Success Manifesto

I'm so happy!!!!! I just meditated for about 1.25 hours. I've been meaning to do this for nearly 4 months now. I can't believe it. I attribute the success to the "power of now with no excuses". Over the last few months, I've been making very convincing excuses to myself - I'll do it tomorrow - I'll do it after I finish working - I'll do it on the subway...etc...etc.

Wow. Normally, if I will myself to do something, I just do it. I think I can better understand why people put off stuff that are really important. The only moment is now. Tomorrow never happened and is only in your head.

Today sets a very powerful precedent. If any one is reading this, I hope they'll stop reading this and do that one thing that is important to them...now...no excuses...it feels great. So what I've learned or re-learned during the experiment is:

1. Make public commitments, even if its to a few friends
2. Give updates to them frequently
3. Use the Power of Now (no excuses allowed).

The next trick is increasing the meditation time per day.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 06:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Arghh..Today got thrown off when I went to take a nap at 10:00am. The next time I opened my eyes it was 4:00pm!!! And now it's 5:00am and I leave on a flight in a few hours.

I don't think the way the experiment is constructed now will yield the results I'm looking for. I'll probably get a few interesting insights every day and be more relaxed. However, I feel that there is more potential to the technique and I won't be satisfied until I explore it.

I think one thing that slows me down is that I really only meditate for any length of time when I'm on a subway and cut off from the world. When I'm at home, as soon as I sit down to meditate a flurry of thoughts come to mind. I can let go of them, but it only takes one really convincing "Damn. I forgot to do that" before I run to the computer and jump into action.

One thing that I learned from the meditation retreat is that 95% of the tasks that seem urgent, aren't really that important the next day. During the 10 days of silence we weren't allowed to journal or communicate with anyone. this was great because if I had a journal I would have started making to dos and started planning them. It's sort of like letting a decision wait until the next day. Our thoughts make us think that they're reality, when they're not.

When reading a book, I heard a person talk about someone who had a normal 9-5 job and then meditated for 8 hours every night. For some reason, this seemed really inspiring to me. What stops me from doing it is that since the business isn't making money, I feel like I have to devote all my time to getting it sustainable before allowing myself to rest. We have a lot of debt now.

Alright. Here's what I'll do. I'll start off with 2 hours of sitting meditation. 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. - This does not include the subway!!!!!!

I'll start right now!!!! I'll meditate for the next 1.25 hours until my alarm clock rings.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 04:47 AM | Permalink

Today was informative. I put in the time to meditate. However, the mind was drifting a fair amount. I tihink this is OK as my goal is to observe and be ok with what is observed.

As I was meditating, old memories were coming back about why I meditate and why it's so important to me reaching my goals. It is interesting how I forgot these. I notice that I often have to learn the same lesson over and over. I forget and then remember.

Going over the day and events is so tempting. Thinking about worst-case scenarios, to dos, new ideas at some level is exhilirating. The body gets a quick out of it. While seemingly productive, my experience with observing thoughts tells me that the majority of them are not productive and that the more I engage in them, the less control I have.

I think something that leads to a cluttered mind is mult-tasking. I try to do five things at once. It goes well for awhile, then I have this feeling of getting behind and feeling cluttered. Then I start rushing and end up leaving 5-10 minutes. Then I end up running to where I need to go worrying that the people I'm meeting will be annoyed that I'm late. I think I could be more productive if I just did one thing at a time, left early to places, and focused on doing what was the most important task at any given time.

Another thing I'd like to work on is my humor. I think I take things to seriously. I think humor puts life in a different context, which makes things more fun, more healthy, and ultimately gives a perspective on life.

I've wanted to start this for awhile, but I think I will start trying to observe funny things about myself. Here are some for beginning:

1. When I'm wearing something that I think looks nice, every time a female walks by and we make eye contact, I think to myself, "She wants me." It's more of a reflex than a choice. I guess the same goes for being in a bad mood. When I'm in a bad mood and I make eye contact with a guy, I think to myself, "What are you looking at jerk? You want to fight fucker." Good thing I don't act on this as I'd probably get my ass beatean having been in zero fights my entire life. It never ceases to surpirse me how much we project our thoughts onto others.
   
2. Why do I curse in my thining, but never curse outloud?
   
3. I'm working at getting better at breaking rapport and saying what I really think. While listening is a great skill, sometimes people open up and they say crazy things. For example, I remember one time I was talking to this guy I met and he started making fun of Jewish people (probably not knowing that I'm Jewish). I didn't know what to say so I was like, "Yeah..those damn jewish." Of course, I didn't really say that, but I didn't disagree, I just listened. I think that I listen so well that I probably agreed with him and saw his side. Another time, I was taking a 36-hour train ride. The guy next to me completely opened up. He started telling me how he makes money on the side by purposely throwing himself in front of cars and collecting insurance or suiing. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "What the fuck did you just say?" But I nod and say something like, "Wow. I didn't know you could make so much money doing that." Four hours later into the ride, he opened up more and starting talking about having sex with strangers in bathrooms on trains and planes, even while the husband is on-board. For that, I reflexiively said, outloud "Wow. That's interesting. Tell me more about that." Then I said to myself, "Wow. That's interesting. I want to know more about that." But on a more serious note, How do you listen so well that you can see anybody's side, but still remember where you stand? Am I the only one that has that problem?

Posted by Michael Simmons at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Amazingly, it's working. The motivation I've been trying to build for months has come. Although I only invited six people to read this blog, committing to something publicly makes it much easier to do.

It is amazing how what you focus on changes the world you perceive so much. By the simple act of focusing on body sensations in my free time, my level of relaxation goes up tremendously. On your purely practical, non-spiritual level, it seems to me that learning how to train the mind and deciding what to train it with may be the two largest predictors of happiness and success.

I think certain thoughts are like an addictive juice. I first realized the power of this last June. For the previous six months I had been doing a lot of meditation and not letting my mind get carried away with fantasies, etc.. I was still focusing on business, but more focusing on it as something I did not letting it become who I was. At any rate, I was at a speaking seminar and I decided to let my mind go instead of control it. Well, immediately, I felt the juices flowing like a burst of sugar, and I started thinking non-stop about the business that night and coming up with creative ideas. I couldn't stop and it felt great. Well, after that, it was harder to get a grip on the mind again. While the creative bursts feel great, they seem to take control and it feels like I don't have an option, but to think about certain things.

I guess that's the problem with addictions. It's the upside that makes it difficult to stop. Also, it seems so harmless. My sense is that I can lead a happier life and a more successful one by letting go of fantasy and other "to be defined" thoughts even though they provide short-term benefits.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 09:18 PM | Permalink

Today was a pretty uneventful day. While the experiment was on my mind for much of the day, it was hard to keep one-pointedness of mind through tasks that required my full attention, such as having a conversation on the phone or answering email.

With that said, I'd like to make more alterations to my lifestyle. I am going to start meditating again, starting with one hour a day and perhaps gradually moving up.

From an observational perspective, I woke up in a grouchy mood. I felt a combination of being behind and also second-guessing myself for creating this blog, which may be misunderstood. Things turned around after having a long conversation with a friend. It is interesting that one can be in a bad mood, but when you're thrust into a social situation it can immediately disappear. For example, my mom and I would often get in big arguments as she was driving me to school. Sometimes, I'd be to the point of crying. However, as soon as I got into the school, any remnants of sadness were gone.

This leads me to think that any mood could be easily let go with the right mind programming.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 12:36 AM | Permalink

Hypothesis: I am not the body or mind. There is no traditional 'I'.

Method:

1. Observe the body's sensations and thoughts throughout the day.
   
2. Be non-attached and non-judgemental to what is observed.
   
3. Do not label or analyze what is observed until the end of the day.
   
4. Write a blog entry at the end of everyday with observations.
   
5. Repeat for one month

1. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I had an awareness of there not being an 'I'.
   
2. I've attempted to do this half-heartedly before, but I feel like a half-completed experiment is not worthwhile.
   
3. I've explored near-death experiences and past-life regressions through many books. Many of these books were first-hand accounts. Others were written by people who had developed some level of professional respect in there career and took risks by exploring the phenomenon. All these books were interesting reading, but I'm interested in testing out stuff.
   
4. I went through a past-life regression via hypnosis over the summer. It was a very interesting experience and I learned a lot about myself. However, I didn't go as deep as I would've liked and its really hard to know where the info is coming from. Is it the subconcious or it is actually a past-life?
   
5. I think doing the experiment will lead to interesting observations, ideas for new experiments, and generally lead to more happiness in life.

1. Distractions. When doing things like checking email and having conversations, it is extremely easy to get distracted for hours. Writing a blog entry will lead to more accountability. I've also created a sign that says "Observe" that I've made my computer desktop background, that I will post throughout the apartment, and that I will keep in my notebook. I will also mentally remind myself to observe me every time I think of it.
   Self-Delusion. The risk of using myself as an instrument is that I'm the only one who can feel what I feel. So, I have to be extremely careful that I'm not just believing what I want to believe.
   
2. Making Excuses. The body will get worried, angry, etc. In those states, I imagine that I will have pretty convincing reasons for why this experiment is a complete waste of time. As those emotions come up, as they surely will, I will not avoid them, but I will focus on being aware of them. I think starting out with a finite amount of time on this experiment will make it easier not to accept excuses.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 04:08 AM | Permalink