Quote
Otter
How do you reconcile that with what you know now, and how you chose to live for so long, years in most cases? Don't you want to kick your own butts for buying into their stuff and living it for so long?
Yeah, I want to kick myself in the butt. There are days when I'm so upset about how I treated my family and friends during the years I was with Impact that I do everything I can to not let it drive me crazy. I'm continuously saddened by the "me" attitude I had for all of those years. I went into Impact with this attitude of doing service with an extrinsic motivation. After my training and during the subsequent years I stayed involved things started turning inward and I started doing things for intrinsic value. It was always about serving to increase my own light, or to improve my relationships, or to finally get what I deserve - despite the lip service Impact gave me to the contrary. If I had really opened my eyes up to see the truth I would have realized that all Impact was doing was turning me into a narcissist.
You may respond to this that not all graduates have those results. Not everyone who comes out of Impact feels the same way you do or some other such comment. However, if Impact really wanted to advertise their results they would be willing to do some data collection from graduates - and I'm not talking about the silly survey they give out during the last weekend in lift-off while the trainees are still under the spell. I'm talking about contacting people who have been out of the training for 3, 4, or 5 years, people who have had a chance to jump back into their lives and see what "results" they could create without being babysat by Impact. Every graduate I know who has chosen to not go on to TIT or go back to staff after their training holds Impact as a nice little experience they had one time in their life. They usually say it wasn’t worth the time or the money for what little they got out of it in the end. Granted, I don't know a majority of the Impact graduates and so this data could not be used as a representation of the majority, but those statistics simply do not exist. They do not exist because even if Impact did conduct such follow up studies they would never advertise the results as it would cost them business.
There are enough carbon copies of Impact in the LGAT world with results that are posted on these boards. If Impact is such a great thing and if Hans and Sally REALLY cared about the results they are creating they would do something about all of the backlash, hurt, neglect and pain they are causing to MANY people whether those “many” represent the majority or not. You may say that the few you come out damaged is a small price to pay for the many that have success, but that blows Impact's whole premise that every ONE counts. I’ve heard it said many times by staff, trainers, and trainees that if one doesn’t go nobody goes.
Do you know why everything up to lift-off is in your face, no exception feedback and accountability and then in lift-off the coaching suddenly becomes fluffy and first grade-esque? Because if the coaches in lift-off treated you like the trainers in Quest and Summit there would be no one left in lift-off. If this up front in your face look at your results is so effective how come it is not implemented in the training that is supposed to be the lift-off into life? I've coached enough lift-offs to know the difference between a staff member of lift-off and a staff member in Quest and Summit. In grounding for Quest and Summit staff they told us to stay out of the trainees’ way and let them experience their own results whether they be perceived as good or bad. As a lift-off coach I was told that it’s time to be the "cheerleader". I can’t tell you how many times I was told by a lift-off coordinator not to coach a trainee on their lateness or sometimes even absence to a lift-off weekend, or their missing of a guest presentation, or a neglect of one of their challenges or stretches simply because they were enrolling in Quest. The only reason this sudden neglect of accountability makes sense is because the "rules" from Quest and Summit can't be applied to the real world. Without the controlled environment it's all bulls**t. If I can keep anyone from wasting their money, time, energy, resources, and relationships on that crap I'm going to do it. If I'm perceived as a jaded Impact hater for doing it that is fine, but that doesn't make my experiences any less real. Just because these things don’t "appear" to happen to the majority doesn't mean they don’t happen or that the casualties are worth it. The lack of empathy Otter and beaver1 choose to show to the people who post on these boards is only a result of the training you've experienced.
On another note, I agree with exImpact that mental conditioning is an immoral practice and that Impact’s use of it is inexcusable and unforgivable. If you’re a graduate and you’ve never questioned whether you’ve been brainwashed or not or if you’re not aware that they even utilize these techniques how could you possibly know that it’s been done to you? Because that’s the whole point behind mental conditioning techniques. So if you’ve never questioned your own mental conditioning how can you know it has or hasn’t happened? I also agree with his assertion that all graduates of the program are victims of this conditioning and that it is validly active in their lives whether they want to admit it or not.
Otter, it's taken me awhile to respond to your comments because upon first reading them I did feel as if you were trying to trap me into the corner that says, "Well, just because it happened to you doesn't mean it happens to everyone and that it's a bad thing." The guilt and pain I feel frequently because of the disinterest in my friends and family over the past 3 years is something I'm constantly working to reconcile within myself. So, my initial reaction to your asking was defensive. I have chosen to respond because your question could be completely innocent and valid. I will give you the benefit of the doubt.