Happy Things I Wish I Knew Earlier Sunday!
Here are 3 ideas for your consideration this week.
1. Every Idea You Have Is Downstream From The Information You Consume
Where do ideas come from?
Since human consciousness is one of the great mysteries, the short answer is we don’t know because we don’t understand in any final sense how the psyche works.
But we have some clues.
Napoleon Hill taught us, in his legendary course the Law of Success, that thoughts come from either Suggestion or Auto-suggestion.
Suggestion is made up of all the information fed into your mind from sources outside yourself (TV, books, social media, friends, etcetera).
Auto-suggestion is made up of all the information fed into your mind by you (positive affirmations, spiritual declaration, etcetera).
The author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, said that the person who creates better information flows gets better thoughts in his 2023 interview with Tim Ferriss, which you can find here.
If you want better ideas, consume better information.
Even though our minds are tremendously complex, this rule for how to get better ideas is simple.
2. The Best Way to Get A Seat At The Table Is To Have Something To Bring To It
Doctor Randy Pausch’s iconic Last Lecture titled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams is filled with actionable insights he wanted his children to remember after he passed away from pancreatic cancer.
His lecture went viral (which was unusual indeed in 2007), so he expanded on the lecture in a book with the same name, which I really can’t recommend more. Check it out here.
To Randy, the best way to network for business isn’t to network at all. It is to build skills.
He said the best way to get a seat at the table is to have something to bring to it. That’ll always make you more welcome.
Instead of asking yourself how to get your seat at the table, ask yourself what you are going to bring to the table once you get there.
3. “Life Punishes The Vague Wish And Rewards The Specific Ask.” -Tim Ferriss
Doctor Pausch also taught us about the value of having specific dreams.
All of his Big Dreams originated in childhood. And he checked almost every one of them off his list before passing away.
Specific dreams are far more likely to come true because, as Tim Ferriss said, life punishes the vague wish and rewards the specific ask.
The most specific you can be with your goals, the more tangible they feel, the clearer the pathway to them becomes.
If you are struggling to progress toward your goals, make them more specific. Give them a number. Give them a timeline. Make a list of specific actions that will take you there.
Once your goal is as specific as you can make it, then get to work on your action list.
As time goes on, refine both your goal and your action list. Make them more and more and more specific.
Before you know it, you will be living your dream, and the time will come to conjure up your next goal.