As a Man Thinketh

What are your greatest dreams?

First, we’ve gotta KNOW that EVERY great achievement was “at first and for a time a dream.”

For some weird reason we see someone we admire and make the bizarre assumption that they’ve ALWAYS been who they are now. Huh?

So Tiger Woods just woke up one morning and was the world’s greatest golfer ever?

Hmmm… Maybe not. He clearly had talent and an incredibly supportive family but he also had a dream. An audacious vision since he was a kid to be the greatest. EVER.

Who says stuff like that?!? (Hint: people who may one day realize their dreams.)

Then, with that crystal clear intention, he planted that dream seed in the fertile soil of incredibly disciplined, hard work. I’ll be surprised (shocked actually), if we could find a golfer who works harder and smarter than Tiger… who more systematically maps out his season, his next tournament, his day, his training.

And you know what happens when you marry that kind of intention with that kind of impeccability? Tiger Woods.

So, what about YOU?

What are you most passionate about? What is it that you and only you can give to the world? What’s your greatest dream?

If you have it defined, crystallize it. If it’s not clear yet, your work is to discover your work!

And as we crystallize the vision (it’s always evolving and crystallizing, btw), we need to wake up the angel that stirs in that seed through our diligent, patient and persistent work ethic.

And, guess what? Give it time and your dream will prove to be the seedling of your new reality.

In the process, remember to:

Ahhh…

Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart…

As you know, the world tends to be a little unsupportive (just a tad sometimes, eh? :) of our highest visions. Which makes it that much more important that we truly cherish our vision and our ideals.

Don’t flinch. Don’t compromise. Surround yourself with people who “get” you and, if you but remain true to these ideals, “your world will at last be built.”

Keep on mining, my friend!

Are you mining?

Have you ever REALLY mined your soul to discover exactly who you are and what your destiny is? Or did you lazily look around and then give up?

Well, no complaining allowed for you if you haven’t rolled up your sleeves, busted out the pick-axes and gone deep into the mine of your soul to figure out what you’re here to do. :)

When you read a book (or one of these Notes), do you actually do the exercises right then and there or do you say to yourself, “Oh. That looks interesting. Maybe I’ll get to that when I get some more time. Let me just fold the corner of the page so I remember to come back to it sometime soon.”

Riiiiiiiight.

That’s not gonna get you very far. If you’re committed to finding the gold and diamonds (real and metaphorical) in your life, you MUST learn to dig deeply at every opportunity.

I’ve filled up dozens (!!!) of journals with answers to the seemingly mundane and/or benign questions like:

• “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”
• “What are your greatest strengths?”
• “What are 5 things you’re most proud of?”
• “What are 5 things you will be most proud of?”
• “What’s your dharma/purpose/reason for being on the planet?”
• “What is it that you, and only you, can give to the world?”
• “If you had only 6 months to live, what would you do?”
• “If you won $100 million in the lottery, what would you do?”
• “If you met a genie and he gave you 3 wishes, what would you ask for?”

I’ve answered all of those questions (and countless more) more than once.

And I KNOW that work is one of the main reasons why I get paid to read and write and optimize my life while inspiring others to do the same! (Pinch me. :)

How about you?

You mining?

(Just got an image of Ben Stiller’s character coughing from the black lung he got in one day of mining in the classic movie, Zoolander. Is that you when it comes to this stuff?!? Come on! Put on your best looking mining gear, strike a pose and get to work! :)

Again: What are your dreams?

Who shall you become?

Hold that vision. “Your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”

My mind actually hurts as I think of this one.

I’ve been to one of the more challenging “mental boot camps” you can imagine: a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation class led by S.N. Goenka.

Imagine this: you check yourself in for 10 (!!!) days of silence. The last words you will speak for 10 days (aside from a few possible words with your instructor) are “Thank you” when you hand over all your possible distractions to the staff member collecting your stuff: your computer (no Internet, no IM, no email!), your Blackberry (no email, no text messages, no calls!), your journal (no writing!), your books (no reading!), ANYTHING that you brought other than clothes and bedding.

Um.

Silence!

OK. Now get yourself all limbered up to… get up at 4am and then SIT for 10 (!!) hours a day in silent meditation. I thought I was going to go insane and nearly left before the end of the second day as I watched my mind jump from THOUGHT to THOUGHT to OMG(!) endless thoughts as I tried to do the seemingly simple yet proving-to-be-impossible feat of noticing my breath come in and out of my nostrils.

Can’t I just do it for a few breaths in a row?!? Nope. Torture.

You may think I’m exaggerating (and I may be a little) but you go try to sit in meditation for 10 hours a day for 10 days. :)

In the midst of all that exercising of my mind, here are some of the coolest things I learned from S.N. Goenka’s teachings and my experiences:

1. The smaller the area of focus, the greater the mind’s clarity/power. This is huge. For the first 3 days (!!!!) we simply focused on our breath coming in and out—working to feel the sensations on the triangle encompassing the upper lip to the upper nostrils. Our teacher’s point was very simple: we MUST develop the strength of mind (Samadhi) to be able to focus our attention. And, the smaller the area of focus, the greater the mind’s power.I got a huge flash of insight on this one related to setting goals in one’s life—the more narrow the focus, the more powerful the intention and the more likely you’ll be able to rock it.
2. Strong determination. This one’s my favorite. During the 10 hours of meditation every day, we worked in roughly 60 minute chunks. We were allowed to move to a comfortable position/rest as necessary. EXCEPT for three, 60 minute chunks each day (after day 4) when we were to sit in “strong determination”—committed to NOT flinching for the entire hour—we couldn’t open our legs, our hands or our eyes.This is a reasonably big deal because, if you’ve ever sat in meditation (and especially if you don’t sit a couple hours a day before the class), your body tends to get a little cranky about thirty minutes into it. But you can’t move. I committed to going 17 for 17 during the course and learned SO much as I honored that commitment.Perhaps THE key to the success in my business life is due to my “strong determination” to reach a positive outcome—when I committed to my prior two businesses (eteamz and Zaadz), I went through A LOT of pain and obstacles to make it work. I now see just how powerful it is to bring this practice of strong determination even more powerfully to my professional life and, of course, to the rest of my life. I’ll be writing a lot more on this.
3. Equanimity. One of my favorite words before the course and DEFINITELY one of my favorite words now. This is one of the keys to enlightenment. As we bring awareness to our lives, and wisdom to our experience of the impermanent nature of reality, we can respond with equanimity—not losing our balance of mind as we realize that all things rise and all things pass—therefore there is no need to crave or avoid these impermanent realities.
4. Anicca, anicca, anicca. Anicca is pronounced “uh-knee-chuh” and, in Pali the word means “impermanence.” It describes the reality of nature. Everything that arises passes. You. Me. This emotion. That emotion. EVERYTHING that we experience passes. So why crave? Why avoid? Anicca, anicca, anicca…
5. Elephant: 5 blind peeps; 5 partial truths. You may have heard this one. 5 blind people who have never seen an elephant each touch a different part and describe what an elephant is. One grabs the leg and says,“An elephant is like a tree trunk.” Another grabs the tail and says, “An elephant is like a broom.” And so on.The point: they all express their limited and partial truth of reality. And so do we all… The trick: to recognize that our vantage point is only one of many partial truths and to appreciate the different perspectives from which others see the world.
6. Gifts not received belong to the giver. Classic story of an individual coming to the Buddha with anger and violent rage. The Buddha did nothing but calmly smile and ask the man, “If someone comes to your house and offers you a gift that you refuse to accept, whose gift is it?” The angry man replied, “Well, the person who intended to give the gift would still own it.” And the Buddha said, “And so it is with your anger.” Let’s refuse to accept unwanted gifts and be mindful about what we’re giving to others!
7. “Work diligently… patiently… persistently…” I don’t know how many times Goenka said “Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. You’re bound to be successful. Bound to be Successful.”
   
   That’s my new favorite quote. Think about that. If we work DILIGENTLY, PATIENTLY and PERSISTENTLY we are BOUND to be successful. Amazing…
8. Seeds of Corn. Great story: the woman who heads up the household dies. In Indian culture, the woman controls the family finances so the widower needs to select one of his four sons’ wives to become the new head. He gives each five pieces of corn and asks them to watch over them and bring them to him in four years for him to decide who will take over.The first daughter says, “Oh! What a waste of time. The crazy old man.” And throws them away. The second thinks they may have magical powers and eats them. The third takes them and puts them on her alter next to her gods and worships them each day with the others. The fourth takes them and plants them in the land behind the house. In four years each tells her story. The fourth says, “We will need help getting all the corn from the hundreds of plants that have grown from the five seeds I planted.” She got the job.

Allen was clearly influenced by the Hindu and Buddhist principles of right thought.

I think he would have dug Vipassana boot camp 10-day Silent Meditation Classes.

I love that.

Are we in an echo chamber? Because I seem to be hearing that wisdom everywhere I look! :)

From Plato: “The beginning is the most important part of the work.”

To Martin Luther King, Jr: “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just the first step.”

To Tim Ferriss in his genius book The 4-Hour Workweek: “Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now!”

To the eminently quotable Paulo Coelho (see Notes) in his classic Veronika Decides to Die: “Live. If you live, God will live with you. If you refuse to run his risks, he’ll retreat to that distant heaven and be merely a subject for philosophical speculation. Everyone knows this, but no one takes the first step, perhaps for fear of being called insane.”

What’s your biggest dream?

And, what’s your FIRST step? Doesn’t need to be some huge ol’ thing, just a first step that’ll move you—however tiny the movement is—in the direction of your dreams!

80% of success is showing up.

Take your first step.

… And jump into the:

I love that.

Reminds me of Seneca’s wisdom (see Notes on Letters from a Stoic): “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.”

David Schwartz says the same thing in The Magic of Thinking Big (see Notes): “Here is the first step toward success. It’s a basic step. It can’t be avoided. Step One: Believe in yourself, believe you can succeed.”

And, Henry Ford says: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

So, how about you? You KNOW you can succeed? Awesome.

Gotta feed that well from which our will to do springs!!!

That seems to beg the obvious question: Who are you? What are you attracting?

And, it reminds me of Esther and Jerry Hicks’ wisdom on the Law of Attraction (see Notes on Ask and It Is Given for more mojo): “Every thought vibrates, every thought radiates a signal, and every thought attracts a matching signal back. We call that process the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction says: That which is like unto itself is drawn. And so, you might see the powerful Law of Attraction as a sort of Universal Manager that sees to it that all thoughts that match one another line up.”