Weekend Challenge: Challenge Yourself

What do you really believe in? 

This is a vitally important question, because what you believe in goes a long way towards determining what you expect from yourself, from the people around you, and from life in general. And these beliefs encompass not only the spiritual, but the very personal: who are you and what are you capable of.

We’ve seen more people get off track as they start down the road to what they think is their perfect life because they harbor one or more delusions about themselves or the world around them.  This is a crushing mistake to start with–for all anybody knows, that delusion may be taking you down the completely wrong path!

So every once in a while it is good to stop and assess yourself and your beliefs.  Challenge them–try to argue against yourself.  Be able to defend your beliefs.  If you’re a Yankee fan, try reading Boston newspapers for a week; if you’re a “casual gal,” try getting a little dressed up all week long.  Do SOMETHING that might force you to reevaluate who you think you are and what you think is important.

Because when the going gets tough–and it will–you’ll need every ounce of belief you can muster to keep moving forward.

The Gurus of Get It

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Challenge: Be Like Water

No, this isn’t an acting exercise; and it isn’t hyper-metaphysical, either.

But we try to learn important life lessons from a variety of sources, and yes, this one comes from Eastern philosophy.  But it has found its manifestations in Western teachings, also, most notably in “The Inner Game” series.  The basic premise is that, because water has no form on its own, it can become the shape of whatever space it can enter; and because it can do that, it can move and flow, shape landscapes and crumble mountains.

How does this apply to you? The obvious application would be in sports–if you play tennis or golf, don’t concentrate your attention on the result of the stroke but rather on the stroke itself.  In everyday life, next time you have an important conversation, try NOT to control it and make end a certain way; rather, simply enter the conversation,listen intently, and see where the conversation goes.  Put your attention on telling the other person what is really important to you, and let the conversation take its own course from there.

There are a million such applications, but the point is simple: put your attention on the process, not the result. The result will handle itself, and you will be a much happier person.

The Gurus of Get It

The Magic Bullet, and Other Myths

“In just five minutes a day, you can have six-pack abs in three weeks!”

“Make CEO money working just 15 minutes a day on your own couch!”

We in America seem to be obsessed with the “quick fix.”  After all, who really wants to go to the effort of changing their eating habits (for instance), maintaining discipline, and forcing ourselves to go for a jog when somebody is willing to tell us that they have a pill that will do it for us? The problem is, in the long run, most of the time the only people whose dreams are coming true are the people on the other end of the infomercial.

Yes, our program is designed to show you how to create your Perfect Life, but we never make any attempt to hide from you the inescapable truth that the path to your Perfect Life is something you have to walk yourself–there is no escalator!

In most things, you will likely know what the right thing to do is.  The real problem is choosing to do the right thing and then having the will to make it endure.  There’s no pill, no “magic bullet,” and the Lottery is a terrible retirement plan.  So lace up your shoes and get busy!

The Gurus of Get It

Always Only Goes Up To Now!

We will file this blog under the subjects of getting out of a rut, thinking outside of the box and not listening to the naysayers of the world.

How many times have you heard “we have ALWAYS done it this way”, or “You will ALWAYS be a little behind”, etc?  There are a lot of you out there who may be surrounded by those people who are a little less than supportive.  If you have anyone in your life-like this, than these statements may be more common than you would like to admit.  They can come from a boss, co-workers, friends or even family.  We are often talking about people who will bring you down to their level because they do not want you to succeed.

The funny thing about “always” is that always only goes up to now.  It does not matter where you have been, it only matters where you want to go.  So even if up to now, you have “ALWAYS” failed, it does not mean that your future is written in ink.  Make a decision to get out of that rut, think outside the box and blow off those naysayers.  It is time to create a new “Always” and go after your perfect life.

The Gurus of Get It!

Weekend Challenge: Build a More Peaceful World

The fifth line of the Student Oath of the United States Taekwon-Do Federation is “I Shall Help Build A More Peaceful World.”  Taekwon-Do is know for it’s power, for it’s aerial flash, and for its fancy kicks.

In other words, for its ability to deliver and to control violence.

But that final element of the Student Oath puts all of that directly in the service of a higher purpose: Peace.  And Taekwon-Do is not unique in this regard: the ancient monks of the Shao-Lin Buddhist Temples preached “If you wish to preserve, you must learn to destroy.”

Ironic, that. And particularly poignant in this week that has seen the uncontrolled delivery of extraordinary violence in Tucson.

Little commented-on was the fact that the rampage in Tucson could have been much worse, if not for the quick thinking of a handful of bystanders who tackled–who delivered a controlled amount of violence to– the gunman as he was reloading.

We bring this up only because the world is not a predictable place.  As much as you lay out your plan for your Perfect Life and stick to it, there may be odd things that happen that you can’t know about.  But Foresight teaches us to be prepared for even those eventualities (or was it the Boy Scouts?), so this week we are simply encouraging you to develop some skill that will help you Build a More Peaceful World out of the chaos that is all around.

The Gurus of Get It

Peace of Mind and the Illusion of Control

‘ . . .He accomplishes his task, but does not dwell upon it.

And yet it is just because he does not dwell on it/That nobody can ever take it away from him.

–Lao Tzu, “Tao Teh Ching”

We thought this quote concisely nails one of our central themes: control.

How often have you done something as part of a group project, and then handed it off to the group only to see your work altered?  The “Illusion of Control” responds to that indignantly, fighting to leave the task in the same shape it was before whether it fits the project or not.  It dwells on the accomplishment, and therefore gives power to the world to take it away.

We think that the point of this verse is to say “do your part, then let it go.”  In your mind, the task will be intact and “perfect” as you remember it, and nobody can alter that; and when you stop dwelling on it as it is, you open the door to other possibilities, including the possibility that someone might take your task and alter it to fit a hole in the project like a puzzle piece that will make it a part of a much greater whole.

And how much better will you feel about it when that happens?

You will be a much happier person when you start to recognize what is and what isn’t in your control.

—The Gurus of Get It

Weekend Challenge: You Are What You Eat

First of all, a check-up:  how are you doing at keeping that light burning now that you’ve been back to “reality” for a week?

So on to the challenge . . . We’ve all heard that little truism, right?  Usually uttered by our mothers as we were about to open up a pack of Doritos and a pack of Twinkies for breakfast, but never mind that . . . We now know enough about fitness and health to know that if we put garbage into our bodies, we should not expect to get peak performance out of them.

The same thing is true of our minds and of our souls.  It’s easy to compartmentalize our lives and think that the only time we should be thinking about excellence or our passions is between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.  Then we’re off the hook, right?  We can go watch the mindlessly violent movie, play the stupid video game and get ready to go to work the next day and be at peak performance.

But just think about how much more of a “peak” that performance could be if, instead, you went home after work, read the newspaper, had a long engaging conversation with a couple of friends, and did a short workout.

We’re not saying that there’s no room in your life for fun, but we want you to be aware that real passions don’t stick to a 9-5 schedule, and our free time habits define us just as much as our work habits do.  So this week we want you to be very aware of how you are spending your free time, and see if there are mindless patterns that emerge that maybe could be an opportunity to do something a little better for yourself.

The Gurus of Get It!