Today's Transcendence

Conquer Yourself (Session 7): Embrace Death…

Peace,

Part 7 of the Conquer Yourself series…
Harmonics coming soon…

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I’m about to get into a set of philosophical perspectives, which, by their nature, can’t be supported by objective fact in the way the last six sessions can.

With that said, do what the NGE (Nation of Gods & Earths) calls “taking the best part.” Read with an open mind and take from it what applies to you…

——— The Nature of the Cause ———

Throughout the Conquer Yourself series, you probably noticed me constantly referring to the subconscious mind: primarily, I’ve been breaking down how things like poor self-control and procrastination are caused by things like fear of failure, fear of success, low self-esteem, and a false association between what you accomplish and who you are as a human being.

All of these issues are based on how your subconscious mind perceives your identity, and for session 7, I want you to consider entering a state where your identity no longer exist. I want you to consider letting go of the concept of “you” in order to identify with pure experience itself.

To be clear, this is what new age material refers to as “transcending the ego,” but I do my best to stay away from cliche terms like that, because I feel like the potency of an idea gets lost when its reduced to some generic term which is usually commercially exploited), here’s an example from an old lecture of mine:

“…the power of thought is talked about a lot these days. Like we got…what is again? “The Secret” now, and “The Law of attraction” is getting big, y’know? Everybody is into it: understanding how thoughts manifest and how thinking sets the tone for what goes down…

But one thing I’ve realized is that, even with the proliferation of that (material), what ends up happening is sort of a dismissal. Like you’ll talk to someone and say:

‘Y’know…your thoughts create your reality.’

And they’ll go:

‘Yeah I know…I seen The Secret’

Sometimes I tell people about my book and they’ll say:

‘Oh yeah…like The Secret, right?’

So automatically, anything dealing with that field of intelligence gets categorized and, in turn, given little attention at all. That’s how things are in general: once something proliferates and expands to a level where everybody knows about it, it gets overlooked.

Knowledge, once widespread, ends up becoming a lot less potent, so we want to make sure that even with this foundational stuff that we do know, we really do KNOW it.”

So yes, Echkart Tolle in The Power of Now refers to this as “present-mindedness” and you might hear quantum physicists say things like, “the observer, the observed and the process of observation are one.”

Bro. Phil Valentine in his video lecture The Book of the Earth calls this “The Pi-Point of Perception,” and I’m referring to it here as “Embracing Death” because to me, that’s exactly what’s going on.

When we step into transcend the ego, obtain present-mindedness, use the pi-point of perception or embrace death, a certain aspect who we are (or who we’re acting as) is dying. It’s as though we’re shedding the identity-level version of ourselves for a more eternal, all-encompassing self that actually feels like entering a void.

Here’s how we I make the differentiation:

“…When people ask us who we are, we respond with our name, followed by things like our profession, our belief system or ideology and our ethnicity or national name. However, these are aspects of our personality – the word personality coming from the Greek persona, meaning ‘mask’…

While we all have a character with a name, certain likes and dislikes, various titles and social roles, etc., that’s not who we fundamentally are. At the essential level, we’re simply consciousness: the self-aware observer…the spiritual energy that animates the physical form, or “The Ghost in the Shell,” and the information we’re about to build on can only be processed from that level.”

When you enter to this eternal state (eternal because it’s so present that it’s beyond time), things die in the sense that everything you invest meaning into is let go of, and this allows you to conquer yourself because it dissolves the psychological complexities that are inhibiting you.

The transition also requires a strong degree of courage (particularly over an extended period of time and specifically in social interactions) because the void that you enter is completely unknown.

For me, I had an awkward fear of it not only because it freed me from self-critical thoughts (since I was generally not thinking at all), but because it constantly put me in a position of power. The more I embraced death, the more I found others subconsciously giving me status and authority in almost all of my interactions, even in situations where it didn’t make sense (at my job, in school settings with teachers, etc.)

——— Symbolic Teachers ———

“The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily…when one’s body and mind are at peace…one should consider himself as dead. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai.”

“There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the moment. A man’s whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there is nothing left to do, and nothing else to pursue.”

I first heard those quotes in the film Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai starring Forest Whittaker (one of the best films I’ve ever seen, by the way). Check out the trailer here:

Not too long ago, a good friend of mine broke down to me how the film is based on the life of Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a classical Japanese samurai from the early 1700’s known for the wisdom contained in Hagakure (pronounced “Ha-Ga-Koo-Ray,” which translates as “In the Shadow of Leaves).

Hagakure is also known as “The Book of the Samurai”, “The Analects of Nabeshima (Yamamoto’s Lord)” or simply “The Hagakure Analects,” and in it, Yamamoto suggests:

“(that) becoming one with death in one’s thoughts, even in life, was the highest attainment of purity and focus. He felt that a resolution to die gives rise to a higher state of life, infused with beauty and grace beyond the reach of those concerned with self-preservation.” ~ from a Wikipedia article

Here’s a few jewels from it:

“People think that they can clear up profound matters if they consider them deeply, but they exercise perverse thoughts and come to no good because they do their reflecting with only self-interest at the center.”

“The word gen means “illusion” or “apparition.” In India, a man who uses conjury is called a genjutsushi (a master of illusion technique). Everything in this world is but a marionette show. Thus we use the word gen.”

“The priest Tannen used to say, ‘People come to no understanding because priests teach only the doctrine of ‘No Mind.’ What is called ‘No Mind’ is a mind that is pure and lacks complication .’ This is interesting…

Lord Sanenori said, ‘In the midst of a single breath, where perversity cannot be held , is the Way.’ If so, then the Way is one. But there is no one who can understand this clarity at first. Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort.”

“There is a way of bringing up the child of a samurai. From the time of infancy one should encourage bravery and avoid trivially frightening or teasing the child. If a person is affected by cowardice as a child, it remains a lifetime scar. It is a mistake for parents to thoughtlessly make their children dread lightning, or to have them not go into dark places, or to tell them frightening things in order to stop them from crying.”

More coming soon…

Peace,
+B

More Science…
>> More on “The Pi-Point of Perception” (Rhyme Ciphers)
>> Session 2: Understanding & Overcoming Procrastination
>> Session 5: Native American Wisdom vs. Our Technological World
>> The Science of Stress & How to Avoid It As You Progress
>> Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

Filed under: Conquer Yourself (Productivity, Self-Discipline, etc.), Uncategorized on March 9th, 2010 | No Comments »

Conquer Yourself (Session 6): The Science of Stress & How to Avoid It As You Progress…

Peace,

Part 6 of the Conquer Yourself series…
Harmonics: a song I call “Merlin’s Chakra” (forget who made it).

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——— The Science of Stress ———

Serenity Prayer:

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Stress Prayer:

“Grant me the stubbornness to struggle against the things I cannot change, the inertia to avoid the work on my behaviors and mental attitudes which I can, and the foolishness to ignore the difference…Most of all, grant me a contempt for my own human imperfection and the limits of the logically possible.” (adapted from Neil Fiore)

Criticism, humiliation or other forms of pain in our past cause us to develop phobias (fears in response to certain things, in this case certain types of work), and these phobias are what block us from taking action.

Procrastination is a putting off what you fear: it’s a phobic response to work associated with anxiety, and it’s also addictive because, in a sense, it actually rewards you by lowering the tension that anxiety creates.

Besides the terror of anxiety, worry and overwhelm, there’s also the fear of failure (rejection, inadequacy, etc.) and, interestingly, the fear of success as well (because this raises expectations…i.e: you fear that you’ll have to work even harder to maintain that level of success once you reach it, and eventually fail under that pressure), but we’ll cover these two at a later time.

The best way to handle stress and anxiety in general is by learning to let go of the things you don’t control (what Dr. Paul Dobransky refers to as “healthy boundary functioning”), but the best way to handle stress in regards to a specific task (something you do control because it’s your responsibility to do) is by deconstructing the stressful mindset or approach you have towards that task.

Stress DOES NOT come from the task itself, it comes from the mental construct you have of it or the method you’re using to get it done.

Essentially, we get stressed when we think of our goals in a vague, intimidating or overwhelming way: we tend to have a two-dimensional perspective towards the things we want to accomplish as though they’re these mega-huge superstructures that we have to somehow magically “just do.” We tend to ignore the natural path of trial and error between where we are and where we want to be, and we experience anxiety and stress as we attempt to instantly make that transition.

Niel Fiore, in his book The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination, uses a client of his as an example:

“As an eager and productive new lawyer, Joel found great satisfaction in working on depositions and briefs that he could do quickly. However, he shied away from more complicated cases, and his fear and procrastination began to get in the way of his advancement in the firm.

Whenever he was forced with an important or risky case, his physical and emotional reactions were so strong that he felt stuck…unable to do anything. His worrying resulted in insomnia, indecisiveness over small issues and an excessive use of coffee and alcohol. He worried about making a mistake, about his inability to handle the case, about how much work he’d have to do to just adequately complete it, and about his devastation if he failed. In his own words:

“I get so intense about the possibility of losing the case that I stop myself from ever starting the necessary preparation. This makes me so anxious that I can’t decide how I’m going to handle it: how I’d approach the opposition, where’s the best place to start and so on.

Then I get so frightened that I’ll make a mistake on my choice of what to do that I waste additional valuable time. Eventually, my nervousness and procrastination leave me unable to find time to take depositions and meet court dates…”

——— Wisdom and Solutions ———

From this, we can learn three major “thinking faults” we all seem to share. Look to see which ones apply to you:

1) We assume we should know the right place to start, so we get indecisive and look for perfection from the very first step. We forget that there are almost always multiple adequate ways to start something and that, even if there weren’t, it’s always better to just get into the flow anyway.

We get caught in the trap of perfectionism and right-or-wrong thinking…once we assume that everything has to be perfect from jump all the way through, we either never get started or never gain enough momentum to finish.

2) We enhance that initial anxiety by assuming we should be able to start and complete a project without any anxiety at all. Our self-criticism builds on the initial worry itself, with inner-dialogue like, “I need to discipline myself. I should know better already…” and

3) We get additionally self-critical in the sense of “I should be done already,” or “How will I ever finish if this is all I can come up with?” We’re constantly comparing our imperfect progress with an imagined, fully-complete ideal.

So…

1) Solve the first issue by giving yourself permission to make mistakes: whenever you catch yourself in your perfectionist urge, just STOP and remind yourself it’s okay to do things wrong.

In fact, the next time you start working on something, start with the INTENTION of doing things wrong just to get yourself out of the perfectionist habit and get yourself into a flow.

2) Solve the second issue by anticipating anxiety and stress in the first place. Understand that it’s completely natural to experience a certain level of stress because you’re learning a new way of doing about things. Like I was telling a friend on facebook the other day:

“So on one hand, if you’re like most cats, you’re probably not only in the habit of procrastinating, but you SEE YOURSELF as a procrastinator as well…

This takes more then just some knowledge or insight to change… don’t expect to just transform because you understand it now. You’ll have to spend some time working on yourself and making minor improvements OVER TIME.”

3) Solve the third issue by remembering the Chinese wisdom, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

I got scared and intimidated A LOT when I first started writing my book…one of the things I told myself to get through it was:

“If I can write sentence, I can write a paragraph, and if I can write paragraph, I can write something the length of an article. If I can write something the length of an article, I can write something the length of a chapter, and if I can write something the length of a chapter, I can write something the length of a book…”

And when I first start drumming, I never focused on becoming as good as everyone else around me (I used to rehearse with “The Cadets of NYC” a highly-advanced drum corp based out of New York).

I just focused on learning one thing a week: we rehearsed on Sundays, so throughout practice I’d just silently observe all the other players and choose one cool thing I was going to learn before the next rehearsal. Throughout the week, I just concentrated on mastering that one thing and before I knew it, I built up an arsenal of cool songs and tricks I could do almost perfectly without effort.

Similarly, stop looking at your goal as a single skyscraper you need to leap in a single bound, and start mentally sub-dividing it into smaller, more manageable pieces of work.

If you have a deadline to meet, break the project down into realistic segments of work that actually feel “accomplishable” and give those segmented tasks miniature deadlines themselves.

For instance, if you’re goal is to create a video and upload it to youtube,

Step 1) Make an outline of what you want your video to contain
Step 2) Record the footage (or choose the images in the case of a slide-show)
Step 3) Make the audio content (or choose the background music)
Step 4) Edit & Finalize the video
Step 5) Create a youtube account and upload the movie file.

This is a major component of “The Now Habit” and “GTD” (Getting Things Done): focusing on the next action that can be done in the present moment…

“When you learn to look at projects this way…instead of facing a large, looming, impossible task, you’re now facing small units that you can actually see yourself accomplishing.” ~ Niel Fiore, Ph.D

More coming soon…

Peace,
+B

More Science…
>> An Overview of the Conquer Yourself series so far…
>> Session 3: Liberation Through Your Sense of Self-Worth
>> Session 4: Beginning Steps to Self-Mastery
>> Some Thoughts on Depression
>> Reflecting on Percussion pt. 2 (wisdom from my musical experiences)

Filed under: Conquer Yourself (Productivity, Self-Discipline, etc.), Uncategorized on March 8th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

More Science A Little Later Tonight…

Peace,

Session 6 in the Conquer Yourself series may release a little later tonight (a few important things came up), so for now, check out the facebook note I put up yesterday. It gives a pretty good overview of where everything’s been so far…

Conquer Yourself: Winning the Battle w/ the Enemy Inside You

Filed under: Conquer Yourself (Productivity, Self-Discipline, etc.), Genesis (News & Orientation), Uncategorized on March 8th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Conquer Yourself (Session 5): Native American Wisdom vs. Our Technological World…

Peace,

Part 5 of the Conquer Yourself series…
Harmonics: “Know Your Enemy” by Yoko Kanno

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——— Native American Wisdom ———

A Cherokee elder once told the children of his tribe, “A battle is happening within me – a terrible battle between two wolves. One wolf is of fear, anger, guilt, greed and senselessness; the other of faith, peace, truth, love and reason…This same battle is happening inside of each of you, and inside every other person as well.”

The children thought for a moment and one asked, “Which wolf will win?” to which the old Cherokee replied, “The one you choose to feed.”

This is a lesson in the power of attention: the importance of “attention management” and concentration in the development of our character (and in turn, our ability to create the results we want for ourselves…CHARACTER COMES FIRST)

Like I said in session 4, we’ll need more then just one blogpost to really build on concentration. I actually don’t mind using several parts of the series for it because since we live in a digital age of distraction and attention deficit disorder, concentration is one of our most vital assets…

There’s a section on this in my upcoming book where I say:

“You’re not bubble gum; you can only stretch so thin…(therefore,) begin to regard your goals as living things that depend on you (and you’re attention) for their cultivation.”

Even though at some level we all intuitively know that we need to focus in order to progress, we still tend to forget this because of the frenetic pace of our society.

Not only are we conditioned for constant interruption, scattered thinking and hyperactivity, but even further, as we gain new technologies that allow us to be more productive, those same technologies alter the dynamics of how we interact, and end up creating more demands for our time and energy then ever before.

“Got a new cell phone? Good – now your boss can reach you on your day off. Wireless PDA, huh? Even better – expect to get e-mails all the time too. Mini-PC??? Word…we’ll just instant-message you those files then…

Basically, we’re juggling a schedule of constant demands and always-on electronics. We’re actually re-wiring our brains for what the technology industry now calls ‘continuous partial attention.’

…In this digital age of distraction, we function at new levels of
stimulation and anxiety: the internet spews information at us like a fire
hose, but to digest information we need to sip it through a straw.”
(adapted from Lucy Jo Palladino, Ph.D.)

So that’s one thing I’ll cover over the next few days with you: a plan to overcome distraction and information overload in this digital age. While it’s easy to talk about developing concentration and living in the present moment, rarely do we find wisdom on that updated enough to help us manage our time and attention in the reality of this technological world.

———— Upcoming Science ————

Another concept we’ll cover is Sports Psychology: the mental tools and cognitive methods professional athletes (specifically those Olympic heads) are trained to use to help them perform at their highest levels.

For instance, in the book Find Your Focus Zone (the joint quoted from above), Lucy talks about the upside down U-curve used in Sports Psychology to graph the nature of being “in the zone” – of having the the optimal level of focus needed for peak-performance.

The y-axis charts the level of attention and the x-axis the level of stimulation… how “into it” the athlete is feeling.

If stimulation is too low and in “underdrive,” (like when athletes start to train months before a race or competition), they use strategies to psyche themselves up.

On the other hand, if stimulation is too high and in “overdrive,” (like when an athlete is actually at the event nervously waiting at the starting line), they use to calm themselves down.

So it’s kinda hot because there are so many parallels here that we can relate to. I tend to procrastinate most on a project when I feel that “I have plenty of time,” and then get hyper-stressed over it when I realize that the deadline is right around the corner.

(I’ve heard of this sports psychology thing before but never really looked into it. I’ll get back to you with the good stuff I find.)

Besides that, there’s also the Samurai metaphors and what not (which I haven’t really got into yet – so far we’ve been building on overcoming procrastination, improving concentration and building up your sense of self-worth), and I also want to talk about addictions.

I’ve been doing a little research here and there on it, but nothing too serious yet. What I’m looking for are ways to overcome addictions without drugs, surgery or any other form of “treatment.”

Fundamentally though, I feel like none of us are ever really “addicted” to any bad habit: historically, addicts were slaves given to Roman soldiers as a reward performance in battle, and so eventually, any person who was a slave to anything became known as an addict…

We call ourselves addicts when in reality, we’re simply just unconsciously devoted to or dependent on some external thing, which is different then being enslaved to it, feel me?

I believe that all habits are learned, and that we have bad habits (so-called “addictions”) for actually GOOD reasons. For instance, a person may use drugs to give themselves a false sense of self-confidence, which is essentially a healthy desire, just an UNHEALTHY way of meeting it.

And so it I see it as the same with all addictions: addictions persist when we lack other, healthier means of satisfying the needs they unconsciously fulfill.

More coming soon…

Peace :),
+B

“I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,
but to battle my greatest enemy – MYSELF…”
~ Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887…

>> The 7 Virtues of Bushido (A Breakdown of Samurai Code)
>> Session 2: Understanding & Overcoming Procrastination
>> Session 4: Perspectives for Self-Mastery
>> Find Your Focus Zone by Lucy Jo Palladino, Ph.D.
>> Download “The Power of Concentration” by Theron Q. Dumont for free
>> An online collection of Native American Wisdom

Filed under: Conquer Yourself (Productivity, Self-Discipline, etc.), Genesis (News & Orientation), Uncategorized on March 6th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Conquer Yourself (Session 4): Beginning Steps to Self-Mastery

Peace,

Part 4 of the Conquer Yourself series…
Harmonics: “Solea” by Naohito Uchiyama

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———- The Nature of Practice as the Nature of Life ———

Marinate on this for a second:

“Life is practice…Life = Practice. The same mechanics that govern the good habits to advance in any field (martial arts, tennis, playing the drums, etc.) also govern the good habits of advancement in life. ‘Practice is the path of the master…’”

Now I’m not trying to get you to believe in some sort of universal, metaphysical truth or anything like that, but I do want you to consider how this perspective can help you towards your own personal goals.

When it comes to your goals, begin to focus on the process of achievement, not the achievement itself. Begin to focus primarily on practicing to become better at your craft, not reaching some final end result.

If you think about it, you’ll see that it’s much easier to have self-discipline and dedication towards developing skill and gaining proficiency than it is to accomplishing a goal.

Of course you should have specific goals, but while you’re in the act of achieving those goals, it’s much easier you get into the flow of improving your game rather then trying to win THE game. A style of “always practicing” will relieve you of the stress, anxiety and pressure that this western society conditions us to associate with progress and success.

So essentially, what you have to do is transfer the principles of practice over into your particular field (and on a deeper note, into life itself, which is “nothing more than one long practice session; an endless effort of refining our motions”). Once you have this perspective, the stress and anxiety transfers itself into joy and calmness, and the desire for success transfers itself into a hunger for self-mastery.

Thomas Sterner talks about this in his book The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline & Focus into Your Life and George Leonard in Mastery: The Keys to Success & Long Term Fulfillment. Also, the Nation of Gods & Earths (5%’ers) have a concept called “Constant Elevation,” and Moorish philosopher Ibn Arabi “Perpetual Transformation” which are related as well.

———- The Element of Concentration ———

Along with the overall focus on improvement and development, this “always practicing” style has other implications as well, the first of which is concentration.

It’ll take several blog posts to build on concentration in depth, but let’s start by understanding why we lack concentration in the first place – because we live in a world where multitasking and distraction have become the norm.

Thomas Sterner (author of the book mentioned above) says:

“Our culture today is one built on multi-tasking, not just for increased productivity (which never seems to be enough), but also for survival. We end up conditioning ourselves and our children to always think and do multiple things at the same time…

Imagine the simple act of driving a car – what’s the first thing most of us do? Turn on the radio. Now we’re driving AND listening to music or a news program, and if someone is with us, we’re probably having a conversation on top of that. If we’re alone, we’re talking on our cell phone…

Our minds are constantly juggling many different activities at once, and so our energies get extremely dispersed. Even though this exhausts us completely, it’s become normal for us as our world continues to move faster and faster, so we don’t even question the levels of absurdity it reaches at times.

Years ago I took one of my daughters to a rolling skating party hosted by her school, and told her I would sit in the concession area and read while she skated. Here’s what I saw and heard as I observed the scene:

(1) 6 Television monitors hanging from the ceiling along the main side of the rink where people put their skates on…each TV had a different channel playing and each one’s volume competing with all the others.

(2) Loud music playing all throughout the rink, and a video game area with about 6 or 7 arcade machines blaring out their own side effects.

(3) Another 7 foot television screen on one end of the rink playing a music video different then the music coming through the PA system.

(4) Dozens of eleven years old skating around the rink, but none of them talking to each other.

How could they??? It was exhausting just standing there and absorbing all this sensory input that the mind needed to process.

At times we must multitask, but the problem for us is that we are so used to multitasking that when we want to reel in our minds and focus ourselves on just one activity, we can’t…

(later on) If you’e not in control of your thoughts then you’re not in control of yourself, and without self-control, you have no real power, regardless of whatever else you accomplish. If you’re not aware of the thoughts that you’re thinking in each moment, then you’re like the chariot rider without reins who has no power over where he’s going. You cannot control what you are not aware of; awareness must come first.”

A few months back, I wrote a facebook note called “4 Steps to Raise Your Productivity & Consistently Get More Out of Yourself” that also built on multitasking. Check it:

———- The Myth of Multitasking ———
“Multitasking actually decreases your IQ more than smoking marijuana…” ~ Eben Pagan referencing a study from the University of London.

Multitasking is not productive, so if want to become a more effective person, let go of it. While there are times in the day when we’re forced to multitask, we’re now at a state where we multitask all the time, and it’s another habit that you’ll need to get rid off if you want to create results.

The idea that multitasking makes us more productive is a cultural myth, and if you do a quick google search for “studies on multitasking” you’ll find out why. Multitasking (and electronic multitasking specifically) reduces our intellectual capacity- it decreases our ability to concentrate, solve problems and think creatively while increasing our stress levels, and it hurts our ability to communicate with other people as well.

This is related to step #1: since we’re constantly being interrupted, we’re constantly trying to get more then one thing done at a time, and this habit leaves us not getting much of anything done at all. If you’re trying to type out an e-mail while you’re on the phone with someone, you’re not going to be as effective in building a relationship in either endeavor. If you’re trying to write an article and do some internet research at the same time (two different activities that feel like they’re one and the same), the research is going to actually distract you from what you were writing…you’ll end up checking out links to completely unrelated information, social networking, and heading down a spiral of useless activities that lead nowhere.

(You might even have “tab-itis“: one of those web-surfing illnesses where you always feel compelled to have 9, 10, 15 or even 20 webpages open at one time, and guess what? When you finally get ready to turn your computer off, you still have about 9, 10, 15 or even 20 webpages open that you “haven’t finished looking at yet.”)

The worse part about multitasking is that it leaves you incapable of developing skill or proficiency at any particular thing. In order to cultivate your talents and turn them into strengths, you need to concentrate on refining the particular dynamics that those talents and strengths are composed of. Does that make sense? If you really want to get “nice” at something, you have to go in-depth and master all the minute details and aspects of that thing, but you’ll never get around to doing that if you’re too busy “multitasking”.

That tab-itis issue was all me last year, and I’d also wasted a lot of food trying to cook and write at the same time: late in the evening I’d realize I was hungry, but rather then take a full break to make something for myself, I’d multitask to “be more productive”…so I ended up burning my dinner instead.

Now like I said earlier, there are times when you have to multitask (because the world we live in forces us to), but if you have goals that you want to achieve, it’s in your best interest to limit this as much as you possibly can.

This is also deep, because when we go to sleep, rather then just lie there and concentrate on getting a good night’s rest, we worry about what we’re going to do tomorrow or review something negative from today, and when we’re talking to someone, rather then just listen and concentrate on what that person is trying to say, we’re actually calculating our next response or thinking of something completely unrelated.

So even when we’re not multitasking physically we’re multitasking mentally, and this “parallel processing” diminishes our ability to extract value out of everything we experience.

The more you have going on, the more you compound this problem, so practice concentrating on one task at a time, and exercise your ability to focus and go deep into the activities you’re doing.

——————-

More coming soon…I’m going to take tomorrow off to work on a new video, but come back Saturday and I’ll have something fresh for you.

You can also check out the links below.

Peace,
+B

>> 4 Steps to Raise Consistently Get More Out of Yourself
>> Session 1: The Foundation for Greater Productivity
>> Session 2: Understanding & Overcoming Procrastination
>> Session 3: Liberation Through Your Sense of Self-Worth
>> Another facebook note on building concentration

Filed under: Conquer Yourself (Productivity, Self-Discipline, etc.), Uncategorized on March 4th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Conquer Yourself (Session 3): Liberation Through Your Sense of Self-Worth

Peace,

Part 3 of the Conquer Yourself series…
Harmonics: “Mystline” by Nujabes

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———- External Accomplishment Reflects Internal Relationship ———
Yesterday we related procrastination to its underlying causes in the subconscious mind, and built on how the primary issue was one’s sense of self worth.

So today we’re going to dig a little deeper, because this underground mental healing is what will cure the symptoms of procrastination, lack of motivation etc., i.e: what you’re able to accomplish with yourself will always correspond to the type of relationship you have with yourself…

Here’s something from Neil Fiore, Ph.D. (author of The Now Habit scroll I mentioned yesterday) that says even more:

“The self-talk of procrastinators often unconsciously suggests and reinforces feelings of victimhood, burden and resistance to authority…By learning to challenge and replace your negative internal dialogue, you’ll free yourself from an attitude about your worth and your abilities that are INAPPROPRIATE for your current age, intellect and power.”

So with that in mind, here’s an excerpt from my upcoming book, Doing the Knowledge: Ascending into Action called “Self-Worth vs. Success (3 Steps to Liberation)” that builds on this concept in detail:

http://www.dotheknowledge.com/downloads/book-preview.pdf

As a forerunner though, always replace the internal dialogue of “I have to,” or “I should,” with “I want to,” “I decide,” or “I choose.”

“I have to” tends to create feelings of stress and resistance, because the implication is that you don’t really want to do it – but you just “have to” do it against your will because of some external consequences or by matter of force. It actually creates a conflict between maintaining your freedom and handling a task (paying bills, socializing with others, etc.), and this causes to the ambivalence or procrastination.

“I should” tends to create feelings of blame, burden and failure, because it’s a comparison between your ideal state to your actual reality. It’s similar to envy (which compares an admired person with the real you) or a longing for the future (which compares some blissful scenario with the real now).

Taken too far, “I should” starts to send the subliminal message “I’m bad. Where I am is bad. My level of progress is bad. My life is bad. Nothing is the way it should be,” and can actually lead to depression.

Most importantly, “I have to” and “I should” DO NOT send a clear picture to the mind of:

>> What you choose to do,
>> When you choose to do it, and
>> How you choose to start it.

In contrast, “I choose” is a language that focuses on results rather than blame; on what is rather than what should be, and on empowerment rather than authoritarian force.

“I choose” is a language that creates internal alignment rather than internal conflict, because rather than a mental judge or internalized parent telling you what you “should” or “have to” do, you’re telling your subconscious mind that you have the freedom and responsibility to choose among several alternatives.

Always replace “I have to” and “I should” with the language of “I want to,” “I decide,” or “I choose.” You’ll be glad you did…

Here’s that book link again: http://www.dotheknowledge.com/downloads/book-preview.pdf

Peace,
+B

More Science…
>> More from the Upcoming Book
>> Understanding & Overcoming Procrastination (Yesterday’s Science)
>> The Now Habit by Neil Fiore, Ph.D.
>> How to Transform Failure into Success (Video)
>> How To Become Sovereign in Thought (Video)

Filed under: Ascension (On the Upcoming Book), Conquer Yourself (Productivity, Self-Discipline, etc.), Uncategorized on March 3rd, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Conquer Yourself (Session 2): Understanding & Overcoming Procrastination

Peace,
Part 2 of the Conquer Yourself series…
Harmonics: “Aqueous Transmissions” by Incubus

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———- I Want You To Imagine Something ———

(Scenario A) Imagine I put wooden plank on the ground – let’s say a board about 10 feet long, 4 or 5 inches wide and 1 inch thick – and asked you to walk across it…

What would be your response? You’d probably do it without hesitation right? You might laugh at the whole idea and think something funny was going on.

But check this:

(Scenario B) Now imagine I took that same wooden plank, suspended it between two city buildings 100 feet tall over concrete pavement, and then asked you to walk across it…

What’s your response now? What are you saying to yourself?

“Nah, chill…” right?

“I might fall,” or

“The wind might knock me over.”

In this instance, your feelings about are different because the consequences of falling (i.e. failing) are different, and you’ve now lost sight of how simple the task really is.

Now, it’s no longer a simple test or a task, it’s your life. Adrenaline might be rushing through you as you visualize yourself falling 100 feet down…you’re not calm anymore and there’s nothing to laugh at.

Notice how the thought, “If I make a mistake I could die,” makes it impossible for you to take action.

Now peep this:

(Situation C) Same situation as before, with the plank in between the buildings sky high, but as you’re there shook frozen at the idea of walking across, you realize that the building your currently standing on has caught on fire…

So now what’s your response? Your focused changed, didn’t it? Now you’re going to find a way to get across no matter what, and the thought of falling or not doing it perfectly didn’t even cross your mind. You probably got creative and thought something like:

“I’d sit my ass down on that board and scoot myself over to the other side,” or

“I’d crawl on my hands and knees if I had to.”

But what happened??? Why did your feelings change so quickly? You just went from worry, ambivalence and hesitation to productive action and creative problem solving in seconds, but how???

Just like before, the possibility or fear of pain and death became the reality and certainty of pain and death, and that motivated you to take action.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE PROCRASTINATE…

———- Break It Down ———

Psychologically, we act out scenario B when we falsely associate our goals with our own self-worth, and in reality, we create scenario C as a result of that initial procrastination.

Underlying our physical procrastination is a mistaken, mental connotation between what we do and our sense of value as a human being.

On a deeper level, you raise the plank off the ground by making a straightforward task into a measurement of who you are: evidence of whether or not you’re acceptable and a forecast of your future life…whether you’ll be a happy success or a miserable failure.

Once you confuse just performing with testing your worth, “getting this job,” “passing this final,” “starting this business,” and “dating this person” get inflated and injected with a level of meaning that makes failure or (even slight mistakes) feel like the end of the world.

This leads to perfectionism, where error, criticism and rejection become equivalent to death. You demand yourself to do things so perfectly so that your audience will accept you completely, and this expectation freezes you up with anxiety and procrastination.

Anxiety comes from the perceived threat to your survival (visualizing failure and projecting it in domino effect, i.e. imagining catastrophic images of losing your position, never finding another job, destroying your social image, separating your family, etc. etc.), and then you escape that anxiety through procrastination.

Procrastination is deep because it’s actually a coping mechanism that accomplishes a series of things:

1) It allows you to escape the dilemma and feel a sense of relief.

2) It brings the deadline closer, creating the urgent “fire” of scenario C, which relieves you of the responsibility for making a decision and then scares you into action. Since procrastination motivates you, makes decisions for you, gets you to take action and overrides your perfectionism and fear of failure, it actually reinforces the subconscious belief that procrastination makes sense and has rewards (“I work best under pressure,” etc.).

3) Also, by delaying things long enough, the task no longer becomes a measurement of your true ability…what you could of done if you “had enough time.” Always remember:

“Human beings have an infinite capacity for self-deception…”
~ Tony Schwartz

Deep, huh? lol :) So instead, imagine this:

(Scenario D): You’re back on the board once more, 100 feet above ground. There’s no fire this time, but there is a net – a strong, supportive safety net right under the plank…

How do you feel about it now? “Oh, that’s nothing,” right? “I can do that – if anything happened, I’d just fall into the net. It might even be fun…”

So that’s what I’m going to ask you do: let go of your perfectionist urge, and know that making a mistake does not mean death. Know that you can recover from any fall, and if need to, create alternatives that’ll allow you to bounce back.

Repeat after me:

“Whatever happens, I will survive and I will find a way to carry on. I will not let this be the end of the world for me…I will find a way to lessen the pain in my life and maximize the joy.“

“In order to maximize your performance in a stressful world, you must create a protected and indisputable sense of worth for yourself. Until you do, energy and concentration will be drained from your work and put into preparing for imagined threats to your survival, and then into procrastination as a means of coping…(so) Regardless of how you do it, provide a safe place where you make yourself free of judgment: a place and time where you can stop trying to perform…”

~ Neil Fiore, Ph. D.

Hope this helps. More tomorrow…

Peace,
+B

More Science…
>> Conquer Yourself (Session 1): The Essence of Productivity
>> 4 Simple Steps to Consistently Get More Out of Yourself
>> The Now Habit by Neil Fiore, Ph. D.
>> The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working and more by Tony Schwartz
>> Take a second to “Share the Wealth” w/ anyone you think would appreciate it

Filed under: Conquer Yourself (Productivity, Self-Discipline, etc.), Uncategorized on March 2nd, 2010 | 5 Comments »

Conquer Yourself (Session 1): The Essence & Foundation of Greater Productivity

Peace,
Harmonics: “From Yesterday” by Freddie Joachim

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Part 1 of the “Conquer Yourself” series…

——— WHAT IS PRODUCTIVITY??? ———

To me, productivity is the act of accomplishing results. Essentially, we want to be more productive when we want to create change (either in our lives or in more of a social context), or create something that wasn’t their before, and productivity consists of the techniques and perspectives that help us towards creating those things.

Eventually we all get to a point where we realize that we can’t just manifest things with our thought. After the inspiration from a watching a movie dies down, the motivation from a hearing a speaker wears out and the enthusiasm from a great new idea trickles away, if you’re like most of us, you find yourself in that familiar state of not knowing to what you should be doing or why you can’t get yourself to do anything at all.

You might have poor habits that interfere (or completely contradict) your productivity, or you might not be able to differentiate between what’s productive and what’s not. You might spend a lot of energy towards a goal but at the end of the day, when you’re drained and exhausted, you still feel like you haven’t gotten closer to your major goals.

With that in mind, here’s a quote I want you to marinate on as we build throughout this series:

‘Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials…‘

It’s from Yin Lutang, a Chinese writer and inventor. Lutang not only translated tons of classical Chinese texts into English to make them more accessible to us all (The Importance of Understanding, The Importance of Living, etc.), but he also invented the first feasible typewriter system for the Chinese language. Remember, Chinese is a character-based language with 1000’s of different symbols for 1000’s different words (not an alphabet-based one like English is), so people doubted whether or not it was even possible to create a typewriting structure that would allow Chinese language to enter into the world of printing, and therefore into the modern world itself…until homeboy made it happen.

What he’s saying is obvious: we never accomplish much when we bog ourselves down with things that aren’t really that important… and if you want to accomplish things with yourself, you’ll have to first identify the specific tasks that bring you closer to that end and eliminate the B.S.

I also want to remind you of the importance of taking responsibility for creating results – of switching from someone who is just doing the tasks involved into someone who’s steering an entire project. Just like taking responsibility for your life gives you a greater sense of personal power (as I talked about in an older facebook note), taking responsibility for a particular project (the thing you want to be productive about) encourages you to come up with more effective and creative ways to bring it to completion. Whenever you feel confused about a particular task, relax, zoom out to the forest level, remember the end result you want to create, and work from there.

——— I’M ACTUALLY BEING SELFISH ———

So that’s the foundation that I’m coming from, and as I said in the yesterday’s facebook note, I’m actually being a bit selfish with this whole thing.

For the record, let it be understand that I am not a “guru” – I definitely still have my own issues with personal effectiveness and self-discipline just like you do.

So I have no problem with you taking anything I say with a grain a salt. Actually, I think you should take everything with a grain of salt. All I ask is that, at the same time, you keep an open mind & actually TRY the techniques I’m going to be sharing with you…you’ll be glad you did.

Again, I AM NOT A PRODUCTIVITY EXPERT. This series actually began with me doing research on how I could be more productive myself: how I can get more writing done, develop the website more efficiently then I’ve been doing so far, etc. and in the process of doing this research, I found that good information is hard to find.

For instance, I remember watching this one video online called “The 2 Secrets to Greater Productivity“, or “The 2 Essential Keys to Self-Control” or something like that, and the guy giving the presentation just looked like somebody you couldn’t trust (cheap suit with the slick hairstyle, etc.).

He had these corny, hand drawn diagrams that he would hold up in front of the camera and he took forever to get to the two keys, which were:

1) congruence of word and action
2) buy my system

It’s really not THAT bad, but it was mad funny lol :) – I just had to find it to show you:

So I’m like, “WTF??? C’mon man – you gotta be kidding me,” and decided to do the research myself, take the best parts and put something fresh together for people with the same concern to build on.

The other day I came across this website where the blogger said:

“Y’know, one of the major keys to being productive is to just do what you need to do. For instance, a lot of people have programs they want to start and the main reason they don’t get it done or that not it’s successful is because they never sit themselves down to finish doing it…”

My first thought: “Look fam…if it was really that simple I probably wouldn’t be on your website looking for information in the first place.”

There’s definitely more to it then forcing yourself to the task, because not only is that difficult and unpleasant, it’s also impossible to maintain. You won’t maintain that for the long term simply because it’s difficult and unpleasant: it’ll feel unnatural, and you’ll actually end up subconsciously associating pain with the tasks you need to do to succeed.

Here’s one last thing I’d like you to keep in mind before we get started…

“You’re future can either be an extension of your past, or it can be something
new that you create. Tomorrow can either be a replay of everything you’ve been
doing up to now, or it can be the day where everything changes…”
~ Eben Pagan

So let’s get started…the first step is going to be the easiest of them all: just keep doing whatever you’ve been doing for a few more days, but keep a measurement of your activities.

Instead of trying to force yourself to make changes right away, just focus on getting a better understanding of productivity, procrastination and time-management FIRST (as these posts will help you to do), while using the form below to collecting a pool of objective, raw data for you to experiment with later on with that stronger framework.

The form is called “Clock Movements,” because that’s exactly what you’ll be doing, and you can download it either as an adobe acrobat PDF file or an excel template (if you need to make any adjustments, you’d rather type it out then print it or whatever).

Later on, we’ll use a template that focuses strictly on procrastination habits themselves. More coming soon…

Peace,
+B

More Science…
>> The facebook note introducing the “Conquer Yourself” series
>> How Our Society is Keeping You From Being Productive
>> More on Lin Yutang (this man was deep).
>> Sign up for the newsletter in the right sidebar: it’ll keep you updated on things AND you’ll get a free mixtape.

Filed under: Conquer Yourself (Productivity, Self-Discipline, etc.), Uncategorized on March 1st, 2010 | 5 Comments »

Conquer Yourself…

Peace,

Dig this :)

I just put out a facebook note that explains it all. Check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&suggest&note_id=381588385608

Filed under: Conquer Yourself (Productivity, Self-Discipline, etc.), Uncategorized on February 28th, 2010 | No Comments »

Reflecting on Percussion pt. 2

Peace,

A few weeks ago an old percussionist friend of mine put up a new video up of himself drumming and it kind of took me back, so for this post I want to show you some videos to share that whole experience.

I used to drum A LOT back in the day, and I learned a lot from that experience. Like I said in an older blog post a few years ago:

…taking my percussion thing seriously was the first major goal I ever set (and achieved) for myself and – after some serious introspection – I realized all of the wisdom and personal growth I’ve gained from it. Through percussion and all of my adventures with different bands and drum corps, I didn’t just learn about music…I learned about life.

The first video is of my highschool band: The Uniondale Marching Knights. The following two are of some cats I used to drum with out in Brooklyn. There’s also a very powerful drum corp I used to perform with called The Cadets of NYC, (these are the cats I learned the most from) but I couldn’t find any video footage of them online. I think they’ve disbanded since that time, unfortunately.

Take a second to check these videos out though. They’re tough…