Powerful Ideas for an Extraordinary Life

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11

Light a candle beside you when you are reading in the evening. It is most

relaxing and creates a wonderful, soothing atmosphere. Make your home an oasis

from the frenzied world outside. Fill it with great music, great books and great

friends.

 

12

To enhance your concentration and powers of focus, count your steps when you

walk. This is a particularly strong technique. Take six steps while taking a

long inhale, hold your breath for another six steps, and then exhale for six

steps. If six steps is too long for the breaths, do whatever you feel

comfortable with. You will feel very alert, refreshed, internally quiet and

centered after this exercise. So many people allow their minds to be filled with

mental chatter. All peak performers appreciate the power of a quiet, clear mind

which will concentrate steadily on all important tasks.

 

13

Learn to meditate effectively. The mind is naturally a very noisy machine which

wants to move from one subject to another like an unchained monkey. One must

learn to restrain and discipline it if one is to achieve anything of substance

and to be peaceful. Meditation for twenty minutes in the morning and twenty

minutes in the evening will certainly provide you with exceptional results if

regularly practiced for six months. Learned sages of the East have been

advancing the many benefits of meditation for over 5000 years.

 

14

Learn to be still. The average person doesn't spend even 30 minutes a month in

total silence and tranquility. Develop the skill of sitting quietly, enjoying

the powerful silence for at least ten minutes a day. Simply think about what is

important to you in your life. Reflect on your mission. Silence indeed is

golden. As the Zen master once said, it is the space between the bars that holds

the cage.

 

15

Enhance your will-power; it is likely one of the best training programs you can

invest in. All elite performers have high levels of self-discipline. Here are

some ideas to strengthen your will and become a stronger person:

a) Do not let your mind float like a piece of paper in the wind. Work hard to

keep it focused at all times. When doing a task, think of nothing else. When

walking to work, count the steps that it takes to get all the way to the office.

This is not easy but your mind will soon understand that you hold its reins and

not vice versa. Your mind must eventually become as still as a candle flame in a

corner where there is no draft.

b) Your will is like a muscle. You must first exercise it and then push before

it gets stronger. This necessarily involves short term pain but be assured that

the improvements will come and will touch your character in a most positive way.

When you are hungry, wait another hour before your meal. When you are laboring

over a difficult task and your mind is prompting you to pick up the latest

magazine for a break or to get up and go talk to a friend, curb the impulse.

Soon you will be able to sit for hours in a precisely concentrated state. Sir

Isaac Newton, one of the greatest classical physicists the world has produced,

once said: " if I have done the public any service, it is due to patient

thought. " Newton had a remarkable ability to sit quietly and think without

interruption for very long periods of time. If he can develop this so can you.

c) You can also build your will-power by restraint in your conduct with others.

Speak less (use the 60/40 Rule = listen 60% of the time and speak a mere 40%, if

that). This will not only make you more popular but you will learn much wisdom

as everyone we meet, every day has something to teach us. Also restrain the urge

to gossip or to condemn someone who you feel has made a mistake. Stop

complaining and develop a cheerful, vital and strong personality. You will

greatly influence others.

d) When a negative thought comes to your mind, immediately replace it with one

that is positive. Positive always dominates over the negative and your mind has

to be conditioned to think only the best thoughts. Negative thinking is a

conditioned process whereby the negative patterns are established over and over.

Rid yourself of any limitations and become a powerful positive thinker.

 

16

Make an effort to be humorous throughout the day. Not only is it beneficial from

a physical viewpoint but it diffuses tension in difficult circumstances and

creates an excellent atmosphere wherever you are. It was recently reported that

members of the Tauripan tribe of South America have a ritual where they awake in

the middle of the night to tell each other jokes. Even tribesmen in the deepest

sleep wake to enjoy the laugh and then return to their state of slumber in

seconds. The shortest distance between two human beings is laughter.

 

17

Become a highly disciplined time manager. There are roughly 168 hours in a week.

This surely allows plenty of time for achievement of the many goals we desire to

accomplish. Be ruthless with your time. Set aside a few minutes each morning to

plan your day. Plan around your priorities and focus on not only those tasks

which are immediate but not important (i.e., many telephone calls) but

especially on those which are important but not urgent, for these allow for the

greatest personal and professional development. Important but not immediate

activities are those which produce long-term, sustainable benefits and include

exercise, strategic planning, the development of relationships and professional

education. Never let the things which matter most be placed in the backseat as

compared to those that matter least.

 

18

You become who you drink coffee with. Associate only with positive, focused

people who you can learn from and who will not drain your valuable energy with

complaining and uninspiring attitudes. By developing relationships with those

committed to constant improvement and the pursuit of the best that life has to

offer, you will have plenty of company on your path to the top of whatever

mountain you seek to climb.

 

19

Stephen Hawking, one of the great modern physicists of the world, is reported to

have said that we are on a minor planet of a very average star located within

the outer limits of one of a hundred thousand million galaxies. Are your

problems really significant in light of this? You walk this Earth for but a

short time. Why not become devoted to having only a wonderful experience. Why

not dedicate yourself to leaving a powerful legacy to the world? Sit down now

and write out a list of all that you have in your life. Start first with your

health or your family - the things we often take for granted. Put down the

country we live in and the food we eat. Do not stop until you have written down

fifty items. Once every few days, go through this list - you will be uplifted

and recognize the richness of your existence.

 

20

You must have a personal philosophy in life. This is simply a set of guiding

principles which clearly state where you are going and where you want to be at

the end of your life. A mission statement embodies your values. It is your

personal lighthouse keeping you steadily on the course of your dreams. Over a

period of one month, set a few hours aside to write down five or ten principles

which will govern your life and which will keep you focused at all times.

Examples might be to consistently serve others, to be a considerate citizen, to

become highly wealthy or to serve as a powerful leader. Whatever the mission

statement of your life, refine it and review it regularly. Then when something

adverse happens or someone tries to pull you off course, you quickly and

precisely return to your chosen path with the full knowledge that you are moving

in the direction that you have selected.

 

By Robin Sharma

 

to be continued...