How to Use Philosophy as a Personal Operating System: From Seneca to Musashi

How to Use Philosophy as a Personal Operating System: From Seneca to Musashi

I just got back from the Bay Area after doing a talk on Overcoming Negativity and the 3 Habits of Super Achievers. It was amazing to see people Wake Up to the idea that their "beliefs" and their speech is creating their circumstance. The next day I was at a Giant's game bending the rules and sitting in the "Club" section, and it was on a Sunday. I mention that it was on Sunday because many of my Rat Race friends wouldn't go with me because their J.O.B required them to be at work the next day at 9am. I stopped doing anything on Monday's just to protest what everyone else finds normal.

I really like the section above where Tim "danced" around the College topic. It was a very diplomatic response I must say, especially coming from Tim. In the spirit of #GraduationWeek I have been posting some fun facts on my Facebook page to see what some people's perspective's are on the topic. Its amazing, I really think some people are awaking to the idea that just getting a degree does not mean you are going to have a wonderful life. I hope we can get more young people to start doing Tim's Dream lining and stop just accepting advise from the previous "broke" generation. You ask college grads why they went to college and most answer because there parents would have "killed" them if they didn't go and get good grades. Go get that degree!! Maybe we should start an after school high school program that teaches Kids ROI (return on investment). At least then they could make an educated decision on weather or not to spend the next 4-6 years occurring debt. To lean lessons that will be obsolete by the time the graduate.

Even though Tim's book is a few years old it is way ahead of what college kids are learning in "Marketing" & "Business" Classes in our State schools. One of my old wakeboarding school students had me look over a final paper he was going to turn in as a senior project, and after reading two pages I told him to go down to the registers office and as for a FOUR YEAR REFUND!!!

One of the most important things you can do is described above by Tim. Pick your mentors and pick your friends because you will always be an average of the 5 people you spend the most time with in your life. That's why I am now hear on Tim's Blog, to meet others who want to live the life of their dreams, and who want to help others realize the same.

Enthusiasm a Cornerstone of Success

The other Corner Stone of the success pyramid is Enthusiasm.  Check out this picture of this kid coloring, he is going after it with some enthusiasm, and I bet he is going to get more color on the page then the person lethargically coloring next to him.  Come to think of it I don't believe I can think of one person that has ever been successful in life that was not enthusiastic of the pursuit.  They may have been outside the lines from time to time but they always got more "color" on the page, if you know what I mean.  Of coarse we where never taught that in our schooling system, nope, we where told to, "Stay within the lines, the lines are your friends."  NOW that is some major POVERTY programing.  Think about it, no one ever became successful staying with in the lines, those are the people that end up on Social INsecurity.

Sometimes I hear people ask someone how they are doing and the person responds, "Same ol', Same ol'" or you will hear, "Busy, been super Busy."  Stick a fork in them cause they are done!!  They might as well be dead because their enthusiasm is nonexistent.  There is no life, there is no enthusiasm and I defiantly don't want to be around anyone with that type of response who does not want to change their outcomes.  Just a little note between you and me, people that claim to be busy only do it to sound like they are important.  Don't tell them, or if you are one of these people don't tell me, but the fact of the matter is that everyone has 24 hours in a day, however some get done in a day what others take weeks or even years to do.  Why is that the broke people are the busiest.  I'm not talking poor, I'm talking BROKE.  You know their liabilities have them by the throat, and they continue to trade time for money and mortgage their future.  No wonder they have no enthusiasm the only thing they have to look forward to is another day of work to pay off things that they could never afford.

Today is May 20th 2011, and some think the world is going to end tomorrow.  I wonder how people would live today different if they knew that tomorrow was the last day.  Check out the people that think it is going to end and I believe you will see some levels of enthusiasm that boarder on "ENSANITY"  I guarantee that they would not talk like the above examples.

The Corner Stone of Industriousness

Looking at the corner stone of the pyramid of success you will find the word industriousness.  I recall the first time I read the word and thought to myself of conveyor belts and a line of factory workers.  Now of coarse I said to myself that's got to be the opposite of what I would perceive as a stepping stone to success.  Well as you might have guessed I had misunderstood what the word not only meant but also didn't comprehend the significants of its placement as a corner stone.  Industriousness as Coach Wooden understood it meant true work at your highest capacity; fully engaged, totally focused, and completely absorbed.
How many people do you know that can be defined as Industrious, by that definition.  Well I know the answer for me was NOT MANY and if someone knows where they hang out let me know because I would like to meet them.  I think about the people I often come in contact with including myself, and we are quite the opposite.  We are always looking for an easier way, a faster way, a way that does not require us to completely commit 100% or get uncomfortable.  That's no way to live, thats the definition of a loser, "Oh I will give it a try."  We need to remember what Yoda said in The Empire Strikes Back, "Do or do not, there is no try."
If we want to live the life of our dreams, we are going to have to pay a price and stop looking for it to go on sale.  One of those prices to pay is doing what others will not do, at a level of engaged focus, that others lack the discipline to maintain, to live how most will never live.  Isn't that the real reward of having Industriousness.  To know that no matter what you gave it all you had and when you reflect on your efforts you have no regrets.  I know this is something that I personally need to work on while I stop comparing my results to others.  The only one we need to compare ourselves to is the person who looked you in the mirror yesterday.  If we can say that we are better then we where yesterday and we did all we could do today to grow as much as we possibly could, we should rest easy at night knowing we made the most of our most valuable asset which we are all running out of, TIME.

Why 80% of the Workforce is Unengaged

Reading on a new friends blog, who is an accomplished business woman in Ohio, she wrote a post quoting the following research.

The Gallup organization and Blessing White, among others who measure employee engagement, estimate that fewer than 20% of employees in the U.S. are fully engaged. The remaining 80% are in varying stages of disengaged, from slight disengaged to highly disengaged. 

I feel that the work force is not engaged in their work is simply that its not their work.  Can you remember being a kid and asking, "Why do I need to know this?"  Of coarse you do because we all asked it almost everyday.  See this is the first sign of disengagement.  This happens simply because we have no interest in the material.  Now lets fast forward to an employee in the work place.  They have been told so many times not to ask, "Why am I doing this?" or "Why do I have to do this?"  They have stopped asking, shut down, and accepted that life is all about doing what you don't want to do in order to make a living.  That my friends is why our economy is broken.  Disengagement which starts in our educational system and continues far in to the workforce, teaches complacency, mediocrity, and unproductive mentalities.

Lets think about the corporate environment.  Let say you have a rising young star full of life and focused on the mission at hand.  Want to know what happens to this poor young sole upon meeting its complacent older teammates?  They begin to blend in because its much easier then to stand out.  You see in most corporate work environments the employees just work hard enough not to get fired, and the employer pays them just enough not to quit.  What a beautiful match made in heaven.......

The other issue is management.  If someone tells me they are a manager I tell them we can't be friends.  See I am not interested in knowing managers, because I know I will always be an average of the people I hang around and I defiantly don't want the management disease to infect my mindset.  You maybe asking yourself why be so brash.  Well I will tell you that there is a big difference between managers and leaders.  A manager tells people what to do, however a leader shows people want to do everyday, moment by moment.  You want to know why so many talented people in the workforce are not engaged in what they are doing?  Very simple, they feel managed not lead.  They don't have a since of ownership, and they feel disconnected to the mission statement or don't even know what that statement is at all.  If you want a wake up call go around to each person in your organization and ask them, "What is our mission statement?"  If you don't get one consistent answer, there's the problem.

Did you know that if you ask the average employee what would make them happier at work, the answer is not more money.  The majority of employees want to belong to something bigger then themselves.  They want to feel like they are contributing to something.  This is the main difference I see in many organizations.  Corporate management style aways focuses on strategy, tactics, evaluations, fear, and dis-empowerment.  Where as organizational leadership style aways focuses on developing a culture of self-development and empowerment.

Some Days Are Better Than Others

Have you ever have one of those dreams that re-prioritizes you life?  I mean one that rocks you to the point you wake up and hope that it was just a dream.  Or maybe, like my mom you "get a feeling" however I think men are immune to this experience because I personally have no idea what she is talking about, even though nine times out of ten she is right about her "feeling."  Sometimes people have a near death experience and it shows them that their prioritizes are not in line with their perceived life purpose, or it redefines it for them entirely.

Maybe you have seen it maybe you haven't but a movie came out a while back called, "Bucket List."  It was all about how would you live you life differently if you knew you only had a short time to live.  How would you treat those around you different, or would you change at all?  Where would you go what would you do that you have been putting off.  See I believe that most of the population is, "Waiting to arrive," instead of "Enjoying the journey."  Think about that for a second, and really ponder it in your own life.  Are we living & working for the end of the journey to arrive, or are we enjoying the process and involving others in our growth process. Do we look at obstacles & detours as added adventure & opportunity to experience all life has to offer, or as things we complain about to our companions.

This is why I have always loved to do things that scare me.  Lets take skydiving for example, it definatly re-prioritizes everything for you in a mater of a few seconds.  Come to think of it I have never met a skydiver that takes themselves too seriously.  Most of them enjoy all of life's experiences to the fullest, weather the situation is gummy or bright.  Take for example Patrick Henry Hughes who was faced with every physical obstetrical someone could face in life yet he and his father choose to focus on his talents and to show the world how to be a champion.

Does Good Come From the Loss of Evil

It is amazing to me to see what the worlds population's thoughts are on the "announced" death of Osama Bin Laden.  Most people don't realize is that 66 years ago on the same date 05/01 Hitler's was "announced" dead as well. Now I don't like to spend too much time occupying my mind with things I can't control, but does anyone else find this interesting.  I read through the Bible this year and there are a lot of references to numbers in the 66 books that make up the Bible.  I am sure there are a lot of more educated  people in the world that have already discovered this coincidence or maybe some would call it a conspiracy theory.


I don't claim to have all the answers but I do know that a common enemy does not create a common good.  So many people are celebrating at the "announced" death, makes me wonder if the human condition has been reduced to sitting around and waiting for someone else to fix their problems instead of becoming a solution themselves.  I believe we all have a choice each day to try to make the world a better place and it starts with each of us taking a proactive role.


Another thing I will bring up is to consider the fact that most things that are main stream are ment to program you to be poor and guide you away from prosperity.  With so many things going on in the world at once, we must remain focused on what our main goals are in life.  I personally believe that if each of us took the time to make someone else's day the world world be a much happier and healthier place, where we would not celebrate the death of anyone but the life that was inside of each of us just waiting to be uncovered.