The Truth About Portal to Genius

Long before Garrett became my co-author for Portal to Genius, I burned out on my business and just wanted to focus on my family.

I told my husband, “Garrett’s still passionate about this, and the work he’s done takes our message to a whole new level. He’s also got the energy to do the media appearances.  I don’t care what kind of recognition I get; what if we just put his name on The Jackrabbit Factor and let HIM be the one to get it out there?”

But after all three of us discussed it together, what ended up happening next was the LAST THING I expected…

Here’s the whole story:

If you didn’t already know, Portal to Genius is the sequel to The Jackrabbit Factor.

I learned so many things after releasing The Jackrabbit Factor in 2005 that if I was going to write Jackrabbit Factor over again, I’d change a few things – because my understanding of the laws of success and principles of prosperity had changed and expanded.

In fact, what I’ve learned leaves me 100% certain that I will never learn all there is to know in my lifetime – because just when I think I’ve got everything figured out, there’s inevitably something more for me to learn.

How exciting is that??

Nothing brings me greater joy than to learn, grow, live, and love more perfectly and completely – and each challenge I face reminds me that I still have a LONG way to go.

That’s good news – because it tells me that life will never need to be dull or boring. What an adventure this is!!

So anyway, near the end of 2008, Trevan (my husband) and I visited with Garrett Gunderson at our home while he was in town on other business, and I was at a point in my life and business that I felt overwhelmed like I had simply taken on too much. We knew that what Garrett had created in his business pretty much amounted to “Jackrabbit Factor 202” – upper level training for those who embrace the foundational principles in our book.

As I struggled to juggle our business and raise our seven children, torn between the passion that drives me to share these principles as far and as wide as I possibly can, and the passion that drives me to shut the world out and just do something simple like clean a toilet, read a story to my pre-schooler, learn a new recipe, or organize our family photos… I searched for a way to effectively do both.

A Bit of Fun Trivia: When Bob Proctor mentored us in 2006, he emphatically said, “Leslie, you’re conflicted. There’s conflict all over these goals of yours.”

“I know, I know!” I replied, but I just didn’t know what to do about it.

To deal with my inner conflict, I ran in one direction until my attention was needed back in the other direction; and swinging one way and then the other, back and forth, back and forth, I made some progress.

Sharon Lechter (co-author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and my guest for an upcoming tele-class) put my mind at ease one evening when she essentially said that “balance is bunk”. In other words, stop seeking perfect balance in your life, because just as when you are solidly balanced on both feet, you can get NOWHERE. You’ve got to shift your balance back and forth, or you can never swing the other foot forward to advance in the journey!

That was a powerful visual for me.

So, back to Garrett… as he visited with us in our home, I was in a swing away from work and business. As much as I loved what I was doing, I was burned out and needed to get back to greater focus on my family.

I was almost ready to say, “Garrett, you’re passionate about this stuff, and you’ve got the energy to do the media appearances, and the team to support the growth. What if we just put your name on The Jackrabbit Factor and let you be the one to get it out there?”

But what came out of that meeting was another idea. Both Trevan and Garrett agreed it was time for a sequel. I wasn’t sure I was ready to write another book – I always figured I’d wait until my two-year old was in college first.

But finally, (I’m not sure where I found the strength to agree to this, but…) we decided to team up and create the sequel together. He knew I was overextended, so he encouraged me to utilize his team. He even let me use his cabin to work on it – and his counsel and perspective was the most valuable piece of all.

So I took the lessons we were learning from Garrett and I set out to weave them into the sequel. Garrett advised me on how the principles work and apply in the corporate world, and we both felt strongly that at every level, they really work best when you’re setting goals in alignment with your soul purpose: your combination of gifts, talents, and the unique contribution you were meant to make in this world.

I set an intention to complete the sequel before January 1, 2009 (less than 2 months later). I did not relish the thought of spending two years like I did on the first book. I’d give this one a solid two weeks in the middle of December where I would stay at my mother’s house and give it my complete focus.

Certainly, I thought, when a person is “in the flow”, ideas can come rapidly; and so long as I have any say in the matter, that’s how I plan it to go for me now.

Well, January 1st came and went. I hit a major writer’s block. Part of my frustration came because I knew I needed to write the book, but I had no clue how this one would end. With The Jackrabbit Factor, I knew the end from the beginning.

But with this one, I had no ending in mind – I didn’t even know what would happen in the middle. I just got started and then opened my mind to see where it would take me.

Goal achievement is like that sometimes.You may have a general idea of what you want to accomplish, but sometimes all you can do is get started, and have the faith that the way will reveal itself as you go.

At various intervals, I met with Garrett again to discuss the story and inevitably, when I was stuck, he saw with clarity what should happen next. There were other times when he was assigned to work out the details of a certain chapter and he was the one to get stuck.

The unfolding of the story certainly didn’t come the way I originally planned. But I learned it’s important to adapt and adjust according to the challenges and roadblocks that come.

At the time that I had writer’s block, in a quiet moment an impression hit me very clearly that said, “You cannot write the ending of this story, because you haven’t lived it yet.”

The impression took me by surprise, but I thought, “Okay, then.” So I put the book aside and just lived.

The rest of the story was shared in this video below. A story we waited 10 years to share:

Watch the video here.

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Leslie Householder

Leslie Householder is the award-winning, international best selling author of The Jackrabbit Factor, Portal to Genius, and Hidden Treasures: Heaven's Astonishing Help With Your Money Matters. Since 2002, she has helped people all over the world discover and apply the Rare Kind of Faith that causes things to happen for powerful life changes. Through story and shifts of perspective, Leslie aims to help her readers crush every challenge, achieve every goal, and vanquish every monster under their beds. Above all, Leslie is a dedicated wife and mother of seven children.

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