Death As A Motivator

| The Freedom Coach

Death as a Motivator

Written by Steven Griggs |thefreedomcoach.com

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.                                                         Steve Jobs,  Stanford University, June 12, 2005

Since Steve Job’s death on October 5^th, countless articles and tributes have been published to commemorate and honor this exceptional and complex man.

But in addition to being a creator and visionary I believe he had a very clear and deeper way of viewing the world. Maybe through the experiences he gained during his “exile” from Apple and the process of starting Next! and growing Pixar, not to mention his initial cancer discovery and recovery, or maybe this attitude was already a part of him. 

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Steve Jobs, Stanford University, June 12, 2005

Steve Jobs was never about money, he was a creator. He was supremely fortunate to find his passion early on and he never stopped living it. He came to realize the power in viewing life as defined by death. That the way to really live life is to be brave and go for what you love, to live your passion.

And to know that there are no mistakes.

Are living your passion? Do you know what your passion is? Or are you content to act out someone else’s script for your life? To dance to someone else’s music?

You have this life right now, with no promise of another. What’s the worst that can happen?

Remember: 80% of the things you worry about don’t happen and the 20% that do happen are never as bad as you thought they would be.

I’m not advocating quitting your job and hitchhiking around the world (although that's not a bad idea) or dropping out to join a monastery or anything too drastic. But just start watching yourself, see what turns you on, what gets you fired up. If you know what you are passionate about, do more of it. Maybe you are already feeding your passion through your hobbies, if not, start a hobby.

Start getting more into whatever your passion is.

Are you going to look back on your life from your deathbed and think” I’m sure glad I kept my nose to the grindstone and spent the bulk of my life in the office working. I’m sure glad I missed spending all that time with my family and friends.”

Death is coming for us all. Use the time you have to the maximum. Don’t waste another minute.

www.thefreedomcoach.com 

Balance Is Baloney

No Limits | The Freedom Coach

Balance is Baloney

Written by Steven Griggs |thefreedomcoach.com

"Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery." 
Wayne Dyer

What is living “in balance”? How many times have you read or been told that you need to live “in balance”?  If you’ve tried living  “ in balance”  has  it worked for you?

Personally I think that the only time you need to worry about balance is if you are dancing with hippos… then balance becomes important!

I don’t really think that we humans are supposed to live in balance. Really… what does it mean?

It sounds good and appropriate but is it real? Now I’m sure there are people out there who will say they are living a balanced life, but how would we really know? Is there a template or rule book for living “in balance”?

Excess is the rule.

I think rather than live “in balance” we humans actually tend to live “in excess”. I don’t mean we are all maniacs running around eating, drinking and living hugely excessive lives but on some levels maybe we are….

Aren’t there times when you eat too much? Or drink (anything) too much? Or stay up too late? Or drive too fast? Or……? The list of potential excesses goes on and on.

One example: Look at the quantities of food we have in America and the amount of obese people. This is one good example of excess. You might say yes and that’s the problem, we need to live in balance and eat less…..  but is it realistic to expect us to all cut back and live on less food if it’s so easily available? Bring in the entire population of any third world country and in time they would have the same obesity problems that we have.

My point here is that we aren’t constructed to be “in balance” or to live within someone else’s opinion or sensibilities about what is “normal” and acceptable. We tend to be excessive sometimes.

I believe that we all live within what I call our “Comfort Band”. This is a band or range of comfort that we each operate in. It is much like a thermostat setting, you have a high and a low and we all operate within the range of this preset Comfort Band.

Sometimes you will range down towards the lower setting and sometimes bump up against the higher setting, but you will always stay within the range. Not higher, not lower.

For some of us the band settings are lower and for some they are higher. That’s why some people have more money than others. Their Comfort Bands allow for greater financial success, while some of us don’t feel comfortable being that successful. It’s not based on intelligence, luck, education, connections or anything else for that matter. It is all based on the under programing (limiting beliefs) that we have taken on that sets the limits of our “Comfort Band”.

You can look at all areas of your life and get a picture of your settings. I’ll talk more about how we get our settings and how to change them in another article.

Your Dream Car

For example, look at the type of car you drive.  (I’m  not saying you are your car… this is just a good example). You probably aren't driving your dream car (if you are, good on you) but you are more than likely driving a car that you feel is appropriate or that you are “comfortable” in. Not too special, not too flashy… not too extreme. Or are you driving your dream car and is it "not too special", "not too flashy" and "not too extreme"….?

Now look at your feelings about your car as you read this. If you pay attention to yourself you may notice that you might be justifying the car you drive by noting its cost, sensibility, economy, etc. If so, you are observing yourself operating in your “Comfort Band”.

You can apply this insight to every area of your life.

This is also how we approach all those things we tend to do too much of. We may drift into overeating but when we get to that extreme setting, see the weight getting too high, we will tone it down and diet or cut back until we feel comfortable again.

If you are doing too much of anything, you will know when it becomes uncomfortable and slow it down a bit until you feel comfortable again.  We do this in all areas of our lives: wash, rinse, repeat.

Resetting your Thermostat

There may be times when you drift into a level lower than your current setting. This can occur when you start buying into your current circumstances and reset your thermostat by taking on more limiting beliefs. Being jobless for a long time may have you begin to take on untrue beliefs, such as you are not good enough or smart enough, or you are too old and therefore unemployable. If you allow this type of thinking to contaminate your mind it may reprogram your settings and you could see your situation become more challenged.

So next time someone talks about being in balance, you can relax and know you are already in balance- with yourself.

The next step will be to decide what you want to change and then you can begin to reprogram your Comfort Band.  More on that later.

www.thefreedomcoach.com

Slow Learning vs Long Learning

No Limits | The Freedom Blog™

Slow Learning vs Long Learning

Written by Steven Griggs |thefreedomcoach.com




It seems that throughout my life I have always taken a long time to “Get It”…. I mean sometimes it seems that I have to run into the wall several times or get beat up and slapped around a bit before I “Get it”.

For example: Paying bills by writing checks. I have been on the web since 1996 and it was only three years ago that I finally began to” trust” that my bank account would be safe if I paid my bills online!

This might be what is called being a slow learner…. .

I also refused to trust making remote deposits! I personally had to process and deposit all my checks in person at my bank, every time. I couldn’t do it any other way.

After years and years, I finally saw the light and started making deposits by remote scanner, saving all kinds of time, gas and extra steps…..

Wow! But does that make me a slow learner?

Less Contact with Money and Bills

I recommend doing everything remotely.

My goal is to structure my life so that all my business interests and interaction with money and bills is minimized. Everything is (as much as possible) automated and handled remotely. I want my life to be available to me so I can spend time creating, travelling or just being. No restrictions.

It is my personal goal is to eliminate all contact with paper in my personal and business life.

So I guess my question is: what is a slow learner?

Change is Difficult

I think that most of us have habits and daily routines. For some of us those habits and routines can become very rigid. They become almost hardwired in a way. They also become less visible.

Doing things the same way, day after day, month after month, year after year becomes so automatic that we basically become sleep walkers.

There is a reason for this. The ego personality likes this and needs it. It loves repetition and routine. It needs to know exactly what to expect at all times. No surprises. It feels safe. Secure.

To change, you need to be ready. And when you are ready, you will.

In my case it took a long time to get to the point where I couldn’t stand writing checks and doing banking.

But you can’t be advised or told what to do. No one really ever takes someone else’s advice.  Do they?

I know I don’t.

I need to go through the process to finally understand that I need to change. I don’t know if you are like that, but I think I may just need more time, sometimes a long time…..  to finally “Get It”!

So I say I am a LONG LEARNER, not a slow learner…

Remember. This is a journey and there is no destination. No fast or slow. We never get there, we just keep moving on our journey. Not always in a straight line, but moving nevertheless.

So if you are like me, relax and accept what is, it’s ok to be a long learner.

www.thefreedomcoach.com