The Power of Focus and Feelings.

Welcome to my new years post. It is ingrained in our culture that New Years is a time for “resolutions”. I’m going to break the news for you. The vast majority of people who set New Years Resolutions have quit them by the second week. They are missing a key ingredient to be success. First, if you are one of the people who have set a NewYears Resolution, I am behind you completely I wish you the best. I hope you find some resources on this blog that help you follow through.

We as Americans have been trained to think that we are all perfect snowflakes that never need to change. I have some news for you, the percentage of us getting cancer (41%, some cases are genetic), the number of us over weight (66%), the percentage of us who go about our daily lives hating our jobs(debatable, 80% is a common estimate) have been on the rise for decades.

As you are reading this, it means that you want more than a resolution. You want REAL RESULTS. This could be in any form. Imagine the person you want to be, by this I don’t mean think of your favorite celebrity. Maybe that person has traits that you would like to see in yourself, more importantly this is a self-reflection. Imagine the best version of yourself, ask yourself what is one thing that person has that right now. As it is something you really want to achieve, it is worth working for. Many of you know my most recent personal challenge. I want to have what I have entitled, A Killer Beach Volleyball Body. This involves a six-pack, and larger, more toned muscles. For the record, I have been a skinny lanky guy my entire life. I have never had even the inkling of a six-pack, EVER. I have recently completed the first of this six month goal. And all the hard work has paid off; even through the holidays I have noticed an amazing difference. But again, it has been a fair amount of work. I can promise you, that how I framed it in my mind it was not hard. At the beginning of every work out, every meal, I focus on the image I have in my head of the person I want to be. I repeated the mantra, “this time is for me, this time is only for achieving my desired outcome”. I have now done this so many times that it is a reality to me. And with every workout and every meal I have had, my will power to achieve my goal of having that “Killer Beach Volleyball Body” is even closer. (I highly recommend you check this workout program out)

The power of focus and visualization can be learned. This is not a gift anyone is born with. You can learn this trick too, and gain from the immense success that it offers. I learned it from Grandmaster in Tae Kwon Do Nam Kwon Hyong. Working to achieve my black belt, I had to break two concrete slabs with my hand. I weighed 160 lbs and was six foot two. There is no way looking at me that you could have imagined me breaking concrete. Every night for two months I visualized myself breaking those bricks over and over until it became a reality. By the time I stepped in front of the real concrete slabs, my unconscious mind was the quietest it had ever been. I had trained it so well that there was only one possible result that swinging my arm would produce. It had become so simple. Of course I had to practice the technique, but the hardest thing is the belief that you can be successful. (I know that my sister is reading this week, and I do have to send her a shout out. She helped me stay accountable for my practice. Thanks Liz, BEST SISTER EVER!)

Now, back to the task at hand. Remember last week’s thought process of…

POSITIVE THOUGHTS lead to POSITIVE EMOTIONS lead to POSITIVEACTIONS lead to POSITIVE RESULTS.

Here is where we will put it into practice. Take the one thing that you would like to transform yourself into.

Step One: Identify the one thing you would like to achieve. Be specific; make sure it is a RESULT. Identify a date you will have it achieved by. If you are new to this, I would recommend no more than three months. And break it down to clear benchmarks by month.

For example, you want to loose weight. First, don’t make weight loss; frame it this way, it will be about weight. In the best-case scenario, you will loose the weight and once you reach your goal, you will start gaining it back. Take your focus off the weight. Lets focus on the positive. I want to live a healthier life style. Break that down into the key outcomes. I consume those foods that will nourish my mind and body. I am able to run/walk one mile in under a specific time. My joints are the healthiest they have ever been. Once you figure the outcomes, focus on why you want these.

Step Two: What is your purpose? Healthy eating is important because, I will be more attractive to the opposite sex, it will make me feel positive, I will prove that I can control my life, I will have more energy after I eat. Do the same thing for each of your outcomes. It was this strategy that allowed me to turn myself around.

(How many of us can say that after we are done eating we want to run a mile, or challenge something new. For the vast majority of my life, I was in at least two comas a day, one food coma at lunch and one after dinner. It was all induced from fatty foods or a crash after I ate plenty of sugar. )

When you focus on the result, allow yourself to get excited about it. Going after what you want is exciting, and when you continue to focus on your desired outcome you will keep getting excited.

Step Three: Identify your actions, what is it you need to do to accomplish your result. Some you will know, some you may not. This is why god invented the Internet. For me I have tried a variety of workout programs, none worked the way I wanted them to; mostly because I didn’t follow through the first two steps. (Right now I am using SixPackShortcuts, it is a viable workout program for many body types, both men and women. In this program you are assigned a certified personal trainer/coach and they help modify the program to fit your specific needs.) Seek out experts; there are plenty of blogs, and expert sites that provide guidance and suggestions. Seek out a friend, or pose a question in the comments section of this blog. If you ask for help, you will often be impressed with the amount of people who are willing to assist you on your journey.

Step Four: Make an actionable plan. Have a plan for when you will do each action, each day and week for a month. Once that plan is complete, follow through. If you are going to the gym, and you had to work late, go for whatever amount of time you can spare, even if it is only fifteen minutes. You will get something out of it. More importantly you will feel better having done it, both physically and mentally.

Now is finally the time for you to identify your Positive Result. Tackle it and let me know how it goes.

Fill your mind with positive thoughts. Next week, is the Positive Challenge, get ready I will be working on it this week and will report my results on the next posting!

Make this week the best week of your life. Take that next POSITIVEACTION to the person you want to be!



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Before you look to next year, take stock in all that you have accomplished this year.

To learn more about the shortcut to six pack abs. Check it out.

Change Your Emotions, Change Your World

Hi all! It’s Adam here; first I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas.  Second, I would love for you to reflect on a question for a moment.

Is it truly possible to change your emotional state in less than 24 hours?  Now don’t answer so quickly.  Allow me to expand the question, could you change your emotional state to the point where you could complete something so challenging that it only seems technically possible right now. Accomplishing this challenge right now may seem so unlikely that it may as well be impossible.  It may be finally going skydiving, losing your desired amount of weight, taking that job you have always wanted or taking a chance on that special someone.  Often times we establish self-imposed constraints that limit what is actually possible.

Allow me to share a true story where thousands of people were able to put behind them their emotional states to do something which they had thought was impossible.  World War One broke out in July of 1914, and by mid September following the First Battle of the Marne it had turned into a stalemate we know now as trench warfare.  Two million men took part in that hellish battle, resulting in horrible losses on both sides. There was a combined total of five hundred thousand killed or wounded.  They occupied practically the same lines of defense through the autumn months and now were entering the dead of winter.  Soldiers on both sides were faced living in muddy holes, with the enemy in near proximity ready to shoot them if they attempted an assault.  Only 98 years ago today, on Christmas Eve, the impossible became possible. 

What happened was so out of the character of warfare that you may already know the story. The following was a letter from the front lines that was published in The Dublin Evening Mail two weeks after Christmas Eve 1914.

 “Christmas in the trenches. It must have been sad do you say? Well I am not sorry to have spent it there and the recollection of it will ever be one of imperishable beauty. At midnight a baritone stood up and in a rich resonant voice sang, Minuit Chretiens. The cannonade ceased and when the hymn finished applause broke out from our side and from the German trenches! The Germans were celebrating Christmas too and we could hear them singing two hundred yards from us. Now I am going to tell you something which you will think incredible but I give you my word that it is true. At dawn the Germans displayed a placard over the trenches on which was written Happy Christmas d then leaving their trenches, unarmed they advanced towards us singing and shouting "comrades!". No one fired. We also had left our trenches and separated from each other only by the half frozen Yser, we exchanged presents. They gave us cigars and we threw them some chocolate. Thus almost fraternising we passed the morning. Unlikely indeed, but true. I saw it but thought I was dreaming. They asked us to spend Christmas without firing and the whole day passed without any fighting.”

This did not just happen on one small section of the front but happened all over the entire front.  There were countless stories of soccer games, singing, exchanging presents and plenty of other pleasantries.  Could you imagine yourself as that first German Soldier with the baritone voice?  Risking it all for the possibility of a day of peace.  The trepidation and fear he must have felt as he climbed the ladder to expose himself to possible enemy fire.  What was impossible only a short time prior, became possible.  Many individuals were able to change their emotional state in that moment and took a chance.  

Whether you are in a state of war or not, we are all capable of making huge changes in our emotional states to accomplish what we desire.  Remaining in a negative emotional state is often an effect of your thoughts.  If you can master your thoughts you can change your feelings.  Having positive feelings will lead to PositiveActions, leading to your desired results.

The first comes from Jane McGonical the creator of the website SuperBetter.com.   She has broken down resiliency into four different subsets: physical, mental, emotional, and social. I know what you are thinking… Adam?  Weren’t we only talking about emotions???  Yes, but you can use a plethora of techniques to change your emotional state.  Here are a few of the techniques she recommends on your quest to be SuperBetter.  Before we start, you must do them with me as we go through them.  First, make your hands into fists, and raise them over your head for five seconds.  One, Two, Three, Four, and Five! Great Job.  Second, snap your fingers exactly fifty times. 1, 2, 3, 4,… well I will assume you can count to fifty.  Three, do a quick YouTube or Google search for your favorite baby animal.  Fourth, send someone a thank you via text, email, Facebook, or twitter.  Now, after having completed these tasks, changing your thoughts you will have changed your emotional state.

What is one thing that you may have been thinking about that is bringing on negative emotions.  Ask yourself the question, is it holding you back from taking your positive actions or is this thought process helping you achieve what you would like in life?  If it is not the latter, take action to change your thought process.  This is not something that comes quickly, over time the change will occur.

I wish you all a happy holiday and to make this week the best week of your life.

Adam

Your BONUS video of the week. Watch Anthony Robbins change the thoughts and emotions of a man who has gone through incredible hardships. Learn his technique. Waring contains adult content that is hilarious!

Succumb to your fear, and understand it!

Hell everyone, it’s Adam.

I would first like to start out by thanking everyone for subscribing to PositiveActions. I welcome you to spread the blog around and encourage your friends to subscribe to this motivational message.

This week’s post was inspired by the book The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. Recently, a friend of mine recommended this book to me, and since I got it I have not been able to put it down. (Thanks Karen!) If you have not yet read this impressive and entertaining work, I recommend that you take the opportunity to as soon as possible. Tim’s message much like our own, focuses on taking positive action. His actions have landed him, and many of those that have read his book, in what he has titled “the new rich”. These new rich are able to live their fantasy lifestyle in real life. Of course this may sound too good to be true. It all starts with understanding one simple lesson. It is a lesson that Tim regularly repeats as one of his mantras “What is the worst that could happen.” It is this singular thought that keeps him taking action after action in his life. He has a massed a fortune, and has also helped countless people live more fulfilled lives.

We all get to a point where we see our ideal future in front of us. You could dream of becoming a surfing instructor in Fiji, work at the non-profit of your dreams, become a schoolteacher, or start a Blog. We all have goals in our life, unless you are taking immediate and real action to get there, there is something holding you back. For many of us that is fear, fear can be a powerful motivator of inaction. It can convince us of maintaining the status quo, preventing us from taking action of what we really want. As long as we continue to allow our fear to drive us, our goals will remain just that, goals. We need to see our goals as RESULTS. It is results that we are truly looking for. As you can tell I am passionate about focusing our efforts on getting what we want out of life. If you added up all the time and energy you have spent considering something you have always dreamed of doing, you may have already been able to use that time and energy to achieve it. Lets get started!

Of course, if it were that easy, you would have already done it… Right? The good news is it can be just that easy. In Tim’s book, he recommends a very specific strategy. I suggest you make the following one of your personal PositiveActions of your week. Start it off right and allow yourself to see your fear for what it is.

Mark Twain famously said, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” It is with that spirit that we continue.

NOTE: The following is only part of Tim’s recommendation from The Four hour Work Week, to get the entire message I recommend reading the book.

“Define your nightmare, that absolute worst that could happen if you did what you are considering.” The simple action of detailing your fear, understanding what it is you are truly afraid of, will put your fear into perspective. Three question’s Tim follows up with are “What would be the permanent impact, if any, on a scale of 1–10? Are these things really permanent? How likely do you think it is that they would actually happen?” After detailing your fear, is it something that you will survive, something that you would gain valuable life experience? We only live life once and it is up to us to choose what we do with our short time here on Earth. If you are not fully satisfied with what it is you are doing, big or small, it is up to you to take a positive action.

Make this the week to conquer your fears and to take positive action to make this week the best week of your life.

Sincerely,

Adam

Hear from the author. In this TedTalk Tim Ferris talks about some of his positive actions.

Here is your bonus message for this week. It comes to us from an eight year-old kid. "Sometimes I get scared, but then I just tell myself to do it, and I believe I can."

Inspire Yourself to Take Positive Actions

Hi Guys,welcome to week two!

The Ted Talk I'm sending you today is "How Great Leaders Inspire Action". While you may or may not have subordinates who follow you at work or a group of friends who hinge on your intuition for what to do on a weekend.  We all lead at least one person. This person is the most important person in your world. You should spend as much of your time possible developing this person. As I am sure you may have figured out, this person is you. The skills, ability, and drive you have will determine your success. The good news is that these are 100% in your control. Your skills can be developed. You can grow new and unique abilities. And most importantly you can improve your drive and motivation to be whatever you want to be.  As you watch this video I want you to focus your thoughts on one specific question. "Why do you do what you do?" Attached is a short 3 page workbook that was created by Scott Dinsmore (He was the speaker on the last Ted Talk I sent out.) If you can answer this major question and you feel that it is both fulfilling and applicable to you regular work activities; you may be part of America's 20% who love their job. If your why is a little foggy that is okay! That just means you get to resolve it which is one of the best parts! As you slowly figure that out your life will become more and more congruent.

Make this week the week to add inspiration to your life, and to take and extra positive action to bring the results you desire!

Adam