Discover You Now.pdf

Discover You Now A Guide to Find Your Personal Mission & Discover How to Make a Living Doing It.

Tina Su Think Simple Now

Discover your life purpose. Get to know the real you. Overcome your fears. Design your ideal work. Achieve any goal. Complete any project.

© Tina Su / Simple Life Media Graphic Design: Tina Su Editing: Jeremy & Fran First Edition: July, 2011 www.thinksimplenow.com facebook.com/thinksimplenow twitter.com/thinksimplenow Made on a  with love.

This guide was made especially for you. Thank you for being here.

6 Introduction 8 Prepare 16 Get Centered

You

22 Find Answers 34 Rocking Chair 40 Your Values 48 Core Values 58 Mission Statement

Work

74 Your Vision 94 Your Project 104 Freedom From Fear 118 Decision + Commitment

Action

128 Achievement Formula 148 Follow Through Formula 186 Parting Words 188 Resources

of hearts yearn to make a “ Millions difference. Every one of us has the

potential to be something powerful, a beautiful candle with the capacity to illuminate an entire world. Lenedra Carroll

”

Introduction most fundamental of journeys does “ The not begin in ambiguity. It begins in clarity.

And it begins with the acknowledgement that the most beautiful, the most incredible resides within you. Prem Rawat

”

I know that each of us has the capacity to do great things and that within each of us there exists the ability to provide significant value and a unique contribution to the world. As you read this, you may not believe this about yourself. You may feel, or have always felt, uncertain as to what you want to do with your life. You may feel that you have little to offer. Or even if you feel that you have a lot to offer, fear has stopped you from taking any action. In any event, here we are. Something attracted you here. As curious and intelligent souls, we want a deeper understanding of the mysterious questions about life. Why am I here? What is my life’s purpose? What am I passionate about? How can I turn that passion into a full time living?

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Ultimately, we want answers. We want to understand. We want to live meaningfully. We want fulfillment. In essence, we want to be happy. In this guide, we are going to take a journey together. A journey inside the most important person in the world: you. With a set of tools and simple processes, we’re going to drill deep and gain useful insights. Specifically, we will learn about your deepest desires, your passions, your values, and seal it with a personal mission. Later in the guide, we will design your ideal work, examine and calm your fears, and walk through the achievement formula, which creates a plan for how to make your dreams a reality. Lastly, the guide ends with a set of practical and proven tips for how to follow through on your plan. Juicy stuff. Let’s get started.

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How to Use This Guide This guide was designed to help you gain clarity in your own life. Since I can’t answer these important questions for you, I will sit next to you, as your friend, and we will walk through this exciting process together. This guide is a self-directed, life-enrichment workshop. It contains the exact process I personally use to discover my deepest values, to create my personal mission statement, to design my dream work, to overcome fear, and to make my dreams a reality. As a home-study workshop, it is not meant to be read passively like a book but to be worked through actively. The energy and sincerity you put into doing the exercises are in direct proportion to the amount of value you will get out of it. Are you ready for a transformation? If yes, then commit several evenings or an entire weekend to going through this guide. If you do, and work through each step diligently and deliberately, I promise that you will witness and experience incredible inner shifts taking place within yourself. Here are a few things I want to quickly cover so that 812  Left

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you can make the most out of this experience.

1. Supplies Here are some things you will need before proceeding to the next module: • Something to Write On - A notebook or a stack of paper. My latest preference is to use large hardbound sketchbooks as a journal and for selfreflective exercises like these. Here is the one I use. • Pens – Anything will do, but if you have the option, pick a pen that writes well and makes you feel good. Here is the one I use. • Uninterrupted Time – Block out an hour for each module where you won’t be interrupted. Turn off your phone, close your laptop, get help to watch your kids and go somewhere comfortable. My favorite spot is my reading chair. Some of my past favorite spots: peaceful coffee shop, dinning room table, sitting outside on a sunny day, sitting up in bed (with lots of pillows). • (Optional) Printer – Unless you have a portable device where you can easily reference this digital guide as you work through the exercises, it

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might be helpful to print this guide out on paper, and put it in a nice binder. If you are in North America, the store Target carries some attractive, eco friendly, soy inked binders: Greenroom and Green Inspired. • (Optional) Something Warm to Drink – There is something magical about a warm drink that seems to unravel me into a blissful state of relaxation. [I like a cup of Chai, green tea or coffee.]

2. Honest Writing Given that this guide is heavy on action, it is important that you have a pen and paper/notebook handy as you work through it. Here are a few things to keep in mind: • Actually Write – It is important to actually write out your answers rather than just thinking about them in your head. There is power in putting words down on paper. • Free Writing - For each question write out the first answers that come to mind. List the answers in bullet points so you can quickly jot them down. Write as quickly as possible, and write without editing. Don’t over think it. Don’t think too much

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at all. Just trust that you already know, relax, and write down the first things that come to mind, in the order that the thoughts come. • Honesty – The goal is to write the most candid and honest answer. This means write answers down even if they sound bad. Remember that nobody will read this. Write without judging the answers. • Enjoy - Remember to smile and to breath as you write out your answers. Enjoy the process of self-discovery. Treat it as a playful game. If you find yourself feeling tense and/or drawing a blank, take a few deep breaths. One small thing before we get started. Will you pause for a second and say—out loud, if possible— the following, “I Love Worksheets!” and repeat it several times with a smile. Did you do it? Okay, good.

3. Fear of Change Some of you may feel a slight resistance towards doing the exercises and will want to procrastinate. It is because we are scared of the unknown. This is perfectly normal.

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Here is one comment from a reader, which summarized this point so perfectly: “I have been avoiding doing this exercise because I was scared. I was scared of potentially not having answers, but also scared of what I might uncover. To my surprise, the answers came freely and easily.” So if you feel hesitation or resistance, know that it is perfectly normal. Your brain is just trying to protect you. I promise that the feeling will pass as you start doing it. In the end, you will be glad that you acted. One thing that may calm our fear of the unknown is to think of this process as a fun game instead of a ‘life altering process’. With this perspective, we take the edge off and will feel less pressured. When we are being playful, life flows through us, and we relax. You can say to yourself, “Let me play this game and see what I will find.” After all, what’s the harm in playing a game? Nothing. See you in the next module.

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people have a wrong idea of what “ Many constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. Helen Keller

”

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Module 1: Discover You “ The Purpose of Life is a Life of Purpose.” Robert Ryrne

In this module, we will walk through a series of exercises to gain insight into your life’s purpose, and lastly, to create your mission statement. If you have done the 15-questions exercise from the original Life on Purpose article, I recommend going through this module anyway—the questions and their order are different. Even if you’ve done similar exercises in the past, going through this series of exercises will contribute new insights and solidify your existing understanding of yourself. If you asked yourself, “What is my life purpose?” the answer will likely be “I don’t know.” As such, the exercises in this module were designed to shortcircuit your mind’s reactive conclusion to “I don’t know.” These steps will help you get into a frame of mind, which will be conducive to drawing out your own truth.

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Session 1: Get Centered your heart, but be quiet for a while “ Follow first. Ask questions, then feel the answers. Learn to trust your heart. ” Anonymous

Within every one of us lies a vast space of wisdom, and this wisdom and knowingness can only be accessed through the silent opening of this moment. We are most creative and expressive when we are centered and present. The fastest way to access this space of presence is through meditation. If the word ‘meditation’ makes you nervous, give it a different label, think of it as ‘just sitting’. The purpose of this meditation is to give us a moment to pause, to re-group, to calm the movement in our mind and to center ourselves. Only in the stillness of our being can we hear the gentle whispers of our inner selves. This exercise is designed to bring us back to that space of stillness. In this session, we will dwell in silence for at least a few minutes before continuing onto the next session.

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The basic steps to meditation are as follows: • Sit Upright - Sit somewhere comfortable where you won’t be interrupted. Sit upright: no lying down. I like sitting in my reading chair, or on the floor. You can sit cross-legged or feet on the ground or however you are comfortable. • Hands – Relax both hands, and rest them wherever that feels natural to you. For example, you can rest each hand on each knee with palms facing up. Or place one palm over the other where the two hands join. The details are not important. Do what feels natural for your body. • Straight Back – Try to sit with your back straight, but not so straight that you feel and appear stiff. The point here is to avoid overt slouching, such that you look like a big ‘C’ shape. You can relax your back, but try not to slouch too much. If you find this suggestion to be too distracting, just ignore it. • Close Your Eyes • Start with Your Breath – Notice the inhale and exhale of your breath. Take a deep inhale followed by a slow exhale. Do this a few times before relaxing into a natural breathing rhythm.

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• Thoughts – Before starting, decide on one thing you will focus on during the meditation. You can focus on anything, but make sure to pick just one thing. The most common thing to focus on is your breath. Alternatively, you can focus on sound, bodily sensations, or a mantra (repeated words). I’ll cover these in more detail below. • Focus on One Point of Focus – Put all your focus on the thing you’ve decided to focus on. As you proceed, your mind will produce random thoughts to distract you. Whenever you notice that you have a thought or that your mind has started to wander, bring your whole awareness back to your point of focus. Repeat this by gently bringing your attention back to the point of focus. If this is your first time meditating, or if you haven’t meditated in awhile, you’ll find that your mind has a lot to say, and that the distractions can be frustrating. This is common. Just be gentle on yourself. For the purpose of this process, I recommend sitting for at least 5 minutes. If you have the time, or would like to incorporate meditation into your daily morning routine, 20 minutes is the optimal. As a side note, if you can incorporate 5-20 minutes of sitting silently every morning before starting your

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day, you will experience phenomenal shifts of clarity, awareness and peace. I cannot stress this point enough. The most transformative period of my life happened when I adapted this practice. Whenever someone emails me with a personal problem, this is the first thing I tell them is: sit silently for 5-20 minutes a day; repeat for 7 days, then 14 days, then 21 days, then everyday. Before you realize it, a permanent shift will take place within you, such that even without morning meditation, the clarity and inner peace will be there. I’ve explored a lot of meditation techniques (from various traditions), and my favorite technique is the simplest: focus on my breath and think about nothing. I’ve outlined it here under the label “Breathing Meditation.”

Breathing Meditation In breathing meditation, put your focus and awareness on your breath. Notice the inhale and exhale of each breath. Notice the rhythm, speed and sensation of your breathing. Notice how your body responds to each breath. Notice the rising and falling of your chest as you breath. Which detail you focus on is up to you. The

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essence is to place all your awareness on breathing. Whenever you find your mind wandering off or when you catch yourself lost in a thought, gently drop the thought by guiding your focus back to your breath. I say ‘gently’ because the tendency is to mentally ‘kick’ ourselves in frustration when we’ve noticed that we are lost in thought, again. When this happens, don’t beat yourself up. Just simply shift your focus back to your breath.

Action Time: • Let’s get centered: Sitting where you are right now, close your eyes, and focus on just your breath. When you notice a thought, or that you’re already following a thought, gently bring your awareness back to your breath. Do this for 5 minutes or more.

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job in this lifetime is not to shape “ Our ourselves into some ideal we imagine we

ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it. Steven Pressfield

”

Session 2: Find Answers and you shall receive. “ Ask You must, yourself, do the asking. Walther Russell

”

First, let me lay one simple fact on the table: you know more than you realize. And more often than not, we already have the answers that we seek. Yet, we refuse to trust ourselves, and instead we seek answers from outside of ourselves. Other times, because we believe that we don’t have the answers, we continue to tell ourselves that we don’t know. And the telling of this story to ourselves keeps us rooted in uncertainty and ambiguity. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, instead of dwelling on the story that we don’t know, let’s shift our thinking to that of possibilities. One of the coolest tricks I’ve learned to make this mental shift is from Lenedra J Carroll’s wonderful book The Architect of Abundance. Using a technique she called “The 12 What Else’s”. The concept is simple. Basically, if you feel that you

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are stuck with a problem, ask yourself a question about it, and brainstorm 12 possible answers to that problem. After answering the question with one answer, you continue to ask “What else?” until you have 12 answers. Initially, we will feel that we don’t have the solution to our problem, but if we have a simple goal to come up with 12 answers, the pressure we feel to meet this goal will go beyond the limitations of our mind, which convinces us that we don’t know. For the purpose of this section, let’s modify this rule to 10 answers, and call it “The 10 What Else’s”. And instead of solving a problem, we are using this technique to discover things that are important to us. Additionally, I have discovered that it’s a lot easier for our brains to complete a sentence than it is for us to answer a question. So as much as possible, we will ask you to complete a sentence instead of a question—but the effects are the same. For example, it’s easier for the brain to complete the sentence “I am thankful for …” than it is to answer the question “What am I thankful for?” because in our minds, we just convert the question to a sentence anyway. In a moment, we will play the game of “10 What

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Else’s” in completing a series of sentences. For each sentence, we’ll write down the first answer that comes to mind to complete the sentence. Then we’ll repeatedly ask “What else?” until we have 10 or more answers. For example, playing 10 What Else’s with the sentence “I am happy when …” might look like this: • I am happy when I am rested. • What else? • I am happy when I get hugs. • What else? • I am happy when I have ice-cream. • … (repeat 10 or more times) A few things to keep in mind: • For each sentence, come up with as many answers as possible. Write them down quickly. • List the answers in a numbered list or bullet point. Keep writing until you have no more answers. • Do not judge or edit your answers. Write the first thing that comes to mind.

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• It’s okay that answers may overlap. • It’s okay to find the same answers to several questions. • If you find yourself feeling stuck on a question with your mind saying, “I don’t know”. Ask yourself, “What would the answer be if I did know?” Then write at least one answer down. • Take breaks. If you feel tired of writing, stop writing, get up for a quick stretch, drink some water, go for a quick walk, and/or close your eyes for a few minutes of silence.

Action Time: • Complete worksheet 1 – “10 What Else’s” • Complete worksheet 2 – Short Answers

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Worksheet 1

01/05

Complete each sentence with 10 or more answers. Write the first things that come to mind. 1. Things that make me happy are:

2. My favorite things to do are:

3. Activities that make me lose track of time are:

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Worksheet 1

02/05

4. What makes me feel great about myself?

5. People who inspire me are:

6. The qualities I admire about them are:

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Worksheet 1

03/05

7. I am naturally good at:

8. People typically ask me for help in:

9. If I had to teach something, I would teach:

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Worksheet 1

04/05

10. If I died today, I would regret not doing/being/having:

11. Challenges, difficulties and hardships I’ve overcome are:

12. If I wasn’t afraid, I would do:

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Worksheet 1

05/05

13. If I were 5 million dollars wealthier, I would do the following with my time:

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Worksheet 2

01/02

For each of the following statements, write the first thought that comes to mind to complete the sentence. You don’t need to come up with 10 answers for each statement, but keep writing until you have nothing further to say. 1. If I could get a message across to a large group of people, I would tell them:

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Worksheet 1

02/02

2. If I could influence and help a large group of people, these people would be [of the following type]:

3. I feel connected or strongly believe in the following [causes, groups, organizations, communities, types of people]:

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joy in life is to be used for a purpose. “ The I want to be used up when I die. ” George Bernand Shaw

Session 3: Rocking Chair Test men go fishing all of their lives with“ Many out knowing that it is not fish they are after. Henry David Thoreau

”

In the privacy of my own thoughts, one of my favorite topics to ponder is life, death and living purposefully—as you may have read in my essay “What is the meaning of life?” I’m intrigued with this topic, because when things get busy--as they always do—it’s easy for us to get trapped in the chasing of a better tomorrow. You know how it is: we rush through our day racing from one problem to another. We spend time on things that are urgent but unimportant. We trade our time for more money so we can buy more things that we don’t need. In essence, we get lost in the acquiring of things that gives us an illusion that we will live forever: knowledge, money, success, youth, beauty, admiration, and legacy. I love to ponder the topic of life and death—as odd and morbid as that may seem--because it grounds me to the naked truth of the impermanent nature of my life. I mean, I could die at any moment, and actually, death is the only thing that is for certain. As 3412  Left

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such, why am I delaying my happiness now? Why not live more fully with what is in front of me? Additionally, the media and people surrounding us affect our desires. Sometimes, our desires are not our own, but are from other people—maybe we heard someone talk about it, or we saw it on TV. In advertising and when we browse through pictures of other people’s lives, we see images of happy people with a certain life style, or wearing a certain brand of clothing, or having a certain prestigious job, or having a certain educational degree. And we say to ourselves, if I could have that, then I will be happy (just like them). We end up putting in a lot of hard work chasing after this illusion of happiness that “someday” or “something” will bring. Talk to anyone who’s been diagnosed with a terminal illness or who is older and wiser, and they will tell you that none of that matters. Over the years, I’ve been in touch with several readers who were diagnosed with terminal illnesses, and most of them are actually living a more fulfilled and peaceful existence than before being diagnosed with their illness. The pressure of death suddenly forces us to zoom in on what matters.

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Instead of living for an illusion of happiness, we start living fully and appreciating the abundance of goodness we already have. Instead of blindly chasing acquired desires borrowed from other people, we start to focus our energy on things that bring a lot of joy now. Instead of working feverishly to make more money so that we can buy a bigger house, we work passionately on meaningful projects so that we can experience the joy of doing, and being. Death is a great teacher. It’s humbling to realize our fragility. Yet, it is empowering to also recognize how much impact we can make during our brief stay on this planet. But we don’t have to wait until we are diagnosed with a terminal illness to shift our focus and to see life more clearly. We can start now.

The Rocking Chair Experience The rocking chair experience has been one of the most valuable exercises I’ve done. I’ve done various versions of it with different narratives, but each time, I’m always surprised by how powerful and insightful it is.

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For our purpose, I will ask you to close your eyes and visualize a scene, then open your eyes to answer some questions.

Action Time: • Follow steps 1-5 of the rocking chair experience outlined below. • When you are done with the visualization, answer the questions in worksheet 3.

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Visualization

Rocking Chair

• Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Focus on your inhale and exhale. Do this for a few minutes. • Visualize the following. See the details as vividly as possible. • You are now 90 years old. You are sitting on a rocking chair on the front porch of your house. You can feel the spring breeze gently brushing against your face. You are blissful and very content in this moment. You feel pleased with the wonderful life you’ve been blessed with. • Knowing you’re near the end of your life, you think back on the life you’ve lead up to this point. Think about all that you’ve achieved and acquired. Think about all the relationships you’ve developed and experiences you’ve been blessed with. • Looking back on your life, after 90 long years, what were the memories and experiences that mattered the most to you? What do you value now knowing you’re at the end of life? Relive these experiences. • When you are ready. Slowly, open your eyes.

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Worksheet 3

01/01

As your 90 year old self, answer the following questions 1. The things that were important to you are: [What experiences, people, and accomplishments were most important?]

2. What did you learn from this visualization? What did you realize? Write down your thoughts and insights from the exercise.

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Session 4: Discover Your Values act as our compass to put us back “ Values on course every single day, so that day

after day, we’re moving in the direction that takes us closer and closer to our definition of the ‘best’ life we could possibly live.

”

Steve Pavlina

As part of our quest toward self-understanding and personal growth, the process of identifying our core values is a useful one. Discovering and prioritizing our deepest values gives us insight and clarity. And this clarity makes our life simple, by helping us quickly decide how we should spend our (very limited) time. Additionally, understanding our values builds our confidence, gives us courage to take action in alignment with our values, and helps us define our purpose—which provides guidance for us to lead a life that feels whole and complete. I’ve broken the process into two sessions. In this session, we will elicit and brainstorm our values using various techniques. In the next session, we will identify the most important ones—your essential qualities or core values.

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Action Time: • Complete worksheet 4 • Complete worksheet 5 • Complete worksheet 6

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Worksheet 4

01/02

For each of the following sentences, what are the first answers that come to mind? List as many answers as you can. Write your answers in bullet points that complete the sentence. Keep answers down to one-word answers (if possible). It’s okay to have duplicate answers between questions. [Example: honesty, love, freedom, awareness, peace, prosperity, laughter, joy, empowerment, inspiration, ecstasy] 1. Qualities that are truly important to me are:

2. Qualities I value most in life are:

3. Qualities I value in other people are:

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Worksheet 4

02/02

4. In an ideal life, qualities I would like to have are:

5. It makes me happy to see others experiencing:

6. If I could give the people I love any quality in the world, I would give them a life of:

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Worksheet 5

01/01

My Values Take out the two pages of worksheet 4, transfer all the qualities over and write them in the space below—for clarity. If you see reoccurring qualities, just write them down once.

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01/02

Worksheet 6

1. Review the list of qualities below--two pages. Circle any qualities that resonate with you as something important to you, or something that you value. 2. Compare what you circled to what you wrote in worksheet 5. Transfer any circled words to worksheet 5 that are not already there. Abundance

Calm

Contentment

Enlightenment

Acceptance

Calmness

Contribution

Enthusiasm

Accepting

Capable

Control

Enthusiastic

Accomplishment

Centereded

Courage

Environment

Achievement

Certainty

Creativity

Excellence

Acknowledgement

Challenge

Credibility

Excited

Advancement

Change

Curiosity

Excitement

Adventure

Charity

Decisiveness

Expressive

Affection

Charm

Dedication

Faith

Affluence

Charming

Delight

Faithful

Ambition

Children

Democracy

Fame

Analytical

Clarity

Devotion

Family

Appreciation

Cleanliness

Direct

Fearlessness

Arts

Clear

Discipline

Attractiveness

Clear-Mindedness

Drive

Financial Independence

Audacity

Closeness

Education

Authority

Comfort

Effectiveness

Awareness

Commitment

Efficiency

Balance

Community

Efficient

Beauty

Compassion

Elegance

Being the Best

Competence

Empowerment

Believe

Competition

Encouragement

Belonging

Compliments

Encouraging

Benevolence

Concentration

Endurance

Bliss

Confidence

Energetic

Boldness

Connected

Energy

Bravery

Connection

Engaged

Brilliance

Consciousness

Enjoyment

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Fitness Flexible Focus Forgiveness Freedom Friendship Frugality Fulfilled Fulfillment Fun Funny Generosity Giving

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02/02

Worksheet 6 Grace

Interesting

Personal Growth

Sexuality

Gratitude

Intimacy

Persuasiveness

Silence

Growth

Intuition

Physical Strength

Silly

Happiness

Intuitiveness

Play

Simplicity

Happy

Joy

Playfulness

Sincerity

Hard Work

Kind

Pleasure

Solitude

Harmony

Knowledge

Power

Spiritual

Having a Family

Laughter

Present

Spirituality

Health

Leadership

Privacy

Spontaneity

Healthy

Learning

Productivity

Stability

Helping Others

Love

Prosperity

Status

Honesty

Loyalty

Purity

Stillness

Honor

Making a Difference

Receptive

Structure

Hope

Meaningful Work

Recognition

Success

Hopeful

Mindfulness

Relaxation

Supportive

Humor

Money

Reliability

Synergy

Imagination

Motivation

Reputation

Teaching

Impact

Nature

Resilient

Team

Independence

Nurturing

Resourcefulness

Thankfulness

Influencing Others

Open

Respect

Time Freedom

Inner Harmony

Openness

Respectful

Tranquility

Inner Peace

Optimism

Responsible

Transcendence

Innocence

Order

Richness

Trust

Innovation

Organization

Sacredness

Understanding

Inspiration

Passion

Satisfaction

Uniqueness

Inspired

Passionate

Satisfied

Variety

Inspiring

Patient

Security

Vision

Integrity

Peace

Self Improvement

Vitality

Intellectual

Perfection

Self-Reliance

Winning

Intelligence

Performance

Self-Respect

Wisdom

Intensity

Perseverance

Selflessness

Wittiness

Intentional

Persistence

Serenity

Wonder

Interested

Personal Development

Service

Youthfulness

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most fundamental of journeys does “ The not begin in ambiguity. It begins in clarity.

And it begins with the acknowledgement that the most beautiful, the most incredible resides within you. Prem Rawat

”

Session 5: Identify Your Core Values so engaged in doing things to “ We’re achieve purposes of outer value that we

forget that the inner value — the rapture that is associated with being alive — is what it is all about. Joseph Campbell

”

In the last session, we identified a list of qualities you value. In this session, first we will prioritize and narrow the list down to 5 qualities that are the most important to you—your core values. Then we will spend a few minutes talking about what they mean. There are two methods to prioritizing your value list: • Elimination – you cross off qualities until you are left with 4 qualities. • Selection – Intuitively choose. Ask questions and listen for answers. We will be using this method of identifying your core values, in the worksheets below.

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Action Time: • Take out worksheet 5 for reference. • Complete worksheet 7. Make sure you complete this before moving on.

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Worksheet 7

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1 2 3 4 5 For each of the steps below, review your list of values from worksheet 5. I will ask you a question, while looking at worksheet 5, pick the first answer that comes to mind. Write each answer down in the space below, in order from 1-5. Note: when choosing qualities with similar meanings, pick the word that contains the most energy and meaning for you. Pick the one that feels the best to you. Step 1: • If a genie popped out of a magic lantern and asked, “I will grant one quality to you and everyone you love, while giving up all the other qualities. Which quality would you choose?” • Look at qualities on worksheet 5. What’s the first answer that comes to mind? • Quickly write it down under #1 above.

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02/02

Worksheet 7 Step 2:

• If the genie then says, “I can grant you just one more quality, in addition to #1, while forgoing all other qualities. Which would you pick?” • What’s the first answer that comes to mind? Decide quickly. • Quickly write it down under #2 above. Step 3: • If the genie then says, “I can grant you just one more quality, in addition to #1 and #2. Which would you pick?” • Quickly pick and write it down under #3. Step 4: • If the genie then says, “I can grant you just one more quality, in addition to #1, #2 and #3. Which would you pick?” • Quickly pick and write it down under #4. Step 5: • Yes, you guessed it. If the genie can grant you a 5th and final quality to you and everyone you love. Which quality would you pick? • Quickly write down the first answer that comes up under #5 above.

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Understanding Your Values Now that you have your 5 most valued qualities listed in order of importance to you, spend a few minutes to appreciate these words. These 5 words are your core values. Let them sink in. Look at them and repeat them—out loud or in your mind. I like to call these 5 words your Essential Qualities, because these are the qualities that make up your essence. You value and resonate with these qualities, because these are the very qualities that you already embody from the core of your being. They make up who you are from the foundation of your soul. If that doesn’t sound important, read the above paragraphs a few more times. Although the exercise is simple, the insight can be quite profound. Together, these words summarize a description of you – who you are, what you most value, and what you can offer the world. For example, if love is one quality on your list, then I can say to you: you are love, love is one quality

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you value most, and love is what you can offer the world. What I think is remarkable about these specific qualities is that these are the very qualities you already possess—even if you don’t yet realize or accept them. You will see traces of these qualities through out your life.

Reflecting On My Essential Qualities I’ve done this exercise several times over the past few years and while certain words fall off, the list has pretty much remained the same. Here are my essential qualities from the last time I did this exercise: • • • • •

Enlightenment Abundance Love Empowerment Clarity

For example, ‘empowerment’ is one quality from my list. You can see this word show up in my life consistently, both in my work and my hobbies.

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I read (almost exclusively) books on personal empowerment, I have a quote site called “Empowered Quotes”, I want to create a dating site called “Empowered Singles” and my blogs all focus on empowering people. It’s not a coincidence. Empowering others and myself is what I am passionate about. It is who I am. It is my unique offering to the world—it is within me. Because it is within me, I have the capacity to create a space that can empower others. I hope that makes sense. Similarly, clarity, enlightenment, love, and abundances also show up through out my life, my interests, and my work. I still have a lot to learn, but more and more, I’m learning to adapt and accept these qualities as something within me, and aligning my work with these qualities has been incredibly synergetic— creating immense passion, fulfillment, and putting something out there that is useful for other people.

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Using Your Essential Qualities often say that motivation doesn’t “ People last. Well, neither does bathing—that’s why we recommend it daily. ” Zig Ziglar

In addition to helping us craft our personal mission statement, your essential qualities can be used to create intimate and powerful affirmations (customized just for you). Affirmations, especially ones that contain meaningful words personalized for you, can help to quiet the chatter in your mind. When our life gets hectic, and we start to feel disconnected and scattered, these words can help us access our heart space. They can help to quickly shift our outlook towards a positive one. So, even if you don’t believe in affirmations, be open to the possibilities of them being an effective tool that can subconsciously raise our thought frequencies. Affirmations are most effective if they are reviewed regularly. Look at them first thing in the morning, or before you go to bed. Review them everyday if you

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can. Recite them in your mind. Keep them in your journal. One of the simplest affirmations is “Thank you”. Whenever, I feel moody or cranky, I’ll repeat “thank you” over and over again, and I can’t help but to feel better. Next time you’re in a low mood, try repeating thank you a hundred times, instead of regurgitating selfdefeating thoughts, and see how you will feel. Affirmations are powerful stuff. Steps to convert your essential qualities into personalized affirmations: • For each word from your list of essential qualities, use it as a starting point. • See what positive statements you can create out of that word or a slight variation of the word. Follow your heart and be playful. What feels right to you? There are no wrong answers. • Once you have gone through all your words, see if there are any other positive statements you want to add. For example, here is a list of positive affirmations created out of my essential qualities:

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• • • • • • • • •

I am enlightened I am surrounded by abundance. I am love. I am loving and loveable. I am empowered. I empower others. I live with clarity. I teach others to live with clarity. I am well. I am safe.

Repeat these statements as your daily affirmations and they will serve as powerful anchors, reminding you of who you are, your natural state of being, and where you want to be.

Action Time: • Go through your list of essential qualities (core values) and convert them into positive affirmations.

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Session 6: Your Personal Mission or reviewing a mission statement “ Writing changes you because it forces you to think through your priorities deeply, carefully, and to align your behavior with your beliefs.

”

Stephen Covey In the last few sessions, we dug deep and gained insights into the areas of life that are important to you, and we discovered your core values (essential qualities). In this session, we will combine all the wisdom and insights we gained from the previous module to create your personal mission statement. A personal mission statement summarizes your life’s purpose in a sentence. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can go back to tweak it at anytime. However, the act and intent of creating a mission statement ignites a sense of clarity and direction for your life. Additionally, a personal mission statement adds meaning and creates order for our otherwise chaotic thought patterns that drift aimlessly with us through life.

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The fact that you are taking the time to be here and are working through the self-reflective exercises means you’re already ahead of the game. Just the understanding of your core values alone will set you off in the right direction, because you know what is truly important to you. A mission statement should be clear, succinct, and representative of a cause that feels good and feels true to you. As such, a mission statement will often incorporate parts of your core values. Once we have your statement, it can be a source of guidance--like an internal compass—to help you make decisions. A mission statement consists of 3 parts: • What – What do you want to do? • Who – Who do you want to do it for? • Result – What is the end result? Before continuing, I’m assuming that you’ve completed all the questions from the previous sessions. If not, please go back to complete all the questions before moving on.

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Action Time: • Review your answers from the previous sessions. • Complete worksheets 8-11, in order.

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Worksheet 8

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What do you want to do? In the space below, list out action words—action you can take in order to produce some result—that can follow this pattern: • I can... • I want to... Example action words: educate, accomplish, empower, encourage, improve, help, give, guide, inspire, integrate, master, motivate, nurture, organize, produce, promote, travel, spread, share, satisfy, understand, teach, write, create.

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01/01

Worksheet 9

Who do you want to help? List out the people, organizations, causes, groups, environments, and “tribes” that are important to you. To assist with brainstorming, ask yourself the following questions: • Who do I want to help? • Who would I help if I didn’t have any fear? • Which group of people can I help? • Which group of people do I want to help the most? • Which group do I relate with? • What difficulties did I overcome? What group of people can I share my experience with? • Which group or organization do I care deeply about? Examples:

• Teenage girls

• Women entrepreneurs

• Single mothers

• Unhappy people

• Men

• People recovering from breakups

• The Acumen Fund (a charity)

• Stray dogs

• Freelance Designers

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Worksheet 10

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What is the End Result? Now, we want to identify your end goal. Go through each group you identified in worksheet 9, and answer the following questions: • What value can I bring to this group of people?

• What end result do I want to see for this cause?

• What experiences do I want to see people have as a result of my involvement? Example answers: • Fulfillment. • Peace and clarity. • People feeling inspired and motivated to live a great life. • Happy people free from suffering. • Empowered people. Write what answer that comes to mind in the space below:

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01/02

Worksheet 11 Putting Everything Together 1. Review your answers from worksheets 8, 9, and 10.

2. See if you can combine the various answers into sentences that begin with the word “To”. Write all ideas down. Don’t judge the answers. 3. Form as many sentences as possible. Feel free to add any words or make any tweaks that feel right. Example sentences: • To empower single mothers to find inner strength and financial independence. • To help stray animals find loving homes. • To master the art of peaceful relationships, and to share this with others. • To create programs for children to learn about money. • To be an exceptional mom. To raise happy children. • To inspire others to find clarity and joy. • To educate women entrepreneurs in finding online success. It’s your turn. Go! Start writing ideas in the space below (& the next page):

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Worksheet 11

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Finalize Your Mission Statement If you haven’t completed all the worksheets above, go back to get them done. They are short and very quick to do. If you’ve done all the steps, I want to congratulate you on your courage and commitment to making it here. Good job! Okay, at this point, you have a list of sentences from worksheet 11. Review all the sentences you’ve created, do you notice a common theme? If you are seeing a common theme, see if there is a more generalized sentence that better summarizes this theme. Write any new sentences on worksheet 11. Review the sentences on the worksheet. Do you feel other sentences coming to your awareness? Any sentences that feel like a good cause that you resonate with? If so, write them on the sheet. Now, looking at the sentences, if you had to pick just one sentence and throw away all the other sentences, which would you pick? Which sentence jumps out at you? Which sentence gives you the most energy and excitement? 6612  Left

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Put a star next to it. Go do it. There is no one right answer. The right answers are the ones that make you feel energized, inspired, and happy. Make any final tweaks to a sentence to make it feel “just right for you”.

Example Mission Statements The sentence you picked is your personal mission statement. If you don’t feel completely satisfied, keep tweaking it until it feels right to you. Your heart will know when you have it (or something close to it). In this section, just for fun, I will share some personal mission statements that others have shared with me after going through this process. First, my own mission statement is: “To empower, motivate and inspire people to live happy and fulfilled lives.”

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Here are personal missions submitted by others: “To inspire and inform everyone, through writing and speaking, that they may find loving, happy, and fulfilling lives by embracing the ideals of honesty and courage.” “My purpose is to have a deep and meaningful connection with the Divine, empowering people to experience self-love and compassion that motivates the conscious productive engagement of one’s Life Purpose resulting in Peace on Earth!” “My purpose is to use my knowledge, skills, determination and commitment to empower, encourage, inspire, support and uplift others to live a life of purpose, freedom, joy and safety.” “My purpose is to recognize, honor, and celebrate the sacredness of everyone I meet to create a world free of shame, empowering people to embrace their own divinity and share their most authentic expression with the world!” “My purpose is to provide products, programs and tools that inspire and empower people, enabling people to unleash their personal creativity and their unique contribution in life.” “Through my art I offer to people a new vision

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and a different approach to life, so we can grow and find more meaningful ways to live.” “My purpose is to leave this world smiling, having followed in the footsteps of my sensei and having entrusted this path to the next generation; to have lived under the philosophy of having no regrets; to have protected my friends and family; to never give up in what I believe in; to have made a difference to the lives of those closest to me; to look back at the end and be happy.” “My purpose in life is to live according to my spiritual beliefs by putting God first, striving to better myself (man, husband, father, friend, educator, business owner, etc.), provide and protect my family, provide opportunities for those in need, and to support, encourage, motivate, and guide our youth in the right direction in life.” As you review the above missions, you’ll notice the variety of answers. Some longer, some shorter, and each has a different focus. We can appreciate these mission statements even if the author’s values are different from our own. We recognize that they come from a pure, innocent and loving place—which exists in all of us. What I love about these different statements is that

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they reflect how unique we are, yet at the core of our being, we all want to do good, and we all want to contribute. Want to share your mission statement with us? If so, leave a comment on this page.

Parting Words Congratulations for making it this far. I am so proud of you. How do you feel? I hope the last two modules created a positive and insightful experience for you. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Before we move on to something more tactile—how to make a living with our passion—in the next module, I want to mention a few things:

1. Nothing is Permanent As life’s circumstances shift and time passes, our priorities will change. As we grow and change, so will our purpose. Don’t be afraid to come back to tweak and update your statement.

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2. Honor Your Uniqueness You may feel that you don’t have a lot to offer, while looking at your own statement. Or perhaps it even scares you a little. I used to feel inferior compared to my mission statement. It felt so big and I felt so small compared to it. I wasn’t very confident in what I could offer to the world. But the creation of this statement set off a whole orchestra of events and circumstances that lead me to where I am today—living in harmony with my personal mission statement, while making a living doing work that deeply fulfills me. Life is no longer a struggle. It becomes a dance. So, trust me in stating that the voice in your head isn’t telling the truth. You have a lot more to offer than it is telling you. This is a pivotal point. Good things are before you.

3. No Mission is Too Small You may look at other statements and start comparing them with your own. You may feel that your own

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statement isn’t grand enough or massive enough on a global scale. Relax. No mission is too small, and not all missions need to end world hunger, or bring lasting happiness. Simple missions like being an exceptional parent, raising happy children, and nurturing a loving relationship are equally important and will have a significant lasting impact in the betterment of our world. You matter. And the good you bring, matters. Your mission is important. Never forget that. Never compare with others. You are important.

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will see your life for what it really “ You is: a small blip on the canvas of eternity.

And you will come to see clearly who you are and the ultimate purpose of your life. (Which is?) To serve, of course. Robin Sharma

”

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Module 2: Discover Your Work “ Work is love made visible.” Kahlil Gibran

In the previous module, we created our personal mission statement, but the main intent was to help us get clarity on our passions, interests and things we most value. In this module, we’re going to dive into something more practical: How do I make a living doing something more meaningful? How do I making a living doing something I am passionate about? The quick answer is: figure out what you like doing, find a group of people with a problem you can solve doing what you like doing, provide enough value and get paid for it. There is no shortcut or silver bullet. Before continuing, I want to discuss a few issues and to dispel a few myths surrounding the topic of money, work and passion.

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1. Social Conditioning Some of us feel awkward when it comes to intermingling money and our passions. We are somehow conditioned to believe that work is a place that we go to suffer and make money. And once we have suffered and made money, we can then pursue our passions on the side. This conditioning then further extends into us believing that the reverse is also true: If we are doing something we are passionate about, then we shouldn’t make money with it. Some of us experience guilt, we sell ourselves short by under charging, and we unconsciously sabotage our success. At the end of the day, making money is an integral part of surviving. We need money to live, and to pay for our physical needs. As such, charging money for the value we provide is perfectly reasonable and acceptable. Finding peace with money making is one of the most empowering things you can do. Once you do that, you’ll free up loads of energy to focus on doing really great work, diving passionately into your projects, and generating lots of value for people.

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2. The Cubical Freedom Myth The popular trend these days is this concept of escaping cubical nation and to be a happy, rich, and free entrepreneur. I too have contributed into this myth when I wrote about the romance of quitting my day job. At the time, I truly believed that this concept was the silver bullet I needed, but now that I’m a little bit wiser, I’m having a slight change of heart. I’m not suggesting that we should all go work in an office now, but I want to dispel the illusion that escaping our cubical job is the magic key to happiness. Don’t get me wrong. Leaving corporate America to work for myself was one of the best (and scariest!) things I’ve ever done for my self. I love, and am grateful for the autonomy it’s afforded me. My point however is this: we can be just as unhappy, stressed out, and unfulfilled as an entrepreneur as we were working for someone else. Working for your self comes with its own set of challenges—like financial stability and taking risks. I bring this up because if you are currently working at a stable day job, don’t feel bad about it. You can shift your thinking, give new meaning to the work you do, and experience fulfillment. It’s not what you

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do, specifically, that brings joy, but how you do what you do that makes all the difference in your experience. Looking at my own life right now. Yes, there are perks, such as the freedom to choose where I work and when I work. But most of the time, I’m still working behind a computer screen, at a desk. I’m essentially still at a “cubical”—just that it’s located in my own home. And I’ve got the most critical boss in the world: myself. It’s all a matter of our perspective. I think what we ultimately want is a sense of freedom. We want to feel that we have choices, and that we are valued for the work that we do. And that’s something that working for yourself can provide: freedom.

3. The Do What You Love Myth First, it is important to point out that not every personal mission can be translated into work that pays. Similarly, not every passion is lucrative. This is a fact. Many books out there are dedicated to selling you the concept of doing what you love and then the money will follow. I’m not a cynical person, but I have to say that this isn’t a completely true state-

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ment. For example, there are thousands of software programmers who love photography. When I was working at amazon.com, the photography email list was one of the most popular and filled with passionate people—mostly software engineers. People had all the latest gear and they would all talk the lingo of a pro photographer. If the “do what you love” statement was true, if all these engineers quit their day jobs to pursue their love of photography, wouldn’t the money surely follow? My guess is no. I know this because I did this. I started a photography business and the money didn’t follow. It was like this expensive hobby, highly competitive and with very few (well) paying jobs in between. The thought of replacing my engineering salary with photography made me so stressed out that I no longer felt creative or enjoyed the process. Was I passionate about photography? Yes. But passion alone is not enough. The “Do what you love and the money will follow” mantra is only partially true. At the end of the day, if you are to make money by doing what you are passionate about, you have to provide enough value such that it solves a need for

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people and that they are willing to give you money in exchange for your product or service. Money is not personal; it has little to do with how talented you are, or how hard working you are. It has everything to do with how many people you impact: how many people you help, or entertain. That’s it. Money is a neutral indicator for how much value you’ve put out. If you help a lot of people, you can’t help but to make money. It’s a simple equation. Some passions should remain hobbies. While other passions can be used as fuel to create exceptional work that helps people. My point is simple. Doing what we love is not enough. We have to be able to contribute in a way where value is added to other people’s lives as a result of us doing what we love to do. Otherwise, money will not follow.

4. The Passion Myth I’ve heard of people say the following, “If I could only find my passion, then I will be all set. I just don’t know what my passion is.” Passion doesn’t come from thinking about it or wor-

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rying about it or from repeating the above statement. Passion comes from doing, exploring, and working on different projects. Additionally, none of us are one-dimensional. We are complex, intelligent and interesting beings with a wide range of possible work that can keep us engaged and feeling passionate. So, don’t corner yourself in with just one passion that you believe defines you, or with the story of “I don’t know what my passion is.” Just start doing something. Anything. And as you navigate through the path of the unknown, you’ll discover what you like and what you don’t like. This is where your passion lies. For many years I used to think that my passion was in creating user-friendly websites. And when that faded, I thought my passion was photography. I spent many years trapped in the story that “My passion is photography. I will be happy if I can make a living with photography.” Now, many years and many more experiences later, I’ve come to the understanding that I can be passionate about pretty much anything. It’s sort of a decision that we make, and once we make that decision, we’ll tell other people about it, and then we start to act consistently with our decision--whatever

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that may be. Today, I can tell you that I am passionate about many things: writing, learning, personal development, branding, marketing, starting & finishing projects, helping people, inspirational quotes, modern design, parenting, connecting with people, creating passive income businesses and photography. My point is, don’t get trapped into the notion that we have just one passion, and that our happiness lies in making this one passion our vehicle for making a living. We are more complex than that. We have many more options than we realize. The trick is in marrying our unique values, interests and strengths in creating useful solutions for people with problems that need to be solved. That’s the magic mix. ~§~ If you are currently employed by someone else but are curious about the possibilities of working for your self, or have already left your job and are in a transitional period, this module is dedicated for you. Over recent years, I’ve been in touch with many brave souls who took that massive leap of faith by quitting their day jobs to pursue a more meaningful

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and freedom-filled existence. Usually, they will start out with a buffer of money in savings, from which they will travel extensively. During this time, they will do a lot of soul searching. Many will start a blog to document their experiences. A few month into their new lifestyle, I’ll sometimes get an email that usually contains a question like this, “Now what? I don’t know what to do. What can I do to make money? What should I do with my life?” In this module, I will guide you through the exact process I use to answer this question. Variations of this process are taught by thousands of life coaches, and countless personal development programs. I’ve distilled and organized it in a way that I have found to be the most effective. In this process, we will intentionally and consciously design your ideal work (and ultimately your life) over 4 sessions—including the use of some powerful tools that I personally use to get clarity. Now, grab a pen and some paper or a notebook. Sit somewhere comfortable, where you will not be interrupted. Let’s get started on step 1 of 4 to designing your work.

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Session 7: Your Vision is the day to seize the moment and “ Today live a life that soars. Today is the day to live from your imagination and harvest your dreams.

”

Robin Sharma Before diving in to find ideas on what projects we can work on, and what services we can offer, it is important and valuable to first get clear on the things and experiences that we want in life. Then to take inventory of how much money we would need in order to sustain ourselves in that life. Some people may proclaim that they are not motivated by money, and that’s fine. But at the end of the day, we still need to eat and to provide for our families. It is wise to--at least--get a clear picture on exactly how much money you need to cover the cost of essentials. There are 4 parts to this step: • • • •

Part 1: Visualization Part 2: Document what you saw Part 3: Discover the cost of your ideal life Part 4: Identify your current cost of living

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Even if you’ve done similar exercises before, please diligently go through and complete each exercise— you never know what new insights you will uncover. Each part builds on the previous one. It is important that you give each exercise a go.

Part 1: Visualize your ideal life Close your eyes. Take a few deep and calming breaths. Inhale and exhale. Focus on your breath for several minutes. The exact timing doesn’t matter, just relax and focus on your breath for a few inhale-exhales. Continue when you feel calm. Now imagine that it is now 5 years into the future. Some major shifts took place in the last few years, and that you are living your dream life. What does this future life look like? Be as vivid as possible. Look around. Notice all the details of this reality. Touch something in your environment. Do your best. Use all your senses to make this feel real. How do you feel? What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell? What is your facial expression?

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Where are you living? What are you doing? How are you spending your time? Who are you spending your time with? What have you accomplish or experienced? Where are you working? What are you working on? Notice as much detail as possible. Be as clear as possible. Remember to smile and breathe as you continue with this visualization. Feel relaxed as you cruise through this beautiful future reality. Take your time. When you feel that you’ve seen all that you want to see, slowly open your eyes.

Action Time: • Do the above visualization.

Part 2: Write Down What You Saw Take a deep breath. Give yourself a smile for the wonderful experience you have just witnessed. Feel empowered and joyous for this beautiful reality you will create. Start writing down on a clean sheet of paper every-

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thing that you saw in your ideal life visualization. Write each item on a new line in bullet points.

Action Time: • In a relaxed manner, write everything that you saw from your visualization. What are some details you saw in this ideal reality?

Part 3: Cost Of Your Ideal Life? On a new sheet of paper, brainstorm in bullet points all the different costs associated with your ideal life. For example: food, housing, eating out, traveling, childcare, etc. Next to each item, write the estimated monthly cost for that item. Make your best estimated guess based on your current knowledge. Don’t research. Just do a quick estimate. When unsure, always overestimate a number rather than underestimate. A natural reaction that some of us may experience is feeling helpless and overwhelmed, because our ideal life vision seems too far out of our reach from our present reality. If this is you, just relax. Take a

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deep breath and tell your self, “Just relax. This is a game. Let me see where this game takes me.” Give yourself permission to dream and to play. The reason for this exercise is simple: to take inventory of what it will actually cost to live our ideal life. Clarity gives us power. If we wait passively, our dream life will never fall into our lap accidentally. It has to be consciously created—starting with the vision of what that life looks like. Many people will throw their arms up and give up before they even start, thinking that they will need millions of dollars before they can lead their ideal life—to them, it seems like an impossible feat. However, after doing this exercise, many of us will discover that our ideal life actually costs a lot less than we thought. In most cases, it won’t cost millions, and you won’t need to win the lottery to get it. The point of this exercise is to help us gain clarity on what we want, to understand how much that costs, and to give ourselves permission to dream big.

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Example: Cost of Living Inventory One friend describes his ideal life as living in sunny California near a beach. The estimated costs in his visualized lifestyle are for 2 adults, 2 children and 2 dogs living in San Diego, California. Here is one sample inventory for the cost of living for such a scenario: Medical Insurance: Groceries Eating Out Child Care Housing Gas & Parking Utilities Clothing Other Health & Fitness



$2000 $800 $1000 $2000 $3000 $300 $450 $200 $1000 $600 $11,350

Depending on where in the world you live, this number may appear large. But, realistically speaking, finding a way to make this amount of money each month is a lot more doable than, say, winning the lottery for 10 million dollars. Now that this number is no longer a mystery, my

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friend—in a few week’s time—found several ways to create this kind of income. As soon as he had clarity for what this number was, he started noticing opportunities that can help him get there.

Exercise Comment The above example illustrates a simple point: when we get clear on what we want, our brain will find creative ways to support us. We will start to notice things that we would otherwise miss, which can help us. Additionally, your dream may not involve living on a beach in California. We all have different dreams and desires. I just randomly pulled one in to illustrate my point. Many dream lifestyles cost a lot less money, thus making it more easily accessible. For example, I have a friend who is traveling and living in South East Asia with her husband and infant son, and their dream life costs less than $2000 per month to support. The monetary estimate in this case is used as a tool, which sets imaginary targets for us to aim at. And the aiming opens up our brain’s capacity and awareness to a larger range of possibilities.

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Action Time: • List out all the various costs associated with your ideal life vision. Give each category an estimated monthly cost. Total up the number.

Part 4: Your Current Costs In the previous exercise, we identified the cost for our dream life. The point of that exercise wasn’t to create discontent between where we are now and where we want to be. The point was get clear on our destination, how much that will cost, and to expand our awareness to notice possibilities and opportunities which will support us. But all of that will take place in the future. We are just paving our path right now. What is more immediately important for any one transitioning to selfemployment to understand is your current cost of living. In this exercise, we’re going to take an inventory of how much it costs to support our current lifestyle. What are your essential costs? Once we have this number, it will give us clarity to the amount of money we need in order to cover our basic expenses.

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When I was still at my corporate job, I remember feeling hopelessly stuck. I was convinced that I needed my job in order to survive, and that I didn’t have any other options. The interesting thing with beliefs is that once we start to believe in something, it becomes instantly true for us. Beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies in which you only notice evidence that supports your chosen belief. Then one day, I sat down and worked out the numbers. I wrote out all my various monthly costs and added them up. To my surprise, my cost of living— especially if I further simplified my lifestyle to the essentials—was reasonably low. As such, I discovered that my essential cost of living could be easily achieved with a side business. When I started my blog, I was clear on how much money I needed to make—the number that would cover my cost of living. With this clarity, I was able to meet this target within a few quick months. This then gave me the confidence to leave my day job. The point of this exercise is clarity, so that instead of feeling helpless and stuck, we are empowered with knowledge and choice. That choice is, “Am I willing to go out, get creative, and make this happen for myself?”

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This number provides the first target for us to work towards. Clarity is power. This exercise helps us to get that clarity.

Action Time: 1. On a piece of paper, list out--in bullet points--all the different categories of cost you currently have. 2. Next to each category, write an estimated monthly cost for that item. 3. Total this list. This is your current cost of living. This is the minimum monthly income you need to cover your current expenses. This is your first financial target. Example: Rent: $800 Food: $300 Utilities: $50 Internet: $50 Phone: $50 Others: $200 --------------------------$1,450

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Session 8: Discover Your Project ask yourself what the world needs, “ Don’t ask yourself what makes you come alive.

And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive. Howard Thurman

”

Similar to finding our life purpose, if we directly asked ourselves, “What can I do to make a living?” our reactive answer will usually default to our current job description, or “I don’t know.” The following three-part exercise will help to take us beyond our brain’s default answer to “I don’t know” and to come up with realistic project ideas that we can actually pursue. In the next session, we will examine our fears, which can have the power to stop us from doing meaningful work. And in the last session of this module, we will make a decision as to which project we will commit to. For now, we shall focus on answering the question “What can I do?” in the following three-part process.

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Part 1: What Can I Teach? Drilling into the question of “what can I teach?” is a productive exercise, because it helps to expose your areas of expertise. The simple act of doing this exercise gave me a lot of insight into the types of value I can provide. Previously, I felt uncertain and confused as to what types of projects I could work on. For me, doing this exercise helped me identify the types of problems I can help people solve with my existing knowledge and experience. And to my surprise, I had a lot more to offer than I had previously thought.

Action Time: • Complete worksheet 12.

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Worksheet 12

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Answer the following questions with as many answers as you can come up with. The questions are related, and are meant to probe for more answers. • What do I know that others will want to learn? • What can I teach? • What is someone willing to pay me $100/hour or $1000/ hour to do? • What do people ask me to help them with? • What kind of problems can I solve for people? • What problems or hardship have I overcome that others will want to know?

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Part 2: What Makes Me Come Alive? While I don’t think there is one ubiquitous answer that will fit everyone for the question, “What is the purpose of life?” The closest to such an answer, I believe, is that the purpose of life is to go out and do what makes you come alive. After all, what is the point of living? I believe the point of it all is to experience, to explore and to create. To discover what you like doing, and then do more of it. Because the goal of this session is to find ways to marry our interests with what people are willing pay us money for, it would be worthwhile to explore the types of activities that make us feel alive—for in the engagement of those activities lies our best work. I want to touch on one small concept before we get to the worksheets. A common answer to this question is, “Traveling the world makes me come alive. If I never have to work again, that’s what I would do.” This travel fantasy is a bit of a misconception. In reality, if you had the opportunity to travel as much as you say you want to, you’d discover that traveling can become boring and unfulfilling relatively quickly without something else to keep your mind engaged, thinksimplenow.com12  Left

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stimulated, and active. Observing friends who have retired early, who never have to work again and who have the opportunity to do unlimited traveling, I’ve noticed that they actually spend most of their time in productive work. Work for working’s sake. Work to keep the mind active. Work to be engaged in interesting projects. Creating results that make a difference. They work to be challenged and to feel alive. So, in this exercise, we are not looking for answers like “travel the world and do nothing”. We are looking to identify activities that involve providing value to others, such that in the engagement of this activity, you feel alive and happy. For example, writing and sharing useful or intriguing ideas make me feel alive. Connecting with people and helping individuals overcome emotional hardships is something else that makes me feel live. Feeling that my work matters and is valued also makes me feel alive, regardless of what I’m doing… I can be writing, taking photographs, programming software, designing graphics, or just talking to someone.

Action Time: • Complete worksheet 13

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Worksheet 13

What are activities and actions you can take, that make you feel alive? In the space below, write any answers that may come to mind. Here are additional questions to help you brainstorm: • What makes me come alive?

• What gives me a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment?

• Which parts of my past work have been the most enjoyable?

• Which parts of my past work have been the most meaningful?

• What would I love to do on a regular basis that will utilize both my skills and interests, and that will add value to other people?

• If I inherited $10 million dollars. After the initial excitement settles down, and I’ve done my share of traveling. What will I do with my time? • If I had all the resources in the world, what projects would I be working on? What would I be doing specifically?

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Part 3: Ways I Can Make Money In the last session, we ended up with two numbers: the cost to support your ideal life (part 3) and the cost to support your current expenses (part 4). In this section we’re going to brainstorm creative ways we can reach these numbers. If you are feeling skeptical with this step, just relax and give it a shot—treat it like a game and see what you uncover. As you work through the worksheet, your mind may start to produce chatter like this: • I don’t know. • I can’t do it. I don’t know how. • This may be true for some, but it is not true for me. This is normal. Ignore the chatter, relax, ask the question, and see what answers you get back. As you will see in the worksheet, one thing I will ask you to assume when answering the question is to assume that it is possible to find unexpected breaks along the way which will provide a quantum leap toward the success of the project. To illustrate this point, I’ll give you a real life

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example. Marc Allen, cofounded New World Library—a publishing company for spiritual growth books. When he started the company with no experience and little money, he went through this same exercise and made the assumption that he could experience a big break with the publishing company—such as publishing a best selling book, if he just kept trying. He continued with his projects with the assumption that it is possible to have a big break someday. This shift in perspective allowed him to dream big and to expand his beliefs in what is possible. Eventually, many of the books he published indeed became New York Times best sellers—such as Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. So, when filling in the worksheet, when I ask you to assume a “big break” this is what I am referring to. Let’s get to it.

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Action Time • From the last session (session 7, part 3), grab the number for the cost of your ideal life. We will reference and call this number $X from this point forward. • Complete worksheet 14.

Parting Words After doing worksheet 14 for myself, it became clear to me that I am not short on ideas, but that there is something else creating friction and blocking me from achieving extraordinary results: fear. In the next session, we will examine fear, and walk through a process on how we can effectively work with our fears to move in the direction we want to go.

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Worksheet 14

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In the space below, write as many ideas as possible to answer the question: Things I can do to generate $X a month. (Replacing $X with you’re the amount you determined from the last session for your ideal life) Aim to have at least 5-10 answers. Here are additional questions to help you brainstorm: • Assuming that I could have a big break and experience massive success in whatever project I choose. What are some products I could pursue that can make $X a month? • Assuming that I am immune from failing, what are some things I can do to make $X a month?

Examples: social media consulting company, writing a best selling book, outsourcing company, public speaking business, build an online community with 2 million visitors.

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Session 9: Freedom From Fear may think that you’ve lost your pas“ You sion, or that you can’t identify it...

None of these is true. Fear saps passion. When we conquer our fears, we discover a boundless, bottomless, inexhaustible well of passion.

”

Steven Pressfield In this session, we will talk about fear, and how to work with it. As far as I can tell, abstractly, there are two parts to our brain. The first part is the primitive part of our brain, the portion of our brain that’s been with us since we were cavemen. I’ve heard many names for this: the ego, the mind, inner chatter, the lizard brain, the cavemen brain, the survival brain, the human animal and the prehistoric brain. Our primitive brain is responsible for our survival, and its job is to keep us safe. From this point forward, I will refer to this part of the brain as the primitive brain, the ego or the inner child. The second part is a portion of our brain rooted in a higher frequency of conscious thoughts. There are 10412  Left

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many names for this as well: the Source, the higher self, the inner guide, the observer, higher consciousness, the right brain, and the human spirit. This portion of our mind is responsible for spiritual experiences, conscious reasoning, creative genius, intuition and bliss. From this point forward, I will refer to this part of the brain as the conscious brain or the higher self. When Eckhart Tolle and other teachers talk about the ego, it sounds as if there exists some evil external entity whose job it is to make our lives difficult and painful. I believe that the ego is just our primitive brain, trying to do its job to ensure our survival. It is embedded in our physical body and has been with us for thousands of years. The ego is not something outside of us. It is part of us. It is part of who we are as humans. The primitive brain co-exists with the conscious brain in our physical brain structure. I believe its physical location within the brain is the amygdala—area responsible for fear. The primitive brain is not bad, per say; it is there to do a very specific job—to protect us against danger. Instead of working against it, and doing our best to

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eliminate the ego, I have found that it’s much more useful to work with the ego, by understanding its motives, and calming its concerns. One of the most effective and peaceful methods of working with our ego is a simple technique where we have a conversation with the ego. If that sounds creepy to you, it’s not. I’ve tried it and can vouch for it. In my experience, this has been a more pleasant and longer lasting technique than the conventional route of working against the ego by ignoring its messages. By consciously examining our fear and working with our ego to understand its concerns, a few things happen: • Less Resistance - We expose our fears, such that we have a better understanding of these unconscious messages that our ego is sending to our brain, which creates resistance and selfsabotage. • More Energy - By examining our fears, we free up a lot of energy that would have other wise been consumed by the fearful thoughts looping in our head. The extra energy can be used to do useful work.

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• More Peace – By working together with our ego (almost as friends) we will experience less chatter, disturbance and noise caused by our primitive brain. With less noise in our head, we will experience increased peace. With peace, not only will it feel really good, we will also better hear the divine messages from our conscious brain. Are you ready to dive in?

Part 1: Conversation with the Ego Once again, sit down with your journal or blank sheets of paper. We will begin our conversation with the ego, on paper. At the top of the page write: “What are my concerns?” Here are additional questions you can optionally ask—on its own or in combination with other questions—to help you trigger emotional responses. If you feel there are related questions that you would like to ask, write them down. • What am I worried about? • What am I scared of?

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• Why have I been held back? • Why have I not been transparently and uniquely me? • Why not surrender? • What am I concerned with? • What am I afraid of? You can imagine your ego like a scared little child. Optionally, you can imagine that you are talking to a younger version of yourself. When you speak to a little child who is afraid, how will you talk to her? You will be gentle, kind and patient, right? Likewise, when answering these questions, pretend that you are the guardian of that little child, and you are trying to help her by understanding her concerns. We ask the questions as the conscious, wisdomfilled, and peaceful part of our brain. And we answer the questions as the little child in us who is scared and wanting deeply to feel safe. That little child represents our ego. The steps are outlined below: 1. Relax. Take a few deep breaths.

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2. Ask the little child (our ego) one or more questions. Write down the question, for example, what are my concerns? What am I worried about? 3. Listen for the answers from the little child within. Write down whichever answer that comes to mind. Write everything down, even if the answer sounds silly. Keep writing until you have at least 10 things down on paper. Keep writing until you have nothing else to say about that topic. Remember, just relax and allow the answers to come. They will come. Don’t over think it. As with all the other exercises, treat this like a game. You’re just playing a game, relax and see what answers you get. Write the answers in the exact phrasing as you hear them.

Example: Here are some answers I got when I did this exercise. I was trying to examine what was holding me back psychologically from taking action with some projects I wanted to do? I asked the questions “What are my concerns?

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What am I afraid of? Why can’t I surrender to this moment and be transparently me?” Here are some answers I got back—in their exact phrasing: • The ego is afraid to lose itself. • I might fail. • I might lose time. • It might be hard. • I might not make any money if I surrender. • I might do things I don’t want to do. • Afraid to look foolish. • I don’t want to be embarrassed. • The work might be too hard for me to handle. • The ego might die. • I might be too tired. • Who I might become is too overwhelming. After doing this exercise, it was clear to me that these were some of the major reasons why I was feeling such resistance towards taking action for my own meaningful work.

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The one underlying theme surrounding my fear is that “the ego is afraid that it will die”—it is afraid that it will be replaced by something else. And as a selfprotective mechanism, when the ego senses that we no longer need it, it starts to trigger doubt and fear to stop us from taking action that will result in change—even if the change is good for us.

Action Time • Complete this exercise of having a conversation with the ego.

Part 2: Calming the Ego’s Fears In the last part, we identified a variety of fears swimming around in our head—many of which have been eating at us, quietly stopping us from doing things that are good for us. These stories of fear are born in our primitive brain in an unconscious way. If we don’t take a closer look at the invalidity of these stories, we start to believe them. And this believe in our fears will cause us to self-sabotage, and it will stop us from progressing forward to a more fulfilling life, and it will put a ceiling on our creative potential.

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In this section, we will go through and address every one of our ego’s concerns. From the perspective of the loving parent (our higher selves), talk back to the little child (our ego) who is afraid and explain why she doesn’t need to be afraid anymore. We talk back to it on the pages of our journal. Talk to it lovingly and gently. Follow your intuition and say what feels right. Optionally, give your ego a name, and talk to it as if a real person. Thank her or thank him for protecting you. Each answer from part 1 [last exercise] represents a concern or reason why your ego is afraid. We will examine each one and have a conversation about it. Go through each answer from the last exercise. For each concern, address the particular fear with your inner child, by writing on paper a conversation with him or her. Soothe her. Reason with her. Explain to her why she doesn’t need to be afraid anymore. Intuitively, you know what to say to calm your inner child, because she (or he) is a part of you. There are no right or wrong answers as to what you will say to her. Just follow your heart. You will know what to say.

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The conversation can be as casual or as playful as you like. Perhaps, this step can be best demonstrated with an example.

Example: Here’s a snippet of conversation I had with my ego. I will start each item with my ego’s concern, followed by what I said to calm my inner child about that concern: 1. “The ego is afraid to lose itself.” You will never be lost. Thank you for protecting me and always watching out for my safety. Let’s make a deal that we shall never cut you off. You and I are friends. Let’s be friends and work together, shall we? Let’s give you a name. What should we call you? [pause, as a name comes in reply] Ah, you want to be called “The No Name” okay! 2. “I might fail” Failure means that we were brave and tried new things. The more we’ve failed, the more likely we will experience success. We will do our best to trust in our intuition to make the most educated decision possible, but remember that it is okay to fail. Every failure is an opportunity to learn something new.

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3. “I might lose time” Time isn’t real. As long as you are enjoying the moment of doing, nothing is lost. I know you are concerned with equating lost time to lost money, but here’s my thought on money: Money in the end is there to provide experiences and tools to create potentially enjoyable moments for us. So, if you are already enjoying this moment, it is really worth more than money. ~§~ I hope you’re not laughing at my example. Well, if you are, that’s cool. You get the point. Be playful, just as you would to calm a scared and sweet little child. The writing doesn’t have to be perfect or even be grammatically correct. It’s for you only.

Action Time: • Now, it’s your turn. Dive back into your journal, and write in responses to every one of your ego’s concerns.

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Part 3: Conversation with Ego, Continued. Once you’ve completed addressing each of your inner child’s concerns (part 2. Last exercise), see if there’s anything else you want to say to your inner child. Any other soothing words, words of wisdom you can say to make her feel calm and safe? Write in bullet points any additional calming words that come to mind in response to the inner child’s fearful state. Or anything else you want to say. Sometimes, wisdom and clarity hits you during these moments of self-reflection. Write them down.

Example: Following the previous 2 steps, my higher self had the following additional words of wisdom for my inner child (my ego). • You can relax now • Everything is fine. • From here on out, just surrender. I promise that you will be safe.

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• Life is meant to flow beautifully and effortlessly, like a dance. • Life is meant to be enjoyable. • No force is required. Things don’t have to be difficult. • Breathe. • Take a few more breaths. • Relax now. • You are safe. You are always safe. • You are meant to do great things. • Just relax. • Trust.

Action Time: • Write anything else that comes to mind that you want to say to your ego. • Write down any wisdom or clarity you experienced.

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Parting Words As simple and trivial as the above exercise may seem, I’ve found it to a very calming and empowering tool. Fear, at the end of the day, is very real. I love the simplicity of this process in examining and calming our fears. Once we do that, loads of mental energy will be freed up so that we have the capacity to do great work. Next time you are feeling fear or anxiety, sit down and have a conversation with yourself. Find out where the resistance is coming from. Examining your ego’s concerns. Drill into your fears and get clarity.

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Session 10: Decision & Commitment the air you breathe, abundance in all “ Like things is available to you. Your life will simply be as good as you allow it to be. ” Abraham Hicks

In session 8, we identified a list of potential projects we could work on. In the last session, we worked on clearing out fears that can potentially hold us back on making progress on these projects. In this session, we will decide on a project that we will tackle. While the following focuses on helping you decide on a project for income, the same techniques can be used to accomplish any personal goal—losing weight, writing a novel, learn a new language.

Part 1: Pick One Result We are all busy, and many of us are ambitious souls. If you are like me, when people ask you what you’re working on your answer will include a big list of pending projects and an even larger list of goals. Chances are, you’ll never get to finish these projects, because trying to focus on too many things will 11812  Left

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result in being not focused on anything. We spread ourselves too thin. We get too ambitious, we try to do too much, and we collapse in exhaustion (sometimes). In all seriousness, we humans are not designed to focus on more than one thing. If we try to violate this rule, we end up feeling distracted and overwhelmed. If you want to achieve any kind of result, whether it is a professional goal, or a personal goal like losing 20 pounds, the first key ingredient is to focus on one thing. One result. One goal. One project. Similarly, you may belong to another group of souls, who may be feeling a bit “lost”, uncertain as to what you want to focus on. Likewise, deciding to focus on one result—any result—will help to push you out of the cloud of confusion and uncertainly. In this step, we are going to choose one project (or one result) we will work on. In worksheet 14, you came up with a list of projects and options you could do to potentially generate the type of income you need to support your ideal life. Now, review this list, and we will pick one item that you resonate most with.

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If the answer is obvious, then skip this section and move on to part 2 of this session. Otherwise, if you are uncertain of which project to pick, keep reading. If making an income isn’t a priority, you can decide on a personal project or result you would like to work on that’s not on the worksheet. From this point onwards, we will be talking about strategies for how to accomplish this goal.

How to Select a Project Similar to other exercises we’ve done so far, it will help to take a deep breath and relax. While looking on the list you created in worksheet 14 (session 8), ask the questions: • Which of these projects feel the best to me? • Which do I want to work on first? Listen for the answer. You are free to modify this list of projects if you wish. If this is your first time working on a project of this kind, I recommend picking a smaller project that is

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easier to complete. This way, you will have a higher chance of completing a project from end-to-end, which will help to create momentum towards future projects. If the answer is still not obvious, here are additional questions you can ask yourself as you review this list of projects: • Which of these jumps out at me? • Which of these sounds juicy to me? • Which of these will make me feel the most ecstatic once it’s completed? • Which seems like the easiest to achieve? • Which seems more likely from my current position? • Which of these will reap the most reward for the least amount of effort?

Action Time: • Complete the exercises above under “How to Select a Project”

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Part 2: Commit Did you pick a project you are excited to work on? If not, please go back to the last step, and do the quick exercise of picking one project. Now that you have the first key ingredient to achieving any result (a decision), the second key ingredient is to commit to this result. This is true for any goals that we have. Here’s a beautiful quote from W.H. Murray: Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Begin it now.

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There is a level of magic and power that comes with the commitment to complete something. The above quote from Murray perfectly summarized this. It has been my personal experience that regardless of what I want—whether it is leaving my job, or finding a fulfilling relationship, or building a profitable business, or traveling to a remote part of the world—the moment I commit to doing whatever it takes to make that vision a reality, I always end up with it in the near future. I love the saying from Marie Forleo, when she declares that “Everything is Figure-out-able!” It’s true. The decision and commitment to do something is powerful and pivotal (actually, every decision we make is pivotal). The detail of how we will get there is less important. What is more important is the clarity for where you want to go and a commitment that you will get there. All the uncertainties and fuzzy details will become clear, as you proceed, when you need them. Everything is figure-out-able, once you make a decision and a commitment. When you commit to anything with certainty, an invisible force pushes you, propelling you forward to make sure that your desires, dreams and visions are fulfilled. Coincidences start happening. Unex-

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pected help arises. Opportunities you haven’t noticed before start to appear in your awareness and aligning themselves to meet you in synchronistic harmony. But before all that happens, you have to do your part: You must first commit 100% that you will do what ever it takes to realize this dream/goal/vision/ result. You show your commitment by taking consistent action in alignment with your commitment. At this point, ask yourself, “How much do I want this to be realized? Do I want it bad enough that I am willing to commit to working on this, and nothing else, until it becomes a reality?” If the answer is no, then perhaps you need to pick another project. If you’re not excited or interested in your project enough that you can commit to it, you really should just toss the idea out now and pick something you can commit to. We all have a ton of excuses to not do something. And we can delay action forever. The most common excuses are: I don’t have enough time or I don’t know how to, I’m not technical enough. But when you are committed, you will always find a way to make it work. You will find a way, because it is important to you.

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Don’t have enough time? When Leo Babauta first started his widely popular blog, he was working two jobs, raising 6 children and training for a marathon. He managed to find time to write compelling blog posts, everyday, for almost a year. Don’t think you’re technical enough? Feel like you’re too old to start? Check out my friend Gary’s story. In 2005, when he was 74 years old, he taught himself how to setup two hairstyling blogs for his wife. Today Gary, who is 79 years old, runs his two blogs leisurely from home, while making $8000 a month in advertising income. How’s that for inspiration? Can you really still use the “I’m too old” excuse? My point is simple: you can’t use excuses as a clutch to inaction anymore. You really can do just about anything, if you want it bad enough. If you keep trying, without giving up, you will complete it. But first, you must commit. Right now, you have three options: • Decide you will commit 100% of your free energy (outside of your job, school or family) towards making this result come true. Commit that you will work on this and nothing else until you reach your decided outcome. OR • Go back to worksheet 14 and select another

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result that you can commit to. OR • Write down a new result, not already on the list, or a variation of something on the list that you want to commit to. When times get hard, and they will—as all projects do—the commitment you’ve set out to do will be the rock that anchors you in place in times of challenge and setback.

Action Time: • Commit to one result or project you will complete. You got it? Don’t continue until you’ve decided on and committed to one result. In the next module, we will create a battle plan for how to actually achieve this result, along with helpful tips on how to following through with your plan— the follow-through formula.

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by one, we are hearing the voice of our “ One soul, sharing its wisdom, inspiring us to be the most that we can be, to become our highest possiblity--a soul on fire that can set the world ablaze. Lenedra Carroll

”

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Module 3: How to Achieve Anything were put here on earth to act as “ We agents of the Infinite, to bring into existence that which is not yet, but which will be, through us. Steven Pressfield

”

When a contractor sets out to construct a house, he works from a blueprint—a detailed plan from an architect that documents the specific house design. When embarking on a project, creating a blueprint doesn’t have to be complicated, and is done based on your current knowledge. You are more likely to hit a target with a plan designed to hit the target than trying to hit the target accidentally (without a plan). In this section, we will create a rough plan on how to proceed on your goals based on your current knowledge. Before we continue, I want to point out that it is common, at the start of any project to experience some fear. Our primitive brain doesn’t like unknown cir-

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cumstances or change, and it is alerting us of possible danger via fear. It is its job to do that. If you are feeling scared and hesitant, know that you are not alone. Every single person experiences fear, on some level, when venturing out into new territories. In fact, I am feeling this right now as I write these words. I feel hesitation to complete this guide, because putting myself out there increases my chances of public humiliation, which is pretty scary. And every ounce of my primitive brain is telling me to head the other way. Don’t over think it. You are more capable than you think. Keep things simple. Take action, and adjust along the way. Just get it done. In this last module, we will get super practical and we will dive into techniques for planning and for completing projects. Specifically, in the first half, we will walk through the Achievement Formula – 6 steps to achieve any result, where we will create an action plan (your blue print). In the second half, we will walk through the ‘Follow Through Formula’ – 11 tips for getting it done, where we will feed you the mojo needed to follow through on your action plan.

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Session 11: The Achievement Formula as if failure is impossible, and “ Act your success will be assured. Wipe

out everything of not achieving your objectives, whether they are material or spiritual. Be brave, set no limits on the workings of your imagination. Never be a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future. Robin Sharma

”

6 Steps to Achieve Any Result As I mentioned in the last session, the following formula isn’t just for reaching professional goals, it can also be applied to personal goals. To get the most out of this section, start with a project or goal you would like to achieve (selected from the last session), and in this session, we will create a simple plan.

Step 1. Measureable Results I once had a manager who used to preach, “Measure, measure, measure. What gets measured gets managed.” 13112  Left

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It’s true. For any goal to be deemed successful, we have to be able to identify some quantifiable quality, which tells us that we are successful. Otherwise, how else would you know when you’ve arrived, if you don’t know where you are going? It’s nice to have a goal that says, “I want to lose weight.” But, how much weight? In the weight loss example, it will be much more effective, motivating, and clear if we declare, “I will lose 10 pounds in the next 60 days.” Now you have a clear target. The more specific your goal is, the better you are able to focus and direct your attention towards attaining it. The more focused you are towards a clear goal, the easier it will be to hit the target. Let’s look at the goal you’ve selected to walk through this session with. Now, is the goal measurable? If not, can you tweak the goal statement such that it is more specific and that it contains at least one quantifiable clause that can be used to measure whether we are successful. For example, instead of the general goal “a photography business”, a more specific and measurable version of the goal may be “start a wedding photography business with $4000 in monthly revenue.” For example, if the goal is “start a blog”, a measurable variation may look like, “start a blog with 2000

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monthly visitors.” When I started my blog, my goal was “to have 100 subscribers in 3 months.” Once that was reached, I set a new goal with a monetary clause. And I repeated the process to set a new goal each time a goal was reached. Without these clear goals earlier on that helped me focus my attention, I don’t think I would have the setup I do today. Once I got focused, I got creative, and then the results came, fast. Be as specific as you can. Set the numbers in your goal such that they’re high enough to be a bit of a challenge to achieve, but not so high that they are no longer reasonable. The act of setting a clear goal that is measurable creates a point of clarity for you. Instead of diffusing our awareness by focusing on many things, we hone our energy and focus on what matters. This will help you prioritize and make decisions as you proceed.

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Action Time: • Tweak your goal such that it contains measurable parameters in its statement.

Step 2. Set Major Milestones If your goal is relatively big, it may make sense to break up the larger goal into smaller medium sized goals that build upon the success of one another. If you can break your goal into several logical components, do it. These logical components are milestones, which act as road markers on your path towards your destination. Example 1: if your goal is to write a book in the next 6 months, here are some logical milestones: • Outline – The outline is completed. • Write the Book – completed writing first draft of the book. • Re-write – complete first phase of self-edit. • Polish – complete second phase of self-edit. • Editing – have the book edited by an editor. • Book Design – Complete book design of cover, inside, back, author photo, etc.

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Example 2: If the goal is to build a blog with 100 subscribers, here are some logical milestones: • Setup Blog – the technical and design of the blog is setup and completed. • Content – have 5 articles written and published, such that the blog is open to the public. • 20 Subscribers – Figure out a way to get 20 subscribers. • 50 Subscribers • 75 Subscribers • 100 Subscribers Creating milestones make your projects more manageable. Each milestone creates extra opportunities for satisfaction when that milestone is achieved, and this winning feeling creates momentum for continued success, which builds motivation. Milestones also help to simplify things, so that you focus on one milestone at a time, instead of trying to keep track of all the moving pieces. It can help to prevent you from feeling overwhelmed. You don’t have to get it right. Just do the best that you can with your current knowledge of the goal. You can always adjust later on.

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Action Time: • Take your measurable goal from the last step, and break it into logical milestones and smaller goals. Do this quickly. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

Step 3. Schedule It I once heard a clever saying, “If it’s not scheduled, it’s not real.” This statement resonated with me because I’ve experienced the realities of “I’m thinking about it” way too many times. And the reality is that nothing gets accomplished in the thinking mode. I don’t know about you, but for myself, I know that I can get anything done if I have a deadline. With a deadline, the pressure pushes me to suddenly become focused, to work efficiently, and stuff gets done. When I work without a deadline or a very loose one I will dabble at the project making little progress. However, if the timeline feels immediate, I will magically whip myself in shape and get things done.

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The art comes in setting deadlines that balance between being realistic and being immediate enough to create a sense of urgency in your mind.

Schedule Major Milestones Starting with the end in mind. First, decide on a rough and estimated launch date for when you anticipate on completing your project. Don’t worry about getting this right. Just do your best. We can adjust this date later as we proceed. Once you have the end date, work backwards to put a date next to each of your milestones. This process can feel a bit nerve racking. Take a few deep breaths and continue. It’s that sense of urgency that propels us forward to get any project done. For example, when I initially started working on this guide, I was working on my own pace without a schedule. A few weeks went by, and at the realization that I was dragging my feet—mentally delaying it as much as possible—I sat down and scheduled each major milestone in my calendar. It was the urgency in my schedule that pushed me to start making some real traction. Without the deadlines, I would have dragged the project on forever, never completing it.

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Even if you don’t hit your scheduled milestone deadline, at least you’ll be closer to it than if you didn’t create a schedule. The deadline date is really just an arbitrary target that we use as a tool to help us move forward.

Schedule Daily Goals Additional to setting milestone dates, I’ve found it helpful to also set daily goals. These mini goals and daily targets help me stay focused, and they allow me to make consistent progress everyday. For example, when creating this guide, my daily goal was to write 1000 words everyday. I didn’t care if the 1000 words were good or not (since I don’t have to use everything in the final edit), what I cared about was that I sat down and wrote everyday. Each morning, my first—and most important—task was to sit down and write 1000 words. I would do this as the first thing, before checking email, before getting coffee. This created the habit of daily writing. Once the habit was formed, in a very short amount of time, the first iteration of the guide was completed. Once completed, I had content to work with—to rewrite, to edit, to polish and to make better. This

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made the realities of launching this project more real after each day.

Stay Flexible The point of setting deadlines is to create some kind of structure and boundary to help us finish our projects. The point isn’t to stress our selves out or to work to the point of exhaustion. Deadlines are tools to help us make forward progress, to take action, to focus. They’re not meant to be a source of torture. This means, do your best to stay on track with your dates. But be open to allowing your dates to slip a little. You are in control here. You are in the driver’s seat. Nothing is set in stone. If you miss a deadline, don’t stress or throw guilt at yourself. Just set a new date and commit to it. You may find it helpful to get a friend to help you in setting realistic goals and who can hold you accountable.

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Action Time: • Take out a calendar and look at your schedule. • Start with the end – Give yourself a date for when you want your project to be completed, or end goal to be achieved. • Now work backwards, and give each of your milestones a date. • Write next to each milestone a date for its estimated completion. Also mark in your calendar each milestone.

Step 4. Identify Action Items In the planning phase of a project, the tendency is to want to know every detail before we can get started. Often, we will get stuck in research mode, trying to gather all the details, and learning everything that we can about the topic. The end result with this approach is that we will never feel ready, and we’ll never start the project. The reality is that we will never have all the details in advance, and we don’t actually need them. All we need is the next step. As we take each step, more clarity will be revealed to us on how to proceed.

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At this point, we’re not going to plan beyond the first milestone. We have our first deadline, and a clear result we’d like to accomplish for this first milestone. First, let’s brainstorm all the potential action we can take to make the first milestone a reality. We’re not looking to get it right, we’re just interested in identifying all that we think we need to do based on our current understanding. Do your best. Example 1: if my first milestone is setting up a blog, here is a list of potential things I could do to help me make this goal a reality. In no particular order, these are the items that I think will help me get further in the goal, based on my current understanding. • • • • • •

Decide on my branding Decide on domain name Buy domain name Learn how to setup wordpress or hire someone. Determine features I want to have on the site. Email Jenny, who has set up a site before. Ask her for pointers. • Take a course on setting up a website.

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Example 2: if my milestone is to create an outline for my book, here is a list of potential things I could do to help me get closer to my goal: • Brain mapping ideas. • Brainstorm ideas in random order. • Setup a survey to ask what people want to learn. • Convert survey into logical outline. • Checkout outline of similar books at the bookstore or online to get ideas that I may be forgetting. • Create first pass outline. • Tweak and finalize outline.

Action Time: • Looking at your first milestone. Now write down, in bullet points, all the things you can do to get you further to making this milestone a reality.

Step 5. Create Space Now that we have a goal (our first milestone), a deadline, and a list of things we can do, next, we need to create the time and space to make it hap-

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pen. If we don’t take proactive steps to create this space consciously, it won’t happen. Let’s face it, we’re all busy, time can only be created by our deliberate intent and effort. In this step, we will decide what we are willing to give up in order to create space for this project. We will decide how much time we are going to dedicate to this project. The idea of creating space is important, because we have a limited amount of time and energy. Specifically, we have 168 hours every week. 42 to 56 of those hours, we are sleeping. Roughly 28 of those hours, we are eating and grooming. If you work a fulltime job, that’s another 40 hours. We are left with 44 hours for relaxing, commuting, preparing meals, grocery shopping, cleaning our houses, exercise, watching TV and hobbies. And somewhere in there, we hope to squeeze in some time to work on our creative projects. Many of us, ambitious types, forget this simple math, and attempt to do everything. But it’s just not possible, and attempting to do it all leaves us exhausted, unhealthy, and unhappy. We simply do not have enough time for everything. If we want to add something new to our full sched-

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ule, we have to let go of some other activity that adds less value, in order to create room and mental capacity for the new thing. It might be as easy as saying no to commitments we care less about, or simplifying your schedule to do fewer of the unimportant tasks. Here are some tradeoff ideas to create more time: • Work less in your business. • Stop consulting clients for a set amount of time. • Find nanny to help watch your kids. • Wake up earlier. • Stop watching TV, or reduce TV watching time. • Go out less with friends. Be clear what you are not willing to give up, and what you are willing to give up. Be generous to yourself in giving up activities that provides little enrichment to your life—such as watching TV. In my own life, I was not willing to trade time with my family. This means, I don’t work on weekends, evenings and Thursdays—when I spend quality 1-on-1 time with my son. In the end, I created space by posting less frequent-

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ly on my Blog, and by waking up earlier in the morning. So, everyday, I write from 5am to 8am, plus a few hours during the workday.

Action Time: • List out all the activities you are willing to stop doing, or willing to do less of, in order to create room for your project. • Decide when you will work on your project during your week. Write it down. Block out these times on your calendar, if possible.

Step 6. Do It In this session, we’ve done a lot of work in planning. We’ve defined a clear resulting goal, set milestones, and created a list of action items for the first milestone. The next step is to do it! Dive in now, before you feel ready. Your job now is to tackle every item on your action items list. If this feels intimidating, or you need a little motivation to take action, I’ve got you covered. In the next session, we will go into strategies that will inspire

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you to take action in our follow through formula. For now, know that your task is to finish everything on the list, or until the first milestone is reached. Of course, as you proceed you will modify your list as you gain a more relevant understanding of what you need—removing some items while adding others. The trick is to take consistent action, adjusting as you gain more feedback, and keep moving forward until you get there. Everyday, pick one action item from your list, and tackle it. You don’t have to take massive action (though, that won’t hurt). Even the smallest action, if done consistently will bring tremendous results and momentum. If you can do that -- if you can take a little bit of action everyday, before you know it, all the items on your list will be done (or scratched out), and you will have met your first goal. Once your first goal is met, repeat the same process for the next milestone: brainstorm action items to support that milestone and then dive into action. Rinse and repeat. If you can reach your first milestone, then I have absolute faith that you can reach your second milestone and every milestone after that, until you ar-

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rive at the final goal you have set out to reach.

Action Time: • What small action can you take today to get you one step closer to your goal? The action can be as small as a 5-minute task, like firing off a quick email, or writing down your goals. Write down the one small action that you will take. • Take one small action now.

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Session 12: The Follow Through Formula can be proud of yourself. You’ve done “ You something that millions talk about but only a handful actually perform. And if you can do it once, you can do it again. Steven Pressfield

”

11 Motivational Tips for Getting Things Done In the last session, you created a battle plan for achieving your goal. However, you’ll quickly realize that having a battle plan alone isn’t enough. Our action is often met with resistance, which is very good at convincing us to take no action. So how do we deal with this? How do we take action despite the doubtful voice in our head? How do we keep going despite the many distractions pulling at our attention? The following is a series of practical tips on how you can actually follow through with your plan, and how you can take action consistently, day after day.

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1. Expect Resistance of thumb: The more important a call or “ Rule action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it. ” Steven Pressfield

As we work towards our desired goal, we will be faced with countless distractions and convincing mental arguments on why we should delay action until “later”. The problem with putting it off until later is that you will never actually get down to the doing and the project will never be completed. The need to be distracted and to procrastinate is the workings of our fearful brain stalling to delay change. Steven Pressfield calls this ‘Resistance’ and talks in detail about how to overcome this in his wonderful books: Do the Work and The War of Art.

What is Resistance? Resistance is a manifestation of fear. It masks itself in many clever and sometimes undetectable ways with the aim to stop us from growing, from advanc-

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ing, from taking action that can result in profound personal change. Resistance is that force that works against us, when we are trying to move ahead. It’s that voice that convinces us to stay in bed when we are trying to wake up early. It’s the voice that tells us to feverishly check our email when we’re trying to complete an important project. That same voice will also whisper words of doubt, judgment, criticism and discouragement to dissuade us from moving ahead. And when we are under tight deadlines, the same voice will also dangle in front of us attractive distractions so that we may further procrastinate. This resistance isn’t just limited to creative or entrepreneurial projects, it shows up pretty much anywhere that will result in positive change—losing weight, gaining muscle, waking up early, nurturing a relationship, or in gaining education of any kind, Without the awareness of this thing we call resistance, we may buy into its convincing arguments and forever put off those projects that matter to us. We may muster the inspiration to start it, or start researching for it, but we’ll never get it done. Resistance can be a powerful force.

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Examples of Resistance The simplest way to illustrate where resistance shows up is by example. Basically, any urge or desire that pulls us away from doing what we want to do and what we need to do is the result of resistance. Here are some examples of thoughts and urges I’ve experienced in the past when trying to work on a meaningful project—all of these were meant to take my attention away from completing the project at hand. • Wanting to watch all 5 seasons of the TV show Prison Break, in one sitting. • Wanting to take up public speaking—something I’ve avoided for years. • Wanting to re-organize every room in the house. • Feeling the need to go on a personal retreat, somewhere far away, for as long as possible. • Wanting to attend workshops and home study programs. • Wanting to move to another city.

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• Wanting to work on everything except the project I’m currently working on. • Hours of web browsing. • Frequent checking of email, Facebook, and other people’s blog updates.

How to Overcome Resistance The interesting thing that contradicts this title is that resistance cannot be overcome. It is something that will always be with us, because it is part of us—it is our survival brain sending signals of fear to keep us safe. Resistance is hardwired in our brain. But, we can learn to live with it and continue to take large strides forward despite feeling it. If you’re interested, you can read a detailed article I wrote on the topic of overcoming resistance here: Fear & How to Beat It. The basics of working with resistance are simple and can be summarized in the following steps: • Acceptance – Accept that fear will be there when we are working on anything that will result in us changing: learning something new,

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creating something unique, doing something unfamiliar. Anticipate that our brain will be there to create resistance. Expect it, accept it, and prepare for it. • Recognize – Realize that the voice in our head is not us. The voice is part of our survival brain. Recognize that it is our primitive brain triggering fear on purpose. It’s just doing it’s job. • Do it Anyway – Now that we’ve accepted that resistance will be there, and we recognize its signals, the final trick is to do it anyway. Take action despite fear. Take action despite feeling resistance. Do the thing that you are trying to delay. As you take action, you’ll see that resistance is just an illusion, and that you are safe.

Action Time: • How does resistances show up in your life? Write out a list of how fear and resistance manifest in your life? Write them out in past tense.

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2. Overcome Analysis Paralysis At the start of any new venture, especially ones we have little experience in, we will experience a compelling urge to research. We will want to learn everything we can in hopes of feeling prepared enough to get started. I’ve been in this position many times in the past, and each time, too much research was followed by the death of those ideas. Many were great ideas, but they all fell through, because I never bothered to start them. Somewhere in the research phase, I always found enough reasons to talk myself out of the idea. I’ll get too caught up in the preparation phrase, such that one of a few things happens: 1. The idea became too overwhelming. 2. I never felt fully prepared. I never felt ready. 3. I felt defeated at the sight of competition and backed off out of fear. Sound familiar? If not, trust me in saying that this is a very common and normal form of resistance that has successfully stopped countless people from doing great work. This is known as “analysis paralysis”, where you

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spend all your time researching, analyzing, learning, reading, preparing and over-preparing such that it paralysis you from taking any real action.

My Story of Analysis Paralysis This feeling of “I’m not ready yet” was my personal excuse that ended up delaying and shattering countless great ideas and meaningful projects. Even as I am creating this guide, part of me still feels that I’m not ready, and constantly seeks out distractions and resources that I can learn from to further delay real action. After years of reading books, attending seminars, and hours of inner work on finding clarity, I still felt that I needed to attend more workshops on finding clarity before I could complete this guide. Just last month, I was about to sign up for a workshop in San Francisco, when my husband stopped me and said, “Honey, I think you know enough. You know more than you think. You are over prepared. How about just taking action? How about no more workshops and programs until you’ve completed the project you’ve started?” I hated to admit it, but he was right. The truth in his

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words snapped me out of the analysis paralysis funk my mind was spiraling in. I was simply looking for more excuses to further delaying action, because putting your work out into the world is scary stuff— you’re subject to criticism and public humiliation. In another example, when I was fresh out of college, I went through a period of time where I was obsessed with wanting to start a business. But I didn’t know how or where to start. Instead of just doing something, I got stuck in analysis paralysis: attended workshops, studying books (highlighting, taking notes, and re-reading), bought into home study systems, and gathered more DVD programs than I had time for—which are all sitting in a box in storage now. In the end, I had put in a lot of laborious hours trying to get prepared, and never took any action. I was stuck in this mode for 3 years, never feeling ready. That experience taught me an important lesson: don’t wait, just start it.

The Truth About Analysis Paralysis The truth is that you will never feel completely ready or prepared. And if you get stuck in thinking that

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you need to feel ready before you start, you’ll never start. Successful people start things before they are ready. They dive in and commit themselves before they ever feel prepared to do so. While some research will be wise in any business, please be conscious of not getting stuck in the research and planning mode. You can never know everything in advance, or plan every detail perfectly. The trick is to plan vaguely—simply and quickly— and get down to action. As you execute, you’ll gain experience from the actual doing such that the correct course of action will be revealed to you as you need it. Clarity and detail comes from execution.

How to Overcome Analysis Paralysis The first step to overcoming this tendency to over research is to recognize that analysis paralysis exists as a form of resistance rooted in fear (Notice a common theme here? Notice how fear plays a big part in everything?). The solution to analysis paralysis is to put your self on a research diet. Set limitations and boundaries,

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in advance, about how much research you will do. Steven Pressfield advocates the research diet of not allowing your self to read more than 3 books before taking action, and no note taking or highlighting. His point is to not allow ourselves to become obsessed with over-studying and over-analyzing before we even get started. Give yourself a deadline for how much research you will do. Here are two examples: • 5 days to research. No more than that. • I will review 2 books on the subject, and I have 2 weeks to complete them. I will start at the end of 2 weeks regardless of where I am in my research. Do not feel like you need to attend workshops before you can take action. You’re allowed to take workshops to learn, but try to restrict yourself to no more than one workshop or event for every project you’ve completed. This warning is especially applicable if you are in the Internet Marketing field. Every product will feel like it is something that you absolutely need, right now. The beginner’s pitfall is to get stuck in the learning loop, and never taking action on what they’ve learned.

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Similarly, limit your daily consumption of blogs and magazines. While some of it can be useful, entertaining and inspiring, more often it will serve as a form of distraction.

Action Time: • How much research will you allow for your next project? Create restrictions and time limitations around how much research you will do. Write these down.

3. Break Tasks Into Tiny Pieces Often, we’re not motivated to take action for our personal goals, because the thought of that action is interpreted as being too painful. And so we avoid it. However, if we break tasks into smaller chunks— baby steps—they will feel less painful, less overwhelming and more doable. No matter how complex a problem appears, it can always be broken down into the simplest of terms. Any difficult project can be broken down into milestones, logical tasks, and further into smaller (5-15 minutes) pieces.

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Whenever you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, just break things down into smaller and smaller pieces, and then focus on just one piece at a time. For example, writing this module is an action item from my task list. But I can break the module into smaller pieces such that each sub section is a smaller task. I can break each sub section down even further, by viewing each paragraph as a mini task. Now, if I just focused on completing one paragraph at a time, suddenly it becomes easier to focus on and do. If I focused on just one paragraph at a time (and felt like a rock star after completing each one), soon I’d be done writing the sub-section. Repeat that a few times and I’d be done writing the module. Repeat that and soon, I’d be done writing the guide. We are much more likely to take action on a 5 or 15 minute task than on a 2 hour task. So, schedule your tasks that way—break them down into small tasks and mini tasks—to make them more attractive to tackle.

Action Time: • Take one task you want to tackle next and break it into even smaller chunks—5 to 15 min-

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ute mini tasks. • Take one tiny action now. This tiny action can be very small, such as scheduling something in your calendar, sending a quick email or putting one thing away from a messy surface.

4. Create a Habit with Momentum “It is not what we get, but who we become, what we contribute that gives meaning to our lives.” ~Anthony Robbins Baby steps + Consistent action = Momentum. If you can take the same action everyday, even if it was just for a short amount of time, you will create the momentum to repeat that same action the next day. Repeated action creates the neural pathways and habitual patterns for you to move past resistance. Do you think about brushing your teeth everyday? Probably not because you do it everyday. You automatically start brushing when the anticipated time comes--before bed and after you wake up. The same mental wiring can be formed by your

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repeated action to create any habit—whether it is completing a project, writing a book, exercise, or waking up early. Once a habit is established, you can use it to achieve any goal.

The Secret to Forming Habits Sometimes, people find it hard to form good habits because they get too ambitious and want to make drastic changes overnight. While that is possible, it isn’t usually sustainable in the long run. The large gap between the change and where we are now makes it appear too painful and overwhelming for our brains to accept. And so it will rebel stubbornly with resistance. The trick is to start with a small, non-overwhelming, non-intimidating, and easy action. And then repeat it everyday at the same time. Making changes to the action gradually over time to handle more. Our biggest excuse is “I don’t have enough time.” Armed with this knowledge, let’s create a scenario such that we can no longer use this excuse. Start with a small action that will only take 5 minutes. We can all find 5 minutes out of our day. For example, if you want to write, instead of trying to sit down to write for 30 minutes everyday,

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commit to writing for 5 minutes everyday. Instead of trying to meditate for 20 minutes everyday, commit to meditating for just 1 minute or 5 minutes every morning. Instead of trying to wake up at 5am, commit to wake up 10 minutes earlier than usual. Instead of trying to go for an hour-long workout each morning, commit to jumping out of bed to do just 1 push up or 1 jumping jack. Start with that and gradually increase.

Use Habits to Achieve Any Goal We really can’t use the excuse that we don’t have enough time. There are plenty of examples in which people achieve extraordinary results using their part time resources. If you can form the habit to take action, you really can achieve just about any goal. I’ve seen single mothers build highly profitable businesses by doing consistent work, early in the morning, every morning. I’ve seen guys achieve phenomenal fitness goals by working diligently and consistently everyday at the gym. I’ve seen fathers who work fulltime jobs build online empires strictly in their evenings after the kiddies

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are asleep. Time and time again, I’ve seen these examples of dedicated people taking action, day after day. And they achieve results that other people admire (and envy) from a distance. My point is stop complaining, start taking action, and then repeat it the next day. Completing something is easier than we think.

Action Time: • What one habit do you want to create? • What one baby step will you take each day, for the next 21 days? Commit to doing that everyday for the next 21 days.

5. Tell People Similar to setting a deadline, social accountability is a powerful and motivational tool that can light a fire under our butts to follow through and complete a project. I’ve found it incredibly helpful to publicly declare what I’m up to. In fact, the more people I tell, the

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less likely I’ll back out, and the more likely I’ll stick to my plans. If the project matters to you, tell other people, especially people who’s opinions you care about. By doing so, the social pressure will hold you accountable to get it done. It’s brilliant. As you work on your project, you’ll experience a lot of resistance, and you’ll want to scrap the project. This accountability will keep you from scrapping your project out of fear that it won’t be good enough. So, if the project is important to you, if you really want to see it realized, then do yourself a favor and publicly declare what you’re up to. In my case, I announced it on my TSN Insider’s mailing list, and on my blog. Then if I backed out from the project I would feel embarrassed that I had promised so many people. Without this accountability in place, I probably would have given up on the project many weeks ago. The biggest, and final push for myself was when I announced a launch date and started accepting pre-orders. When I put out the launch announcement, I was nowhere close to being finished. But I knew that by setting a date and publicly announcing it, I would find a way to make it happen. Pressure is still the most effective tool to help us get focused.

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For me, by telling people my plans, it created several benefits: • Motivation - When people email me, they’ll remark, “How’s the book project coming?” or “Hope the project is coming along nicely.” These remarks act like an imaginary whip, reminding me of my commitment to complete the project. • Support – Because I constantly share updates and goals with my husband, he is taking extra steps to be supportive. He helps by taking more responsibilities in watching our son, and provides extra emotional support when I’m feeling stuck. Similarly, when I’m feeling extra resistance, I’ll mention it on Facebook, and people will comment with words of encouragement. • Help – When I was starting to slip from my deadlines and was having a hard time focusing, my friend Ishita (who’s opinion I value) helped me with a motivational talk that whipped me back into shape. She helped me set a final (and tight) deadline. Because I cared about her opinion, the external pressure from her deadline forced me to get focused again. When I got focused, I got more creative as well, which ultimately was the push I needed to getting this project completed.

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Action Time: • Write out a list of people’s names, or groups of people, who you will tell your goals to. These are the people who’s opinions you care about, and who will be supportive. • Tell at least one person or group from your list. Tell them what you’re up to. Share with them your milestone and your first deadline date. Don’t over think it. Don’t over complicate it. Send them a quick email now—it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to do.

6. Say No In the last session, we covered the concept of clearing up space. Given that we have a limited amount of waking hours everyday, we have to make tradeoffs with how we spend our time if we want to add something new to the equation. Often, the people in our lives will add social pressure in persuading us into doing things that we don’t want to do, which benefit them. In these cases, we have to jump on the “no train” and learn to say no. Many of us, tend to overpromise because we are hardwired to want to please other people. And once

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we make a promise, we will give everything we’ve got to stay consistent with that promise. What happens is, we end up giving so much energy that we end up feeling exhausted and depleted. So, in the spirit of protecting your energy, you have to say no. Practice saying no without feeling guilt. Practice saying no without excuses. “No thank you. I don’t want to do that.” “No, that’s not a good fit for me. Thank you for thinking of me.”

7. Clear Your Mind I usually have a lot going on at once, and trying to keep track of everything mentally is exhausting. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I can bet that it’s because I am trying to keep too much in my head. The noises in my mind become mental clutter, which then clouds my judgment, makes me feel overwhelmed, keeps me feeling fearful, and causes me to act out of confusion. Our state of mind is reflected in our work and often in the results our work produces. If we take action out of clarity, that clarity is reflected in our work. If we take action out of overwhelming confusion, our

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work will feel scattered. Clearing your mind has many benefits. One main benefit is that it alleviates overwhelming confusion, thus allowing us to better focus. Mental clarity also opens up unoccupied mental space, allowing you to be creative. Here are 3 things you can do to clear your mind: • Brain Dump – On a piece of paper or notebook, write out everything you are thinking. Write without editing. Look at it as a direct dump of thoughts to paper. You are merely transcribing what you hear in your mind. The words don’t have to make sense. They don’t have to form proper sentences. They can be rude, violent, embarrassing, silly, stupid, weird, or good. Don’t judge it. Just dump it. Keep writing until your mind has nothing else to say. • Create Master To-do List – Instead of keeping all the tasks you want to do in your head, get them down on paper. Create a master to-do list and write down all that you want to get done. Whenever you have a new task, write it down immediately. Get it out of your head. • Watch Your Language – Stop saying and thinking the statements that will keep you feeling overwhelmed and mentally cluttered, such

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as, “I’m so overwhelmed, I don’t know what to do…” Catch yourself saying or thinking this, and either stop by taking a deep breath, or changing your phrasing such that it reflects what you want, such as, “I was overwhelmed, but I am clearing my mind now. I will have clarity in a minute.” • Meditation – I personally think this is the quickest way to find clarity and quiet the noise in our minds. But the practice of it can be hard to keep up, because our mind will try to convince us that sitting quietly is boring and a waste of time. Trust me in saying that this is the most effective way to get out of a mental funk. Whenever you feel overwhelmed or scattered, simply close your eyes, and just focus on your breath. If your mind wanders, just gently bring your awareness back to your breath. Better yet, create the habit of daily meditation, where you practice sitting silently for 5-20 minutes. Refer to session 1 for details on how to meditate.

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8. Prioritize “I’m keenly aware of the Principle of Priority, which states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first.” Steven Pressfield We are all busy. We all have large to-do lists filled with tasks, many of which we’ll never get to. Our day can be occupied by so many small, urgent and unimportant tasks such that we will never have time for the important stuff. Have you ever had days where you were being pulled in various directions by various demands, before realizing that an entire day has passed, and nothing important from your list was accomplished? The solution to this is simple: Prioritize. Do the most important things first, then do everything else.

Schedule Priorities First When planning your week, schedule the most important tasks first on your calendar, and then sprin-

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kle everything else in. When we take care of the important stuff first, the urgent but unimportant tasks will sort themselves out. If your relationship is important to you, don’t wait until your relationship is on the verge of collapsing before fixing it. Make it a priority to spend quality time connecting with that person regularly. If health is important to you (and it should be for every one of us), don’t wait until you have an illness to take care of yourself. Make conscious eating and exercise a priority. Schedule workouts into your calendar before everything else. Make it a priority to have regular and healthy meals, everyday. If completing a particular project is important to you, spend time on that project as the first thing you do, everyday. Do it before checking email, before browsing the web, before any other task. Don’t wait until you’re depleted and exhausted before scheduling periods of rest and quality alone time. Do it now. Schedule time for you first.

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Action Time: • What are the important things you like to incorporate into your schedule? When? What will that look like? Write it down. • At the start of everyday, pick out 1 to 3 items as your highest priorities for the day. Do nothing else until these items are completed. Do not pick more than 3.

9. Give Yourself Rewards To motivate yourself, setup small rewards in exchange for taking action and moving forward on your plan. On a piece of paper, write the title “Rewards” and write out a list of activities you enjoy and want to do. Then use these activities as “bait” to motivate yourself. While you’re working, if you feel pulled to do something other than your work, add that activity to the list to be rewarded later. Before doing work for the day, decide in advance what you plan to accomplish, and what you will reward yourself with once you’re done. You know yourself best. Add to the list activities that

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may feel like a waste of time but that you enjoy, or activities that you like but don’t have time for. Here are some examples: watching a TV show, reading a chapter in a yummy book, checking email, browsing Facebook, going for a walk, doing some yoga, watching an online video, etc.

Personal Example I am a “seminar junkie”. I love personal development workshops—live or recorded. If I had the chance, I could literally sit, listen, study and indulge in personal development or spiritual growth material all day long! Seriously. Armed with that knowledge, I use workshops, home study programs and books as a reward to motivate myself. Right now, I’ve been dying to take the strength personality test from Marcus Buckingham’s book “Now, Discover Your Strengths.” But I haven’t, because I am using it as a dangling carrot for me to complete the writing of this module—with it being my reward. Similarly, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve created a personal rule not to attend any in-person events or do

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any home study programs until I’ve completed a major project. I’ll go find something that I want to attend, or work through and then use that as a motivating factor to complete my work. During the day, when I reach mini-goals, such as writing 500 words or completing a sub section, I’ll reward myself with a quick 5-10 minute motivational video on YouTube, or a cup of hot Chai, or a peak at Facebook, or I’ll sit in the sun in our backyard. We are really very simple. Little things make us immensely happy. Use rewards to motivate yourself into making progress in the direction that you want to go.

10. Create Positive Self Image “You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do. There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.” Darwin P. Kingsley We briefly covered the benefits of positive affirmations in session 5, when we converted our core values (essential qualities) into personalized affirma-

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tions. Here, we’ll talk a little more about affirmations in a general sense to help us complete our projects. I used to think that affirmations and the law of attraction were pretty mystical, since I didn’t understand why they worked. Thus, I was ecstatic, when I accidentally discovered an alternative explanation rooted in social psychology—the psychology of persuasion—that explained the power of affirmations. In his astounding book “Influence”, Dr. Robert Cialdini goes into great depth to present various studies supporting the concept of our desire to commit and be consistent. Here’s a blurb from the summaries: “Psychologists have long recognized a desire in most people to be and look consistent within their words, beliefs, attitudes, and deeds. This tendency for consistency is fed from three sources. First, good personal consistency is highly valued by society. Second, aside from its effect on public image, generally consistent conduct provides a beneficial approach to daily life. Third, a consistent orientation affords a valuable shortcut through the complexity of modern existence. By being consistent with earlier decisions, one reduces the need to process all

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the relevant information in future similar situations; instead, one merely needs to recall the earlier decision and to respond consistently with it.” We are hardwired to stay consistent with the language we use to describe ourselves. This means when we say or write a statement, it changes our perception of our selves. When our self-image is changed, we will try to stay consistent with our new self-image using our actions. So if you keep repeating “I’m overwhelmed” to other people, even as a passing and casual remark, you are actually changing your self-perception. Doing so also alters your beliefs, and you will try to stay consistent with this new belief and identify. You will look for evidence for why you are overwhelmed, and soon it becomes your truth. “Who am I? I’m overwhelmed.” This will become your automatic response. If you want to have more time, stop repeating, “I don’t have enough time.” Or “I’m busy, I never have time.” If you want to have a better relationship, stop complaining about your relationship, stop picking out all that is wrong with your partner.

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If you want organization, stop repeating, “I’m a messy person. I’ll never get my house organized.” If you want to express your creativity, stop repeating, “I’m not creative.” If you want clarity, stop repeating, “I don’t have clarity. I don’t know what to do.” You get the point.

The Power of Positive Affirmations I included this as part of the follow through formula—to complete any result—because this is an important concept that can help us to overcome roadblocks we encounter on our trek to fulfilling our project’s destiny. These roadblocks will make the task and our project seem impossibly difficult. In these times, and even before we are confronted with them it would be wise to use positive affirmations to create an empowered self image to help us move along. How to do this? Take a list of what you want (your goals) and convert each one into affirmations—positive statements

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spoken in the present tense. For example: • I am organized. • I am creative. • I have clarity within me. I will see it very soon. • I have plenty of time for everything that I need. • I am surrounded by abundance. • I am secure. • I am safe • I am deeply loved. Whenever you find yourself saying a statement that you don’t actually want, turn the sentence around and make it into a positive and empowering statement instead. Here are some examples: • “I can’t afford that” to “I choose to not spend money on that now”. • “I am too busy” to “I seem to be busy, but I won’t be busy for long. My life is simplifying as we speak.” • “I don’t have enough time to do [X]” to “I have plenty of time. I choose not to do [X] right now.”

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Make sure to write these affirmations on paper. Then repeat them out loud if possible. Remember, the act of writing is a form of commitment that tells your subconscious mind that this is what you want to see show up in your life. Here are some examples of positive affirmations that may be conducive to following through and taking action: • I can do it. • Everything is falling into place. • This book/product/service/creation/business (I am creating) is going be ’ing amazing! • I am stronger than I think. • I can finish this. • This is fun. • I am creative and I will offer immense value. • I trust myself.

Action Time: • What are some disempowering thoughts that you notice yourself repeating? Write these out

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in bullet points. • Commit to wiping these words out of your vocabulary. • For each disempowering thought, turn it around to a positive statement. Write the new statement next to it. • What else do you want? Create a list of positive statements that describe how you want to feel, do, or be. Review session 5, and bring over some affirmations you created based on your essential qualities. • Review this list of affirmations regularly.

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11. Keep it Simple “To change one’s life: 1. Start immediately. 2. Do it flamboyantly. 3. No exceptions.” William James Think Simple Now! Just kidding. Well, sort of. One of the most common roadblocks I have witnessed, both in myself and in others, is the tendency to over complicate things. This shows up in trying to scrutinize every little detail, getting everything perfect, over planning, over thinking, and generally making things more difficult than they need to be. We justify the need to complicate things with “I want it to be just right.” or “I want it to be perfect.” In our minds, we start to drift into the fantasy of creating the most beautiful, awesome and impressive result in anything that we work on. The problem with this line of thinking and doing is that projects take longer and more difficult to complete, unnecessarily. And often, complication is the death to projects.

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How to Keep It Simple? “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Confucius For any project—whether you are writing a book, creating a play, setting up a website—your goal is to, as quickly as possible, get the first version or the first iteration of your project done. Get the first version done without the bells and whistles. For the first iteration, your goal isn’t to get it right or to get it perfect. Your goal is completion, as fast as possible. Stay bare boned. Implementing only the most essential features. Don’t worry about making it look attractive. If you are writing a book, the first iteration is your first draft. Once you’re done with your first draft, then you can go through the content spine to rewrite, to edit, then to polish. If you are creating a piece of online software, your first iteration is a functional site with the essential features - without design or anything extra. Think incremental changes. You can always go back

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to refine it in later iterations. You can always work on the design later. Focus on creating the skeleton of the project, on which you can hang the details of your creation. Don’t over think it. Keep it simple. Just get it done.

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“ We are now face with the fact, my

friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood—it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, ‘Too late.’

”

~Martin Luther King, Jr

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Parting Words must be willing to let go of the life we “ We have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. ” E.M. Forster

Learning about our selves is a life long and very exciting journey. I hope the processes in this guide gave you useful insight and that you are inspired to continue on this journey of learning and self-exploration. Remember that nothing is set in stone. As you grow, your horizons will expand and so will your interests. Your purpose and values won’t necessarily remain static. Be open to change. Don’t be afraid to come back and to reexamine the new you. Experiences are like clothing. You don’t know what it’ll feel like until you try it on. So go ahead. Try stuff on. Because that’s what life is about: experiences and the meaning we give to them. This is just the beginning.

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You are in the driver’s seat. Your future is up to you to create. What will you do? Regardless of what you will do, remember to go slowly, enjoy yourself, chose to see good, savor the moment, and live fully. After all, this moment is all that we have. Love, Tina Su http://thinksimplenow.com P.S. Drop me a line here (http://bit.ly/dyn-feedback) with your thoughts and feedback. I’d love to hear about any insights you’ve had. If anything from this guide created a positive experience for you, please let me know.

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Resources basis of life is freedom; the result “ The of life is expansion—and the purpose of life is joy. ” Abraham Hicks

The following are some of the most influential books, which have forever shaped the way I view and experience life. If you’ve connected with any of the ideas from this guide, you will find some of them in detail in the following books. I’ve prioritized the list in order of relevancy to the topics we’ve discussed. The War of Art – Creative battles with fear and how to take action despite resistance. This is an important book for anyone who wants to complete any type of creative or entrepreneurial endeavor. By Steven Pressfield. The Greatest Secret of All – Simple steps to abundance, fulfillment, and a life well lived. Written by the publisher for New World Library. Marc is a talented composer, writer and teacher. By Marc Allen. Do the Work – All about taking action. A favorite of

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mine, that inspires and motivates me to take action on meaningful projects. I have a hardcover copy of this book permanently parked on my desk, reminding me to “dive in, baby.” By Steven Pressfield. Poke the Box – About starting things and completing things. Short essays that will motivate you to jump up and get to work on something you care about. This book goes hand-in-hand with Do the Work and The War of Art. By Seth Godin. The Architect of Abundance – Seven foundations to prosperity. Written by the mother and manager of popular singer Jewel. This is a memoir that contains many enlightening and insightful theories about life, success and happiness. By Lenedra J. Carroll. Anything You Want – Extremely quick read (under an hour) containing 40 life and business lessons on how Derek Sivers built and sold a $22 million company. Insightful, direct, inspiring and filled with wit. Mostly, I think this book is about happiness and how to be a good human. By Derek Sivers. The Millionaire Fastlane – Unconventional wisdom on the accumulation of wealth. One of the most well written and genuine books I’ve read. In addition to practical wisdom on money and financial freedom, MJ reminds us of the preciousness of time. By MJ Demarco.

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The Power of Now – A guide to spiritual enlightenment. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve undoubtedly heard me rave about how important this book is. It’s simple, clear and beautifully written. This one I recommend for anyone. By Eckhart Tolle. Money & The Law of Attraction – Don’t let the title fool you. This gem of a book goes beyond the acquisition of money, and dives deep into the creation of a beautiful life. Highly recommend it. By Esther & Jerry Hicks. Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – Dynamic techniques for turning fear, indecision, and anger into power, action, and love. By Susan J. Jeffers. The Magic of Thinking Big – Acquire the secrets of success. Achieve everything you’ve always wanted. By David J. Schwartz.

Personality Tests Now Discover Your Strengths or Strength Finder 2.0 – Insightful online personality test to find your personal strengths. Very cool assessment. Make sure to buy a new copy of the book. Each book comes with a unique code for the test.

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Myers-Briggs Test (Free) – A free test that helps to identify your personality type. By Human Metrics.

Websites I follow very few websites. But here are some websites I want you to know about that are related to the topics discussed in this guide. Philosopher’s Notes – Have you ever wished that you had time to read every inspiring personal development book our there? Well, now you can. Brian Johnson went out and read 200 of the best personal development books and created simple and easy to digest notes for each of these books. In 20 minutes, you can listen to it on audio or read the empowering ideas and powerful quotes from each book. This is one of my favorite things in the world. I listen to Brian whenever I’m in the car. I love, love, love this. I always feel pumped and energized after listening to one of his notes. Go on over and check out Volume 1 (Click drop down to pay a lower price—starting at $20 for 100 notes). Fearless Magazine – Ever wonder how other people overcome fear? Ishita Gupta created this incredibly inspiring and beautifully designed online magazine that interviews successful and inspiring people

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on their own stories of overcoming and facing our deepest fears. Did I mention that its also Free? Go on over and sign up to receive future issues of the magazine. Also check out past issues. White Hot Truth - Danielle La Port is a savvy and incredible business strategist. In my eye, she’s a goddess with loads of wisdom about business and life. When she teaches, I listen. Illuminated Mind – Jonathan Mead is a down-toearth, unconventional career transition coach. He helps people get paid to be who they are and work on their own terms. Sivers.org – Lots of interesting, insightful, bite sized pieces of wisdom. I always learn something new.

My Favorite Things Japanese Shakuhachi Flute – Meditative and incredibly peaceful instrumental music. I listen to this when I write, journal, and want to feel serene and happy. Blick Hardbound Sketchbook – My favorite journal. I prefer the larger one for journaling and soul searching, and the smaller one for carrying around

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in my bag to capture ideas. Best Pen in the World – I love these pens. They write so well, and the roller glides smoothly on paper. You feel smart just using them. Tazo Chai Tea Latte – This is what I use to make Chai at home. One part tea concentrate and one part milk (or soy milk), heat on stove until hot. Yum. Same formula used at Starbucks. Kindle Wifi – I love this device so much. Built in dictionary, highlighter, social media sharing, and best of all portability (no more lugging around a stack of books when I leave the house). You really don’t need the 3G version unless you do extensive traveling. Even then, wifi is so prevalent, I’ve never needed the 3G capabilities.

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About the Author Tina owns and manages a network of sites, several of which are related to personal empowerment—viewed more than half a million times a month by people from over 200 countries. She likes to write, learn new things, and take photographs. She values personal freedom and love. She is enamored with finding ways to make people smile and feel connected. She is also a fan of the colors pink + red. To learn more, visit thinksimplenow.com or join us on Facebook at facebook.com/thinksimplenow.

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