Re:
This is actually a pretty POWERFUL habit to install in yourself. I'd say 99.99% of the population IS not disciplined, focused, or concentrated. That might seem like a harsh blanket statement, but hear me out.
The biggest and most important promise we make is that which we make to ourself. Breaking a promise NOW or even reneging on a plan we draw up, gives us future chances to do the same. It cultivates the habit of failing. Of rescheduling. Of putting off. Of procrastinating.
And you can see the leaking of focus all around you. In conversations. In relationships. @ work. Over workouts. Even over women.
And how can we not? The world is full of attractive features, and we turn our ear and eyes to them. It seems more of a sprint than a marathon, and WITHOUT long-range planning, nothing happens.
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The times I feel most concentrated (and I'm by no means 100%) have been during crises or during fvcked up plans or during fights or during explosive situations. Normally, people allow emotions to escalate and for things to really disolve into some serious trouble. Since I've been in enough myself, in accidends, fights, conflicts, etc, I know how to get to the meat of the issue or the heart of the problem and solve. But in anything, it takes determination, it requires taking nothing but the very best in all aspects.
Focus/concentration IS NOT a drug, and it's NOT easy. If it was, everybody would be beautiful, built, wealthy, intelligent, capable, well-read, funny, pick-up artists, etc. Read even Tyler Durden's post on determination/focus/concentration when he talks about truely immersing himself in the GOAL of what he wanted. Sure, day by day, it seems he would never get there, that he wasn't getting the recognition, and so on. But one day, he wakes up, and he's awesome with women, loads of friends, and who knows, his PUA hobby is now an obsession and possibly his career (don't know if he's making $).
Nonetheless, ANYTHING we do in life requires concentration, and the catch 22 of human beings is consciousness. That means we can ACTUALLY think and feel our actions. Nature in and of itself is largely out of it's own control. The earth spins. Dogs mates. Lions/tigers hunt. Birds fly. Rain occurs. Etc, etc. However, humans HAVE no specific action plan. Left on our own, we'd die. Truly. If you had no parents, no income, left in the wild, you'd have to survive or die. Sure you could find a nearby village (maybe) and try to shack up or pillage it, but you have no specific JOB or TASK, as I would say a Horse (which you ride), or a COW which provides milk.
The human is just what it is, being. We do whatever it is WE FOCUS and CONCENTRATE on. Only, most people are so dissipated in what they do, that they never do anything. They dabble in ALOT of things, but rarely 1 thing.
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Using an ideal example...thinking of the average American, most are varied dispersed in what they do. Most get a job, any job, working 8-5. Most do their own yard work, their own house cleaning, their own everything. They're jack of ALL trades, MASTER of none, and for this reason, they don't reach near their ability in ONE AREA.
The IDEAL situation is to have every person do the 1 thing they do best, and outsource everything else to others that do it better/best. Everybody would be rich, happy, and doing what they love most with the most time. That would be because EACH hour of every day would be the most profit. But it's not. Those earning those per hour are doing that because they're doing what they're best at, so they could theoretically WORK less and earn the SAME as the average person, OR work the same amount of time and earn 2,3, 4 or 10x the average person.
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Now, you could be careless and drift along with whatever the flow of life gives you, OR, you could seek out what you want your flow to be. Some of us know innately what we are intended to be/do, and some don't. If you know, then your job is to constantly improve upon that. If you don't, then your job is to find out.
Dell (Michael Dell) is running into trouble. They can't profit because PC/computer margins are being chopped, so their life blood (pc's) is being taken away. This is a natural consequence of business. The industry is in a mature phase, but that doesn't mean the business must. It can evolve it's core business, which it's trying to do. So once you KNOW your edge, you must constantly nurture and grow that edge and not get complacent. It's a pure fact of life and economics.
On the flipside, Sirius Satellite is just emerging. They are installing decks in cars, prices are staying down, and Stern is jumping on board by 2006, so the stock is turning up now. Who knows what the possibility of Satellite radio is. What I do know is, the FCC has already passed a law that fines PERSONALLY a DJ/Radio personality as well as the company. Meaning, they could levy fines, in cash, on Stern $10k and up, and possibly $500,000. It doesn't matter what your worth, the same penalty would be levied, hurting the smaller DJs/Radio personalities. That's pretty big; it's a blow to free speech and to the radio business, since it means most of what's put out will have to be "very by the book." I point this out because SIRI is still learning what they can do, their ability, and they're just up and coming.
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If you can't write long-term goals, try using NOTECARDS (3x5) and putting down on them what you must do for today or this week, and carry it with you in your pocket or wallet. I've done that and sometimes I lost it in my apt and gone back to see I did them. It's weird. It's like taking that mental thought and making it physical makes it much EASIER to complete.
The other habit I've gotten in is writing down random thoughts and/or dreams and keeping it going until it is specific. If you've yet to accomplish it and you keep writing/thinking on it, eventually you will get specific enough that it's possible to execute and nail that sucka.
Long-range plans are great, and it's good to have 1 all encompassing goal, like being 250lbs @ 8% bf. Or amassing $1,000,000 in R/E in 5 years. But breakdown today what you can do to make steps toward that goal. Eventually, you'll grow exponentially and won't realize you're working your plan, and planning your work. It will just be automatic.
I've read alot about stock investors, from the Schwager books, to Graham, Dodd, Buffet, Livermore and Lynch, and most began looking at the "tape" buying a few stocks and losing money. But they got in the game. They got started and learned what NOT to do. And now, if you know anything about them, you'd know their net combined wealth would excede that of Gates if inflation is factored in.
A-Unit
