Success & The Law of Large Numbers

By Dr. Gary S. Goodman

I just read about a Houston man who has dedicated much of his life to collecting beer cans and to drinking their contents.

His larger goal was to build a house consisting of his carefully crushed cans, which he did. It is more than a shrine to his beloved beverage. It shows what you can do when you apply the Law of Large Numbers.

If you think I'm kidding, I'm not.

Accomplishment is truly in the eye of the beholder.

You may have seen "The Lady in the Water," the movie that featured a large apartment complex that was home to a peculiar assortment of human beings. One fellow was a bodybuilder.

Well, that's not completely accurate. He built up just ONE of his arms to what then appeared to be grotesque proportions.

"Why would anyone want to train just ONE arm?" you find yourself asking. How impractical!

But as the movie reveals there is a greater good to be served by that outsized limb.
My point here is to say that applying The Law of Large Numbers might seem foolish to everyone, but to you.

The Law of Large Numbers says if you do enough of anything, you'll succeed. Do more and you'll get rich. Do more than that, and you'll become a legend.

Collectors of all kinds are Law of Large Numbers types.

Politicians collect votes. Billionaires collect dollars, or possibly, Euros.

I collected coins as a kid and but-for my meager budget, I would have roped in thousands, if I could.

A famous TV host has a huge collection of cars, some very exotic. One day I saw him along with one of his broken down steam propelled beasts being hoisted onto the hook by the auto club, at the Van Nuys off ramp of the Ventura freeway.

Who is going to tell him: "Get a Toyota, it's more reliable"? He's a collector, and using the LLN is a hobby. It's fun, and really it's not hurting anybody including the enthusiast, himself.
The very fact that I feel the need to defend The Law of Large Numbers is interesting. It is almost as if an insidious Law of Entropy, or a demonic Law of Laziness, is constantly conspiring to make the LLN look or seem foolish, requiring me to battle back, to tell the world it's not only okay to indulge your penchant for multiplication.

It is a mighty and worthwhile thing to do.

Some sages get the Law of Large Numbers; they understand it to their bones, though they don't identify it as such.

Here is a gem from Carlos Castaneda, drawn from his book, The Wheel of Time. Castaneda says:

"...if an act is repeated long enough, one acquires a sense of unbending intent, which can be applied to anything else. If that is accomplished the road is clear. One thing will lead to another until the warrior realizes his full potential." (p. 244)

Think about the implications of this. Meditate with this passage in mind.

I know from my martial arts training that Castaneda is 100% right.

There is nothing so powerful as performing the most simple move, say a kick or a strike or a parry; over and over again, possibly tens of thousands of times, to not only perfect that move, but to gain insight into the essential challenge of becoming a master of anything.

Let's stay with the topic of martial arts, and specifically with self-defense, for a moment.

Most people who want to rob you are not willing to trade their lives for your possessions. On the contrary, they want a simple and efficient way of relieving you of your goodies.

In a word, they're lazy.

If they perceive in you a sense of resolve, a level of commitment, a focused being, someone who has "paid the price," whatever it is, in any human endeavor, they'll shy away from you and select a different victim.

You'll repel them without trying, because there is this ineffable quality in you, a warrior quality, that is missing in them. And you don't have to be seven feet tall to convey this "Don't tread on me!" message.

In the martial arts literature we see many mentions of "Tea Masters" who foil the carefully laid plans of bandits. These gentle beings are so together, so tranquil, yet so aware of the intentions of others, that they don't permit themselves to become ruffled or victimized.

It is said, if you are a master of one thing, you have great insight into mastery of anything. So, a mere bandit is no match for the skills of a Tea Master, or in all likelihood for a Law of Large Numbers practitioner.

Informing the mastery of all things is the willingness to adopt a large numbers mentality.
Tea Masters seem patient. They pour and serve s-l-o-w-l-y, without a hint of hurry. They have reached this level of calmness because they have permitted themselves to "study" the Way of Tea, for as long as it takes to do it well.

Have you ever heard the expression, "You can accomplish anything, if you will give yourself enough time"? This is the same idea.

Let me make a necessary distinction, here. Tea Masters aren't trying hard. Trying hard implies a lot of effort, tension, and fear of failure.

They, as well as masters-in-training in all walks of life, are however, willing to try often.
For a number of years, I've trained salespeople, many of whom are ardent non-salespeople. They'll tell you so.

They hate selling but since they decided to open their own businesses or because their bosses are insisting on it, they're trying to learn this craft, this vocation.

Do you know what the Number One Obstacle is that they'll encounter? (Hint: It isn't in the people they're trying to sell!)

They don't have a Large Numbers viewpoint.

Here's what I mean.

The first time they hear a "no" it reverberates in their minds like crazy. They replay it, pining over it, wondering if they really have what it takes to succeed in selling. That ONE rejection, often the first, is the only one they'll permit themselves to hear, and they quit.

If they only realized what seasoned sellers know, that it takes many no's to achieve a yes, they'd cut themselves some slack.

Novices don't have to try HARD, because hard has nothing to do with selling. Simply put, they have to try OFTEN.

They make selling hard for themselves precisely because they're seeking a way to avoid trying often.

I don't trust the books and articles that propound a "Lazy Man's Way to Riches," as one famous title proudly touts. The Law of Large Numbers and laziness simply will not work together.

Yet repeating something until mastery sneaks up on you isn't necessarily hard work, either.
There is a proverbial "Middle Way," a path that is taut but not tight, relaxed but not removed from caring or negligent, that is the right one.

Like a calligrapher whose goal is to make beautiful brush strokes, one has to have enough tension in his hand to have control, but you cannot force the letters to the parchment.
"Not too tight, and not too loose" should be our mantra.

Back to Castaneda's comment: He said, if we repeat an act often enough, we'll "acquire a sense of unbending intent," and then we'll be able to realize our full potential.

This seems to be different or possibly at odds with what subscribers to the Law of Attraction seem to be saying, but is it?

Simply stated, the Law of Attraction says you'll get what you think about. Think about wealth, visualize it coming to you, and through the Universe's mysterious ways, it will be yours.

In the same way, if you focus on negatives, then you'll reap those, instead.

A different way of summing this up is saying if you INTEND an outcome, you'll get it.
(This is, more or less, the idea underpinning the book and video program known as The Secret.)

How does this relate to Castaneda and to the Law of Large Numbers? The Secret says you can accomplish anything you want through mental means, and the manifestation of your thinking or intent will inevitably occur without added action on your part.

I interpret Castaneda as saying INTENT isn't simply a cause, a stimulus, but it is an effect, too, a response. You can build it up, like a storehouse, or like a battery that will energize you.
When you have developed unbending intent, you can apply it to manifesting whatever it is you want.

But I'm also reading into Castaneda the idea that you need to work at something, to take distinct actions that will bring about the objects of your desires. If you repeat just one act, even collecting beer cans, long enough, you'll end up with much more than a beer can house, and something infinitely more valuable.

You'll end up being a warrior, a being that is superior to the one you started out as before you undertook your Law of Large Numbers campaign.

Robert Pirsig, author of Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, points out that when we approach our tasks in the proper frame of mind, which I'll call a Large Numbers Consciousness, we're no longer repairing machines. The machines we're fixing "are ourselves."

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a popular keynote speaker, best-selling author of 12 books, and creator of the Nightingale-Conant audio program, THE LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS: HOW TO MAKE SUCCESS INEVITABLE. His web site is http://www.customersatisfaction.com and he can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

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