Whatever it is we choose to focus on every day ends up being what we experience -- it’s an indisputable law that we can not get around. Nothing prevents us from worry, fear, dissapointment, past troubles, future troubles, current problems -- but ourselves.
Choose to focus on what is positive, what is empowering and what is ultimately the best that you can be and become. Make the effort to stay in that state, and life becomes as beautiful as you can possibly make it.
Also, check out the following link another inspiring 3-minute video from Tony Robbins, good stuff.
What a week, but it feels great to be exhausted because you’ve given everything you’ve got. The greatest reward is the reward you give yourself by being content knowing your all was given to whatever it is you do.
“In the following chapters, I will show how man can change his conditions by changing his words. Any man who does not know the power of the word, is behind the times.
‘Death and Life are in the power of the tongue.’ (Proverbs 18:21)
Everybody has an inner voice, you hear it in every situation. What does yours sound like? Any great achievement or goal attained is spoken in to being at one point or another. What we say most often to ourselves throughout the day, out loud – or in our own mind – define the emotions and reactions to every one of life’s circumstances.
We all want to succeed – we don’t all realize that the only way we can hustle harder, or overcome any inadequacy starts with how we talk to ourselves. From self defeating, hopeless words to words of health, wealth, love and perfect self-expression. From it’s too hard, I don’t have the energy, I can’t and I won’t to nothing can stop me, I have as much energy as I tell myself I have, I can and I will.
Change your conditions by changing your words – be aware of your words – only allow yourself to speak positivity to yourself and others, and experience first hand the fact the human mind sees life as it appears to be … defined by the words we speak to the circumstances presented us.
Whatever your religion or faith – the fulfillment of our greatest dreams and aspirations are spoken to life, or spoken to death – choose wisely – be aware! Have a great Friday, keep on hustling hustlers.
As I said in yesterday’s post, I’ve finally figured out a way to efficiently post valuable nuggets of wisdom relevant to anyone seeking to enhance their quality of life by never ceasing to improve and learn. I’m through the first few chapters of The Game of Life and How To Play It and I’ve been surprised by the gift Florence Scovel Shinn has in depicting descriptive imagery and even scripture in an all in one straightforward message of positively limitless potential.
So my bright idea? I’m going to hopefully not plagiarize or violate any copyrights, but post excerpts from paragraphs within the book and translate that to our daily grind in the new millennium (the book was written in the 1920’s).
“In the following chapter I will deal with the different methods of impressing the subconscious mind. It is man’s faithful servant but one must be careful to give it the right orders. Man has ever a silent listener at his side – his subconscious mind.
Every thought, every word is impressed upon it and carried out in amazing detail. It is like a singer making a record on the sensitive disc of the phonographic plate. Every note and tone of the singer’s voice is registered. If he coughs or hesitates, it is registered also. So let us break all the old bad records in the subconscious mind, the records of our lives which we do not wish to keep, and make new and beautiful ones.”
I read this and the imagery struck me. Most self-improvement teachers and books have similar messages all specifying about how to harness the power of our thoughts to create our world. Often in rose-colored glasses, without warning that maintaining this type of outlook upon life is truly a craft that takes time and focus to master.
The singer recording on the phonograph – the reality of our life and how our thoughts, whatever they may be, play the track of the life that we experience on a day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute basis. If you had the option of listening to your favorite song, or some depressing genre that you hate – who wouldn’t want to go for the better?
The message? Simple – our life is a recording of our thoughts, and we experience what we think, and we record what we experience. Hustling to your optimum ability, in whatever pursuit it may be, starts with a thought. That thought becomes the beginning of your track on your phonograph – where you take it and how it ends is in the action we must take to either make some dope music, or simply be content with a sub par track. Achieving goals requires consistent effort, consistent positive thoughts of achieving that goal, and never ceasing to quit trying until our subconscious mind breaks all our old bad records and makes new, beautiful ones.
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It’s been a minute, but I think I’ve finally figured out how to focus on my full time job and muster the time and energy required to produce quality posts on relevant matters concerning the millennial generation and achieving an optimum state of hustle.
I read, I love to read. I read because to deny the knowledge of the ages is to pretend that there is nothing one can improve upon. I download ebooks mostly, you can find a lot of them free. I’ll be updating the library on here within the week with some free books for your pleasure as well. Never cease to imrpove … kaizen!!
So my latest diamond in the rough is called The Game of Life and How to Play It (Forgotten Books), by Florence Scovel Shinn. What an eye opener. A quick note: it is very Christian based, and intactly describes how the laws of the universe apply to the teachings of the Bible – perfect for what I’ve been looking for.
Here’s a little exerpt from Amazon about the author:
About the Author:
Florence Scovell Shinn (1871 – 1940) was an artist-turned spiritual teacher, healer and writer who lived in New York. She is best known for her first book “The Game of Life and how to Play it” (1925), which includes quotes from the Bible and real-life anecdotes to explain the author’s understanding of God and man.
Tomorrow I’ll be posting excerpts from what I’m learning and discovering about myself and ways to enhance my hustle via this amazing read. To enhance my perseverance, self-control and determination to not only succeed, but rise above the worst of my demons.
Glad to be back, hope you hustlers forgive me for the lapses, time will tell and words will speak – but nothing takes place of action. Keep hustling, and don’t be shy, we’re made to connect.
Love this painting. Almost feel as if it echoes the inside of my mind on a daily basis.
There are times we sit and think, and get nowhere. Other times our introspection stokes our inner fireplace and we become inspired. Love those times.
I see the spiral staircase up into the dark unknown – encouraging us to expand our consciousness to realize new ideas and concepts unknown before, of which all exist just outside the window of our self-imposed limits of the mind.
Making sense of things, of our purpose – our passions and our deepest ideals take time to develop. Like the philosopher, we would all be wise to sit and simply think about where we are in life – where we want to go – and how to go about doing it with the most prized possession: a life full of a life fulfilled.
Desperation vs. Inspiration It seems we get things done in life in one of two ways – out of desperation, or out of inspiration.
Desperation? Getting it done because of a deadline or showing up to work because we literally can’t afford to miss a day. Staying up all night to cram for an exam because we didn’t study enough the three months before – or turning in a less than stellar work because of the same reason.
At desperations worst? Stealing, lying, cheating and any other temptation that would arise out of attempting to protect ourselves from others realizing that we are indeed, less than stellar.
Inspiration? It’s this invisible force that actually maintains a positive outlook on everything we are doing – even if we don’t like doing it.
Showing up at work ready to dominate and deliver more than your boss could ever expect.
Turning in only the work we are proud to have our name upon. Knowing we gave every last ounce of our abilities to every project we are assigned.
Setting aside an hour a night months before our final exam to get ready for it, living within our means, focusing on improving our weaknesses – the list could go on and on.
Notice something about these ‘inspirational’ techniques? They all involve actively doing something to improve our condition. They involve taking a step back from living life on ‘auto-pilot’ and not being aware of our present mindset, thought patterns and inclinations towards following the rest of the world towards a life satisfied with mediocrity.
They all take extraordinary effort from the human being. But with extraordinary effort, comes extraordinary results (another Robin Sharma quote).
We can succeed out of desperation – and indeed at some points our desperation INSPIRES us to complete a task at hand. But it’s done with negative stress, consistent negative self-talk, and always with the pressure of the world on our shoulders.
The point is that life is lived with much more peace, love and fulfillment when we are inspired to be our best – not desperate to avoid the worst.
Being our best in playing in that grove on a day to day basis. Appreciating what we have and what we’ve been through and countering our challenges (and challengers) with a determination and perseverance to become something great.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Think what you want of Any Given Sunday, one of Jamie Foxx’s first blockbuster movies – but the speech delivered at the end of the movie by Al Pacino always gave me the chills. Additionally, the NFL season has graced us with a few memorable plays already this early in the season – Brett Farve anyone (see highlight at bottom of post)?
Reflecting back on Pacino’s speech after all of these years – I think I finally realize why it gets me everytime – besides the sports induced adrenaline rush the movie provides.
Each day, each hour and each minute are our inches. How we execute our inches will determine where we go. No matter how bad we want to be somewhere, without the execution of the inches there’s no way to get there. It’s like laying down your own personal rail road track to your life’s destination.
Life is a game of inches – of fighting for our inches. Life is a game of persistence. Life is a marathon – not a sprint. Life is a series of incremental steps towards the consistent improvement of the self.
Trick is, are you aware of your inches? Are you recording your inches gained or lost throughout your day? If you’re trying to get somewhere instead of staying where you currently are, you’ll need to.
Inches gained? Productive, uplifting and advancing towards your goals.
Inches lost? Lost time, laziness, procrastination and self-defeating thoughts. What good do they serve when they control you instead of the other way around?
What’s most important to take from all of this - when you do this with others, lifting others up – motivating and encouraging others to succeed … as Al Pacino puts it … “That’s all there is – now, what are you going to do?”
In case you missed it, here’s Brett Farve’s ridiculous touchdown throw with time running out to beat the Niner’s.
Curiosity killed the catechism / Understanding and wisdom became the rhythm that I played to / And became a slave to master self / A rich man is one with knowledge, happiness and his health ~Common, G.O.D. (Gaining One’s Definition – for your listening pleasure at the bottom of the post)
The story has already made its rounds via email, but if you haven’t heard it you’re in for a treat. Short and concise, this Cherokee Parable defines the difference between being an optimist or a pessimist – aka – defines those who expect the best or those who worry about the worst. Any personal development blog or book will tell you that a majority of the successful are excessive optimists.
A Cherokee Parable
A Cherokee Chief’s grandson once came to him in anger, proclaiming loudly the injustice another child has committed against him in taking credit for his discovery of a water well nearby.
With a smile the chief began, indirectly preparing his grandson to lead the tribe with a wise Cherokee parable:
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves,” he paused momentarily – meditating upon the predicament the Chief faces on a daily basis.
“One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too”
The grandson of the wise Chief thought about it for a minute and then instinctively asked his grandfather “Which wolf will win?”
Delighted that his grandson had the wisdom to inquire, the Cherokee Chief smiled and countered with a whisper, “The one you feed.”
How powerful this parable is. The life you live is intended – whether consciously or not. How you think, how you react and what you feel is entirely based upon what you choose to dwell upon.
Feed the evil wolf – and daily you have pangs of anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.
Feed the good wolf – and experience joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.
Without the pre-conceptualization of your intended life– there’s no drive – there’s no motivation to experience the best of what life has to offer.
Digging the well
As my pops put it eloquently tonight, there’s a well you have to dig – and at the bottom of the well is the treasure you seek. Thing is, there’s no shortcut to get there. Hard work, perseverance and a positive attitude will be what gets you there these days. Refusing to settle for mediocrity, demanding the best from yours elf on a daily basis. Doing things we don’t enjoy but we know will get us to where we want – and there’s no other way around it.
Mainstream philosophies of the power of positive thinking have never been more popular. Think Tony Robins, Robin Sharma, Steve Pavlina. Everyone needs a pick me up. Everyone needs encouragement. Everyone needs the right mindset to persevere through any predicament.
Everyone would rather experience the best that life has to offer. The trick is, the best that life has to offer is an appreciation of the difficulties we endure.
Hustle harder, reap the rewards. Have a plan, have a mission, have the tenacity to demand the best of yourself on a daily basis. Never be complacent. Always push harder than anyone else around you – and have the peace of mind knowing that by giving your all to life – that life will reward you.
~ Hard work is the key to success, so work diligently on any project you undertake. If you truly want to be successful, be prepared to give up your leisure time and work past 5 PM and on weekends. Also, have faith in yourself. If you come up with a new idea that you believe in, don’t allow other people to discourage you from pursuing it. ~Charles Lazarus
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” – Ben Franklin
As a continuation of yesterday’s post, Morning Domination, I thought I’d list seven of the most effective, common sense proof ways to get yourself up early.
Like any new habit, it takes time for your body and mind to adjust to getting up earlier. Takes a little perseverance and a lot of determination, but you’ll reap the rewards. The reality of it boils down to this: you’re gaining extra time consciously living instead of unconsciously sleeping (as comfortable as that may sound) – given that we are all on the clock, so to say, I want to get the most out of life that I can.
Waking up one hour earlier than normal means 7 extra hours per week – 28 extra hours per month of conscious, beautiful, productive living. In a world where I just don’t have the time is an all to frequent excuse – waking up earlier creates time that otherwise would have been lost.
Enough rambling – on to the good stuff.
1. Don’t think just do Don’t trust yourself in the morning. We’re in, what Steve Pavlina refers to, a “morning fog”. What’s the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning? Probably your mind trying it’s hardest to convince your body that it truly has GREAT reasons for wanting to stay in bed. “I slept so late last night, I’ve got such a busy day … I deserve an extra hour of sleep, etc. etc. etc.” Instead, don’t think about it. As soon as the alarm goes off – rise up and go about your day. Quell the thoughts and it’ll be that much easier. Source:howtowakeupearly.com 2. Early to bed early to rise
This is a catch-22 because until you force yourself out of your regular sleep habits – you may not be tired early enough to get an adequate amount of sleep. However, I can attest to the fact that if you force yourself to wake up early, after a few days – I guarantee you that your body will want to sleep earlier at days end. Strictly logic.
3. Just say no to stimulants (after 12:00pm) Coffee, alcohol and tobacco have all been proven to be the antithesis of a good nights sleep. Various sources claim that caffeine stays in your system roughly six hours. The general rule of thumb is avoid these types of stimulants after 12:00pm – that way by bed time there are no artificial chemicals that keep you up, or disrupt your quality of sleep – which brings us to point number four.
4. Quality, not quantity Everybody works a little bit differently. Lately, I’ve been operating just fine on roughly 6-7 hours of sleep per night. Some people swear by 8 hours, and yet some offer that 5-6 hours is adequate enough to keep us on our toes. What’s more important than the quantity of sleep is the quality of sleep your body is getting. During its replenishing stages, the body provides optimum regeneration with the television off, a comfortable temperature and a dark room. Even though you’re asleep, if there’s noise or light your mind takes note of that – it’s been proven. In fact, turn off the TV and/or computer 30 minutes before you’re going to go asleep for optimum rest.
5. Snoozing is evil I really don’t understand the snooze button. Why even put in on alarm clocks? It’s evil! Really, what is five extra minutes of sleep going to do AFTER I’m already awake but make me more tired, more grouchy and more likely to set the alarm for a later time. Just don’t.
6. Put your alarm in another room Simple but common sensible advise from zenhabits.net. If it’s right next to your bed, it’s that much easier to hit the evil snooze button – and that much easier to fall right back asleep. Force yourself up on your feet and you’re more likely to stay that way.
7. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again Like I stated in the Morning Domination post – if you fail – don’t count yourself a failure. So what, you didn’t get up this morning – don’t kick yourself or give up hope on developing the habit. It takes persistence, tenacity and a determination to dominate your day instead of the other way around to adjust your body to getting up earlier. Experts all say it takes roughly 3 weeks, or 21 days to ingrain a new habit. On your successful days, make note of it on your calendar – that way you have visual inspiration of your success and you’re more likely to try to continue the next day.
Waking up early is truly its own reward. Jump start you day. Empower yourself with confidence and swagger. Determine that today is going to be another fulfilling, productive and amazing experience – and it will be. Keep on hustling.
My mornings usually go something like this (mentally): ‘Alarm? Need more sleep … oh yeah, it’s Monday … work … bills … so much to do today …. work … bills … [insert errands here] … coffee please?’
Most of us then proceed to go through our routine until we’re somewhat coherent enough to feel the weight of reality set in on our shoulders after our peaceful slumber.
From this point on, we’re either dreading the day before us or anticipating the day ahead … it’s all about perspective. Our minds are conditioned to view each day as a potential disaster, or a masterpiece to be created – it all depends on how well we’ve reigned in our ability to control our thoughts. To dominate our mornings, we have to be in control – or the day will dominate us.
What the experts say
But after a while I couldn’t ignore the high correlation between success and rising early, even in my own life. On those rare occasions where I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity was almost always higher, not just in the morning but all throughout the day. ~Steve Pavlina
Not everyone is an early riser, and in my attempts to do so I’ve been met with sub-par success so far – but I’m still trying. Nonetheless, I always try to make sure I get in a good workout before my workday – and if I don’t I still feel the drag of sleep long in to the morning.
Robin Sharma promotes the idea of giving ourselves a ‘holy-hour’ in the morning. Waking up an hour earlier than we’re accustomed to to devote time to the self – this makes sense, it’s just hard to get our bodies (and minds) accustomed to doing.
During my Holy Hour, I journal, I read inspirational books, I review my goals and plans and I simply make the time to think. Because clarity precedes mastery and the more clear you can get on what you want to create in life, the more focused you will be in your daily behaviors. Every day can be a platform to get you closer to your mountaintop. And yet, too many people live life by accident. ~Robin Sharma
I can attest to this, when I’m successful at doing so. The hard part is convincing myself while I lay in my comfortable bed that I would benefit from waking up at 5:00am. I used to get discouraged when I didn’t – but that just sets ourselves up for a discouraging day, which brings me to my next point.
What matters most
Whether a morning person or not, the most important thing to do when we first wake up is to start thinking positively. Difficult as it may be, it is possible. It’s all about our attitude towards the day ahead.
Simply put – would you rather own your day, or let your day own you? Would you rather let life have it’s way, or create the life you want to live? Or as Robin Sharma puts it – don’t live your life by accident.
At this realization things became more clear to me – if I want to get where I want to go I need to ensure that the start of my day is nothing more than extraordinary – even if I feel like I’m lying to myself to get to there.
My perfect morning (Monday through Friday)
Ideally, in the present, this is how my perfect morning would go: 5:00am: Up at the first alarm, eat something (snoozing is evil, what good is 5 extra minutes really?)
5:00-5:30: Cardio workout (the best way to awaken my senses is to work them)
5:30-6:30: ‘Holy-hour’ – day planning, reading, reflecting, etc.
6:30-7:00: Personal Training w/clients
7:00-7:30: Weight training for myself
8:00: Enter my 8-5 grind with the satisfaction of morning domination.
Of course it doesn’t go like this every day, but I’ll keep trying until it does. As stated previously, if you beat yourself up for not waking up or doing the things you wanted to do, you’re setting the tone for the rest of your day. As hard as you can, think positively – envision the great day ahead and be grateful that you’re still breathing – that you can still experience life to the fullest.
I’m a work in progress, we all are. Slowly but surely I’ll dominate each and every morning – setting myself up for content, productive and fulfilling days – and as each day goes on like this I’m one day closer to my ideal life:
Big idea: Your days are your life in miniature. As you live your days, so you craft your life. What you do today is actually creating your future. The words you speak, the thoughts you think, the food you eat and the actions you take are defining your destiny – shaping who you are becoming and what your life will stand for. There’s no such thing as an unimportant day. ~Robin Sharma
The author is of the Millennial Generation, a full-time Research Analyst, part-time Freelance Journalist, occasional Certified Personal Trainer, Self-Deprecating Comedian, Tech Geek and Consummate Hustler. Expert at nothing, seeker of everything - he is determined to define, improve, progress (and blog about) those qualities necessary to help himself and anyone else with similar ambition achieve the level of success required to experience life at its fullest
Find him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter for more new hustle sicktasticnes, it's a word.
, by Florence Scovel Shinn. What an eye opener. A quick note: it is very Christian based, and intactly describes how the laws of the universe apply to the teachings of the Bible – perfect for what I’ve been looking for.
