Myrko Thum

Wu Wei – Stop Trying Too Hard

2012-05-07T22:04:27Z

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” ~ Lao Tzu

For some Personal Development seems to mean a lot of hard work, or even the opposite of how they would like to live. While it is good to have some challenges, the real mastery comes when things get easy again. By easy I don’t mean no problems, I mean that life flows naturally as in the principle of Wu Wei.

Wu Wei - Action of Non-Action

Wu Wei (chinese, literally “non-doing”) is an important concept of Taoism and means natural action, or in other words, action that does not involve struggle or excessive effort. Wu wei is the cultivation of a mental state in which our actions are quite effortlessly in alignment with the flow of life. This going with the flow, although it may be greatly productive, is characterized by great ease where we spontaneously act perfectly.

This means that we do the right thing effortlessly and spontaneously, without trying.

What does Wu Wei really mean?

It sounds a bit like magic!? But if you think about it, haven’t you experienced such a state yourself already? A state where things just flow and you almost lose track of time? When you become one with your world and what you do seems to come out of very naturally? You are in the zone.

But the moment we actively think about what we are doing, this states seems to get compromised. This state is clearly above thinking. Or – if you don’t like this idea – it is on another level than action by thinking. Wu Wei is something different than the directive action coming out of desires and goals. I think this motivation is equally perfect and it doesn’t compete with being and acting from the flow. But on the other hand I think to be aware of that state brings the best of two worlds together.

Wu Wei vs. Laziness

Sometimes the idea of going with the flow is understood as laziness, of not doing what is necessary. This is not what Wu Wei means. Laziness is usually not the right action, but more often than not an expression of procrastination. Wu Wei means the right action in any given situation, action that flows naturally because we are connected to the flow of life.

That means when you go with the flow and are just lazy, maybe being lazy is not the right thing to do at the moment. Maybe it is, and then it is perfectly fine. If you know better and are still lazy, that is not Wu Wei. There is a big difference.

How can we reach such a mental state?

1. Getting in the Flow. First I think we can get into flow by intensely focussing on what we do. By that we merge with what we are doing. Time seems to vanish and we become one with what we do. Our actions are of highest quality and feel effortless. That’s flow:

From “How to Develop a Laser-Sharp Mental Focus”:
If we focus with great intensity and for a certain period of time we come into a state of flow. In sports many call it The Zone, when you are so focused that you become one with what you do in the moment . Time vanishes. It is like we totally forget anything around us. In that state we are most effective and that surprisingly without too much effort. For me it is without doubt the greatest and final kind of mental focus we can achieve:

1. Focus with intensity on your task, dive totally into it and become one with it
2. Do it for a reasonable period of time, at least 15, better 30 minutes
3. Avoid any distractions by creating the necessary environment

2. Clear your mind. When there is too much thinking going on, natural flow is very difficult. Compulsive thinking closes the door to the state where Wu Wei can happen. Often it helps to just take a break. Get out of your normal environment and get away from it all to reconnect. Get in touch with nature.
It can also help to realize that we are not our mind. If thoughts come that are distracting and clearly not helpful, try to not react to them and simply let go of them. They come and go …

3. Personal Development. The third way is more profound and long-term. I think growing personally by working on ourselves and especially our minds we will naturally grow and increase our self-awareness. I think this brings us to the state of being, the mental state in which Wu Wei happens.
Any personal development we do is obviously an investment into ourselves, and I think eventually it will open our minds, show us more perspectives on different views and make us more compassionate and helpful towards others. It will increase our self-awareness as a side-effect of personal growth.

4. Growing Awareness Consciously. The fourth way is to consciously grow awareness. You can do this by reading mind-opening and spiritual books. Meditation is a common practice which helps to clear your mind.

Stop Procrastination the Easy Way in just 5 Minutes

2012-04-25T13:56:38Z

Procrastination is opportunity’s assassin. ~ Victor Kiam

Today I want to tackle a common problem we all have, probably regularly. It’s the habit of putting things off that we should do: procrastination. And I think I have a simple and sweet solution to stop procrastination at the end of this post. And all that without any time-management stuff …

Why do we procrastinate in the first place?

There are basically 2 simple reasons why it happens: The first is fear and the second is inertia, which is more commonly known as laziness. Both often work hand in hand very nicely to keep us from making reasonable progress.

The fear is probably about something potentially unpleasant, like going to the dentist when you know you should, or preparing for a public speaking. The classic for “Feel the fear and do it anyway”.

This fear can also come as fear of not being good enough or the idea that the result will not good enough. This desease is generally known as perfectionism. This is especially true if we see what we want to do clearly but it just gets too overwhelming in our head. Where should we start?

Inertia aka Laziness sets in whenever we feel there is something much more pleasant to do. And the next best thing is always just around the corner, right? It is not so easy to get something in motion. But once it is in motion, it is much easier to keep it going …

How to Stop Procrastination in 5 Minutes

Ok, here goes … I’d like to solve your procrastination problem with a simple thinking pattern. Answer those 3 questions:

1. Is what you procrastinate really important, will you do it eventually?

If you answer no, then just drop it (or continue procrastinating) and move on to something more important. It’s often right to say “Yes” to only a few things and to say “No” to all the rest. Problem solved.

If you answer yes, then answer…

2. What is nice and rewarding after you did it? Why do you want it?

Think about it. Make it really big in your head. See it visually. Feel how good it feels. Write it down.

Also if you like: think about how awful things could turn out if you don’t get it done. This can help as well, although it creates negative emotions of course. But now you can use them in your own favor.

Then turn to your nice feelings when you have it. And answer…

3. What is the one thing that you could do now?

Confucius says “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” And right he is. What is the one single thing you could do right now? It can be anything really tiny. Because that is the first step to get you into the flow. That’s not hard to figure out, isn’t it? If you have it, then do it now.

And then … you have successfully stopped procrastination. Voilà!

What is Personal Development?

2012-04-13T18:35:58Z

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” ~ Carl Gustav Jung

Yesterday I was at a birthday party of one of my best friends, who just turned 30. One of the guests asked me what I currently do, so I told him I’m building something in Personal Development …

… which earned me a blank stare from him! As the seconds ran by I could literally see him articulating the question: “What is Personal Development?”

So I was trying to find common ground by telling him Personal Development is a bit like Self-Help, but more proactive from my perspective. Just like Self-Improvement, which he had an understanding for. The fact that he obviously was lacking some real personal development of his own, got me into elaborating on the topic more and more, earning more and more interest from him…

A Definition of Personal Development

For me, Personal Development is the continuous progression of personal growth by expanding my self-awareness and improving my personal skills.

Those skills include my mind, my body, my spirit as well as my level of success in all areas of life, however I may define that. The ultimate goal of Personal Development for me is to be a self-realized human being. That means living consciously at my full potential and reaching real happiness in my life.

By progression I mean that there are essential steps to take when starting out with Personal Development. I believe that in the process of personal growth there are specific milestones to reach, and that without tackling these, personal growth is not really possible or at least not complete.

Maybe you are still not convinced that Personal Development is for you and you may still ask “Why?” The reason is simple: Life is just better when we have done work on ourselves. And that includes our mental, physical, emotional, social and financial life. I think it’s fair to say: Personal Development makes you happier. You can’t really argue with that goal…

How to Start Personal Development

So how can you get started on your own journey of personal growth. Or if you have already started to consciously follow personal development, how can you get to the next level? During my now over 10 years work on that topic, I identified several of those milestones mentioned above.

There is the basic motivation to improve yourself. It’s either coming from inspiration and you are looking to get better than you already are, or it comes out of desperation: something unpleasant challenges you to grow. For instance, what brought you here today?

One of the first things you need is something I would sum up as acceptance. Acceptance means to see your life / your situation as it really is and accept that. Stop rationalizing things you are truly unhappy about and tell yourself the truth. That may also mean you have to look at areas of your life where it really can be painful to accept the status quo. If you connect to the truth you have laid the most important basis to really grow. You have to know where you stand. From there you can move forward. Without that it’s just not working. Period.

I think the most essential things in Personal Development deal with how you look at the world and how you see yourself in the world, which then determines how you act in the world. Are you a victim or a winner? Do you see yourself as self-confident or not? Are you in control or not? Are you successful? Are you happy or not, and in what parts of your life.

Making the Unconscious Conscious

Much of it is about making the unconscious conscious. That’s what this blog is really all about (and then to do the work). It’s always the first part to become conscious of how we really work on the inside. Only then we can get control over it. For instance the idea from above of telling yourself the truth, acceptance, is just the same: to make the unconscious reality, that we may have ignored before, conscious. Just that we can make progress now, while before it wasn’t even on our radar – in was just unconscious.

In psychology this is called the four stages of competence:

Quote from Wikipedia:

Unconscious incompetence
The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognise their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.

Conscious incompetence
Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.

Conscious competence
The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.

Unconscious competence
The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become “second nature” and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.

Makes sense. And in Personal Development we are talking about this process for our whole personality. During this process we make unconscious beliefs that limit us conscious (see my article How to Change Self-Limiting Beliefs). We take responsibility for ourselves and stop pointing to others for results that we are responsible for. (see Take Responsibility in Your Life). This moves us back to power again, since we are the one in the driving seat. We are response-able, which enables us to dream again, set a life-vision and set some exciting new goals for our life (see The Fastest Way to Set Motivating Goals).

We learn to get more energy (see How to Increase Your Energy) and how to use it intelligently. We get more self-awareness and improve our mental focus (see How to Develop a Laser-Sharp Mental Focus).

There are a lot of more things to improve in our own personal growth. But with those mentioned tackled, I think we start to lay a strong the foundation for Personal Development.

So, next time someone asks me ”What is Personal Development?” I may just give him a link to this post.

And coming back to the question, what would you have said?
What is Personal Development for yourself?

How to Build Self-Confidence

2012-04-12T15:24:12Z

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Everybody wants to have self-confidence. Companies want self-confident people. Women want self-confident men and vice versa. Self-Confidence gives you the ability to show your full potential and to be what you want to be. It is a core part of personal development.

I would even say it’s like a little framework for personal growth since everything we think and do influences our self-confidence. Then, like a feedback loop, self-confidence influences our actions, actions lead to results which again influence our self-confidence.

What is Self-Confidence?

Self-Confidence is a state of mind. It is our own attitude towards ourselves, our belief in what we are capable of. It is our perceived certainty that we have what it takes. We express it in our body-language, in what we say, in how we say it and how we handle any given situation. Self-Confidence is also closely linked to Self-Esteem, which is our self-image and determines how much we value ourselves. Improving self-confidence usually improves our self-image as well, which is true for personal development in general.

But how can we build up our own self-confidence?

Especially if there is this feeling of being inferior or “not enough”, which can really hinder us from bringing the best to the table. Is it something we are born with or can we learn it, even when adult? How can we build up self-confident states, so that we are full of confidence, radiating it with every cell of our body?

Long-Term Self-Confidence vs. “Tricks”

With self-confidence I mean mostly long-term confidence in yourself. The knowing that you are more than enough, for yourself and for others, no matter what happens. The idea that you are capable of achieving what you set your mind to. When something goes wrong or despite your best efforts you make a mistake, you know that this is part of the game-plan. You will learn from that and make it better next time. It is something that sustains over time, not a temporal push-up that could be reached with several tricks.

Those tricks, like wearing the right clothes, walking tall or using a lot of affirmations (“I’m a self-confidence in person”) have their place. This “Fake it till you make it” approach can help, especially when we start out building self-confidence.

But those are not enough and essentially not what I would call “real” self-confidence, the general confidence in your abilities and possibilities, regardless of a certain situation.

Real Self-Confidence

You develop real self-confidence by knowing and applying yourself. It comes from making you do difficult things. That means accumulating meaningful Accomplishments. And from following your heart and being 100% true to your inner self. That means having Integrity as one of your highest values and never compromise on it.

Here are my best advices to build real and lasting self-confidence:

Get Competent
Get competent at something you like, anything you have a real passion for. It helps if it’s also interesting for other people, since then you could get their appreciation on top. Essentially you will be self-confident when you are competent in your field and subsequently have successes. Those accomplishments are one of the main sources to naturally build up self-confidence. So one of the best ways to build self-confidence is to put your mind into a topic that you really like and get good at it. You will have fun while doing it and you will be proud of yourself. Feeling really proud of yourself is the best indicator that you are on the right track. Because only you know your own standards and when you fulfill them, you get this feeling of sincere proud. That gives you self-confidence.Of course this self-confidence will first be attached to the topic and not yet on a general level. Don’t make the mistake of becoming a geek who thinks this one topic he mastered is all there is. But use this good feeling that comes from being competent as a model to broaden your self-confidence to other areas of your life.

Challenge Yourself
To be really proud of yourself and build self-confidence you need to challenge yourself from time to time. That means to get out of the comfort-zone. The comfort-zone is a dangerous thing. It’s the big enemy of any accomplishment and eventually leads to underachievement and failure. The comfort-zone starts feeling easy and comforting, and usually when we are somewhat satisfied with the status-quo. But it doesn’t last long and soon complacency creeps in. Then follows boredom and then frustration and unhappiness with yourself, which lowers self-confidence. Avoid the comfort-zone by challenging yourself to higher standards. Don’t live by standards of other people, you are the only one that knows what is good enough for you. Take the risks involved to get to the next level by trusting that if you give all you can only something good can be the result. Again, if you are really proud of yourself you know you are on the right track.To challenge yourself, start by setting goals for what you really would like to have.

Confront Your Fears
Fear is the great enemy of self-confidence. It is the main reason why we are undermining and sabotaging our very best intentions. Confronting fears means also having and developing courage. Taking courage to look at your fears builds that courage-muscle. Fear is showing in different manifestations, not necessarily in a dramatic way. Often it we see it in our own rationalizations, when we talk us out of what is good for us. Another way fear shows its ugly face is by procrastination. “I do it later” or “I have no time” or “I just have to finish watching this funny Video first”… instead doing what is best for us. Confronting fears has a tremendous power to build up self-confidence. For me it often helps to produce more clarity, especially to break phases of procrastination. Setting a clear goal for myself and then setting focus on that task alone breaks the habit of procrastination out of fear of failure.

Train Your Mind
Being good at something makes us self-confident. What could be better than being good with your own mind. Being intelligent, being knowledgeable, being able to understand things easily all improves self-confidence regarding your own mind. Needless to say, a strong mind is a great requisite for success.
How to do it? Read! Read books or hear audiobooks about topics you are interested, good literature or blogs about Personal Development ;-) Corny but it’s true: play games like chess or learn the guitar. Learn meditation. Above all, follow your purpose and your heart, this will challenge your mind for sure.

Use Your Physical Body
The way you use your body speaks loud and clear. Body language is a strong communicator of your state of self-confidence. Is your posture straight and tall? Are you holding you head up? Are you using the space around you? Are you smiling? Are you comfortable?
But it also works the other way around. If you want to feel more self-confidence use your physical body to influence your mind! Set up a friendly smile. Stand tall. Be energetic. Make eye contact. Speak clearly.

Focus on What’s Right
Focus on what you do good and on what you want. Mostly unconsciously it happens that we have negative thoughts about ourself or the situation we find ourselves in. Instead focus on your past successes, your personal strengths, focus on what is right, instead of the negative in your life and then build on that. It shows what you can do, instead of what you can’t. Focus on opportunities instead of problems. It’s encouraging and creates a path for your self-confidence to thrive. One way is again to have clear written goals which will focus your attention on that what you want.

Know Yourself: Build Self-Awareness
To know yourself means building your self-awareness and creating more inner space. The very best way to know yourself is self-reflection. Give yourself time to discover your motives, fears, change limiting beliefs. Start a personal journal. It helps you to get competence in a very important area: yourself. In other words, you feel more in control of yourself: more conscious of what is happening inside you and you can choose consciously how to respond in any given situation. You know you can trust yourself, you are in control, and that is part of being self-confident. Knowing yourself, in the way I see it, includes staying 100% true to yourself. You do not compromise on your inner values. You will stay true to what you know to be right. This is building character and having integrity. To have Self-Confidence on the outside, we need integrity on the inside. Remain true to yourself.

AwakeBlogger becomes MyrkoThum.com

2012-04-08T21:36:21Z

There has been a lot of silence here lately. And if you haven’t already noticed, I changed the name of my website from AwakeBlogger.com to MyrkoThum.com (my real name). One reason is that I think it can still look a bit unprofessional to carry the word “blogger” in the name. Awakeblogger has served his purpose until now, but I really want to make something new from here going forward.
The other reason is with using my real name comes also more commitment. And while there haven’t been updates lately, I’m now in the process of putting a lot more effort into this site.

While spirituality will still be an important part of my content, I want to focus much more on the personal development part for the month to come. With articles like Take Responsibility, Change Self-Limiting Beliefs or Ignite Your Burning Desire I already posted about basic personal development steps and I want to follow this path, hopefully adding more depth to the topics.

Important ways of communication will be:

A) My Free Newsletter – Please sign up just below this post!

and

B) My Facebook Page, which you can like in order to get the most important updates on Facebook

Unfortunately I can’t transfer the old likes from my old AwakeBlogger Facebook Fanpage, so I would like to ask you to kindly re-connect via Like with the New Facebook Page.

So please bookmark MyrkoThum.com and if you are a webmaster and have links to my old site under awakeblogger.com, please update those to the new url, thanks.

Next in line will be an article about building self-confidence, so stay tuned … :-)

Finding the Right Career (Part 2)

Top 10 Inspirational Dalai Lama Quotes

2012-04-12T17:03:12Z

This is actually a post I started back in late 2008 but somehow never finished. I posted a lot of commented quotes on this site so far, and it’s funny how those get a lot of interested readers both from search engines and social media …

The reason for me posting them is that many quotes are a kind of essence of what these intelligent and wise people learned throughout their lives. That’s why I also think it’s very worthwhile to think about them ourselves. I studied “The Art of Happiness” by the Dalai Lama already here, and here are the best 10 Dalai Lama quotes …

1. “In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.”

That’s a very powerful quote. Only by being true to yourself you can make progress to being free. Truth is the ultimate fire that burns down everything that is false and opens the way toward happy states.

2. “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”

On the one hand that shows that religion at it’s core can be very simple. It is important that this kindness is very powerful and is not coming from a weak state. Instead it’s a natural expression coming from a well developed mind. And it is the basis for being successful together.

3. “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”

Helping others provides ultimate happiness.

4. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

That points to the reality that without love and compassion, humans can’t feel connected and can’t recognize themselves in another. Therefore selfish behavior against “the other” could potentially destroy even this planet. Feeling this connection on the other hand makes it easy to live successful together.

5. “With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.”

Only if you have truly worked on yourself and got the best out of yourself, you will not only be much more happier and realize your human potential, this will also give you a strong self-confidence. Using this will naturally have a positive impact on others and can build a better world.

6. “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”

You won’t get happy by laziness. But it can flow naturally from right actions. For those you have to learn and act, and then learn from that experience again. In other words: do personal development.

7. “When you think everything is someone else’s fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realize that everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy.”

Pointing out the mistakes of others, making them responsible for your current “bad situation” is the easy way out. But not really of course. Since that moves you into the powerless corner, where you basically have no control over your life anymore. Taking complete responsibility for yourself and your own environment gives you the ability to influence your life the way you want it. While it can be hard at first, this is a true move to power and the necessary first step in your personal growth.

8. “If you don’t love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others.”

True change comes from inside of yourself. In order to love someone on the outside you first have to love yourself. You basically can’t give what you don’t have. So cultivate love and compassion for yourself.

9. “Through violence, you may ‘solve’ one problem, but you sow the seeds for another.”

10. “Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.”

Both quotes are based in ignorance, that means in having a selfish and narrow perspective on things. It’s not thinking Win-Win, but thinking Win or Win-Lose. Which ultimately leads to a Lose Situation.
The Dalai Lama: “I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed.”
Only by broadening our perspective, including seeing the world through the eyes of the other, and by educating and improving ourselves we can remove ignorance.

Outro by the Dalai Lama:

“When I meet people in different parts of the world, I am always reminded that we are all basically alike: we are all human beings. Maybe we have different clothes, our skin is of a different colour, or we speak different languages. That is on the surface. But basically, we are the same human beings.

Human beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering. With that
feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering, and everyone has the basic right to do this. In this way, all here are the same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner, believer or non-believer, and within believers whether Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and so on. Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value we are all the same.

Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself. It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer.

How can we eliminate the deepest source of all unsatisfactory experience? Only by cultivating certain qualities within our mindstream. Unless we possess high spiritual qualifications, there is no doubt that the events life throws upon us will give rise to frustration, emotional turmoil, and other distorted states of consciousness. These imperfect states of mind in turn give rise to imperfect activities, and the seeds of suffering are ever planted in a steady flow. On the other hand, when the mind can dwell in the wisdom that knows the ultimate mode of being, one is able to destroy the deepest root of distortion, negative karma and sorrow.”

The Goal Achiever – A New Business Idea

2012-04-10T10:55:15Z

After a 9 year internet business, I’m currently thinking about starting a new internet based business that is very close to my heart. It’s about personal development and especially about goal achievement and it would be interesting to hear your thoughts about this (reading and commenting this).

Motivation

About 5 years ago I really started to set very strong goals for myself. I wanted to get everything that is possible out of myself, remove any limits and become the best I can be.
I changed my habits and thoughts about what is possible. I started to exercise regularly in order to get more energy. I set goals for 3 years, for the year and for 3 month and made action-plans to achieve them. I integrated the actions into my daily schedule and worked them.
There is an interesting effect if you set your mind to clear named goals that really motivate you. You get very focused and see more and more of what is possible. The challenge of course is to channel this focus and energy so that you make real progress and get productive results …

The Courage To Dream

It takes courage to dream and set those dreams to goals. You have to believe in yourself, even if others tell you that you are nuts. But we all have the ability to fulfill the dreams we have buried deep down. If you take the courage to get them to the surface, I mean the real dreams, those that give you a big smile on your face if you think about them (even if you try not to smile), those that make you really proud about yourself inside.
Those are not necessarly the dreams that society suggests you to achieve. They are the dreams that you really want.

Getting Them Out and Setting Goals

So the basic idea with this new personal development business is to get you to defince your dreams as goals. And then achieve them, step by step, by defining those steps in actions and setting time-frames for it.

The Goal Achiever Tool

The central tool will guide you gently through the process of getting your dream out and setting it as a goal. Then it will guide you to create a step by step action-plan that you can execute regularly. The web-based tool will be there as your personal coach and constant reminder of what you set out to be your goal and help you to get it. While doing your action-plan you come closer to your goal everyday and when you are done, you will have achieved your goal.

One of the most important things in achieving our goals is to follow through every day. This means firstly to keep your goal present in your mind. And secondly to take action as planned.

So there are two basic values this tool will give you:

1. define your goal and so making the very first step to achieve it by crystalizing it
2. do the follow-through with you by constantly remembering and guiding you towards the goal using your action-plan

Why do you want your goal that bad?

I’m also thinking about providing additional motivation that the tool would use. First thing is positive motivation. Why do you want it, what’s so great and cool about it. How will your life improve when you achieve it and most importantly, how will you feel then?

Secondly there has to be a negative motivation as well. Because if we like it or not: negative things have a great power to motivate us because we want to avoid them at all costs, right?

So how will it feel if you don’t get your goal? What negative consequences will be there? What are you missing out on? Will you be disappointed with yourself? Will others be disappointed with you?
And then we go back to the positive side and see in our mind how it will feel if we have it.

More about the Goal Achiever

Those reminders, which you will set yourself for you, will be there via email, mobile texts and of course on the website (and possibly ona iPhone and iPad application).

The tool on the website is the central place where you will do your working and reporting for your goal until you are there. It will be flexible, so you can change your action plan of course.

It’s also important that you get smaller achievements, so your goal will be split into some subgoals which you can achieve regularly. Let’s say your goal is to get to your ideal weight and lose 10 pounds. Then you can set subgoals i.e. for every 2 pounds you lose. In that way you can celebrate smaller victories and get into that important success-loop where you feel constant progress towards what you want.

Preset and individual goals

Since there are some goals that are common there will be some preset goals including preset action-plans and sub-goals for them. Those preset goals are for instance:

- lose weight
- quit smoking
- exercise regularly
- make X amount of money
- find the job I want
- find the partner I desire
- etc.

And you will be able to share your successes, for instance on Facebook or Twitter. There may also be a build in community feature and forums where people can talk about their successes and share their best goals and action-plans.

Will it work out?

One of the most important things I believe in business is focus and simplicity. This tool will focus on one task only and that is to fulfill your goal. To get you there, no matter what. That’s my demand on this business and this service: to provide the best goal-achievement tool possible.

If you have further questions about it or suggestions: Comment.

What is it worth?

Now … since this is a business-idea it means, that for the value provided there has to come value back. I’m sure it will be the best goal achiever tool available on the internet so far (I made the research) and the promise is, that you will achieve your goal as long as you work your action-plan to the end. This tool will make sure you will do it. That’s it’s purpose.

Most likely there may be a free trial period or a free version to test before paying anything. But this business and tool only comes into existance if there are paying users.

So the first question I like you to ask to comment on:
Do you see yourself paying for the goal-achiever tool and using it as described above?

What would it be worth on a monthly basis? ($10, $20, $40, $90 ?)

Please let me know and maybe we get a prototype by the end of the year! :)

Spirituality vs. Success ?

2012-04-10T11:40:14Z

“Success is a journey, not a destination.” Ben Sweetland

Phew it’s been a while … :) I quit the job at my own company now and looked to start something new and make sense of how the personal and spiritual growth fits together.

One nagging issue I had was the seemingly conflict between the drive to success and spiritual being – I posted about it several times, not only on this blog … and I want to give some insights about this topic that I realized over the last view weeks:

A New View on Success

It is much easier for me now to have fun creating again and strive for and enjoy success. It’s not a bad thing at all – as one might think if one first experiences spiritual states directly. Here it seemed somehow in conflict and almost wrong to strive for worldly success, recognition and satisfaction :)

The important difference is that such things as success become enjoyable things, for instance creation of a new website and connecting with people on it is something that is fun – it has almost a playing character. But it is not something to find myself in it and to be fulfilled or to be more fully myself. That is impossible, but you have to realize it first that you are already and completely fully yourself. There is nothing to be added and you know it by spiritual realization.

But, as I said, success and drive to create is not wrong in any way :) On the contrary, and I enjoy creating it more than ever right now. It is simply an expressions, into the world of form if you will. There is no conflict anymore, you can have both totally – as long as you don’t lose yourself in the drive again and think you create a bigger me or a better me (than others or than my current me ;)).

What’s remarkable though is that success gets infused by the spiritual state, it gets more inspired (in-spirit). And everybody who sees what you are doing can sense this. Everybody wants to be inspired right? It’s a great feeling to receive and especially to give.

And this expression is something very enjoyable – the expression from your inner world into the outer world. I have the feeling that the more you can inspire your expressions, your creations, the more remarkable they are. If the expressions and actions are motivated by negative emotions like anger or greed this gets expressed in the creations, and you can see it first hand – it’s not very inspiring at all.

The Best Creations come from Spirit

Yesterday I heard the interview with Eckhart Tolle called “Even the Sun Will Die“, where he talks about his greatest achievement (“I don’t have to think anymore” :)) and how any real creative achievement comes out of the field of no-thought. In fact it seems to me the more you move into the spiritual realm and into the realm of no thought, the more powerful to create and to be successful you become. You have to take that impulse and create – take action – but if you are inspired and enthusiastic that is really easy to do.

So the difference is that creating success loses a bit of it’s ultimate importance and becomes more like a playing ground to create.

The Fight for Survival and Spirituality

Although there is the other side of the drive towards success and that is mostly before you have achieved a certain level of success. It is very much connected with the basic need for survival and a certain level of wealth, in order to live a life without worries for instance about money or providing for your family.

I have the feeling that this is almost something that happens not only on an individual level but also on a social level. In order to move more easily to a higher development of consciousness you have to ensure the basic need of survival. If survival is threatened you may even drop back to very uninspired behavior. At least this seems to be the general case. Some people like for instance Eckhard Tolle are able to skip this, I mean he lived on a park bench for years without a fixed income and a socially defined identity. But for the general public that doesn’t seem to work. We have to make step one in order to make step two.

In the end, for me spirituality and drive to success work hand in hand, or in even better words: spirituality and the drive success work best if they work hand in hand :)

PS: I opened a Newsletter for AwakeBlogger, you can get it top right on this site :)

PS2: Just noticed that other bloggers are also talking about this conflict between spirituality and intelligence.

The Mindset to Getting Things Done: Think Result-Oriented

2012-04-10T11:43:26Z

Questioner: “How do you take on the bureaucracy that damages so many organizations?”

Jack Welch: "Damages? How about deadens?
That’s a better word to describe what bureaucracy does; it sucks the life out of a business … Kafkaesque … kick bureaucracy: At every chance, poke fun at anyone who tries to install process for process’s sake; rib people who get all puffy about their positions or titles.What you want is…A business where an idea’s value has nothing to do with the stripes on the shoulder of the person behind it…" (source)

I recently made some changes in how I approach my daily work life. I switched more to a result-oriented thinking. Again. Since I already learned the value of result-oriented thinking when it comes to getting things done. If the productivity and time-management information is not really working for you it may not be the technique but the engine running it …

The Mindset of Getting Things Done

There are two basic mindsets about something we want to do:

Process oriented
What does the task mean? What will happen on the way to get there? How does it feel if I do it?

Those may be the questions we ask internally if we adopt this mindset. The problem: if you don’t feel very good doing the necessary things, you might not give the best you could. This could lead to always trying to go the easy way and to avoid the tougher but sometimes necessary ways.
Result oriented
How can I achieve this? What do I have to do now to get there? How does getting the result feel?

If you think result oriented, you tend to see the end in your mind and you are looking for the fastest way to go there. You want to have the result. This means that you become much more focused on action “flowing” towards the result.

There may be some other mindsets when it comes to getting things done, such as the relationship oriented where you ask yourself "What does this task mean to my relationship to the people involved?" I seriously think that in general woman are more into this mindset.

Advantage 1: Flexibility

But the basic difference is the process vs. result orientation. If you think in results, the way to get the result is not that important. What matters is the result itself. This means that your way to get things done stays very flexible . If approach one did not work, doesn’t matter much! The approach was not important, the result is. So we just change the approach to a better one. We don’t get stuck in a process or even in the thick of processes.

So flexibility is one major advantage in the result oriented mindset.

Advanage 2: Drive to Action

Another even more important one is the drive to action . If you want the result you usually want it now. This produces a lot of potential energy to invest into the actions to the result. What I experience is that the anticipation of the result is what makes the process actually enjoyable, even if the task in itself is pretty boring.

An example

Here is an example when you are about to "clean the dishes":

Cleaning the dishes process oriented:

"Ahwww, what an awful boring task again! I have to take the plates and glasses and make them clean. Then use the towel, dry them and put them into the cupboard."

Cleaning the dishes result oriented:

"I want to have a clean and nice kitchen. What do I have to do to get the result? I have to wash the dishes, the plates and glasses and I put them into the cupboard then. So let’s get moving! I want to have my sweet clean kitchen back. … hmm, cleaning the dishes is not that bad actually ;)"

While it may not be that unbiased it makes the point clear: if you know why you are doing it, you are more motivated to take action having your result in mind. The same applies to all kind of usually more complex tasks of the information-age. Result-orientation simply makes it faster and easier to succeed.

Result-Orientation and the Present Moment

But …

… let me share this little story from the book "The Miracle of Mindfulness " by Thich Nhat Hanh (which I found on Kevin Rose Blog ):

The cup in your hands:

In the United States, I have a close friend named Jim Forest. When I first met him eight years ago, he was working with the Catholic Peace Fellowship. Last winter, Jim came to visit. I usually wash the dishes after we’ve finished the evening meal, before sitting down and drinking tea with everyone else. One night, Jim asked if he might do the dishes. I said, "Go ahead, but if you wash the dishes you must know the way to wash them." Jim replied, "Come on, you think I don’t know how to wash the dishes?" I answered, "There are two ways to was the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes and the second is to wash the dishes to wash the dishes." Jim was delighted and said, "I choose the second way–to wash the dishes to wash the dishes." From then on, Jim knew how to wash the dishes. I transferred the "responsibility" to him for an entire week.

If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not "washing the dishes to wash the dishes." What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact, we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life." ~The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

Hmm.. this kinda contradicts my first conclusion, doesn’t it? I’m really curious. What do you think?
And secondly, do you honestly wash the dishes to wash the dishes or to have clean dishes?

The Top 10 Money Tips from Warren Buffett

2012-04-18T13:15:39Z

Warren Buffett (born August 30, 1930) is an American investor, businessman, and philanthropist. He is one of the world’s most successful investors and the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He was ranked by Forbes as the richest man in the world during the first half of 2008, with an estimated net worth of $62.0 billion.

So when it comes to money and investments, let’s see what wisdom he has provided:

“Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.”
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
“The best way to own common stocks is through an index fund.”
“Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”
“Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.”
“Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.”
“Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful”.
“Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.”
“The new issue market is ruled by controlling stockholders and corporations who can usually select the timing of offerings. Understandably these sellers are not going to offer any bargains. It’s rare you’ll find X being sold for half-X. Indeed, in the case of common-stock offerings, selling shareholders are often motivated to unload only when they feel the market is overpaying.”
“With each investment you make, you should have the courage and the conviction to place at least ten per cent of your net worth in that stock.”

According to Wikipedia his Philosophy on Wealth is as follows:

From a NY Times article: “I don’t believe in dynastic wealth,” Warren Buffett said, calling those who grow up in wealthy circumstances “members of the lucky sperm club.” Buffett has written several times of his belief that, in a market economy , the rich earn outsized rewards for their talents. The following is taken from one of Buffett’s articles: “A market economy creates some lopsided payoffs to participants. The right endowment of vocal chords, anatomical structure, physical strength, or mental powers can produce enormous piles of claim checks (stocks, bonds, and other forms of capital ) on future national output. Proper selection of ancestors similarly can result in lifetime supplies of such tickets upon birth. If zero real investment returns diverted a bit greater portion of the national output from such stockholders to equally worthy and hardworking citizens lacking jackpot-producing talents, it would seem unlikely to pose such an insult to an equitable world as to risk Divine Intervention. (*)

7 Powerful Habits for Happy Living

The Meaning of the Finger Pointing to the Moon

2012-04-13T13:41:51Z

The nun Wu Jincang asked the Sixth Patriach Huineng, "I have studied the Mahaparinirvana sutra for many years, yet there are many areas i do not quite understand. Please enlighten me."

The patriach responded, "I am illiterate. Please read out the characters to me and perhaps I will be able to explain the meaning."

Said the nun, "You cannot even recognize the characters. How are you able then to understand the meaning?"

"Truth has nothing to do with words. Truth can be likened to the bright moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon’s location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger, right?"

The finger pointing to the moon is not the moon is the essence here. But what does this mean on a deeper level? How does it relate to todays everyday life? How can we understand the meaning in an useful manner?

The laughing Buddha Hotei is pointing to the moon, who was a monk who lived during the Later Liang Dynasty (907–923 AD) of China. Contentment and happiness being his defining attributes, Hotei has a cheerful face and a big belly.

Analyzing the pointer is pointless

… said Eckhart Tolle, yet we tend to analyze the pointers without noticing it. If we are discussing about whether something is good for us or not or especially if we come to a philosophical debate, we are discussing the validity of models and concepts. We can also go out and experience something directly.

It’s the same with spirituality.

Spirituality is all about experiencing and the truth itself. So this post here is of course a finger pointing. The words are only pointing. So as long as we are pointing and discussing about the different pointers, we are not experiencing. The experience of something is the connection with something, the feeling one with something, without labeling.

What happens in philosophy and in religion again and again is the intense discussion about the pointers. How can it be that there is a discussion about one thing that is true? It is one thing right? It can only be because we represent something differently, which are different pointers. Then it is easy to discuss and disagree about them.

The map is not the territory

The map is not the territory is just another way to point to the same thing. The map is the concept of what we have in the mind about something. It’s a belief, an image or a thought-pattern. We use this map in the same way as we use a city-map to find a location. If the map is correct, we will find our location. If it is slightly incorrect, we have to correct it by new knowledge, optimize it. If it is completely incorrect or we move to another city, we have to replace the map altogether. What is happening is that we changed the map. And this is happening all the time.

Another map is the self-image or we may call it the ego. It is everything we saved about ourselves. It is the map of ourselves and we act from it. We want to improve our self-image and we use our intellectual abilities to do so: we get our desires and we set goals and work towards them. The map called the ego is a very useful map that we constantly create ourselves. But here is the important thing: it is still a map.

It’s nice to have a map, as long as you know it’s a map

Which means:

1. The map can change : which means our self-concept (the ego, who we think we are) can change and this is the basis of personal development. This changing map includes our thoughts, beliefs and actions: the whole world-view and the self-image.

2. The map is not the territory : I am not the ego, my self-image. You are not your self-image, or in other words: You and I are not who we think we are; think in the literally sense of the word: thoughts (and all other concepts) are the map, not the territory.

The important step to Spiritual Awakening is dropping the map and experiencing what is without the map.

But, (for me at least) this means not to remove the map for all time. I need the map to function in the world and to relate to everything. So I create maps and use maps in a very intense way, in the best way possible. But there is one difference: I dis-identified the map from the territory. So I know that my self-image is my self-image but not the self.

Ken Wilber called the process "Transcend and include". Or as Genpo Roshi put it: the reason we are able to transcent the ego but still use it as a human being is that we know the Being side of the Human Being as well as the Human Side: check my posting about Personal Power vs. The Power of Now for more.

This is a Zen story I found on the website Pointing To The Moon :

"When Zen Master Nan-chuan saw his student Ma-tsu diligently practicing meditation hour after hour, he sensed a certain effort and ambition in the young monk’s demeanor, so he sneaked up behind him and asked, "What are you doing?" "I’m trying to become a Buddha," Ma-tsu replied proudly. Nan-chuan then picked up a stone and began rubbing it against a spare tile from the monastery floor. Hearing the sound, Ma-tsu asked, "What are you doing?" Said Nan-chuan: "I’m trying to make a mirror." Ma-tsu had an awakening.

And it goes on:

Everything is just as it is! Ma-tsu is Ma-tsu, the tile is the tile, and you are you, just as you are. There’s no Buddha apart from this fundamental truth, and any attempt to achieve some special state of mind just leads you away from who and what you already are. In the direct approach to truth …, the direct recognition of your true nature is available in every instant, on or off the cushion, whether you meditate or not. You merely need to "take the backward step that turns your light inward to illuminate the Self," as Dogen Zenji said." – Stephan Bodian

A Beginner’s Guide to Time-Management

2012-04-22T15:42:11Z

"To comprehend a man’s life, it is necessary to know not merely what he does but also what he purposely leaves undone. There is a limit to the work that can be got out of a human body or a human brain, and he is a wise man who wastes no energy on pursuits for which he is not fitted; and he is till wiser who, from among the things that he can do well, chooses and resolutely follows the best." ~ John Hall Gladstone

Time-Management is not only something for managers and leaders. It is a topic that everyone can benefit from, especially if we want to get ahead and make a difference in our lives: "Where should I spend my time on? What is important?"

On the other hand we have questions like "How can I spend my time in the best way possible? How can I get the most out of it?"

It is the the art of focus and decision-making combined with effective productivity.

In this post I want to take a broader look on the topic and give an overview about time-management …

Are we really managing time?

Let’s get the shocking thing out first: there is no such thing as time-management! Why? Because time cannot be managed! Time goes on, whatever we do, we cannot change anything about it. If you even take a deeper look at it, you recognize that in reality time does not exist: it is merely a concept we use as humans. And we pretend to measure it by using things like clocks: a mechanical or electronical device that changes form and so displays a different condition when we look at it. What there is, is always the change in the present moment and our decision what to focus on in that moment, so we can shape the change the way we want to.

So what is it really then?

What time-management really is, is self-management. What do you do in the moment and what do you intent to do in the next moment? And what is influencing what you do in the next moment? These are the important questions to answer.

The 4 Stepping Stones in Time-Management

Basically there are four generations of time-management and each includes and builds on top on the one before. If you find your daily productivity in any of those then great, they all matter. But they all matter together. You may think it depends on the workload – what you want and have to manage and that is right. Because only you decide how productive you want to be :) If you can apply the 4th generation for you, you can really shift your whole life and productivity level.

The first generation is the 2do list . It is the basic organization of things we have to do. We write them down and when they are done we check them off. Great. Feels good to check a task off, doesn’t it? We’re done.
Or not?
The basic problem is there is no order in the 2do list. While it is an improvement over working every task out of the head, getting it out and fixating it, it gets out of control if the 2do list gets a 100 items …
Then there are calendars . In the second generation we plan ahead and schedule the 2do’s in the future. It gives more control and security over what we do and it adds the important thing called preparation.
But still it is confusing because there is no order in the tasks really. Often there are so much 2do’s and so much appointments and meetings that it gets overwhelming. What is important and what is not? I can’t do everything. What do I have to do and what must I deny to do? So we need to know what thing is more important than another. In the third generation we need to get priorities into play.How do we prioritize? We have to know our goals and our values . 2do’s are evaluated in relationship to goals and values. Is it in alignment with my value of, for instance, integrity? And what have we set out to achieve anyway? Is it getting us towards to the goal, is it irrelevant or taking us even further away from it?
Still it is not the final step to be as efficient as you can be, a machine. So it is not about managing time and all important tasks as efficient as possible and alienate everybody around us, including ourselves. The challenge is to manage ourselves and all needs and wants and demands in harmony, in balance .

So what time-management all boils down to is your decision of what is most important for you, and then focus your attention mainly on executing that and not something else.

What is important and what not?

Stephen Covey says to divide tasks into important 2dos and urgent 2dos. The time-management matrix, as described in my review of the "7 habits" earlier (check the link for deeper understanding), then helps to shift focus into the important 2dos.

I always understood this intuitively and if you examine your day you usually will find all 4 quadrants at work. But even if you understand it and recognize your tasks as important and urgent, how do I profit from the fricking matrix? ;) How can I make practical changes to get better in my productivity?

The value lies mainly in the awareness of what is important and what not. And then in moving more and more into Quadrant 1 (important and urgent) and with all the rest into "The Zone" (Quadrant 2): into what is important but not yet urgent.

If you do this, you will master time-management and produce not only good results but also balance. Success will be much likelier and seem more natural and effortless. Someone who is good in time-management is not someone who is constantly managing the tasks in stress. In fact that is definitely a bad time-manager, since he is constantly in quadrant 1 and possibly 3. It may be important, but it is urgent for sure. That is bad time-management and the "cure" is in quadrant 2 – The Zone .

There are several slightly different interpretations of the the time-management matrix (google image-search ), for instance The Importance of Managing Self has a practical interpretation. I also found the following mindmap from Mappio.com very good:

We need a compass instead of a clock

What is urgent? Urgent are all tasks that are "in your face" and want to be done immediately. But are they important or not important?

What is important? Important are the tasks that are in harmony with our goals and our life-balance.

Important & Urgent -> Do them now the best you can
Important & Not Urgent -> Set focus here, whenever you can (The Zone)
Not Important & Urgent -> Say "No" because you have a quality "Yes", or delegate them
Not Important & Not Urgent -> Avoid these for sure

Why are the important tasks urgent? Mainly because we did not handle them when they were not urgent. Some problems will always appear out of the blue, but most of them don’t. But if we know what’s important, will the urgent and not important 2dos magically go away? I don’t think so, clutter happens everywhere. But what it gives you is direction and control. Let’s think not of a clock but more of a compass. The compass shows the direction, the orientation and the goal that works.

If you have the compass you basically work the 4 generations backwards and use the mechanics like prioritized 2do’s in your calendar. There is one difference: you have a compass that you set north.

For me that is the whole point of time-management.

It’s the way to be successful and happy, and not only successful but miserable, because I am working my ass off on something that has no meaning for me. I do the right thing and then I do it right.

How can we really use this now?

Set your Life-Areas for Balance
The message of the post is to focus on what it important. On the long run balance is most important.
Clarify your values & Set your goals
To point the compass to north, you must know where north is.
Use a productivity system that fits you , such as Getting things done (GTD) in the context of your compass (1. And 2.)
Now we get efficient big time! :)

"Many people seem to think that success in one area can compensate for failure in other areas. But can it really?…True effectiveness requires balance." ~ Stephen Covey

The 4 Steps to Create the Reality You Desire

2012-05-07T10:49:11Z

"It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going." ~Brian Tracy

Does your reality look like you envisioned it 10 years ago? Have you created and expressed what is inside of you? Have you mastered the art of conscious creation?

I think it is very helpful to really know the process of how we manifest the things around us into existence. If we want to improve our life and get the things we are looking for, it is necessary to become totally aware of the process and then use it in our favor. If we can master it we can progressively produce the life we desire. I am a huge fan of proactivity, of acting from our desires in opposition to reactivity, and this post delivers the mechanics to do this. Anthony Robbins called the process the success-formula, consisting of 4 steps.

The thing is – and that struck me once I realized it – if you can think what you want, then it is a matter of mechanics to create it. Sure it will not be overnight, but within this thought is the seed to use this 4-step process and create the reality you want.

1. Intention: Think about what you want to create

This is the initial part where you get an idea of what you want. You can also call this an intention, which means that you form an image, a thought or in general a vision in your consciousness.

Where does it come from?

Well, I think this is the great power that we as humans possess: we can be creative, in the true meaning of the word. I think it often is a combination of things that already exist and thoughts from us applied to it. Maybe you get a flash of insight while you see a need to be met or a problem to be solved.

Brainstorming

A nice way to do this is brainstorming: you sit above your question or problem and think about it creatively while writing all thoughts and ideas that may come down. You don’t judge or evaluate them, you just get it out of your head. In step 2 you get those into order.

Or you already made this, maybe already several times and you already know exactly what you want to create. But it is still an idea in your head and maybe you are a bit fuzzy about it. Then step 2 comes into play now :)

One note about the popular law of attraction: what you focus on expands. This is exactly what is happening here. If you put your attention on something, preferably a question like "How can I get the job I dream about?" you will get answers. If you stay with the process you will get very good answers and see opportunities that you completely missed out before.

Wayne Dyer wrote a whole book about intention called “The Power of Intention”, maybe you want to check it out.

2. First Creation: Crystallize the mental idea into the world via planning

Once you have an exciting idea or an insight to get ahead, the next step must be to make a first creation in the physical world. This means that you put your idea down and out of "only your head", preferably by writing, painting or something similar. So if you want to write a new blog-post you write down the idea and maybe some bullets about the idea. If you want to create art you may draw a simple sketch, if you want to reach a goal you write down this goal and then the first action-steps. If it is larger maybe it translates into a whole project-plan. In general step 2 fixes the idea and produces a plan to achieve it.

Here it is also very advisable to analyze a bit about the idea. Is my planning sufficient? Is it really as good as you first thought? Is it giving me and others what I intended to?

Another very important point here is the reason for your intention: “Why do you want to do it?” The “Why” was especially emphasized by Anthony Robbins since this is the “emotional gas” that drives your idea forward later on. The reason why you are doing it must keep you going, not only at this stage but also when you are optimizing your creation. That’s why it is very important to be clear about and to align your “Why” with your deepest desires.

This actually blends with step 1 and only completes the first mental creation and transforms it into a physical creation. Everything that is created by humans (so usually everything around us, except for pure nature) came into being this way.

3. Second Creation: Execute the idea in physical reality

This is where you are actually putting what you want into action. You start to execute your plan from the first creation. This is what is generally seen in "reality" while you produce something in the world of form. You put your plan into action.

While it is the most obvious step – and I don’t want to talk about project-management here – there are some things that are interesting: First: good preparation and a good plan make the actual doing much more smoothly. Also step 2 should be finished. Usually it can get pretty frustrating if you execute your plan while on the other hand still developing it. It gets even more complicated if others are executing it, while you develop it ;) That’s a typical mistake in larger projects and I know I’ve been there :)

What also comes in handy is a good system for productivity. There are several systems for self-organization, for instance GTD ("Getting things done" by David Allen). I wrote about my system in How to plan your week: 4 Steps to Productivity .

4. Optimize: Get feedback and change until you succeed

You and other people can see your actions and your results.

Getting and Using Feedback

It is often funny how other people react to this and how you react to those reactions :) The topic of different perspectives comes into play: since you already know your creation very well, but all others not, and maybe they even don’t car too much ;) So depending on what this creation is, you should take enough time to explain and promote your idea. For instance a website is there to provide value for others, if it fails with this the whole idea fails.

Feedback doesn’t only mean feedback from others, it will also be the feedback you give to yourself: How does it work for me? Have I met my initial idea? How can I improve from here?

Optimization

The idea is to use feedback to improve your creation. You notice how it works and you adapt your plan to optimize your result. If you do this you won’t fail. It may include to change the whole idea from what you learned on the journey, or you have to optimize small things. Optimization is changing your approach until you reach your desired result.

Conclusion:

As we can see the whole process is initiated by our intention in step 1. The quality of what we create in our own reality is depending extremely on a very good first step. Of course it is depending also very much on process, what is a good idea without actually using it? The point is to do the initial 1. step consciously and decide what it is that you want to create. The rest is a mechanical process that you can learn.

The 4-step process of

1. Intention
2. First Creation: Planning
3. Second Creation: Executing
4. Optimizing until you succeed

is a simple framework to create the reality of desire. It may be intuitively clear and so the purpose of the post is more to see that every desire is achievable and encourage you to go for it.

The art of creation is the way to create the reality around us. You are constantly doing it anyway, the question is: are you aware of it and secondly: is it a creation of your own choosing? So it is about time to do it consciously.

Top 10 Most Inspiring Lao Tzu Quotes

2012-05-11T17:16:37Z

Lao Tzu was the most important spiritual Chinese sage. His name, which is also often called Laozi, literally means “Old Master” and is generally considered an honorific.

He lived in the 6th century BC, at the same time as Confucius, who was born a generation after Lao Tzu. He once sought out Lao Tzu who told him “Strip yourself of your proud airs and numerous desires, your complacent demeanor and excessive ambitions. They won’t do you any good. This is all I have to say you.”

Lao Tzu is the father of the Chinese spiritual tradition Taoism, mainly because of his text called Tao te Ching (Tao: the way of all life, te: the fit use of life by men, ching: text or classic).

It is based on the Tao (The Way), which is the creator and sustainer of all things in the Universe, and the practice of doing by nondoing (wu-wei) that enables the disciple to unite with the Tao.

Lao Tzu wrote his only book Tao Te Ching just before he walked away from the Chou empire he served. There are a lot of translations of Tao te Ching, which begins with the very first words of …

1. “The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.”

This first sentence of his teachings seems paradoxical. In my humble opinion it says that everything that is in the world of form (or the world of the ten thousand things, as the Chinese said) is not the formless animating source, which is not nameable. It is like the analogy of the finger pointing to the moon, which is a pointer, but not the moon itself. Whenever the Tao is named, it is labeled and made into a concept which is not the eternal Toa itself.
If you are interested, Wayne Dyer did a complete interpretation of the Tao te Ching called Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao.

2. “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

Really a quote to think about. How can that be in the first place: there is no rush and no hurry, but everything works out. Grass does not try to grow, it just grows. Water does not try to flow, it just flows. The only explanation is that everything is done in a naturally perfect way, without resistance and within the flow of life …

3. “Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.”

The Inside-Out approach tells us to start with the man in the mirror. Self-mastery is the basis for success, for yourself as well as with others.

4. “To see things in the seed, that is genius.”

To me this means nothing else as being able to form a personal vision for something. Genius for that matter, is to see the potential in something or someone, although not realized yet (“in the seed”). It is the essence of forming a vision of what might be and then going on making it real.

5. “When the best leader’s work is done the people say: We did it ourselves.”

A leader is not a good leader if he is so ego-driven that he is always standing in front of his team, and is letting the team feel it. The most empowering way is to inspire people so that they become able to realize their own potential.

6. “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

Non-attachment – even or especially to ones own self-image – is the necessity for personal change. If we are open to change and to new possibilities and perspectives, without buying into them blindly, we can grow.

7. “To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”

This is a realization that can be understood intuitively if we practice meditation and/or are able to quiet the mind of the constant chatter of thoughts.

8. “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

This emphasizes that getting started is often the hardest part of the journey. Even the greatest thing is started and then continued by single little steps, one after another. It also has the very practical meaning of breaking huge projects down into small and doable tasks, that then can be executed more easily.

9. “Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”

In my opinion this is Lao Tzu’s expression of “intentions manifesting” or “thoughts become things”, which is also discusses widely as the secret or the law of attraction. But it is really a much more elegant way to put it :)

10. “At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.”

All you need to really find yourself is to look inside. It reminds me of what Eckhart Tolle said at the beginning of The Power of Now: Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth.”

Those were the selected 10 most inspiring quotes by Lao Tzu, as well as my annotations to them. Maybe you have other interpretations or other favorite quotes of him. Let me know in the comments! :)

How to Plan Your Week: 4 Steps to Productivity

2012-04-22T15:40:04Z

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." ~ Steve Jobs

This is a very practical posting in which I will show you my personal weekly planning process. I hope you can use and adapt it for your own productivity and success. It is basically my own mixture of systems from Anthony Robbins, Stephen Covey and David Allen with a little bit of today’s technology powered by Steve Jobs ;)

"Wait a minute," you may think, "what does this quote from Steve Jobs have to do with weekly planning?"

Your weekly plan is your ticket to a self-directed and self-created life. That means a life that is mainly leaded by you and not by anyone else. It will focus your actions towards what you want. A weekly plan is right between your own goals and the actual things you do every day. This is exactly the reason to do weekly planning. One could say it is where the rubber hits the road.

Self-Leadership: Know your life-areas and goals

So, some things are necessary to be really effective with your weekly plan. My weekly planning is build around my life-areas. In the post "How to Create Balance in All Areas of Your Life " I already wrote about life-areas. Life-areas are areas of constant and never-ending improvement, we want to keep them at a high level and even improve them constantly here. This naming of life-areas of importance enables us to set a clear focus and to use the mind as a tool to create life-balance.

For instance my life-areas are:

Private: body, mind, spirit, social, finance, juice
Professional: b2b, sales, e-commerce, marketing, technical, product, finance

Please check my post about balance and life-areas for more on this.

Another really important thing is to have set personal goals. In "The Fastest Way to Set Motivating Goals" I wrote about a simple and fast procedure to get your goals out.

The two steps are important, because we can be as good as possible executing our goals, but if the goals are fuzzy or not really what we want it can’t bring a good result for us. If you don’t have goals or know your life-areas, your areas where you want to improve and focus on, then you still can use the weekly planning process. But it might not be as effective in the results. Your life-areas and goals make sure that you really tap into your deepest resources and create the motivation you can have.

I call this Self-Leadership , because with it you are able to lead yourself to what you want. It makes a difference between action and reaction. The more you work towards your goals in your life-areas the more proactive you are. This is a source of freedom and happiness. It is not all, but a huge part of it :)

1. Brainstorm your weekly tasks

I would suggest to do the weekly planning on Sunday. The first thing you do is brainstorm all tasks into a list you want to do in the next week and put them into the right area. The template would be

[area] task-description

This could look like the following list:

Professional:

[sales] post a new job-description on my website
[e-commerce] start a banner campaign for my online-shop
[marketing] write a press-release for the new website-launch
[marketing] improve the powerpoint presentation and send a PDF of it to the pr-manager
[product] review and finish the project-plan of the Newsletter-project
[technical] produce actionable tasks from the project-plan and put them into the project-tool
[technical] meet with Peter to discuss the timeline of new shop-project
[sales] We 10 a.m. meet the new sales-candidate

Private:

[body] go swimming Mo, We, Fr at 6-7 p.m.
[mind] finish the last 20 pages of "Personal Development for Smart People" and …
[mind] … write a short review of the book into my journal
[social] make a date and meet with Andreas this week
[social] make a date with Susan on Saturday for dinner
[spirit] start next meditation session
[juice] book flight for the travel to California for March

Usually this whole process takes about 10-15 minutes, depending on how much you are already used to it. It is nothing to create something completely new, this would go to the goal-setting process. Here we have action-items that make progress during the week.

2. Set priorities

The next step is to decide what is most important this week. This means to set priorities to your tasks. I use the following system and found it to be very effective:

Priority A : Must get done
Priority B : Should get done
Priority C : Nice to have

All priority A tasks must get done within the week, there is no exception. This means that you start with priority A tasks and finish them, before you do priority B or even C tasks. If the task is scheduled for a certain time, then this time is blocked out and cannot be removed for any other lower priority tasks. This ensures that you always get done the most important things for you, which ensures real progress towards your goals.

Usually you have more A, B and C-priorities, so you sub-prioritize with A1, A2 … and so on. Then you order your tasks accordingly to their priorities.

So my whole professional weekly plan may look like this after prioritizing:

Professional:

A1 [e-commerce] start a banner campaign for my online-shop
A2 [sales] We 10 a.m. meet the new sales-candidate
A3 [sales] post a new job-description on my website
A4 [marketing] write a press-release for the new website-launch
B1 [marketing] improve the powerpoint presentation and send a PDF of it to the pr-manager
B2 [technical] meet with Peter to discuss the timeline of new shop-project
C1 [product] review and finish the project-plan of the Newsletter-project
C2 [technical] produce actionable tasks from the project-plan and put them into the project-tool

3. Put your tasks into your calendar

The next thing is to put the tasks into your calendar and lock them in to be done. Your calendar can be your number 1 tool to organize around. I personally love to use iCal on Apple as well as an iPhone to synchronize the tasks onto a mobile device. A mobile device makes sure that you have your schedule ready whenever you need it (you can always turn it off, if you want to ;)). You can use any calendar as Microsoft Outlook, Firefox Sunbird or Google Calendar.

On Sunday or Monday morning you insert your tasks into your calendar and if necessary set reminders, so the tool will inform you about the task. This way you have a system you can trust and you can get all the tasks out of your head. This is very important since you want to have all of your resources available to concentrate them on the one task you are doing.

Of course it is very important to leave space (time) in your calendar, since there are usually not only the tasks you select to do but all kind of tasks that can get to you. Maybe there are new tasks from your boss, from colleagues or an emergency. The important thing is though, to get your A-priorities done. So leave time open in your calendar. I keep 50% free every day, so I can react to what is happening. This also touches time-management with the important and urgent tasks, refer to my post on the 7 habits: 3. First Things First for more infos.

So the calendar would look like this (Google Calendar in this case):

You should use different colors for your different life-areas in iCal. So for instance in my weekly plan all professional tasks are blue, body is red and mind is green etc.

4. Execute

Start executing your A1 priority task on Monday and work along your calendar schedule. I simply have my calendar open and start with the first task now. Until it is complete I try to focus only on this task. If you get interrupted and can’t prevent it (you don’t have to take every phone-call or allow colleagues to interrupt with trivial questions), focus on that new task and then return to your current task asap.

If you have to reschedule then do it and make sure that you keep your A-priorities to the front. As I said the most important thing is to get all A’s done within the week. Then advance to the B’s and then to the C’s.

The result of this weekly planning and executing around your personal life-priorities is simply that you will make significant progress in YOUR chosen direction. You will make good progress in the week and huge progress over one year that way.

I wish you good luck! :)

Do you have feedback or questions? What are your systems and ideas that work for you? Please write and discuss them in the comments.