Tag: Health
How The Story You Keep Telling Yourself Is Ruining Your Life
About a year ago, I reconnected with an old school friend.
Although we’d met a few times since leaving, it was the first time in about 15 years that we’d seen each other.
We had a game of tennis, caught up a little, sent some messages on WhatsApp and that was that. However, a couple of months later, when visiting my parents, I heard that my mum had been speaking with his.
What she told me about their conversation shocked me a little and also got me thinking.
There was much my old classmate hadn’t told me.
Even though he was over 40 years old, he was renting a room in a shared house with four other occupants and receiving benefits from the government (this was despite him growing up in a very wealthy family – they had a small lake in their back garden!).
Before we go any further, I must state there’s nothing wrong with renting or receiving government benefits, even if you’re over 40. You might be working on your dream and cutting back on expenses or have temporarily fallen on hard times after a divorce, so I pass no judgment on this living situation. However, neither of these situations applied to my old classmate.
Here’s what did.
The Story
There was a story he kept telling.
When back at school and just after we left, he kept talking about how much he resented his parents.
He was the younger of two brothers and, apparently, the elder was favoured and given the support and concessions he wasn’t. I was even witness to him having arguments with his mum and swearing at her in a way that was uncomfortable to watch.
At school, he didn’t do well academically. Immediately after, he spent a lot of time smoking weed, playing computer games and watching James Bond films.
At this point, my contact with him went from infrequent to non-existent, so I don’t know much about his adult years. However, I distinctly remember him blaming a lot of his failures on his parents and this perceived dynamic where the elder brother was the favourite and he was overlooked.
Hearing this exact same story back from my mum, after she’d met his mum, gave me pause for thought.
In fact, I couldn’t believe it.
It was over 20 years later and my old classmate was still telling “the story,” using it as a justification for his failures and current predicament.
My Story
I spent the rest of that evening in a reflective mood.
I felt sorry for my old friend. Even though we aren’t close, it was sad to hear he’d ended up this way. He was broke, had no job or purpose for his life, was overweight, drank too much and was still going around telling himself and others that his parents had ruined his life.
I couldn’t see the benefit of holding onto this “story.”
Was the absolution of personal responsibility for one’s shortcomings really worth tolerating a shitty life for?
I didn’t think so. However, as I continued the drive home from my parents, I realised he wasn’t the only one telling himself a story.
I also have one.
I’ve been unaware of it until fairly recently but it’s something I’ve been telling myself since I was 11 years old.
It goes something like this.
The world is a horrible place.
It’s full of greedy, materialistic and superficial people. Everyone is out for themselves and nobody gives a shit about you.
This story has its origins in my move to secondary school. I left a small school, with a class of 20 kids, most of whom were my friends, to what seemed like a huge school (but, in reality, was more middle sized) where I felt totally out of place.
I struggled to fit in. Furthermore, it got worse when I went to university and couldn’t stand the excessive drinking culture that was prevalent in the UK at the turn of the millennium.
Post-university, I was totally uninspired by the array of meaningless jobs I was being presented with as potential graduate careers. To my mind, companies and corporations used people, chewing them up and spitting them out with little more than enough to cover living in an overpriced society.
All of these experiences compounded my “story” and developed a need to shelter from the world.
Part of the upshot of this has been positive.
I now live in a semi-isolated development that backs onto some woodland, am my own boss, set my own hours and live a self-determined life. It’s great. However, there’s another side to my story that isn’t so rosy.
Every 6 months, I grade my life out of 10 in four categories – Health, Wealth, Happiness and Relationships. While the first three categories are 10s or 9s, the relationship one always lags some way behind.
After the revelation about my old school friend, I started to understand why.
How are my relationships going to improve when I keep telling myself the world is a cold and horrible place and most people either aren’t worth my time or should be avoided?
They won’t. All they’ll do is stagnate because of the aloofness I’ve developed to protect myself.
Lost Childhood
The experience with my old school friend and discovering my own “story” made me wonder about the wider implications of this concept.
Do we all have a story?
My mind immediately turned to the example of famous person who clearly did.
Michael Jackson.
What was he always saying, in numerous interviews, towards the end of his career and life?
Whether he was talking to Oprah, Martin Bashir or Diane Sawyer, he would keep repeating the same story.
He never had a childhood.
While many kids were out playing and having fun with their friends, he was couped up in a recording studio or performing on stage.
He wasn’t allowed to be a child. Instead, from a young age, he was working like an adult.
As a result of missing out on his childhood, he felt compelled to recreate it in his older years. His home was full of fair ground rides, arcades, candy stores and was frequently visited by children.
That’s fine, you might think, he had the right to live life the way he chose. However, didn’t he then miss out on his adulthood by compensating for the story he kept telling himself about having no childhood?
In his autobiography, Moonwalk, he writes about being the loneliest man in the world. Furthermore, he was unable to form a lasting relationship with either of the women he married, couldn’t sleep in his later years and was addicted to medication to cope with the pain he was going through.
On the surface, his story may have seemed justified but, underneath, it was stunting his development.
Isn’t that what all of our stories do?
We keep telling ourselves that our lives have to be a certain way because of something that happened to us in our formative years. This story then protects us in some way (it absolves us from personal responsibility, keeps us from getting hurt or makes up for something we believe we lost). However, by allowing it to rule our lives, we have to live as lesser versions of ourselves.
Conclusion
Having reached this conclusion, you might think, “why would anyone want to hold onto their ‘story’ regardless of the protection if offers?”
The difficulty is, though, that letting go of your story is not that simple.
Why?
Because every story has an element of truth.
My old school friend probably was overlooked by his parents (to a degree).
I’m probably partially right in my assessment of the world.
Michael Jackson’s childhood wasn’t like any other child’s.
As a result, we don’t see our story for what it is – something we keep telling ourselves that may or may not be relevant anymore – but understand it as a fixed part of our being.
From this perspective, our stories are impossible to give up. We have to keep living by them.
However, I don’t want to anymore.
If I want to move into the next stage of my life and go from sheltered bliss to influential success then I have to change the way I view the world and other people.
I’ve got to start telling myself a new story about how the world is a welcoming place and all people have good in them.
Why not?
If the way you understand your life is just a story of you keep telling yourself then why not create one that’ll allow you to flourish?
GET YOUR FREE COURSE
If you want to discover a passion you can make a living from and overcome the fears that are holding you back, check out my free course 30 Days to Escape The System. Click here to get the course right now! (You’ll find the tips on developing belief and self-confidence fascinating!)
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Related Content
Don’t end up Sleeping in Bed with your Mommy – Escape the System
Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash
7 Massive Lies Society Has Brainwashed You To Believe (rejecting them will make your life better)
At no point in history has the average person had more opportunity than in this current era.
Why then, does the human race appear to be more miserable than ever before (if you use rising medication rates for mental health conditions, lack of connectivity seen through declining birth rates in many developed countries and the increase in the cost of living with the associated difficulties this entails, as a yardstick for wellbeing)?
It’s my belief that this collective misery springs from one source – the societies we live in and their ever-increasing influence over our thoughts, decision making and choices.
Society lies to you.
It tells you there’s a tried and tested path to follow and that, if you do so, life will probably work out ok. However, as seen by the malaise referenced above, for a lot of people, this isn’t the case.
That’s why you need to be aware of the following 7 lies.
While on the surface they may appear to make sense, dig a little deeper and you’ll realise they’re nothing more than a recipe for a life of mediocrity and limitation.
LIE #1: A Good Education Is The Key To Success In Life
Let’s start with the first lie we get told.
Both your parents and teachers will insist that the most important thing you can do in your childhood, and early adulthood, is score good grades both at school and in higher education.
This, they tell you, is the path to securing a good job and making lots of money (or enough money to prevent yourself from struggling through life).
Of course, such advice isn’t completely without merit.
It’s good to be educated. However, education without fostering independence of thought, and an understanding of WHY you’re acquiring knowledge, won’t lead to genuine happiness and success.
Sure, you can take your education and gain access to an array of better paid, and slightly less monotonous, uninspiring jobs, but an education alone is never going to unlock the doors to life fulfilment.
So, what should you do?
More important than your education, is finding something you’re passionate about and putting yourself on a path to be making a living from it in the not-too-distant future.
Make this quest the focus of your life and, as the years and decades pass, you’ll enjoy a level of freedom (and perhaps wealth) that those tied to the stressful and boring jobs their education has earned them, can only dream of experiencing.
LIE N#2: Consumption Makes You Happy
We live in a materialistic age.
Whether it’s an advert on TV, an influencer on Instagram or a friend showing off their latest purchase, the message is the same. If you buy desirable products, your life will improve and you’ll feel happy.
It’s a message we must hear and see over 100 hundred times a day.
Through repetition, we become convinced by the logic of this credo.
Furthermore, there is some merit to the idea.
Buy a new car and you’ll feel great for a month. Eat some fast food and you’ll feel instantly satiated. Take a recreation drug and your mood will improve.
However, the problem with seeking happiness through consumption is that it NEVER lasts.
So, what should you do?
Seek happiness through creation.
Commit to the harder path.
Put all your energy into creating something (a book, an innovative product, a human life) that’s useful and brings joy to other people.
The reward you’ll experience will be long lasting and enrich your soul.
LIE N#3: The Media Keeps You Informed
The mainstream media wants you to believe it’s a force for good.
It lets you know what’s going on in the world and provides you with an array of subjects with which you can hold interesting conversations.
While this may be partially true you must also understand that the media has an agenda and that the information it provides does not paint an accurate picture of the world.
What is this agenda?
Like any other corporation, media companies exist to make a profit.
Through decades of operating, they’ve discovered that the best way to achieve this aim is by presenting their audiences with a mix of fear and sensation.
Pursuing the truth, the ideal upon which journalism was formed, takes a back seat to audience manipulation.
So, what should you do?
Disengage from the mainstream media.
Reduce the amount of time you spend reading or watching the news, browsing the internet and avoid paying for too many subscription services or magazines.
This will help you disconnect from a world of fear, hate and materialism, creating more space in your mind to focus on the goals you want to achieve.
LIE N#4: Doctors Know All The Answers
In western societies, Doctors and scientists are revered as Gods. Their word is final, whether they’re diagnosing an illness, delivering a prognosis or prescribing treatment.
Such status seems reasonable until you remember that doctors are humans and that humans are corruptible, sometimes power hungry and frequently influenced by ulterior motives.
Consider these stats.
- Iatrogenic illness is one of the leading causes of human death.
- Over half the people prescribed medication for mental illness report experiencing either damaging side effects or debilitating withdrawal symptoms.
- Doctors receive hardly any training in nutrition and the medical profession rarely focuses on the prevention of illness (why would it, as this would drastically reduce their customer base?).
So, what should you do?
Of all the lies society tells, this one is the most nuanced.
Doctors clearly do know a lot of answers and DO save numerous lives.
Ignoring them completely would be a foolish. However, placing ALL of your faith in their expertise and adopting an attitude that a doctor is there to “fix” you is also naïve.
YOU MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN HEALTH.
This doesn’t mean rejecting the best that modern medicine has to offer but it does mean prioritising your health in such a way that you reduce the likelihood of ever needing their help.
LIE N#5: The Government Has Your Best Interests At Heart
Politics, and access to political power, isn’t available to everyone.
You need lots of money to become an elected official, the kind of money that most individuals are unable to access.
So, in the US, those running for office must secure the backing of wealthy donors. (In the UK, it’s slightly different as although donors still play a role, members of parliament can sit on the boards of major corporations and receive a salary through holding these positions).
Where do you think these politicians loyalties lie?
It’s not with the people who voted them in. It’s with the individuals and organisations who funded them to appear on the ballot in the first place.
So, what should you do?
Don’t trust your government. It’s not going to help you through life or make the burden of living any more manageable (as this would run counter to the interests of its’ backers).
Instead, you need to educate yourself and become self-reliant.
Refuse to be mediocre (something society will encourage you to do).
Instead, begin strengthening both your character and finances so you’re able to deal with whatever challenges the system puts in your path.
LIE N#6: Retirement Is A Goal Everyone Should Chase
For most people, working life is a cycle of boredom and stress, occasionally interspersed with moments of connection and satisfaction.
As a result, retirement is viewed by society as a watershed moment. It’s the point when you finally get to be free and enjoy yourself.
However, what happens when you get there?
You’ll discover that, because you traded your passions for security, you have little to stimulate you in your newfound free time.
Sure, you could always try doing something new but, because you’re older and burnt out from a lifetime of working a job you didn’t enjoy, you lack the energy to make it anything more than a hobby.
So, what should you do?
Never retire.
Better than that, never start working.
Confucius once said, “Choose a job you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”
If what you do with your days both stimulates you, and provides enough money to make a living, then why stop?
You get to continue the never-ending flow of learning, creating, improving and sharing, regardless of your age.
What could be better?
LIE N#7: You Are Powerless
Society conditions you to conform and live with the belief that your life doesn’t matter.
Who are you compared to the mass of institutions, companies, countries and religions that exist?
Far better, for your own safety and prospects, that you keep your head down, obey the rules and don’t rock the boat.
However, is living this way really the path to a life of happiness and fulfilment?
I don’t believe it is.
You should want to make the most of your almost limitless potential.
In doing so, you’ll discover you’re far more powerful than you’ve been led to believe.
James Allen once said, “The dreamers are the saviours of the world.” An individual, or a collection of individuals, has been behind every major breakthrough in science, technology and civil rights the world has known.
YOU ARE POWERFUL.
Make sure you use your power, and use it for good.
GET YOUR FREE COURSE
If you want to discover a passion you can make a living from and overcome the fears that are holding you back, check out my free course 30 Days to Escape The System. Click here to get the course right now! (You’ll find the tips on developing belief and self-confidence fascinating!)
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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
7 Simple Daily Habits that will Create the Life of your Dreams
Steven Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, once said,
“Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.”
This blog post will challenge you to look into the minutia of your day and question how you spend your time. Then, it will ask for just an hour and a half in implementing 7 simple habits that have the potential to create the life of your dreams.
Is that too much time to ask for?
Is living life on your own terms, getting to do the work you love and spending time with the people you love, worth sacrificing 90 minutes a day for?
I’m sure it is.
Let’s begin.
The Golden Rule when Creating Habits
The following 7 habits all adhere to one simple rule. The actions they require you to take are small enough that you can repeat them EVERY day without impinging on the rest of your life.
Anything extra and life would make these habits too difficult to maintain. You might stick to them for a week but, sooner or later, you’d get busy at work, something would happen with the kids or you’d have a weekend away and everything would be thrown out of sync. After that, you’d lose momentum, struggle to get back into the routine and, ultimately, give up.
That’s why I value DOING LESS when it comes to daily habits.
Get the basics done EVERY SINGLE DAY, build momentum and, with time, watch your life change.
Bear this in mind as you read through the list below. The following 7 actions should become so routine you’re able to maintain them even when taking a vacation.
HABIT 1: Upon waking in the morning, repeat between 3 and 7 important life goals.
This should be the first thing you do upon gaining your senses.
Lie in bed, close your eyes and speak your goals out loud.
Here are some of mine;
- 1 million copies sold (referring to the total number of books I want to sell)
- 1 Tesla car (I want to own)
- 80 kilograms (target weight)
TIP: When repeating these goals, match each one with a vision in your mind. For example, when I repeat 1 million copies sold, I imagine myself celebrating with my arms held aloft.
Also, repeat your goals three times over.
Both the repetition and the visualisation make these goals more believable to your subconscious mind. Their achievement seems REAL and your subconscious will respond with the ideas, and chance encounters, that’ll ensure you reach your destination.
Repeat Habit 1 just before falling asleep at night.
HABIT 2: Make you bed
It sounds like such a simple thing and I’m sure there’s a good chance you already do it, but there’s power in making your first action of the day productive.
Admiral William McRaven writes about this in his book, Make your Bed. The military are big on bed tidiness and for good reason.
You must start the day as you mean to go on.
Making your bed is the foundation for the tasks you’re going to complete later in the day. Furthermore, it gets you out of bed BEFORE you check your phone (reducing your chances of starting your day in the wrong way).
HABIT 3: Do 1 hour’s work on a project you’re passionate about
My advice is to do this as early as possible. If a day job prevents you from completing it in the morning then do the work as soon as you return home. Or, you could try doing 30 minutes before work and then 30 minutes after.
Doing this every single day, without fail, is how you become an expert in a field. Then, once you’re an expert, you can monetise your passion.
Let’s say your passion is writing. You want to monetize your blog or get paid to write articles on Medium.
At the modest rate of writing 400 words per hour, you would complete a new article every 4 days (1500 words is a typical sized blog post although you could go shorter). By the end of the month, you’d have churned out 6 or 7 new compositions.
Do that for a year or two or even three, and something amazing will happen.
First, your writing will improve. Second, you’ll have a trove of useful content with the potential to attract a sizeable audience. Finally, because you’re being consistent and releasing material on a weekly basis, people will be inclined to follow and pay you.
Of course, you might not be passionate about writing and that’s fine. Whatever your vehicle for doing the work you love, commit an hour to it every day.
HABIT 4: Read a non-fiction book for 15 minutes
It doesn’t matter when you complete this habit. It could be lunchtime, after work or before bed.
The reason it must be a NON-FICTION book is because this habit is about learning (not entertainment). Of course, there’s nothing wrong with reading fiction but I suggest you save that for bedtime when you want to unwind.
Pick a genre you’re keen to learn about. Personal development is a great place to start but you could also educate yourself on finance, property, history or art.
I’m a medium paced reader and I tend to read 10 pages in 15 minutes. At this rate, I complete a 300-page book (a typical size for non-fiction) in 30 days.
This means that my daily 15 minute reading habit (which is so easy to maintain), enables me to complete 12 books over the course of a year. I can then use the knowledge I’ve acquired through this reading to improve my business and life.
TIP: Highlight the important sections from your non-fiction book for future reference.
HABIT 5: Find somewhere you can sit, and be silent, for 10 minutes.
Take a break from whatever it is you might be doing and, preferable, find somewhere in nature (a garden or a park will suffice) to sit down and relax.
During these 10 minutes of quiet time, you can either focus on your surroundings or close your eyes.
If you opt to close your eyes, you could then notice your breathing, clear your mind or visualise yourself being successful (or a combination of all three).
Noticing your breathing is a great way of relaxing and recharging. Furthermore, it allows you to experience the benefits of meditation because, when connected to your breathing, you can’t be distracted by your thoughts.
Clearing your mind is another way to meditate. If you haven’t had much practise, you might struggle at first. Thoughts about what you’re eating for dinner later, an argument you had with your girlfriend or boyfriend or chores you need to complete, might disturb your inner peace. Just let them pass through and keep emptying your mind of any disturbances. Eventually you’ll reach a state of calm.
Visualising success is an extension of Habit 1. Think about one of your important life goals and imagine yourself achieving it. Alongside the visualisation, see if you can capture some of the joyful/excited emotions you’ll feel when it comes true.
Whatever you do during your 10 minutes of silence, remember that this is probably the most important part of your day.
Once complete, you’ll feel refreshed. Furthermore, through meditation and visualisation, you’re mastering skills that’ll enable you to live in the now and prime your subconscious for success.
HABIT 6: Eat 5 portions of fruit/vegetables
At the risking of sounding like the government, or your parents, try to make sure you eat a minimum level of these nutrient rich foods each day.
Not only is it going to improve your health but sticking to this habit will stop you from eating junk food. (Take away pizza or fish and chips aren’t going to cut it if it’s approaching dinner time and you haven’t yet eaten your 5 a day.)
Eating 5 a day also helps you bypass the willpower problem when dieting or seeking to eat a healthier diet.
It’s very hard to stick to the promise of saying, “I won’t eat chocolate or I won’t eat X.” This is because your subconscious still hears the word “chocolate” or whatever treat it is you enjoy. However, if you focus on something else – eating more fruit and vegetables – then your attention is focused elsewhere and unhealthy foods become easier to resist.
HABIT 7: Leave your phone in another room before going to bed
This habit has multiple benefits.
First, it assists sleep. By preventing you from scrolling through your phone while in bed, you negate the possibility of staying awake 30 minutes longer than you intended.
This makes a difference to how fresh you’ll feel the next day.
Second, your subconscious is at its most fertile before going to bed. It’s one of the best times to think about how you want your life to be. You’ll go deeper into the emotion of your desired life and this will make your imaginings real to your subconscious.
TIP: If you like listening to music or reading before going to bed, do so on a device separate to your phone. It’s harder to scroll through social media, or your messages, on a Kindle or laptop.
CONCLUSION
Following these 7 daily habits will create the life of your dreams.
Implement them today.
Small changes CAN make a big difference.
GET YOUR FREE COURSE
If you want to discover a passion you can make a living from and overcome the fears that are holding you back, check out my free course 30 Days to Escape The System. Click here to get the course right now! (You’ll find the tips on developing belief and self-confidence fascinating!)
(image used courtesy of Greta Egan’s photostream on flickr.com)
10 Rules for Mastering your Mind (and getting whatever you want from life)
Your mind is your most powerful tool for personal transformation.
Not your diet, not adopting “good” sleeping practices, not some wonder drug and not changing your habits.
Don’t get me wrong, all of the above are important but, when it comes to making a shift that will render you, and your life, unrecognisable to someone who knew you 10 years ago, it’s your mind that’ll have the biggest impact.
This is because, by mastering your mind (with the 10 rules I’m about to give you), you’ll be altering the cause of your environment, circumstances and present bodily conditions, not just dealing with the symptoms.
The following 10 rules have been created from my 20-year journey into exploring, and understanding, the workings of the mind.
This journey began, and was inspired by, some seminal works on the subject (the following are recommended reading if you want to explore further – The Power of your Subconscious Mind, As a Man Thinketh, Think and Grow Rich, The Power of Now, Psycho-Cybernetics, Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting, Becoming Supernatural), over 15 years of working with clients as a hypnotherapist and, most importantly, my own experiments into using this power to change my life.
Rule 1: Focus on what you want
Starting today, think only about the outcomes you want to achieve.
Are you preparing for an important speech, pitch or presentation?
See your audience being wowed. Imagine your words flowing and the information you’re sharing having the desired impact. Think about people coming up to you at the end, or emailing you, and telling you how good your presentation was and how much inf0rmation they gained.
If ever you think about forgetting your lines, how much pressure you’re under or what you stand to lose if the pitch isn’t successful, then banish these thoughts. Instead, focus firmly on one of the positive outcomes above.
Apply this rule to anything you want to achieve.
Rule 2: Create a daily, mind focusing routine
Every day, take time out of your hectic schedule to focus on either achieving the outcomes you desire or living the life you want.
How much time?
Five minutes is sufficient (but you can spend longer if you want).
At present, all I do is repeat seven goals, 3 times over, upon waking up in the morning and going to bed at night.
Here are three of these goals;
- 10,000 copies sold (referring to my book sales)
- 1 Tesla car (that I want to own)
- 80 kilograms in weight (my ideal weight)
This particular approach may, or may not, work for you. It doesn’t matter. There are many different ways you can focus your mind.
You could;
- Relax, close your eyes and spend 5- or 10-minutes visualising what you want to achieve or the life you want live
- Write out, and repeat, a statement (only needs to be a paragraph or two) describing your ideal life and the experience of living it
- Create a DCA (Definite Chief Aim, see Napoleon Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich) and repeat it three times every morning, noon and night
Choose whatever method works best for you (or create your own).
Rule 3: Channel your thoughts when your mind isn’t actively engaged
Alongside your daily mind focusing routine, use the moments when your mind isn’t actively engaged to focus on the outcomes you want to achieve or the life you want to live.
Obviously, this doesn’t apply when working, engaged in a conversation, playing a sport or taking part in a hobby. On these occasions, and many more, your mind should be focused on the task, or person, at hand.
However, at all other times (see list below), you can return your thoughts to the contemplation of the outcomes you want to achieve and the life you want to live;
- Washing the dishes
- Cleaning your house
- Driving your car
- Taking a shower
- Walking to work
- In between points while you’re playing tennis
- In between sets at the gym
Rule 4: Keep your instructions simple
Whether you’re completing your daily mind focusing routine, or channelling your thoughts when your mind isn’t actively engaged, keep it simple.
Whenever you focus your thoughts, you’re giving an instruction to your subconscious mind. This part of your mind responds best when fed with clear, concise directions.
For example, if you want to recover from any kind of ailment, or disease, then you would repeat, over and over again (until you receive the outcome you desire) instructions and affirmations like,
- Perfect health
- I am healing
- My body works perfectly
- Health
Alter your instructions depending on the objective you want to achieve.
Rule 5: Make your thoughts visual
To make a greater impression on your subconscious mind, create a visual accompaniment to the thought you’re thinking.
For example, with the mind focusing routine mentioned in Rule 2, I link each outcome to a visual image.
- For 10,000 book sales, I think about writing the number ten thousand down in a diary where I keep track of my sales
- For owning a Tesla car, I imagine myself getting into a black Model 3 and noticing the distinctive interior
- For getting down to 80 kilograms, I see myself with visible abs
All of these images are meaningful to me. Find the ones that trigger a similar reaction in you.
Rule 6: Make your thoughts resonate
There must be an emotional connection with the thoughts you’re thinking and the images you’re visualising. Without this vital ingredient, your thoughts are powerless and will lack the ability to influence your subconscious mind.
It’s estimated that we think around 6,000 thoughts a day. Very few of these have any impact on the direction of our lives. However, if you can inject a thought with a powerful positive emotion then it can bring you the outcome you desire (BEWARE: This works just as well for powerful negative emotions).
In his book, Becoming Supernatural, author Dr Joe Dispenza tells his readers to, “continuously fall in love” with their vision for the future. This is how powerful your emotions need to be.
Rule 7: Learn to live in the now
For peak performance, and to prevent anxiety from holding you back, learn to live in the now.
If ever you find yourself distracted by mindless mental chatter, or worrying about the possibility of something going wrong, ask yourself this question, “Where am I now?”
And then answer it.
Notice everything around you and describe it, either out loud or in your head.
This simple practise forces you out of your head and into the world. As a result, you’ll be able to give all of your attention to whatever it is you’re doing and perform at your best. Furthermore, your fears won’t escalate and prevent you from taking the action necessary to move your life forwards.
Rule 8: Ignore your negative voice
Over the course of an average day, your critical voice is going to throw all kinds of negative statements at you in response to what you’re doing.
It’ll tell you that;
- You’re not good enough
- You’re ugly
- You’re going to fail
- You should give up
- You’re too old to do something
- You’re too young to do something
- Other people won’t like you or what you have to offer
ALL OF THESE STATEMENTS ARE A LIE.
In his book, The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle explains that there are two competing forces in our minds.
The first is the “I,” which is our essence, represented by our personality, emotions and dreams.
The second is the “self,” which is artificial, represented by our internal dialogue.
Tolle teaches us to separate these two entities. Understand that your “self” isn’t who you are. It’s just a very annoying voice, attempting to sabotage the good you intend to create.
Therefore, you must NEVER listen to this voice. Instead, ignore it and, eventually, it’ll weaken and go away.
Rule 9: Don’t overload your mind with multiple information streams
We live in an age where it’s possible to avoid any type of silence or deeper thought.
We have podcasts, the radio or Spotify to listen to. We have Netflix, YouTube or the cinema to watch. And, if we ever need to be distracted, we have social media or the internet, to browse through.
It’s now possible to continuously jump from one information stream to another without ever having to engage in the practise of disciplining your mind or focusing your thoughts.
This isn’t healthy. While there’s nothing wrong with doing any of the above, you must set aside time every day (in addition to your daily, mind focusing routine) to be alone with your thoughts and direct them towards your higher purpose.
Rule 10: Feed your mind with inspiration
You don’t have to do all the heavy lifting.
For the occasions when you’re struggle to motivate yourself, use inspiring songs, movies and books to provide the boost you need.
- Create a motivational music playlist
- Watch the movies that connect you with your life purpose
- Read the books that make you believe anything is possible
Do whatever you can (excluding becoming dependent on drugs) to get yourself in an inspired, high-energy state.
What’s the payoff?
Follow all 10 of these rules and something incredible will happen.
Your subconscious mind will respond by providing you with the ideas, chance encounters and peak states that will enable the realisation of your dreams.
The power to change your life is within you. Your mind can either set you free, or cage you through the forces of fear, confusion and self-doubt.
Faithfully follow the rules above, and give yourself enough time to master them, and there’s no force in the universe that can prevent you from getting to where you want to go.
GET YOUR FREE COURSE
If you want to discover a passion you can make a living from and overcome the fears that are holding you back, check out my free course 30 Days to Escape The System. Click here to get the course right now! (You’ll find the tips on developing belief and self-confidence fascinating!)