I’ll always remember the scene in the movie Reality Bites where Ethan Hawke answers the phone, “Welcome to the winter of our discontent.” Perhaps this is how we should all be answering the phone these days.

When I was in the early stages of conceiving my business and wealth creation plans, I thought that the level to which I was discontent with my results, earnings, bank balance, investment portfolio, lifestyle etc. was what was driving me. I even wrote “I am not content” on one of my personal vision development sheets. Now I’ve realised that it was one of the things that was holding me in a state of (almost) constant anxiety.

I have long been torn between The Buddha’s teachings regarding desire (read: yearning/clinging/grasping) being the root of suffering and wanting to build a better life for myself and my family. This is something that seems – on the surface – to be nigh on impossible to reconcile. However, with and little thought and a lot more non-thought I may have come to my own solution. Unfortunately, it’s not something new. In fact, Buddhist teachers have been teaching it more thousands of years.

So, here’s what I’ve come up with to reconcile all this in myself and cease that internal strife and anxiety. My plans remain my plans but they do not define me. They are part of the illusion that is my future. They have little effect on my now. It is my now that is solely important. It is all that I have. I now focus completely on my now and in so doing lay the path for my future. (I am by no means getting this right all the time but I’m giving it my all.)

I’ve spent too many years on focusing on what my future would hold. Too many hours of thought on how to achieve success. Too many days thinking of things that were not part of my immediate present. What a waste! Today, I focus on right now. I might be writing a plan for the future but I focus on writing the plan, on making sure that I get it right based on right now. And I’m happy to change the plan if needed without clinging to what I created in my past.

No doubt I’ve hugely influenced by what I’ve been reading (and listening to). And I should send out some positive vibes to:

• Ven. Eshu,
• Alan Watts, and
• Eckhart Tolle

I’m feeling a lot more freedom these days. Freedom to do. Freedom to be. Freedom to act.

And my personal vision ends with the words “I am content!”

Jeffrey Gitomer is a genius!

I subscribe to his weekly ezine “Sales Caffeine“. You should too.

Here’s what Gitomer says about listening:

The good elements of listening are:

Listen with the intent to understand. A sermon. A movie. In a classroom.
Listen with the intent to take action. Someone giving instructions.
Listen with the intent to learn. A teacher. A trainer. A seminar leader.
Listen with the intent to enjoy. Music. Sounds of nature. Waterfalls. A crackling fire.
Listen with the intent to remember. Driving directions. A website address. A phone number.

So, are you listening or thinking about what to say next or what you’ve got to do later?

Do you have a personal mission?

Have you written down what it is that you want to become, what you are, what you strive for?

Have you clearly articulated why you want to do the things that you wants to do?

I found that writing my personal mission was both difficult and rewarding. It took me sometime to decide what was truly important and how I was going to achieve my goals. I cannot recommend writing your own highly enough.

Here’s my personal mission:

To be recognised as a man who provides a secure, loving and happy home for his family and as a man who benefits to his community through his business ventures and charitable contributions.

My health and fitness are supremely important and I therefore commit to regular exercise and the maintenance of a healthy diet. In this area – as in many others – I will lead by example.

My actions will show that I value honestly, integrity, self-belief and determination. I will utilise these values to succeed in my personal life and business life.

Each day I will live with passion and vigour. I will smile more than I frown. I will always move forward, not accepting roadblocks and removing distractions. I will be bold in my actions and strive for virtuosity in all that I do.

I will achieve my mission by continually improving myself through education, learning from my mistakes, listening to the feedback of my peers and testing and measuring my results. I will surround myself with positive, intelligent people who share my values.

Above all else, I will be remembered as a loving father and husband.

If I told you that I believe in the Loch Ness Monster what would you think of me? Would you think me simple? Perhaps deluded? Maybe a little crazy? After all there is categorical scientific evidence that concludes that the existence of such a creature is nigh on impossible. (It has been concluded that the loch is not large enough to contain the amount of food required by a being of such size.)

But what if in the face of such evidence I chose to believe anyway? Would you leave me to my beliefs or would you call me on them? Would you – maybe – make fun of me? I wonder.

There are some who – amazingly – believe that the inerrant word of God has been captured in The Holy Bible and that therefore it is an absolute truth that the world was created in six days around 4004BCE. (This is well after sheep were domesticated in Southwest Asia, agriculture was founded in New Guinea and Australia and Japanese potters began decorating pottery.)

In the face of unquestionable evidence that humans and dinosaurs did not co-habitate one creationist website writes: “The Bible teaches (in Genesis 1:29–30) that the original animals (and the first humans) were commanded to be vegetarian. There were no meat eaters in the original creation. Furthermore, there was no death. It was an unblemished world, with Adam and Eve and animals (including dinosaurs) living in perfect harmony, eating only plants.”

It is at this point that my head starts to ache. Try as I might I cannot find a reasonable explanation for belief in creationism. And, no, it is not reasonable to believe the collection of ramblings written by a bunch of uneducated men and bunched together into a book that came to be thought of as the unerring word of God.

Take a poll of the modern American and you will find that the majority believe in creationism. Egad! This is the most powerful nation on the planet and the voting populace might as well believe in the tooth fairy, gnomes, elves, Santa Claus and The Loch Ness Monster.

Any lucid, intelligent human being (who has not been brainwashed and is not ignorant to the facts) must conclude that the world was not in fact created by God in 4004BCE. Should anyone you come across continue to claim this ridiculous scenario I suggest that you do not trust them with anything of value.

Now, don’t get me started on those who believe in The Rapture!

Here’s a three step model I’ve been playing with:

1. Think
2. Do
3. Repeat

Honestly, could I make it simpler than that?

So, why are so many people missing out?

Well, the vast majority of the populace don’t think about anything more substantial that what to watch on TV when they get home. More often than not, those who do think simply have good ideas and don’t actually do anything with them. And those who have good ideas and then do something about them don’t bother to either repeat their successful episode or try again with some modifications.

So, now you know.

Now, go forth a build something!