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MIND POWER MASTERY
HOW TO LIVE AN AMAZING LIFE
Have you ever felt as though you should be getting more from
life?
Do you ever feel tired, stressed out, or overworked?
Has your health and vitality suffered? Do you seem to be
completely unable to get afloat? Perhaps you feel like you’re just
treading water…
All this can eventually start to get you down. This is not what we
were promised. Perhaps you always pictured that your life would
be different. Many of us assumed we would someday make a lot
of money. Many of us assume that we should have much more
energy than we do.
And we see people around us who seem to have the things that
we want to achieve. We all know people who are polished, who
are confident, who look attractive…
We all know people who seem to have it all.
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So why can’t we have that? Why is life being so unfair to us?
Well, if you have read any of the other guides so far then you
know that this is where you are going wrong to start with. It’s
blaming your circumstances and it’s blaming other people. You
have everything you need to live a truly incredible life right now.
All that is missing is the right mindset to go about achieving it.
You know what’s even more likely? You’re already living a truly
amazing life. You already have everything that anyone could ever
ask for… but you just don’t appreciate it.
As we’ve learned over this series, your happiness and your
accomplishments stem from you. And more than that, they stem
from your mindset and the way that you view yourself and your
life. They stem from having the drive to go out and get the things
you feel you deserve. And from knowing how you are going to go
about doing that.
In this final guide, you’re going to learn how to make some simple
changes. You’re going to learn how to start fortifying yourself
against challenge. You’re going to learn to start appreciating all
the things you already have. And you’re going to learn to master
your life so that you can decide precisely what kind of person you
want to be. Precisely what you are going to achieve.
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WHAT ARE YOUR PRIORITIES?
The first thing you need to do is to start reassessing some of your
priorities. Many of us complain that we aren’t healthier, happier or
richer but we never do anything about it. That’s because – despite
what we’re saying – we aren’t giving those aspects of our lives
priority.
Let’s break down your current routine shall we and see if we can
assess the problem?
You’re telling people you want to have six pack abs. you’re telling
people you want to be a successful author or a successful
business owner. You tell people that your family means
everything to you.
Okay then. So, if that’s true, those are the things you should be
spending the majority of your time on… right?
Instead, what you will probably find is that your lifestyle looks
something more like this:
Sleep: 6-7 Hours
Work: 8-9 Hours
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Commuting: 1-2 Hours
Lunch Break: 30 Minutes
Everything else: ~5 Hours
And in those roughly five hours, you need to fit in waking up,
getting ready for the day, washing dishes, doing the laundry,
cooking…
Now ask me again why you don’t have the lifestyle you want?
You claim that your goals and dreams are your top priority and yet
you don’t live a life that reflects that in the slightest.
This reminds me very much of the problem with modern politics.
So often, we are told by our political leaders just how much
money they have managed to save. They’ll tell us how they have
increased the value of the dollar. They’ll boast that they’re paying
off the deficit.
But is this how we should really be judging their success?
How about much more important metrics like quality of life? Or
happiness?
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You’re doing the same thing in your own life. You’re pouring 90%
of your effort into your work and coming away completely
exhausted. Of course everything else suffers.
How it Got This Way
Have you ever asked how things got this way?
The answer, while it might not be very pleasant, ultimately comes
down to fear and indoctrination.
It’s fear because we are driven so often by a fear of our partners
leaving us. By a fear of debt. By a fear of not being able to put a
deposit on a house. Of being single in our 40s and missing the
boat to have children.
This means that you are motivated by the stick rather than the
carrot. You are focussed on running away from all the things you
don’t want, rather than toward all the things you do want. And this
really isn’t helped by the media and by the way we’re brought up.
This is where the whole ‘indoctrination’ part comes in. I’m not a
conspiracy theorist. I’m not here to tell you that this is a deliberate
move on the part of the government or any such thing.
BUT it is nevertheless the way most of us are brought up. We are
raised to believe that we are born into some kind of debt. That we
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owe this debt to society. That hard graft and work is something to
be proud of.
Meanwhile, we are taught to want all kinds of things that are just
out of our grasp. These include widescreen TVs, lavish
properties, expensive looking cars and more. We work toward
these things, we work because we’re afraid of debt, and we work
because it is what society expects of us.
But let me ask you this: is there really any inherent value in work
itself? Working toward a good cause is of course a good thing.
Working to support your family is likewise to be applauded.
But those people who proudly state that they’ve ‘never missed a
day of work!’ or who retire in their 80s, or who talk in a generally
proud fashion about the work they did stacking palettes.
It’s nice they’re proud. Really it is. But here’s the sad part: if they
didn’t come in, the world would keep on ticking on without them.
And even if it didn’t, the worst case scenario is that someone
would get a palette late.
Meanwhile, wouldn’t it have been much better if they had looked
after their health? If they had spent more time with their family?
If they had pursued a passion and written a beautiful piece of
music?
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Work in itself should be a means to an end and certainly not a
means in itself. Work only has value as long as the end product
has value. And even then, it’s not worth sacrificing every other
aspect of your life for.
LIFESTYLE DESIGN
The simple cognitive shift I want you to make here then is that you
are not living to work but working to live. It’s a cliché I know, but if
you actually follow that advice through to its logical conclusion,
then you find yourself with something akin to lifestyle design.
Lifestyle design is a way of life that simply flips traditional notions
of work on their head and instead focusses on building a lifestyle
you can be happy with. You decide what it is you want to
accomplish, who you want to be… and then you change your
career and other factors in order to fit around that lifestyle.
For many people, this will mean becoming a digital nomad.
Thanks to modern technology, there is no need for us to work
from a stuffy office or make a long journey into work. Instead, we
can simply load up the computer and work from home. This
affords an amazing amount of freedom, allowing you to work from
wherever you like and whenever you like. Many people will take
advantage of this by travelling the world with just a laptop and
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working from coffee shops. That’s lifestyle design and that’s being
a ‘digital nomad’.
But it can also mean something much smaller. It means looking at
the promotion that comes with so much extra responsibility and it
means asking yourself if it’s worth it. Wouldn’t it be much better to
spend more time with your family and keep the job you’ve got?
Alternatively, maybe you take on that job but you negotiate having
one day off so that you get a whole day to yourself. Or perhaps
you take on a part-time job and a side-income instead. Maybe you
conclude that in order to follow your passions, the best option is to
become a garbage collector so that you can be free by 2pm in the
afternoon. Need more money? Then get a smaller house!
It can even mean that you choose to move home somewhere that
you’ll be nearer to work so that you have a shorter commute. A
shorter commute means 30 minutes extra to yourself per day.
Maybe you decide to pay for a cleaner so that you can have a
beautiful home!
There are so many variables here that you can play around with
that you don’t need to take the most obvious route through your
life. You don’t have to follow the predetermined path that has
been set out for you by society and you don’t need to keep
making life harder and harder.
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Some More Changes
Choosing to design your own lifestyle and take back control is one
way to start getting what you want from life. But there are a few
others too that will help you with this.
One cognitive shift is to know your worth, to stand your ground
and lose the fear.
Another cognitive shift is to recognize that time and money are
both interchangeable. This latter point means that if you are
getting paid more but you are also working longer hours then you
aren’t really getting a pay rise at all. The only way this would
count as a pay rise is if you got paid more for working the same
hours.
So, if you’re being offered profession up the ladder but it involves
staying later at work, there is an obvious answer: you’ll just take
the pay rise thanks!
This is where knowing your worth comes in. You see, many of us
are afraid to ask for more money, or are afraid to increase our
rates. We think if we do that, we’ll lose work and we’ll end up
homeless. Again: lose the fear. This doesn’t happen. If you are
providing a good service to someone, or if you’re a good
employee, then you can afford to charge more.
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Think about how much they’re earning thanks to you and how
much they’d lose if you stopped working for them.
You have the right to charge more. And not only that, but it is
common for wages to go up regardless of responsibilities. So, if
you feel you need more money then don’t be afraid to ask for it.
And if they refuse? Then you look elsewhere for a new employer
or new clients.
As Tim Ferriss says: ask for forgiveness, not permission.
Ultimately, you are worth what you think you are worth. If you put
a price on your head that is too low, then you can work incredibly
hard for no reward. Keep looking. And keep learning.
And here’s one more thing: don’t wait. Don’t wait for life to get
better. Don’t wait until you’re old and retired. Because life always
throws you curveballs and the stars never align. The only way you
can live a better life is to start right NOW. And don’t tell me you’re
too old: you’re never too old to be the person you always wanted
to be.
So if you’ve been putting off going travelling because of fear,
because of opportunity and because you worry that life won’t be
there for you when you get back it is time to buck up your ideas.
Take charge and go now. This is the only way you’ll ever go.
Work will be there when you get back. And if it isn’t? At least
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you’ve done something truly memorable and worthwhile. What
could be more valuable?
IT STARTS WITH EVERYTHING
Hopefully, some of these tips will help you to start getting more
from your life simply by changing your priorities and going after
the things you want.
So where do you start?
The answer is with everything.
What I mean by this, is that if you want to be healthier and
happier and to live a generally better life, then you need to
change everything all at once.
We’ve discussed that your ability to change your life starts in the
mind. But have you considered what affects your mind?
The mind has a limited amount of energy. Throughout these
guides, I’ve asked a lot from you: to take more responsibility, to
lose your fear, to practice discipline, to stay motivated. All those
things take energy.
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And if you’ve only got 5 hours outside of work to be productive in,
then you’re going to struggle. You’ll struggle even more if you’re
highly stressed and if you’re burned out.
So as you start to put the emphasis a bit more back onto you. As
you start to focus on your goals and on the things that make you
happy, you can also look at how you can ensure you are charged
and able to get the very most out of life.
It starts with simple things: things like getting enough sleep, things
like going out in the sun occasionally and maybe things like taking
vitamin supplements.
Later it goes on to more profound matters: learning to meditate.
Finding a passion. Surrounding yourself with the right people.
Every aspect of your health and your lifestyle will feed back into
the way you feel and what you can accomplish. You need to start
small and build up the energy you want. Right now you might feel
trapped by your circumstances, so find just that small crack of
light. That might mean getting a little more energy by taking a
supplement in the morning. But if that gives you enough fuel to
consider implementing systems to keep your home tidier and that
gives you the mental space to start challenging your work-life
balance… then it will all be worth it.
And Finally
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And finally? Learn to appreciate what you have right now.
Because this is the ultimate key to happiness. The truth is that if
you keep dreaming of that widescreen TV then you won’t be able
to escape the hedonistic treadmill. You’ll stay in the fight or flight
mode, you’ll keep pushing and fighting.
And looking forward to a holiday isn’t much better. Looking
forward to quitting your job isn’t that much better either.
Do it now.
And meanwhile, learn to focus on what’s already just right in your
life. If you stop and smell the roses, if you practice a ‘gratitude
mindset’ you’ll realize you’ve probably already accomplished a
whole lot. And you’ll find that you already have many happy
moments in your daily life.
Live in those moments.