Self Knowledge

"I think it comes from a combination of your personality and experience. Outside influences tell you about yourself thus allowing you the opportunity to notice things about yourself. Many people are told about themselves but refuse to listen. Those that listen now can see that they are a particular way. Once you know something you can focus on it and make a change if you desire. A very few can find those things by themselves. Those people have a gift."
- Mark Davis on the topic of self knowledge

I was reviewing a email string that I had with my friend Mark a few weeks ago, and wanted to get this quote up on the blog. Very powerful stuff.....

The Sleeper

"Because people want something elaborate and mysterious, so many religions have come into existence. Only those who are mature can understand the matter in its naked simplicity."
- Sri Ramana Maharshi

"Happiness consists in realizing its all a great strange dream."
- Jack Kerouac

True Purpose

"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."
- Bagger Vance, taken from the movie the Legend of Bagger Vance

"In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of."
- Robert Schumann

A month or so ago I wrote an entry called "Alignment." The basic premise is that it is important to apply one's time and resources to what a person really feels is at their Core. It's basically the same idea I had a few weeks ago--more or less the first signs of awareness of this concept. Now that I have spent time thinking about goals, I think there is a tweak that I missed. A person's goals should reflect their deepest internal values, and the time and energy that we apply to achieving these pursuits should be used judiciously.

I selected the quotes above for today's material because I think that they illustrate that their is something creative, and powerful inside each of us that knows what we should be doing. A yogi would call this bhakti, the Jedi would call it The Force. For most people I know would call this their soul, the place of Light and Truth dwelling in each of us. Much of the time, we have to get out of our own way and let this Force move through us.

I'd like to thank all those out their who posted their goals. One individual who signed off as "KJC" reminded me that goals should be simple, our actions towards achieving them need to be a way of life in order to make true progress.

That's all I got. I used this as a break to let my mind rest. I am currently tying out an enormous SEC document, and my brain is protesting. Yes, it is Saturday, and yes, the weather here in Arizona is absolutely astonishing. I'll probably knock off here in a few, and come back tomorrow. Once this is done I'll be able to get some good workouts in this week, and hit the CPA study hard.

Namaste

What You Choose to Focus On, Part II

"My mentors/advisers/pals and I had an email thread the other day about "coaching elite athletes". What started as a discussion on coaching elite triathletes (rather infrequently elites in life), turned into a platform for some very successful people to define their personal definition of success. What was fascinating to me was that EVERY one of the successful people had achieved their person definition of success. They may not have achieved my definition (or your definition) but they achieved their own. A clear reminder that we must choose our goals wisely. What comes next is important...

Successful people cultivate an abundance mentality for their goals within themselves. They "are" what they are seeking to achieve. Through this self-expression, they achieve success prior to achieving their goals.

Unsuccessful people (unconsciously and consciously) cultivate a scarcity mentality within themselves. The focus on their "lack" of what they are seeking and long for the day when they will achieve it. This day rarely comes. Change in our life situation most effectively stems from an improvement in our personal outlook, expressed by what we cultivate in ourselves. We are most able to attract the things, experiences, people that we cultivate within ourselves."
- taken from http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/2007/03/magic-formula.html

I really like the site that I took this quote from. The author consistently has good things to say about goal setting, making grounded decisions, etc. What really spoke to me about this quote is that it holds that success is different for everyone. Wow! I wish I would have know this at twenty-two.

These words pretty much confirmed for me a sneaking suspicion that I have had for the past year. Right out of college I thought that success could be broken into the following parts: impressive job title + lots of money + athletic dominance + smokin’ girlfriend = SUCCESS. The deeper I went down this path, the more miserable I felt.

At the time I tried to express these feeling to my fellow co-workers and friends, and they looked at me like I was absolutely crazy. Reason being, there definition of success was drastically different than mine. At the time I thought there was something wrong with me, so I kept plugging away at making my broken “SUCCESS” formula work, or even worse, applying someone else's formula to my life. The reason it didn’t work is that I wasn’t living in accordance with what really equated to personal success. Sounds obvious, but I wonder how many people live in a construct that they didn't create.

So those are my thoughts on true success. I'd like to hear what this equates to the reader's of this blog....

Namaste

What You Choose to Focus On, Is What You Become

"Write down your short and long term GOALS four times a year. 2 personal, 2 business and one health goal. A university found only 3 percent of the students had written goals. 20 years later, the same 3 percent were wealthier than the other 97% combined."
- taken from http://www.lululemon.com/culture/manifesto/text

Two Christmases ago I received some very nice workout shorts from my sister. What might have been more important was the bag that the shorts came in. It had a bunch of quotes on it, one of which is the aforementioned quote at the top of this page. I had some time yesterday, so I got two sets of five Post-It notes, one set for the long-term and one set for the short term, and made my goal listing. After my first pass, my sister shot me an email and said, "You need to apply the SMART acronym to your goals--goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. So I reworked them a touch. Here are the results:

Short Term (less than one year):
1. Professional #1: Pass the CPA Exam in 2007
2. Professional #2: Join a professional organization in 2007 (AICPA, NAREIT, etc.)
3. Personal #1: Eliminate all consumer debt by July 2007
4. Personal #2: Learn to dance the Tango in 2007
5. Health: Bring my lunch to work 3 times per week, and have healthy snacks available in a desk drawer.

Long-Term (one to two years from now):
1. Professional #1: Be promoted to Senior Financial Reporting Analyst
2. Professional #2: Get a real estate licence
3. Personal #1: Break 1:43:00 in the 2008 PF Chang's Rock 'N
4. Personal #2: Swim 3,000 meters continuously
5. Health: (Open to update)

As I have said before, a person ultimately becomes what they choose to focus on. With that said, I can sit in a locked room, and focus on World Peace, but that doesn’t contribute anything to the cause. If you want to get anything of substance done, their needs to be accountability, and you have to have fun in the process.

So, those are my thoughts. I’d love to see people’s goals posted on this site. I’m curious as to what people are working on and how they are going about achieving such things.

Namaste

Back on the Mat

"It all starts with a thought."
- ZA

"Ultimately, human intentionality is the most powerful evolutionary force on this planet."
- George B. Leonard

I returned to the yoga studio three days ago. What was interesting to see was this: eventhough I have not practiced consistently for over 6 months, my body was more flexible and compliant to requests than it ever has been. I'd like to say that I went up and spoke to Max Cohen about this phenomenon, and we had a life altering discussion about how such things occur. Unfortunately I was able to go to Max's class, but I do have a pretty good idea why this yoga phenomenon occurred.

Over the past year I have spent a lot of time cleaning up my thoughts. With my last blog, I believe I stumbled onto a important relevation, and actually have been able to "live" the change. As I have let go of previously established thought patterns, insecurities, and negative energy, my mind and body have opened up.....It's either that or I am totally reading into this experience way too much, and am totally off base.

This brings me to another thing I'd like to talk about: the power of practice in conjunction with non-judgemental observation. I spoke to a person today about the CPA exam, and they made the comment, "Gosh, it just seems so hard." Yeah....but when you were a little kid learning to walk, you didn't think, "Gosh, this walking is so hard. Why even try?" Same with talking. I think as people get older they have the tendency to judge themselves in the face of feedback which isn't "right on."

Much of the time, I think that people--and when I say people I really should be saying "I"--forget that some of our greatest challenges were overcome by the age of 3. Honestly, the CPA exam is a challenge, but it can't be as hard as learning to walk or learning to talk. With practice and appropriate self-observation, all things really are possible.

Namaste