Day 1 -- an observation

Take action right now. Massive action is the only way to come out of this society-induced coma we've all lived in for the past however many years. We can not simply crawl out of the mud, we have to explode out of the mud.

I recently heard an interview with a US Naval Pilot, who was shot down in North Viet Nam early on in the campaign. He took a couple of hits from anti-aircraft fire, and was forced to eject from his fighter jet. His last recollection of the speed he was traveling was 680 mph. Wow, that's damn fast. Needless to say, he was knocked unconscious immediately upon ejecting.

He told the interviewer that he came back to semi-consciousness a couple of hours later, with the enemy baring down on his position. Somehow, he had been able to release his chute, initiate his floatation devices, and load his weapons--all while knocked out(or at least out of it).

Make a long story short, he was eventually captured and imprisoned. All Naval Pilots had been trained on this scenario of being captured. Unfortunately, no training could have ever prepared this man for what lied in store for him. He stated that his ideas of enemy prisons had been largely shaped by Hollywood...with the guys all behind fences, together. His experience was quite different. He was thrown into a 3' by 6' stone room, with no other men in sight. For seven long years, he sat alone in a solitary cell, with a 2' wide concrete slab for a bed.

Point is, this was no picnic. This type of imprisonment could drive anyone to the brink. When asked "how did you get through, how did you survive this type of torture?", his answer blew me away. He responded, "in my mind, I was already past survival, I was beyond just surviving, I was crafting my future in my mind". Wow! This, to me, demonstrates incredible insight to human behavior.

This way of looking at his situation can serve anybody who's trying to make a change. Whether it's losing some weight, getting out of debt, overcoming some form of addiction, this is a highly effective frame of mind to operate from. Think about it. He had already decided that he was not there to simply survive the endeavor. He was already far past that internally. He was actually working on what he would do with his life when he became a free man. Why can't we begin our journey from the same starting point?

Here's what I mean. Instead of looking at this program as "wow, I gotta at least get down to a regular guy's size before I can think about having a six pack". Or, "we've got to get out of debt before we can think about saving $50,000 over the next two years". This kind of self talk is devastating to our psyche. Negative self dialogue is the quickest way to kill drive and destroy the momentum we've developed with making positive adjustments in our lives.

So, instead, we need to act as if. We need to train ourselves to think and speak like the person we have set out to become. Positive thoughts are key to getting ourselves to take action and follow through with this program. This is why I visualize my life as if my vision were real twice daily. I not only project myself into that life, I do it with absolute FAITH that it's real. I affirm that I'm the guy, in my own mind. This doesn't come easy, however. This must be practiced, just like anything else that's worthwhile. Nothing good comes easy, we have to remember this.

So, we should all begin this journey beyond just making it through it, or surviving it, the way this brave Naval Pilot survived a North Vietnamese prison. We have to become that person in our own minds. This is where it begins. We must BE, then we DO, then we HAVE. This is the way it works, this is the order we must follow.

Take massive action today, but do it from a starting point that is beyond just making it. We have to raise our expectations. We do it by becoming that guy and acting as if.....

Get to your Simple Disciplines and execute them with passion and faith that you are that person you wish to become and you will have the vision you've created.

Flip the switch