"Headtrash, and the handyman's secret weapon: Duct Tape."

Decided to break this out:

"Head Trash" is: limiting beliefs that make us settle for a level of income and circumstances.

But most of us don't even know we have it.

Once you start shining a light on and examining your head trash, you'll begin opening up new opportunities. "Oh, I can't charge that much; I'm just starting out." "I can't eat at that restaurant; it's for rich people." "I can't do that job; I'm just not good at math."

Hey, speaking about math. Let me share a headtrash story with you. In high school I was not an exceptional student. I had a reputation for being smart, but my grades didn't show it. And in math, I was the worst. I spent zero time on studying math, and so I just didn't understand it. Barely got through the courses.

A couple years after graduation I had to take a nighttime math course to get into the operations management program. I was shakin'! Math was always a problem for me; I was never going to be good at it!

Fortunately, the teacher I got for this math course was one of the best and it was truly a life-changing event. His name was Joe, and sadly he died of skin cancer a few years later. But when he was teaching this course, he had a talk with me. I wanted to do well in this course. I wanted to get into the opman program. But I just couldn't see how I was going to to well at math, since it had always been a problem for me.

"Calm down," Joe told me. "Don't panic. There's a method here." Little did I know, there's always a method. "You haven't been good at math because you think you're not good at math. So you don't put any effort in. Do this: learn the method. Practice the method. When the test comes, you'll be ready."

I studied, did my homework, and stayed after class. Tests arrived and I not only passed them, I did OK. I got a B in the course.

(I was a poor 19-year-old waiter then, working night shift--and one memorable evening after class the heel of my shoe fell off! Joe fixed it with the handyman's secret weapon, duct tape, and I had a silver-heeled trip home on the bus. Good times!)

The B was nowhere near as important as the change in mind that Joe had directed me to make. I began to think I could be good at math.

Fast forward three years later: I was taking some courses to finish my business degree. One of them was a high-level statistics course that I had already taken the previous year in the opman program. The degree curriculum just wouldn't let us few opman guys out of taking the course a second time. I had the exact same teacher again, too, a Doctor of Math. Yes. A Doctor of Math. Taught me 3 courses.

At the beginning of this class of budding business admin grads, the Doc says, "So...what do you think you're going to get in this extremely difficult course?" And he asked everybody.

"Well," I responded, "since I got 90% last year with you...I'm gonna get 90% again."

Everyone laughed.

Guess what. I got 90%. For the second time.

Our expectations lead us to good or bad outcomes. Be wary of your expectations. There are company presidents at large businesses that even I am a bit nervous about calling, because I worry they might "be too big for me." And that's my head trash. That's the level that it's at. I continue to work on it; I don't think it will ever end, it's part of being human.

Examine your beliefs. Question them. If a guy like me can go from a near-failure at math to a tutor helping others in six months, imagine what you've been holding yourself back from--for no good reason.

Miss ya, Joe.

For those of you starting out, or having been in the biz for a bit but afraid to raise your prices, watch this:


Remember, your prospect doesn't know everything about you...or even much at all. You know everything about you. And that's why you have the headtrash.