Step 14 - The Rules RULE

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

The Rules RULE!
I have learned some pretty profound lessons about myself and how I have looked at money and the consequences it has had as a result of attempting to follow the Double To A Million Plan.

It has been fun as well.

I will be writing soon something I have just seen about myself that has stopped me from being successful all my life and this Experiment has been an element in helping me to finally see it.

Regarding the Rules, there are a few of them that are a bit difficult to deal with, Rule # 4 being one of them. However, I believe that each of the rules is there for a reason and there is valuable insight and experience to be gained by abiding by each of them.

Lets say you are on Step Six ($0.16-$0.32) and you find a dollar bill on the street.

In this case you found the money and since you didn't need to do a trade or transaction to get the cash you are free to use that money to leap frog you up to Step Nine.

Rule # 1 on page (4) of the Free Report:

"How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps"

describes that - *Any money you find after the first penny can be added to the stake money. Example - find a Ten dollar note in the street immediately leapfrogs you to step 12.*

Rule # 4 does mean that any money that you gain through a transaction or trade that exceeds the completion of the Step you are on needs to be removed.

There may be some who do not like this idea and want to be able to use all the funds they get without removing any profit that exceeds the completion of the current Step. This is understandable seeing how difficult it can be to obtain those funds.

My first suggestion is to follow Rule Number 7 which is called (the most important rule) and that is "Don't worry about how you are going to manage a future doubling. Concentrate only on the current doubling."

I believe that also includes not thinking about anything to do with future Steps such as what happens if I make a lot more and have to pull the money out due to Rule #4. One of the primary lessons this plan wants to teach is to focus only on what is real and what is now. Thinking of the future is a distraction that only leads to doubt and anxiety.

It is probably highly unlikely that a scenario will occur that causes you to have to remove huge sums of money because you exceed the next step's starting point. Yet thinking about it can already cause distress. I am finding in order to have fun with this I must focus on the present and not allow myself to think about the possible future events.

Although some of the rules seem to be eccentric I am finding that they have deeper psychological meaning. There are lessons in each of them that are important in learning what success truly is.

Just making the decision to follow the rules as they are laid out, to the letter, has helped give me a predetermined, solid way of approaching this experiment. That foundation, that I can always rely on, the RULES, helps me to see when my own inner weaknesses cause me to bend my judgements and compromise my ethics. It clearly shows where I am weak and gives me something solid to come back to, to reset my standards.

One of the things I decided at the beginning of this was to do it as morally, ethically and within the frameworks of the rules to the extent it was humanly possible. Just doing this has taught me many things about myself. Also being absolute about following the Rules has added a flavor to the experiment that would have been missing had I been willing to compromise and pick and choose what I wanted.

The Rules are like a Platoon Sargent. They provide discipline and structure, even when you don't want it. They give a dependable framework to follow and clarify any points that may seem muddy or uncertain. The Rules are crucial in this experiment and in fact are so integral to the success of the project that it is my opinion that it may not be possible to reach the final goal without them.

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum

"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Step Fourteen - Part One

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

The Dreaded Lull

Since Step Fourteen began things have slowed down. One idea I had and began to work on started to not feel right and it seems I am going to have to abandon it. This has slowed me down some.

In addition a lot of activities that had to be accomplished have taken up my time and I have not been able to focus on DTAMP as much as I would have liked to.

I did find or was given some change, Five Cents($0.05), so far during this Step but thats it.

Presently I am at $40.05 and hopefully learning some patience.

Lessons:

(1). It seems that every once in a while a lull will come and finding or making money for the experiment slows down. This can be a frustrating time but I believe that this period is important. Timing is everything and sometimes making money takes patience and waiting for the perfect situation to present itself.

One of the things that has always hindered me in regards to success is my impatience. I was never willing to wait for the perfect opportunity or situation to come up. I always had to be doing something and if you are always busy trying to do something you will miss what may have been something great.

Most people have to be motivated to do something, it seems, at least that is what all the books on "How to get rich" tell you. Most people are lazy, they say, and it is because of that that they never get anywhere. But there is the other kind of people, like myself, that have found that kind of advice very detrimental. I kept trying to do things and when there was a lull I would try to do more things and then I would read the books that said "You are not doing enough" and I would do even more things. Despite the fact I was doing all these things, nothing was happening. In fact not only was nothing happening I was rolling down the hill of failure as a result.

It is only now after years, decades in fact, of suffering with failure, that I am beginning to see that doing things all the time is a recipe for disaster. Sometimes you must wait and be patient for the right thing to come along. You have to have faith that it will come along and you won't be left high and dry. This advice is for those of us who can't wait, go crazy when there is a lull in the activity or feel that if nothing is happening then something must be wrong.

It is sort of like a baseball player that swings at every pitch. That is not a good idea. He needs to wait for the pitch that he feels is just right for him to get a piece of or else he will strike out. Not every pitch or opportunity is a good one even though they may all have the same appearance for the most part.

You have to believe that even if you let an opportunity go by an even better one will come along shortly.

Be very selective in what you choose to do and do not panic if it seems that there is nothing for you to do at the present time or if an opportunty that seems like a great idea suddenly loses its luster. There will be times that an opportunity appears to be really great but after a period of time its flaws and problems begin to show up. Do not be afraid to abandon the project if it starts to give you that uncomfortable feeling. It may be difficult to give up the project because it is the only thing that you got going at the present time. You have to follow your gut feel and let it go and have faith that another opportunity will be coming along soon.

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum

"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Step Thirteen - Epitaph

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

Funeral Services held for Step Thirteen at The Doublin & Change Funeral Home.

Money excepted in lieu of Gifts.

We are gathered here today to pay our respects to Step 13. As we bid it farewell, we will remember fondly it's passing as Step 14 enters to take it's place.

May Step 13 Rest in Peace.

Some may mourn the passing so to offer comfort here is a reminder of happier times.


This is not an actual photo of Xinfinitum. Only a facsimile. "X" is not this animated.
I have added a new Title in the Sidebar. Comrades in Doubling. Here you will find other intrepid Doublers that are giving this experiment a try.

Last of all this is a picture of the actual money collected so far.

See you all in Step Fourteen.

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum

"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Step Thirteen - Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

I went to the Doctors for my yearly physical today.

He told me I only had 60 years to live and they wouldn't be pleasant ones. I am just kidding, he actually said, "I have some bad news and some really bad news". I said, "Whats the bad news?" "You only have 48 hours to live. "Holy mackeral" I exclaimed. "I hate to hear the really bad news!" He replied, "The really bad news is I tried to reach you 24 hours ago".

Seriously Folks, my Doctor is really a great guy. He was interested in looking at my Blog and Website because he said he likes to be aware of what his patients are doing.

Probably more so for ones that are living on the precipice.

On the way home I stopped at three places that had "FREE" signs out with a bunch of junk along the side of the road. I didn't get much because most of it look fairly picked over. I did take seven Christmas Coffee Mugs that were in good shape.

Later in the evening I took down a bunch of Bottles and Cans to the Wine Store in town and turned in a total of 175 @ five cents a piece, Total $8.75 .

So with those funds I made it to $40.00 and completed Step Thirteen.

Check out the Time Line to read the fine print.

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum

"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Step Thirteen - Part One

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

Finally, I have gotten this Blog up to the Step I am currently on. Phew.

When I first got started with this Double To A Million Plan, I had no idea where it would take me. It has been an interesting ride and it looks like it will remain interesting for the rest of the experiment.

I would say that I got started with this all, thanks to Gerard, a.k.a. "therichmind". I happened to click on the thread in Talkgold where he was sharing his experience and after reading his Blog at

http://doubleyourwaytoamillion.blogspot.com
I was inspired to give it a try.

Following along with his experiences helped me during my tenuous earlier steps and provided a place to go to see someone working at it. I am grateful that he keeps plugging away at it.

I now see from looking at his Blog that there are a number of others that are also doing the plan:

"How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps"
I wish them all the best of success.

During Step Thirteen I have collected up a lot of glass beer bottles and cans. Actually enough to complete Step Thirteen. Much of my time recently has been bringing this Blog up to date. Now that I am nearly complete in doing that, I can refocus my attentions on my "Recycling" Business.

The first step will be to bring a load of bottles and cans down to the Wine Store and get the money for them. I can then move on to Step Fourteen.

Also during this Step I have located a large quantity of good steel that is just rusting away. I will be researching how I can either use this steel for some kind of artwork, product or just scrap that can produce some funds to accelerate me along.

Unfortunately, some of the ideas I have are proprietary and I will not be able to divulge them in great gory detail. At least not until after I have either marketed them to the fullest extent that I can or am no longer using that idea.

I have a bunch of ideas running around in my head and I hope to implement them soon.

As of today, September 17th, 2006, I have collected $11.29 and am up to a Grand Total of $31.29 .

Lessons:

(1). My impatience is getting the best of me lately because I want to try my new found moneymaking ideas and I am not at the point where the rules permit me to do so. It is difficult to battle with the frustration of not being able to move forward at a faster rate. I believe everyone will face stages of frustration because they may want to move forward faster. They may even have the possible opportunities to do so but it is important to not be tempted to cheat or twist the rules to get what you want.

Moving step by step and following the rules is very important. Not following the rules means you have to cheat and whenever a person cheats to get what they want they disrupt the natural order that had been established through wisdom. Some people believe they can cheat and get away with it and they may for a short period of time. However, it is like pushing against an elastic, eventually the power it takes to keep that elastic moving in that direction will weaken due to the fact that the power is being transfered expotentionally to the force it is acting upon. The power that has accumulated will over take it and swing back with an accelerated force knocking you on your sorry butt.

It has been said that "Cheaters never prosper" but I want to add that not only will they not prosper they will probably lose what they had previously gained as well. What I have noticed is that when I am diligent at following the rules, even when it hurts to do so, avenues open up for further blessings that I wasn't expecting. It becomes obvious that I wouldn't have gotten that blessing if I hadn't strived to always do the most ethical thing in every circumstance and follow the rules as absolutely as possible.

I have been tempted to cheat and not follow the rules according to my interpretations so I could move along more quickly. At this point I have been able to not cave into those desires and just plug along at a slower rate.

Now just to clarify, the neat thing with the Free Report: "How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps" you can adjust the Rules and come at this thing any way you want to. In fact you can get rid of the rules entirely if that is the approach you want. But when you decide on what rules you are going to follow don't be tempted to do things differently and violate the rules you have decided upon.

I have decided to follow the rules as exactly laid out in the Free Report. I wanted to do that so as to run the experiment with as few variables as possible. I am seeing though that the Rules, as laid out, can be open to interpretation and that makes it a little more difficult.

Despite that, I have found if I contemplate over the Rules for a few days the best interpretation comes to the surface, at least for the way that I sense. Plus it helps to debate it over with someone so you can get other perspectives before coming to a conclusion.

Step Thirteen is still in progress.....

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

September 2nd, 2006 - Step Twelve Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

I thought I might be able to complete Step Seven with the Bottle and Can Collecting business, possibly even Step Eight I never imagined that just collecting on the three immediate roads near my home, covering no more than perhaps three miles maybe four, that it would bring me through so many Steps. Everytime I thought that this opportunity would dry up, I found the next batch I needed to get me through a step.

I still look on the ground for change when I go out but what really drives me crazy now is when I am driving down the road and I constantly see bottles and cans. I say to myself, "Self, there's a nickel, and there and there." It can be maddening bypassing money lying on the side of the street but I can't walk up and down every street around. It isn't even like there is a can or bottle every mile its every few dozen feet and those are the ones I can see. I have found that once you are out of the car and really see what is laying around it is actually about five times more than what you first perceived. There is a lot of money out there just lying on the ground in all kinds of forms that nobody wants.

This Step has been nothing but garbage but at least mildly profitable garbage.

I turned in a total of 116 Cans, 81 Glass Bottles and 3 Plastic Bottles, 200 in all for $10.00.

Lessons:

(1). From the start of attempting this Double to a Million plan, I contemplated upon one of the rules that had me a bit perplexed. I was unable to see the reason for Rule Number Three where you had to use the actual stake money for the first 15 steps. You were not permitted to use other funds in place of the actual bills and coins. It came to me, the other day, perhaps why that rule is there and what principals it is meant to teach.

I believe that one of the things that stops people from succeeding is the need to stay the same. Change is not really liked by humans for the most part. Even when things do change and and get better in fact, we still have the tendency to pine for the "good ole days". More than likely those "good ole days" were really quite terrible and we seem to remember only the good times and forget the horrible ones.

What I have noticed myself doing as I began to reach higher steps was to get frustrated when walking around and not finding coins on the ground as much as I did before. At this point I have been making a nickel per can or bottle and I can find those much faster then finding a penny here or a penny there.

I found myself getting upset after walking around a store plaza recently and coming up with no pennies. I began to think "I miss the good ole days" but then something occurred to me. I was thinking about the good ole days and those days were just two weeks ago. I had a revelation of sorts. I realized that one of the things that has caused a lot of pain in my life and failure as well was my propensity as a human to look back, pine over and perhaps even try to recapture the "good ole days". I then began to realize why William Shatner a.k.a. Captain Kirk keeps trying to tell all the Star Trek fans to get a life, move on , etc.

He doesn't want to go back to the past but move on into the future. Success only comes from moving forward. There is nothing so pathetic as someone trying to relive their past glory. How pathetic would it be to see Captain Kirk, now over seventy years old, dressed in his old Star Trek uniform. It would just be sad.


William Shatner has the right idea and that is to move on to new things and leave the past behind. Even the Star Trek Syndication needs to keep moving forward if it wants to continue to be successful on television.

Star Trek: Coming to a Theater Near You - Small Poster
Star Trek: Coming to a Theater Near You - Large Poster
The reason this plan has you start fresh with each step and takes any residual amounts you made in a trade and tells you to take those funds out for profit is three fold.

One is it is an act of leaving the past behind and starting new in the latest step with all the past eliminated and thus it is like starting over. This is important for humans when attempting to move forward. Cutting ties with the past is important at each step of the game. We are told to take as profit any funds that exceed the starting amount of the next step so we can cut the ties with the past and be free from any encumberances that our minds may have tied to those funds.

Second, we take those profits as a blessing and reward for our work. It is like a reward for a job well done.

By taking the excess out of the program and using it for yourself now, it ceases to be part of the work and is turned into something that will enhance your life by using it for fun and good memories. You convert the funds from work to play and thus benefit from your efforts while there is time to enjoy it. Sort of like smelling the roses along the way or like a bonus that you weren't expecting.

Third, each step can be looked upon as a separate business of sorts. In other words, we can start a different business with each step and, in fact, you sort of have to, because what worked before will not necessarily work for the new step you are in. This can be very freeing because you are not locked into a business or an idea forever, you can be creative, use the ideas, complete the step then move on to new and exciting things. Knowing that you only have to make the business work for that step takes all the pressure off concerning making it work out into the future, it only has to work for the present step and that is it.

One thing that stops people from starting a business is the idea that you not only have to do something so great that it works in the present but it better be able to beat the competition that will come along well into the future. It is hard enough to come up with an idea but the pressure of worrying whether all the work and effort and investment will pan out well into the future is enough to stop anyone. Staying focused only on the present business step, and knowing that the idea only has to work long enough for you to get to the next step, takes a lot of that pressure off and makes it easier to do what needs to be done in the present.

Success in life means always moving forward. Onward and upward.

Step Twelve has been completed: $20.00

All of the fine details are spelled out in the "Time Line."

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 26th, 2006 - Step Eleven Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

On August 22nd, 2006 I picked up three garbage bags of beer bottles and cans in a short area (maybe an eighth of a mile) of the road I live on. I haven't counted them yet but it is a lot for such a short distance. On the way back home after picking up the car at the repair shop there was a fresh can of beer back in the place I just cleaned up, which means in less then an hour someone threw more garbage on the side of the road. Unbelievable.

After counting the bottles and cans it looks like there may be enough to complete Step Eleven but I will not know until I bring them in to the store for the "return". I collected 100 bottles and cans.


In some ways I am grateful because without these people throwing out their garbage I would not be moving along quite nicely with my Double to a Million Plan. In other ways I wish they wouldn't do it because it is so destructive and just plain ugly.

On August 26th, 2006 I "Returned" over 103 bottles and cans for $5.15 completing Step Eleven.

I decided to be a bit artistic and promote "D.T.A.M.P." the "Double To A Million Plan" using the Bottles and Cans.


In this trade I received the First Five dollar bill since starting the Double To A Million Plan.


This Step I did have a small amount of overhead. I had to rent garbage bags to be used to collect up the bottles and cans for Fifteen cents($0.15). If these bags are ruined in the process of collecting I will be forced to pay more money to cover them.

One of the Rules of the Free Report: How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps is Rule #7. Rule number Seven, described as "The Most Important Rule" and rightly so because of the deep psychological impact ignoring it will bring an experimenter, is a rule that can be difficult to adhere to.

It is stated: Don't worry about how you are going to manage future doublings. Concentrate only on the current doubling.

Practicing this Rule will make the process much more enjoyable but it takes discipline.

Lessons:

(1). The main lesson that keeps getting driven home is the need to focus only on the present step. It is a temptation to begin to allow your mind to drift to farther steps down the line and when you do that discouragement will immediately take hold and bring you down. One has to exercise their mind to stay focused on the present step and practice that exercise anytime the temptation comes up. Sometimes you may see someone else who is doing the plan move ahead of you by coming up with a clever idea you had not thought of or they may even bend the rules a little to get ahead. These events may cause you to take your eyes off the present step and start thinking of ways to make money that you are not in a position to do because you yet lack funds to do so or to do so would mean violating the rules.

Anytime this happens you will need to clear you mind of all those distractions and return to thinking about the step you are presently on and how you can accomplish that step alone.

(2). Along with the temptation to think ahead there is also the temptation to look back as well to earlier steps and wishing you could still be doing the things that worked back then. When I was walking around at a Walmart/Hannaford's Mall and I couldn't find any money on the ground at all, I found myself getting depressed and irritated. As I thought about it I realized that I was looking back to the accomplishments of earlier steps when picking up coins from the "treasure hunting" days, was the fun thing to do that was getting me through the steps. Looking back lead me to discouragement just as easily as looking to the future steps did.

I found it is imparative to stay focused on the step you are on not only to not be discouraged by looking ahead or back but so that there is more time to enjoy the step you are on. Each step can be fun if you can keep your mind focused on it and not suffer the distractions of looking to the past or future steps. Enjoy the step you are on because it won't be around very long.

Step Eleven was now complete: $10.00

More detail regarding the accounting of Step Eleven can be found in the "Time Line."

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 22nd, 2006 - Step Ten Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

In Step Ten we are to go from $2.56 to $5.12, but the Free Report gives you a little bit of a break and states that you only need to go up to $5.00, so that is what I will be doing.

I am making every attempt to follow the Rules exactly as they have been laid out and not compromising if at all possible. Some of the Rules cause you to be restricted in what you might be able to accomplish in the earlier stages up to around Step #15.

Although these Rules seem like they are detrimental, I believe that they, in fact, are necessary to guide you in the earlier Steps to face certain issues, that if sidetracked or avoided, will cause you to miss out on some important lessons. Is it frustrating? It definitely is, but I think it is also beneficial in ways that do not appear obvious until you are further down the line and can look back and say "Ah-hah! So that is what that was all about".

On one of my excursions to the Wine Store to "Return" old, smelly, dirt encrusted bottles and cans, I found some free stuff someone put out on the street. As described in my Time Line there was a GE Telephone, a Sony Telephone and some ClipArt Software. I hope to make use of these items to Increase my "Stake" if possible. Here are some pictures to give it that graphically satisfying feeling.



I believe that some of the bottles and cans have vermin in them such as spiders, ants, snails and I suspect a mouse, as I found one dead in my garage. This is not very pleasant, but again I am not seeing this as a long term business. One fact that will kill my Recycling Business is that winter is fast approaching in New England.

In all I found Nineteen cents($0.19) in "found" money bringing me up to $2.75.



I also turned in $2.25 worth of returnable bottles and cans. Bringing me up to the Five dollars($5.00) needed to complete Step Ten.

One item I found was a "Plastic Green Army Man" outside of a Wendys. I didn't pay much attention to it but I found a sticker on the bottom of it that said "Bring Me Home" and indicated that it belonged to someone associated with "mouthswideopen.org".



So I went to the site to see what it was about. It seems it is about a group of people expressing their opinions about the war in Iraq and how they want the United States and it soldiers out of it.

Since everyone is entitled to their opinion in this country, here is mine.

First of all I do not want to make this Blog political in anyway. Second my Son is serving in the Military and has been in Iraq for nearly two years, and in Baghdad for the last few months. He was scheduled to come home but the President ordered more troops to be sent into Baghdad this summer and he had to stay longer.

Personally I would like him to come home soon and am always concerned for his safety and well-being.

Now regarding the war, my opinion means about as much as my opinion regarding Pluto being demoted from a Planet status, absolutely none. Pluto was one of my favorite planets and it has been a planet since I was born back in the 1950's. In the old days things changed a lot slower and now-a-days things change so fast that stability has gone out the window and people don't know whether they are coming or going.

Stress is a big concern today and yet everything being done only increases the stress in people's lives. I know that Pluto being declassified as a Planet has caused my stress levels to shoot through the roof. All my life there have been Nine Planets and now they tell me there are only Eight. Rubbish I say. "Bring Pluto Home" I think I will distribute small "Plastic Pluto Planets" with a sticker on them where people can come and see my opinion about Pluto.

I am finding, as I am getting older, that change is not always necessarily a good thing. Everything has a flip side to the coin. On one side you have fast change and progress and on the other side is chaos, instability and bewilderment. Lets keep the nine Planets and stick to the original fact that the world is flat as well......is everybody with me.

Anyways that is my opinion about the war in Iraq.

So getting back to Step Ten here is one of the Lessons learned.

Lessons:

(1). On the way home I saw a beer can right at the edge of the road so I thought I would pick it up. I had driven past it and had to back up to get it. I wasn't sure where it was until I heard the crunch and realized that I wouldn't be using that can to "Return". My parable regarding this is;

"Plans for success will be crushed when attempting to reverse and recover what was missed."

Looking back and trying to recover a missed opportunity will cause you a loss of time, energy, money and peace of mind. Always keep moving forward. If you miss an opportunity don't worry as another one will be coming along any minute.

I have accumulated $5.00 at this point. This is 50,000% from when I started. The experiment has gone on for 20 days so that comes to 2,500% a day profit since August 2nd, 2006.

Check out the Time Line for more info regarding Step Ten.

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 19th, 2006 - Step Nine Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

Step Nine picks up where Step Eight left off on August 15th, 2006, still at the same Mall.

After leaving the bookstore my wife and I went from store to store as I looked for loose change.

In all I picked up Sixteen cents($0.16) and while walking on the way to our car to leave I spotted something and walked past it but decided to go back and picked it up. It was what looked like a fake gold hoop earring. Perhaps I will be able to use it in some way to raise funds but it will be difficult. Now if it had been real gold, that would have been nice.


As I mentioned in the Time Line we drove to another Plaza with a KMart. In front of Kmarts I found a Blue BBQ charcoal lighter under a bench. It was in working condition and I will attempt to sell it to someone to raise some cash to add to the Stake. (They sell in the stores for about $1.99). I checked the fuel in it and it was a little more than three-quarters full.


The next day:

August 16th, 2006 - I found a bunch of bottles and cans that are returnable and I have added them to the stake for trading for ($0.05 each) at a later time. I picked up a full garbage bag of beer bottles and cans in only about 10 minutes. My wife was skeptical that I wouldn't find any more after finding a bunch on our road the day before but I hit the motherload at one point and there were so many that I could only pick up a portion of them. I will need to go back and get the rest.

*Caution: Personal Rant*
It is a shame that people are polluting the environment with their trash with no regard for anyone or anything. I do not have a high opinion of such people putting it mildly.
*Personal Rant Ended*

Anyways, we carried this bag of bottles with us to do some errands and I began to get concerned because our car began to stink of beer pretty badly and I was afraid if we got stopped by the police for some reason they would think we were drinking. We came to the conclusion that informing the officer that I am going from a penny to a million dollars collecting beer bottles would make a plausible explanation and that we wouldn't get arrested for D.W.I. Yeah sure!

August 19th, 2006 - I turned in for "Return" 20 beer bottles at Five cents a piece for a total of One Dollar($1.00). This was the first Dollar Bill I have received since starting the D.T.A.M.P.

Although I am repeating what I said in the Time Line, I wanted to put this here so I can add the photo of the *First Dollar Bill* I have received since starting the D.T.A.M.P.


Lessons:

(1). This experiment makes you go outside your comfort zones and you have to do things you may not ordinarily do to move along the steps. Sticking your hand in slimy puddles. Picking jammed coins out of machines. Walking around looking down all the time. Swallowing your pride and picking up a penny while people look at you strangely. Picking up beer bottles on the sides of the road while people look at you strangely. But again it is important to realize that to complete this project you are going to need to go outside your comfort zones and boldly wander into unknown and messy frontiers. But doing so will expand you and enable you to take each step without fear of criticism or judgment and that is paramount to success. I wrote a proverb a long time ago;

"Listening to other people will always lead you down the wrong path, one that is not your own and one that is filled with regret."

In this experiment, you will need to make your own decisions and take your own risks and it is best to listen to that still small voice in your gut before choosing the next destination. There will be a thousand voices, a thousand people telling you what to do, if they were you, but there is only one quiet inner voice that will tell you what the right thing for you to do will be. Listen to that inner voice.

Step Nine was now complete: $2.56

Check out the Time Line to learn all the details about Step Nine.

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 15th, 2006 - Step Eight Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

According to Rule # Six when doing:


"How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps"
you must keep a Diary, Log or Record of the events including the date and method(s) of achieving each Step.

I kind of wish I had started this Blog a little earlier because it has turned out that I had written pretty extensive logs and now trying to get caught up is proving to be time consuming.

Although it appears that some of the Rules seem esoteric in some ways I believe that with deeper insight interesting psychological evidence may be exposed.

For this particular Rule some of the reasons are more obvious such as keeping a record of the money and the date each Step was accomplished for progress analysis.

In addition I think another reason could be as a self-enforcing testimony and historical foundational tool. The log shows how far you have come and encourages you to keep going. Without the Log we would have a tendency to forget what transpired until it is just a vague recollection. Having it written down allows it to give a concrete structure that will not fade like a memory.

This Log can be used to encourage others as well, showing that it can be done.

It is also excellent for recording ideas that although you may not use in the present could be used in the future and if not recorded could be forgotten.

The log, I am finding is a central part of this entire experiment and without it the journey would be far duller in many ways.

In regards to completion, I was able to complete Step #8 by finding some bottles and cans and redeeming them for the nickel deposit.

Lessons:

(1). I can see how there are many basic lessons about finances and money that a child could learn doing this experiment. It would be a great tool for a parent to go through this exercise with a child to teach them in a practical way the lessons of honesty, perspective on money, money-management, following the rules, universal financial principles of the the most basic and advanced kind.

The parent would need to go through it with the child teaching the child the many different lessons that can be learned along the way. It could be a fantastic, exciting interactive teaching/learning experience for the parent and child or even a teacher and students. It doesn't need to go up to a Million but it could be worked on up to a Thousand dollars, just enough to make it look like the goal is way beyond the child's reach so that they would have that challenge to work on.

(2). In a way I am glad this experiment is moving slowly, I want to travel through each step and learn the lessons that can be learned. Leap frogging through (apart from finding a large amount of money) the steps would cause me to miss the lessons available by going through each step. When I first started I was hoping to accelerate through the process but now as I have been proceeding I can see that I would miss a lot of valuable experience and insights not going through all the steps.

(3). After collecting on the beer bottles I stopped into the store where I had found the first penny that started me on this journey. It was kind of strange because there was an aura of reminiscences. Now that I was going onto Step Nine I was fondly recalling the earlier good old days of Step One. Although it was about two weeks ago I feel I changed so much as a result of undertaking this experiment that it seemed like a long period of time had passed. This experiment is very powerful and has changed my outlook on money in general and I can see how it is beginning to deal with any issues or hangups I had been struggling with regarding dealing with money. It is a powerful project to undertake and I think that anyone that tries it will learn many things and benefit immensely.

(4). Picking up those beer bottles and planning on picking up all the beer bottles and cans I can find on my road gives me a sense of pride in that I am helping my community. Cleaning up the local environment of trash makes the area more beautiful and pristine. I live in a rural area on a dirt road and the trash just robs everyone of the beauty of the nature that can be enjoyed. This experiment seems to reach into all areas of life. It is becoming less and less about the money and more about what consequences are resulting from conducting the experiment.

(5). One consequence is my wife and I have been having fun running around looking for what is akin to hidden or buried treasure. This is like a treasure hunt and that is always alot of fun especially when you discover the treasure. The treasures we find might not be large but they can be alot of fun to find. It is the only time I have seen that finding a penny can make you feel like you just discovered something worth a fortune.

Step Eight was now complete: $1.28

To see the step by step action of the events of Step Eight check out the "Time Line."

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 14th, 2006 - Step Seven Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

On August 13th, 2006 while out shopping with my wife I found two plastic bottles near the Stop and Shop supermarket. I thought this would be an easy way to make some money for DTAMP.

I went into the recycle part of the store but the machine rejected both plastic bottles. I read them again and it seems they could only be redeemed in New Hampshire or Maine and not in Massachusetts. I threw them in the trash can and after leaving the area I realized that I should have saved them because I go up to New Hampshire every once in a while and I could have redeemed them at that time. So in essence I threw away ten cents which at this time was a large percentage of my gains.

The more I thought about this idea the more it sounded like a good opportunity to build my "Stake". I could easily collect up old discarded glass bottles, plastic bottles and aluminum cans and redeem them for a nickel a piece.

So it was decided for my first business I would go into "Recycling Engineering" or the "Scrap Collecting Industry". Of course some people might just call it collecting up other people's garbage or discarded refuse. It doesn't seem like a proud, noble or particularly clean sounding business but I just needed to be in the business long enough to complete Step Seven and then move onto more respectable and high falutin enterprises. After all who wants to be socializing at a party when people could say, "This is Mr. Goldbar, his firm owns 27 gold mines and this Mr. Richest, his firm provides all the finances for Mr. Goldbar and this is Bob he collects beer cans off the street".

Well anyways you get the picture. Its not that I am too proud to show my face in public but I have decided to only show a facsimile at this present time.


This is not an actual photo
of Xinfinitum, only a facsimile.

Lessons:

(1). Even when making a mistake it can sometimes help you to create a new idea that you can put into motion. Other people are throwing away plastic and glass bottles in Mass. that are redeemable in N.H. and not in Mass. Even at the store recycle centers they throw them in the trash just like I did with the two I found. In fact I saw some in the trash can when I threw mine in. Since I need to travel to N.H. anyways from time to time I may be able to raise some funds using this method. At five cents($0.05) per bottle, 20 bottles would be a dollar. This early in the game that would accelerate me quite quickly.

(2). There is a lot of lost money out there. Lost change totaling in the millions of dollars no doubt. Plus it renews itself continually. Finding it is the hard part, but one could become a millionaire just finding lost change. I found twenty-five cents in a short time of looking down in only a few places, multiply that times thousands upon thousands of places and you could easily see how a million dollars in change is lying around. There IS a million dollars just lying on the ground. Perhaps there is a unique way to find an advantage in that situation. Have to think about it. Robin told me that she has a friend whose Grandparents, in their early 80's save up enough money to make a trip up to new England each year just from money they find lying around on the ground.

(3). There have been a number of side benefits that I have noticed from all the activity surrounding this project. One is my wife and I have been getting some exercise from all the walking around we have been doing while I have been looking for some money on the ground. The second is that with picking up trash that is lying around, such as the plastic bottles, I have been cleaning up litter, making the world a cleaner place. It may have only been two bottles so far but that is two less to litter the environment. Another side benefit is although my wife is not doing the project she has been learning and applying some of the lessons that I am learning after I have been explaining my experiences to her. She is finding some of them useful in her approach to issues at her job and other areas of her life.

Step Seven was now complete: $0.71

(Please see the Time Line for the actual events.)

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 13th, 2006 - Step Six Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

One of the interesting things that happened during the completing of Step Six was finding an unopened package of Canon Photo Paper Glossy in a parking lot. It was the first object other than coins I had found during a treasurehunt.



Lessons:

(1). In finding the Photo Paper package I realized that "Breaks" will come along every once in awhile during the journey. Although the package was fairly large in size I didn't see it in the parking lot until I was right on top of it. At first I thought it was just a piece of garbage but I kicked it and it felt solid, not like an empty box. I picked it up and suddenly realized I just found a great treasure and an opportunity in the making. It felt like a "Bonanza" a great break to do something with.

Although I don't know yet how to take advantage of this "Break" I began to see that it may just not be time yet to take advantage of this find but in a future step it will make itself valuable. We will see.

(2). I started on August 2nd, 2006 and it is now August 13th, 2006. Eleven days have passed since starting this Project and I started with nothing($0.00) and have now made thirty-two cents($0.32). If I am doing the math correctly, and if not someone may correct me, this is 3200% profit in Eleven days, an average of over 290% a day.

This doesn't include the Photo paper find or the ten cents found that went onto the next step. That is phenomenal growth, faster than I would have expected. It seems that things can surprise you when you set out on a journey. Things will actually happen once you take that first step.

Staying focused on your present step is paramount to continuing on. If you can stay focused you will realize that you can get the present step done. It doesn't seem insurmountable, in fact it is really quite reasonable.

As I was going from step to step I was thinking going from a penny to two pennies was not to bad, all I needed to do was find another penny. But I thought how will I go from ($0.16) to ($0.32) one penny at a time? That was going to be hard. But when I got to step six suddenly instead of just finding pennies I began finding dimes.

I believe that where you are in life or in each step you will be provided with what you need to get through it, to reach the next step. There will be ample provision to complete what you are to accomplish. In addition, from time to time, there will also be a bonanza as well that will accelerate you ahead.

I am sure there will also be set backs as well when you will lose what you have attained and be set back steps to redo them again and learn other important lessons that you missed the first time through.

Step Six was now complete: $0.33

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 10th, 2006 - Steps Three, Four & Five Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

I completed all three Steps, steps Three through Five, in one evening.

I started off the evening going to WalMart and couldn't find any change there. They had recently renovated the store so I think they pretty much swept it clean.

I lost my wife in the store and couldn't find her. So I thought if I stayed in one place waiting she would eventually find me but that plan failed miserably, I ran out patience.

While standing waiting for my wife at that point someone did try to give me something that was very valuable to them. A man and a woman went by with a two year old kid in their cart. The child pointed at me and so I pointed back. This seemed to have activated him because he took his pacifier out of his mouth and threw it at me.

The Mother went over to pick it up saying something to the affect that he just had to say "Hi" and not throw his pacifier at me. The child waved at me, I waved back and they went off to the cash register. I didn't get to keep the pacifier.

We left Walmart and went to a few other places where I proceeded to find Fifteen cents($0.15) throughout the rest of the night. The exact story of how I found all the money can be discovered by looking at the Time Line to the left.

Lessons:

(1). At one point I looked down and saw a penny, I picked it up. I didn't see the dime lying right next to it until I stood up. It was night time so the coins were hard to see but I realized that my mind has been mostly focused on pennies and I pretty much missed the dime at first.

The eyes seem to only see what the mind is focused on and blocks out other things. I thought I had my mind focused on "Money" or "Change" but it appears that it was really focused on pennies only. My wife, who was with me, had seen the dime but hadn't seen the penny at all.

In fact she never saw any of the pennies I picked up even though she was nearly standing on one of them at one point.What we focus our minds on is what we will end up seeing and obtaining in this life. If we cannot focus our mind or allow our mind to go undisciplined it will miss many of the opportunities that are available.

Steps Three, Four and Five were now completed with a Total of Seventeen cents($0.17)

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum


"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 9th, 2006 - Step Two Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

Probably the most trouble I have had with my home are with the gutters. I have had the original contractor come out and work on them, another guy that added some fancy flashing to make sure the water didn't splash over and finally a handyman that knew what to do and solved all the problems.

My gutters are complicated. First I live about 20 feet from Wetlands and the rain off my roof has to go into an underground system to not contaminate the Wetlands. That wouldn't be bad except when they built it all they didn't put anything to stop leaves and stuff from going down underground. By the time I put in some screen plug things it was to late and some stuff got down inside.

Things backed up and water started coming in my basement. We called the RotoRooter guy to see if he could clear it out but he couldn't get his Rotating cleaner tool in very far. It was blocked.

Price to fix $1,000.00

The problem was, arrangements had already been made to pave the driveway and walkway and the date couldn't be changed. The pipe went under both. I couldn't afford $1000.00 so I decided to dig up the pipe myself. My wife and I dug it up and found the problem. When they backfilled the foundation they dropped a huge rock on the plastic piping and crushed it. Not in one place but in two. I replaced the piping and replanted the landscaping and shrubs and everything looked fine.

Later in the year it overflowed again. So I was going to buy a ladder and find out what was going on up there. I bought the ladder and discovered that trying to go up three stories was not something for me. I was never afraid of heights before but once I was up there I discovered that I wasn't going to be cleaning the gutters. Not only did the height bother me but the wasps decided to make me their living target. I promptly gave up and decided the wise thing to do would be to get someone else to do it instead of finding out just how much my insurance would cover long falls to a hard ground.

This brings me to the completion of Step Two. I traded the first penny I had for Two Pennies with the handyman. He was hesitant but once I mentioned it was an experiment he was interested. It turned out he was a design engineer but had retired from the rat race and was doing something he found less demanding, so the idea of an experiment peeked his curiosity.

Step Two was now complete. Check out the time line for more information.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 5th, 2006 - Step One Completed

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

The first chance I had to look for that first penny was on Saturday, August 5th, 2006.

I found it at the first place I stopped when shopping with my wife. It was hidden in a small space between a TV-VCR Advertising setup on a shelf that was attempting to persuade me to purchase something or other and a large pile of some product that I didn't notice.

It was right there for anyone to pick up providing you didn't mind bending over and reaching into a tight area that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while.

I was psyched. I found my first penny and was on my way to completing this experiment. I had completed Step One and kept looking for more money but didn't find anymore that day.



I have included a picture of the actual penny in this post. The penny is long gone now as it has been traded away. I took the picture of it just prior to making the next trade on the 9th.

Regards,

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

August 2nd, 2006 - Lets Start at the Beginning

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

In the Beginning........August 2nd, 2006

As I had previously alluded to, I first saw all of this on a thread on the forum Talkgold and obtained the Free Report by a man named Stuart Goldsmith. I suppose if you are going to be involved in money-making ventures, especially helping other people to make money, it would be ideal to have a last name such as "Goldsmith". Why? I suppose it just sounds better than Mr. Deadbroke.

Just an aside: Mr. Goldsmith, it would appear is British or at least lives in the United Kingdom so he uses the monetary symbol £ and his Free Report deals with the British Pound, but I am in the United States so will be counting all my money in $ for the U.S. Dollar.

To continue, after I got the report I read it over a number of times and decided that I would attempt to implement this Experiment to analyze all of it's attributes and scenarios. It has been very interesting since starting and I must admit I have learned a lot about myself in the process.

Presently I am still working on Step 13 so I am far from done with this experiment but even these first 13 steps have taught me new ways of looking at my underlying beliefs regarding money and how to obtain it. Simple things I have missed for the last 45 years or so as I tried to reach the stratosphere of a millionaire and usually found myself on the floor after falling off the step stool. In other words, I never got any where despite the fact I have put in immense amounts of work, energy, imagination, creativity and money.

I am beginning to see perhaps why that has been true. I kept tripping over the most obvious and the most simplistic while my sight was focused on the far off horizon. To get to that horizon you must, as they say, begin with the first step. My advice when taking that step, look at your feet.

One simple step at a time is the key to a successful and profitable journey of a million miles.

So getting back to the very first post I made on this Bloggy thing, I entitled it "Beginning at the 46.4285% Mark". For those of you who hadn't done the math I was just saying that I was beginning my Blog at the point I was currently at in this Double to a Million experiment. It is a 28 Step plan and I am on step 13 so I divided 13 by 28 and got 0.464285 and multiplied that with 100 for the percentage. Was this math lesson necessary, not really, but I didn't want to leave you wondering what the heck I was talking about from the first post. Consider it consideration, a rare commodity these days.

To see the experiment laid out in a more technical format that I hope to keep consistent please look to the left of the screen and make a selection under the header "Time Line".

To get a better understanding of what this "Double to a Million Plan" is all about, you can get the Free Report here:



"How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps"

Once you read the report you can follow along on my exploits until I ultimately succeed triumphantly or fail miserably.

Either way it should be fun.

So the results of that first day of the experiment were to get myself acclimated to the concepts, the rules, hints and tips and all the subtle nuances of this technique of approaching monetary accumulation.


To be continued........


Regards,

Xinfinitum

"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Beginning at the 46.4285% Mark

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps

After seeing a post on Talkgold.com regarding a report called:

"How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps"

I decided to give it a try. In fact it was just the sort of thing I had been hoping to find. It was just unusual enough and so likely improbable, not impossible mind you, just improbable, at least for me, that I had to try it.

I guess I just like challenges that are nearly insurmountable and since I usually cheer for the underdog I think that this type of thing fits my personality just fine.

Since I actually started the Experiment on August 2nd, 2006 a number of the posts that I am going to start out with on this Bloggin Thing-a-ma-Bob will be historical so that you will be able to see how far I have come to date.

You can get a copy of Stuart Goldsmith's Free Report at this location:

"How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps"

Stay Tuned.......

Xinfinitum



"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"