One conspiracy I do believe in….
….is the conspiracy to suffocate you in paralyzing mental garbage and global negativity.
I don’t generally buy into conspiracy theories… but I do believe in cosmic episodes of stupidity and planned mass mediocrity.
The #1 conspiracy of the modern world is to choke your brain with sewage and kill your spirit with overwhelming feeling that you are small and insignificant and helpless.
I almost *never* watch the news. I figure if there’s something I absolutely have to know about, somebody will call me and tell me about it. That theory has worked pretty well so far.
But on Monday I was in a restaurant and CNN was on. Couldn’t help but gawk at the endless parade of catastrophes.
I know that CNN is “normal” to most “normal” people. But don’t forget, most normal people accomplish fairly little in their 70+ trips around the sun. Those of us who are going somewhere in life have better things to do than listen to relentless droning about 147 tragedies that we have no ability to solve.
Right now, especially with the Gulf oil spill, the world is AWASH in negativity.
You as an entrepreneur MUST fight this. Proactively. Because if you don’t it’ll kill your business, kill your sales, kill your dreams and everything you really care about.
Watching CNN while you eat breakfast is like visiting a cholera epidemic at a refugee camp and letting sick people drool on you. Then changing their bedpans and rubbing your eyes and licking your hands.
Listen up: The mass news media is NOT your friend.
They exist for the purpose of selling you fear, paranoia, and prescription drugs.
Not only must you protect yourself from the constant, incessant paralysis of depression, you need to combat it with your customers.
You need to tell them what’s GOOD. You need to greet them with a smile and with encouragement.
You need to talk about what’s HAPPENING.
You need to celebrate little tiny victories EVERY SINGLE DAY. (More on that at www.perrymarshall.com/positivefocus).
And… when you have a major victory in your life, you need to telegraph it to encouraging people who will celebrate it with you. Because GOOD NEWS is NEWS INDEED.
EndRant.
Perry Marshall
Access 100,000,000 People in 10 Minutes.
Get An Instant Download Quick-Guide!About the Author
Entrepreneur Magazine says: "Perry Marshall is the #1 author and world's most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising. He has helped over 100,000 advertisers save literally billions of dollars in Adwords stupidity tax."
He is referenced across the Internet and by The Washington Post, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune.
Last 5 Posts by Perry
- A Tribute to Basketball Coach John Wooden, 1910-2010
- Obama's Social Media Strategy, De-Constructed
- "Squeeze" Pages & the Case for Conversion Optimizer
- BP, the oil spill, and the urge to crucify…. somebody
- Google Conversion Optimizer: The Controversy
Bookmark, Share, and Receive Updates...
Bookmark this post, or send it to a friend by clicking the social bookmarking icons below. You may also post this article to your website, blog or web 2.0 property - as long as you leave the content, links and the "About the Author" intact. Get notified of new posts by RSS or email, below.
Posted by Perry on June 4th, 2010. Filed in Marketing Blog. Tagged as Bedpans, Catastrophes, Cholera Epidemic, Cnn, Conspiracy Theories, Drool, Endless Parade, Gawk, Gulf Oil, Mass Mediocrity, Mass News, Oil Spill, Outbreak Of Cholera, Paralysis, Paranoia, Prescription Drugs, Proactively, Refugee Camp, Sewage, Single Day, Sphere Of Influence, Tragedies, Trips Around The Sun, Watching The News. Follow responses thru Comments RSS. Follow responses thru Comments RSS.
Comments on One conspiracy I do believe in…. »
Sally @ 8:14 am
Hi Perry, sometimes it’s just seems like the world is filled with doom and gloom and that’s all that interests people.
I no longer watch the news or read newspapers because I found them too depressing, and quite scary at times.
Like you said, if it is something really important, someone will let me know.
To share a bit of my own good news, I got an a-ha moment last night regarding my online business, maybe won’t excite anyone else, but it was life changing for me, so I am celebrating it all the same.
Sally
Michael Hiles @ 8:47 am
Awesome Perry. We put our TV in the barn 3 years ago. Haven’t missed a single thing.
Margaret Agard @ 8:48 am
Boy do I agree. We don’t even have a television which helps considerably. (and guess what? on 9-11 someone called us to tell us about it. worked for us)
Here are two things we do to celebrate the positive – as a couple we tell each other what’s going well AND we randomly play the “thank me” game – you say “I want to be thanked for______ (some simple thing you did like took out the trash) and your partner says, “Thank you for ____________.” You get to ask for 5-10 thank yous. Works great!
John Strazza @ 8:49 am
Agreed! what else can I say .. you are so right .. We see people walking into our business on certain days with shoulders slumped and we know the evening or morning news must have caused the bad vibe .. the oil spill has certainly added to this bad feeling so many walk around with .. thanks for the great article here Perry, it gave me clarity and hope to combat this with even more good news here at our place business and our online presence … js
Carole Carlson @ 8:50 am
Right on, brother! This is my favorite rant. When I was 35 years old and thought I knew everything…ha…news was a downer even then. Deciding there was more out there for me, I purchased a tape series called “The Seeds of Greatness” by Denis Waitley. It changed my life, and spurred me on to become an entrepreneur. One of the things he said that I have put into practice is…don’t listen to the news…it’s almost all negative. And I haven’t ever since, even though friends and family think that because of my decision, I’m not socially responsible. The other thing he taught was “as long as you’re green you’re growing…as soon as you’re ripe, you start to rot. This has helped me in life to listen to others like you, Perry, who have proven success and emulate you, listen to you, and pat you on the back once in a while. Good rant!
Colin Pape @ 8:57 am
Excellent post Perry! You hit the nail on the head…
That is very much inline with our manifesto that can be read here:
http://www.shopcity.com/blog/?postid=10000199
Particularly after the second heading ‘Why support local business?’
We plan on doing something about all of this negativity and will try to help people focus on the good they can be doing in their community…
Of course, everything is economically driven at the core, so that’s why we’re doing it through local shopping…
We’ve had some big wins here in the past couple of months that we’re getting ready to share with the world… If everything goes according to plan, it’ll help people cut through the doom and gloom and make a positive, productive impact with their time and energy…
Thanks Perry, for all of the insights and encouragements you’ve shared through your writing over the years… It has helped us to just stay positive(.com)…
Wishing you all the best and many more years of success!
Colin
Geri Igou @ 9:03 am
LUV YA, Perry. You are my kind of guy. This one about TV spreading doom and gloom was right on. I grew up on the California beaches. We contended with tar balls all our life. Never thought anything about it. It was pretty common to see birds, etc drenched in oil. Never gave it a thought. Its the world we live in. There is sun, hurricanes, oil, rain, snow, fires, landslides, whatever. Who was it that promised us a life time rose garden? So what’s the big deal? Just deal with it and get on with your life.
Michael in the UK @ 9:05 am
I think it’s a conspiracy to make people STUPID!
I’m the same, i now leave the TV off when i get up in the morning to go to work. The negative stories and the shady people involved etc really wind me up emotionally and get me stressed out. Now it is just so easy to get negative and discouraged with this kind of perspective on things. It is hard sometimes to keep positive and keep pushing towards your dreams. It’s a fantastic world and there are great people like your good self Perry but we really do need to be very aware of what is going on around us and in the media and be the one in control of our own lives, calling the shots…
William Davis @ 9:06 am
Thanks for the positive “pick-me-UP!” BTW – I happen to work for a Sewage Utility so where people there are the kindliest and friendliest I’ve ever had the privilege to be around in a work environment. However, once you focus on the news, whether on the Internet, TV, or radio, it is difficult not to be ‘drowned’ by it all. Keep up the good work/fight. Thanks again for making my day.
William
Alan the Anonymous @ 9:09 am
Good point Perry. However the wretched misery of rolling news media is not exclusive to CNN. The culturally biased BBC TV News is as bad or even worse – by the time they’ve put you through the news-mill with their hand-wringing news reports, I feel like shooting myself. They’re notorious for their left-wing anti- American anti-war anti-Israeli pro-women pro-children pro-gay skewed TV news coverage. Little pieces of theater, one after the other, not news.
So I never watch breakfast-time TV news, ever.
PS I have indeed bought a little moleskine book in which I write a small note every day (most days anyway) when something nice happens, no matter how small.
Keep smiling
Alan W
Gary Bloomer @ 9:11 am
Perry,
Thank you for this.
Ever heard a headline that tells us “Airliner Lands Safely: Family and Friends United For 50th Birthday Party”? No, course not. Or ever heard “Puppies and Kittens Make People Smile on YouTube”. Nope. It’s all doom, doom, doom.
The thing about news is this: garbage in, garbage out. Negativity goes in, negativity comes out, and in EVERY facet of business, life, and relationships
the same holds true.The human brain cannot hold two opposing thoughts in focus at the same
time. Nor can two objects occupy the same space.To combat this, replace every negative news story or opinion with two positive stories or opinions.
Try it. It works like magic.
Karen DeCrane @ 9:12 am
I read something once – maybe even here – that made a profound difference in my attitude. That as a salesman I was not “selling” I was SHARING the good news with my potential customer about a solution to their problem.
It really worked! That attitude comes through and people respond to it favorably. Not surprising in the world of mass fear mongering.
Charlotte @ 9:14 am
One question: if we do not keep ourselves informed about the things that are going on, how are we supposed to be able to participate in our own governance? If you don’t know that Massey Energy, for example, was entirely responsible (criminal negligence) for the recent WV mining disaster (29 men died there), how can you apply pressure to your congressional representatives to make them enact new laws to prevent future disasters?
I understand not wanting to bathe in negativity all day, but if we allow the miscreants to do their worst without any consequences whatsoever, the world will soon arrive at a place where our businesses do not matter and are not needed. Nobody will want a website when they have to spend all day searching for food.
Just seems far too “head in the sand” for me.
Perry @ 9:48 am
I bet you 0.001% of the total people who saw the WV miners story contacted any legislative person about correcting the legal problems.
If you’re going to be actively involved in government then find out what’s going on and act on it.
And by the way If you’re active in government then you need to tune into information sources that tell you what’s really going on – not 2 minute soundbytes – so you can intelligently get involved in the local city council or write informed letters to people in gov’t offices.
But that’s not what most people do. They just get hypnotized by the negativity. That’s WORSE than burying your head in the sand. It’s just impotence + misery.
If there’s nothing you can do about it, you don’t need to go out of your way to find out about it. Spend your time learning about the things you CAN change.
Thanks for replying, Perry.
“I bet you 0.001% of the total people who saw the WV miners story contacted any legislative person about correcting the legal problems.”
I did, repeatedly. I live in West Virginia. My stepfather was a coal miner.
I submit at least 4 petitions/week to Congress and I call my representatives weekly. They’re probably tired of hearing from me, but I am fully convinced that if nobody keeps pressure on them, they will do whatever they want to do.
Luckily, many West Virginians agree with me. There is now a big “Prosecute Massey for Manslaughter” billboard ad campaign going on:
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/537836.html?nav=5006
Good on you for doing something. And I gotta say…. I bet you didn’t have to watch TV to find out about this when it happened. Spend less time watching TV and more time being an effective activist. It raises your personal power.
And I’m sorry this happened to people in your community.
Perry
Kelli Smith @ 12:32 pm
Hi Charlotte,
I tend to agree with both you and Perry. There are causes that are really important to me personally… environmental, animal rights, etc… and I do risk taking on the negativity by knowing about those things. But, I work really hard not to let what I know get the best of me. I think limiting your exposure is the key. Know about the things that are important to you. I absolutely spend a portion of my life working (writing letters, making calls, volunteering) about issues critical to my happiness… and taking that action DOES make a difference. But, I definitely limit my exposure to mass media news. I haven’t watched an actual news broadcast in about 10 years. I have trouble with depression already, and taking the news out of the equation helps make sure I don’t focus on only the negative in the world. I do enjoy watching TV… but I make sure it’s the stuff that enhances my life in some way (learning) or that I just find really entertaining. Yes, it’s a waste of time… but I’m okay with that in moderation… and I’m very successful in business. I’m not one who believes you have to give it up entirely to make a difference… just watch in moderation. Like everything else in life.
Gloria Jean @ 9:19 am
I love your writing style. Its original and unique and so fun to read. I like to rant a lot myself. And of course,you are right, the news is quite depressing and disgusting. If I do watch it, I try make a point not to take it seriously. It does give you clues to what the evil empire is spreading to their motives and next moves. Oh and yeh, I’m a conspiracy theorist.
Jeremiah Baker @ 9:31 am
Hi Perry!
Amazing. I can’t agree more. I NEVER watch the news and when I tell this to people they give me all kinds of grief.
“You have to know what’s going on!” etc, etc, etc.
I am with you, the news does not spread a positive situation at all.
My feeling is that I get “no” value from the news so I don’t watch it.
I don’t blame TV in general, because we all can control what we watch and “don’t” watch. It’s our choice.
I like your point about focusing on what you can control and be positive.
Thanks again,
Jeremiah
Shelley Ellis @ 9:37 am
Confession:
I needed to get this email from you…but I wasn’t always addicted to the news. 911 changed that. I probably should have gotten therapy after 911…but I didn’t. My husband, Andy (Dallas firefighter), was on duty that day. I was 70 miles away in Glen Rose. My kids were in school. When the building collapsed, I literally walked outside and collapsed sobbing in the yard because I saw all the firemen in that building…I knew they were in there and my heart was ripped apart for them, their families, co-workers and friends.
From 911 forward, CNN would stay on 24/7. I only turned it off to sleep. Then I finally turned off the TV but kept CNN up in a window on my computer as long as I was online.
You started talking about this topic a while back and I started backing off. I didn’t keep it up all day…but I still checked it multiple times a day. Slowly, I’m starting to fight my addiction…and yes I know its an addiction…a fear that I’m going to miss something important.
But the breakfast quote really hit home. I really needed some tough love and consider that email a kick in the butt.
Thanks.
Mike @ 10:09 am
Shelley,
I can totally identify with your post. Before 9/11 I periodically checked the news. But after 9/11, I became addicted to the point where I constantly keep a browser window open to check on the news. I know I need to wean myself away from that. I find myself occassionally feeling stressed and having a hard time planning long-range goals because so much of the news makes it seem as if there won’t even be a future, LOL.
Jo @ 1:01 am
Shelley, I share your anxiety. I’m American but have lived in New Zealand for the last 10 years, so I learned of 9/11 only when I turned the news on when I got up. Since then, it stays on all day, just for fear I’ll miss something.
To make matters worse, I’m a New Orleanian, and had it not been for TV, I wouldn’t have learned of either Katrina or the oil spill promptly.
Because I watch doesn’t mean that I like the coverage they deliver, but I think I have learned to read between the lines and recognize exaggeration for melodramatic effect well enough to separate the wheat from the chaff for the most part.
Mike Stewart @ 9:42 am
Shelley Ellis shared this link.
How refreshing to read your thoughts Perry! I completely agree. I enjoy the debate of politics, but the depressing awareness of negativity is constant! If I so desperately needed news that should impact my attitude, I am sure I will find it from others on Facebook…
Just like how I found your post!
Cheers,
Mike Stewart
Kim Snyder @ 9:44 am
I was reading your little rant this morning nodding my head at each and every point! I loved it! And I shared with a few TV viewing friends of mine.
I don’t watch the news and I for sure won’t watch CNN! I have gone somewhere for lunch and they had CNN on. I sat with my back to the tv set cause it was ruining my lunch with all that negative energy that was focusing everything on everything wrong with the world.
Who was it that calls the media “drive-by media”? they give you their opinions and forget the news.
I remember when the president was going to give his state of the union address, and everyone was telling you what he was going to say, their opinions about it, wow why bother listening to the speech!!
Just once I would love a day of only good news, they would choke trying to do the reporting.
Bad news sells I guess.. Not for me I got better things to do..
Joseph Ratliff @ 9:45 am
Perry,
LOL, conspiracy.
I went to a “required” meeting with my son’s teacher yesterday, and saw first hand the effects of what you describe above.
You could see the “emptiness” in the teacher’s eyes.
I asked her if she was having a great day, and it’s almost as though the message “didn’t even reach the intended recipient.”
She started talking about all the “bad news” on TV,the economy, the paperwork, the…the…the…
It’s a sad thing for me to see so many people who live in an empty shell they call their lives.
Great post Perry.
Alan @ 9:51 am
Dead right Perry, here in Ireland the news isn’t as negative as the US, but it is more or less the same everywhere.
I try not to listen, used to have the news on in the background of the office, but usually have Abraham Hicks on YouTube now.
Anyway, thanks for sharing.
Dave Doolin @ 9:53 am
This may sound flippant, and maybe it is, but I just love playing the sound track to Conan the Barbarian when all this bad news comes around.
“Doom doom doom doom doom doom” pound the kettle drums.
For some reason, it makes me feel better.
Ed Keay-Smith @ 10:06 am
Well said Perry!!!!
Sometimes I think you can read my mind mate!
I watch about 30 mins of news a month and even that is forced on me when I am at someone else’s home.
Its just nasty stuff!
Cheers
Ed Keay-Smith
AdWordsMarketing.com
Stephen @ 10:33 am
Your’re preaching to the choir Perry when you write on sujects such as this. That’s why I love your content, my man! We’re brother’s from a different mother.I don’t even have a TV any longer. (**My favourite movie is ‘Into the Wild’. The kid that burnt his money, told his ostentatious parents to take a flying F#$&K and moved to Alaska.)
People that don’t know me well, think I’m nuts, a contrarian. I admit it proudly! (But I know I would fit right in at one of your seminars or Ken McCarthy’s.) By the way, John Carlton’s latest post on the BS educational system and values is bang on as well. You guys get me through the day! It is comforting to know, I’m not alone.
Listen I live alone, work, read biz books and want to get very good at this ‘internet marketing’ thing. That’s about it for me, my son is 26 and doing fine. Materialistic women turn me off, so a good woman is hard to find. But I stay hopeful.
What you are talking about in this post is the: SINGLE, GREATEST THING A PERSON CAN TO TO KEEP THEIR SANITY RIGHT NOW. Stay positive but to do that effectively, you need to ‘tune out’ all the BS. Which means avoiding the ‘media whores’ as I call them.
Unfortuneately, most people cannot because of the choices they’ve made. I was lucky, I got a second chance and didn’t make the same mistakes.
My response to your BP post was vindictive, I realize that. All you said was correct. But the Corporate mentality has to stop, it’s so selfish and arrogant. People should get a list of every company that BP owns and NEVER buy a single thing from them again! (** I’ll never be able to fully explain how much I hate Corp’s. and that ’suck up’ mentality)
I know that ‘we’ (entrepreneurs) counteract that ‘Dilbert Cube’ mentality, so let’a all rock on, spreading the word!
Keep it coming, Bro
SteveO
Stevo, that would be called “ethical consumerism”… but to do so would require us to realize that crony capitalists need to be brought to justice! Fraud and Greed should not go unpunished.
Co de Naam @ 10:34 am
Hi Perry,
As a scientist and a European, I can tell you whole-heartedly: you are so right. This whole society is set up to keep everybody “under control” so to speak (and the papers, mags and TV play a big role in it) and if you try to be independent, there is a lot of rules you run into that are put there with the sole purpose to discourage you. I recently read On Wings of Eagles from Ken Follett again about your fellow American Ross Perot. Now, as a human being you might agree or disagree with the guy, but he is a perfect example of someone who totally disagreed with all the rules and took responsibiliby for his people that were imprisoned in Iran at the time. If everyone would have that attitude towards life and the government, the governing powers would think twice to pull stunts on us. People tend to think they are “small” but this is just one story about how 1 guy made a difference in the lives of others (and there are a lot of examples out there). Anyway, I liked your message and had to think about this Ken Follett book all of a sudden, because I think we can all learn something from it. Do well Perry!
Cheers
Co de Naam
voetbalnl.com
David Rothwell @ 10:44 am
Great post as ever Perry.
I started my professional working life as a TV engineer (electronics and audio was my passion) so I used to *have* to watch TV 8 hours a day, even though in those days we only had 3 (!) channels to choose from, and they didn’t transmit programming all day either!
So the last thing I wanted to see on my return from work was – more TV. It used to drive me mad that my friends would just turn on the TV, and then – watch it.
Fast forward 35 years and although I enjoy TV (in small doses, I watch maybe 3 hours a week, usually late at night when everyone else has gone to bed) I’m very selective of it.
I was married once to somebody who had the habit of switching on the TV as soon as she got up in the morning. I’m not married to them anymore
Across the street from my study I can see the flicker of the TV screen in my neighbour’s house from the corner of my eye – whenever they are in the house, the TV is on. Company perhaps? Yuck!
And when I visit an office where they have several TV screens showing the “breaking news” all day every day it just drives me nuts.
I used to read the BBC news web site every day, several times a day. Like one of your readers said, I’ve weaned myself off this now, and I’m trying to avoid constant news exposure except for a quick glance on my iphone browser when I get up.
Paul Aaron Travis @ 10:55 am
Great call, Perry.
It is so much easier to curse the darkness than to light a candle, that the media get caught up in outdoing one another.
Why curse than create, when we are born as creative beings? I believe our socioeconomic/educational structure punishes kids who “color outside the lines” because they make less reliable workers in the factories.
So I’m excited about the next few decades and how the planet’s new nervous system (the Internet) will enable not only political but psychological change
Kathy Castrigno @ 10:56 am
The metaphor about the refugee camp is the best I have heard in months. I have not had a TV for over 12 years and although I miss some quality programming – most of it is pure mental junk food and I love a mellow home. Thanks Perry
Greg @ 11:08 am
Hi Perry,
I haven’t watched the news since awhile before the first gulf was. It was obvious then that it can’t be trusted as each national news broadcast left out info that might reflect negatively on themselves or affect national support(read:CNN).
Others in my family watch it all the time and I watch it befuddle them.
I’m not overly smart but I believe wholeheartedly in the conspiracy for many years now. Make peeps feel helpless to change anything sends a powerful subliminal message that screams “TRUST US!-AFTER ALL WE’RE YOUR APPOINTED LEADERS AND WE KNOW WHAT WE’RE DOING”…..OR “TRUST US COZ WE IN TV-LAND REALLY KNOW WHATS GOING ON IN THE WORLD, SO WATCH THIS NEXT COMMERCIAL (read:visual re-programming assault) AND GO BY SOMETHING TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER”.It makes me sick to watch others parrotting the “news”, shaking their heads, shrugging and saying “what are we to do?”.
Turn it off. Thats what you need to do buddy!!!!!Sorry for ranting – 20 years pent up frustration on the subject I guess.
Really love your stuff Perry. Keep it comin’, pls, we need it.
Thanks.
Greg
Jason @ 11:19 am
Perry,
You are so right. The purpose of the news is to depress you and then show you commercials of anti-depressants.
It is easy enough to get depressed when things are not going your way. But add in the news and it can cause you stay in bed all weekend.
Jason
Leslie @ 11:36 am
Perry -
How true, and how refreshing to hear your courageous voice saying “ENOUGH!!!” I haven’t owned a TV for seven years and it has been a great blessing. If enough people chose to boycott the insipid drivel that passes for entertainment the advertisers would pull out and maybe something good would happen, such as reading books and talking to each other again, such as noticing what’s going on in our homes and
An open space to express, feel, share and co-create circles of coherence. Consciously Connecting and Combining Intelligence.Mastermind Groups. Soul Hang Out The Inner Child Experience
6/05/2010
One conspiracy I do believe in….
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)