A Shift in Perspective
Nigel Yip’s dramatic move away from the mainstream of the ‘Fortunate 500′ flow certainly caused some turbulence.
I think many people had been wrestling with doubts, and feeling concerned about which direction we were supposed to be heading.
Alex had seemed to be saying ‘you don’t need to understand it all; just get on with it.’ But he was also telling us to plan ahead. And how can you plot a course, if your destination is unknown?
For various reasons, though, most of these students hadn’t voiced their concerns. For one thing, I think we all – quite rightly – feel a certain loyalty to Alex himself. For another, the Alex Jeffreys Coaching community has a very positive feel to it, and no-one wants to undermine that.
We are wary of entertaining doubt on a personal level, too: we all know how important the ‘right mindset’ is. Every time a potentially negative thought appears saying “This’ll never work”, the Gazz-Man in our heads shows up and swats it, fast.
But Doubt is not just the bane of resolve. It drives scientific enquiry and honest introspection. And, carefully wielded, it’s a very important tool, especially in certain fields, such as Internet Marketing. No shortage of scam merchants there.
So perhaps we can forgive some people for starting to wonder about things, when they realised they hadn’t got rich yet.
And we can understand Nigel begining to lose faith, when his commitment and hard work hadn’t yet really paid off. And especially, perhaps, when he heard the message that “there are only results or excuses; nothing in between.”
Nigel’s crisis of faith seemed to encourage people to face their own doubts head-on, instead of turning away from them; and to reconsider their position (or positioning). Some have been moved to express their, previously unspoken, doubts.
Students are realising that it was unrealistic to expect instant success. But, rather than feeling let-down, this shift of perspective has helped many of us to realise just how far we’ve come on this journey.
The horizon may not seem any nearer, but our starting point has been left far behind, and we’re into a totally different landscape now.
As for Alex, I don’t think anyone should doubt his honesty, his sincerity, his empathy or his commitment. He’s been true to the principles he wrote about in “The Guru’s Dream”; he wants to help people, not string them along or rip them off.
I was just over at Gary Simpson’s ‘Temple’ (see the Blogroll), discussing the situation with regard to unrealistic expectations in this enterprise. As Gary suggests, you can’t cram this much learning into such a short time AND expect to get rich while you’re doing it.
Alex’s enthusiasm and positive approach may have led him to think he could do more than was realistically possible with a group of this size; and on top of that he was let down by his support team.
So Alex may have bitten off more than he can chew with this one; but that’s part of ‘failing forward’, a principle we’re supposed to be learning anyway!
Alex Jeffreys is a man of integrity, and while he may not have managed to deliver everything he set out to, no-one should feel short-changed.
The cost of the course may have seemed a lot of money to many of us, but the fact is that others have charged much more, for much less.
We’re all benefiting immensely from the training, the advice and the hands-on experience, so any money made through marketing the product he provided is really a bonus.
For anyone feeling lost, I would recommend a visit to this post at Gary’s site, where he introduced an inspirational audio message from Linda Caroll, starting a prolonged and very interesting discussion which incorporates a lot of good advice.
I would add that, in my opinion, membership of this community at least doubles the value we’ve got from the course. Quite apart from the moral support, our group constitutes a tremendous practical resource for us all in terms of collected expertise. Alex had to work hard at the networking which nurtured his success. We’ve been handed ours on a plate!
Posted in Uncategorized
13. February 2009 at 1:14 am :
James,
That was a wonderful synopsis on where people are at.
Yes, Nigel Yip did cause some disturbance when he “left” but it was good coz he brought to a head the things that so many people were silently suffering. Now it is all out in the open. People can begin to staunch the blood flow and move on.
This was a brilliant comment:
If you can manage I would like you to bring that over to my blog James. I really do like stuff like that and I congratulate you on its authorship – and YOU can quote ME on that – LOL!
So much of what you said is so damn good but I particularly also like the last paragraph:
I find comments like this very well reasoned and inspirational.
Well said. In fact, VERY well said!
Gary Simpson
14. February 2009 at 12:54 pm :
Thank you, Gary! Great to see you over here, and I very much appreciate your kind words.
James
16. February 2009 at 3:25 pm :
Hi James,
I’m also with Gary on this one – particularly your comment
If nothing else, the friendships that I have made and the help and advice that I have received here have been beyond the course fees – I would say instead that they are priceless. Where else in the real world would you get this kind of support from everyone?
The Purple Minxy Witch from the Lair of Temptation