Learn the specific thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that “miracle thinkers” maintain, and the actions they take, to attract money, health, relationships, and other personal miracles into their lives.
Excerpt
The Sting
In 1988, Krystyna Barron lost her job in a corporate merger right after her boyfriend, Craig, had taken a leave of absence from his job as a cameraman. Looking at their dwindling financial situation, the pair mulled over the idea of starting an effects company for the movie industry in which they would create matte paintings. These were very realistic paintings done on glass that would be combined with live-action, motion-picture photography to create backgrounds.
With his experience in film, Craig would handle the photography and Krystyna would run the business, while another friend would handle the artwork. However, after the trio did a tiny job for HBO, none of them felt motivated to continue, so they packed up their stuff and forgot about it.
When neither Krystyna nor Craig had secured a job in nine month’s time, they decided to revisit their idea. Once again, they contacted HBO, and this time, a very large job was on the table. The discussion was going quite well until the corporate executive requested a visit to their facility. Obviously, he wanted to make sure the newly-formed company could deliver the results he needed. He would arrive on their doorstep in one week!
At this point, their fledgling company, “Matte World,” was nothing more than a name, with a credit list of a few small jobs and a staff of two, since the artist had returned to Oregon. They had no studio, no employees, and no equipment, other than 2 cameras, a tripod, an artist’s easel, a drafting table and some odds and ends.
With not a second to spare, they decided to set up a mock facility. First, they leased an empty warehouse space for one month, which, according to Krystyna, was a miracle in itself since industrial landlords usually would not agree to such short lease terms. Then they rented office furniture, portable dividing walls and tons of plants. They also rented cameras and lights, created sets, and hung matte paintings and other effects stuff on the walls. Artists’ easels exhibiting works in progress and camera stations were set up, while rows of empty file cabinets lined the fake office walls.
Since there were no electrical outlets, they glued electrical boxes with 4 outlets to the walls and plugged in bunches of cords. Although everything was a prop, it all had to look real. It was Matte World’s version of “The Sting,” says Krystyna.
Once the props were in place, they called every friend they could think of who might be available to come over and pretend to be an “employee” the day of the HBO exec’s visit. Of course, they also brought in all kinds of equipment, miniatures and artwork so their friends would all be able to pretend they were working, painting, drawing, doing camera tests, etc. They even arranged for other friends to call in every five minutes to create the illusion that the business was “happening.”
They ran into one major problem, the phone. This was a time before cell phones, and no doubt, the HBO executive would ask to use the phone. Creating more miracles, Krystyna got the phone company to install a working line in one day’s time.
When the HBO executive arrived, the couple entertained him with a delightful lunch at a restaurant next door to their “studio,” making sure to use the rest rooms at the restaurant since there wasn’t one in their warehouse space. Then they enticed and distracted their guest with a slide show. Since there was no electricity in their warehouse, and they needed electricity for the slide projector, they had made a deal with an adjacent tenant, who was a mountain bike manufacturer, to fish an extension cord over the adjoining wall to their space and use his electrical outlet.
The executive was delighted with Matte World and awarded them the job during his visit. As he left, the gang dropped everything and started to applaud. Just then the executive came back in to hand the pair a deposit check and use the phone. Everyone was stunned for a moment, but quickly resumed their acts.
The result? The effects they created for that particular project won Matte World the Emmy for Best Visual Effects! Since then, Matte World Digital has worked on over 100 major feature films. They are used by all of the big studios and directors, and have garnered an Oscar nomination in England and the United States.
MIRACLE THINKING TIPS
* When an opportunity comes knocking at your door, will you sabotage yourself by saying that you are not ready, or will you find a way to make it happen? Miracle Thinkers believe in themselves and “act as if.” They proceed forward as if their desired outcome must come about. Craig knew they had the skills that the HBO exec needed. What they didn’t have was the facility “the fasade, the outer trappings” that would convince the exec that they could handle the job. In what might be considered an extraordinary act of chutzpah, Krys and Craig immediately jumped into gear to make their dreams come true. They chose to “act as if,” and by doing so, they literally opened the (fake studio) door for miracles to happen.
* Did you ever have an idea and tell it to someone only to have him or her give you all the reasons that it couldn’t happen? Did you buy into their reasoning (like somehow they knew better than you) and let it stop you from creating your idea? Did the idea dissolve away? Did you try every possibility? Says Krystyna, “I function from the framework that “almost anything is possible” and move forward on as many possibilities as I can think of. When I am told “no,” I do not automatically accept it and shut down. “No” is a response that propels me to search for the “yes,” or to find a different person to ask. You’d be amazed at the variety of responses you can get if you ask to speak to someone different.”
* As you visualize the future possibility of a creation, pay attention to any obstacles that pop up in your mind. In addition to “acting as if,” Krystyna imagined the potential “what ifs.” “What if” the HBO exec. asked to use a bathroom? “What if” he needed to use the phone? “What if” he had too much time to take a close look at the fasade? As a result of visualizing the potential “what ifs,” the pair created a plan that included a long lasting lunch where they were able to conduct the majority of their business, arranged for a working phone, and strategically placed a comment about using the rest rooms while at the restaurant, which easily persuaded the Exec to use the bathroom without discovering that they didn’t have one!
Copyright 2008 Randy Peyser. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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