I have been thinking about this recently and thought I should share it with you. . .
What is your TRUE power?
Is it money, or connections, or knowledge, wisdom, intelligence?
All the above are related to one another.
Lots of people have them. Not everyone has a lot, but everyone has something.
You will have some money saved up, some knowledge and experience gained through the years, and some intelligence.
But what’s the most powerful one?
None of the above…
From my life experiences, I learned that true power is…
The power of getting started on a task and the ability to complete it.
The power of getting started.
But the one thing that differentiates achievers from the others is that they keep starting something new. They go from zero to one.
They do not keep thinking and planning for a long time.
They just start.
There is always resistance within us to start something new.
We procrastinate things.
We settle with a lie to ourselves and don’t get started.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
We tell ourselves, if I do it, I will do it perfectly and then we never get started.
There is something called the “Law of diminishing Intent.”
If you catch an idea and got inspired to start something, your enthusiasm for it will be 10/10 when the idea came to you.
Within a few hours, it will become like 9/10.
By the end of the day, it will become 8/10.
After one week, your enthusiasm for that idea would be like 2/10.
By that time you would have sold yourself that it is not a great idea after all.
What do you think you doing there?
You are building a graveyard of dead ideas within yourself.
Ideas that could have changed the world, but never saw the light of the day.
People who teach their milestones have learned one thing from their life experience.
Did you get an idea?
Get started with it now.
Getting started with something gives it life. And it takes a life of its own.
You will be powering it with your resources, but it gathers momentum.
How do you apply this in real life?
Got an idea for creating wealth ?
Open a document, write “Creating wealth”. Read up, look up people you model. Teach to wools who can help you. Understand the world of finance-business-money well.
The next day power inside you that always prevents you from getting started will not be that powerful.
Opening that document again and taking it forward is much easier than starting from scratch the next day.
Got a business idea?
Message a like-minded friend immediately.
You will give it some life, and then it will pick up the stream slowly.
There are many ways to defeat this monster but the best way is to get started immediately.
Now, if you don’t uphold your commitments to yourself by not completing what you started, you erode the relationship with yourself.
Let me explain with an example…
How would you feel if your friend said he will meet you at a coffee shop at 6.00 o’clock and then comes at 7 o’clock?
Sometimes, they don’t turn up and forget about it.
Maybe once or twice you will forgive him.
But what if he does that every time.
The relationship with him breaks.
You want to connect with him no more.
Now let me ask you…
How many commitments you have made to yourself that you have not upheld?
So many times… that by now you want to break the relationship you have with yourself?
Hmm…
Have you heard of the story “Marathon Monks” of central Japan?
There’s this group of monks called the ‘Tendai Buddhist Monks’ that reside in central Japan on a mountain called Mt. Hiei.
And these monks believe that extreme self–denial and physical exertion leads to enlightenment…
So for hundreds of years, they have been running a marathon challenge called the “Kaihogyo” (which literally means in Japanese: “circling the mountain”)…
But this isn’t like any marathon challenge you’ve EVER heard of.
It’s a 1,000 day challenge that takes place over 7 years…
And if you fail the challenge – you actually have to end your own life.
Yes. It’s that serious.
Here’s what awaits monks that accept this challenge:
Year 1: Run 30 km per day (about 18 miles) for 100 straight days.
Year 2: Run 30 km per day for 100 straight days.
Year 3: Run 30 km per day for 100 straight days.
Year 4: Run 30 km per day for 200 straight days.
Year 5: Run 30 km per day for 200 straight days.
After completing the fifth year of running, the monk must go for 9 straight days without any food, water, or rest. (Two monks actually stand beside him and watch him so he doesn’t fall asleep).
Year 6: Run 60 km (about 37 miles) per day for 100 straight days.
Year 7: Run 84 km (about 52 miles) per day for 100 straight days.
And then, for the final 100 days of year 7, he must run another 30 km per day.
This amount of running is actually insane, and is the equivalent of running around the entire Earth!
But there is one part of the challenge that makes The Kaihogyo unlike anything else ever…
Do you know what it is?
The monk can quit The Kaihogyo for the first 100 days. But from Day 101 onwards, there is no quitting…
The monk will either successfully complete EVERY SINGLE DAY of the Kaihogyo … or take his own life.
No second chances…
So when these monks go running – they actually carry a length of rope and a small sword at all times on their journey. Just in case…
And in the last 400+ years, only 46 have actually completed this challenge.
Now, what does all have to do with you?
Well, if you want to KILL your procrastination for good – here are two lessons we can learn from these Marathon Monks.
A Task Expands Into The Size Of Its Deadline
“Hey, go run 36,000 kilometers, good luck.”
If this was what the Marathon Monks were told on Day 1 – how many people would actually start the challenge, and complete it within just 7 years?
Probably no one.
So Marathon Monks don’t approach the Kaihogyo like this, they approach it in bite sizes.
They make non-negotiable daily deadlines.
And that’s what you should do too.
Many people set a goal for themselves but only reevaluate at the end of the year.
They make a goal in January, and then in December they ask themselves:
“Did I hit my goal?”
Instead of doing this, break what you want to do into daily pieces.
This way, you’ll very quickly know if you’re on track or not.
And this way, you’re actually training your mind to get something done within a time period.
And the second part to this is…
Set ‘Do Or Die’ Deadlines
Marathon Monks take what they have to do seriously. And if they don’t get done what they say they’re going to get done in the day…
…they have pretty devastating consequences…
Now, you don’t have to carry a knife with you to work to make sure you finish a project. But you can give yourself consequences for not finishing things on time…
For example:
“If I don’t finish X by 6 PM, I have to do 20 pushups.”
“If I don’t finish X by 6 PM, I have to tell my friend that was keeping me accountable that I failed.”
“Or if I don’t finish X by 6 PM, I have to give my friend 100 bucks.”
Whatever it is you decide for consequences, they need to be more painful than procrastinating.
We usually procrastinate because we think it’s LESS painful to procrastinate.
But when the consequences of procrastination are even MORE painful than getting it done – then it’s a LOT easier to do.
Keep going my friends. And remember :
Kill procrastination or procrastination will kill you.
