Still catching up on the last 3 weeks of notes as I spent March walking the Camino de Santiago. I have mind mapped everything thus far and noted the most resonant of the quotes separately. The main benefit for me has not so much been anything new but more the variation in the way the core messages of classics like Napoleon Hill and Steven Covey are articluated in so many ways. The core philosophy is the same but the notes give a multitude of expressions which improves personal resonance.

Overall I got most from Brians new year post re goals and many of the notes have reinforced the messages in this. I now have Rituals and creatives goals and general am letting the outcomes take care of themselves.

I think the main benefit for me has been the energy from the Brian and Community. This has kept pulling me back to the baseline and getting me back on track.

My one suggestion in follow up would be setting up some kind of group rituals tool. The ability to follow your rituals online and share your experience with them and how the notes interact with achieving them would be a great long term way to help everyone stay on track.

Justin

First self development tape I ever heard defined success as 'working towards a worthy goal'. Today's book is a great reminder that the head side of this is really easy, ditto on chasing the goal, however, the real journey is the one step at a time of doing.

I do mad endurance stuff that I am never really fit or prepared enough for so the only way to get even close to the goal is to concentrate on each footstep. I must admit have not completed probably 50% of the events I have entered - so what. When your body thinks it can only do 60 miles and you managed to get it to 90 does it really matter that you missed the last 10. Also when you are pushing the boundaries that much there is only the present cos you do not have the energy or the mental bandwidth for more.

Got way behind and caught up on 12 books in the last 3 days, get a bit more attached to being up to date - so much for being equanimous. Great to get so much content in a short period as the patterns are clearer. Even better to get back to one book and then reflection time.

It is nice when you get a paradigm shift even if it is a small one. Looking at hungry assets as potential liabilities is great. As always you do have to consider time in this, the liability of today is the asset of tomorrow. Someone I know has just finished 30 years in the police. He treated this as serving time for a purpose. So at 48 his house is paid for and he will have the same net cash in his pocket for the rest of his life from his pension, most importantly it gave him the space to walk to both poles, climb and more recently set up an expeditions company that has given about 100 people so far the chance to expand themselves and conquer fear in the wilderness.

One of the challenges when discussing living in the present moment is the apparent conflict with strategic achievement. the approach to focus being unbalanced is great. The idea that you choose to be unbalanced to move forward and then choose to rebalance is perfect. It fits with the heart resting for 15 hours idea and the fact the an anaerobic state is automatically rebalanced by the body once the work has been completed. This also fits with the policeman as he had total focus on the end game and the present moment and accepted a very long period of slight imbalance to reach his objective.

Finally as a business guy it is always nice to use the enterprise metaphors. I am always banging on about opportunity cost at work but never really thought to directly apply it to the rest of life. Doh...

Hi, not sure how you are looking at the finished product but I think it would be great to go with the graphical as much as poss. It works really well in the video's and you have the links to all of this stuff and the original books if people want more. The ability to take a single page as an envisioning of something would be cool and very different from what generally gets produced with reams of words. I think picture and value prop (elevator pitch) and then links would be really different. In a twitter, facebook world why create a new bible when you can change the game. A picture paints a thousand words after all ;0)

Justin

I think the biggest challenge here is to stay in your zone of genius. Anyone taking part in this challenge has probably removed enough of the dust to be able to see the light occasionally. But staying in the light and not creating more dust is the reality for most of us.

I had a great Eureka moment about a year ago (at a Cisco conference of all places) where I realised there were three separate areas I needed to nuture. These were;

Body - this is about money, food, stuff. It is essential but most people get
stuck here.
Heart - This is where your passion lies, where you soar.
Soul - this is more about the universe than you. Where do you most
effectively interact with the universe. Improve the world.

At this point for me these are still 3 separate but interconnected areas of activity but I can see the time when they will be one. To me that is my zone of genius and today's book reminded me to keep the body under control so the others can flourish.

I love the heart resting 15 hours a day and still achieving its vital role. That's the tag line for me as you can build a paradigm shift around it.

Interesting to see how annoyed many people get if you live reality - if you say and believe 'it is what it is' you relax but those around you, who have not let go, seem to add your potential stress to theirs. I guess the essential addition to the note might be to actively share the calmness you gain. Good for you and everyone around you.

I have a bunch of audios by Covey of this stuff and they are the reference point I always go back to. Interesting in philosophical discussions how often the themes can be seen using other language. For example much eastern teaching relates to being in the present moment and listening fully to someone before responding, this is a process that delivers seek to understand. Having read and listened to loads of this stuff the 7 habits is the most effective conceptual packaging I have come across. There were some nice messages in yesterdays note but in mind mapping the first 2 for this challenge the 7 habits gives 5 really strong level one messages. Understand where you are headed, take responsibility for getting their, ensure those you interact with are able to go with you and you with them (a nice thought that links habits 4-6 is; love is the natural inbetween), do the right things and keep improving so you can do them everything better. Agreement 4 (arete) connects sharpen the saw and be proactive and agreements 2-3 are differing views of know thy self which underpins all of the above. Going to be an interesting mind map by the end. Follow the yellow brick road...

Nice starter and interesting to understanding the derivation of Sin as a word. I remember when someone explained to me that Spirit was originally translated as breath of life. Agreement 2 fits nicely with Covey and the idea that responsibility is the Ability to choose your response. Agreement 3 is nicely reinforced with ASSUME makes an ASS of U and ME.

Could you put a link to the days note into the email/this page please as it just makes it easier to work through the process. More efficient given we have 1500 people x 50 days of this. Thanks :0)