Title–Upside of Fear
Author–Weldon Long
Genre–Non-Fiction
Why I read this book:
I have been an inmate at the Federal Prison Camp in Oxford, WI for 4 months now. About 2 months ago, I received a Daily Journal Workbook from Michael Santos and Earning Freedom. At the beginning of one of the daily entries, Michael talks about Weldon Long’s journey from 9th grade school drop-out to addict to armed robber to federal prisoner to multi-millionaire business owner and public speaker. Based on that biography plus my current living situation equaled I NEEDED to read this book.
Prior to myself being incarcerated, I would have never had an interest in reading Weldon Long’s biography. To me, it would have been unrelatable. Now, Upside of Fear is inspirational. No matter how old you are or your education level or your business acumen, having a role model can help you. Weldon Long can be a role model for so many people. This is someone who believed he only had one path in life–an uneducated criminal and addict who could not be trusted despite having a family and an upbringing that never encouraged such a lifestyle. Then he has a child of his own. Then his father dies while he is serving his THIRD bit in prison. What are you going to do now Weldon? I needed to know!!
What I learned:
Let’s pretend you are serving several years of a prison term, your third time in prison by the way, you have a young son that you desperately want to be close to, your father recently passed away and you have a burning desire to honor him, and you decide to turn your life around while in prison. Here is what you have going for you: –9th grade education
–Convicted felon multiple times
–Alcohol and drug abuser
–Only previous jobs were illegal scams
Where do you even start? At the beginning of course!!
And the beginning starts with your own way of thinking. Weldon Long started with using techniques and philosophies he READ ABOUT while in prison. How many times can we see that someone’s turn around in life BEGAN with a book before we do it ourselves!!! Why try and re-invent the wheel? Pick up some reading material and start copying from a playbook that has already proven to be successful. I had always been skeptical about all the “visualization” stuff I read about dating back to napoleon Hill and “Think and Grown Rich”. Weldon Long applied such techniques, believed things were going to happen, visualized his future in detail, and the wheels of success started to turn:
–Weldon Long got a Bachelors and Masters while in prison.
–He kept himself busy so he kicked his drug and alcohol habits.
–He wrote down specifically what he was going to do and what his life would look like in the future. –He also wrote to his young son very often before his son was old enough to even read as motivation. –Finally, he read A LOT of books (I got 3 book recommendations just from reading THIS book!!) This time when Weldon Long exited prison, he did not fall into the same patterns as before. Finding a job was STILL difficult. However, instead of getting frustrated and returning to crime, he believed in his vision and kept moving forward. Eventually, he found a job in sales, which always had come easy to him, became a top salesperson within months of being hired, and ended up starting his own sale straining and consulting firm. Today, he lives his visualization letter EXACTLY AS HE DESCRIBED IT.
I would say this book was second only to Michael Santos’s “Earning Freedom” as far as a blueprint on how someone can prepare for life outside of prison while they are still IN prison and STAY MOTIVATED because being a convicted felon is not a permanent sentence to poverty.
Why reading this book will help with my success:
Weldon Long and I are similar in a couple ways:
–I have kids I want to take care of and want them to be proud of me despite my prison sentence. –Sales and sales management has always been an occupation of choice for me.
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Today, he lives his visualization letter EXACTLY AS HE DESCRIBED IT.
I would say this book was second only to Michael Santos’s “Earning Freedom” as far as a blueprint on how someone can prepare for life outside of prison while they are still IN prison and STAY MOTIVATED because being a convicted felon is not a permanent sentence to poverty.
Why reading this book will help with my success:
Weldon Long and I are similar in a couple ways:
–I have kids I want to take care of and want them to be proud of me despite my prison sentence. –Sales and sales management has always been an occupation of choice for me.
–I love to read non-fiction books about others success.
“The Upside of Fear” really is a great playbook for me to use because it put all these “good ideas” I read about into real life. Since reading this book, I have also started to write down what I expect my life to look like with my wife after I re-enter society. I will then commit to “meditating” every evening and using those written words to paint the picture in my head so my brain can start working on a plan on how to obtain such visions. Success, especially for convicted felons, does not just happen and relying on luck will prove to be a disappointing strategy. But using the examples that Weldon Long writes about and using his story as inspiration can create some solid momentum that can snowball into doors opening that you might have thought were forever closed. I wanted to close with this suggestion also to anyone in prison right now–Read, Read, and Read some more!! You have the time–This book alone gives you at least 3 other book suggestions to add to your personal library of knowledge. Go ahead and jump on the backs of others and let them help guide you across the finish line. You do not need run this marathon alone.
About Me:
My name is Jeff Piecka and I was sentenced to 34 months in a Federal Prison Camp in Oxford, WI, after committing and pleading guilty to a white collar crime that took place several years ago. Before self-surrendering on June 6, 2022, I promised my wife and family that I WILL exit prison a better husband, son, brother, Christian, future employee, and overall better member of society because I am going to better myself in three ways: 1) Physically–Not just for vanity purposes but a better operating body equals a better operating mind. 2) Mentally–Reading books, papers, magazines, and stories that educate and elevate my mind and expand my vocabulary.
3) Spiritually–For ME, this means learning more from the Bible but it can mean whatever “Greater Good” you believe in.
Shortly after self-surrendering and reading Michael Santos’s book “Earning Freedom–Conquering a 45 Year Prison Term”, it inspired me to want to help just 1 person who is possibly heading to prison so I started emailing my family Posts that my sister uses to post as a Blog on Reddit dot com called “Letters From Federal Prison”. I believe to date it has close to 7,000 views and shares plus there are now 3 comments from people advising that the Blog has helped them. This has motivated me to keep writing (which I have NEVER done anything like this before) and I REALLY want to help more people when I return to society next year.
