My Rise to the Top

"You're Doing it Wrong!"

2010-06-15T17:51:00.007-05:00

Am I? Good question.

In the past week I've been doing well. I'm scoring myself a marketing job, I've been conducting productivity/development meetings every Thursday, and for the most part having a fun time. Here's my problem however: why do I spend so much of my time lazing around, getting addicted to video games (PixelJunk Monsters damn you...), and staying up late? Even though I'm doing well, these things are taking a toll on my day and the way I feel afterward is unacceptable for me. What can I do to take the next step in improving my life?

Whaddya say Tony? First off, I have to thank Tony Robbins for pointing out the power of questions. Our brain is programmed to find answers. When we ask ourselves "why am I out of shape?" we may provide "because it's too hard to keep up with a routine" or "cause I love pizza too much". We never simply leave a question be, it will find an answer consciously or otherwise. What might be an appropriate question to follow up with for the hard work or the pizza? How about, "what can I do to enjoy my food more?" or "how can I make an exercise routine that I actually find enjoyable?". When we start asking progressive questions we get progressive answers. I was actually very surprised when I took the time to ask myself a sequence of questions...our brain is a lot more intelligent and powerful than we give it credit for! I think sometimes people get stuck in a never-ending loop of poor questions. "Why did I get dumped?" can turn into "I'm not good enough, I'm not attractive, people don't like me, I'm a mess, I'm worthless."

So how this relates to my issue of not feeling progressive enough is that I tried to ask a new question and take a new approach. I asked myself whether I was trying to simultaneously focus on too much. Perhaps I've been getting overwhelmed by the feelings that I should be doing so many things. I need an exercise routine! I need to go to bed early every night! I need to be studying business and marketing everyday! I need to always eat healthy! Yikes, that's a tough set of instructions to follow consistently. I find that my personal story is that of getting really excited about something and then letting it go. As far as I can remember, my mind has favored multitasking instead of focus. That's not to say I don't focus well, it's just that my focus unfolds in intense but fairly brief sprints. Once something else waltzes in and steals the show for a bit, the other tasks run a risk of being dropped...

So here's my new angle of accomplishing everything I want: baby steps! I think I need to have ongoing themes of what I am trying to accomplish, and tackle these different aspects one at a time and not beat myself up for the others. My first one I want to attempt is routine and health. While still doing the necessary tasks like going to marketing meetings, running my own meeting, going to work, my focus is going to be health, health, health! I see this as a big stepping stone because a lot of the time I am lacking energy, the food I eat makes me feel bad, and once I'm in this sloth state I can justify not doing productive things much more easily. And hey, the worst outcome of this is I'll still have a problem accomplishing what I want but I'll feel good while procrastinating! Early to bed, waking up at the same early time every morning, good food, and exercise.

What is my expectation for this? Well, I think that by focusing on one thing as a theme and sticking with it for a month or more, I will begin to ingrain the actions into my subconscious routine. If I can get one aspect under control and habitual, even if it's not perfect, I can then shift my theme of attention to another aspect. Just a guess but it's worth a try. It's possible that following all these health rules may be a bit of an overload in itself, in which case I may need to boil it down even further to just sleep, or just exercise. I'll find out by giving it a try!

Let me know what you think everyone!

Why don't we believe and follow through?

2010-06-10T14:15:00.003-05:00

Sadly I can't embed this video into the post, but I want to link it because it's really great.

Tony Robbins Interview w/ Frank Kern & John Reese

Tony Robbins is amazing, he has a clear way of describing things, and has tremendous energy. In this video he talks with two guys who started with nothing and are now millionaires, and interviews them on why they think they got to that point. They are trying to find out from Tony how they can successfully persuade others to do what they have done, especially people who may not have "hit bottom" yet for motivation. I find myself right in this boat because I live comfortably, so there's no real "need" to go and be great, it's just a desire I have. Tony helps illustrate the cycle that people need to enter into, in the correct fashion, to reinforce your most powerful beliefs and produce results.

Thanks to Josh Adams for showing me this video!

Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!

The Discipline to Discipline

2010-06-05T18:22:00.003-05:00

Of course. Obviously. No-brainer.

There are many aspects to being a successful human being. They range from dealing with emotions to forming good relationships to staring fear in the face and taking another step forward. But without one key element you will never be able to really design and live your life exactly how you want to...this key is discipline.

I was reading Steve Palina's blog posts on this subject today and he presented it in a way I found useful. It's certainly common knowledge that discipline is the key to success - another one of those common themes that you hear a million times but never take to heart - but to actually get the spark to start in this direction it helps to hear about it from different view points.

Steve basically made me tell myself I suck.

Thank you Steve! No really, he made a list of questions to ask yourself such as "Do I wake up at the same time everyday?", "Is my home neat and organized?", or the whopping "Do you have clear, written goals? Do you have written plans to achieve them?". I then did a self rating of my level of self discipline in which I received a 3 or a 4 out of 10. Even though I consider myself an intelligent and progressive person, I'm not walking the walk. And that's a problem.

Think about what self-discipline gives you. At its peak, it basically makes you a super hero. "My magical ability is to write down a goal I want to accomplish and it WILL BE DONE!" It brings your dreams much closer to reality which is want most of us truly desire, and because we are so crazy about "wanting" our dreams to be fulfilled we conveniently look for the secret, effortless key to make it happen. Well, you probably already know this but THERE IS NO SECRET! In fact nowadays, referring someone back to self discipline with no other way out has become the secret. Personal responsibility has been on the decline in our culture and there's more and more to distract us. Well world, as a public declaration "Ok, ok, I understand!"

Steve pointed out a useful way of seeing discipline: it's just another muscle that needs training. Like someone going to the gym to work toward their body building dream, they can't simply throw on the maximum weight and be a champ from day one. Nor can they lift a 5 lb weight forever and boast of being a Greek God. What it takes to get the gold in discipline is appropriate but progressive goals. Ones that are achievable and easy to start on from where you stand, but also would be challenging your norm. This has been a personal problem because whenever I get excited I get in this mood of "Yeah from now I got this, it's time to change my life forever"! Guess how far that has gotten me. Baby steps...baby steps.

This is the number one thing I need to work on actively and learn more about. It's not just about succeeding in activities you do, but also time management. The sad fact is that our time in this life is limited, and if we want to "have it all" and still be young, like I do, it's time to get started ASAP.

Personal Development

2010-06-04T10:40:00.002-05:00

Last night was a success.

A week or so ago I was doing an exercise about having compelling long term goals from one of Tony Robbins' books. It was really fun and I thought "man it would be great to do this with a group of people and all discuss it". Instead of finishing the exercise I jumped up and e-mailed a bunch of my friends about the idea and last night we had the first meeting. I presented some of the ideas I had been learning, we discussed various aspects of goal setting, did the exercises, and had a lot of fun.

This is a personal success for me too. I always have trouble only thinking up concepts for things, but this time I acted on it immediately and made it happen. I see this as a good exercise for me in actually getting things done. Tony Robbins' mentions that decision making is a skill that gets better with practice, just like anything else. That really hit home to me. This group meeting idea brought to reality is one unit of practice in the bank! It also helps my ability to present ideas to people, a valuable skill in the business world.

Looking forward to the next meeting. :)

Seth Godin - Lizard Brain

2010-05-28T22:03:00.003-05:00

Seth Godin is the man. Thanks Eliyah for pointing out this video to me.

I find what he says so true and important. If you want to be successful, you must ship. Everyone is creative, that's not what you do for a living. The people who run this world and get the most out of it take the invisible and make it visible.

Emotions are powerful and can overwhelm your most logical decisions, so be prepared, set up something worthwhile, and run that lizard over. Time to ship!

Thank you Seth.

A Brief History of Tim Shaw

2010-05-28T11:11:00.008-05:00

So in order to chronicle my life mission in full, I want to give a short summary of how life has brought me to this point. It's not a very exciting tale but regardless, here it is:

I was born in Fairfield, Iowa on December 5th 1988 to two great parents, a librarian mother and a landscaping father with his own business, and my one sibling Emily. For anybody not in the know of what the TM movement is I would suggest reading a bit about it because it has everything to do with my childhood: "The Movement" I went to MSAE from K-12 and although it would be fun to have some crazy stories of trials and tribulations, I was basically a happy camper all through my years. I was shy, emotional, sensitive, and I still carry these traits today though I have changed a lot.

My friends were and are the best. Whatever I lacked in proper academic education I made up for in social education. We had small classes and close ties. The idea around "the movement" is that things should be ideal according to a sort of Utopian concept, and while we weren't ideal what I realize is they did a damn good job vs. the rest of our crazy world. I certainly was sheltered in a way, but with parents who didn't take this idealism too seriously (they both were raised in standard Midwestern families), I feel it balanced out.

One thing they did was raise our egos. "This class is going to be the rulers of your generation". And hell I believed it in that mindset we were in. I still believe in the creative potential these people have but I also needed a dose of reality to balance my view of the world. As a small school we were successful though. We won regional championships in sports and the arts. I was part of two state finalist teams in a Speech competition doing musical theater and mime as a 9th grader. With the rest of the teammates seniors. Wow that was a scary and awkward time, but a lot of fun and great experience. I was also on a Destination Imagination team (problem solving competition) that went to the world competing level and we won 1st place plus a special creativity award. That was a wonderful experience.

Despite the great times, I began to have some doubts. Were we really divinely destined to rule the world? Probably not. Was nature there to support us, provide for us whatever we needed? Don't really think so. Is TM an essential part of being a healthy happy person? It gives results, but man there are a lot of important things in life. I had become a skeptic. I had become a scientist. And it has only made me a happier, more understanding person. If there was one person I could thank for starting this mindset in me, it would be the late George Carlin. Thanks for that, George.

So where do I stand now? I am 21 years old, still living in Fairfield, and have been out of school for the past few years. I've worked a few different jobs, smoked some weed, partied, hung out with friends; it has certainly been a simple and happy life. What Tony Robbins has made me ask myself however is this: What do I want to accomplish in my life? Is this it? Am I on the right path? How do I accomplish my life goals... The answer I have found is that in order to move forward and seize what I really want for my life, now and far in the future, I need to begin setting goals and taking steps every day toward achieving them. Living in the now is good, but it's not the best permanent residence. The future exists as well, and each and every one of us is DIRECTLY responsible for whatever will come to us in the future. This is a fairly common concept but reading this shocked me. "My God, I have so much I want to do in my life, so many dreams and aspirations. I gotta get to work!!!"

See, growing up in such a comfortable environment has been a blessing. The family, friends, love, easy living, the mostly care free experience. The only problem with this that I see is that I'm "stuck in the middle". I am the fulcrum on the seesaw, not moving up nor down, simply sitting happy and cozy in the middle as life's extremes pass by on either side of me. What is there to really motivate me? I have come to learn that comfort is the devil, at least in my current view. Once I asked myself what I wanted in my life, I set the standards higher than I ever thought of before. All those dreams of leading the wealthy, fulfilling life became reality at the end of the tunnel, and all I need to do to get there is lay the rail and I'm on my way.

That is the realization that defines the next phase of my life. Now that I understand my personal responsibility I understand that life takes work. Hard work. But when you see that "golden you" at the end of the tunnel it becomes worth it awful fast.

This is the realization that I want to spread to everyone who wants to listen. I don't know much but I have a self-made destiny and I can't help but share with you the ride on which I'm about to embark. Hope my struggles can entertain you or educate you, and hopefully both.

The Beginning!

2010-05-28T10:35:00.001-05:00

Welcome Everybody!

This is to be my "success blog". I've always enjoyed writing and have wanted to start a blog, but have never had a particular focus to do so with. Now with recent changes in my life such as new goals, a new mentality, I'm ready to share what's going on!

I think this will be a fun blog to write. I am planning on including:

Updates on my life related to personal growth and success
Articles or blogs in this area that I find useful and interesting
Videos of my favorite authors and speakers
Whatever else may arise!

My aim is to have this not only be an outlet for me to describe whatever highs and lows I am going through, but to enrich the readers lives by providing to them what has helped me.

I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading.