More Journal than Blog

I’ve been thinking about my approach to creating content for my social media platforms. The cornerstone of my output should be my blog - which I’m thinking of as my business journal. I want it to be more journal than blog because I’m sick of doing cookie-cutter posts like the “3 Tips for Organizing Your Life” dreck. My new requirement is that I have that warm, centered feeling while writing it. In order to do that, I need chill music playing (preferably Pink Floyd) and I need a bold attitude of self-confidence without negative thoughts.

Perhaps I’ve been following too much advice from social media gurus. I wonder if I should write more for myself than my audience – even though it sounds backwards. Maybe if I dig deep and share for myself, it’ll be exponentially more beneficial for readers.

I’m considering my experience of following my own All the Hats We Wear philosophy as a social experiment. Therefore, all the posts will reveal my unique experience – like a mad scientist who takes his own concoction and observes the after-effects. I’lll chronicle a life lived through the ATHWW system. Maybe I’ll compile my entries to create a memoir in the future.

A few months ago, I completed the transcendental meditation training and I’ve been meditating regularly ever since. A key concept of TM is that it must be easy and effortless. I’m taking that same no-way-to-do-it-wrong approach to my blogging. If I sense self-doubt creeping up, I focus my attention on how it feels to start meditating. Boom! You just do it the easiest way possible and you’re good! It’s empowering to have an approach in which you can only do it correctly if it’s effortless!  

Podcast Ep 117 - The Cello Guru: A Conversation with Marcie Brown, Life Coach & Professional Cellist

Marcie Brown is a life coach and professional musician. She shares many of her insights on creativity and entrepreneurship.

Outline:
2:15 Get to know Marcie

6:50 Yuself Lateef

12:20 Cirque Du Soleil

15:00 The Cello Guru

24:00 Bes improvisation lesson ever

25:20 Benefits of playing an iinstrument

27:50 Goalsetting

28:00 Thinkific

31:40 Marketing advice

35:45 Authenticity

Links:
The Cello Guru: www.thecelloguru.com

Cello Nation Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3731226183637662

Podcast Ep 116 - Transcendental Meditation: An Interview with Dale Friedgen, TM Instructor

Dale Friedgen, TM Instructor share a wealth of knowledge about Transcendental Meditation.


Podcast Outline:

3:17 What is TM?

9:15 Can you teach yourself TM?

11:48 The app for TM

16:26 Why isn’t TM training free?

19:52 The David Lynch Foundation

21:00 Celebrities that practice TM

23:00 The mantra and its use

25:00 What’s involved in the training course?

33:45 TM.org


Links:

Science of Being and Art of Living - book by Mararishi Mahesh Yogi

10,000 for World Peace Assembly

Mararishi International University

Mararishi Products

TM.ORG


Dale Friedgen, Director and Certified TM teacher

TM center

286 Boston Turnpike (route 9 east)

Shrewsbury, MA  01545

508-635-1569

dfriedgen@tm.org

http://www.tm.org/transcendental-meditation-central-massachusetts

Podcast Ep 115 - Knuck If You Buck

Learn how to title your roles so they inspire you. In episode 115, we’ll take a detailed look at my process for revising my role list. Also, we cover how to set up your day planner to capture all of your best ideas.

Outline:

1:00 Knuck If You Buck: The magic of music to hold you in a feeling you desire

3:38 Creating role titles

15:00 Tapping into enthusiasm

15:50 Transcendental meditation and simplicity

16:40 The Outdoor Boys

17:38 Breaking Bad tequila

19:28 Using All the Hats We Wear system during crises

20:45 John Bonham sounds like a carnival

21:30 Opinions on everything

22:36 Updated tabs in my day planner

I Finally Took the Transcendental Meditation Training

I've been wanting to take the transcendental meditation training for fifteen years. Daily meditations have yielded many benefits already - some surprising. You're supposed to meditate for 20 minutes twice per day. Each meditation is completely unique. I'm learning to do less in the meditation and expect nothing. Each time I come up with an analogy of the experience of TM, I realize it's easier than that. I'm reading faster and with more clarity. My eyes move quickly across words and I'm retaining more. The surprising benefit I received was feeling frustration and anger more in one instance - which you'd think would be the opposite of meditation. I had a very stressful, irritating experience yet found myself more alive and empowered - not passive like usual. And I liked that! Also, I had a particularly powerful meditation session in which I experienced what seemed to be a total white-out and my TM instructor told me that was experiencing pure consciousness - so I've got that going for me - which is nice, lol. TM has become an important ally: always there, without expectations, effortless, and always giving my mind and body what it needs. Overall, I’m enjoying the feeling of being more present and content.

Are You Thinking Big or Lying to Yourself?

My favorite viral video is where a Dad asks his young daughter to sit with him on camera while making a video to interview for a job. The Dad greatly exaggerates everything about himself and we see the daughter reacting to all the fibs. He says he gets up at 4am everyday, takes a 12-mile jog, and cleans the house etc… After a few minutes the kid can’t take it anymore and storms off. 

Sometimes you do have to exaggerate and fib to yourself. When you create new goals, they have to be exciting for you so you’ll be inspired to take action. Don’t be afraid to think big in your self-development journey! 

Example of Big Goals:

I’m a VISIONARY and world-class problem solver with my company XYZ so we can improve the lives of millions of customers

I’m a meditator & practice Transcendental Meditation twice a day

I have a lean, strong body, weigh 180 pounds, and train in jiu-jitsu 3 times per week

I’m the best Dad I can be

I’m a professional speaker and in-demand life coach

I earn $X per month, give 10% of my income to those in need, and have a net worth of $X

The core values of my company are to be joyful, productive, and fulfilled and I embody them every day

I enjoy abundance in all of the roles I play

I believe more every day!

Everything on this list is thinking bigger than I am - they’re all lies - that’s the point. Your goals or vision must point you towards a better place. 

What are your top, thinking-big goals? Tell me in the comments!

Get to Know Yourself

I enjoy the “Dinner with Cupid” column in the Boston Globe. The first thing I do is compare the grades that each participant gives the other. And I’m always curious how they arrived at the grades. The articles are formulaic: I was nervous, the other person was late or early, we ordered this food, learned a few things about the other person, and the wrap-up. The conversation seems typical first date material - a surface level search of things in common and a back and forth of each other’s interests. 

What they need is a way to communicate the core importance of each person quickly. I think each person should go through a self-development profile before the date. As a result, you could hand over a document filled with the most important parts of each person: mission/purpose, goals, and a list of the roles you play (and not a general overview) - I mean a list of roles that include future roles the person is moving towards intentionally. You’d be able to say: “This is what I’m all about.”

Here’s my list of roles:

1. TM Meditator

2. Innovator & Visionary 

3. Lean, Strong Body & Clean Eater

4. The Dude…a Sage

5. Financial Wiz

6. Giver and Philanthropist

7 .Husband

8. Dad

9. Family / Friend

10. Happy Hobbyist

11. Movie Buff

12. Chef & Mixologist

13. Joker

14. Writer & Journaler

15. Willy Wonka of Creativity

16. ATH Founder & World-Class Problem Solver

17. Productivity Coach
18. Support Group Facilitator

19. Professional Speaker

20. Podcaster

21. Sales Pro

22. Marketing Guru & Social Media Participant

23.  Musician & Music Therapist 

And a sample of a mini-mission statement for one of the roles: 

1-Meditator

I’m a meditator. Transcendental Meditation brings beautiful depth to my life. When I’m in deep silence, I catch the big fish ideas and experience bliss over and over again. As a result, I give much more of my soul and my talents to a world that needs it desperately. TM is my magic reset button.

Here are resources to help you get to know who you really are so you can share it with the VIPs in your life!

https://allthehatswewear.com/blog/ep-95-the-most-powerful-time-management-skill-youre-not-using

https://allthehatswewear.com/blog/a-mission-statement-youll-actually-use-everyday?rq=mission

Identify Projects Quickly

Develop the unique skill of differentiating between to-do list action items and small projects. In the All the Hats We Wear project management system, a project is any action or goal that takes more than 90 minutes to complete. If you can’t complete it in a 90 minute session, you identify it as a project. 

For example, I came up with an idea for a podcast episode theme. I want to share the lessons about psychology we can glean from cults and cult leaders. As soon as I thought about it, I decided to make it a project and doing so made me have a more exciting and stress-free relationship with the outcome. I knew it’d require some measure of research and preparation. Now I gave it breathing space and that felt good. If I continued thinking of it as a to-do list item, it’d feel like a chore and very daunting one at that!  Once it’s a project, you can apply the 7 stages of project management to it. 

7 Stages of Project Management:

1. Identify the Spark. What’s the emotional connection you have with this endeavor?

2. Gather. Begin collecting all resources related to your project.

3. Brainstorm. Ask a lot of questions.

4. Structure. Decide on the major components. 

5. Action. Roll up your sleeves and do the work required. 

6. Refine. Make it sparkle by repeatedly making small improvements and adding clarity. 

7. Celebrate!

The Secret to Super Productivity

If you want the secret to accelerating your productivity simply fold a stack of towels. That’s right! The key here is to train yourself to take action without having opinions about everything as you act. Grab the closest, most logical towel and fold it - then repeat. Don’t allow yourself to wonder if you should fold the blue or green one first. We have wayyy to much inner dialogue going on all day long and usually it’s just gumming up the works. It’s slowing our efficiency and draining our energy. If you catch yourself having an opinion while folding towels, start over. Next, apply this approach to a 15-minute session of organizing your workspace. Get into a flow and move quickly and seamlessly from one action to the next. Apply this to brainstorming and you’ll be shocked how it will get you into a state of peak performance within minutes. Don’t let yourself have a split second to allow yourself to ponder whether an idea is good enough to be written down. The instant the thought comes, jot it down. Try it and tell me how it affected your personal productivity! Follow me on your favorite social media platform for more productivity tips!