Would you like one of the five very prominent ad spots on this site?

If so all you’ll have to do is purchase my upcoming 99 cent iPhone app on launch day. I won’t need any proof–your word is good enough for me. If you don’t have an iPhone you can simply purchase the app through itunes.

Considering this site received 63,000 unique visitors in 2012, you’re getting a steal of a deal to be paying less than a buck to get an extremely prominent ad on my site for two months.

The ads you currently see to your upper right: They will be taken down and your ad will be put up in their place.

First come first served: The first person who either leaves a comment below or shoots me an email will get to pick which ad spot they want–including the larger one below the ad boxes.

If this offer sounds enticing to you then you can leave a comment below or shoot me an email at ticktocktimer AT gmail.com letting me know you’re interested.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Photo by Carl Mikoy

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

You’ve probably heard the above sentiment a million times but have you internalized it?

Some may mistakenly think that past failures means venturing forward with new projects is a a recipe for disappointment. But what could be more disappointing than having life force within you and ignoring its potential?

While failure is a part of life, choosing to resist new projects because you fear failure is failing to see life’s value.

Failure is a risk, sure. But so is leaving your house in the morning. So is driving your car, riding the bus, and venturing anywhere except a glass bubble a thousand feet below earth.

Risk is imbedded in the very fabric of reality. There’s no escaping it. And every moment is an opportunity for change. But without risk, without venturing, the change, and the gain you could have remain but a hope within. Don’t leave your hopes within–use action to make those hopes reality which is what I’m choosing to do now by writing my new book.

My book will be self-published, professionally edited, and on the subject of gaining self-mastery. I think you’ll love it.

For those who have commented on this blog before, you’ll get a personal email from me when it’s published telling you it’s available if you’re interested. If you’ve never commented on my blog but are interested in my upcoming book leave a comment below and I’ll shoot you a personal email once it’s published.

I’ll be selling it on Amazon at a very affordable price. This ain’t no e-book–this is a real book that you can put on your kindle or purchase a paperback copy.

To celebrate my new venture, I’ll be writing more often here.

Photo by kellbailey

There’s commitment and then there’s true commitment.

While both forms of commitment can accomplish your goals, one’s far more powerful than the other and creates far greater likelihood of success than the other.

For example, you could go on a diet while still having fattening foods in your house and succeed but you can’t say you were ever truly committed.

True commitment ruthlessly acknowledges the synergism of life.

Someone truly committed would have ensured only healthy foods were in their house.

Let’s take me for example. I can indeed say I’m truly committed to doing my yoga practice every morning because I choose to go to sleep early every night.

Of course I could go to sleep late every night and still manage to do my yoga practice in the morning. But if I did that, I would only be committed to my yoga practice instead of truly committed.

After all, the more rested I am in the morning the easier it is for me to do my yoga practice and thus the more likely I am to do it.

There’s a huge difference between commitment and true commitment, and it’s vital to have absolute clarity on how much they differ.

Even walking down the candy aisle of a grocery store while on a diet will render you not truly committed because by doing so, you’re allowing your psyche to absorb pictures of myriads of delicious treats which can later affect you during a weak moment.

Even the thoughts you choose to think can determine whether or not you’re truly committed to a goal!

For example, my brother and I recently started a t-shirt company.

Do you think I ever ask the question “what if it fails?” Of course not. That question won’t help me and would render me not truly committed to success.

Instead, the only question I ask myself is “What can I do to make this business successful?”

Make no mistakes about it, being truly committed to anything is a very serious challenge.

But if success is priority to you, you won’t opt for anything but true commitment.

Photo by Mooganic

Can you change in an instant?

Of course you can.

How do I know?

Because every time you’ve changed it was instantaneous.

While it may have taken time to ready yourself for change–once it occurred–undoubtedly–it was instantaneous.

What’s important, then, is making the ‘getting ready’ stage as quick as possible.

The biggest barrier to people changing quickly is they simply fail to believe they can. And if you believe you can’t, you won’t.

By believing it’s impossible to change quickly you’ve erected a barrier that prevents you from doing so.

Indeed, your chains were created by you!

Have you ever heard the story of the four-minute mile?

For thousands of years it was believed it was impossible to run a mile in less than four minutes until in 1954 Roger Bannister was the first man to break the four minute barrier.

Within a year of Bannister’s accomplishment 37 additional runners ran the mile in under four minutes. And the year after that 300 more runners broke the four minute mile.

Prior to Bannister breaking the four minute mile, no one had outward references to provide them with the belief they also could do it and that’s why no one did.

Indeed, if your beliefs are faulty, your potential won’t be fulfilled.

In the book Awaken the Giant Within, Tony Robbins covers a set of beliefs that must be adopted if one wants to change quickly:

“The first belief we must have if we’re going to create change quickly is that we can change now.  . . .

The second belief that you and I must have if we’re going to create long-term change is that we’re responsible for our own change, not anyone else.  . . .”

Tony then explains three specific beliefs about responsibility that a person must have if they’re going to create long-term change:

“1. First, we must believe, “Something must change”–not that it should change, not that it could or ought to, but that it absolutely must. . . .

2. Second, we must not only believe that things must change, but we must believe, “I must change it.”

3. Third, we have to believe, “I can change it.”

The belief that you can’t change something quickly about yourself is a false belief propped up by society. It, in no way, represents truth.

If you believe you can’t do something, all effort to do it will be in vain.

Photo by ravedelay

“If your dogma prevents you from being the best that you can be, you’re essentially committed to mediocrity.” ~Bamboo Forest

Dogma is problematic because it generates predicted results.

For example:

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” ~Tony Robbins

And…

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you’re headed.” ~Lao Tzu

Sometimes we really need to change things up, alter our strategy, try something new, yet we’re reluctant to do so.

We’re reluctant because we’re more concerned with fattening the dogma monster than achieving those results that will make us and others better.

Somehow we believe that by following the dogma we’re doing what’s “right.”

What we sometimes deem is “right” is evil.

If your loyalty is to a dogma at the expense of results, you’re more concerned with following what you perceive to be right than getting the best results for yourself and the world.

Ultimately it’s not our beliefs that make us and our world better. It’s the results generated by our actions, and if we must change our philosophies to produce better actions, then we must do so without our dogma getting in the way.

Three Boats Run a Race

The first boat uses an old strategy but simply tells itself that if it tries harder than last time it will surely win.

The second boat alters its strategy from the past, but out of fear doesn’t really give itself fully to the new methods.

The third boat realizes that passing the finish line first is infinitely more important than supporting dogma, so completely throws out its old methods and uses new methods.

Unsurprisingly the third boat wins the race because it chose not to be attached to old beliefs and patterns.

If you’re more concerned with following a dogma than getting results that improve you and the world then you’re nothing but a pious fool.

Choose to love actions that generate optimal results for you and the world more than your love of dogma and you will generate results never experienced before.

A better you is a better world.

Photo by girolame

Last night I had a life changing epiphany on self-discipline.

Imagine you have a huge mental burden that you could release if you chose to, but you opt to instead hold onto it even as you write your novel.

If you can write a novel while maintaining your mental burden, that means you have amazing self-discipline!

But here’s the thing: Are you really still holding onto your mental burden if you’re writing a novel simultaneously?

The answer is actually no.

While that mental burden may still be in your head on some level, you’ve obviously chosen to let it go. If you were actually holding onto the mental burden with all your might, writing your novel wouldn’t be possible.

Self-discipline, then, is less about brute force and more about letting go.

Self-discipline is actually a form of relaxation.

Great people let things go

Anyone who reaches greatness has mastered the art of letting go.

Great athletes, great writers, great bloggers, great parents, all of them, without exception, are masters at letting go regardless of whether they’re aware of it or not.

An example of letting go: currently I’m writing my sixth blog post this week. If I loathed the idea of copious writing and actually held onto that notion, this blog post wouldn’t have been written.

Letting go doesn’t mean the absence of resistance to accomplish; it means letting go of resistance and focusing your mind elsewhere.

When you let go of something you’re no longer at the mercy of its influence. What you let go of can no longer direct your path.

Truth is, if you’ve ever done something in the face of resistance, whether you were aware of it or not, you chose to let go of that resistance.

Self-discipline is the art of choosing what to be attached to and what to be detached from.

Some examples of letting go in action

• Someone succeeding on a diet lets go of his “need” for unhealthy foods.
• Someone succeeding in writing an annoying research paper lets go of his perception that it’s a dreadful project.
• An athlete who surprisingly made it to professional sports has not only chosen to let go of everyone who said he couldn’t do it, but he’s also chosen to let go of his own internal voices that said he couldn’t do it.

Next time you’re struggling to overcome something, try thinking of it as more an act of letting go than an act of brute strength to overcome and see where that takes you.

P.S. – I will be writing more about the subject of letting go because I think it’s an intrinsic part of the spiritual path on all levels.

Photo by lisadragon

Every one of us has demons. It’s part of what makes us human.

The problem isn’t having demons. The problem is giving people demons they don’t need.

One of the most important aspects of life is making it easy for others to reach their full potential instead of making it difficult.

A simple example of how someone can give demons to another is by picking on someone in school every day.

Those students picking on an individual are going to make it very difficult for him to have healthy self-esteem and to deal with life effectively.

They are giving him demons that may stay with him for quite a long time.

Giving demons to another is always an act of selfishness.

We hear plenty in the self-help genre on how vital it is to be responsible for our own self and how we deal with the world.

What we don’t hear nearly enough of is how we should be cautious about how we behave to prevent making the mental health of another more challenging than it has to be.

Sure, the other person may have a strong disposition and may overcome the negative effects you’ve given him or her, but there’s no guarantee of this.

And the question of whether they should be capable of rising above the demons you’ve given them is not the question at hand.

The question is — should you give them demons at all?

Should you give others obstacles that make it harder for them to be their best?

The answer is of course you shouldn’t.

Yes, let’s be responsible for ourselves.

But let’s also realize that we’re responsible for others too.

Our actions either make it easier for others to be their best or more difficult.

To live in the best world we can… let’s really question our actions and ensure they are in the best interest of others.

This post is for my ears as much as it is for anyone else’s.

Photo by respres

While walking in China Town I passed a beautiful gem of a girl working at a kiosk selling pillows.

Though, I kept walking.

I then realized I allowed my fear determine my identity instead of myself determining my identity.

I’m one that approaches a girl when I find it worthy to do so. Fear will never determine my behavior here, as that isn’t who I am.

When your fear becomes your identity, you’ve forfeited your ability to choose your own identity, allowing something else to do it for you.

Shortly after realizing my error I came walking back the opposite direction, stopped by her kiosk, and sparked a conversation with her.

Nothing came of it, but my objective, which was to talk with her and get a feel for her was met.

Victory.

Life is Short

Have you ever stopped to consider how short life is?

Some have said this life is nothing more than a parenthesis in eternity.

Tell me, are you determining your identity or is your fear doing that for you?

Now isn’t the time to let your fear determine your identity.

Now’s the time to determine your own identity.

When you look back many years from now… happy you will be.

P.S. - You’ll be happy a month from now as well.

Photo by ahisgett

The fence is the worst place to be when you want to accomplish something.

Staying on the fence creates the illusion that you’re accomplishing something when you’re accomplishing nothing.

And the really sad thing is that even though you aren’t accomplishing anything by sitting on the fence, you’re still exerting tremendous effort.

Shouldn’t we get amazing results if we’re going to invest so much effort anyways?

The fence is an insidious form of procrastination, because we all know the truth: that when the results we want so badly really start to materialize it will be because we finally got off the fence and became fully committed.

That doesn’t mean the results will necessarily show up immediately. But they will show, undoubtedly, after enough consistent action is taken which demands you getting off the fence.

It would be remiss of me to give you this vital information and fail to give you another truth:

“Whenever you become empowered, you will be tested.” ~Caroline Myss

If you enjoyed this concept, I urge you to read another, more in depth, article I wrote on this subject:

Sitting On The Fence: How It Zaps Your Energy and Compromises Your Dreams

Regarding my public announcement

On March 16th I announced to all my readers that I will post twice a week for the next eight weeks.

While I didn’t succeed with this public declaration, it did motivate me to post nine posts over five weeks.

The reason I discontinued this regiment is simple: It wasn’t serving me any longer as I got busy with another very important project.

Without any hesitation I still fully contend that public declarations are powerful motivators. But, if they’re no longer serving you, then you become a slave to them. They are there to serve you, not the other way around.

Had I used this public declaration to, say, quit smoking, then no matter how you slice the pie, that public declaration would have always been serving me.

Photo by DayTripp (Tom)

Ever known someone of your skill level or less that accomplished something great and suddenly this made you believe in yourself?

Some examples:

• Your friend who is less attractive than you starts dating a very attractive person. Suddenly you believe that you also could date someone very attractive.
• Someone you know that’s more overweight than you starts losing excess weight. Suddenly you believe that you also could lose weight if you did what was necessary.
• Someone you know made it as a big blogger yet their writing isn’t any better than yours. Suddenly you believe that you also have what it takes to become a very successful blogger.

When you believe in yourself, you can do the most amazing things. But you shouldn’t wait to witness someone of equal or less skill than you to accomplish something great before you pursue something great.

Instead, you should just believe in yourself, go after it, and make it happen.

photo by Selective Focus