Author
If you're anywhere near where I was 13+ years ago, you're so confused about what you need to do to turn your life around, you don't know where to begin.
That confusion you're experiencing means that you're probably never GOING to begin turning things around - confusion has a way of doing that!
It's not your fault, because this world has taken a very simple idea for getting awesome results, and confused it all up.
Seriously, if you were to walk into a bookstore today, you'd like find hundreds of books, filled with thousands of pages with different ideas, strategies, and systems, that are trying to describe a core principle that only requires a few paragraphs to understand.
It's frustrating to fall into the mental trap of thinking that 'ideas have to be complex to work', because you constantly end up banging your head against the wall, wondering why nothing's working like you've been told it would!
Like I said a moment ago, I was there 13 years ago. But around that time, I started using mind mapping in my learning process, which helped me make an important discovery that I think a lot of people are missing.
You see, as I started mind mapping books, and concepts, and strategies I had been exposed to over the years, a single, core principle kept emerging from virturally everything that I was studying.
In other words, I found that everything from setting goals, to creating a budget, to being an organized person, was directly tied to this 1 principle. I like to call it the Ultimate Principle!
I thought, if I can practice this one principle throughout my life - master it, then I no longer need confuse my brain trying to adopt dozens of different 'systems' that are nothing more than manifestations of this core principle.
So, you're probably wondering; What was the core principle or idea I discovered?
Simply...it's the ongoing pursuit of mastering the skill of long-term thinking.
If you incorporate long-term thinking into everything you do, it will lead you to excellence!
I've found that there are 7 main ways (mindsets) to use long-term thinking in life (and business).
Here they are, along with a related question to help you analyze your own use of this kind of thinking:
- Goals - Do I know my long-term outcomes?
- Preparation - Do I take time to understand the challenges and obstacles ahead of me, and how best to deal with them?
- Influence - What am I allowing into my life, body, and mind, and how is it going to affect me long-term?
- Clarity - Do I eliminate anything that can impair my long-term thinking (clutter, too much 'stuff', too much work, etc.)?
- Experience - Do I pay attention, learn, and I am willing to change when it improves me, my life, or my results over the long-term?
- Systems - Do I willingly sacrifice a little time now to create systems in my life/business that create the best long-term results?
- Action - Do I consistently take action toward my long-term outcomes/goals?
Want proof that what I'm saying about the power of this principle is true?
Well, all you have to do is consider the opposite of each of these mindsets.
What is life like when:
- You have no clear goals?
- You don't plan for the future?
- You act without a thought about the consequences?
- It's filled with clutter and disorganization?
- Not much changes for you (good or bad) from year-to-year?
- How you work is laregly inefficient and harder than it needs to be?
- You never take action on things that matter to you over the long-term?
Sounds pretty awful, doesn't it?
That's the life of a short-term thinker, or someone who is largely focused on instant gratification, with little to no thought about the future.
If you simply focus your efforts on adopting the principle of long-term thinking in all you do (using the mindsets I mention above), you're going to be astounded, and I DO mean astounded, at the results you begin to see and experience.
Discovering this principle was just one of the 'Defining Moments' I experienced on my way from transforming from a miserable apartment painter 13 years ago, to being a successful, full-time author, software developer, and all-around Internet entrepreneur - doing things I absolutely love doing!
There are many others, which you can listen to when you grab your Defining Moments package here:
http://www.derekfranklin.com/definingmoments.htm
Remember, this package includes several bonus interviews with other folks I admire and respect, including Jason Fladlien, David Vallieres, and Valerie Young.
In addition to several hours of audio, all of the interviews come with a FREE 'Nerd Report', which is a cool summary/cheat sheet of all the key points. You're going to love 'em!
That's it for today, but in several days, I want to send you another email to expand on the practice of mind mapping, and share with you some of the benefits of using it, and how it powers my thinking and learning process every day.
Until then, have an awesome day!
