’d take anti-allergy medication. But anti-allergy medication simply stops the virus from executing. It can’t erase the virus. And frankly, erasing the virus is a waste of time.
All we need is to re-wire the brain to stop running the program in the first instance. The brain needs to have a completely different code written to deal with dust. Then it stops sneezing.
Which is what Renuka did
She visited an anti-allergy clinic. Or should I say allergy-elimination. But were they able to prevent dust or pollen from entering her system? No they weren’t. But they were able to write a new program onto her brain. A program that ignored the dust, pollen, etc. A program that was fresh and didn’t have any viruses.
And so it is with talent and learning.
Trying to fix the problem with medication (more courses; more training) isn’t going to help at all. Instead all the brain does is replicate the anti-allergy syndrome and pretends to learn. But eventually the virus kicks in and you’re back to where you started. If you truly want to learn a new skill. If you truly want to develop a talent, you’re wasting time trying to eliminate the virus.
What you need to do is write fresh code.
Code with no viruses in the first place π
And the achoo goes away forever!
Note: Renuka doesn’t sneeze. She can enjoy her wine, go out amongst the flowers in spring, and dust away to her heart’s content. And it was all done with no pills, no medication and simple re-writing of code. (It’s actually a simple system of re-wiring and no wires are involved–just in case you’re wondering).Β
Read Part 1 of How To Bypass A Brain Virus