During this week I have noticed that I have become more and more laid back, and not as stressed over the things I need to get done, like I was when I started MKMMA. The way I am now makes me think of how laid back Adam Sandler’s character Longfellow Deeds from Mr. Deeds is.

 

Where as before I started MKMMA I was more like Thaddeus Plotz, the height-impaired, hot-tempered, money-grubbing, picky and stubborn CEO of the Warner Bros. Studios from the cartoon Animaniacs. Little things would irritate me.  I would stress over how I would accomplish things I wanted to do, get cranky because I thought doing chores was wasting my time that I could be doing something else.  Whether it was a simple chore like washing the dishes, or completing a school exam.  Even entertainment left me feeling guilty because I felt that I should have been ‘working’ instead of enjoying myself.

I had absolutely no balance.  Never satisfied.  Hard to please.  Never happy.  But now things are different.  Even with all the extra stuff I have added to my day with the readings and sitting and MKMMA activities, Im getting more accomplished and have much much more balance in my life and a lot less guilt about taking some me time.

 

This week I was pondering more on the things I think about and that I find, in all honesty, pretty idiotic.   Maybe you have a few of these thoughts yourself.  Those moments you decided NOT to do something because you thought “Somebody does that better than I can.” or “Somebody else is doing that already, so why should I do the same thing?”

I notice that I have those kind of thoughts and that makes it sound like life is some sort of competition, although it really isn’t.

Another thought I have had “Since I don’t have something as good (if not better) than what somebody else has”, I sabotage myself to think that I couldn’t do as good of  job as that guy did simply because I don’t possess the external stuff that the other person has.

It’s like the “You Complete Me” scene in Jerry Maguire that Mark was referring to in the last webinar. It was like me thinking “I need this_______ before I can _______” or “If I only had ________. ”

In actuality, I don’t need anything new to start something. I already have the things I need to start moving towards accomplishing my Definite Major Plan right now.   As for somebody that is already doing something similar that I’m doing (or interested in doing), I remind myself of the line in Scroll IV “Salesman and goods, different from all others, and proud of the difference.” Ya they may have stuff that could make my job easier and better in a lot of ways,  compared to what I have at the time being, but it doesn’t mean I can’t do something AND succeed nevertheless.

Last weeks webinar was when The Franklin Makeover exercise was introduced. This exercise was based on a part of Benjamin
Franklin’s Autobiography.  The focus of the exercise is to improve 13 virtues a person has.  Here is how it works.

First you would rate these 11 virtues. 1 being the one you want to improve the most, 11 being the one you have the most already.

• Self‐Control
• Discipline
• Enthusiasm
• Courage
• Persistence
• Specialized Knowledge
• Imagination
• Decisiveness
• Well‐Organized
• Taking Initiative
• Pleasing Personality.

The exercise is laid out on a table or a spread sheet of 8 columns x 14 rows.   In the first box in row one should read “Week Number” then the following boxes should name the days of the week.

The second row first box should have #1 for the week number, and which virtue you want the greatest improvement on.  For me its “Specialized Knowledge”.

There are 13 slots you must fill out.  The 2nd one and the 13th one is already filled out for you.  Week #2 – Kindness and #13- See God in Others.  The rest is up to you fill out the other 10 in the order you rated them.

Starting at the beginning of the week, add one small dot (or tick) in the square for the corresponding day every time that you noticed that somebody (or you) have displayed that virtue.  For instance, like today, I made somebody lunch and they complemented how good it was. So that would be two ticks in the Kindness/Friday box.  Look for as many as possible, not just the large and obvious but the small things matter to.

In a sense our subconscious mind is like a child playing the game “Monkey See, Monkey Do”.  When our conscious mind points out to our subconscious mind consistent displays of the virtues, eventually, the subconscious mind will automatically start to mimic them.

The Franklin Makeover is another exercise that is easier said than done for me. When I first read through the 13 virtues , I thought I could at least spot 5 to 10 of each of them easily. I quickly learned that I could only spot the bare minimum each day.  It’s like a Easter Egg Hunt for me.  The objective is simple, but when it comes to it, finding the eggs (or in this case the 13 virtues), it was quite difficult to accomplish. Some of these virtues were easy to find right away, and some others are not so easy. Of course it depends on the day as well. Although this is a due-able exercise, but it isn’t as easy as I was expecting. Am I the only one experiencing temporary blindness with this?

These last past few weeks has keep me busy with chores *cough* *cough* services and enjoying the holidays. Although I struggled to maintain my Honor Requirements during this period, I did what I could, that’s including on Christmas Day, but I slipped on missing a few things.

For instance on Boxing Day (or December 26 for those that don’t live in Canada), I missed my morning reading of The Greatest Salesman in the World. On the 26th, after our company left, I felt pretty crumby. I’m not sure if it was because I missed that reading, or if it was because the Christmas rush had passed, but later that day I felt like I was missing something in my pit of my stomach, and felt unusually depressed. I don’t ever remember having this feeling before. I was trying to understand why I am felt the way I did, and really the only thing I could think of was that I missed that morning read! I never missed a beat on my The Greatest Salesman in the World readings otherwise, and never felt like that since then either. After celebrating Christmas, New Years, and my 24th Birthday (that was on Jan. 6th by the way), I’m now ready to get back to my usual routines and to continue uncovering my Golden Buddha.

Happy New Years!

“Rudy” is the first movie I’ve watched this brand new year. Unfortunately I don’t own it on DVD….. yet. 😛

Although I’m not into sports, I do enjoy watching based-on-true-life-story movies like Remember The Titans, Iron Will or The Blind Side. Rudy is based on the story of Daniel E. ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger, determined to overcome the odds and fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame football team despite being told that he was “too small” to play college football. (I totally relate being small by the way.) 😉

DMP – Definite Major Propose
Rudy’s DMP was to play for the Notre Dame Football Team.

MMA – Master Mind Alliance
There were several people that rooted for Rudy and his dream. And when Rudy needed it, they pushed him to keep chasing his dream.

PMA – Positive Mental Attitude
All through the movie there is evidence of Rudy’s positive mental attitude. His brothers laughed at him when he announced that he would play for Notre Dame one day. His Dad tells him to give up his dreams because it hurts those around him. His fiancee wouldn’t wait for him to finish university. With all of these negative and emotional influences, Rudy persevered.

There were a couple of scenes that he introduced himself to key people that he is going to be working with that will be a part of his DMP even before it happened. Like introducing himself to the coach for the first time. Rudy wasn’t even in that university to be considered to be on the team, and replies as though he is already on the team and tells the coach that he looks forward to working with him.

POA – Plan of Action
In in order for Rudy to play for the Notre Dame he had to attend the University of Notre Dame. Due to his marginal grades he had to do his early college work at the nearby Holy Cross College. He put in a lot of work despite being told there was only a slim chance he would be able to attend NDU.

When you hold your dream close, live it everyday, and surround yourself with positive dream believers, concentrate your efforts to achieving your dreams, they can come true. It’s easy to become distracted by other things that life throws at us or to just give it up because we allow the naysayers to suck our passion out of our dreams. Its a choice that is presented to us several times EVERY day. What we chose is what determines how much closer we are at the end of the day and where we start from the next day. Inch by inch, choice by choice, decision by decision we can live our DMPs.