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You know I love to use my own life experiences to share lessons and insights.

So here goes.

As you know I have been in a town called Mildura (Victoria, Australia), where I have been doing some work, prior ro heading to Perth for my 35-year reunion from graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon.

While in Mildura, I delivered a couple of presentations, and leadership training, and one of the topics that was relevant and prevalent in each of the presentations, was our relationship with “EXPECTATIONS”.

I have written about this before and it is a chapter in my new book – 18 Ways We Make Life WAY harder Than It Needs To Be.”

The other thing about my 6-days working in Mildura was that it was exceptional in every way.

The place I stayed, my host, the food, the long walks along the Murray River in the morning, the audiences I got to present to, the smells of the eucalyptus, the sounds of the kookaburra’s, and even the swimming pool were I was staying, which was about 13 degrees Celsius and part of a 3-min ritual each morning.

What Wim Hof would call entering the cold.

So the context is, that I had a fabulous time in Mildura, and was on my way to my next port-of-call, which was Perth and my military reunion.

Perhaps the long day and delayed flights might have contributed to the outcome, but I had a great conversation with the passenger seated besides me, so it was actually pretty chipper, so we might rule that out as a factor in the event I am leading to in this article.

A quarter of a century ago, I started my ‘personal development’ journey.  

It started with a 30-Day program (6 x CD’s), by Tony Robbins, called Personal Power II, and as a result I made three (3) radical changes in my life.

Firstly, I stopped getting drunk (I switched to low alcohol beers and limited myself to 2 or 3 if I was going out for the night).

Now for the record, drinking “Lite” beers was not well received by my Army buddies.

Next, I switched to a pescatarian diet (principally vegetarian, with the exception of occasional seafood).

And finally I started attending YOGA classes at my local gym in Bondi Junction (Sydney).

In order for you and me to be at our most awesome, we need the highest amount of ENERGY we can generate.

We do this by putting great fuel into our bodies.

Getting plenty of sunshine and fresh air.

Moving our bodies mindfully.

Staying hydrated.

Sleeping well, and a bunch of other stuff, I often talk about.

The other way to maintain high energy is to not WASTE it on stuff that is not important.

Which is where we are going today.

We will be looking at a common place people waste, mismanage, throw away and recklessly spend their valuable energy reserves. 

If you waste 20% of energy on something that doesn’t add value to your life, you only have 80% in your tank to play the game of life with.

Yes, you can generate more, but that takes time.

So let’s make sure we don’t waste energy needlessly.

Which brings me to this…

I was doing an online presentation the other day for a group, when I was asked a question.

It related to ‘Purpose’.

And it was a combination of how do we ‘find’ our purpose, and how do we live a purpose inspired life?

It was a pretty good question, and probably relevant for many people.

So let me share with you my thoughts on the topic.

Firstly, I think there is great psychological benefit in having something to aim for, and a clear path to walk.

I think it was Aristotle who said we are teleological beings; meaning we are at our best when we have a target to aim for.

Where the target might be something one year into our future, or even what I would call our North Star.

I am a huge fan of learning and growing.

Never stop learning and you will never stop growing.

I spend several hours each day doing reading, research and listening to presentations about mostly health-related topics (physical and mental), but also mindset, Geo-political, environmental, financial, and anything else that might impact my life and the lives of my clients.

I am also VERY aware I don’t know everything.

So I approach learning with a very open-mind.

I also change my mind if I am presented with new and compelling information.

I love critical-thinking, establishing what is self-evident, and looking deeper into the WHY, and WHO benefits most when information is presented.

Given that, I thought it would be cool to round out my year of writing to you, with 10 of the top things I have learned over 2023 (or relearned more deeply). I will also let you know if they have caused lifestyle changes, and where to go if you want to go deeper on the subject.

(They are not in order of importance or impact)

About 15 minutes ago, I finished doing a ‘self-healing’ technique developed by Dr Darren Weissman.

I did an abbreviated version of what he calls the LifeLine Technique.

Part of the process is setting an INTENTION (which is very relevant to this conversation).

First, you set an intention.

Starting with “I AM…” (a powerful two-word combination to be used wisely).

My chosen intention was: I am a creative genius, able to create something from nothing.

Part 2 of setting an intention is to connect to the FEELING associated with experiencing the “I AM” statement, in the now.

And as you may or may not know, it is the quality (coherence) and intensity of our feelings that most influences the quantum field around us.

So the feeling I felt, when I truly connected to being a creative genius, was…

PURE POTENTIAL.

It (and I, when I experienced and connected to this emotion) felt AWESOME…and full of pure potential.

I created the feeling by self generating the feeling from the inside out.

That is the potential that exists in all of us.

To create the emotion or emotions we actually wish to feel.

This is easier at some times, harder at others, but is still POSSIBLE for us all.

Now here is what I also want to remind you…

Are you curious to know WTF I am on about?

Well bare with me, and then you will bare the fruits of newfound knowledge. 🙂

For starters, I am not a fan of the hazards of excessive exposure to non-natural EMF on the cells of our body (and it’s effects on our neurology).

Seems I am also not a big fan of “smart” cities.

They totally make me cringe.

Ewwwwww!! 🙂

And while I am having a wee rant, I am also not a fan of smart phones, smart TV’s, smart refrigerators, and a lot of other things labelled as “Smart”.

Here’s my theory:

The more I outsource ‘smart’ to something OUTSIDE of myself, the more likely I am going to decrease my internal smarts.

Not a cool play if you are on the path to elevated wisdom.

So let me explain how the “Dumb as F#ck” Principle works when it comes to your physical and mental health.

And maybe we just use the acronym “DAF”, so I deposit a few less “F” bombs throughout this post.

This is pretty much a follow on from last weeks post.

Where I talked about the important of being in the REALITY zone, and not the STORY zone, when making decisions.

I also talked about how I encourage my Coaching clients to be as boring as possible when describing things in their lives.

I also encourage them to be impeccable with their language, to get to reality even quicker.

Not only do you get to reality, but you also enter the place of specificity.

Which is such a USEFUL place to be.

About 47 times (at least) more useful than a ‘generalization’!!

Again it comes back to our language.

Are you using words that are non-specific, too broad, unclear, imprecise, and don’t really give you a clear sense of the ‘reality’?

Versus words that are targeted, precise, and specific.

Words that allow you to get to the heart of the issue.

The reality of the situation you are faced with.

It is MUCH easier to come up with a solution when you know specifically what you need to focus on.

Over the last bunch of weeks, I have been building a picture.

The picture is of this person – YOU – who is most aptly equipped to deal with life’s inevitable challenges.

And challenges which have definitely ramped up over the last few years.

Regardless of your beliefs on the root causes, and who or what is to blame (or not), the ultimate outcome is uncertainty, disruption and a sense of instability.

Planning for the ‘future’ feels a little bit like stepping into a casino.

A bit of a game of chance.

There is uncertainty about financial systems, new rules and regulations for general living, supply chain shortages, rules and restrictions for travel based on health or religious beliefs, energy issues, technological innovations (which may or may not be positive depending on your point of view), changes to future working environment, plus political instability and general distrust in governments and government regulating agencies.

Pretty crazy times.

One option might be to put your head in the sand, and ‘hope’ things become more stable and predictable in the future.

OR…

Another option is to BECOME the type of person – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually – who can effectively navigate their way through uncertain and disruptive times, with a spring in their step and a smile on their face.

Myself. I prefer OPTION 2.

So let’s see what that might look like.

This is a good question.

How meaningful are your life goals on a scale of 1 to 10?

That gets right to the heart of the matter.

And I think in the current world environment, with a lot of bonkers having happened over the last couple of years (and continuing) it really is the time to have a MUCH deeper look into where we are putting our attention, energy, resources and life force.

In The Guidebook to Authentic Success, I suggest that it is hard to truly feel ‘successful’ right down to your bones, if you are not doing things with your life, or heading in the direction of meaningful life goals.

One of my favourite quotes by Earl Nightingale is:

“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” I often substitute ‘ideal’ for ‘goal’.

What is means to me is I get to experience the feelings of success (I prefer the authentic version), while I am heading in the direction of, and working towards the realisation of, something that is truly meaningful.

The other thing is if you choose the most meaningful (and right) Goals, you are more likely to experience the other things essential to authentic success, such as: growth, connection, experiencing joy, and feeling in alignment with your authentic self.