I Will Not Die

I want to talk to you briefly about how to regain those blissful moments–sometimes fleeting moments–in our lives when we feel the awakened beast from within. The awakened what? Am I mad? (I think we’ve covered this): unconventional, atypical, off the beaten path, off the rocker, anti-routine taking madman–nuts, crazy, odd–whatever you choose to call it, I’ll be glad to endorse it. But those moments during which we all know we are our own artisans in the making of life-defining movements toward our goals. Those moments filled with heart-pounding, adrenaline flushed kickboxing brawls up the mountainside. Those moments when we expertly navigate our radio chatter filled cockpits at full-throttle through heart-stopping maneuvers up over the cliffs and down within feet of the valley floors. You know, those moments.

To regain those moments of monstrosity-defined acts of our own wills where we tackle our objectives with the full forces of deepest passions, we must, first and always, set our eyes on clear targets. We must take even just a brief moment or two and envision our entire life extended out before us empty and without what it is we want; and once that empty field comes to our mind’s eye as the first sign of a tragic life, we must blink it away. The beginnings of tears will be the fuel we inject directly into our blood before we take that deep and knowing breath that comes to the prepared and determined fighter which is then cast out through mouth and nostril beneath two furrowed brows and bloodshot eyes. This is war.

Then spread the feet and clench fists. Summon that manly beast from within. What stands now before you is no easy fight, but instead the longest, most brutal fight for next thousands of days to come. Are you up to that challenge now? Your enemy is your future, your life ahead, your fate, your destiny–to do as you please–but to do that you must fight and claw and move. Your sweat, your pain and your battered fists are the only badges you will receive–but we haven’t much time. We must move, must move, now move!

Dereck :: Jun.23.2008 :: Motivation :: No Comments »

Do you want to know what prevents most people from achieving their dreams? Them. One of the most frequent obstacles people face when they try to reach their dreams is actually not a full-fledged obstacle at all. It’s just the way they are viewing the problem in the first place. In other words, the way they view the problem becomes a bigger problem than the problem. In a nutshell, they view the problem as something “other” making their dream a distant object, one that must be arrived at from some distance. For example, if someone wants to own their own business, they think of the day far off from now when they hope to have one. Their dream, owning a business, is far removed from them. They picture the problem as something far off, and so, it becomes something unreachable. Combating that is somewhat simple, but because it’s not something we necessarily do naturally, it’s often overlooked. Want proof? Keep reading (this article will only take you a few minutes to read).

Here’s how to become what you want to become:

Visualize the successful “future you” today

To start this, write down a single sentence that describes what it is you want to become, or who you want to be. It’s important that it not be complicated. Short and sweet. Ideally, it should look something like these: “I am a business owner” or “I am a successful executive” or even “I am a wealthy person” or “I am a healthy person.” Now as you go about your day, repeat your sentence to yourself throughout the entire day. Also, say it to yourself several times right before you go to sleep. Soon, even within just a day or two, your brain will begin to identify yourself as being, now, what it is you ultimately want to become. You will blur the line between today and tomorrow. Your brain will soon begin to help you more easily make decisions throughout each day that will step you toward your goal. So, if you are overweight, and your sentence is “I am a healthy person,” as you go along each day telling yourself you are healthy, you might skip a meal or two, drink water instead of soda, or throw some veggies in your lunch before you head off to work. Suddenly, you are a healthy person, making healthy decisions.

Tell everyone you know about the new you

Tell your spouse, coworkers and friends your sentence or some variation of it. If you want to own a business, tell your friends that you just started one. Make it seem as though your day job was just a secondary afterthought now. As you go through your day, you’ll start saving capital for your business, you’ll be thinking of new ideas for your business, new ways to market it, how you want to run it, etc. So much of your mental energy will be going to your business, and before you know it, you’ll be selling your service and running your business even if only on a small scale.

Modify if necessary and repeat

If you find that your sentence wasn’t specific enough or wasn’t accurate, you can change it up a little from time to time. Freshen it up once a week or so, or even add more detail to it, and continue the process. Add some qualifiers or adjectives. It’s important to not keep it perfectly the same. Keep making it better so that it will make you better.

Proof that this works

Did you know that in the matter of only a few weeks I’ve managed to make this blog as popular and as well-traveled as most blogs that have been around for years? How do you think I did that? Do you think I have some natural “blogging” skill genetically woven into my DNA? I don’t think so. Twenty some odd years ago I was crawling around on the floor the same way as every other baby. Once I decided to begin blogging about my experience overcoming the obstacles I have faced in my own life, I began telling myself “I am a successful blogger.” I eat, sleep and dream it. I tell people about my blog. I made “successful blogging” one of the main things I identify myself as. What do successful bloggers do? They write. They write things that others will want to read. So you know what? Everywhere I go, guess what I’m doing? I’m always writing down things and thinking through my next articles. I eat, sleep and dream about what new and useful things I can share with my readers just like you. And, before I knew it, I had done just what I set out to do, I wrote lots of things that readers want, then I got traffic and now I have a successful blog.

This isn’t the only time I’ve been able to do this effectively either though. In college for instance, I always hated classes like biology. I knew this going into to the class, so I would tell myself “I am a successful biology student.” I would say it over and over again. What makes a successful biology student? Well, presumably, a student who studies biology effectively, memorizes all the boring crap, and gets As on all the tests. So before long, I had so identified myself as a successful biology student that I was studying more effectively, I wasn’t thinking of it as boring, and I was learning it well and getting As on all the tests. And guess what? I got the highest grade in the class. 104%. And this was a subject that I hated.

Here’s another example. A few years ago, before I went back to school the last time, I wanted to work for myself. I wanted to repair computers for a living. Of course, when I started out I had nothing. I didn’t know squat about starting a computer repair business. However, I began telling myself, “I am the owner of a successful computer repair company.” After only a few days, I started doing everything right. I began advertising my business, making inexpensive flyers, working my pricing schedule, etc. I was doing everything an owner of a computer repair business would be doing. In just a few weeks, I was getting sporadic clients, and they were impressed enough with my service that I began getting clients from my clients. By identifying myself as the owner of a successful computer repair business, I immediately was one.

(Have you tried this method? Has it worked for you? Are you considering trying this method? If so, I encourage you to go to the site’s forum. Let’s start a thread on this in the “blog reactions” section so we can share our experiences. There are only a few members, so by joining you can help the community grow).

Dereck :: Jun.22.2008 :: Motivation, Success :: 23 Comments »