Finally, lol. As is usual, I seemingly tend to disappear for extended periods of time. This isn't generally the case 100% of the time. I just don't have anything to post (usually). That, or I've gone and gotten myself preoccupied with a bunch of other projects.

Anyway a few updates:

I am currently working remotely so this means I'll probably have more things done and ready to post. I haven't actually posted any plushes (yet) but I'll be looking to get back to that at some point, maybe make that a regular thing as well. Anyway, more posts are bound to happen!

Hokay, so some have probably noticed that I didn't actually post for friday 6/26 and monday or tuesday.

Can't say I've been feeling up to par, but as it stands right now, I haven't really done much to feel otherwise, so I guess I deserve that.

Got a nice little boost at work today though (yay)! One of our co-workers FINALLY got let go after nearly a month of...stupid. I don't know how the hell she got away with what she did (probably because we didn't have a manager for the past two weeks), but now we don't have to put up with her little...remarks. Or general hostility, for that matter.

Anyway, Been trying to slam out this commission (I'll have pics up in a few days, hopefully) as I've fallen behind a little with this project. I'll have the final few days posted as soon as I've caught back up, but for now, I think this needs to take priority.

A few more things of note...Maybe some of you are aware that there was an opening for a new team member since someone from our team is leaving (Thanks to that co-worker who finally got canned...) and we just filled that spot. Not sure what to think of him yet, but he SEEMS to be okay...if not a little judgmental, but otherwise decent. He's catching on fast, so hopefully he'll be able to take that spot. I really hope he gets trained in my area though...as of right now, there is no one capable of taking my position...which is a problem if I can't come in for something, or if I'm out on vacation or whatever.

However, there's a second issue. As of today, we have another spot that we could fill, hopefully with someone who actually is capable of working, this time. Seriously, when you come back from a 30 minute break, clock in, then proceed to disappear for an hour, then come back and complain that you have work you can't finish...not okay - and that was an almost daily occurrence. So, looking to get that position filled now and HOPEFULLY we'll get a new manager within the next couple weeks...maybe they can whip our morning shift back into shape... I shouldn't have to be doing orders from 8am when I'm coming in at 1:30 pm...Yes, we have a large order in batteries, but for some reason, no one told me until today...when we have another two days of work to do and it's due friday. Thankfully, our battery guy is back tomorrow so I'll have help, hopefully.

What else...? Oh, we need one more person from our current crew of...13 (now down to 12). That way we can actually have someone trained in for flex cable instead of having to split the job between four of us, most of the time, when we're already busy in other areas, lol.

Something that plagues everyone throughout their life and constantly gets in the way, so to speak. Everyone wants to avoid problems, but what if we turned this around and looked for problems? Like they say, you can spot an engineer from a mile away. These are the kinds of people who will look for problems to solve. If they can't find any, they'll make some.

The final breakthrough: How to solve problems quickly and effectively.
Problems are going to come up at some point. This holds true no matter how great you are, regardless of your ability or skill, problems are going to come up. Without problems, our life gets pretty boring, don’t you think?

Solutions are simple…the most important thing is thus: Learn to spend 80% of your time on the solution and only 20% on the problem. A small problem is turned into a huge ordeal when we spend all of our time going over what the problem is, and none of our time finding a solution. The only thing we need to do is figure out what the problem is, and most of the time that become obvious in a matter of seconds. The rest of our time should be spent solving it.

Simple question is: “What do I need to do to fix this?” or “What do I need to do to make this work?” If we ask better quality questions, we get better quality answers. Open loop questions like “Why does this happen to me?” or “why does this have to happen NOW?” don’t solve the problem. What DOES solve the problem is controlling our focus, expecting an answer, knowing what result we want, trying something and adapting to new information until we receive the result we desire.

Something to remember: It doesn’t matter the question that is asked, we will come up with an answer, so ask the right ones. Even so; if we don’t come up with a solution that works, there are plenty of people who have already gone through the same, exact problem who can provide solutions.

What stops a person from being able to handle the problem is that we get overwhelmed. To avoid this, teach yourself to link massive amounts of pain to that state of being. With enough, you’ll do just about anything to avoid it.

We all know the “success formula” by now, I’m sure. Apply this to problems and they become a whole new game. So going back to “problems.”

Solutions are simple to come by:
1: stay focused. Avoid feeling overwhelmed and stay resourceful.
2: Find exactly what the problem is.
3: Come up with your best solution.
4: Notice the results of your actions.
5: If what action you’re taking is not working, change your approach.
6: If you lack the resources, find a role-model. Someone who has had the same problem and has gotten the results you want.
7: Understand that a problem is nothing more than a challenge.

Problems cause us to expand and grow. It’s simple, really. The second we are capable of overcoming a challenge presented to us, we grow and guess what else? Those “challenges” begin to get smaller and smaller until they’re nothing more than a minor nuance.

So, little exercise for today…Think of a problem and ask the following questions to address the problem itself. By the end of this, hopefully the problem will be solved and maybe we’ll have even created new opportunities.
1: What’s could be great about this situation?
2: what is not perfect: YET?
3: what am I willing to do about the issue to make it the way I want it?
4: what am I willing to no longer do in order to make things the way I want them?
5: how can I do what is necessary to make this happen, and enjoy the process?

I'm probably not the best individual to talk about this. I personally don't consider myself relationship material, but that's up for debate. Nah, my experience is very limited, but seeing as how this was today's topic and one that I actually have studied in depth outside of this little program, this one has a LOT of additions to it.

Successful Relationships: Obtaining and maintaining
Now, this doesn’t work for everyone, keep in mind. The biggest challenge that people have is that they want a relationship to be the solution to their problems. A relationship should be approached as something you give something to, instead of something you go to, to take something out. (Remember, the power of giving?)

When it comes to relationships…IMPROVEMENT is a huge thing. Why? The second we stop improving our relationships is when they get dull and fall apart.

So two factors that cause them to die… Those who have had or have a relationship…remember your first meeting? A Friend of mine keeps referring to this as a sort of “New car smell” or in my case, I believe he called it “New fox smell” (which, honestly…I’m not sure if that’s something that I’d be drawn to but hey, not my nose~). Remember that drive? That initial draw? Remember how it was the second you were a thing? But…for some of us now, maybe that same drive isn’t there. Maybe our relationships have already fallen apart. Maybe, some of us have noticed a change and we simply do not like where we see it heading.

First of all, the law of familiarity. It simply states that if we are around anything enough, we start to take it just a little bit for granted…remember this? Unfortunately, this applies to EVERYTHING.

Second: Anchoring. Remember this? We are always anchoring, not matter what. If something unique happens while we are in a strong enough state, that same something will cause us to go back INTO that state. Sometimes we anchor to what we don’t want to. Those who have been around me know I disappear on my OWN when I’m not up to par or otherwise just pretty abysmal. This is EXACTLY why I do so.

So, if we get caught in a pattern…I think we know what we should be doing at this point. Interrupt them. This goes for patterns that make things boring as well as patterns that can be destructive. Arguments are a big one. Doesn’t really matter how much one may love the other, there is BOUND to be a disagreement. Another big one are those boring routines. If we interact the same way every time, things get boring and rather…dull. That is one of the FASTEST ways to drive a relationship out the door.

Going back to belief systems: Remember how I said we all operate with different rules? Well, these rules apply to relationships as well. What do we want out of a relationship and what has to happen for us to feel that way? If we can’t follow at least some of those rules, then a relationship is out of the question (at least until those rules, or beliefs, are changed).

Those LOOKING for relationships…consider this: Triggers. Know that everyone operates by a slightly different set of rules. In order for someone to feel loved, maybe they need to hear it from you. Maybe they need to see it. Maybe they even need to physically feel it. Generally, it’ll be a mixture of all three. Now, most people aren’t even aware of what their own “love strategy,” so to speak, is!

So, here’s an exercise: Ask yourself, what does it take for you to feel loved? What needs to happen? (This was probably addressed in the values and beliefs and if so, good. If not, now would be a good time to figure this out.) Me? I’m sort of a mixed up mess. I am very visual, so to speak, but that doesn’t mean materialistic. I appreciate the thought of gifts, but I personally like effort and time. The phrase “I love you” is thrown around too much for my liking. Gifts are materialistic and I have assigned very little value in money itself. TIME, however, is something I see as a very precious commodity. If someone goes out of their way to take the time to do something on my behalf, even if it’s just to talk or hang out, that’s kind of a big deal for me.

So I’ll go under the assumption that we know what we require now. How do you figure out what someone else needs? Simple. Ask. I don’t mean asking “what do you like?” Because…well, if anyone asked me that I’d give a hell of a list and they’d never figure it out without first stumbling all over themselves. I mean ask something along the lines of “Can you remember a time when you felt most loved?” Then decide…what seemed to be the trigger? Was it something that was auditory, kinesthetic, or visual? Now, here’s the trouble when dealing with others…A lot of the time, they’ll dance around the topics, so our job would be to figure out exactly what causes what through observation and communication. It never hurts to ask, so do so. Maybe phrase it in such a way that puts an importance on one or the other. Maybe: “In order for you to experience these same feelings, is it absolutely necessary I show/tell/touch you in a certain way?”

Communication. I swear, so many relationships seem to drop off because this is lacking. If there’s a problem, TALK. But you also have to know WHEN to talk. Remember, time and place for everything. Talking too early could be a VERY bad thing. Talking too late could mean they’ve forgotten. If there’s something they do that bothers you, take five, then come back to it with a clear head. If you’ve bothered them and you know it, let them calm a bit before addressing it, or everything will be blown out of proportion.

Never threaten the relationship…in other words, pay attention to where your focus lies. The quickest way to end a relationship is to make that fear real. That means, to focus on “what happens if it doesn’t work out?” And all of a sudden, there’s all that pain and then suddenly, (in day 22) there’s that approach avoidance and we’ll do everything we can to halt progress. Instead, one should focus on the NOW. Don’t live in the past; those are learning experiences. Don’t live in the future; you can’t know what will happen.

And finally: Be honest with yourself. If we try to be something we’re not, we’ll eventually get burnt out. "A high pressure system can only sustain for so long." Trying to kid ourselves or drive ourselves to something that we simply are not will not work. Sure, changes can be made in interests and even attractions. The problem comes when we ignore what WE want in favor of something others want FOR us.

So recap…Improve, give, and most importantly; pay attention. “Nothing of value in life can be created without absolute commitment. “

Exercise: Have fun…identify exactly what you want in a relationship. Who is this person? Mentally, emotionally, socially, spiritually, intellectually, physically, etc… Now, these CAN change, and they WILL change. Also; identify what you DON’T want.

Then, identify what you want the relationship to be about and what you don’t want it to be about.

Lastly, make a list of things you can do, create, say, or experience together that will create positive states you can attach to the other to enhance the quality of the relationship.

So, I'm sure many of you have heard me complaining about my energy levels lately, huh? A lot of this is simply review for most of us, but it does have some interesting bits of information here. I hadn't been paying any attention to this and only now took notice of the old habits I had dropped (oops).

Increase your energy – The foundation of change
Anything in life that has any value, requires an investment of energy, and I mean ANYTHING. If we want to get good at art, we need to invest in it. That means we put emotional stock into our work.

Here’s the problem though: Most of us get burnt out. I mean, we work 8-9 hours a day, have time to come home, grab a bite to eat, maybe relax a bit and then go to bed…then wake back up and repeat. I’m sure MOST of us know what this is like.

So how does one increase energy levels? Well, by breathing (obviously) but doing this properly and efficiently. Ever notice how those with respiratory issues seem to have lower energy? Oxygen is required (I’m sure everyone knows this already, but maybe not quite it’s importance…) for anyone to survive. Lack of oxygen means lack of energy. Those who exercise know cardio causes the heart, lungs, and circulatory systems to work harder. Similar to strength training, if we push this, it also increases how efficient we are in processing the oxygen we’re taking in. The average person only extracts 3% of the oxygen inhaled…kind of low, isn’t it? Well, let’s say we increased that…

How? Breathing exercises: Done in most conditioning and almost any martial art. Why is that? Well, do it ten times, three times a day and watch your energy levels; for those of us who hate getting out of bed, maybe this is something we should be doing when we wake up, hmm? Yes, I’m talking to myself in particular…funny how one can know these things and simply not apply them or forget.

What else? Aerobics! “Air exercise” so to speak. SWIMMING! Seriously, I need to get back to this.

More tips…DIET! Eat foods that contain lots of water. Fresh fruit and vegetables, or juices, and sprouts. “when too little fluid is supplied, the blood maintains a higher specific gravity and the poisonous waste products of tissue or cell change are only cast off very imperfectly. The body is there for poisoned by its own excretions and it’s not too much to say that the chief reason of this is because a sufficient amount of fluid has not been supplied to carry off in solution the waste matter that cells manufacture.” ~Alexander Bryce (MD) This means, cells are dying and being replaced CONSTANTLY. Unless we have enough water to carry off that extra waste, we poison ourselves.

So here’s a little exercise for the next week. Keep a FOOD LOG. (I’ll start this Sunday, and post this on Saturday). LOOK at the list and mark off the water rich or “water content foods.” Beer, milk, alcohol, etc, don’t count. What percentage of our diet contains water content foods? If you were to ask a dietitian about your diet…what would they say? Likely: ”You’re killing yourself.” To most of us. 70% or more of our diet should contain water rich foods.

Take a look at the portioning suggestions when working with diabetics…notice the portioning? 75% of that plate is fruit and/or vegetables (FRESH).

Day 23 exercise: Next ten days, do those breathing exercises and change our diet. (Again, I’ll start this Sunday, and post results the following week).

Okay, so some have PROBABLY realized that I haven't posted for three days. Unfortunately, I haven't really been keeping up as well as I should and honestly...the past three days haven't gone over any really new information, but it's in there. I managed to pull one days journal from two discs (finally). Anyway, here's day 22.

Eliminating self sabotage: Key to confidence

Self sabotage is what keeps us from achieving our goals. Why are we stopping ourselves from following through? Sometimes people may be afraid of success itself. Other times, we associate pain to the actions we should be taking to reach our goals, or worse yet, we associate that pain to achieving the goal itself, which simply means we will never reach it. By now, I’m sure that we understand how to make this stop and possibly turn it around. There is always a positive intent when it comes to these patterns, even if the outcome is primarily negative. The intent is to simply do what is best for us in terms of avoiding pain and getting pleasure.

I can point out this one (having been there) and some might be able to relate to it, perhaps. I’m sure we have all heard someone go on about how weak others are for committing suicide (I’ve heard this plenty, personally). Well, no one seems to ever stop to ask why they killed themselves...ever notice that? The simple answer is: Death was preferable to the individual at the time. Simply put, whoever it was had associated pain to every area of their life AND had that pain as a primary focus.

So, we know that we are simply trying to do what is best for us, but we need to know what is correct. Consider this: Maybe we aren’t actually sabotaging, maybe we are simply doing stupid things. There IS a difference. Sabotaging means there is a pattern. Sometimes we just make poor decisions. We need to be able to recognize and break those patterns. Just like breaking a habit, changing beliefs, changing our associations, and just about any other change we need to make.

Sabotage goes back to approach avoidance; where we have mixed associations - mentioned back in days three and four (probably not under the same name). When it comes down to it, if we don’t know, we try to stop everything. That includes progress, meaning: if we aren’t sure whether the pattern we are following is going to lead to pain or pleasure, we try to stop it in some way. Making too much money for example. This could mean we stop going to meetings we need to be at, perhaps it’s a relationship where we distance ourselves instead.

Associations can drive someone crazy quite easily. These mixed associations simply mean that things like your relationships, your health, your business, and your spirituality even; begin clash on some level. The fix, so to speak, is quite simple… We should understand that nothing stays the same. Just because your first business went under doesn’t mean the second one will. Just because your health is poor doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. Just because your relationships in the past have fallen apart, doesn’t mean that you’ll never have a stable one. Last journal (day 19), there was one of many methods listed to “get over” or “erase” past experiences, turning those into nothing more than a learning experience. Aaaand again: “The past does not equal the future.” Far too many of us live in the past.

Let’s say we’re playing something akin to D&D and we get shocked by one of the d20… Well, unfortunately, we kind of need that one, but we’re not going to avoid every single d20 on the table. The others haven’t shocked us, so we’d probably use those instead.

Another key to this is confidence. Omg, people do not confuse confidence for cockiness…seriously, two very different things. Silent confidence is generally a sign of true confidence…there’s no need to convince ourselves of something if we already know it’s a thing, it’s quite simple really. This comes down to hoping and expecting, maybe even knowing. If we simply “hope” for something to happen, then there’s the chance, in our mind, it won’t. If we expect something to happen, that chance of “failure” becomes very small, and if we KNOW it’ll happen, then that chance of “failure” simply disappears. So how does this relate?

If we are confident that something will happen, we expect it to or know it will, then that gives us a drive to make it happen. Something mentioned at work: “We can break people up into three groups: People who make things happen, people who watch things happen, and people who wonder what happened.” Noticed this in regards to those who have achieved their goals consistently…they don’t use the phrase “I wish,” like…ever. Those who have used the phrase “I wish” (myself included), my opinion, are saying something along the lines of “I hope this will happen at some point, but I don’t really want to put in the effort to make it happen.”

Day 22 exercise: capture your five GREATEST successes in life. Perhaps a time in our life where things looked glum, but we managed to turn that around. (Already have these in story form, that’ll be posted separately after editing).

So...A bunch of new crap happening now.

Those following my personal journals may have noted a bit of a change in how I've been writing them. Day 0 was pretty much just a heads up, and day 1 was a very...half-assed journal entry. After the first week though, I think that kind of changed. I had a couple of you actually express some interest in this little study (yay, I'm not completely insane after all! maybe...?) and so I've changed the style a little bit, more from just partial notes to much fuller pieces. Strangely enough, this seems to be working out better for me; kind of like talking to myself in a way, I guess.

Most are probably aware of the few issues with some roommates as well. That's more or less resolved. They left behind a lot of...stuff, though. One other thing that amazes me about this entire situation is just how legally stupid they apparently are. Seriously, since when was it okay to take something without first receiving permission, written or otherwise? Did I like...miss a memo or something? Vehicular theft stop being a felony overnight maybe? I don't remember hearing about that.

Some other personal updates I suppose...
Finally been at DigiKey a year as of 5/5/15 so the little increase in pay was a major boost. Got more being put into my 401k for now, but I'll need to change the contribution this week so I have something to put into an investment fund...should be super interesting over the next few years. Hopefully, I'm right. More work news: We have NO manager for the department I work in so...well, basically things are a mess. We seriously need some new parts for the wire they decided to add to our workload. The line they added is a 28 gauge wire that we have to crimp tiny little terminals to. That in itself isn't a problem, but when our wire stripper doesn't want to strip them properly and the applicators can't be adjusted to work with these wires? Well, lets just say they cut our productivity in about half. Not to mention increased our error rate by about 35% Fun times. Hopefully that gets fixed whenever we get a new manager.

More work stuff!
Have an employee I work with literally driving the entire team out. No manager, so she's not going to be let go and we've already lost two of our best workers so (naturally) much more work for me xD Fun times. Another is looking to move departments so again, even more work until I can train in our new hires...Hopefully, this little issue is the FIRST to be addressed. Oh, and Day shift has been slacking again >.< Just because we're currently ahead doesn't mean you have to sit on your hands all day...lol

If there’s ANYTHING in society we’ve learned to link a mix of pain and pleasure to, it is the words “failure” and “success.” This "fear

FEAR: Dealing with and overcoming fear and rejection.

So; first of all; what is fear? Fear is an emotional state, nothing more. This emotional state known as “fear” is activated in order to avoid pain, and it’s a state of major concern. We can USE this to really become fully aware and attentive since it’s a survival mechanism that allows us to take quick action. The problem is when we take this emotion and attach that to something we don’t NED to have any intensity about. Like trying something and not having it turn out as we expected it to…sometimes called “failure.” If this does happen, then we won’t want to try new things because they might not turn out as we expect it to.

People anticipate the potential of problems or pain and generate fear. Someone once described fear as: False Evidence Appearing Real. Pretty sure we’ve all stressed about something that didn’t even happen, right? Well….guess what, it did happen. It happened in your body. We might as well have had the problems we anticipated with how much stress we threw upon ourselves because what we experienced at that point in time is the exact same thing that we would’ve experienced anyway. In fact, it was probably worse. If it DID happen, we’d have done it ONCE; but because we were waiting for it and anticipating it, we were probably running the same experience over and over and over. I believe it was Ernest Hemingway who said: “A coward dies a thousand deaths, a courageous man, only one.”

Failure is impossible. The only way to fail it to tell ourselves we’ve failed. In order to feel failure, we need to represent things in a certain light. We need to evaluate our live in a very specific manner which is VERY different from how we’d evaluate our lives in order to feel successful. Point is; we control whether or not we are a failure or a success.

So how do we change this? Well; first, we could change our rules as to what determines whether we are a failure or a success. We know how to do this already, so I won’t go BACK into it yet again. BUT I will say this: We should make it easier for us to feel successful. Just because we feel successful doesn’t mean we will lack the drive to achieve our goals. Instead of achieving our goals to be happy, we should happily achieve those goals. That way we can have fun along the way!

What must happen in order for us to feel successful? Perhaps we need to make a certain amount of money. Maybe we need to achieve certain goals we have set. Perhaps we need to grow at a certain rate. Whatever it is, this is what dictates whether or not we are successful.

What must happen in order for us to feel like a failure? Maybe it’s simply not achieving our goals we set out to achieve. Perhaps it could be something as simple as not being successful (How’s that for setting ourselves up for failure?), or maybe even not being at a certain weight. Again, this is what dictates whether or not we feel like a failure.

So; whose rules are these? Are they ours? Is this definition we have appropriate to create lifelong happiness and success? If not; it’s time to create a new set of rules. So what SHOULD our rules be? What would make it harder for us to fail and easier for us to succeed?

My ruleset I’ve been living by for a while now has simply been: Learn something new. If I can learn something I didn’t know before, then I’m successful. If I can apply something I learned, I’ve succeeded. If I have given any situation my best shot, then I’ve succeeded. SO: If I didn’t give something my best shot, then I can learn something and I’ve STILL succeeded. If I’ve not applied something, I can learn WHY and again; that’s a win in my book.

In order for me to feel like a failure, I need to completely give up and take nothing away from the experience. In other words, I need to quit without learning anything at all…which is pretty difficult by the way.

So; what would we do if we knew for sure, we couldn’t fail? Well; most people would say “Just about anything.” In which case…just go do it then. If we have the right rules, we’ll have to actively try to fail in order for that to happen. If you try something and it doesn’t work, then we can learn what didn’t work and try something new. It’s like any sport: Archery for example. If you take a shot and it veers left, we’re not going to shoot at the same spot again. We’ll aim a little further to the right. If that shot goes too far to the right, then we pick a spot in the middle. As long as you’ve got arrows to fire (ideas) and the strength to draw the bow (a heartbeat, basically), keep taking those shots, ONE of them is BOUND to hit.

Now, to actually remove those past failures, we need to mess with them, just as we did with the limiting beliefs with money, but this time, with a memory. We’re going to skew it way off. So; first we need to create a nice, positive anchor. This was gone over in a previous journal; day 16. Once we have that anchor, let’s take one of our major failures in life and play it, in our mind, as nothing more than a simple “movie” so to speak. It might help to imagine this on a screen even. View this from an outside perspective. Once we’ve reached the end of this little movie, stand up and smile. Actually smile. If it helps, focus on something that you found entertaining for a moment and keep that in the back of your mind while you turn your focus back to the past “failure.” Now, let’s play the memory BACKWARDS as FAST as possible. Skew it as much as you can. Colors should be skewed, hell, make everything in rainbows, why not? Skew proportions if you like. I personally find this whole process thoroughly entertaining (Chances are, if you catch me giggling to myself for no apparent reason, it’s because this mess happened to pop into my mind).

Looks really weird, doesn’t it? Messed up, full of weird lighting and terrible coloring with strange proportions (because I can). That’s the nice thing about perception. If you really wanted to, you can take a memory and fuck with it as MUCH as you want. Make something twice as big, make something only a quarter of its original size. Maybe paint everything rainbow or drop bubbles across the whole scene. While we’re at it, why not play with some confetti?

Yep, looks totally absurd. But go back through once you’ve replaced this failure with this skewed image. Now do you have a small smile maybe? At least, neutral feelings associated with this? If not, then go through again and interrupt that pattern. Like a vinyl, scratch it up and it’ll never play the same. That’s kind of the same thing happening here.

While we’re at it, why not take it one step further? How’s about creating an anchor for success? I personally want to get over this whole mess of writers block I’ve been fussing with for a while now and that’s been holding me back in some sense… Soo, lets come up with a time where we felt that nothing could get in our way. Where we felt totally creative or capable and make an anchor for that…why not?

Anyone who has succeeded has been rejected time and again. In order to get your idea out there, you’ve got to go through all the rejection first. Everyone has a different view of things so naturally, our ideas will be rejected more than they will be accepted. Of course, we just need to find the right person to accept our idea to make it a reality.

Exercise for today. Write down two experiences in your life you used to consider failures and two experiences where you felt rejected. Next to these four, write down one benefit you got out of these experiences. Then, erase these failures and rejections. This way, they turn into nothing but learning experiences.

Another day of managing money. This one is a lot more work and is probably another journal most won't agree on xD

Wealth Management - End Financial self-sabotage.

Many people don’t get what they want financially. Not because they don’t have a plan, not because they lack good advice, not because the possibility of wealth is not around them, not because they lack capitol, and not because they lack the intellect. We lack financially because of the process we go through of sabotaging our own success. What I mean is: People believe they deserve a certain level of success. If things are going poorly, we’ll end up pulling ourselves to a point where we feel we should be. If we are doing too well, we’ll pull ourselves back to the point where we feel we should be. If for whatever reason, we are sabotaging our successes, then it is only because the situation we are in is perceived to bring more pain than pleasure should it continue.

To make this even worse, people associate pleasure to having a lack of abundance! When people really do well financially and they’re around friends, what happens? They begin to judge. Those we considered friends may begin to reject us due to our financial standing. Perhaps partly due to this, our brain begins to associate financial abundance to pain. Remember; the brain does not work logically, no matter how much we may want it to.

In order to eliminate this self-sabotage, we must first change our association to money. Instead of associating all that pain, we should instead associate all that pleasure we think of consciously. After all, if we don’t even HAVE the money to begin with, then why would we even consider the negative aspects it may bring with it?

Another reason we tend to avoid financial abundance is the fear of the unknown. We know what it’s like to have no money, but not how it is to be wealthy. If we’ve never had wealth to begin with, then we have NO idea what it’s like.

Perhaps in part to all of the above reasons, people who don’t have the money they desire haven’t gotten themselves ready emotionally to deal with it. In order to succeed financially, we need to build our ability to “accept” the additional income and responsibilities that may come with it. Like any other “muscle,” it needs to be trained. Start small, and work up to bigger and better things.

So how do we get beyond lack? How do we begin to create wealth, AND keep it without destroying it?
Well, first of all…get wealthy now. Literally, right now. We should be free from the illusion of not being wealthy, because we all are in some way. Again, this goes back to the quote I provided yesterday, “if you’re not enough with, will not be enough without.” Wealth is NOT just money; it is the abundance of anything in any area of our life. Our wealth is leverage; the ability to have experiences that we did not control or generate. We get to live in a country where we are surrounded by abundance. We own this abundance just because we live here. We own the public highways. For most of them, we don’t have to pay to use them. Most of the government buildings, we own. We can go in at any time and use them. We do, after all, pay for them. The same goes for public libraries. We get to go in and get access to a whole mess of books for FREE! Someone may decide to point out that these services are paid for through taxes, and they’d be right; but we do not spend a single cent of our net value on these services.

Like attracts like. Whatever we hold consistently in our mind is what we experience. Once again, this goes back to focus. Understand we’re already wealthy, and it will come. Wanting to expand on that wealth is healthy.

People generally ask: Is it really right to make more? If you’re surrounded by others who don’t make as much, is that really acceptable? Well; If you’re smart, is it right to expand your knowledge? What about relationships? Is it right to want to deepen a relationship you already have? How’s about health? Is it right to want to be even healthier than we are now? Maybe spiritually? Is it right to want to strengthen what bonds we may have there? If you could have more, should you? Simple answer; yes.

A lot of people seem to be getting caught in the following thought process… It’s not fair to have more than those around us…but guess what? There is a little thing called the law of 33%. We should spend 33% of your time around those below us, those on the same level, and those above us. Simply put, a third of our time should be spent with those lacking abundance in their lives. A third of our time should be spent around those who have about as much as we do, and the last third of our time should be spent around those who are WAY ahead of us (I’m talking like, 5, 10, 20, even 50 years ahead, by the way).

Everyone was born with opportunities. We are all born equal in that sense, but we are NOT equal in education, decisions, how much we demand of ourselves, or in our motivation. People don’t start out with “equal” resources, but no matter where you look; there is SOMEONE who made it for themselves. They did this by GAINING access to their “talents” and abilities thanks to beliefs in the areas that were empowering.

Trying to turn around sabotage by working harder does not work. If our core beliefs do not align to our goals, we simply cannot get there. By building a road to our own financial success, we can simultaneously assist others in reaching their goals as well. Beliefs are a set of rules we live by. A feeling of absolute certainty about what something means. Again, limiting beliefs mean that we are certain that having abundance is worse than not having abundance. Changing ones beliefs has been gone over in a previous journal.


This world can be divided into three groups: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. What most people do in life is sit around and HOPE that some miracle will come along and turn things around; OR they go out and just work harder and harder and then wonder why they can’t make it. These groups can be looked at in two simpler ones: Those who have a very high pain threshold-those who continue to sit and hope and wish; and those who have a lower threshold-those who look around and find so much pain they refuse to put up with it any longer.

Get to the place where you’ve absolutely had it, but understand why you’ve had it. Most of us get frustrated and are simply destructive with the excess energy. Lucky me, I had my grandma to point out how useless that was very early on, so I learned to utilize that frustration in a much more productive way.

There are a few steps to eliminate self-sabotage in finances…FOREVER.
-Write down all the pain you experience because we don’t have enough finances we deserve. What are we missing out on? What are we losing? What is it costing? What are some things you REALLY want to do that you cannot due to a lack of funds? Maybe we can scrape by, or maybe we’re comfortable (we all know that’s me right now…meaning if this doesn’t change I’m fucked, lol).

If we’ve done this effectively, we’ve associated massive pain to a lack of money. Maybe we’ve already got that, but if this is an issue, then obviously it’s not enough. The point is to use the frustration as a motivator. Enough of one where we get to that point of “I’ve had it.”

Remember, we’ll do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure. Things like “I can do it later” and knowing that “later” may never come…that’s a hell of a reason right there. Another one; knowing someone who REALLY deserves the help, but you can’t offer that assistance simply because you don’t have the money to. Perhaps the inability to travel. PRESSURE YOURSELF.

-Find out what you think of when you think of money itself. Write down anything you think of when you associate to money. Single words. If you hear “Money” what do you think of right off the bat.

-Now; write down the things you remember about money growing up. Phrases and the like, personal thoughts regarding money. “Money is” or “Money will” or even “Money can.” Those kinds of phrases. Anything that limits your financial abundance.

Look at this list and compare it to your list from before. Do you notice any contradictions?

-Now make a list of how your life would be greater and better if you had all the money you could want in your life. (Goes back to the lottery post I made earlier). What would it be like if you had all the financial freedom you could want?

Now look at those previous beliefs…We can keep them, destroy them, or link them to a positive trigger. Those phrases we now have, mess with them. Have fun. Remove the limitation.

Finally, let’s try looking at empowering beliefs… These come directly from people who are financially successful, by the way. People similar to Gates, Ford, Walton, Lopez, Drucker, Buffet, Munger, and naturally, Robbins.
1: Money is nothing more than a measure of value we give to others. The more money we give, the more money we are capable of receiving ion an ongoing and consistent basis.
2: To become wealthy, you only need two things. 1: Every day, live in an attitude of gratitude. Feel incredibly grateful for wealth we already have in life. See a sense of possibility and see the abundance that IS our life. (that in itself will create more wealth on its own…like attracts like, water seeks its own level. remember?)
3: Consistently give to others more than you expect to get back (This is impossible, by the way…doesn’t matter how much you give, you’ll always get more back).
4: Create experiences with money that gives you and those around you pleasure. PLAY! HAVE FUN! Seriously, if you never experience pleasure tied to money, then it’ll never stick.

So now, exercise for today (Lol, yeah, after this mess of one)
The ten day challenge. Starting today, we’ll take a couple minutes to condition our mind for financial possibility. Write down three new ideas to make money. ANYTHING. Maybe 90% of those ideas aren’t worthwhile, but how many do we need to create financial abundance?

If you do not have enough money, there is one primary reason. You have not conditioned yourself for wealth. This will be a topic of focus for today and tomorrow.
Money is an emotionally charged issue. I either see one of two things: A drive and passion to actually acquire these little slips of paper with deceased notables on them, or a contempt and general hatred of it, something to avoid at all costs. It is the latter which baffles me.

Wealth Management: Conditioning for financial abundance.

Money is nothing more than a representation of value; a means to measure the exchange of value between people. There are financial opportunities which surround us at just about every moment; yet most don’t create the abundance we deserve. The primary reason for this is that we associate a negative emotion to excess money (after reading the previous, it should be obvious by now, right?)

Most people would PROBABLY be arguing this point now. Going to say this now, though: If you don’t have it, then naturally, you’ll want it…but clearly, we don’t want it badly enough. But how can I say this? Well, while we might want it, there’s also all the negative associations that surround it. Otherwise, we would have already formed a plan to make the money we desire, executed it, and would have the financial wealth we desire.

In relation to this (and something I’ve been waiting to quote now for a few days) “If you're not enough without them, then you won't be enough with them.” In other words, living in a world of lack does not bring out the best in people, but if we are not capable of being at our best in such a situation, then we can’t achieve what we want.

Those in a world of lack tend to focus on themselves and simple survival. Those in a world of abundance stop focusing on survival and start focusing on the bigger picture or put simply, contribution. Meaning: When we live in a world of lack naturally our focus is on survival; of ourselves and our so called “needs.” Again; people don’t seek money itself, it’s the idea of what it will provide.

Some main issues that occur when trying to become financially stable or financially independent:
First, people don’t make having an abundance of money a “must.” Instead, we only wish to make “enough.” In order to fix this, we must make money a priority and make sure that we prioritize an abundance of money, not just enough. We must also come up with a specific figure you will hold yourself to.

Most people suffer from never developing an effective strategy of building wealth in the first place. If all it took to acquire something were a passion and drive, we’d all have what we really want…but that’s not enough. Similar to trying to watch a sunset looking east…doesn’t really matter how passionate you might be about seeing one, it’ll never happen, the sun does not set in the east, after all.

We must develop a strategy for the following areas:
1: Creating initial income.
2: Investing our money to make more.
3: How we will be able to share our wealth (no matter how much or how little we may have).

Now, one may ask: How does one go about this…? The answer; modeling. There are those who have an excess of money: people who have built their wealth from little or nothing. So what are they doing that we aren’t? First off; if they are maintaining their financial abundance, then they didn’t just get lucky (obviously). They’re doing something that we aren’t.

Remember how I quoted Charles Munger a while back? “To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people.” Well, these people who have that financial abundance obviously have a much higher ‘deserve-it’ factor than most others.

There are plenty of strategies that work. (Perhaps I’ll post another study at a later date specifically dealing with this since it seems to be such an insanely huge issue with everyone around me.) The one thing that each of these individuals does the same, is invest. So if we choose to copy these individuals, we should copy what they do. Invest. How we invest is different, but we should all invest in some form or fashion.

If you’re interested in developing EFFECTIVE plans, starting from a small investment and building significant wealth, then find those who have what you want, find out what they’re doing that you’re not, and then “steal” their habits, so to speak. “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” ~Picasso (I’ll have to put together a journal full of quotes at some point and explain them I think). If you can make earning money and the development of wealth fun and enjoyable, then you can imagine what’ll happen as a result.

Once you’ve developed your plan the only thing more you need is to get a good vehicle (No…not a car) for your plan. In other words, we need to figure out how to develop something so that even while we’re sleeping, we’re earning money.

But let’s say we’ve done that already. Let’s say we’ve got a nice plan of action, and we’re ready to execute this plan. There’s yet another big pitfall that we need to be aware of, and not consistently following your plan once it’s setup. In order to actually make this plan work, we must take action and follow through. If we cannot follow our plan and take the little actions every day, then we will not successfully execute our plan. It will fall through instead.

Another thing people do is rely on experts. Don’t rely on experts, rely on YOURSELF. What I’m saying here is to learn. You are held accountable for your investments, not someone else you might entrust with your finances. This doesn’t mean ‘don’t listen to experts’ by any stretch. Listen to them, consider what they’re saying, but in the end we all have to understand that what we choose to do is our decision, not the decision of someone else.

We MUST learn to properly manage our money to make money. If we don’t know how to invest, we can’t invest well. If we don’t know about our taxes, we will overpay instead. We should study these topics, make sure we understand what is happening with our wealth.

Another huge pitfall that can be a trap for many of us is complacency. When we get complacent we stop doing things that are necessary to create success. “Whatever you fail to use, you lose.” Think of it this way…If you’ve been out of high school for a number of years and took geometry back then, but haven’t used it since, think you could possibly calculate the volume of a sphere? How’s about telling me what the hypotenuse of a triangle with a side of 13 and a degree of 100? What about a musical instrument or game? If we don’t practice our instrument or play the game often enough, then we will lose our skill in these areas (As has been displayed tonight with my terrible plays pulled in starcraft 2, a game I hadn’t touched in nearly two years).

Let me put this simply…If someone is going to say “I don’t have enough,” then the only thing I can think of is “You don’t have enough NOT to.” Ever heard of compound interest? Well, that’s something you can make work for you quite simply. Those of you who know the bible might know the story of the three servants, right? One of them receives five coins (I know this isn’t what it was called, but I’m calling it this because I don’t remember the story exactly), another receives 2, and the last receives 1. They are then left to take care of these coins for a time. When their master returns, he checks in on each of them to see how they did. The first doubled his coins to ten, the second also doubled to four, but the last didn’t make any headway at all, instead burying what he had to protect it. In the end, this servant with only one coin had it taken from him and given to the servant with ten. It’s a simple thing and has been shown time and again throughout history. Burying what you have will NOT make you more. All it will do is let life take away what little you have left.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced this to some extent. We may have started a savings account too early and it ended up costing us money instead of making us money. Think about it; if we have a return of 0.1% and we put away $100, we only get $0.10, but because we are unable to meet the requirements of the savings account, there is a fee of say, $5…that’s 50x more than what it made us. That’s NOT a smart investment and in the end hurt us more than it helped. This is the same thing that can happen with investments, but on a much larger scale.

The last major pitfall is allowing financial crisis to turn INTO financial ruin. This means allowing a financial crisis of some sort, whether it’s car troubles, medical bills, or even the stock market crash, to ruin our financial future. If something has happened before, then we should analyze it, learn what went wrong, and avoid the same mistakes in the future, but that doesn’t mean we should avoid it entirely. Like work; what would happen if we gave up after losing our job? Well, we’d never get another one that’s for sure. If we’ve grown wealth once, then we can do it again.

Rituals are something I went over yesterday (Or…for anyone following along, today…yeah, I forgot to edit and post yesterday’s journal…oops). Today, we’re looking at creating those anchors. This is a little easier if you have a friend around to help you out with this and while yes, it can be stupid, it HAS to be consistent! You can also do this yourself.
A lot of people try to make changes, but they don’t stick. They try to “reprogram” their responses or “rituals” but again, they don’t stick. Why not? Well, the reason is that they do the changes consciously. In other words, the changes they are trying to make are not a conditioned response, meaning that the environment around them does not trigger that response, so they have to consciously make a change and…by that point, the emotional state has already peaked.

---

Anchoring Rituals: Reacting to your environment
So I’m going to start breaking these down into topics (Easier for me to look back on too).
1: You’re always anchoring.
2: Taking advantage of anchors already around you
3: Collapsing anchors
4: “Swish” patterns.

---

1: You’re always anchoring.
One thing we should all remember, is that no matter what happens, we are always anchoring. There is never a point in time where anchors are not created or maintained. So how are these so called “Anchors” created?

Anchors are a result of a unique action that occurs around you when you are in any emotional state, whether that is a state of anger, happiness, depression, excitement, or otherwise. If you are experiencing an emotion strong enough, anything that happens around you consistently while you’re in that state gets associated to the emotional state in your nervous system.

Anchors can occur even when we don’t want them to if we’re not careful. As an example (I may have used this earlier for the neurological associations but…whatever, it deals with anchors as well): Lets say there’s a couple. Mates (Let’s say a wolf and dingo). Now, the wolf has a hard day at work and is feeling very lousy. They come home and their mate is there and they come over to try and cheer them up but the wolf just won’t have it. They stay angry or frustrated or sad, whatever that emotion may be, while the dingo tries to comfort them. All the while, this wolf is going to be seeing this dingo while they’re in this particularly strong emotional state. Say this happens again the next day, and once again on the third day. Now, what happens if they have a GREAT day at work on the fourth day? This wolf gets off work and can’t wait to get home to see their mate! But…guess what? They walk in and when they see their mate, they immediately get a state change and suddenly they feel lousy again. Has anything like that ever happened to you before? Maybe you were on the receiving end of this?

Here’s why that happened: Even though these two are mates and they love each other very much, the wolf associated their mate, the dingo, with the negative emotions they were feeling when they came home from work. This scenario could’ve been avoided if the dingo had simply interrupted their mates pattern in some way.

Creating an anchor
In order to create an anchor, you need to put yourself in the emotional state you want to anchor to and make sure that you are experiencing this emotion very strongly.

Use a “trigger” to anchor that emotional state to that particular action, scent, or even picture. It HAS to be unique or it won’t work. Have you ever seen a reprint of a painting that was displayed at the funeral of a loved one? If you focused on that while at the funeral, chances are you’ll get a hint of those same feelings you felt while there. What about apple pie? Remind you of thanksgiving maybe?

While you’re experiencing this emotion, condition yourself with this anchor consistently. Keep repeating the same action, glancing at the same picture, sniffing at the same scent, or whatever it is that you’ve picked, maybe even listening to the same song, until it becomes a conditioned response. Just like Ivan Pavlov and his dogs. The dogs are in a state of hunger, he rings a bell. This continues for a while until it gets to the point where he rings a bell (At any point in time) and the dogs immediately feel hungry.

---

2: Take Advantage of anchors already around you.
How? Well, how’s about music? Maybe comedy shows? What about in business? Anchors are ALL OVER. Conferences, for example. Meetings and the like. If you’ve ever been brought in for an interview before, you’ve probably sat with a desk between yourself and the hiring manager. The spot behind that desk is a position of power, so to speak.

In everyday life, if you want to feel a certain way, you’ll have to learn how to utilize your environment. Figure out what environment makes you feel the best, and work from there. I personally like the outdoors. I like the smells, sounds, and generally the sights. It’s calming. I love the mountains and oceans, but we don’t have that here. My favorite spot back in hawai’i was the beach, but obviously I’m nowhere near an ocean so I can’t really go back there whenever I want to, right? Well, not entirely true… Ambient noise is something that is readily available as an app. I’ve got it and I will generally play this sound at night and it helps me get back to that place. Occasionally so much so that I can feel a light breeze and the sand I’d lay on. Hell, it has even gotten to the point where I truly thought I was there.

---

3: Collapsing anchors:
In order to collapse an anchor you need to do a couple things.

1: Think of an experience that will put yourself into an intense, emotional state opposite that of the anchor that you want to get rid of. I would suggest anchoring that emotional state to a physical trigger. Get another experience where you were experience that same sort of emotional state and anchor that to the same trigger. This is known as stacking an anchor. Make sure to test this. If you’re not feeling these emotions flow when triggering this anchor, then you need to go back and really get back into that state. You can’t just do something halfway, remember that.

2: After you’ve successfully anchored yourself, fire off BOTH anchors at the same time. What exactly happens here? When those two responses “collide” in your brain, the emotion which is more intense will basically collapse the other. This is why you stack anchors to a single trigger, otherwise you might end up with multiple anchors for the emotion you were trying to get rid of.

Anchors last longer the stronger the emotional tie.

---

4: The Swish pattern
What is this? Well, it’s a pattern that will basically exchange one anchor for another. This is done through visualization.

1: Take an image, say one of procrastination and make that as clear as possible. Imagine what you look like when you are beginning to procrastinate. Imagine what you see, what you feel.

2: Once that’s clear or as clear as you can get it, put it aside and visualize your “ideal” self so to speak. Get that as clear as possible as well. What do you look like? How do you hold yourself? How do you feel?

3: Take that image and put that aside and bring back the one of procrastination. Then visualize the ideal image and “shatter” or “break-through” that old image we don’t want to have anymore. Repeat this at a faster pace, lingering on your ideal image and eventually (if done often and fast enough) It’ll be something that would happen on a more subconscious level, where you don’t even have to pay attention to it

---

Exercise: Pick an emotion you want to have and anchor it in. Get yourself back into a point in time where you felt that emotion strongly and anchor yourself.

People often get caught up with everyday things. We all have to work, pay our bills, get things done… It’s not that we don’t have the time; most of us are spending our time with things like TV, Video Games, or other such activities instead of doing what we should be doing. In other words, we’re procrastinating.

The Silent Killer: Conditioning ourselves to follow through.
We all know what this is. We generally don’t pay attention to it at the beginning because it’s small. At least, it’s a small issue until it becomes a habit. Once procrastination has become a habitual response (also known as a ritual), we will generally take notice of the issue.

So, today covers how we can deal with procrastination, and how we can create consistent action towards our goals.

---

The Power of Rituals - Success conditioning:
People’s lives and everyday actions are controlled by personal rituals. These rituals are little more than a “trained response” to outside stimuli. How we react to certain stimuli in particular. Rituals are pretty much a series of actions and thoughts that set one to be in a certain state.

Throughout life we get caught in a series of rituals. Those rituals control and direct our lives, generally speaking. Rituals we run daily are ones that control us the most. Most people don’t like going to work, but why, exactly? It’s not the idea that gets to people, I can tell you that much…it’s the expectations. “I hate Mondays,” is a good example here. I personally don’t like them because that means I have to wake up at a certain time so I can GET to work on time. Otherwise, though…they’re just the same as any other day. I just enjoy picking on a day. In reality, Monday is probably the best day of my work-week. The one person that drives me up the wall DOESN’T WORK! HAH!
People generally ask questions like: “Why do I have to go to work?!” when they get up, or “what kind of BS am I going to have to put up with TODAY?” before work. Naturally, these questions are rather bad questions to be asking if you want to have a good day at work, or even want to be able to get through a day of work without the stress. These questions have been asked SO MANY TIMES that it becomes habitual.
There’s a quote here: “Sow a thought, reap an action, sow an action reap a habit, sow a se tof habits reap a character, sow a character reap your destiny.” ~unknown

Rituals are consistent thought patterns that are creating habits and character, and also driving your destiny. These drive us to feel a certain way on a consistent basis.

So if we know about these rituals we run, and we don’t like them, then how can we condition new rituals, and how can we make it so that these new rituals will pull us towards our goals?
Well, another question first: What are some rituals that we’re aware of consciously? Can’t think of any? Well, what are some emotions we experience regularly that are less than resourceful? Are these “less than resourceful” emotions affecting life quality? Actions? Destiny? Obviously: Yes.
In order to figure out what our rituals are, we need to be asking: What is it that is causing this reaction in the first place? What “triggers” the ritual to be run? And what are we doing to feel that way?

ANY emotional state we are in we have to work at. We need to hold our body in a certain way, view the world in a particular manner, breathe, and even talk in a particular fashion in order to feel any emotion strongly.

People say “I Am ______” turning emotions into an identity. Beliefs control your ability, words reflect your beliefs. If you say “I can’t” then you’re right. If you say, “I can” you’re also right. Keep in mind though, that while words reflect your beliefs, you don’t always have to SAY what you believe specifically, but if you say it enough and with enough conviction, you’ll gradually begin to gravitate towards that particular belief.

---

Going back to the main topic at hand; procrastination is nothing but a ritual as well. How? Well, when someone procrastinates, what happens? I personally sit back and think of how taking action will be more painful than not taking action. I come up with all these reasons why I’m scared to take the actions I KNOW would result in a better life. I have to ask specific questions that make it difficult for me to actually take that action I SHOULD take.

For example…I’ve been procrastinating on my job application, by all accounts. Why? Well, I don’t want to mess up the application; it’s kind of a big deal for me. I do actually want to get that position! I’m scared that I could apply and I won’t get the job, or worse, I won’t even get an interview. That’s similar to getting an F on an assignment for crying out loud. At least if I got an interview I’d have gotten SOMETHING right, maybe? But why else? I really want to make sure I sound professional when I write it up. I want to make sure that I have put forth everything I have in order to get this job.

The easiest way to stop procrastination is to procrastinate in procrastinating! Yes, it sounds stupid, but think about this… If you already procrastinate, then you already know how to do it. If you’re really GOOD at procrastinating, then you’ve got a hell of a recipe for it. That ritual can be applied to the procrastination instead of whatever it is you should be doing after all. “I can procrastinate later, right now I’m busy.” Value what you should be doing above what you could be doing.

Take control and figure out HOW we do things instead of letting your mind sit on “autopilot” for example. (That’s kind of the whole point behind my following this whole program thing…I’ll post a PDF in my scraps at the end of this…it’s getting to be too much to toss into most of my journal posts). Break the ritual and condition yourself to put off procrastination. Think of all the painful consequences of procrastinating instead and what it would cost you. Figure out how your life would improve if you just took that action.

---

Exercise for today: How do you start off “procrastination?” instead of “Do I have to?” Maybe, “I want to…”
1: how to create state?
2: If you don’t, what is the price?
3: If you did take action, how would that make it better?
4: Develop a habit of saying “Want to” instead of “want to”
5: Even if you don’t feel like doing it, develop a physical habit to break through. Use physical change to alter state.

Review negative emotions (At least 5)
How are they triggered? What needs to happen for you to get into these? Develop a pattern interrupt for each one.
Review positive emotions (At least 5)
How can you trigger these more often? What needs to happen for these to be triggered?

Someone once told me that humans are lazy. This was actually the excuse I got for simply not wanting to take action. I have never been able to agree with this assessment. I have always maintained that if someone is able to get motivated enough about something, they will have a drive to make something happen. I will go further today, to say this: People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals, or goals which are not empowering in the least.

Goal Setting: Creating and Obtaining Your Goals
The whole idea behind the little exercise today is to form goals that have some power to them. Goals that will offer that drive to make them happen.

These goals are capable of creating the drive many of us need to “Create” a future. We’re not just writing words on a piece of paper, even though most of these will probably be way out of reach for now. If we get something we really want, and make it strong enough, there will be results.

So; three areas of goal setting:
1: Personal development goals – these are the goals dealing with emotional goals, mental, social, spiritual, physical, etc… Basically who we are committed to becoming. These are major goals that will contribute to ones wellbeing and overall happiness in the long run.
2: Thing goals – We’ll have some fun here…I’m not a very materialistic person in all honesty, but as mentioned earlier, goals should also include material objects.
3: Economic goals – Economics plays a huge role in our states. A lot of people state that money doesn’t really matter, but they stress over their financial situations, far more than even I do (And as far as I am concerned, I’m pretty bad).

I’m going to start with a development goal. In order to do this, we basically have to rewind. Kids have a hell of an imagination. They don’t know boundaries; they don’t know really how to restrain themselves from going for the impossible. Basically, we get to pretend we can do anything, achieve anything, make anything happen.
So this sound stupid, but there’s reasons behind this. If you tell a kid to write a letter to Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas, they have absolutely no problem coming up with a list. NONE! But if you ask an adult “what are your goals?” And they go “Well…I don’t know…I guess I want this…” Kids? Lol, no way. They’ll say something like “I want a swimming pool! In fact, I want two! One for you and one for me!” Meanwhile, the adults in the room are just looking at the kid thinking “are you insane?” The answer is quite simply, no. They’ve got imagination. The point here is simple. Practicality does not necessarily need to be a thing. Just because it’s impractical doesn’t make it impossible. Practicality can come later.

So for personal development…Who would you like to become? What would you like to do? Where would you like to go? What would you like to create? What are some skills or abilities you want to have? Character traits you want to develop?

For at least five minutes, write constantly. Get as many goals down as possible.

Now that we have this list…we need to have a timeline for them. It’s been said that goals are nothing but dreams with a deadline. By assigning a timeframe for each goal, we get an idea of our priorities of importance.
Next, go through the list and select the top THREE one year goals we are absolutely committed to achieving in the next year. For each of these, write out a full PARAGRAPH as to WHY we are absolutely committed to achieving this goal within the year.
Remember Reasons come first, answers com second. Ask: “Are the reasons to achieve these goals really STRONG enough to really get you to follow through?” If they aren’t, either pick another goal or get better reasons. If they ARE then we’ve gotten ourselves a really strong goal we are capable of achieving.

So; onto the next set of goals, our “thing goals.” These are the things we want to have. Many of these may not have AYNTHING to do with personal development. Maybe they’re just for pure pleasure. That’s perfectly fine. Everyone deserves to have that on some level. Again, pretend you’re a little kid with no limits. What are some of the things you want to have, do, or create?

Now, for the next three minutes, we’ll write up a whole list of THING goals.

Again, create a timeline for this list. Once more, it doesn’t matter if the timeline is reasonable. The more committed you are to a goal; the sooner they will be achieved.
Once more, go through the whole list, and write down the TOP THREE things you want in your life and write a paragraph as to why you are absolutely committed to having these things in your life. Again, reasons come before answers. Purpose is stronger than objects. Know WHY we want to have these things or do these things.
As before, review these goals you’ve picked and make sure they are strong enough to get you to follow through. If not, then once more, pick another goal or get better reasons.

Now, let’s move on to “economic goals.” What will be your ultimate financial goals? Money you want to earn a month or maybe annual goals. Business goals, net worth, goals you want for yourself or maybe how much you would like to contribute. What you want to invest or something. What about how much you want to have in savings? Maybe something you want to learn about in terms of finances?
Okay. Now, on a new sheet of paper, describe financial goals for one year, three, five, ten, and twenty year goals.
And now, finally, take your one year goals and write down why we are absolutely committed to meeting these. Make sure these are STRONG enough that we will make them happen!

And now, review…well we now have a whole list of development goals and even more importantly, we have three specific one-year goals that we are completely driven to achieving, AND we know exactly why. Two; we have a whole list of THING goals, kind of like a little shopping list of fun xD And THREE we now have a list of financial goals we know WHY we want to achieve them. So in total, we have NINE goals we are committed to achieving within a year. How would you feel if, within one year, we achieved all nine of our goals? Would be pretty amazing, wouldn’t it? Well, if we’re not absolutely inspired, then our goals aren’t strong enough. We will then need to go back and either get new goals, or rewrite our reasons.

Take these nine goals and keep them with you on a daily basis. Personally, I’ll be placing mine with my work bag…

Two more things left to do. Never leave the site of a goal after setting them, without taking at least one action TOWARDS them. So, on the page you have them written down on, come up with one activity you can take within 24 hours and DO IT!
We have discussed, in the past several days, that pain is another very strong motivator. So, we also need to know what the consequences would be if we DIDN’T achieve these goals. What would the difference be? Here’s an exercise for any decisions you might be making. Imagine yourself at 80 or 90…now look back on the decisions we’ve made. Look back and ask yourself what did not achieving these goals COST me?
So get clear: how do we want our lives to be as we mature, and as we look back on it, how do we want to feel about our lives? Turn this around as well. Pretend we’ve achieved EVERY goal we have listed here…how much more joy is there?

Today can be the beginning of a NEW LIFE if only we choose to take action.

Over the past several days we’ve looked at a lot. Today, most of this gets brought back into play in some form or another. Leverage and how to get it in regards to goals will be todays focus.

The Power of Why: Setting goals and their importance
Now, there’s a LOT that goes into this, and many of us have heard this over and over and over again. That doesn’t mean we necessarily apply what we know, though. There’s this thing known as the “law of familiarity.” Even if we know about this, it’s a trap we’ve all fallen into at least once in our lives. Basically, the law of familiarity states that when we are around something or have heard something enough times, we begin to take it for granted. As with anything you wish to master, one must practice the fundamentals.

Think of this as a martial art. With judo, our footwork was key. One minor slipup and that would cost us the match for sure. If we couldn’t control our footwork instinctively, we were not nearly ready to learn throws or any new techniques at all. This goes for anything we try to learn.

“The Power of Why”
Now, as to why I am actually posting on this… Most people, including myself, haven’t done this right…ever. If we are NOT where we want to be or where we feel we deserve to be, it’s because our goals were not set properly. I used to set goals, but never really did get clear on WHY I was reaching for them. At one point in my therapy, I did set a few goals with some very clear reasons as to WHY I wanted them in my mind and guess what? THOSE are the goals I have achieved thus far. All the others I simply listed I didn’t get clear on. As such, many of my other goals, most of my materialistic goals actually, I haven’t reached. After listening to today’s tape, however, I think I have an idea as to what happened that has kept me from getting there.

Most people would agree that having a goal is important…but no one I have asked who has said this has been able to explain WHY it is important, except for the part where they all seem to agree that a goal gives us something to strive for. This is true, but here’s what else goals do for us. They also give us the ability to CREATE our future as WE see fit, basically allowing us to “mold” our life into what we want it to be.

As an example…in 1953, a study was conducted on the graduating class of Yale University. They asked the graduating class how many of them had a clear, defined set of goals for their life. Less than three percent had a set of written goals with a plan. The other 97% either didn’t have goals, or had goals but did not have them clearly defined or had any plan to achieve them. In 1973, twenty years later, they came back and interviewed the class of ’53 and found that the 3% that HAD set goals were worth MORE financially than the other 97% COMBINED. They also went on to note that these 3% appeared to be happier and more fulfilled than their peers.

This was the same example that my therapist threw at me several years ago. However, there was one MAJOR limiting factor when we worked on setting goals…and that was the fact that I was to “keep my goals real.” In other words, that ALONE limited my goals to goals which I could achieve under my current power with NO reason to grow.

I personally believe that what is “real” today is based upon the past. What I have learned is NOT to set “realistic” goals. The more “realistic” they are the less you need to develop yourself in order to reach them, assuming you even have to develop yourself at all. In order for you to reach a goal that may be currently out of reach, you need to develop yourself. So, that goal has to be able to provide you with that drive.

Goals should have reason as to WHY we want to reach them. We need to get that same leverage in order to achieve the drive we need in order to reach our goals. Without that drive, we have no momentum. “Purpose is stronger than outcome.” I didn’t quite understand this until recently.

One of my friends did say that it didn’t serve one to simply be “outcome oriented.” Didn’t quite understand it when it was mentioned and had been a little confused as to what he had been saying at the time. I would like to point this out now though…Having actually sat down and studied this little topic in depth (finally), I am able to say that goals are NOT meant to “get things” so to speak. They are meant to develop you personally.

This simply means that one shouldn’t focus on material things. Remember, material objects are a means to an end. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include them in your goals, but you need to understand WHY you want them. We need to understand that materialistic wants are also a part of life. If we become so outcome oriented that we do not pay attention to the reasons why we have set our goals in the first place, then when we achieve our goals, but lack the fulfillment we so desire.

“New Years Syndrome”
Most people take goals setting for granted. I know I did at one time. We would only do this one a year…can you guess when that is?

Yup, it’s New Years…Problem is, we set our goal and don’t even LOOK at the dang thing for a whole year! Here’s my reasoning behind it…
1: We don’t understand how much drive a goal can provide in our life, so we simply take it for granted.
2: We don’t know WHY we’re pursuing our goals.
Reasons first; answers second. If we know WHY we want to have something, we can make it happen. On the flip side, if we don’t know why we want something, it can’t inspire us to push for it. Make sense?

“Why Goals Work”
What we focus on consistently, we experience in life. As mentioned earlier, if we focus on something, that is our reality, and as such, whatever it is we focus on, we manifest. When a goal is set, we acknowledge that at this point, we are NOT where we want to be. Meaning: We begin to make distinctions between where we want to be and where we are now. This is what creates dissatisfaction in our lives. That dissatisfaction creates drive.

“The Importance of Setting Good Goals”
When people get comfortable, they become “complacent,” so to speak. Sometimes, someone doesn’t even have to be comfortable to be complacent. In fact, as long as the perceived pain of change is greater than that which they are experiencing at the current moment, they will become complacent and change, overall, will become incredibly difficult to achieve. It is due to this feeling of satisfaction that for many people, “success” becomes a bit of a trap. They achieve the goals they want, but then get comfortable.

Tony Robbins always says: “When we succeed, we party; when we fail, we ponder.”

The mistakes we make drive us to learn, so to speak. That feeling of dissatisfaction is a tool we are able to use in order to empower ourselves. This dissatisfaction creates pressure and tension. In order to achieve our goals, we must learn to manage both pressure and tension. We must also learn how to utilize these forces to drive us. By identifying what we want and why we want it “triggers” a thought process that then begins to compare situations side by side. What we have now, the potential path to our goal, and the potential end result we will be reaching.

I have found that when setting a goal (Going through this program in its entirety, for example), it helps to commit to it in a form which others are able to watch or see. I have told my family about this little exercise verbally and have begun posting these little things on FA. It has provided a huge amount of pressure thanks to these two things.

If anyone remembers Day 0, I said I was pulling bits and pieces of information from this series. In other words, I was already clear what I wanted to gain out of doing this. Not necessarily a whole new life style or major changes, but just basic knowledge I might be able to apply at some point, and I like to think I’ve managed to do that quite nicely over the past week and some.

So; Here’s the exercise…
Find areas in our life which we are dissatisfied with and WHY we are dissatisfied with them.
So here are mine…reworked and reevaluated ten years later.

I want to become financially independent.
I don’t have the stability I am seeking. I don’t have enough money to do what I want to without having to worry about the bills or rent. I don’t have the time to do what I enjoy doing.

I want to be able to contribute more than I am currently able to. I want to be able to do things for my friends a little more freely. I would like to have more money so I can properly invest in my health and well being.

I want to be healthier
I get tired quicker than I used to. I feel exhausted more often than I should. I am in pain a HELL of a lot more often that I was before. I am constantly feeling ill.

I want to feel like I did back in high school; as though I could keep up with anyone. I had more energy and, despite the disaster of my mental states, I was more satisfied with my body. I actually thought I looked decent.

I want to better my living situation.
I don’t have a place I can really call my own. I feel trapped. I feel like I’m constantly lying to myself just to get by.

I simply want to have that sense of security now. Renting is difficult and expensive, but I don’t feel like I am able to settle down where I am currently. I want to own property, but it HAS to be in an environment that I enjoy being in. I am not willing to settle.

I want to get into my career of choice
I am not doing what I want to be doing as a career. The job I have now does not get me anywhere, it simply pays the bills. I cannot really express myself properly or utilize the skills I have been working on for the past few years.

I want to work either for a company, or have my own little freelance “studio” so to speak. I want to work in animation. I like entertaining and I have stories I want to tell. Should I end up working for a company, then that will let me build on my skills. Heck, I might even be able to work my way up the “corporate ladder.”

Find any new beliefs we may need to adopt in order to achieve our goals.
Change is exciting!

Quick review, seeing as how it is now day 10…about 1/3 of the way through this program.

The power to change our life comes from taking action consistently and following through in spite of fears and challenges. This means we do not give in because of an obstacle or bump in the road. These are bound to happen.

One way to succeed in life is to use the “success formula”
1: We have to know our outcome. We need to know what we want to get out of something.
2: We have to make a decision to take action. That conscious effort needs to be taken or we will not actually make a change.
3: We need to be able to notice if it’s working or not. If we do not pay attention to the ‘feedback loop’ so to speak, we will not be able to adjust to reach our goal.
4: We need to be adaptable. If we cannot alter our course when things are going poorly, we are only headed to disaster.

The importance of role modeling, or as Tai puts it, mentoring. We should find someone who is getting the results we want to have, and “steal” their methods to achieve the same outcomes. This can cut years, even decades off of the learning curve.

Pain and pleasure are the two forces that drive us to take action or prevent us from doing so. These are two forces that our brain will constantly strive to reach for or avoid.

Neuro Associations determine our behavior. What we have associated pain or pleasure to will determine how we interact with the world around us.

Anchors are created by experiences that occur during particularly “powerful” emotional storms, so to speak. At any point in time, if we are feeling an emotion strongly enough and an event takes place enough times, we will associate that event with the emotion we are feeling.

I looked at what we really want. People as a whole, do not seek relationships. They do not want their business. They do not want money. They do not want their car. What we seek are the feelings or emotional states that we may receive from any of these.

The ability to control our states is linked to physical changes and mental focus. Studies have shown (throughout the years) that the individuals who present themselves in a “successful” fashion consider themselves more successful than those who do not. We have also come to understand that our mental focus (our “camera” so to speak) determines what state we are in.

Asking the RIGHT questions as opposed to the wrong questions. There are different ways to ask questions: Some questions will empower you while others will disempower you. Learning to ask the RIGHT questions is key.

Values and Beliefs determine our decisions, what we do, and our “destiny.” Values are double sided: these dictate what we want in any area of our life, and what we want to avoid. Beliefs are the rules that determine whether we have met our values or not.

Global or Core beliefs determine what we think about ourselves, people, life, etc… These govern what we are willing to focus on and ask.

Power is USE, not just knowledge. Knowing isn’t enough. We need to apply what we need in order to see the results.

Taking control of your life - Changing Core Belief Systems

We already know how to change almost anything. We need to get leverage, interrupt the pattern, and then condition ourselves with a new association. To change our core beliefs, we use the same steps in a different context.

Your brain will do almost anything to avoid massive pain. Identify your beliefs that you want to change the most. Beliefs about life, people, self, relationships, money, etc… These should be core beliefs that are holding you back.

Creating a new set of empowering beliefs.
This is something to remember: Beliefs don’t have to be accurate. Beliefs only have to be accurate to your situation and your distinctions. A “good” belief is one that is empowering and useful to YOU. Just because they don’t align with the beliefs of someone else, doesn’t make them wrong, but we must also remember that our beliefs may not be right for everyone either.

A good example of this is religion. Take a look at the different religions that exist. We have Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism, Judaism, Confucianism, Baha’i, Jainism, Shinto. How many of these were you really aware of? I can also tell you there are at least four more I haven’t listed and probably a few dozen others that I don’t even know about. These ten belief systems don’t operate on the same beliefs as one another. Some of these believe in one god. Some believe in many. Others believe in none. Again, just because someone’s belief does not align with your own, does not make them incorrect. They are, in fact, right, but only because these beliefs work for them.

After identifying the “new” belief you want to “install” then simply link pleasure to that one in particular and it will change. Condition yourself to believe this in its entirety and it will stick.

The past is the past. It is nothing more than a reference, but it’s not always accurate. Keep in mind that the beliefs we are replacing leave a “void” and will be filled by something new, so we need to MAKE SURE we replace these beliefs with something we WANT to be there.

So as a little exercise: find two limiting core beliefs to change.

For me:
I can’t because I don’t know how.
Life is generally unfair and cruel.

Now…I’m pretty sure everyone has heard of the story “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickins. It’s a classic and shows you exactly how to go about changing these things, and it’s not only in your beliefs. This same “methodology” is how one would go about changing their core beliefs, even values. So, lets have some “fun” here…

BEFORE we do anything here…let’s find two new beliefs that we want to replace these with.

Again, for me:
There’s always a way if I am committed.
Life provides us with what we deserve to receive.

What I’m going to do (I’d also encourage you to give this a try too if you really want to change), is the same thing. Basically look at everything that I missed out on and figure out about how much these two beliefs actually costed me in my life. On a side note…I can pin point about four occasions when my grandma pulled this on me when I was back in Hawai’i, so I can say for certain; this actually works.

Here’s the methodology…
First, we look at everything in the past that we can think of that has been limited by these two beliefs.
We also need to look at everything in the present that we might be missing out on due to these…
And finally we’ll have to be able to look ahead and “project” if you will, the result of our beliefs and what this will cost us in the future.
Then, take a moment and sort of “return home.” We keep with us these “experiences” and trauma.

At this point, we SHOULD have enough “leverage” to begin searching for a fix. If anyone is anything like me, chances are, some of us have PROBABLY been reduced to tears.

Now (After settling down somewhat…), we look at our “new” beliefs and figure out exactly what we will get out of this. IF we had these beliefs in the past, what would have been changed? How would our lives have been better in the past?
If we changed this RIGHT NOW, what will we be gaining in the present?
Now, the future comes into play again here. Project into the future, your life when living with these new beliefs.

Now, come back to the present and compare the two, side by side. What do you WANT to go for? Which of these end results, so to speak, appeal more to you and which of these GETS you to that point? Which one do we commit to?

Hopefully, this makes sense, and hopefully some of us will use this to get that change sooner rather than later.

Today, there’s a LOT to cover. Values and beliefs are an integral part of who we are. It’s what directs our actions, our focus, even our outcomes. Now, I’m sure SOMEONE is going to go back and say that I’ve already said “pain and pleasure control your life.” Well, that’s true. Pain and pleasure are two “sets” of emotional states we struggle to avoid and pursue. However, we have learned to label the levels of pain and pleasure, or rather assign them values. Herein, I’m pretty sure if we all sat down and took a look at these, we’ll find some fundamental issues. And so; off we go then…

Values and Beliefs: The secret to LIFELONG fulfillment.
So…Values… These are the different levels of pain and pleasure. If I took the top five values in my life, and put them in order from MOST important to LEAST important, they would look something like this:
1: Love
2: Freedom
3: Security
4: Comfort
5: Outrageousness*
Now…I already spotted something very VERY wrong with that list I came up with… Anyone else see it?** (This will be addressed later)

Okay, so maybe not, but that’s OKAY! This is exactly why we’re looking at it today.

EVERYONE has learned, throughout their life, to take different words (emotions) and give them different levels of importance. We all have a hierarchy of values that guides our everyday focus. Remember Day 8? I looked at focus, comparing our mind to that of a camera. These values dictate WHAT we focus on, whether it is good or bad. There are two sides to your hierarchy of values. Values you really want to get in life, things you strive for; and values you want to avoid.

At any point in time, our brain is going to do whatever it can to avoid MAJOR painful experiences and it’s going to do whatever it can to attain those pleasurable experiences. Now, by reprogramming your values, so to speak, you can make a change in such a fashion that your values will PULL you to your goals. For example. Success and fear of failure…If those are both in the number one spot of your lists, then there are going to be problems. Now, this doesn’t happen ONLY between the two separate lists, mind you. These conflicts can arise in the SAME LIST. Take mine, for example…

** I value freedom and security just about equally, but why is that a problem, exactly? Well, it makes it difficult for me to make a jump in life. It makes it difficult to move, to change jobs, to go out and have fun the way I used to. I want to be secure, know I have a stable job, a place to call home.

---

Defining our values
Now, some of you may be able to trace these values back some years. I was brought up in a very heavily Christian family, so you might have an idea of how much of a mess my lists are. This is a simple way to help elucidate our values. So, let’s ask ourselves this little question: “What is most important to me in ________?”

Now, something might come up here… As Tony mentions, we might get a response along the lines of “Family” or “Money.” Now, these PROVIDE us with something, but they aren’t necessarily what we value. The saying “The end doesn’t always justify the means” is a good example here. What we are looking for are the “end” values, or emotional states, for example. Feeling loved is the top of my list. *Feeling outrageous, or being playful, outgoing, and generally just a ball of energy (I know, typical fox, right?) is also very high up there.

So, get specific. Try filling the blank with these:
Relationships, life, business, physical health, mental health.

Now turn it around. What are some states you will do almost anything to avoid? – remember, pain is just as strong a motivator as pleasure, if not stronger.

Now, if we KNOW our values, we know what our brain focuses on the MOST. If those change, then everything changes.

Values come from a mess of experiences. They are a result of our neuro-associations. When we were growing up, our parents “trained” us, so to speak. When we did something they liked we got rewarded. We got attention. When we did something they didn’t like, we were punished. This goes on through school through our teachers and classmates. This even continues on through work, and even today, we are STILL forming and reforming values on a daily basis. They are being altered by everyone we come across in some way, and the KEY to directing our values, is self-awareness. Changing these isn’t easy, but similarly to changing a neuro-association, one must be able to evaluate the issues. If we are able to notice a conflict in the structure of our values, then we can work to alter them.

---

Now, beliefs. This is a whole new ball game. Values are what we aim for. Like archery or shooting, we need to be able to know when we hit the target. We don’t just fire blanks and expect to be able to tell whether the target was hit, right? That wouldn’t make any sense. No, we fire rounds instead. These leave a mark on the target to tell us whether we hit or missed. Not mark, we missed. Simple right? Well, it’s the same with our belief systems. We decide whether we hit or missed our values by a set of beliefs, or “rules”.

Get this: If I ask “What is most important in my life?” My response? Feeling loved. So; then I can go on to ask: “What does it take for me to feel loved? What has to happen for me to feel that way?” Well, now I’ve got things like; getting attention, being listened to, being held, and being wanted.

Now, in order to achieve ANY state you want to get into, you need to be able to hit those beliefs consistently. Using that same target analogy, we can make the target bigger, or smaller, depending on our beliefs. If I say…shot at a target the size of a dime with a handgun from 100 yards, do you think I’d hit it? Chances are, no. I might get VERY lucky from time to time, but 99.99% of the time, I’ll miss. But, without decreasing the distance, let’s say I made that target the size of a house. How about now? Well, chances are I’ll hit the dang thing! It’s only going to be something like 30’ in diameter (only). So; we can change our beliefs to allow us to reach a state more easily, or make it that much harder.

These beliefs also define our expectations of others, how we expect others to treat us and how we view them based upon how they treat us. Make sense? Take, for example, respect. My family, you got up and left the room if someone was being disrespectful for whatever reason. You never raised your voice for anything. EVER. No matter how mad you might be, you maintained control of your voice. But, if it ever came to a point where you were being yelled at for whatever reason, you got up and left. Staying put simply showed that you had no respect for yourself and thus, ALLOWED others to basically walk over you. So, as LONG as I maintain a more…calm demeanor, I generally expect people to stay put. I’ve shouted a few times and people just upped and left. Of course, if someone decides to raise their voice towards me, I also leave (generally).

So, let’s take a thorough look here. What are our core beliefs? As an example: “Is”, “Am” and “Are” statements such as; “Life is” or “People are” or “I am.” Well, here’s a problem. “I am not that smart anyway.” Well, if we believe that’s true, then we’re right. We really aren’t that smart. But bear in mind, if we believed just the opposite: “I am really quite brilliant.” Then we’re also right. We don’t have to have a high IQ to be smart. To quote Warren Buffet: “If you have more than 120 or 130 I.Q. points, you can afford to give the rest away.” Hell, I’d go so far to say that our IQ scores don’t matter if we can’t apply ourselves properly. Someone with an IQ of 50 is just as well off as someone with an IQ of 250 if neither person can manage themselves.

Now, what would happen if we had a belief that states “All foxes are sluts?” (Thank you...fandom...*Mutters*) So, let’s say we go somewhere with our vulpine friend, say…oh, a club (because that sounds like fun ^-^). Well, we’re not really going to notice much if they disappear from the table while we’re on the dance floor, we’d be too caught up in our own thing. But say it comes time to leave and our little foxy friend is missing…what’s the first question we’re going to ask? (And yes this has happened to me at LEAST once…) Well, it’s probably going to be along the lines of “Who’s he/she off sleeping with THIS TIME?!” See, our core beliefs determine which question we’re even willing to ask and which questions we ask habitually.

Now there’s something we can all do today that can change our lives for the better, and that is take these core beliefs that are holding us back, and get rid of them. Think about this: “I’m too young.” Or “I’m too old” or “I’m not smart enough” or even, “I don’t have the education.” Those kinds of beliefs literally shut down your ability to do something. As tony pointed out here… What happens if someone has the core belief of “Look before you leap” but ALSO believes “He who hesitates is lost.” Well, now you have a problem. Now, this is something mantras and affirmations change (when they work, anyway). I’m going to say this…

So, recap. Our values are what we strive to gain, and what we strive to avoid. Our beliefs (or rules) are what decide whether we have reached those values or not, and our core beliefs are what DEFINE us.

Remember: Our reality is based upon nothing more than our perception of life. No matter what anyone else may say about us.

1: Ask yourself this question: “What is most important to me in my life?” Make SURE we list END values, not means. No objects or quantifiable things. We’re looking for a set of intangibles, so to speak.
2: Rewrite that list in order of importance.

1.Love
2.Freedom
3.Growth
4.Outrageousness
5.Health
6.Security
7.Comfort
8.Affection
9.Compassion
10.Contribution
11.Humor
12.Creativity
13.Intelligence
14.Fairness
15.Passion
16.Reliability
17.Confidence
18.Tolerance
19.Power

3: Make a list of all the negative feelings we would do almost anything to avoid.
4: Rewrite the list of negatives in order of importance.

1.Depression
2.Anger
3.Resentment
4.Defeat
5.Jealousy
6.Inferior
7.Self-pity
8.Stress
9.Sadness
10.Anxiety
11.Annoyance
12.Frustration
13.Boredom
14.Desperate
15.Lonely
16.Manipulated
17.Poor
18.Resigned
19.Unforgiving
20.Shame
21.Judgemental

5: For EACH of these, write down what has to happen for you to feel this way?
Oh...kay...I'll maybe post this at a later date...this is going to take a while to finish....
6: Are there any rules that limit the quality of your life? Which of these are you willing to change in order to improve your life?
Rules? No...well maybe, but values, yes... Security and freedom, though a few places apart, are both very high on my list...Makes it difficult to manage. I'm sure I'll have more to add later!
“Life is not a destination. Life is a process that needs to be enjoyed on an ongoing basis.”

Getting what you want – Power through Focus: Controlling Your States

So yesterday, it was changing states through physical means. Basically, if you’re in physical pain, then obviously that’s going to have an effect on your state. Lack of sleep even. Today, though, touches on a more difficult task and that’s observation and mental management.

What we focus on. What we see or say to ourselves, or what we pay attention to physically. How we focus, dimensions, brightness and volume of the sounds.

Human beings, as a whole do not see the whole picture. In other words, most of us don’t pay attention or we IGNORE what is going on around us most of the time. That is to say, we all run around with this hallucination that our experience of the world is real.

Your brain is similar to a camera. It focuses on what it’s pointed at. But guess what else it does? It can zoom in, change exposures, and even blur an image. In other words, just like humans, a camera can make things appear bigger and brighter, or even darker than they were originally. We can exaggerate a situation quite easily and make it out to be amazing when it’s really only mediocre, or make it disastrous when it was only a minor setback. Like a camera, we can lose clarity as well. We can lose and forget details.

At any moment in time, you can FIND something to be upset about. All you have to do is look around and find something that doesn’t match your expectations and “zoom in” so to speak. Do that and we get upset; and guess what? People in general are VERY good at this. We’ve done this over and over and over again, and so we have TONS of practice. But, at any moment in time, you can find something else that DOES meet your expectations and do the same.

The quality of your life is dependent upon your day-to-day state. We treat others and ourselves differently depending on how we feel and there are TWO determining factors to our state. 1: How we use our body physically. 2: What we choose to focus on. Suffice to say, we GET what we focus on. If we choose to focus on everything that is negative, that is what we experience. If we choose to focus on the positive, that is what we experience. This goes even further, actually. If we choose to focus on positive aspects, that is what manifests, but the same thing goes for the negative aspects.

Our beliefs and values determine what we focus on. That is to say, that which we deem most important in our lives (maybe even on a subconscious level) is what we will end up focusing on. More on those tomorrow.

Anyway, little thing here. I have said before “I don’t know” is not an answer, but I’m going to amend this statement… it’s an evasion. That is to say, if you ask yourself ANYTHING, even if the answers don’t necessarily exist, you’ll get an answer, even if it’s made up or even wrong. Back in school, we all took math. We didn’t necessarily get every single question right, but the answers we gave are the answers we believed to be true at the time. The same goes for questions like “Why does this always happen to me?” or “Why can’t I draw?”

Here’s a problem…Those questions are the wrong questions to ask. If we ask “why does this always happen to me?” we get an answer comprising of everything that we’ve heard, everything we’ve said to ourselves, everything anyone else has told us, and it’ll give us an answer based on that: “It always happens to you because you’re a failure” or something along those lines.

See, if you ask yourself a better quality question you will get a better quality answer. Now, I’m going to go back to weight since this seems to be a common issue with many. If we ask “Why am I so fat?” Then you’re going to get a terrible answer that just makes you feel bad. But if you asked “How can I lose weight?” You’ll get responses which are empowering. But if we improve that even more to “How can I lose weight and ENJOY the process?” then we get an answer which is far more helpful.

In order to focus on the negative side of something, you must “delete” the positivity from your life. The same goes for the opposite. So decide what you focus on and make that change. Whatever we focus on we get.

Assignment:
1. Develop five questions you’re going to ask yourself – questions that will cause you to go into positive powerful states.
What in my life, am I grateful for right now?
What am I happy about right now?
What am I proud of?
What have I learned?
What in my life am I excited about?
2. Write them down and put them next to your bed or on your bathroom mirror.
3. Every morning ask yourself these five questions and come up with at least two answers for each of them.

Getting what you want - Controlling emotion through physical change.
First of all, you need to know what you want. If someone asks “What do you want to work towards?” Guess what? Most people respond very generally. “I wish I had more money, I wish I had a better relationship, I wish I was in better health.” Well, okay that’s fair, but just shooting for that doesn’t really get anyone anywhere. I can say for certain that it hasn’t gotten me anywhere in nearly eight years, so obviously I’ve been doing SOMETHING wrong, right?

Well, here’s where the problem was. This is something I figured out Saturday from Tai and was reiterated again today, on day 5. As Tony Robbins puts it: “people don’t want money, people don’t want relationships, people don’t want to be thinner.” And now I’m pretty sure everyone thinks I’m stupid, but try asking WHY three times. So, if I did this myself…I personally wish I had more money. Why? Because then I could provide for friends and family and live more comfortably myself. And again; why would I want to do that? Why would I want to provide for others and why would I want to live more comfortably? Well, because I enjoy having the ability to help overall and the second part is obvious. No one likes to just barely scrape by. Now, I’m going to narrow this down; WHY do I like helping out? Simple answer? It makes me feel good…I like helping others because I get some sort of satisfaction from doing so. As for Why don’t people like just barely scraping by? Well obviously because it’s PAINFUL. No one likes being without resources! We can’t do what we want if we have no money, after all.

Put simply, we all want to change how we feel. Whether that change is reducing pain or gaining in pleasure, it’s a change everyone seeks. Well that’s where today begins to get interesting…

Managing emotions was something I was terrible at when I was younger. So what really controls emotions? Well, it’s not what happens in life, I know that much. Relationships, health, weather, how others treat us. None of that is what CONTROLS emotion. It can and does influence an emotional state, but it doesn’t actually control it. Emotion is controlled by our own personal state. This is something that I have been working with for YEARS now. Anyone who knew me since my FIRST involvement with the fandom (I seriously doubt anyone I met back then reads these or even knows who I am, from back then,) would definitely agree that I was terrible at controlling my emotions. I let the environment and other people dictate how I felt for the longest time, up til about the age of 13 before I finally got the message. There’s two main ways to control emotion, but this touches on the neurological associations with your physical body and how it affects you. Suffice to say, the ability to control ones emotions through physical changes. This is only half of it.

Think of someone who’s depressed…how to they carry themselves? Well, I can tell you what I personally do. I watch my feet when I’m walking, my shoulders are definitely not back and my breathing is generally shallow. I slouch and my facial muscles are generally slack.

Now, think of someone who’s really happy. How do they hold themselves? Well, if I am happy, I stand up. I don’t watch my paws, I breathe much deeper than when I’m depressed. I keep my back straight and shoulders are generally squared off.

So experiment time…IF I were to stand that way, walk around a bit, and TRY to make myself depressed…WITHOUT changing my posture…? Yeah no, I can’t do it. I just hope no one saw that. Anyway, point is that your brain interprets your physical state to mean different things. Something my therapist told me. “If you’re not feeling good, don’t waste your time telling yourself ‘IFeelGoodIFeelGoodIFeelGoodIFeelGoodIFeelGood’ cause your brain’s response is: ‘BULLSHIT!’ That’s not enough. Change how you sit, how you stand, how you walk, how you talk, and you’ll make that change.”

When we’re not feeling good, what do we do? Well, we do something to change our biochemistry. Some people drink, some smoke, some eat. Why is this? Well, let’s say alcohol is the substance of choice for now. Why, exactly? It has an effect on people that causes them to feel differently. It’s an intoxicating substance which lessens pain for some people. What about cigarettes? Many people turn to these when they’re stressed, right? Well, if you’ve ever taken yoga classes or most martial arts classes, you learn one thing very early in, and that’s breathing techniques. Same thing in meditation and the like. Why? Well, if you change your breathing, no matter how stressed you are, it’ll ease it. “Life, as we find it, is too hard for us; it brings us too many pains, disappointments and impossible tasks. In order to bear it we cannot dispense with palliative measures... There are perhaps three such measures: powerful deflections, which cause us to make light of our misery; substitutive satisfactions, which diminish it; and intoxicating substances, which make us insensible to it.” ~Sigmund Freud

Suffice to say, if you want to succeed on some level, you need to manage your state. “Emotion is created by motion.” ~Tony Robbins. How you move will influence your emotion. Think about it. Motivational speakers, we’ve all seen them in school or at work even. How do they move? Well, it’s not slowly I can tell you that much. They are VERY snappy. They are excited, passionate even, about what they are saying, and that comes through in their actions. Now if you actually look at someone who is successful and acts this way, you’ll notice one other thing… They approach their everyday life in the same way.

So, challenge for anyone else out there. Study health! This whole thing is basically a study on mental health, how people work, how it can be applied for other situations and what kind of impact it can have. Of course, there’s also those exercises but that’s just a bonus if you ask me. Hell, if I can make things happen because of this program here, then I’d have totally won the lottery, so to speak.

So for today’s exercise…study yourself. Talk about something you are normally inspired about, but do so in a dispassionate fashion. Talk about this to a friend or a wall even. Now, talk about that same thing but get excited, be passionate. Record the differences.
Hokay, so…I feel incredibly stupid now, having held a one-way conversation with my monitor… Anyway, differences:
Well, for the first, I sound dead. I am boring and I stop really moving around. Now, I’m sitting, so generally I’m tapping a paw, but that stopped when I was talking. I didn’t gesture at all…I just all around sounded and looked bored, I’m pretty sure.
Second…yeah, when I get excited I speak really damn fast. I gesture, but they’re sharp, quick movements. I might snap to emphasize a point. Because I’m sitting, I was tapping a paw the entire time I think…at least, for the majority of it. I spoke in a higher pitched tone of voice.

Okay, so I skipped a day and them proceeded to forget to post. Sooo, three journals today, two of which I am doing back to back, so...yeah, I've got to get better at keeping up with my projects.

Neuro-Associative Conditioning - Changing how we respond
So, today it’s going over what they call “Neuro Associative Conditioning” herein referred to as “NAC.”

Neurological associations were mentioned in day 3 and I had a few theories on how they were formed. Here’s a big one. As I had mentioned to some of my friends, school is based off of the WRONG learning style. “Far too few people even know that there are readers and listeners and that people are rarely both.” ~Peter F. Drucker. Drucker also says there are readers, writers, listeners, doers, and talkers. These are different methods of learning. I utilize several of these in some form or fashion. I am by far, a writer and talker. I can sit around and talk to myself all day about something and I’ll just keep drawing different conclusions about one subject and a few dozen different results. Those of you who know me know I mutter to myself a LOT. Others learn by reading. They can read text books, literature, and other written media and just seem like a sponge. Others are listeners. They can learn quite quickly through lectures and sermons. Some, are doers. These are the people who learn best by going up to the board and completing a problem written by the teacher themselves or working hands on with say…automobiles.

Schools use negative reinforcement to drive their students, but there’s no real reward factored into all these tests and assignments. We don’t get anything for doing well really. A friend of mine actually put this quite nicely. He says: “When you go to school you start at 100% and there’s only one direction you can go from there. If you don’t maintain 100% performance, your grades drop.”

I know some people have argued with me on this point. You start at an unmeasured level and build UP to a good grade instead: but is that really how we, as students, see it? I personally didn’t see it that way at all. Your grades are based on your assignments, right? So what happens if you start off unmeasured and miss the first assignment? You get a 0. You’re still unmeasured because that assignment hasn’t given them anything to measure. But the next one, you get a 100 on. That overall performance score averages to 50. You are STILL failing, even though you’ve proven now, that you know the material.

So, what does this have to do with NAC? Well; many of us learn, in school, that we can’t learn and so simply become discouraged. This isn’t because we are incapable of learning, it’s because we are not learning in the fashion that we do BEST in. People have blamed my poor performance on a whole mess of mental issues. Hell, I’ve been diagnosed with a bunch of things in the past. ADD/ADHD/dissociative identity disorder/depression/anxiety, whatever. I realized this, though; the MORE I blamed any of those issues for what I was doing or how I was performing, the more pathetic I sounded. “I can’t learn because I have ADD and can’t pay attention.” And yet…here I was, the tech in my family taking apart and putting computers back together, writing web pages, and coding.

Now I’m not picking on anyone diagnosed with one or more of these issues, but I’m going to point this out, since it held true to me (and maybe this might hold true to others). I noticed the more I leaned on my diagnosis, the more I taught myself how to be helpless. It is my opinion that the turning point in any diagnosis is when an individual recognizes a problem as something MAJOR in their life that NEEDS to change.

NAC is what makes those changes happen. It is more permanent than any other method I have looked at, come across, or been subjected to. Therapy revolves around this whole adjustment. The major problem comes in the level of commitment one might have. For some, it hardly takes any effort to make a change once they go to therapy. Others go to the therapist but don’t seem to get anything out of it.

Well, there are two possible problems. One is the approach. As mentioned earlier, everyone learns in their own way. That also means that in order to actually get anything out of therapy, you need to be able to “learn” and “absorb” what is being provided. If that means you need to write, then you keep a journal that you bring to froydian therapy or maybe non-directive therapy. If that means you need to talk, then you might try person-centered therapy. If that means you listen, then you might take on rational-emotive therapy which will direct you and make clear what your issues may be. If you learn by doing, then perhaps you’d try gestalt therapy instead.

Second is the individual’s willingness or drive to make that change. That simply means that, to the individual in question, the pain of that change is simply more real to them than the pleasure of the result. And this is again, where that focus comes into play. Not to say that this is all there is to it, because it’s not. It also has a lot to do with the individuals values (that’s something I’m hoping will be brought up later so I won’t go into detail on this one). Suffice to say, that if the drive isn’t there, the change cannot happen.

The fundamentals of NAC systems. “In order to get a change where it will absolutely happen and LAST, you must first get leverage on yourself.” ~Tony Robbins

In other words, you need to reach the point where you HAVE to change or NEED to get that change and you CAN change it. That point comes when you experience enough pain with the current pattern. If we only believe we could change, or should change, then that drive to make it happen and STICK with those changes will not be there.

How? Rapport, maybe. Belief that if this change doesn’t happen it will cost EVERYTHING.

Interruption of the pattern of associations.
This means you need to stop the pattern. Jolt the pattern, and this helps with others around. It doesn’t matter HOW you interrupt it, as long as it happens. If, say, you get into this heated argument over something with a friend and you catch yourself…Try radically changing the subject. Out of nowhere, just change the subject completely and make absolutely no sense. All of a sudden you’ve got a reaction of “…what?” Sure, you’ll probably come off as crazy, but halting that pattern, is a huge part of changes.

Condition yourself with a NEW Association.
That means an old association needs to be replaced and it needs to be replaced with something you WANT to have replacing it. Personally, my views on wealth. This was mentioned day 3. I want to be financially independent in some form or fashion, but if I do reach that point well…those I know will resent me. IS that true? Probably not, and if so, then perhaps I just shouldn’t be dealing with those individuals. Either case, that should be changed and probably replaced with something else. Like; if I DID have the money, well hey, I could donate to charities, I could do more for my friends. As it stands right now though, I need to improve my financial standing. Get a better job or something like that.

So; for today…
For each of those things written on day 2, list 10 reasons why you must change that behavior now; then list all the reasons why you can do it.

Dental appointments – I…already did this so, I’m not sure what else to say to this…

Doctor vists – Also done and currently waiting to go in.

Exercise routines – And this one I have to admit I haven’t really stuck to. Sooo…ten reasons. Well, for one I need to get in shape. If I don’t, I’m just going to be tired all the time. I’ll be sick constantly, I won’t be able to function properly. I’ll be mentally and physically spent after only a few minutes of…anything. I can’t really be active if I can’t keep up, I’ll be an embarrassment to myself if I can’t keep up with my friends.

Diet – Working on this one and looking forward to dinner today, strangely enough… salmon <3 Love the stuff, never make it. Anyway, I don’t really have to develop leverage on this one or really interrupt it… I just don’t like eating out or fast food. Convenience is hardly worth the yuck most times. Also; I don’t generally feel great after eating out, just slow. Lol.

Interrupt your own pattern: Design four or five ways to get yourself out of the limiting association - and do them!

Patterns…Well, exercise routines. I come home daily and generally head upstairs to my room. I don’t know about interrupting that pattern so much as a slight alteration. Instead of getting online to chat, I think I’d be okay with taking 30 minutes for a brief workout and another 15-30 for a shower. That’s not much time I’m taking out and besides; I normally don’t catch anyone online until about midnight anyway so I’m not missing out.

Condition yourself by rehearsing your new behavior. Give yourself a sense of accomplishment and exhilaration, pride, or joy each time you do this. Do it consistently and rapidly until each time you think of this new pattern you feel good automatically.

On a side note…I’m not entirely certain I’ve been going about this properly, but fundamental basis I don’t really have issue with that I’ve found o.o Maybe I’ll have to go back and look again.

First off I just want to say this....Exercise sucks.

Okay, now that I got that out of the way...follow up.
I totally didn't better my diet today...I should have, but couldn't think of anything to make...there's really nothing for me TO make though. :s I really need to go shopping thursday/friday...Anyway, The rest of it: I did manage to schedule appointments...in August >.>; because apparently there aren't any openings for this month (surprise surprise). So august 3rd and august 27th, both before work...that'll be fun. As for exercise? Yeah...owch... I'm really out of shape :s I can BARELY do a quarter of what I used to and holy damn does that hurt.

Neurological Associations - How and why we respond the way we do.
Today...yay, neurological associations. Something I watched my own parents do over and over and over again. Didn't have a term for it until recently.
First off: Neurological associations...whatever pleasure or pain we associate or ‘link’ to a situation in our nervous system is going to determine our behavior. Change these, change lives. Now, I've understood this for years but application? Lol...no. I haven't the first idea how to go about that apart from say...causing enough pain in an area that you get fed up. Kinda what I did day 0...Drove myself so far up the wall I actually went and asked my MOTHER what to do, mainly because SHE is one who pulled a complete 180, pretty much.

So what really drove me to sit through 30 days of this? Mostly a need to learn something new... So far, there's been a lot of reiteration, but hey, repetition. It's like music, if you play a piece enough, eventually you memorize it. Especially if you really want to memorize that song. You hear the same saying over and over again, you'll be able to finish it.

Now, my own theories from having been on the receiving end from my parents (inadvertently) and also having watched this happen over the years to my siblings. I was curious because I saw almost instant changes sometimes, while other times it was over a period of time. Neurological association, building it up anyway, seems KIND of like training. Teaching your dog to sit or obey is basically the same thing. Clicker training is an even better example. Well, when I was growing up, my Aunt LOVED to take video with her video camera and I noticed something watching these now 20 year old videos. Anytime a behavior came up that was undesirable, someone, generally my mother, would literally interrupt it in some way. I remember watching one where I had been trying to get my grandmas attention by yelling at her for some reason and ma (who was being taped for...some reason) decided to get up and interrupt my little tirade and THEN had me walk over to my grandmother and talk quietly and...surprise surprise, grandma would THEN pay attention to what I was saying. Maybe that could explain why I apparently talk really quietly.

it's just like brainwashing in some ways. Now once you figure out how to do that to yourself...well then I suppose you could change your thinking to some extent...hopefully that's in day 4, that'd be a fun thought experiment to try.


Another thing from today, a book I read actually kind of hints at how you really get the most out of what you're trying to learn.
There's different learning styles. Some people learn by reading, others by writing, some by doing. EVERYONE, though learns by osmosis. Just like animals. Dogs...they don't exactly communicate the same way we do and hell, if animals didn't learn from observation that getting hit by vehicles = death, there would be a LOT of roadkill around here. Not saying there isn't, but the numbers would be soooo much higher. Ever watch the deer as you drive past? How they wait until AFTER you've gone by to cross? Fawns don't know this, they follow and copy the other deer.

Similarly, I don't exactly have to be TOLD how to work in another area. I know how to make ribbon cables and I've never touched the machine until today. I knew how straining worked and hadn't done that before. Oh, and walking...Hell, I'm certain I couldn't understand my parents when I learned to walk.

Also, work on your strengths and ignore your weakness'

"Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong. More often, people, know what they are bot good at-and even then more people are wrong than right." ~Peter Drucker.

It's like Min-maxing in pokemon. for those of you who play. You ignore the weak traits and work only on the strong traits. You have a pokemon good at defense, beef it up a ton. It'll be able to survive a hell of a lot longer than the others and during it's survival period, probably do more damage than if you trained it up for attack power instead. You'd end up with mediocre attack and mediocre defense instead of really strong defense and sub-par attacks. I could probably apply this to my life too, actually...just have to figure out what I'm actually good at...

anyway, day 3 exercises...

3 associations from the past that have changed your life for the better and 3 that have been limiting factors.

So...positive associations?
1: Learning. I really like knowing how things work. Certain topics I need to learn to ignore as they are not topics I need in my life and I'm not good with them anyway.
2: Drugs in general, particularly those that alter the thought process, have seriously messed up effects. There is a reason I can't stand to take medication for depression, anxiety, split personalities. I also can't smoke (primarily asthma) and won't drink in excess. Anything that alters my thought process. I can't process information as fast and I get slow. Hate it, never liked it. Also; it's expensive.
3: Progression has been a bit of an obsession. I Love seeing improvement in some form or fashion and have a tendency to get frustrated if I do nothing for an extended period of time. In some ways, I could see this being a problem, but right now it's been helpful in providing a drive to make things happen and hopefully, work.

Limiting factors though...
1: Wealth. I know I've thought of this on several occasions and when I look back over it all, I see issues with what I would be doing if I had ever reached a point where I felt I have an excess. My opinion has been (and this does not actually hold true) that the higher up one gets on a corporate scale, the fewer friends one has. Unfortunately for me, both financial independence-which is heavily dependent on wealth and being able to bring in a decent amount-and friendship are things I value. From what I have seen reflected in the opinions of my friends who are (financially) near or on the same level as myself, those who are better off are always looked down upon instead of looked up to. Those who make considerably more are despised instead of admired. People who get to a point of wealth are capable of adapting their business' in such a way that takes advantage of consumer interest and what their consumers are purchasing (obviously). Not sure why this is a bad thing but it seems to be very negative.
2: Failure. Everyone dislikes it. I get this idea that I cannot allow myself to get something wrong for any reason. This is partially driven from my upbringing and again with friends along with school. I learned that anything less than perfection was simply not good enough. While this does help to sort of push me, it's also often prevented me from actually trying to get something done that I'm not sure of. It's preventing adaptation. To quote Darwin: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
3: Change... It scares most people in some form or fashion. To change something that simply means I need to put forth that effort to make it happen. And not only that, there's always the "what if" factor. What if it doesn't work out, what if it turns out to be a major setback, what if it simply turns out to be a complete disaster? I've told others this and I'm CONSTANTLY telling myself the same thing: If it doesn't work, then you learned what not to do. Get up and change your approach.

Also; I completely forgot to post this after writing it...Has been sitting in word for the past three days...I am terrible at keeping up with what I have said I was going to do, soooo, that needs to be fixed...gonna try this again. Daily...DAILY agh...okay, I'll stop rambling for now.

So: First things first... Following up. While I don't really have anything to show for my writing (I am not posting here as I do intend to publish upon completion), I can say that I have gotten my tail in gear tonight and did draft the main portion of the bodysuit I need to complete. I Also have managed to draw a bit, though none of it came out nice enough to post, I think anyway.

The Driving Force - The twin forces which directs our lives.
So; day two covered something I personally said the day before, and that's the two driving forces: Pain and Pleasure. It has been said by multiple people now. However, each has a different way of looking at this. Pain is a very strong driving force in our lives, but so is pleasure. In order for this to be applied properly, one needs to understand FOCUS and PERCEIVED REALITY. I have stated, time and again (And some of you have argued with me one this but here I'm going to say it AGAIN) that reality is nothing more than our perception and it is BECAUSE of that, that MY reality will more than likely be different from the reality of another individual.

Now, I've done my own share of research and have found some things that I don't entirely agree on. First of all; it's that ANYTHING can be changed. Yes, I believe MOST things can be changed and overcome but ONLY if there is a real drive to make that change. Trouble is, one needs to work up that drive to be able to actually get anywhere. That drive is produced by the two forces listed above, pain and pleasure, and our associations. So this is going to sound stupid but think of it this way: Say you want to...lose weight, but can't seem to make it happen. Why not? Simple answer? It is simply more pleasurable to remain where one might be instead of going through the pain to lose the weight. Think about it: the amount of effort that has to be put in to lose weight, the amount of time and energy? That's a hell of a lot of negative, isn't it? But...how about this: What happens when we get back in shape? Energy levels go up, we're more productive, we FEEL better, both physically and emotionally. That's a lot of good too, isn't it?

I'm not saying it's simple, but it's not difficult either. The SIMPLICITY comes in the application. The learning process is the difficult part, but actually applying yourself is simply, making the conscious DECISION to make it happen. Decide - from the latin roots: De (off) and Caedere (cut), literally; to cut off. That's all it takes, but you have to ALSO learn and adapt. This goes for art, music, writing, business, relationships, health and pretty much everything else. If we can't adapt, we can't grow, can't progress, and are forever stuck in the same rut we've been in for years. So; adaptation is also key. Don't try the same thing over and over and expect different results, that's insane. It's just like putting your hand in a fire.

Anyway, FOCUS, ADAPT, and utilize the driving forces to take control.

SO: Day two...Adaptation: An area which needs to evolve and/or change to allow for growth, and FOUR actions you should take today. List pains associated with these actions and have prevented follow-through. IF these actions aren't taken, what is being missed? What is lost?

Prime focus...Health (Lol, yes...I'm in pretty bad shape as of recently)
1: Schedule an appointment with the dentist
- I hate the dentist...I LOVE good food, and that taste from...well, anything? EWWWW omg I hate it. I don't mind the scraping and fussing about, but fluoride? Yuck. Same with fillings, they have the WORST flavor I can imagine. Not much triggers a gag reflex from me, but going to the dentist? That's something the stuff they use to clean your teeth and for fillings and whatnot, even that numbing gel. ALL are gag worthy >.<
- But, if I go, then I can stop fussing over my teeth quite so much. Been an area of some mild concern for a while but I haven't gone. Should, but haven't. Lets see...not going means poor oral health (Not fun) and I will have to deal with that down the road. Probably much worse than having to deal with a few hours of "EW."
2: Schedule a visit with the doctors for preventative care measures
- It's a hassle. I haven't really ever been in great health to begin with, and my major concerns people can't do anything about anyway, so it's kind of pointless to fuss over. Also; I HAVE WORK. I don't want to get up early just to go to the vet.
- Better health though, would be nice. While no, people can't fix my neck or back and chances are I'll continue to suffer from constant headaches, neck and shoulder pains, along with just upper back pain in general, at LEAST I can stop getting sick so often. That actually ties in to the next two.
3: Get back into some sort of exercise routine.
- Again, it's a hassle....really, that's all there is to it. That and I don't like being sore the following day. That also sucks.
- Not getting back in shape though? Well, those of you who know me, know my body fat has been around 3-4% for a while. Well, the other day I checked and it's now at 7.7. That's actually GOOD. BUT I am exhausted. I have been under the weather for nearly a month now, tired, and physically just...yuck. Most people are probably laughing at me right now thinking: "7.7% is nothing," but guess what, that's over TWICE what I have gotten used to. I feel a major difference by the time I hit 4% and when I have hit 5 and over, I'm just dead. Lowering that back down to "normal" for me, would probably be a good thing, as long as I don't get deathly ill...in that case, ER visits might be in order...but hell, ER visits might be in order if I can't lower that anyway.
4: Change my diet.
- That means I have to take the time to cook and PLAN and spend more money than I am now to improve the quality of my diet.
- But...high blood pressure is kind of a thing that runs in my family and I get the feeling that my blood pressure is kind of high right now. That has got to go down. Also; it'll help with my energy levels. Fast food is pretty sucky anyway and I've never been much for it, but it's convenient. Thing is; I can cook far better burgers than mcDonnalds (my opinion...their burgers taste kinda like some strange cardboard mix with some really messed up flavorings. All around, yuck.) and I can also setup the crock-pot for a chili or braised chicken when I get home. Easy. Might as well, no reason not to. Buuut...need groceries first...that, unfortunately, has to wait until next check...I can use what's left though, certain I can think of some interesting things to put together. I'll post what I come up with on day 5 xD

Also; goodness..these things are beginning to be a lot of work :s
OH deserve it factor...
Health: Still a 5. I take care of myself, but need to do better.
Wealth: I'm going to say 6. I've put forth the effort to get this commission going and it's moving along. I've also made some updates to my site which still needs to be published, but it's not quite done.
Uh relationships?: 5 I guess? I don't want a mate, but I try to be social...I'm just bad at it.
Oh, and overall: 5.33...so yeah, I'm not getting anywhere apparently XD It's not nearly as high as it needs to be for me to get those changes I want. Ah well, tomorrow I'll be doing more I guess...

So: I'm going to start this off by simply saying this: The whole point to my writing this out, is because I learn from writing, and I feel like a lot of this would end up being information that others could maybe use at some point. Also; it could be interesting to look back at...and cry a little to myself at how bad I was at this. xD

"There's nothing worse in this world than to achieve your goals, and then say: 'is this all there is?'" ~ Tony Robbins

The Key to Success - What makes other people successful where most of us struggle?
A lot of things in life are simple, but people simply don't apply themselves. Everyone has done this at some point, to some small extent. Every one of us has gotten caught up in the mundane, everyday tasks it takes to simply make a living. We all do this, time and again. New years resolutions are an excellent example. Many people make these resolutions, but not many follow through. So what to do about this...? ACT.

"The past does not equal the future."
I have been told this MANY times over. My mother, grandmother, uncle, teachers, counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, and now, Tony. After hearing this same phrase from this many sources, I have to begin to wonder exactly what is meant by this. True; it's simple enough to understand: What has happened in the past does not matter, it's in the past. What DOES matter is what is learned from past experiences and what is done NOW.

Anyway, to the meat of it all.
Why do people perform better than others? what makes someone more successful?
Charlie Munger said thus: "“To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people.” MY interpretation of this is simply that if you do not strive to make a change, then the change will not happen. If you want to be successful, then you need to work towards it. YES this is difficult. If you want to be wealthy, study wealth. IF you want to be healthy, study health. If you want to be happy, study it. Don't HOPE.

Another thing: we all KNOW what we deserve. If things are NOT satisfactory, people get a push and DRIVE to achieve that position. Thing is, it works the other way as well. Too much success and people sabotage themselves. The ability to adapt is the key to survival, and this doesn't only apply to life, but to business as well. Relationships and health included.

Now, keep in mind that HARD WORK and study will not get you anywhere. You can be the hardest worker in the world, and come out completely unfulfilled. Ian (My uncle) says this: "There's no point in working hard if you don't work smart." In other words, if you can't apply yourself properly, you will get nowhere fast. You practice wrong, you will do wrong. Practice bad habits, and those habits will stick. Practice PROPERLY and form GOOD habits, and those will stick.

"Most people major in minor things" People get caught up in things that they put too much value in, but these things don't help people much. People focus to the aspects they have deemed important, but MOST people focus on things that don't "empower" them.

From what I have found, and what I understand, there are two major driving forces that possess someone to make a change in life in some form or fashion. Inspiration, or desperation. People who have BIG ideas, dream big, really have that drive to make things happen are those I call, "inspired." Then there are those who are simply desperate. These are people who have been driven to a breaking point when it becomes a matter of making a move, or giving in.

Four steps:
1: KNOW YOUR OUTCOME. Decide what you want out of a situation. "Clarity is Power."
2: APPLY YOURSELF. If you try something and it doesn't work, then you've learned. "The road to someday leads to a town of nowhere." DECIDE. Make a conscious decision to make a change.
3: ANALYZE YOUR RESULTS. Look at your results from your actions.
4: ADAPT. Charls Darwin stated: "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change." The ability to adapt is key.

Now, DON'T just make random decisions. Look around and study on how to make things happen. Find someone who is already getting results you want. "Learn from the masters" so to speak.

SO: What are two things I could do TODAY to improve the quality of life?
I...honestly have no clue. BUT I do know I can get to work on my art and commission. (In the morning, though...it's late). I could ALSO go out and get a couple more books to read...learn some more so I have more to apply. I think the biggest thing I can do right now, this instant, is to turn my focus to my writing in my spare time (my obligations to others come first, naturally).

Earlier I quoted Charlie Munger. So I have to ask this of myself as well... on a scale of 1-10, what might my "deserve it" factor be...? If I have to be honest? maybe an overall 3. Physically, I've done NOTHING to get back in shape, so obviously I don't deserve to be in shape...(1) Financially, I've done very little to achieve financial stability and independence, BUT I have put SOME effort into making that change...(3) and in terms of my health...I have tried to take care of myself, but as of yesterday? wow, that was a disaster in terms of diet, not to mention my diet hasn't been the best lately either, but regardless...I do make it a point to try and stay in good health (5...about average).

Alright, so I Am going to say this first. I have read several books that have claimed to work in terms of self-help, but what I have found from most, if not almost all of them, is that they fail to address the baseline issues. I have skimmed through this series now, and I have decided that it stands out from the rest of the books I had read prior.

A quick note to anyone reading who does not agree with these sorts of things: I have to say I have never found any book before (And I've been through several) that has really made a difference. HOWEVER, each and every one of those does have a small piece of knowledge you can pull from it. Positive thinking books (There's too many out there and they're a waste of time if you've already read two or three of them...) reiterate the SAME thing over and over. Motivational books (Also a waste of time after you've read a few) do the same. However, both of those sorts of books have information useful to pushing forward. Goal setting workshops, books, seminars...blah blah blah. Same thing. All of those? They're kind of useless on their own. Why? Psychology. None of them address what I have always said to be the CORE issue, and that's values and beliefs. Conflicts with each of those arise there, whether it's simply cynicism or a sort of dissonance within oneself. Skimming through this thing, it seems to be heavily centered around psychology, a nice change for once.

I was given this years ago by my mother, but never did give it a listen, and decided I might as well. I am partialy content with my current space and don't feel I need any assistance, for the record. I am merely curious as to what I can glean from this, if anything.

SO; anyone interested in actually seeing my thought process here can follow along, day-by-day. These journals could get very long though. I'll be pulling pieces of information from this as I go, summarizing its contents and also posting exercises (If you're crazy enough to follow) along with my own thoughts on the daily messages. I'll post one journal daily with the title above, all other journals are completely unrelated. That way you can just delete the "Personal Journals" if you want.

Soo...I was doing some research and I found something I never expected to see. UH Manoa, the college I would have gone to had I stayed in Hawai'i, has a very good animation program now. It wasn't there when I had been looking and even four years ago when I actually had things planned out to actually get to school, it wasn't really worth mentioning...but now?!

Seriously, WHAT HAPPENED?! Why couldn't this have happened when I was still in school and actively searching for animation programs? Why, Hawai'i?! WHYYYY?!?! T_T

The biggest issue I have with that program is that there's no animation industry in Hawai'i though. Or rather, there is, but it's not one of real recognition. I mean, there's Pacific Film Studios (I think) out there on Oahu, but the big names that might look for animators (Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Fox, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, Origin, EA, LuicasFilm, Crystal Dynamic, etc...) are all on the mainland and I seriously doubt they'd send employees out to UH Manoa to find potential employees. To add to that, Internships at any of the listed companies would be out of the question...After all, that would mean that it'd be restricted to summer internships only as school would be in Hawai'i, not the mainland.

However, the huge draw for me is that I have a support network there. It's where my family is and I'm pretty sure I could live with them for a few months while I get everything sorted. Then again, the issue would be finding work once I got out of school, and while Pacific Film may have what I'm looking for, it also makes it troublesome for me to really keep in touch with my friends out here. After all, it's not like you can take Greyhound over to Hawai'i from California or Boston or vice versa. Even so; at least I would have SOME experience under my belt by this point.

Ah well...I'm no longer a Hawai'i citizen so...anywhere I go now is going to be pricy, no matter what I do. Unfortunately, Minnesota's animation industry has basically fallen off the map. Tough luck, I guess.

This used to be a monthly thing, if even that. Occasionally, I'd skip a month... In any case, I've been getting some really creepy lapses in my memory and I have no idea why. Not only is my memory just...screwy, but physically things are just off. I'll skip letters when I'm typing, even though I'm CERTAIN I had hit the keys (No, it's not the keyboard, it happens on all of them). The frequency of this has increased substantially over the past few weeks...first started watching it about two months ago when I noticed my writing was missing the most random letters. Now, I can't post anything without rereading it first to make sure that I'm not skipping any letters or messing up any of the words. To add to that, I've noticed that the same things happens with the piano. It's like a lack of motor control, except that it's basically like my paws just freeze up.

Another thing to add to that...my sternum has been out of place for a while now and it hurts like hell to get it back to where it's supposed to be. To top that off, I'll occasionally lose feeling in one or both of my legs. As long as I'm looking at them though, I can at least see them move, but standing is damn near impossible when that does happen. But those are just minor irritants. No, what bothers me is what's written below...

Dizziness and hallucinations... Maybe the "seeing things in the mirror" is actually a problem xD but that's been an issue for as long as I can remember, but it REALLY started acting up after I got off the anti-depressants.

The dizziness is somewhat new, though. This used to happen off and on, but now it's become an issue more often than not. I can still see clearly and don't have issues functioning because of it...it's what comes along WITH the dizziness that bothers me.

I can't remember where I am, whether it's at home or at work. If I'm out at the store it's even worse. It's almost like my brain just shuts down for a split second and while it's busy "rebooting" or whatever, I can't think straight or understand what someone is saying. Happened three times at work today... Once on break, then twice while I was trying to actually do my job.

Anyway: here's what it's like...
Say you go to sleep in your bed one night and you're comfortable, you know what to expect when you wake up. You'll be in your room, all cozy and safe, right? Well; when you wake up, you're not in bed anymore. You're not even in your room, much less in your house. It's really disorienting.

So the following took place at work today:
During my break, I went up to the third floor break room (as usual) to get a snack and something to drink. I was making my way to a table to sit and almost fell over. Naturally, I just picked the nearest one to sit at. The seats were cushioned with a black metal back instead of the wooden chairs I had expected. The floor was carpeted instead of the off-grey tile of the building I was JUST in. The tables were also rectangular and grey in color, not a round table with natural wood tones. Above are the harsh florescent lights instead of the more mild incandescent bulbs that were installed in he hanging lights only moments earlier. I look over to the windows and suddenly I'm really freaking high up instead of the ground floor. To add to that, I'm NOT actually in a small building at a street corner where I thought I was. Instead, I just got teleported to some weird place really far from where I was. And THEN I look around again and suddenly it dawns on me...I'm at work...third floor break room...PROBABLY just grabbed a snack since I'm sitting. Yup, look down and there's noms. Only thought at this time was "well...that's my little abduction for the week."

NOPE! About three hours later, between lunch and second break, happens again, this time right after I get an order for another area of the department. Went over and set it all up to cut. Have another little episode, this time I got yanked back from some...house I didn't recognize. A living room setup, it looked like. Anyway, I get my bearings and even though it's all been setup already, I have to figure out what I was doing in the first place. Check the work tickets, double check the cables, make sure I didn't cut or finish any and THEN go back to work.

And the last one was probably the most terrifying. I had another episode while I was attaching pins to some hook-up wires (a single cable, sometimes several strands of wire twisted together, coated with an insulating material) and nearly slammed my paw with the applicator...something that would've broken my fingers quite easily and possibly caused me to lose one...or two, depending. But I digress. I was in a really nice space...like a hotel room maybe? I was sitting at the desk waiting for someone. The wooden desk was replaced by the steel table I was working on and this giant machine basically appeared out of nowhere...and I hit the pedal, which I was not at all ready for. The applicator comes down and barely catches my knuckle when I yank back so it doesn't completely destroy my paw...

One last thing to note. I don't suspect that these episodes take more than a second...maybe two at MOST, especially since I didn't lose even a minute when I was on break.

So yeah...today has been the worst ever. Really sore and really scared... Honestly, I'm not entirely sure if I've written this journal, to be perfectly honest. I suppose I'll know tomorrow when I look...assuming I'm actually able to believe what I'm seeing anyway.