The Best Years of Your Life… Now!

Even with the best directions there will always be a trial and error process involved with taking the journey from where you are to where you want to be in life.

Think of it as the learning curve.

It should be viewed as a process of internalization. These are the steps you take in order to make the understanding and implementation of that understanding “second nature”. In other words, once you “get it” you are able to apply the new information automatically whenever the need arises.

You’ve probably already experienced this many times before. (It’s a natural process) Whenever you begin to do something new, you go through a learning curve. It always gets easier to do the new thing as time goes on. Ironically, this doesn’t always apply to those “new” things you may embark upon which are associated with self-growth.

Let me explain:

You’re not a finite piece of software or a machine. Yet, in order to get from where you are now in your life to where you want to be, you still have to understand and master your own “operating system”.

What differentiates your operating system from any other type of software or machine is that your “OS” has infinite capabilities, is fully relational and constantly evolving.

1. Infinite capabilities: The outer limits of your imagination constitute an ever changing limitation to what (you believe) is possible in your life. As you recognize the limitation you have placed upon yourself you can choose to change it. (your belief) Remember: This point within yourself is never permanently fixed. The “edge” of what you believe “is possible” is always what you currently accept it to be. At any given time, your imagination, coupled with your belief, determines that “edge”. Think of it as the current height of your personal “glass ceiling”.

2. Fully relational: This means if you change one aspect of what you imagine or believe, your attitudes, opinions and other beliefs begin to realign in relationship to that new belief. This is the part that can cause a bit of frustration at times. Especially when the new belief creates a conflict with previously held beliefs. It takes time for the new belief to fully propagate itself into your “consciousness”. So you are going to entail some trial and error during this part of the process. Think of it as “testing” whether or not the new belief holds up under real-world situations.

This is going to require some paying attention, on your part, when these situations arise. You will have to consciously apply the new belief to the situation and determine whether or not the results are what you hoped for.

3. Glass ceiling: This is always a temporary situation! For all intents and purposes, it’s an invisible resistance to actually living the belief or dream. You can “see” it but you’re not “there” yet. Your learning curve is what dissolves the glass ceiling and turns a belief or dream into reality. Just remember: Because you can “see” it means you are already in the process of dissolving the glass. Just don’t give up on the learning curve before you’ve achieved your desire.

One of the great lessons of life is that you can create your own future…and that it will always be what you expect it to be. Change your expectations and your future changes. Your new reality will be the result of your internal evolution coupled with your external actions which support your expectations. The real learning curve are those trial and error activities which will serve to either reinforce or discourage your belief in those expectations.

Ironically, whether or not an outcome from a trial and error activity reinforces or discourages your expectations will always be a decision only you have the power to make.

-Bob Baran

Stop using others as a means of measuring your progress!

I’m not talking about getting their approval, I’m talking about using what you perceive to be their achievements as the yardstick to measure your own!

You are a unique individual with experiences and abilities no one else has. The “place” you start from and build your progress upon, is going to be different than any other person’s. To look around at what other people seem to have achieved is a waste of time and will always make you feel bad.

After all, someone will always seem to already have what you may be striving for.

A couple of things to remember which will put “what others have” into perspective:

Most people are in debt up to their eyeballs! That new car or truck carries a hefty monthly payment. Few people have the where-with-all to pay cash for a new car. The same thing applies to a house. Many people in nice houses are what is known as “house poor”. They have a nice home in a nice neighborhood but it’s furnished by “Wal-mart”! Because they bought the house for 5% or less down and have enormous monthly house payments!

What I’m saying here is that things are never what they seem.

When I was a young man in my twenties I remember questioning myself after visiting one of my cousins. He went directly from college into the management training program of a major corporation. I felt bad about my choices because this guy was living in a brand new house and driving a brand new car. I was in a rented house, nursing an old car and had just decided to go into business for myself…I was 26 years old at the time.

I made a different decision about my life. I didn’t go into the “corporate” lifestyle. I wanted to make it on my own. But my cousin, who was the same age I was had the “trophies” that I was still dreaming about.

I was making a mistake using what he was doing with his life and comparing it to mine…Luckily I stuck to my “guns”.

To make a long story short, less than two years later my business activities made it possible for me to buy a new house and FIVE new cars, in one year! (really) I was increasing my income by 20-30% a month. I don’t think he ever recieved more than a 10% increase in salary and bonus in a year!

I came to realize that he sold his time for a fraction of it’s real value… for the security of a weekly paycheck. On the other hand, I learned how to go “out into the world” and create money. That was my security!

What it comes down to is this: Don’t be deterred from “staying the course” in your life because you see others who seem to be “getting ahead”.

What you see is probably a facade! A false front. Your personal determination and commitment to be the best that you can be, at what ever undertaking you have chosen, will always have a pay-off much greater than those who opted for “security”.

The intrinsic differences are by themselves astonishing! I’ve always been amazed at the limited real-world experiences and subsequent knowledge and wisdom those who choose security cheat themselves out of. It’s like living a partial life. They never really had to test themselves, so they never had to find out what they were made of. The more years they spend in the secure job the more fear, uncertainty and doubt they feel about their own abilities.

Opting for security has a way of robbing you of experience and self confidence.

The personal commitment you make to start from where you are and go to where you want to be, is its’ own reward…and is a journey with a value only you can measure. The pay-off is huge! You get to live a full life, learn and prosper from your experiences and make decisions based upon your own criteria.

Stop looking around at what other people seem to have and focus your time and energy on recreating your self and your reality.

Living life on your own terms is its’ own reward…And is something money (or going into debt) will never be able to buy.

-Bob Baran

Another cost of greatness will be the effect upon your existing relationships.

Most people define themselves by their relationships.

How their friends, acquaintances and family members “see” them is who they believe they are. This changes as you become self-actualized.

Your friends and acquaintances will become a byproduct of who you believe you are.

You will no longer feel the need to be a “part of a crowd” or to “fit in”.

This will be a radical departure from the norm for many who undertake the journey into personal greatness. So much so, that it’s not unusual for some to feel apprehensive about even considering any change to their current friends and acquaintances. Let me put your fears to rest.

You will find any changes that take place will be a normal natural progression. If you decide that your current friends and acquaintances are a bad influence. You may have to “cut the umbilical cord”. This would be the most extreme situation. In most cases however, one of two things is probably going to happen:

1. Certain friends and acquaintances will turn out to be fully supportive of your desire to do what is necessary for your journey into personal greatness. You may find that they too have embarked upon their own journeys. These relationships will continue and deepen over time. Both of you will discover mutually fascinating aspects of each other as your trust and support becomes the cornerstone of your relationships.

2. You will find that certain friends and acquaintances will react with skepticism, question your motives and your approach or will be offended that you somehow think you are better than they are! Pay attention, this can happen on a subtle level or be very obvious.

It’s hard to believe that people who you now consider to be your friends or acquaintances could be offended at your desire to better yourself.

It’s a fact!

It will surprise you who (if any) will have this reaction. You see, your personal determination and decision to take a journey into being the best that you can be is a direct threat to those who have decided (for whatever reason) that the life they are now living is as good as it’s going to get. You are in essence telling them that you have decided that there is more that you want to discover…that you want more out of life.

The “oh you think you’re better than me” reaction is more common than you think.

Overtime as you become more familiar with the infinite degrees of personal greatness you are capable of achieving, you will begin to recognize those individuals who have “given up”. What you may also find is that they also recognize you as someone who has not “given up”. You may without any intent on your part, become an intimidating reminder of their own lack of desire and determination to better themselves. Your energy and enthusiasm is overwhelming. Your light is too powerful for those who cover and subdue their own.

What I’m saying here is this: If you embark upon a journey into personal greatness your friends and acquaintances are going to change over time! They will be replaced wonderful new relationships with like-minded individuals. You will have the kind of people in your life who will enhance and empower you. This is a good thing!

The “others” who see you as a threat to their own “world view” will remove themselves from your life. Just don’t be surprised at who it is or when it happens…because it will!

-Bob Baran

There are several costs which equal the total price of greatness. Being misunderstood is one of them.

The unique manner you use imagination, intellect and emotions often falls out of the “normal” steps of logic most people use. They simply don’t “see” how you arrived at your conclusions. Therefore, your thinking is faulty. The problem is always with you, not the inability to expand their own thinking.

Because they can’t “think out of the box” they assume anything that doesn’t fit into the box must be wrong. Being misunderstood is the result.

On the other hand, the first thing a creative thinker comes to realize is that by its’ very definition, a “box” is always limited in size and ultimate functionality. Which means any thinking taking place within that box is always forcing the thinker to obey its’ finite options. This keeps the thinker trapped inside the box.

You will find yourself alone

it only stands to reason that you will find yourself “alone” while working through your creative process. Trying to explain yourself before you are able to manifest your dreams can be fraught with confusion (on the part of others) which results in your being misunderstood. I learned this the hard way when I was in the commercial audio production business.

As one of the top 50 radio producers in the United States (I’m on the List of Recommended Creative Resources of the National Association of Broadcasters) I was often called upon to create new, original music and jingles. Early on I came to realize that you can’t expose a Client to your creative process. Putting a few rough instrumental tracks together in order to illustrate “where you are going with a musical idea” was always a nightmare.

They never “heard” or could “see” where I was going with the music. All they could hear and see was the literal manifestation of the incomplete musical idea I played for them! No matter how I set up the presentation, the first reaction would always be something like: “That’s not how it’s going to sound is it?”

My solution was simple: I let them hear it when it was 95% completed instead of 15% completed! No degree of “imagine this here or that there” will ever replace “what do you think of this!”

A bird in the hand is worth two in the imagination

Being misunderstood has a way of magically changing itself into one of your having “vision”. That is when you begin to manifest your dreams. Suddenly you find yourself labeled a “visionary” by the same people who initially misunderstood or outright rejected your (new) way of thinking.

Remember: People are not going to question the inability to use their imagination. They are going to question your ability. So to keep the overall cost of achieving your personal greatness under control, keep your creative process to yourself. Share it only with those who understand it and support you.

The far more expensive cost to you is to doubt yourself and thereby abandon your creative process. Trust yourself and get something done. You can always “edit” and tweak it later. Having “a bird in your hand” always sings the praises of your visionary undertaking… Quite loudly!

It’s hard to doubt what you can see, feel, hear and touch…

-Bob Baran

This is the first posting under “The price of Greatness”.

This will begin a series of posts appearing during the coming weeks and months. It will be an ongoing blog that has to do with the real cost of personal greatness.

It also directly links to what Gwen and I are trying to achieve with The Intentional Prosperity™ System Life Coaching Program. Helping you to achieve the greatness you are striving for.

I was inspired today from an article about Steve Jobs (Apple). It was about the history of the iphone. Of course the first part of the the story dealt with the extremes of emotion his staff went through during the “creative process” that ultimately led to the final successful product. Which brings up an important point:

The price of greatness means any endeavor that does not test every aspect of your imagination, intellect and emotions, is not transforming you… from where you are to where you want to be.

If anyone tells you different, it’s because they haven’t accomplished much in their own lives…or they would know better.

It’s very easy to emulate what has already been done. On the other hand, creating something that is new, original and unique is a statement of who you are and what you believe. This is very different than repeating or duplicating what has already been done. What you accomplish becomes a reflection of who you are. Not you simply repeating what someone else has already done (for their reasons and their dreams).

The world is full of imitators.

Imitators take the already traveled road because its the one that’s already paved. These are individuals who don’t want to pay the price of greatness. Ironically, even though the road may be paved they tend to stumble, fall and ultimately fail. The reason: It’s a very crowded highway. Full of other imitators! Each one copying everybody else.

All taking place while the originator of the highway is busy being focused on creating the next stretch of road.

There is a part of you that is original, unique and waiting to be expressed. It is your genuine self… Your true self and the source of your unique creative process. A way of imagining, thinking and doing things that is unique only to you. Living life from your true self always makes amazing things possible.

You are a “one of a kind”. Nobody else has had your experiences or uses the imagination, intellect and emotions the way you do. This means creating your life’s journey, from your genuine self, will always result in an original, unique, self-constructed road…A road that is a byproduct of the journey you take for your reasons…in order to accomplish your dreams.

“The price of greatness is a life well lived”

-Bob Baran