Powerful Insights

An Exercise for Open-Mindedness

2007-05-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

The more lifestyles you try out the more you can make a truly informed decision about how to live.

How could you ever say your way of living is best if you have never lived any other way?

My mum pointed out something interesting to me the other day. While living in America she was having a conversation with a friend of friend who happened to say to her "You've got to admit... America is the best place to live". To which she replied "why? where else have you lived?" after which she discovered that it was the only place he had lived.

It's really interesting to realise just how easy it is to get caught in the frame of "what I think is correct". Really take the time to try out some other things and find out if you really are correct.

In my opinion, open-mindedness is a skill and trait like any other that grows like a muscle. You can either grow it, maintain it or let it wither.

Here's one interesting reframe to try out.

Remember how you used to live 10 years ago. What would you do in a typical day. Plan it out in detail, it should probably take about five minutes.

Now for a day, go and live out that lifestyle.

See how much you have changed... or how much you haven't.

See how ridiculous some of the things you used to do were and think about how you would never do them nowadays.

Now realise that in 10 years time from now you may think the same about how you are living now.

How certain does that make you that how you are living now is definately the best way?

When Should We Be Negative?

2007-05-03T05:00:00.001-07:00

Looking at my last post, I realised that it was pretty negative.

Does negativity have a place in a truly fulfilled life?

I would say it depends on what type of negativity.

Negativity to me has its place when things really are bad and I have to make a change.

Absolute refusal to look at yourself in a negative light can SOMETIMES lead to denial and not seeing your life as it truly is.

So how can we apply negative motivation without becoming life haters?

If, for example you are in serious debt, you would probably be lieing to yourself if you said that your finances were in great shape and you loved your current situation.

Once you accept that you are in debt (negative) you can then begin to look at things positively and finding tools to overcome the problem. For example, being in debt is great because

-It provides a massive incentive to go out and earn more money.
-You have nothing more to lose
-There is no expectation to succeed
-Most of the world's self-made millionaires and billionaires came from very impoverished backgrounds and it is this situation that drove them to massive success
-Complete financial recovery has been done before.

So when in a fulfilled life does negativity have a place?

When you accept something in your life is not how you want it to be, and you accept that you want to change it. This is the initial driving force for change.

Negativity is not acceptable when it does not drive you to act and make a change. An example of negativity being used incorrectly would be asking yourself why you are bad at making money and beating yourself up over it.

If used correctly you would hopefully be asking yourself how you could improve your ability to make money.

To put the above into a formula I would say.

1. Look at your situation as TRUTHFULLY as possible, such as in my article on why the average life sucks
2. Use the honest and potentially painful truth as a motivational tool
3. Reframe your current potentially negative situation and view the potentially useful aspects of it (e.g. ask "how would I overcome this?" or "how can I use this?" questions)
4. Use these useful aspects of your present situation and your resourcefulness to propel yourself towards your goals

Why the Average Life Sucks

2007-05-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

What does the average life consist of?

You get up and you realise you have a day's work ahead of you. You don't like this work but you have to do it, because you gotta pay the bills.

You eat breakfast and go to work, probably listening to something random on the radio.

You're at work and you're under pressure to perform from the guy above. Any extra effort or hard work you do is not rewarded in equilevant proportions to what you do.

You're not enjoying yourself at work.

You get home and you're tired.

You eat some food and turn on the TV.

Maybe say hello to your wife and kids?

Surf the net.

Having been worrying about the bills for the last month you pay them.

Go to sleep.

And now you're on the next day and I bet you can't wait for the weekend to begin...

Weekend comes and you watch some TV, slowly getting fatter. Maybe go out and buy something that's interesting for a bit and watch the kids do cool stuff (although you probably don't think so).

Flash forward to your elderly years.

You're sitting in your rocking chair (if you can afford one) thinking about your life.

How have you lived?

How does thinking about this make you want to act to change your future and fulfil you?

How Are You Living the One Life You Get?

2007-05-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

Take a look at your life.

Are you enjoying your life for at least 90% of your waking hours?

If not you are wasting your life.

You only get one life (at least that's all we can KNOW that there is).

If you are not enjoying your life as it is then it's time to make a change.

It doesn't matter if you have not enjoyed life in the past, what matters if you are enjoying life now. If you are not enjoying life now then you are WASTING your life. You only get one. And the time left to appreciate this wonderful thing is running out.

Does this mean you should feel extra happy all the time? No. Challenges and turbulances are part of life. Use them to propel you forward even further and motivate you more.

If you currently hate your job or your house or your relationships. Make that change NOW. Every second you do not make that change you are wasting your precious experience of life.

Use your current pain to leverage yourself towards action.

My point is this...

You have one life. Time is drifting away with every second.

How does accepting the above TRUISM motivate you to act?

How can you make the most of your life?

How can you feel most fulfilled and experience the greatest joy in life?

What will you have to change in your outside world to do this?

What attitudes about how to experience the present moment will you have to change?

What level of responsibility will you have to take to define the life and future you want?

Listen to More Than Double Your Learning Rate

2007-04-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

The more time you spend improving yourself the more you begin to realise that there is no magic pill. There is no one magic technique or method that will transform your life.

Self-development is a road of continuous evolution.

But why not speed up how fast we move along that road?

So here's a very simple technique that everyone can use to help progress faster...

If you have a necessary daily habit but can't read or concentrate hard at the time, e.g. driving to work, getting dressed or eating food, then do the following.

LISTEN to motivational music, self-improvement technology or audio on anything you wish to learn more about.

It sounds so simple, but are there times when you could be listening to valuable audio when you are in fact just going on with your life in silence?

There are a number of great materials out there to listen to and by doing this you could more than double your rate of learning.

Try it TODAY. There's no excuse for this one, because you lose absolutely NOTHING in the process. But could potentially gain MASSIVE amounts.

Is One Self-Improvement Book the Answer?

2007-04-28T23:45:00.000-07:00

Take a second and think about all the self-help gurus you know about.

Look at these guys. The kind of guys who have transformed their lives to better things.

How many of these guys do you know who have read a single book or website on "self-improvement" and suddenly their life was transformed.

It is not the case.

Deep fundamental life change happens over time. If you want to achieve mastery in life or an area of life you cannot do it with just one book or one coach. You need to start DEVOURING this information. Complete immersion in self-improvement.

Look at the people you want to model. People like Tony Robbins or Paul McKenna didn't just read one book or talk to one guy who told them everything. Self-improvement and change became their life. It changed their life for the better. And it's changing me too.

If you want some fundamental, long-term change for the better...

Immerse yourself.

Implement Change by Changing Who You Are

2007-04-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Two key concepts I have come across recently about generating change include the pleasure and pain theory (which I discovered on Tony Robbins' Personal Power II) and the identity theory.

These two theories are very comprehensive and can be understood on many levels, but to summarise in a few sentences...

The pleasure and pain theory says that our decisions on how to act are based on our perceptions of how much doing something will hurt or feel good. If doing something, e.g. smoking a cigarette, feels better than it feel hurtful to us, then we do it.

The identity theory is that all the result in our life that we produce are in line with what at our core we feel we deserve. E.g. if you at your core believe you are financially poor then you are probably also poor in real life. This phenomena explains how people who are poor and win the lottery often fall right back to being poor within a few years, if that.

So how is this useful for implementing change?

Say you want to become a millionaire. If you want to happily remain a millionaire once you get there you will have to have the identity of a millionaire. Having the correct identity means you will act 100% congruent with being a millionaire.

But how does this tie in with the pleasure and pain theory?

If you at your core believe you are a millionaire and you look at your bank account and realise that you have only a thousand dollars then this will cause incredible pain to you. This will cause so much pain because it is so not real to you that any pain involved in earning that money back will not compare to the pain of not being your true self of being a millionaire.

Many real life examples of this are when millionaires lose all their money, but then get it back again really quickly.

So how can we use this knowledge to achieve our goals?

1. We need to change our identities so that they are in line with our goals
2. We do this by changing our pleasure and pain associations to those of someone with your ideal identity would experience if they were in your situation.
3. We do this through various methods including NLP, journaling, asking focussed questions, e.g. how painful will not acting make me feel in 10 years time?
4. Discover what the side effects are of having that identity would be and start acting them out, like Steve Pavlina suggests on one of his podcasts.

Changing your identity is essential for rapid and long lasting change. My advice would be to take every action possible in making this change, because if at your core you believe you really DESERVE your goal, then it will take very little struggle to get there.

Enjoying Conversation with Strangers (from my Journal)

2007-04-25T11:14:00.000-07:00

Here is something I wrote in my journal today.

In my journal I normally work through any incongruencies I find within myself when trying to achieve a new goal.

I also thought it might be useful to see how a journal can be used to help you get yourself closer to your goals.

This journal post is trying to figure out some mindsets that will help me achieve one of my major goals at the moment, which is to be able to enjoy myself socially a lot more.

NOTE: It is slightly edited, but only to make sure most of it was understandable.

So off we go...

Sticking point: currently I often find that with strangers I cannot think of new things to talk about. How do I overcome this problem?

Phrase it positively

How can I think of more things to talk about with strangers?

Is it a skill problem, or more of a inner game problem?

I believe the answer to this question lies in the thought patterns.

Quite often I actually do think of things to say but I still won’t say them, so I therefore believe the problem lies elsewhere. When I’m outside my head (slang for being extroverted and in the moment) or drunk I don’t have a problem thinking of things to say.

What is going through the head of a really social guy when he starts generating conversation?

He just says things that come into his head, without hesitation.

Maybe I’m killing off all my conversational thought patterns before I allow them to become conscious.

I believe the difference between social guys and not-social guys is that their thought patterns are different. A social guy will not experience thought patterns saying “oh what do they think of me” etc. They are just in the moment. Non-social guys have thought patterns that do not produce conversation – a thought pattern of “what should I say next…erm, I wonder what they’re thinking, is it acceptable for me to say this” is not producing conversation. A thought pattern like this is putting them farther inside their head (being introverted) and therefore even though it appears it’s leading to making conversation it is in fact doing the opposite. The solution is to JUST SAY SOMETHING or at minimum just be at the tip of your tongue ready to speak.

Social guys are also not seeking a reaction (because they’re outside their head) therefore they don’t need other people’s attention to get started. Quite often I notice social people halfway through telling a story to me because I wasn’t paying attention, but I still enjoy the story they tell me once I start listening and I’m sure they enjoyed the whole thing as well.

So how do they create laughter out of just their everyday boring thought patterns?

Firstly, humour is sub-communicated, therefore they make it just by the way they tell their stories.

Also humour has a funny way of making itself known when the mindset is right.

But what about “A-class” humour that gets massive laughs?

Real “A-class” humour is a skill. This I believe is the level of humour that can be said by just about anyone and will get laughs. I therefore believe this is a skill, because it does not require a good set of internal beliefs. However, there are plenty of really cool social guys out there who will never produce any “A-class” humour, but they still have an awesome time socially.

In terms of enjoying one’s self socially I therefore believe “A-class” humour is only the cream on top, whereas a good quality time is produced naturally from the right mindset that comes from continous study, observation, self-evaluation (like this) and PRACTISE.

The big change I’m going to make now is to cut-off all thought patterns of “what should I say”, etc, that only put me further inside my head.

The Escapism Fast

2007-04-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Take the escapism fast.

For the next 30 days make a commitment to yourself not to watch TV, play computer games, watch any films that don't radically change your perspective and read any unnecessary drama (including novels and news stories such as random killings in whatever countries) or surf the web with no real AIM.

Once you're prepared to make this commitment, finalise it using different motivational techniques. E.g. Give whatever amount of money means a lot to you to a reliable friend for a month. If you break your commitment he keeps the money.

I have a week left of my commitment and it has changed me.

After making this commitment you will have so much free time. You will end up forcing yourself to do more constructive things. As a result you end up having MORE FUN. You end up going places, learning new things and meeting new people.

On top of that it will also change you intellectually and emotionally. You will stop needing things to dillude out of your current reality. You will no longer need escapism. You will start to realise what life is really about. You will realise that by watching TV and all that you are putting your life on hold and not living a real life.

I cannot fully describe the true benefits to you. You have to EXPERIENCE them yourselves.

Make this change TODAY and try it yourself. If after 30 days you realise you don't like it you will at least appreciate your current way of living that much more.

Let me know how it works out.

Grow Financially First

2007-04-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

If your aim is to be truly fulfilled, of all the areas of your life, master your finances first.

Now when I say master, I don't mean become a billionaire, I mean gain control of them. Learn how to get out of debt. Take the skills you have and learn how you can leverage them so that you can add value to people. In return for this value you will be rewarded money.

My view on doing well financially is this.

-Earning an income that is enough to support all your needs and help fund growth in all other areas of your life.
-Enjoying how you earn your income. (If its completely passive then it doesn't matter what you think of it, because you don't have to do anything to earn it - great.)
-How you earn your income is in line with your core values.
-Having plenty of time to grow and enjoy the other areas of your life, e.g. relationships, spirituality, health and fitness, etc.

Now, why should you master your finances (as described above) before you master the other areas of your life?

Having finances gives you the potential to develop much quicker in the other areas of your life.

This is because if you have massive financial resources you can go out and more easily get the resources needed to improve other areas. For example, if you're rich you could hire a personal coach and easily get a gym membership, which will help you get fit and enjoy life more. However, if you were poor you might not be able to afford a gym membership and definately not a coach. This definately does not mean you cannot get fit without those things, it just means it will not be as easy.

Here's a real life example. A good friend of mine decides he wants to become black belt at karate in as little time as possible, so he needs the very best coach out there. Without the financial resources and influence he had achieved he would not as easily have been able to work with the best.

You need to meet your needs

Mastery of the other areas of your life do not put a roof over your head as quick as financial mastery will. If you become a world class runner then you may put a roof over your head that way, but that still takes financial skills to convert your physical abilities into money.

Also, if you cannot meet your needs then you will not have the chance to do the other things. For example, if your living in the street you will probably not be able to afford the healthiest diet out there.

Before I conclude I still want to note that...

Without financial support there are still plenty of ways to improve in the other areas of your life, because with enough resourcefulness you can always obtain the resources you need.

Also I want to be clear that on the road to financial mastery all other areas of your life should also be catered for. Trying to get rich doesn't stop anyone from exercising, giving, loving and eating healthy.

However, what I am saying is that it's so much easier to grow with financial support. I therefore believe that focusing growing financially first is in the long term the best life investment.

Why Challenges are Great

2007-04-22T12:35:00.001-07:00

Today I noticed an interesting phenomena in my life.

I'm always banging on about appreciating the present moment and enjoying growth, but I noticed today that I wasn't always practising what I preached.

While working I came across a brand new challenge. It involved calling people up and asking for something from them. Initially I really did not want to do it, although I had no choice in the matter and logically I knew it would be a valuable growth experience.

And I realised that the fact I did not want to do it was a major incongruency I had. This new challenge at work was exactly what I had been looking for. My current work was getting quite boring and I wanted a new challenge, but when it came I didn't like it. This is ridiculous.

I realised that the new challenge was in fact a blessing. The fact I was nervous about it was great. Challenges like this are what make life interesting. Challenges like this push you to grow. Challenges like these are amazing and I wish I had more of them.

The bottom line here is to really enjoy the challenges. The next time you're thinking "oh I'm really nervous about doing this", acknowledge the nervousness and then remind yourself that these challenges are what makes life so exciting and fulfilling.

Who is Responsible for the Quality of Your Life?

2007-04-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

Responsibility for the course of your life rests in your hands.

So many things you come across in life are telling you the opposite...

"It's not in your genes"

"If it's such a good idea, how come no one else thought of it"

"There's too much risk involved in doing that..."

etc.

This is still no argument against the fact that YOU and ONLY YOU are responsible for your life.

Your past is not responsible, the people you work for are not responsible, the government is not responsible and your family is not responsible.

YOU are 100% responsible.

How scary is this?

Very.

But it's also the greatest realisation in the world.

You can have ANYTHING YOU WANT.

Every resource you need is out there.

You can carry out any action (within your physical limitations) to achieve your desires.

If someone else has done it. You can do it as well. Most of the people who have achieved the most STARTED WITH NOTHING.

They are driven. Because THEY KNOW that they are ultimately responsible for EVERYTHING in their lives.

So how does this realisation affect YOU?

It means you need to start defining what you want from life and working towards it.

You are still responsible even if you choose not to define what you want. In this case you will just be responsible for; feeling average, producing uncertainty, producing average results and ultimately living an average life.

Your life may even be defined by someone else who has taken more responsibility than you.

It's your CHOICE... how are you going to live your life?

Why you Should Share your Knowledge

2007-04-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Sharing your knowledge and skills will improve the quality of your life because...

-Your student(s) will probably show you new ways of looking at what it is your teaching and therefore improve your abilities in it.

-Your student(s) will probably challenge you to prove that it is true. If you succeed you will have confirmed your beliefs that you can do it.

-Your student(s) may prove your teachings wrong, which is great. Them proving you wrong shows that you weren't using an accurate model and you will therefore have to find a more accurate model or method. This is good, because with a more accurate model or method you can produce better results.

-You will improve your communication skills.

-Your student(s) may offer you something in return for your generosity, e.g. a new skill you have not heard of, friendship, advice in other areas, love, money, etc.

-You're spending your time giving something back.

-You will probably enjoy yourself.

-You will be remembered.

-You will be making a difference.

-How you treat others is a reflection of how you treat yourself. Love others and you will truly love yourself.

Why Everyone Should Learn to Speed Read

2007-04-15T09:10:00.001-07:00

I think everyone should take the time to learn to speed read, unless you never plan on reading in your life. My reasoning for this is pretty straightforward and runs along the same lines as my reasoning for taking time off work to learn how to improve your skills (see this post for more details).

The basic reasoning is this.

Learning to speed read pays for itself. What I mean by this is that if you "sacrifice" some of your usual reading time to learn to speed read, it will get paid back (and a lot more) in the long run.

For example, let's say it takes you 12 hours to read a book and you read 12 hours a week. This would mean you're reading a book a week (not a bad habit).

We'll make the following assumptions about the variables in my calculations;
-learning to speed read will allow you to read four times faster than you are now (if you currently read at an average speed this is very possible).
-learning to speed read at this level will take 6 hours of practise a week for 10 weeks.
-no progress in reading speed is made until after 10 weeks when you suddenly learn it all (to make the estimate simpler).

Let's now look at the difference in the results after 10 weeks between not learning to speed read and learning to speed read.

Without Learning to Speed Read
You read 10 books.

While Learning to Speed Read
You read 5 books.

Now the results for the 10 weeks after that.

Without Learning to Speed Read
10 books read.

Having Learned to Speed Read
40 books read.

So let's look at the grand totals for 20 weeks.

Without Learning to Speed Read
20 books read.

Having Learned to Speed Read
45 books read.

The above results demonstrate that within relatively little time speed reading pays itself back and more. So hopefully this will really encourage you to go out and learn this skill because it is invaliable in the persuit of information and personal growth.

So how do you learn to speed read?

I couldn't summarise it in one blog post, so I recommend Breakthrough Rapid Reading or any other good book on the subject.

The Principles of Success

2007-04-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Here are my general principles of achieving success. These rules can be applied to ANYTHING. You can use them to get rich, to improve on an martial arts and sport, to be happier, to get a fantastic relationship, to learn how to increase your rate of success, etc. The point is you can use them on anything.

The principles are general, because as you apply them to different areas the specifics will vary, but each one is an essential part of the success formula.

The principles are best used all together so there is no particular order to do them in. If you are completely new to a field, like you want to learn how to do Karate then it may be best to get practise before you set your goal. Or if you want to earn money it may be best to define exactly what you want and then get coaching before you start doing. So the principles are best used together and not necessarily in any particular order.

Here are the principles.

1. Define EXACTLY what you want.
To do this you can apply basic goal setting techniques. I have described my preferred method in my article How to Complete Goals - The Chunk Method.

2. Practise and do
Start doing whatever it is you will have to do to eventually achieve your goal. If you want to be a black belt at Karate, go out and start training and practising the moves. This is the key factor that PRODUCES RESULTS.

3. Receive coaching and / or read about it
Go out and learn more about it. This is important at all stages in your development, because other people's perspectives can be very useful in guiding you on the way to your final goal. This can also help you significantly boost your understanding and help you know the most effective course of action to achieve your goal.

4. Copy the best
A VERY powerful tool. There are so many people out there who are millionaires, but how many people go out and ask them "how did you do that?". After finding out what they do, copy their methods and model their techniques. You don't always have to go out and find these people you can also read about them on the internet or their autobiographies.

I believe all the principles need to be used to achieve success as fast as possible. If you spend all your time writing goals you'll never achieve anything. If you spend 6 days a week working 10 hours a day you won't produce as much value overall compared to if you read about how to become more productive. If you just read books on martial arts you'll never understand exactly how the moves work in real-life. If you just watched the best you might not ever really understand what they are doing that's different to you.

Now the only assumption I've made with this success formula is that you have the motivation to go out and do all of these things. I have discussed one technique for beating laziness and inertia in this post and I will be discussing motivation in the near future.

My principles are general, so they are open to interpretation. I prefer it this way because I do not believe life can be summarised into one small model (see my post on releasing the model theory). What I think is most useful about these principles is that you can vastly improve your rate of success just by introducing a missing principle to your current activities.

I hope this helps guys.

Overcoming Inertia with the "5 Minute Stop" Technique

2007-04-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

When you're starting off on self-development the biggest obstacle you will come across is inertia.

This is THE MAKE OR BREAK factor. This is the very factor that determines the difference between achieving something and carrying on with everything as it is.

Overcoming inertia is a very key factor that will determine the quality of your life for the next however many years, because if you don't beat it, NOTHING WILL CHANGE. Having beaten it, you do of course still need know how to achieve the right goals effectively, but this will never happen if you do not overcome intertia.

So here comes the big question. How do we overcome inertia and take the first PHYSICAL STEP to changing our lives?

Here's my "5 Minute Stop" method of beating inertia.

1. Whatever you are doing NOW stop doing it and sit still (after reading this article). Stop whatever you are doing and just sit in a chair. Sit in silence, no music, computer monitor off, books down, TV off and by yourself.

2. Now that you've got 5 minutes spare to think about what to do, really plan what you want to do after you've finished sitting still. You COULD go back to any number of forms of escapism, like watching TV, playing computer games or even reading lots of self-help stuff without actually doing anything. OR you could take the first step (or any other step you always stop at) in improving the quality of your life. This will probably involve WRITING DOWN your goal(s).

For those of us (including myself) who are really prone to falling back into old habits this next step is just as important as the others.

3. Having completed step 2, STOP EVERYTHING, and carry out step one. The reason this step is so key is because it's so easy after completing your first step to think "wow, I really am making improvements, now I can "relax" and go back to what I was going to do" and then just end up back on the exact same road you were on 15 minutes ago. By taking the time to stopping EVERYTHING for 5 minutes again you can regain the perspective that carrying on with achieving the next step in your plan is the right and most enjoyable thing to do.

4. Complete the next step in your plan and start enjoying your new progress. If you ever find yourself slipping back into your old habits or procrastinating, just go back to step 1 and follow the process.

When starting out with GENERATING RESULTS I strongly recommend using the "5 minute stop" technique. It is one of the most powerful techniques you can use, because without beating inertia, there are NO RESULTS.

I cannot stress how important it is to try this out, because once you're really generating results you build so much momentum that you hardly ever need this technique, and you begin to wonder what you spent all these years doing.

If you want RESULTS, then stop everything and apply the "5 minute stop" technique NOW.

How to Complete Goals - The Chunk Method

2007-04-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

The concept of goal setting has been around for years. Yet it still seems that not many people out there are actually doing it. This comes down to a whole variety of factors. A lot of your ability to achieve goals comes from how proactive you are. This does not mean your doomed if your not a very proactive person at the moment, because personal development teaches you exactly how to be someone who is proactive and goal achieving IF that's what you want.

Becoming the kind of person that achieves goals is a very broad topic, but assuming you are the kind of person that is proactive and tries new things, here's my personal TECHNIQUE for completing goals.

1. Define EXACTLY what you want to achieve. Every little bit should be defined and every possibility should be accounted for. Also it should be positively phrased so your working towards something not away from something.

2. Analyse EXACTLY where you are now relative to your goal. Be really, really honest about this. Look at how you have spent your time over the last week and look at all the things you currently own or do. If this carries on as it is, where will you be in a year's time? This question will help you understand where you are NOW.

3. Break down every little step that's making the difference between where you are now and how you will be once the goal is completed. This can take some time, but it is definately worth it if your serious about completing you goal. Small chunk all the steps towards achieving your goal until you have the first steps you can start completing TODAY. Then know what you will be doing THIS WEEK. If you find yourself struggling to complete your first challenge, this means you need to small chunk it even more until completing the first step is really easy. This rule applies with any obstacle you come across. Once you are completing the little steps the momentum will start to build and it should all start becoming habitual and easier.

4. Set reminders EVERYWHERE reminding you of the goal you want to achieve. They should be so obvious you can almost not stop thinking about this new goal, because this will really help you break out of the old habits that are NOT getting you the results you want.

Try it out NOW.

Save 100s of Hours of Work by Sharpening the Saw

2007-04-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

How often do you sharpen the saw?

Sharpening the saw is a term Stephen R. Covey uses in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It basically means working on improving yourself and your skills and therefore becoming more productive and efficient.

Taking time out from whatever you do to sharpen the saw is essential. Not only will you enjoy the process and the break from work, but it also is much more effective than working. This is because if you keep learning how to be more productive the time you spend learning and not working will pay itself off in the future by your increase in productivity.

Let's look at an rough example why this is true.

Lifestyle A
You solidly work 10 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week for 10 years and you get quite far. However, the value you are generating per hour with that work will probably not increase too much over those 10 years. You'll gain a lot of experience but you will probably not become a LOT more effective than when you started.

Lifestyle B
Say you work 5 or 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 10 years you would initially think you would not have gained as much. However, if you take those extra 4 or 5 hours a day and use them to "sharpen the saw" then you will be making yourself much more effective and skillful. After a year of following this process the value you can produce in an hour is likely to be more than double that if you had just worked solid for a year.

By following lifestyle B, the time you are taking "not working" is actually means you produce more than if you did spend all that time working.

The above are two extreme examples, but does this help you realise the improvement you could make to your life if you made the change? This INVESTMENT of taking time off working to sharpen the saw could eventually save yourself a lot of hard work in the future and is often the difference between those who work hard all their life and still struggle and those who work smart, have anything they want and love life.

How I Moved from Escapism to Goal Achievement

2007-04-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of the changes I made to my life and my thinking to help me move from my escapist goal-setting and procrastination to enjoying my life and actually ACHIEVING the goals I was/am setting.

-Giving up all forms of escapism, e.g. TV, films, computer games, etc.
-Having a lot more free time as a result
-Studying The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
-Accepting that a lot, if not all of my old goals were the result of a feeling of lack of
-Becoming more aware when I enter the old thought pattern of “I am going to complete so and so goal” and realising that this thought pattern was only a manifestation of a feeling of “lack of”.
-Being in the now
-Realising that being in the now is only one tool to be used in improving the overall quality of my life and is in fact best blended with goal-setting
-Realising that goals should be set to enhance my appreciation of the present moment and the outcome of the goal is just a pleasurable benefit
-Realising that setting goals is justifiable if the means improves the quality of your life and they are not an illusionary form of escapism from the now.
-Realising that results are only created in the present
-Making a conscious effort to remind myself of all the above and not fall back into old habits

How to Stick to a Good New Habit

2007-04-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

Are you slipping back into old bad habits?

After reaching my major epiphany the other day I've been falling back into old bad habits.

The epiphany I'm talking about is the appreciation of the present moment. It makes perfect logical sense to me to appreciate the present, but I've found myself falling back into my old patterns of setting illusionary goals that I think I'll achieve to make myself feel good about my sense of lack.

This got me thinking (as so many things do). How can I maintain the new higher level of consciousness in everything I do?

The obvious answer is, that I will have to change external circumstance so that I can more consciously and more easily make an effort to create new habits of "being in the now".

So what am I going to do?
-Set reminders on my phone
-Set reminders on my computer
-Place reminders in commonly accessed areas of mine, e.g. goal book
-Adjust my goals so that they come from the new correct perspective
-Recognise the triggers of my old thought patterns and make a conscious effort to change these

This is what I am going to make sure I permanently implement the change in my level of consciousness.

If your looking to maintain a new habit of yours what are you going to do NOW to ensure you stick to it?

The Power of Taking a Break

2007-04-05T13:32:00.000-07:00

This week I took some time off to go on a training course.

I opted to receive the accomodation with the training course instead of travelling home every evening. I'm very glad I chose this option, because it meant I was put in a room, with nothing but a sink, bed, desk and window. In my own way I felt truly cut off from the world.

This really gave me time to think.

This gave me the chance to read and journal in peace. The result of this particular break being a growth in my level of consciousness.

Not a bad exchange for taking a few days off work.

You should try it.

Improve Understanding by Releasing the Model Theory

2007-04-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

How often do you hear someone describe a new theory to you in a few sentences, after which they say "its a simple as that". Yet you dont really understand it at all. You kind of get how it might work, but you dont really understand how the theory works. Its tough to explain, so heres an example.

"Communication can make or break a business"

Great theory.

But this alone is not enough to describe what it really means. It could be interpreted in any number of different ways. For example, it could be interpreted that as a manager, one should communicate to your staff and not listen to them; however, it could also be interpreted as communicate to your staff by listening to them. Here arises the problem with the model theory.

I believe when people conclude with a theory and say "it's as simple as that", what they are really saying is "you can in some way rationalise all my observations so that they line up with my original statement".

A statement like "it's as simple as that" or "its just common sense" is never enough to really explain a theory. I've heard tonnes of effective business leaders tell me "its just common sense", but it really is not just that.

There is no one title or sentence that can describe a whole theory.

It's really important to bear this in mind when someone tells you "its as simple as that" or "communication is key" that they have only told you how they rationalise all their little theories and real world experiences.

So how do we overcome this problem and copy successful people who think it's all common sense?

Immersion.

We will never know exactly how they do what they do, but by immersing ourselves in someone else's practise we can slowly better emulate their results.

This is why a short 50 page book on something like time management may seem very effective, however, if you're really looking to improve time management your results would probably be much better if you read a 500 page book written by the same person elaborating on their theories, or even better read ten 50 page books by different people producing your ideal results.

So what you can take away from this?

-Rationalising your discoveries to one model/statement does not make improve understanding or make it any "simpler"
-Immerse yourself in the practise of those producing the results you want
-Make your own subconscious theories from real-world experience.

Enjoy Achieving Goals by Boosting Consciousness

2007-04-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Up until the other day I have always thought goals should be set so that the outcome makes you feel better about yourself. To some extent I still believe this, but the other day I experienced a massive shift in perspective after reading some of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

This is very hard to describe because I feel as though I have experienced an upward rise in my level of consciousness (for more on this see Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins). Essentially what I mean is that my perspective changed to such a large degree that all the goals I had set myself were now irrelevant or at minimum coming from entirely the wrong perspective.

To summarise my understanding of Eckhart's philosophy in terms of goal setting, I essentially now realise that the means is so much more important than the end.

I used to use the end as an excuse to justify the means.

I also used to spend all my time thinking about the end, instead of enjoying the means. I've now realised that this is essentially the result of a deep feeling of "lack of".

This is why people get "bored" or why people "can't wait for the weekend". Because they internally have a sense of lack of and this manifests itself in the form of believing that somewhere else or a different time will fulfill that lack. This feeling of "lack of" or wanting to be somewhere else can be solved this very second by really appreciating the present moment.

It's very difficult to describe without actually experiencing it, but after reading "The Power of Now" I asked myself a simple question while journalling that popped me into this higher level of consciousness. This was...

"Will I ever reach fulfillment by searching for it, or is the only way to achieve it by experiencing it NOW?"

How an Epiphany a Day is Only the Beginning

2007-03-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get excited that you've discovered this radical new theory that will change your life?

I used to get this all the time.

I'd come across a theory, or I'd think of something and I'd be saying to myself "OMG, my life is gonna change. All my problems are solved."

Just to pick one of the hundreds of examples - One day I thought to myself "all I have to do was think positive. Now all my problems were solved. Now that I know to think positive my life is changed. All worries are forgotten. There is not one thing I cannot do if I remember this."

I rode this high for about half a day, like most of my others. Until I realised, I was pretty much where I had been before and not feeling especially great.

Do you recognise this pattern?

The point of this little story is to help you figure out something. If you're at the stage in your personal development where you jump from theory to theory thinking that it will solve all your problems, realise that you have not solved them yet.

Now the point of this comment is not to ruin your dreams, but to bring you closer to a reality that is more congruent with life. There are a lot of positives to take from your daily epiphanies, such as the following:

-recognise that you are growing at a rapid pace to experience daily epiphanies
-recognise that your perception of reality is changing so much that what the future holds is almost unkown and very exciting.
-recognise that every ephiphany you have is bringing you close to a more congruent reality

So what can you take away from this?

If you are experiencing these epiphanies daily or weekly then you are beginning to realise that your current perception of reality is not all it used to be. To take this further, you are discovering that there is in fact a much more resourceful and congruent reality waiting for you to be discovered. Just take your time and enjoy the ride until you get there.

How to Use Logic to Achieve a Perfect Belief System

2007-03-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here's an observation I have not come across yet in any self-improvement literature.

Your perfect belief system is achieved by using logic to remove as many incongruencies as possible.

I'll explain.

Most of us are born and raised with some type of social conditioning. If we take Western culture as an example we get subconsciously taught all kinds of different incongruent ways to live. For example, we are taught that men will be deeply satisfied if they nail a beautiful woman, yet men are also taught that the average man does not deserve her. We are taught to desire, but not deserve. This is such an unresourceful mindset in terms of producing a sense of self satisfaction, and it is just one example of incongruent beliefs we are raised to accept.

By taking the time to look logically at our own beliefs, or studying people with more sophisticated and resourceful belief systems, we can eventually see the faults and incongruencies in our current beliefs.

Taking my beautiful woman theory as an example, someone of more resourceful beliefs would look at that situation differently. Their mindset would probably be "it's common sense not to desire something I cannot have" or "I will learn the skills / mindsets I need in order to obtain what I desire".

This is the LOGICAL way of looking at it. Although, it will not appear so until you reach that way of looking at it (this is why you may think how you act is rational, but in fact in a year's time you will look back and realise it is not).

The same is true for other areas of growth.

It is LOGICAL to choose to have a purpose in life, and set your goals relative to that purpose, instead of achieving random goals in the hope that you will feel better after completing them.

It is LOGICAL to enjoy the present moment, rather than experience life as a means to an end.

It is LOGICAL to go out and challenge yourself to grow, rather than sitting in front of the TV.

Jesus Christ (assuming he existed) knew it was LOGICAL to spread love rather than go out and make rugs all day.

You will of course not act in these ways until you understand your incongruencies and when the logic in your entire belief system justifies acting that way. And it is for this reason that you are not going to turn into Jesus Christ overnight.

As you grow you will realise that some of the things you used to do just do not make sense any more. This is because the incongruent logic that was guiding you before was wrong. The more congruent your entire belief system becomes the more resourceful you become. Your belief system becomes more congruent when you logically look at what does not add up.

This is a really tough theory to explain, I've tried my best. To summarise, I believe the theory works as follows:

-You act in a way that is rational to your belief system.
-Your belief system is probably not congruent
-As your belief system becomes more congruent (through self study or observation or other's more congruent beliefs) you will act "more sensibly"
-Looking back at your old actions you will see that they are irrational compared to your more congruent / logical belief system
-Therefore all progress essentially results from the improvement in congruency and logic of your belief system
-The theoretical perfect belief system will be 100% congruent

Do You Like You?

2007-03-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Would you like you?

Step outside of your head for a second. Picture yourself in a group of people, like a social club, sports team or at work. Imagine meeting yourself. How would you feel about this person as you spoke to them?

Forget how you would like to see yourself or any fake identity you might have created for yourself. Be really honest. What do you think of this person?

Would you remember this person if you were reminded of him a month later?

Do you even care what you would think of him?

How will thinking about this change how you act in the future?

A Self-Improvement Cliché

2007-03-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a self-improvement cliché I'd like to put a spin on.

What would you with your life if you knew you could not fail?

Think about it...

Then compare it to your current lifestyle.

How big is the gap?

To take it even further. What would you do with your life if you were already entirely fulfilled?

Does that change your answer to the first question. If it does, it probably shows that your looking for external factors to make you happy, when really if you were fulfilled nothing on the outside could make you happier than you are now. But realising this is the first step in accepting where you are now.

Have a think about exactly where that is.

Then realise exactly how far you can go.

Enjoy Every Second of Life

2007-03-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

How can you be like those people who enjoy every second of life?

Begin to think like them. Make a conscious effort to persistently ask the question - "How would someone who loved every second of life look at the situation I am in now?"

My guess is that that if your asking this question when you are under a lot of pressure, if they were in your situation they would probably answer...

"I love the challenge of life. If it weren't for challenges like this I would probably be bored stiff. Also, knowing that I've overcome this challenge has taught me something new about me and I think I'll sleep better tonight for it. Keep em coming.

"I love life"

The Beginning

2007-03-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Im gonna try and keep this short and sweet like I hope all my posts will be.

The aim of this blog is to help you guys improve the quality of your lives.

I hope to do this by giving you guys new perspectives on standard and commonly accepted ways of looking at things.

I believe the key difference in the quality of people's lives is almost entirely determined by how they run their brain. Therefore my aim is to help you change for the better and I hope that I too can grow at the same time.

Wish me luck