Principle #4 - Live life today

Continuing on from my mini-book, the Manifesto: 12 Principles to living a heroic life in the 21st Century, here is the next principle in line. My life experiences have taken me through some amazing times and even more amazing places all the while teaching me the most valuable lessons in life that no scholar or University could ever dream of. 

During my life in South East Asia, I was fascinated and became a student of their philosophies and their culture. Thailand itself is a predominantly Buddhist country and this is apparent everywhere you go with the numerous amount of Temples. What is of more importance is even in their language they have so many words and their vocabulary is full of what we could call spiritual phrases. But it is even more than that, for in the West in our own culture it is very difficult to understand the teachings of Buddhism with our language as so many thoughts and ideas are so clear and exact in the Thai language and yet so easy to misunderstand in our own. 

One of the things I learnt from my experiences is the philosophy of living in the moment. There is a lot of talk now in our modern society about anxiety and depression and yet in Eastern cultures, this issue seems to affect less. I feel a reason for this could be the focus on the past and the focus on the future, with very little thought actually given to the now. The monk that I became good friends with and who would take me on our private excursions into the forest for 10 days at a time, taught me to focus on every single thing that I did. If I washed dishes to focus my entire attention on to washing the dishes and not think about anything else, to become almost fascinated and consumed by the task in hand. The task would become much more efficient and the results would normally speak for themselves. So without further ado, please enjoy; 

Principle #4 - Live life today.

Everyone has heard the saying “It is what it is.” What does this mean to you? And is it applicable to you in everything you do and believe? If not why not? A great book I read many years ago was; ‘It’s not about the bike.’ Written about Lance Armstrong. Now I understand he is a very divisive figure due to his “supplement intake”, I say tongue in cheek. I’m not going to give my opinion on how everyone in almost all competitive sports is using certain things to seek that little gain or advancement, so let’s not be so judgemental. And as a grown man with the knowledge he had, taking anything, could have been suicide and so for him to assess the risks and still compete, should be something for everyone to admire, if not wanting, necessarily to condone.

“My house is burnt down to the ground, but now finally I can see the stars.”

Anyway, I remember a paragraph from the book whereby Lance Armstrong recalls talking to another Cancer survivor and her saying to him “My house is burnt down to the ground, but now finally I can see the stars.” What a wonderful saying. Many Cancer survivors talk of really appreciating life after they nearly had it taken away. Do you?

 

Another way of looking at this is to watch the short video clip from Jocko Willink on YouTube called ‘Good’. Whenever anything seems to be bad or going wrong, simply say ‘Good” and not only accept it but look at what opportunities have arisen from that seemingly bad situation. Didn’t get your promotion -Good, gives you more time to get even better. The project got cancelled - Good, we can focus on another one. Be the Manager/leader in your team/workplace that says - Good, every time. Become that person, that everyone knows in any situation, not only will you not flap, but you’ll also be the guy to find a solution or at least work towards one. If you’re not providing a solution; you are part of the problem.

But how does this help us to ‘live life today?’ When in everyday lives we have to make plans and have goals for the future. ‘I want to be very successful’. I hear you saying. That's why I downloaded this book in the first place. This is the question that we all have to deal with in our lives. We cannot all drop everything, go out into the forest and live life like a monk. And I wouldn’t expect you to, although having experienced it for a short period of time I would recommend it to everyone.

The key is to truly understand what you are driving for. Ask yourself the question; Is your true motivation intrinsic or extrinsic? Intrinsic meaning from within, internal. Are you motivated by being a better person? Or doing the very best you can for yourself and for those you love? Or are you doing it to show your success by having a nice car, house and skiing holidays? All extrinsic motivations.

When you have figured out what your true motivations are and you know them to be true and honest, then you should start your journey to achieve these goals. The good thing about these intrinsic goals is that they should never be able to be fully mastered. It should be a long game, a life-long journey. And that journey starts with the very present moment. As the old saying goes it takes the first step to reach the top of the mountain.

Knowing your intrinsic values, focus every single day, giving the very best you can in that present moment. And you’ll be able to see the progress over time. Do not worry or focus on the final results, just keep focusing on the present moment and making it the very best you can.

This is what is meant by living for today. As a silly example, I had struggled with squats and deadlifts for many years especially in comparison to my bench press. I did not have any real set quantifiable goal, except that I wanted to be able to perform good form squats and deadlifts and gradually build up my reps and weight. (An intrinsic goal). I did this for about a year and just out of curiosity I decided to test my 1 rep max, meaning I would try to lift as heavy as I could for both my squat and my deadlift. On the bench, I did extremely well as to be expected, but on my squat, it was a massive increase for me, almost to my younger days, PR, a personal record! (That was exactly 20 years ago). My deadlift, however, wasn’t that amazing, to which I found out there was a certain part of me that was weaker and so ‘Good’ I now had something else to focus on. You may not be a gym head, and it may seem like a silly example. But it is exactly applicable to everyday life. Understand the intrinsic motivation and then work on a daily step that will help you reach that goal. Focusing on only that present step.

 Would you like to figure out what your own goals and motivations are? A simple exercise is to imagine yourself in 5-years or 10-years’ time from now. Look at where you are. What is your life like? What have you achieved? Are these visions based on extrinsic or intrinsic values? It doesn’t matter on whether they are extrinsic, what matters is that you then decide to what intrinsic values matter to you so that you can achieve these extrinsic goals? Write it down using the sheet attached below this principle in the book.



Start with the end in mind, and work your way back

Then work your way back ‘Starting with the end in mind’ and take a look at yourself as you are now. Give yourself a score ranging from 0 =poor to 10 =excellent on each of your intrinsic values. Now you know and understand what you need to work on. Sit down and figure out what you can do, day by day, to work towards these goals. Then focus on the daily step and not worry about the final outcome. Another saying that has helped me along the way is; On this journey from A to B, don’t forget to enjoy the journey along the way, i.e. make sure you stop to smell the flowers.

As a simple task, I want you to pick a boring mundane daily job or task that you do that would normally take you anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. When you start this task I want you to focus everything you have into performing this task, even take it a lot slower than usual. I want you to immerse yourself in it so that you are oblivious to the outside world. Do not let your brain wander, do not let your brain think about other things.  If you have to move something from somewhere to another spot, when you pick up the item, truly concentrate on picking it up and then when laying it down truly concentrate on laying it down as smoothly and as neat as possible.  things from earlier in the day, yesterday or something that is on your mind for tomorrow, just focus your mind on your task. Study it and think about every single movement you make.

Now the question I have for you now that you have completed this very simple task; Were you anxious, stressed, or concerned about anything else whilst you were performing the task? Were you worried about something coming up in the future? Were you concerned about something that had happened earlier? The answer should be No to all of the above if you carried out the task correctly. This is what is meant by living life today. 

I hope this point has been clear and you understand what you need to do. Yes, you will have to decide for yourself what qualities and values are important to you in your future and you’ll have to decide on what steps you will have to take to achieve them. I cannot really help you here within this book.

But whatever you decide to do, remember to focus on the most important step, and that is to focus in the present moment, repetitions are key. Have courage and take the steps. The end result will simply, just by the fact that you thinking about this issue, find a way towards you. And if it helps at all, slow things the F down. Be at one with nature. Take time out, not by watching Netflix or something similar. Take time out and go for a walk in nature, even if it’s your bloody garden. Don’t go with anyone, go by yourself and just let things slow down. If your brain is working at 10 million miles per hour then maybe you should look at taking up meditation. For this, I can certainly help. But that’s for a later principle.

If you are struggling with this principle then DM me on my Instagram or Facebook and we can talk you through it.

ACTIONS SECTION

Extrinsic values

Rating 0 - 10

Intrinsic values

Rating 0 - 10

Actions to be taken

1. Perform the 'in the moment' task 

2. Go for a walk in the country and take in nature around you

3. Complete the 20 years, 10 years, 5 years Goal sheet above