Manifesting my new career January 16, 2007
Posted by Niels in : How to, Work , trackbackI went to see Zan talk on Sunday. He’s famous for being wildly succesful with women, but the focus of his talk was getting what you want out of life, no matter what that is.
Zan said a lot of things that resonated with me. So few people are truly happy with themselves. We tell ourselves, “I’m unhappy now, but once I get that promotion things will be better.” I was there. I told myself that through three years of graduate school. “I’m unhappy now, but once I graduate I’ll be happy.”
But it’s not the job/car/house/girl that holds our happiness. Life is a journey, and it’s the process, not the finish line, that is meant to be enjoyed.                    Â
My journey has been directionless for a while. Even my mom, when I told her I’d decided to talk a break from grad school, commented that I’d seemed to be “floundering” in recent months. Someone asked Zan how to find that direction again, and I will be following his suggestion:
I will be spending 30 minutes each day quietly thinking about my life and future, thinking about what I want my life to look like 90 days from now.Â
At first it sounds like a lot of time, but Zan points out that we’ll spend 30 minutes watching a television show without thinking twice. Because it’s easy. Forcing yourself to think about what you want is hard. But everything we really want is outside our comfort zone.
The idea of manifesting, that simply thinking about something every day can cause it to appear in your life, is part of this concept. Also called The Law of Attraction
I’m one day in and forcing myself to think about what I want to achieve is already making a difference. I started off thinking about goals like bringing readers to my blog or making a certain amount of money. But I’ve realized that’s not what I really want.
I want a source of income that I can control from anywhere in the world. I want to be able to travel and live wherever I want and still make a living. This isn’t a new idea, either. It’s something that I’ve wanted since I was a child, and I simply forgot. When I was very young, I used to think about being an author. But it wasn’t writing that I was in love with, it was the fact that I could do it wherever I wanted. I’d forgotten that.
Comments»
30 minutes every day seems like alot. There are studies that show that frequent introspection is often tied to depression. I know the Steven Covey books call for planning and evaluating once a week, rather than every day. I’d be worried that Zan’ program would set up unrealistic expectations of progress, kind of like weighing yourself every day if you’re trying to lose weight.
You have taken the first and most important step on this journey: getting your relationships with women handled. You have also taken the necessary second step: jump without a parachute!
Supposedly, creating wealth is much like creating attraction. Be the kind of person who attracts wealth. At the moment, I am in the “work hard” phase, but I am working hard at learning to “work smart.” So far, it’s paying off.
I like the theory of regularly sitting down to think about where you’re going - I try to do this when I cycle home from work (ever the multi-tasker). But commiting to do this for 30 mins a day might be too much. for me, anyway.
good on you though, for working out what you want to do, even if it’s still forming into a proper plan. As you say, it’s about enjoying life now, rather than when you get that house or that promotion etc. After all, you may get run over by a bus tonight (my chances of that are admittedly higher than yours, given the cycling).
To go with the comment above about cycling and thinking….
I cycle every other day for 2 hours each day. I usually take this time to think about my life and what’s going on, etc. However, I then find myself running over people… So I’d suggest doing this where you can’t hurt people. I sersiously did run into a child @~22mph cause I was thinking about something else and not paying attention!! But then, he should have looked both ways before crossing the strand!!
Zan’s talk got me thinking about quite a few things too. He was very inspirational.
One minor point though. I DO think that your new car may contribute to your newfound happiness. Have you named her yet?
Jake - interesting observation, re: depression. But I wonder which direction the causality runs. I bet depression comes first.
David Clare - I think the two steps are so closely intertwined its hard to separate them. I fully expect my relationships to reach a new level once my ambitions do as well.
London Girl - 30 minutes does seem like a lot, but I need a lot of direction right now. As I move forward I’ll keep considering how useful the exercise is.
Cj B - Perhaps you should save the introspection for the trainer. Or tape a pillow to your front wheel.
Sean Deacon - No name yet. I’m not sure if I want to develop that level of emotional attachment before she goes under the knife…
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