Your thinking lessons are quite addictive. The most enjoyable and worthwhile use of the internet I have experienced.
Neville (teacher)
Michael,
Your training has given me a new view on life, a constant reflection on what’s going on. Have always been fairly positive and focused but this has heightened or re awakened this passion. You are never really there even when you think you are. Thanks for a sensational journey. Can’t believe the impact it has had on my thought patterns.
Karl (teacher)
I have enjoyed every minute that I’ve worked with your material, Michael, and benefited more than I can measure … Graeme (STEM yeacher)
The most important point(s) I will take away from this training is that our ‘old’ norms or memes influence what we think to the point where they can constrain our ability to grow. What is possible is endless and as a company we need to keep pushing the boundaries.I would feel comfortable recommending the course to at east 10 people!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks — Kylie (teaching consultant)
For me the “total sum” of all the lessons has provided me with simplicity and repetition of mindful tools for immediate integration. The understanding that it is possible for me to X10 my thinking which I would have previously thought was not even remotely achievable. Also, the daily routine becomes daily habits.
- Jennelle (assistant principal)
This has really got me thinking. Training is a key to the success. I can now start prioritising daily training to try and get a better result. I can also take some of the valuable concepts that l have learnt from you and start talking with other staff members and trying to get them to look at it.
Following your course and implementing your suggestions have been the greatest rewards of my life.
To keep questioning myself and others around me, assessing my behaviour and to never assume that best solution has been reached — there’s always a better one, no matter how good the current view is. Thanks Michael, I have found this course extremely interesting and challenging.
Regards, Kellie (primary school)
I am going to change the way I start my day at work and work back to front, by changing the order of the work I do during the day. With this experiment I will see if I can fit everything in and still have time to take a minute or two out for myself.
Wendy (office administrator)
Since our sales are down and we are thinking about different sales campaigns l will go through our database and see who the most potential people for buying our product are and instead of just limiting the number to about I will x10.
Robyn (education sales)
I could bring some more mindful thinking that would have the added benefit of pleasing my employer equally, not that they would necessarily acknowledge this of course, but who cares I’d know.
James (TAFE)
I think the most important thing in this training is that it teaches you the successful behaviour of increasing customer contact as an alternative to closing the sale’. This takes the pressure off the customer. At the same time, the more customer contact, the more chance of people saying YES to what I’m selling. It means putting a focus on the interaction with customers rather than stress on the decision of the customer. Just knowing this, I have done a more focused, complete job of interacting with the customer.
Adrian (recruitment consultant)
I would love to continue to get as much knowledge from you as I can. Your course has really changed the way I think and do things and brought me into a great turning point in my professional life. Thank you from the deep of my heart.
Hi Michael,
The last two months have enlightened me in a way that is both amazingly practical and ‘dangerously’ clever. I do know that the associates I work with are most surprised with my increased thinking power. Not to mention my personal life which has developed radical new insights and possibilities.
Know that I chew on every word you write and that each e-mail from you is received here with great joy and considered mighty useful and valuable.
GJ
Dr. Michael, your course is heaven sent but you should warn, at the very outset, that transformations do not only occur at the personal, psychological level but also at the social level. CVS to BVS … you should also include Current Social Position… to Better Social Position… When you change… you don’t know how much you change.
Thank you Dr. Michael for everything.
Without any doubt whatsoever, CVSTOBVS combined with 10X is just about the most powerful concept I have ever come across. When I first read about this concept, it was like a very bright light switching on in my mind. I intend to make this a permanent part of my everyday life.
Your PTV ideas are fascinating too. And as you say, possibly the most important part of any new training is repetition. So, I’m going to take the course again, maybe 10X times.
All the best
Craig (school principal)
Michael,
You definitely got me there. I have been procrastinating for ages. How sad but after reading this lesson, I am going to do something about it. thanks
Jean
Since it is a last lesson I want to thank you Michael for this inspiring informative and extremely useful set of lectures. I also want to commend you on your high humanitarian standards which were expressed by your doing it all for free. I am convinced that it was a valuable experience for me. I am sure I will come back to your lectures in the future refreshing them in my mind. Very well may be that your personal guidance will be sought again. That is why I do not say “Farewell”, I say: “Till we meet again”. With gratitude
Sincerely yours,
Kim (university lecturer)
I’m a writer and forever looking for new angles on the same old stories, so I can easily see how applying CVS to BVS would be very useful.
I also used it (quite successfully) in the car today when I was just about to have a little go at my husband for something he did in the traffic — I used CVS to BVS to see that he (instead of being distracted and not seeing something coming up) is a very capable driver with very quick reactions — able to get himself out of sticky situations!
Inge
I see you as a highly intelligent person with his heart at the right place. The method you have developed is an excellent way of empowerment, it cuts the crap from the real issues and is a perfect way of leading ones life now and in coming years.
Indeed, the feedback replies are those things that keep one on track.
I shall be frank and forward with you. I ate your lessons with great enthusiasm and feel that already now I pick the fruits of this seven week labour.
Here are some of my results:
1) A stronger measurement of productivity at work.
2) I am more accepting of other people’s opinions. I allow others to have opinions that differ from my own. I am much less argumentative and it is difficult for others to bait me into an argument.
3) I have become much more participatory in Toastmasters. Through my repetition of participation, I am improving my public speaking skills.
4) I don’t get stuck in my CVS nearly as often as I used to. I have been transforming my CVS to a BVS with effectiveness.
5) I have a better understanding of why people are the way they are; i.e. PTV. Hence I am much more accepting of other peoples traits.
This is just damn fine writing! No wonder Dr de Bono is pissed off! This is playful, fun, imaginative, compelling, current, and in the lingo of our times. It runs circles around him in three dimensions. Bravo!
Suzie (secondary teacher
It is like good journalism, perceptive cultural anthropology. I am dazzled. Hot stuff! It has “Wild Success” written all over it. Have a nice day, Y’all …
AJN
Michael,
My name is Jet. I’m 16 years old and live in Simpsonville, South Carolina. I’m currently a student at Greenville Technical College with plans to transfer next fall to UNC-CH to get a PhD in computer science. My general interests include increasing my abilities and intelligence, states of consciousness, martial arts, and computers.
- Jet (student)
It has provided me of something to look forward to. Like a bonus in my life at first but then gradually going into a steady routine of arranging my thoughts. CVS2BVS is now making me more mindful. Life is looking simple and I feel clever. Things that seem unrealistic at first came closer like being relaxed about CVS and knowing that BVS is only one step ahead. I don’t know where it all will end but heck, I will succeed.
Just learning about CVS2BVS has been incredibly empowering… To me this is a genius formula, because whatever level I am at (CVS), I can always move toward a BVS, this is incredibly exiting, particularly when combined with the 10x formula.
I am overwhelmed with the structure of the thinking in this lesson and it’s outcome. The beauty of its practicality. Your lessons are superb. The speed is going up and so is my feeling about life in general. Your lessons are opening my eyes in a way I didn’t expect so far. I am looking forward to the next.
cvs2bvs seems to me to be like one of the elegant ratios or fundamentals found in physics like the square of..a pressure applied to a liquid in a closed vessel is transmitted undiminished throughout every portion of the containing vessel
Now I can do 10 extra tasks…make that the BVS rather than the CVS which was 1 extra task. I used to feel satisfied with 1 extra and proud, smug, superior and or a winner if I did 2 extra.
Thanks.
The confidence that it is possible to X10, and the BVS, and the 24/7/52/365 meme! From now on, that’s my bottom line!
I am very grateful for your support. I will live this to my last day, happy in the knowledge that through you, I am better able to help others in a worthwhile way!
Thank you,
Gordon
I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I am employed with dual responsibility as the Assistant Controller and IS Manager for our Head Office. I am looking forward to this course as my friend has just completed the training and cannot say enough good things about it.
Sincerely,
Kerri
One advantage is the mindset that the formula creates and the actions that seem to flow from that mindset.
Fergus (PTA co-ordinator)
The most staggering realisation I’ve received in this lesson is (to quote): “If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.”
To me, this is an absolutely (with apologies for this word!) mind-blowing concept, because it makes me realise that nothing is sacred. Knowing anything is really just a matter of time.
Science is uncertain. It is this very uncertainty that has eclipsed the “Absolute Truth” way of knowing, and made possible the tremendous progress the human race has made. I love this! Its such a powerful and exciting new concept for me. You know, I’m a science (marine biology) student myself, but I’ve never really thought of science in this way. I’ve always known that science is not based on absolute truth, and there is no such animal. I’ve always known that there are truths in science, but there’s no absolute truth. And I’ve always known that nothing can be proved in science. But I’ve never quite seen science in the way you’ve expressed it.
Why is this so exciting for me? Well, when I look around, I see just how most of us, even in the sciences, never really think the way we should. Professors who don’t want to teach, much less learn. Students who don’t ask questions and just copy each other. We all want to just “survive”, just float our way through what we have to do, and get it over with. We all want to look for the “safe” topics to investigate, the ones we know we’ll get funding for, the ones we know we can get data for easily, and the ones that will allow us to publish our papers (maybe 2 or 3 papers each year), so our peers can respect us. But do we respect ourselves in the end? I think not. I KNOW I WON’T, no matter how many papers I eventually publish, if all I do is “me too” work. Because why crawl when you can walk? Why walk when you can run? Why run when you can ride? And why ride when you can fly?
We often let ourselves down. We lament that standards have fallen. (And they have, because we’ve let them fall). We lament that people like Einstein, Watson and Crick, Schrodinger, Darwin, etc are rarities. But if we all applied ourselves as diligently as they did, what we could achieve would probably make the concept of “genius” redundant. (teacher)
It is not just in the sciences where many people play it safe (though this is probably the saddest area of all). But in much of our everyday life we abdicate our claim to intelligence. We believe everything we read in Time magazine. Accept all we see on CNN. Agree completely with Larry King’s or Oprah’s opinions. We have outrageous opinions foisted on us by manipulative people through the media, and we enthusiastically swallow them. The absurdity of it never hits home.
- Mary-Ellen (primary teacher)
That's how most us live. We let our own biases and the biases of those we like or we allow to manipulate us get in the way of finding a better truth. So much so that when we’re confronted with one, we cannot even recognise it! Thank you, Michael. Its people like you who remind us we could be so much more than we are now.
I will consider it my duty and responsibilty to be informed. I will make it my duty to read a lot. Read not just the news or my own speciality, but whatever I find of interest and importance — politics, history, science, literature, biographies, etc. In addition I will use resources such the internet to learn. Only someone armed with knowledge can counter challenges.
Now I will learn to stand up for myself and question authority (defined as any other person or group’s attempts to control me). I will not abdicate my right to think. I will not just acquiesce to the Boss because I need a job, or succumb to the intimidations of a Government officer because of threats, or accept the opinions of a professor simply because he has written 2 dozen books and 50 papers. I will learn to think for myself.
Mohammed (parent)
The course has expanded the context of my thinking……it has given me the tools to reach for my goals with a expanded horizon and act on my fears and worries.
Jacques
I always thought something was missing, something that could propel me into a more meaningful future, but I never new what it was until your daily lessons came along.
I have tended to under achieve in the past but I am trying to change that now, what would be great is to continue growing and expanding on what I already learnt from you by continuing these daily SOT emails.
Maybe it’s to late for this old dog to learn all the new tricks but I really want to make a difference to my kids, I want them to learn how to think by using your brain software, hopefully with the doctor close by we can keep the Plato virus at bay.
Richard (TAFE lecturer)
I enjoy the challenges you present; moreover, your way of thinking expands my own approach and gives me the sense I’m not alone out here. Thanks. Suzy
That the course increased my confidence in my ability to deal with business and life issues I face.
Ian
Since i’ve started corresponding with you my thinking has been put into practice most successfully … I want more !!! Thanks A Million By The Way…..
Suni (primary assistant)
Thank you for the internet course in speed thinking. Though I am probably one of those who hardly ever provided feedback, I enjoyed reading your material, particularly as it covered a wide range of topics.
Since commencing the course, I have recommended it to several people, some of which already knew about the school of thinking. s
Constanze
This mindful training comes at a good time, because I am seeking ways to enhance my future.
David
To keep questioning myself and others around me, assessing my behaviour and to never assume that best solution has been reached — there’s always a better one, no matter how good the current view is. I have found this course extremely interesting and challenging.
- Kellie (primary)
Reading this lesson it came clear to me how much I myself tend to think in this “box-pattern” without noticing it and how often this leads to the judgement of something that might have been different otherwise and that is an insight!
Steph (education businesswoman)
This is so interesting, I like the way you put your teaching into stories with a slight touch of humour!!
Regards, Luana (young knowledge worker)
The most important insight for me is the history/reason why most of us think and act the way they do. I had never really considered the impact of Plato and the others in any detail before. It has opened my eyes.
- Bruce (publishing business)
Thank you for your wonderful book! My life has already changed from the course I did with you. My interaction with you this year has been one of my highlights.
- George (home schooling)
I have already been rewarded by gaining valuable insights into the way in which I think, and now have a sound framework for considering and practicing things in the future. The information and insights in your daily email lessons have been my greatest reward, and I really do appreciate your sharing this with anyone who is interested in improving their thinking. Thank you Michael.
I also intend to go out to dinner with my wife and recap the important lessons I have learned (something we did together throughout this course…so she has also picked up quite a bit of the valuable insights).
- David (government department)
I have re-learned the art (and practise) of thinking through and questioning things that are part of normal life but that I accept as being CVS. I have also rekindled the PRR habit, which is very different from just thinking that I am doing it!
Thanks very much for the course I enjoyed it and found it a big help. The PTV idea was challenging but also an eye opener… Will certainly pass it onto others to complete….keep up the good work…
Bev (Office Manager)
What I lacked (I now perceive) was system, the mindful training provided has empowered me to achieve my objectives professionally and personally. By utilising tools and disciplines which are a lot more powerful, a lot more fun and less onerous than the head butting defence of my perceived truths I have made more gains in the last months than I have for a very long time.
This assistance has been a revelation, now by applying it in a habitual manner I look forward to a lot more revelations becoming evident — many thanks.
Don.
The one thing from these lessons that sticks in my mind is CVS2BVS, there is always another way to look at a situation or perform a task. I know now if I find myself seemingly at a dead end, I have running around my head all the time now CVS2BVS, is there another way or something I have not tried yet, keep looking for alternatives.
I was looking through some old CD’s I have and came across an electronic library, it included a lot of works from Plato and other writers you mentioned over the last 7 weeks, I thought I know that name, where as before I would have skipped over it.
Thanks for the last 7 weeks daily mails, I have really looked forward to getting them each day and found them very interesting to read. I have been looking for a key to turn my head into something more useful, I think I have just found it with your brain software.
- Richard
I know look at things closer, looking for alternatives, ramifications to both myself and those around me. I feel that I have made better, mindful decisions over the past couple of weeks, and don’t rush at life like a bull at a gate as much as I did. I am stopping to smell the roses and enjoy the small steps along the way, to achieve my longer term goals.
- Janette (primary teacher)
Thinking is not an automatic thing. I takes deliberate effort. The most valuable concept for me was the ongoing mindset of taking the current view situation (CVS)and continually moving to a better view situation (BVS), and doing this in a never ending cycle. It’s simple yet elegant.
A new and fresh way to see everything. The new perspective you have provided me is invaluable. And your lessons – contents, tone, mood, writing – are extremely interesting. I’m sorry the course has come to an end. My next step is to read your books. Thanks for everything. Have a happy life.
Thanks you so much!! It was very kind of you to take the time and effort to give us a this course. It was very worthwhile and I have saved many of the emails for future reference.
Michelle and James
I now have much more enjoyable arguments with people because I am not trying to defend my own point of view as much. I can also annoy my girlfriend by suggesting that she try doing a CVS to BVS.
Nigel
I think that the most important thing that I have taken from the training is the use of cvs2bvs. I see that there is much to be gained when one makes the decision to search for a bvs I try to use it regularly and as I said earlier I do the repetitions cvstobvs when I am doing my morning jog.
- Ken (sports teacher)
I thank you for the opportunity to do this course. It reinforced for me many of the memes developed in your book Software For The Brain. Each day I find myself using CVS2BVS with results that have been noticed by others around me. Health, work and family life have all benefited.
Tony (IT sales)
The most important thing for me is that I will never become afflicted with PTV as long as I live. And amazingly it cost me nothing to become “virus free”!! I have enjoyed your lessons and our conversations and hope that we will meet in the future. Your contribution to your students and to learning cannot be overstated and will certainly change our lives.
- Tony Chew
I am stuck in this CVS at the moment because it is a role I am employed to perform, it is not a positive or good place to be but I am well aware that when I do get through it, and am able to move onto another role I will be better for having had the experience. This level of awareness of my CVS and future BVS is what has me extremely focused on learning as much as I can while here, and ensuring my personal development is progressing even if this ‘job’ isn’t.
Negative thoughts — I used to have one negative thought and it would grow and grow! These thoughts coloured other areas of life and work. I had to make a conscience choice to change this pattern of thinking. Now I can examine the negatives and spin it around to find positives — all negatives have a up side but sometimes it takes effort and time for it to be revealed
I have been asking myself that question for some time and have never settled on an answer. The way I see it, the most important thing is to keep asking myself the question.
To borrow from a famous Einstein quote; The definition of insanity is thinking the same way over and over and expecting a different result
That there is a set way of working — a set kind of employment situation, or employer, that will define my career. My bvs is that I can work in any way, for any one (including myself) I like. It can be paid or unpaid… there are many ways to work and expand my career, and limiting it in the traditional sense is just that — limiting.
I can organise my day to enable a more efficient use of my time
“Knowingly” and “Actively” thinking so not to get “bogged down” by the group think of “this is the way it has always” been done.
Try to see the bigger picture and not getting bogged down in the minor details.
This is a bit like stepping outside your ‘comfort zone”. I think agreeing to do this ‘thinking course’ was my most recent idea I have risen above. Perhaps normally I would not worry about such a course, but to take this on, is a small step forward here.
I have a long held view for a particular change that is starting to materialise. I am challenging that “long held view” to ensure that the cvs2bvs is indeed true.
Never lose sight of the fact we can always improve ourselves and can learn something new everyday even though we may think we know it all.
- Helen (parent/school co-ordinator)
i will think of deleting Clash of clans … so far i have enjoyed playing that game … now thinking about deleting is a big ‘something else’ for me as it will destroy the empire i have established but on the other hand it will save me a huge heap of time to do something more meaningful going forward
sometimes its hard to go outside your comfort zone and try new things……will work on rectifying this!
I was thinking to apply my managerial skills to my personel finances. The core idea I have risen above is you are destined to be doomed. I have escaped from the box of Always expecting the worse to happen. My cvs to bvs is realisation that, Look at the bvs and work towards that from cvs.
Looking at more of the possible answers before deciding on a particular course of action. Considering other alternatives.
Rehearse my thinking skills and see where I can improve them
great optimistic view. The future can be brighter or better depending on our view or what we want the future to be. To be optimistic, the future ‘is’ better than the current.
To make a difference….even if that means making a difference to just one other fellow human being or one other living creature!
Skilled thinking can be taught — There is always room for improvement, even within ourselves
Changing the way I think , moving from not so much negative to positive -more of a different approach. Being more mindful in my everyday view of life.
Get to know your staff, develop your staff, and counsel and coach your staff
- Oscar (deputy headmaster)
Thinking is a skill you develop over time. Thinking outside the box is the hardest skill
Allow and empower people to make decisions. Celebrate the successful decisions, and allow people to learn from the unsuccessful ones.
Rising above the current view of focusing on what I am not achieving to a bvs of what I am achieving and doing well. bvs = Celebrating our daily wins.
Having lived life so far taking very safe calculated risks I have recently embraced the need to follow my heart more and take a chance with big decisions in life as the regret of not doing so is far worse than a potential failure.
- Fatima (co-ordinator)
don't believe/assume current situation or what you are told. Think for yourself about a better way to do it, continuous improvement.
- Dave (grounds manager)
