How to Awaken Your True Potential

The first chapter of the book is called “A Sacred Invitation.”

A sacred invitation to what? To connect with the Divine within. How do we do that?

That’s the focus of the second chapter from which the passage above is pulled. We need to, as per the name of the chapter: “Control Our Destiny.”

How do we do THAT?

There’s only ONE way we can control our destiny so we can awaken our true potential. We MUST control our will and use it to cultivate strong habits.

Which is why we SO INCESSANTLY remind ourselves to use our willpower wisely to install habits that run on autopilot via algorithms.

And why we SO INCESSANTLY focus on the importance of moving from Theory to Practice to Mastery Together so we can activate our Soul Force and show up as the best, most Heroic version of ourselves so we can (literally!) change the world, one person at a time, together, starting with you and me and us... TODAY.

Yogananda’s wisdom is remarkably prescient of what science confirms.

As we discuss in this +1 on The Art and Science of Installing Good Habit-Algorithms (and this +1 on How to 100,000x Your Performance), our basal ganglia drives our habitual behaviors.

It’s roughly 500 MILLION years old. All mammals have it.

Learning how to program it is a VERY good idea.

Which is why we CONSTANTLY chat about how to go about doing it. Check outHabits 101, Willpower 101, Objective/Module V of Basic Training and our Mastery Series.

I repeat: If we want to awaken to our true potential, we MUST learn how to use our willpower wisely to install habits that run on autopilot.

With that in mind...

What’s the #1 behavior you could start doing that, if you did it consistently enough to make it a habit, you *know* would most improve your life?

And...

Arguably more importantly...

What’s the #1 behavior you could STOP doing that, if you STOPPED doing it, would most positively change your life?

Let’s have the Wisdom to know the ultimate game we’re playing and the Self-Mastery to actually play that game well TODAY as we do the hard work to move from Theory to Practice to Mastery.

And, I repeat: The Heroic app was architected to help us do EXACTLY this.

Get clarity on who you are at your best. Commit to being that version of yourself TODAY. Then do the things that version of yourself does. Repeat.

Voila. We’ve activated our true potential.

We’re Heroic.

Will power is a good thing.

So is “I won’t" power.

In fact, I repeat: REMOVING THE BAD BEHAVIORS from your life is actually the fastest way to change your life.

InSuper Human, Dave Asprey tells us that Rule #1 of biohacking (and optimizing) is simple:

REMOVE THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU WEAK.

In Head Strong, he uses the metaphor of kryptonite to make his point.

He tells us:“Imagine that you’re Superman (or Superwoman). One day, Lex Luthor pulverizes some kryptonite and sprinkles just a little bit of it around your house. If you eat (or inhale) a small amount of kryptonite dust, it won’t kill you. You’ll still be able to push through the day and save people, you’ll just feel slightly off. In fact, you’ll get used to feeling that way and believe it’s normal. But as you keep ingesting a little bit more kryptonite every day, your ability to help people will slowly, invisibly decline until your body reaches the point where it’s spending all of its energy trying to overcome the effects of the poison.”

Let’s take a moment and reflect on some of the kryptonites in our lives.

We’ll focus on our Big 3.

What are a few things you KNOW could use a little “I won’t" power?

Seriously. Think about it for a moment.

This is my #1 Energy kryptonite: ___________________

This is my #1 Work kryptonite: ___________________

This is my #1 Love kryptonite: ___________________

Remember: “I will power” + “I won’t power” = Your new Heroic SUPERPOWERS.

Each of these last three Ideas is from the same chapter.

I’m deliberately Focusing our Energy here because, I REPEAT, the fastestway to change our lives, and, in this context “Control Your Destiny” so we can “Awaken Your True Potential” is to STOP doing the things that disconnect us from God/whatever you call that Higher Power.

As Richard Rohr tells us (quoting Desmond Tutu in Falling Upward): “We are only the light bulbs and our job is just to remain screwed in!”

With that in mind, let’s continue chipping away at your kryptonites so we can stay screwed in.

We’re going to talk more about the science of behavioral change. Here’s what you need to know.

If you want to STOP doing something, the most important thing you can do is to make the “Prompt/Cue/Trigger” for the bad behavior go away. You need to make it INVISIBLE.

Remember: No prompt, no behavior.

If there’s no alcohol (or sugary drinks!) in your house, you can’t drink it. If your phone isn’t in your pocket or on the kitchen table, you can’t pick it up the SPLIT SECOND you get bored for a SPLIT SECOND when you should be Focusing your Energy on the WIN that is your family.

Again: No prompt, no behavior.

As I read that passage, I also thought of Adam Alter’s wisdom on the most dangerous time for an addict in recovery (which, to be clear, is ALL of us in one way or another).

In Irresistible, he tells us that we need to remember the confronting fact“that it’s impossible to ever completely escape the aftereffects of addiction.”He tells us that our brains are like cucumbers. Once they’re pickled by an addiction, they can’t go back to being a cucumber. PERIOD.

Then he echoes Yogananda: “The most dangerous time for an addict is the first moment when things are going so well that you believe you’ve left the addiction behind forever.”

Finally, I want to talk about making a TRUE VOW.

In Buddhism Day by Day, Daisaku Ikeda tells us:“In any field of endeavor, making a vow is the foundation for achieving something great. If for whatever reason a person gives up halfway or backslides, his or her commitment hasn’t been based on a vow. Halfhearted desire doesn’t amount to a vow.”

Now let’s bring it back to YOU.

What’s the #1 vicious behavior YOU need to eliminate from YOUR life?

Today the day, Hero?

P.S. I love that the character in this story was named “Mr. J.” “Mr. Johnson”, perhaps? Sure. I don’t have a drinking problem but we ALL have our own kryptonites.

As I’ve discussed, my DAD (and HIS dad) DID have a drinking problem. Do you know what his #1 issue was with that? He never admitted it.

He, God bless his soul, never had the Courage to admit that he had an issue with alcohol, so he never had a shot at eliminating the bad habit. He also didn’t have the Wisdom to know how to change his life or the Love from a committed teacher and friends to guide him—all of which is a big part of why I am so committed to serving YOU and your families.

That’s from a chapter called “Choose Freedom, Not Misery.”

How do we choose freedom and not misery?

In a word: We HUSTLE.

As I’ve said, I got into Yogananda because, in his acknowledgments to a book he wrote in 1975, Michael Singer said: “The wisdom of this great Teacher forms the guidance behind all my constructive thoughts and actions.”

The book Singer wrote nearly 50 years ago is calledThree Essays on Universal Law. The three Laws he discusses are The Law of Karma, The Law of Will, and The Law of Love.

The most important of those three Laws is, BY FAR, The Law of Will. It’s only by exercising our WILL that we can create positive Karma and show up with the strength for two via Love.

Which brings us back to Yogananda and his RELENTLESS FOCUS on RELENTLESS EFFORT.

As I’ve said many times, I take the words great Teachers use in their books literally.

When Yogananda says that “the spiritual man must be absolutely free from mental or physical idleness,”I trust that he truly meant “ABSOLUTELY.”

Likewise, when he says that we should “neverlet yourself think that work is too much for you,” I trust that he truly meant “NEVER.”

Michael Singer echoed this wisdom in his Three Essayswhen he tells us: “We should never let a moment of our lives pass where we are not in complete awareness of, and have potential control over, all of the lower aspects of our being.”

Notice the “NEVER” there?

I’ll tell you what. I consider Michael Singer one of the VERY FEW truly enlightened human beings on the planet. And I know that he achieved that state because he’s been following this wisdom with an INCREDIBLE INTENSITY for FIFTY (!!) YEARS.

Back to YOU. Are you ALL IN? Turn up the heat. Activate your Soul Force.

P.S. Know this: “Only by the fire of persistent effort can malignant seeds of past karma be roasted and destroyed. Most people give up hope when the balance of good karma slowly stoops toward them to give fruit, and thus they miss the reward.”

Of course, when I read that, I think of parable of The Golden Buddha.

We talk about it in this +1 on The Golden You and in this +1 on The Golden Buddha: Part II as well. Then there’s this clip from the opening scene of Finding Joe.

The short story?

You’re already perfectly golden.

We just need to chip away at what might be getting in the way and SHINE.

Or, if you prefer a slightly different metaphor, how about some wisdom from another 20th century teacher named Vernon Howard?

In The Power of Your Supermind, he tells us: “It is a mistake for anyone to think he has lived too long in his old, unsatisfactory ways to make the great change. If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret.”

Let’s flip the switch.

And awaken our true potential as we behold the beauty of our own divine nature.

TODAY.