| It would be impossible to list all of the things | | | | your mind that doubts you, that questions, that |
| people have considered crucial to success in life. | | | | offers seductive alternatives to performing the |
| Honesty, energy, bonding, modeling, control of | | | | daily tasks that make up our lives. You want to |
| fear...all are important. For my whole life, I've | | | | write a chapter-it tells you that your work is crap. |
| searched for the answers in this arena, and | | | | You want to exercise-it tells you that it is too |
| treasured the gems that have been revealed. | | | | late, that your body is beyond repair, why |
| In July of 2005, I went back to Longview, | | | | bother? You want to find a healthy relationship, |
| Washington, where I'd lived for nine years, raising | | | | and the voice tells you that all the good men, or |
| my daughter. When we left, we packed much of | | | | women, are gone. |
| our house into two storage units, planning to | | | | Don't believe you have one? Just sit quietly for |
| return once we had our roots properly planted in | | | | two minutes and listen. Go ahead, use a kitchen |
| Los Angeles. Going through the storage units was | | | | timer. Listen. |
| bittersweet-my wife and I didn't have a huge | | | | Did you hear that voice saying "what voice? I |
| amount of time to carefully examine every item | | | | don't hear a voice!" |
| in every box. But one book fell out of one box, | | | | That's the voice. |
| almost as if it intended to jump into my hands, | | | | It is imperative to become aware of it, aware of |
| refusing to be junked. It was called "Mastery" | | | | its power, aware that it lies. Aware that the voice |
| (now out of print), and its author was an old | | | | in your head IS NOT YOU. |
| friend of mine, Tim Piering. | | | | No. You are not the voice. YOU are the one |
| Tim was (and is) one of the best men I've ever | | | | LISTENING to the voice. And this is so important |
| known. A husband, a father, an engineer, a Marine | | | | to understand that I cannot overstress it. Please |
| officer, black belt in four martial arts, Tim is a | | | | go back and read that again. And again. |
| gentle giant with a gift for teaching and coaching. | | | | All over the world, there are literally thousands of |
| During the 80's, it was my honor to be part of a | | | | meditation techniques designed to "turn off" or |
| group with which he shared extremely high-level | | | | "turn down" the voice of failure. The voice, |
| neurolinguistic and hypnotic patterns, advanced | | | | composed of the memories of teachers, parents, |
| body-mind work that still, twenty years later, | | | | friends, and our own past selves, can make us |
| seems ahead of its time. Hands trembling, realizing | | | | doubt ourselves even in the midst of victory. |
| how close I'd come to throwing away one of | | | | Whatever you do, whatever you desire in life, |
| Tim's few books, I opened it, and came to page | | | | you MUST find a way to either quiet or ignore |
| 47. there, it said that if you only had two tools in | | | | those voices, or your results will suffer. |
| the world to help you succeed, they would be: | | | | One of the most powerful ways to turn the |
| 1) Well defined WRITTEN goals. | | | | voices off is physical flow. This is the state |
| 2) The ability to take action despite the "Radio | | | | reached in Tai Chi or Yoga when your mental and |
| Voice" in your head. | | | | emotional commitment to the technique becomes |
| And I was stunned. Never have I heard anyone, | | | | intense. You can find it in jogging, when you reach |
| anywhere, state the secret to success more | | | | "runner's high." |
| clearly, or succinctly. The impact of those earlier | | | | In meditation, you can observe a candle flame, |
| days flooded back to me in a moment, and I | | | | the smell of incense, or even your own breathing |
| realized how much of my own accomplishment I | | | | or heartbeat for 15-30 minutes at a time, on a |
| owed to just this simple understanding. | | | | daily or thrice-weekly basis. When you try to do |
| Why are these so important, and what EXACTLY | | | | this, believe me the voices will freak out and try |
| do they mean? | | | | everything in their bag of tricks to get you to |
| We all understand goal-setting, and most of us | | | | stop. |
| are aware that writing our goals down increases | | | | This mental/physical practice is directly applicable |
| our odds of accomplishing them by at least 10X. | | | | to any other activity in your life. To large degree, |
| There is a quiet magic in the act of writing goals, | | | | your chances to succeed in life will be in direct |
| and anyone who has practiced this art will know | | | | proportion to your capacity to maintain "flow", or |
| exactly what I'm talking about. If you doubt it, | | | | relaxed concentration, under mental or emotional |
| just check around and find out how | | | | stress. The depths of this trance state vary, but |
| uncomfortable the average person is in | | | | we've all heard stories of artists, inventers, |
| performing this simple, basic act. They KNOW | | | | writers and poets so absorbed in their work that |
| that a written goal, unlike a misty dream or hope, | | | | they didn't hear the phone ring, or even a tree fall |
| is a contract between your conscious and | | | | through a window! THAT is concentration. THAT |
| unconscious mind. A written goal is half-way | | | | is the ability to shut up "the voices," and that is |
| between a thought and a reality, marking the way | | | | the state you must approach to find your own |
| to the future. | | | | greatest genius. |
| But what is the Radio Voice? It is the voice in | | | | Thank you, Tim, for reminding me of that lesson. |