Chapter 13: Ten Days of Mind Trial
“Habit can be the best servant,
or the worst owner.” – Nathaniel Emmons
Consistency…that’s what we all pursue.
We don’t want to produce temporary results.
We don’t want to feel happy for a moment.
We don’t want to just get excited every now and then.
The mark of a champion is consistency,
and consistency is literally the result of our habits.
I’m sure you now understand that I wrote this book,
and my whole life,
with the aim of dramatically improving the quality of our lives.
This can only be achieved through drastic action in a new way.
As I’ve emphasized many times,
it’s not enough just to know what to do:
you have to do what you know.
This chapter is written
to help you establish excellent habits model
focal points to help
you maximize your influence on yourself and on others.
However, to take our lives to the next level,
we must understand that the same thinking patterns
that have led us to our present success will not automatically
lead us to where we want to go.
It is necessary to push our thinking to a new level
in order to test new levels of success in personal and professional development.
To do this,
we must decisively break down the barriers of fear
in order to gain control of our minds.
Old habits that keep our minds occupied with temporary problems
must be decisively broken.
First, we must establish a lifelong resolve
to focus on solutions and enjoy the feeling of progress.
In this book, you will learn effective tools
and strategies to make your life richer,
more fulfilling,
enjoyable,
and exciting.
But if you just read and don’t use it,
it’s like buying a powerful new computer
but never taking it out of the box,
or buying the latest Ferrari
and leaving it in the garage to leave it alone covered with dust.
So let me help you with a simple program
to cut old habits of thinking,
feeling, and behaving,
a path that can help you navigate your new choices effectively
and make it completely.
Consistency.
Years ago, I was in a situation
where I was easily frustrated and angry.
Seems like I have problems wherever I go or what I do.
At that time,
I was not in the habit of finding solutions by thinking positively.
Anyway, I consider myself “smart”
and smart people don’t consider something positive
when it’s not really positive!
And around me,
there are a lot of people who support my point of view
(and they are just as frustrated in their lives as I am).
In fact, I was very negative at the time
and saw things as worse than they really were.
I use my pessimism as a shield.
I am always looking for ways to defend myself to avoid suffering.
I try my best not to feel disappointed anymore.
But when I follow this pattern,
even if I avoid suffering,
I will not feel joy.
This attitude prevented me from finding solutions
and kept me within my limits with the stance of “being realistic”.
In fact, life requires balance.
If we let ourselves be the kind of person
who doesn’t want to accept weeds taking root in our orchards,
we will be destroyed by our illusions.
In contrast, the fearful attitude of those
who always imagine that their orchards are overgrown
and full of indestructible weeds is also a self-destructive attitude.
The right path is a balanced attitude.
People with this attitude always smile when they see weeds growing,
because they know that once they have been spotted,
they can take immediate action to kill them.
We must not be pessimistic when we see weeds.
They are part of our lives.
We must see them,
acknowledge them,
focus on finding solutions,
and immediately take action
to eliminate their influence in our lives.
We need to practice weeding in the garden of our mind.
We must be able to recognize
when we start to have a negative habit,
neither tormenting ourselves,
nor remaining in it,
but simply breaking the habit as soon as we discover it
and replace it with new seeds of success for mind,
emotion, body, spirit, and career.
How to break these negative habits?
1. You need to be clear about what you want.
If you really want to feel passionate, happy,
and in control of your life,
then you have to know what you want.
2. You have to find your leverage.
Let your desire to avoid suffering
and achieve happiness be your driving force
to make changes to take your life to the next level.
3. You have to cut the negative habit.
The best way is to follow the “spiritual diet”.
The spiritual diet is your chance
to get rid of harmful negative habits in the way of thinking
and feeling caused by life’s emotional reflexes.
and follow an undisciplined mental life.
I suggest to you the following mental diet:
For ten days, starting today,
resolve to take control of all your mental
and emotional faculties
by deciding immediately not
to indulge in any negative thoughts
or feelings for the next ten consecutive days.
Sounds simple, right?
And indeed it is very simple.
But those who have started this spiritual diet are surprised
to discover that their minds are very often occupied
with thoughts that are useless,
fearful, anxious, or harmful.
Why is it so easy for us to indulge in negative thoughts that lead to stress
and suffering in our lives?
The simple answer is: because we think it helps.
Many people live in a state of anxiety all the time.
They often focus on the worst aspect of the situation
and as such it causes them fear and frustration.
Conversely, if we use the simple tools in this book,
we can instantly change our anxiety states by focusing on a solution.
You may be asking yourself,
“What do I need to do now to change the situation?”
Remember, our goal is not to negate life’s problems,
but to put ourselves in better states of mind
and emotions so that we can find solutions and take action. those solutions.
If you decide to do the 10 days of mind challenges I suggest,
then for 10 days in a row you will try
to focus 100 percent of your time on solutions
and leave no time in the dark, problems!
There are 4 simple but important rules for the 10 day challenge.
Remember the following rules:
RULE 1.
For 10 days in a row,
refuse to let your mind dwell on negative thoughts or feelings.
Refuse to indulge in negative issues
or harmful language or metaphors.
RULES 2.
When you find yourself beginning
to focus on a negative idea,
immediately use the techniques you’ve learned
to reorient your attention to a more positive emotional state.
Ask yourself, “what’s not perfect?”
If you ask like that,
you’re assuming things are going to be perfect.
RULES 3.
For 10 days in a row,
make sure you focus your life on solutions, not problems.
When you first see a problem,
think of a solution right away.
RULE 4
If you find yourself stagnating,
meaning you find yourself succumbing
to a negative thought or feeling,
don’t beat yourself up!
There will be no problem if you change this situation immediately.
The goal of this program is
to keep ten consecutive days from following
or having a negative thought.
You should remember
that only you can make the 10-day mind challenge work for you.
Only you can make a determination to make it to the end.
After all, one of the most valuable tools
for creating change is not just breaking your old habits,
but changing with something new.
And one of the effective methods to do this is:
read a lot.
Leaders are book readers
A long time ago, one of my teachers, Jim Rohn,
taught me that reading quality, useful,
valuable content is more important than eating.
He inculcated in my mind the idea of reading books
for at least 30 minutes a day.
He used to say,
“You can skip a meal, but don’t give up reading.”
I found this to be a valuable factor that made a difference in my life.
So while you are clearing your mind of old habits,
you need to strengthen it by constantly reading new things.
And valuable strategies
for you to use in these 10 mind-challenging days.
This chapter has offered you a mental test.
It is an opportunity and an invitation
for you to demand more of yourself than others expect of you
and for you to reap the rewards of your determination.
This is the time to put what you’ve learned into practice.
The next chapter will discuss the Master System that governs all of your decisions
throughout your life.
