The Strangest Secret

Who controls your life? At first, you might answer, “I do, duh!” But upon closer inspection, you might be surprised at the real answer.

Men and women today suffer from a unique problem: Not taking time to think. In general, we get so busy “doing” that we forget to take time to think about why, or even if, we should be doing the task at hand.

We live in the richest time in the history of the world. Kings would have given everything they have to live in our time – to do things like fly in one airplane. Despite living in the richest time, only five percent of us will be financially free at retirement.

Did you get that?
95% of the world will depend on someone else (the government, a job, their family) to take care of them at retirement age. What went wrong? What are we not doing? I think the answer lies in the strangest secret.

Conformity
In the book Man’s Search for Himself, Rollo May highlights that the enemy of courage is not fear. The enemy of courage is conformity. Conformity comes from not thinking.

If you ask the average person how they will spend today, they will probably tell you, “I’m going to work.” If you ask them why, they will most likely say, “That’s what I do every Wednesday. I have always gone to work on Wednesdays.”

Forces of Life
Most of the time we live our lives believing they’re controlled by outside forces. We blame our situation on the economy, our family, our job, or our boss, when in reality, we control what and whom we become.

The Strangest Secret
The secret to success is so simple, some call it strange: You become what you think about!

Why is this The Strangest Secret? Well, it turns out, it is no secret at all. Great thinkers have taught it for years. Yet, if you were to randomly ask people what the secret to success is, very few would give the correct answer.

You become what you think about. You cannot stop it. If you think about problems, you will get them. If you think about being sick, you will get sick. If you think about making money, you will find a way to make it.

It only makes sense that if you think about something consistently and are willing to sacrifice everything to obtain that thing, you will get it.

From Petty to Important
Stop spending too much of your brain on petty daily things, and start spending time on really important things.

Ask yourself:
1. What is important to me?
2. Who do I want to become?
3. Where do I want to be in 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years and 10 years?

The answers to these questions should become the things you think about the most. Live into the thing you want to become and then become it.

Schedule Think Time
Develop a habit of scheduling weekly thinking time, or time when you simply sit in a chair and think. You have no agenda, no phone or computer, and no other distraction with you. You just think.

THINK time is free, and that’s why it’s taken for granted. We tend not to value what we get for free. Yet all things worthwhile are free – our minds, our health, our ambitions, our dreams, our relationships. The things we spend money on do not last and can be replaced. Learn to value your mind.

Rise above the narrow-minded pettiness and prejudices that keep most people down and think higher thoughts. You’re better than that!

Living Every Minute

Dr. Tim