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BEATING

THE demons

The 6 Principles of

Self Mastery

For Those Who Want to

Get More Done

This book is available for purchase at www.BeTheFire.com

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By Dan Boe

Copyright © 2010 by Dan Boe

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,

photocopy, recording or otherwise, without

prior written permission from Dan Boe, San

Diego, CA with the exception of short

excerpts used with acknowledgement of

author.

Cover design and graphics by Gabe Gunlock

of Gunlock Industries. San Diego, CA

www.gabegunlock.com

Cover photo of the Lamborghini® shot by

Jeremy Cliff and used by permission of

Jeremy Cliff © 2010 Chicago, IL

www.thephotomotive.com

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Author’s Note

I can sum up this book in two words: Self

Mastery.

Socrates stated that: “The truly free

individual is free only to the extent of his

own self-mastery, while those who will not

govern themselves are condemned to find

masters to govern over them."

Self-mastery is whatever you determine it to

be for you at this time in your life. For me, it

is the ability to catch myself not doing the

things that I need to do to get what I want,

the ability to stop the rationalizing and

justifying, to never have an excuse, to

eliminate the chatter in my head that is there

to make me feel better when I don’t get my

stuff done, to stick to a diet or exercise plan,

to take action, to question my own beliefs

constantly, to be open to other points of view,

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to learn why I have the beliefs that I have, to

not let others have control over the way I feel

about myself, to always get better, and to

look at the world from a universal

perspective, not from a perspective of “me.”

Self-mastery isn’t a destination, it is a

journey. This book is an invitation to join

me on the journey, achieve a new level of self

mastery in your own life, and with it make a

difference in the world.

Where did the term, “the demons” come

from, you may ask. James Renfro is one of

the most insightful people I know, and an

excellent salesman. He was canvassing a

neighborhood one day to help people who

may want to sell their house. I asked how

many doors he knocked on and he said, “I

knocked on 141 doors,” and then he asked

me, “How many phone calls did you make

today?” I responded proudly, “71.” He said,

“Wow, how are you able to beat the demons?”

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I had never heard that phrase before, but

instantly knew exactly what he was talking

about. I responded quickly, “You already

know how to beat the demons! You knocked

on 141 doors.” From that conversation, the

idea for this book was born, and the term “the

demons” was instantly defined. (No, James,

you are not getting any royalties; write your

own book.)

The format for the first part of “Beating the

demons” was inspired by a brilliant book that

had a positive impact on my life. When I

read this book, it was like a true friend telling

me the painful truth that I needed to hear, but

didn’t want to. It will influence my work for

the rest of my career. The book was “The

War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. I fully

credit Pressfield for the format that the first

part of “Beating the demons” fits into.

As you read “Beating the demons”, I invite

you to be open to learning something new

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about yourself that you can use to propel your

life. Put the ego aside, let down your

defenses, and join me on the journey that I

call self-mastery.

Sincerely,

Dan ‘go sell something’ Boe

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One

The Invisible Force

I’m at my desk. I am about to make my “cold

calls.” These calls are critical to earning my

income so that I can have a place to live, food

to eat, and money to take care of my family.

I have been about to make my calls for 2

hours and 47 minutes now. During this time I

have gotten up to get coffee three times, gone

to the bathroom twice, checked and

responded to my email five times, and

considered taking off for an early lunch. It is

completely illogical to not make these calls.

I know that if I dial 39 times, based on past

history, I WILL MAKE $1,892.76 TODAY.

Marc (his real name) always makes his calls.

He will dial 65 times in one day when he is

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prospecting for new clients. I wonder if he

holds some secret power, or learned a key

lesson that I somehow missed in all my

business training. The question keeps

repeating itself in my mind as I avoid doing

the one thing that will bring me the income I

need to survive and thrive: How does he get

started?

I’m paralyzed, so I call Marc and ask him

how he does it. “Marc, what do you do when

the phone seems so heavy, and you are having

an extremely hard time dialing that first

number? How do you overcome that call

reluctance?”

He says, “I pick up the phone.”

That’s it? It can’t be that easy? No

affirmations first? No pushups to clear your

thoughts? No psyching yourself up? Just pick

up the phone and dial? It can’t be that easy.

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But it is. Marc knows how to beat the

demons. The same demons that keep us from

making our calls also keep us from

completing that new exercise plan. The same

demons that keep us from sticking to that diet

keep us from that perfect relationship, and

yes, keep us from writing that book.

Everybody loves Marc. I thought it was

because he was a good schmoozer, but now I

know why everybody loves Marc. Because

they know that he knows how to beat the

demons.

His co-workers know it when he puts up his

record sales numbers each month on the

board. His friends know it when he turns

down the offer to play golf on Thursday

morning. And his family knows it when all

his work is done and he is home by 4:00 p.m.

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YES. The ones who beat the demons do not

live at the office. The ones who do not beat

the demons, stay at the office all night

because they feel guilty for the whipping they

let the demons give them that day.

You may know somebody like Marc. You

may have recognized in somebody else the

ability to overcome that invisible force that

seems to keep the rest of us down. We call

this invisible force: The demons.

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Two

What are the demons?

The justification and rationalizing in your

head when you are avoiding doing the things

that need to get done to achieve your goals?

That is the demons hard at work.

The creative avoidance that turns your plan

for constructive work time, into precious time

wasted on unproductive menial tasks? That is

the demons’ masterpiece.

The distractions we often say that we hate,

but secretly really love because they keep us

from doing our real work? That is the demons

working overtime.

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The perfectionist inside of us that declares

that no project we are working on is good

enough? That is the demons keeping us from

finishing that which we start.

The demons hide, but we know they are there

every time we set a goal and don’t achieve it.

The demons aim to keep us away from that

which we love. They aim to stop us from

achieving our life’s dream. They aim to stop

us from living up to our full potential. They

aim to stop us from feeling a sense of

accomplishment. They aim to stop us from

changing the world for the better. AND

THEY AIM TO STOP EVERYBODY ELSE,

TOO.

But wait a minute. If I am facing a demon

that wants me to fail, but it exists inside of

me and inside of you, then let’s look at the

following question:

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Are the demons real?

I coach Entrepreneurs in business sales.

Every time I obtain a new coaching client, I

always give them an assignment to increase

the amount of outbound calls from the

number they are currently making. They will

commit to making a specific number of calls

by the next coaching session. They will come

up with their own heinous consequence if

they don’t make the calls. A good example is

no skiing for a month if the student really

loves skiing. At the next coaching session,

what do you think was the outcome of the

calls? That is right; the calls weren’t made.

The consequence is not put there to punish

them; the consequence is there so they can

see that the demons are real.

The demons are a ceiling to productivity.

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The demons tell us that there are limits to

how much we can accomplish in a day. These

limits are relative to how much we have

accomplished in the past, and are not based

on our potential. We get done a little more

than we usually get done, then start feeling

“overwhelmed.”

The demons tell us what we want to hear.

They may tell you that you can cheat on that

diet because you will work out tomorrow.

Then tomorrow comes and the same voice

telling you that you could break the diet

because you will work out tomorrow, now

tells you that you don’t have to work out

today because you can just work out twice as

hard the next day. You broke your diet,

didn’t work out, and completely justified and

rationalized it in your head. The demons win.

The demons have an ironic sense of humor.

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You have probably heard a story about

somebody who wins the lottery and becomes

an instant multi millionaire. Oftentimes, less

than five years later they are broke and have

an even smaller amount than before they won

the lottery. Only the demons know that this

is their work. They are an opponent that

doesn’t have any muscles, any weapons, any

physical form, and yet they end up kicking

our butts again and again.

The demons stop us from helping others

beat the demons.

We get used to the way others around us are.

This is fine, except when they change

something we are comfortable with, or

elevate them selves to a higher level. This

change can be very uncomfortable for us. It

may be hard to admit, but we often

unconsciously hold them down to the level

we are used to, without even knowing we are

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doing it! We do this in the form of subtle

criticizing, openly disapproving, or talking

them out of it.

The demons keep us busy, not productive.

The demons get us doing less productive

tasks that are called “busy work” instead of

the productive money-making activities. The

busy work has to be done, but we must

categorize busy work and productive tasks

accurately, so that we can spend more time in

the money making activities. Busy work may

be activities such as designing marketing

materials and sending out emails. The

productive tasks move people forward in the

buying process. For most entrepreneurs this

usually involves some kind of personal

contact, whether it is in person or over the

phone.

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The demons aren’t custom made.

We all battle the same demons; it isn’t my

demons, or his demons or her demons. We

all have to beat “The demons.”

The demons stop us from getting new

business.

A great example of this is any type of “cold

call” that we commit to making to procure

new business. Making “cold calls” is one

task that goes against all of our body systems

that are designed to keep us safe:

First, the outcome is always unknown.

We like to be able to predict all

outcomes. Predicting outcomes is

inherent to our survival. Cold calls are

never predictable.

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Second, anything that moves us to a

higher level is scary. The higher we go,

the farther we have to fall. If we look

up at a big tree and make a

commitment to get to the top, we get

scared. There are many times that we

have to face this barrier throughout our

climb. The more we climb and the

higher up we get, the more scared we

get. The same is true with business.

The farther up we go, the farther we

can fall. We end up being afraid of

success. When we are procuring new

business, we are afraid of our success

taking us to a higher level. Higher

levels are scary. Hence, we have an

innate and subconscious fear of

success.

Third, we face a fear of moving

somebody forward in the buying

process. We sometimes don’t have the

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confidence in our abilities to know that

when we get a prospect on the phone or

in person, that we can move them to

pull out their credit card or sign a

contract. Self doubt arises and we

subconsciously sabotage the deal.

We have to fight all these internal fears every

day in order to get new business: Whether it

is calling new leads, asking for referrals, or

closing hot prospects.

The demons hide in things we call

distractions.

We love the distractions. As long as we have

distractions we don’t have to face the

demons. The moment we let the distractions

keep us from our work, the demons win.

The demons will paralyze you.

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The demons are like a paralyzing dart that

you never feel hit you. Once you are hit by it

you do nothing. You know what to do, you

want to do it, you know the results that will

be achieved once you do it, but you are

paralyzed.

There are many tools that have been given

to us to help beat the demons.

There is a lot of talk about the power of

intention, the law of attraction, and the power

of positive thinking. The reason that these

principles work is because they facilitate us

in getting our work done. Sitting on our

couch consistently thinking about what we

want creates the feelings and emotions that

we need as fuel to take the next step. The

next step is getting our work done.

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If you sit on the couch thinking positive

thoughts and never take action, they may

come take your couch away.

Focusing on what we want, and thinking

positive, helps conquer the thoughts of self

doubt and fear, so that we start getting our

work done. By getting our work done we can

attract the life that we want.

The demons capitalize on our fears and self

doubt.

As soon as thoughts and feelings of doubt

arise the demons are reliably there to say,

“Something bad may happen, you better

stop.”

The demons capitalize on the physical road

blocks that arise every time we set a goal.

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As soon as these things arise, the demons are

there to say, “Look, you have an excuse; you

don’t have to do this anymore.”

The demons capitalize on failure.

As soon as we fail, the demons are there to

tell us to quit, that we can’t do it, to give up.

And then the justification and rationalization

starts on why we can’t do it. We listen to the

demons, and they stop us.

The demons capitalize on our fear of

looking bad.

According to recent studies in the United

States, the number one fear is public

speaking. Let’s look at it a little bit deeper.

I believe that the reason we have a fear of

speaking in public is because of a fear that

shows up in our lives everyday and

everywhere we go. It is a paralyzing fear that

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keeps us from living up to our full potential.

It stops us everywhere in our lives, and in

more important situations than just public

speaking. It is the fear of looking bad.

Overcome the fear of looking bad, and you

are one step closer to overcoming the demons.

The demons use our own biology against us.

Our brain’s job is to keep us safe. Our

brain’s job is not to make us successful. Our

brain’s job is not to make us happy. Have

you ever known somebody who had a brain

and wasn’t successful? Have you ever known

somebody who had a brain and wasn’t happy?

Our fears arise from our past experiences, and

are not based on our potential. Susan Jeffers

wrote a brilliant book called, “Feel the Fear

and Do It Anyway,” because she knows that

when we act in spite of fear, we elevate

ourselves to a higher level and start the

journey to achieve that which we are capable

of.

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The demons are not interested in knocking

us to a lower level.

Not because there is a streak of niceness in

them. It is because knocking us to a lower

level isn’t their game.

They are like a trained ninja who knows they

have one task at hand, and they are crystal

clear on what that task is. Their goal is to

emphatically and without question stop us

from getting to a higher level. Their mission

is to keep us the same. They will let us slide

to a lower level, but they don’t do anything to

facilitate it. And like the grass, we are either

growing or dying. So as they target their

efforts to keep us the same, we often end up

at a lower level. The only way to not get

knocked down to a lower level is to always be

growing. The demons don’t knock us to a

lower level. We do that ourselves when we

can’t beat the demons.

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To truly live is to overcome the demons.

I was stuffing Christmas stockings for my

kids when they were 4 and 6 years of age. I

was thinking about the magic that the kids

would experience when they woke up and saw

the wondrous presents seemingly left by a

stranger. I looked at the clock and saw that it

was 2:00 a.m. I looked over at my mom who

was helping me, and said with a sincere

smile, “This is living!” My lovely, caring

wife was missing out. It was Christmas Eve;

she was dead asleep, and fully beaten by the

demons.

We all share the commonality of having to

battle the demons.

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We admire those who work hard. We root for

the underdog. We want the person to win

who has to work harder on winning.

Imagine you are watching a competition

where two runners are racing. The first is a

natural born athlete who never had to work

hard to run fast. The second was born

without great genetics, and has to practice ten

times more than his opponent. Which runner

do we want to win? Most would choose the

second racer because he is more like us.

We know about the demons from

experience.

I can always recognize somebody who has to

utilize self discipline to achieve success in

his career. When I tell him that the reason he

didn’t make his phone calls today is because

of the demons, he smiles and says, “Yep, it is

because of the demons.”

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He may have never heard the term used like

that before, but he understands it in an

instant. He has knowledge of fighting the

demons one can only get from experience.

The demons are relentless

The demons are not pesky little critters that

need to be stomped out. The demons are an

evil force that is relentless in completely

destroying you! They are evil. Never

underestimate their power.

The demons didn’t stop this book

I hold the information in this book at a very

high level. In later chapters we are going to

be discussing the meaning of life. I decided

that getting the first version out, was more

important than getting the book out perfectly

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edited. When it went to print, the demons

lost.

Small fears keep us from big results!

I had a three page in-depth discussion on this

that I edited out. The three pages

communicated as effectively as this one

sentence: Small fears keep us from big

results!

Overcoming the demons reaps

disproportionate results. The demons are not

proportional to that which they keep us from.

The demons are small in comparison. A

little bit of effort on beating the demons can

result in a lot of success. We do not have to

overcome huge obstacles to get huge results.

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Notes on where the demons show up:

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Three

How to Overcome the demons:

6 Principles

I wake up every morning, put some shorts on

and leave for the gym. There is nothing to

think about, but I know the demons are hard

at work to stop me anytime that I start

thinking.

“Thinking about what?” you may ask. It doesn’t matter what

I am thinking about. What I have committed to requires

doing, not thinking. So when those thoughts creep in my

head: “You didn’t get enough sleep to stay healthy, you need

to get to the office to get your work done, you need to rest

your muscles from yesterday’s workout,” and so

Purchase the book at www.bethefire.com