CAN WE IMPROVE BY 1% A WEEK?
CAN WE IMPROVE BY 1% A WEEK?
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What is 1%?
The FIREDANCE program is designed to increase your performance by about 1% per week in about 20 minutes a day. That would be
1) Five sixty second breathing breaks
2) 10-20 minute Morning Ritual using the M.A.G.I.C. formula
Jason hasn't gotten to the point where he can do all of that on his own, but that's ok--its VERY adult and awake to try that. So I ensure he has the separate pieces of the puzzle, and practices them all over the course of his week
1) He has to work his body--HARD.
2) He has to control his emotions.
3) He has to work on his career. This is, on the surface, his "MAGIC 4 Teens" program (www.magic4teens.com). But in actuality I'm using it to force him to internalize success principles, just as my mother ENDLESSLY played success tapes and records for me when I was a child. Hated it. Sank in. DARN YOU, MOM! I WAS DOOMED TO SUCCEED!
Anyway---I woke up this morning feeling #$%% GREAT! And realized that if I asked myself what "1%" progress I'd made in the last week, I could say:
1) CAREER: got a financial manager, turned in the 14-page outline of the Star Wars novel, completed 10 tiny thumbnail story ideas for another project.
2) BODY: I've figured out how to cut weight more rapidly by "slushy fasting": sipping ultra-high nutrition vitamin slushies to cut my hunger. No solid food until I'm below 190. Now that that worked so well, I'll consider dropping that to 185. Maybe no SUGAR unless I’m below 185? Plus I seem to have worked out some sleep issues.
3) RELATIONSHIP: Jason's emotional control is through the roof now. His goal is to "make my demons my b*tch." Jeeze, I love that. T and I need a little more alone time, but we're doing great. Nicki is in Greece, having fun because she knows her puppy Nala is safe and loved with us. And…I really like myself these days.
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All of this is the result of aiming at improving just 1% per week. But it is legitimate to ask what that even MEANS? Well…obviously it is subjective in some ways, but the objective measurements are important too. Here's my personal incantation goal: "1% DAILY in congruence and amplitude of body, mind, and spirit."
My aspirational goal (1% per day) is higher than my practical "perfect" goal (1% per week will get you anywhere you wanna go). That could be
1) See your goal. See where you are in relation to it. What are the actions that would take you there in two years, such that a 1% weekly increase would get you there easily?
2) See your goal. Divide the "gap" between where you are and where you want to be, and divide it into 100% pieces. Aim at handling at LEAST one per week.
3) Feel your goal. What are the internal "states" that someone who could accomplish your goal AND HAVE FUN IN THE PROCESS? AND BE BALANCED AND HEALTHY in the process? More energy? Optimism? Discipline? Joy? Creativity? You can increase most things 1% a week by studying them an hour a week. An hour a DAY would blast you into orbit.
So here's an overview.
1) We are sneakily aiming at 1% per week, by looking for ways of improving 1% per DAY.
2) I would estimate, very roughly and subjectively (please excuse me. Doing the best I can!) that every 10 minutes per day spent with this technology would move you forward by .5% a week.
3) Start with the Five Minute Miracle. BREATHE for sixty seconds, deep, slow, abdominal. Sixty seconds is a LONG time. While breathing, visualize the end point of your goals for a moment…and connect them with what you have to do TODAY. Each breath you can move from one arena to another. Body. Relationship. Career. Body could be increasing energy, decreasing weight, preparing to run a race or something else. Relationship could be time with family/friends, meditation time, research on emotional healing, finding a therapist. Career would be both producing product and/or refining service, and GETTING MORE MONEY for what you do. If you are in the Firedance program, I want you making back AT LEAST TEN DOLLARS for every dollar you spend on the program. Minimum. You could do that by studying sales and marketing and goal setting for an hour a week.
4) After you've integrated this for those five minute chunks. Expand the first one to 10-20 minutes. This is where you would do Tai Chi, or a full exercise routine. And here, rather than the "short version" of flooding yourself with gratitude or visualizing goals or visualizing models that you use in the 5MM, you stretch it out, luxuriate in those positive feelings. PRECISELY as thinking of past failures and betrayals can bum you out for a whole day, thinking of your baby's first step, an intimate moment with someone who loved you, or the day you won an award can lift you UP for an entire day. Performing incantations can lift you us. GET OUT OF YOUR DAMNED HEAD. Get into your body. The body knows why its here--to breath, hunt and gather, and love. Get in touch with those basics, and then "piggy back" your goals on that primal survival impulse.. Do this, and you will never have a problem with "motivation" again.
If I wanted to make faster progress? I would do these rituals for AN ENTIRE "DIAMOND HOUR" of visualization, incantation, pushing through second wing, stepping into my mentors. I'd make it absolute MAGIC, such that at the end of that hour I"d be VIBRATING and eager to jump into the day.
But if I write this, I'm thinking: "How can I give 1% more today? How do I help 1% more people today?"
Working out, I’m thinking "How can I improve my form or function 1% today? How can I push 1% harder today?"
With my relationships, I'm asking "How can I go 1% more deeply into my soul/heart during this ritual?" "How can I be 1% better as a father today? Give Jason 1% better guidance? Be 1% more true to the Three Gates?" "Make Tananarive feel 1% more loved and precious?" "Be a 1% better granddaddy to Nala the Wonder Dog?" Feel 1% more FUN and LOVE today?
With my career, it might be "How can I increase the quality of today's work by 1%? Get 1% better at preparation? Be 1% better at time management?
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All of this simply programs my Reticular Activating System to constantly search for little things I can improve. Not "big" things. Tiny shifts and changes, always within the comfort zone. Very carefully and calculatedly disassembling my ego and rebuilding again to new specifications. Disassemble and assemble, disassemble and assemble…and in the process glimpse the ultimate answer to the most important questions: "Who am I?" and "What is True?"
If I can do this, six days a week, always ultimately asking "How can I improve 1% per day in congruence and amplitude of body, mind, and spirit?" can you doubt that I'm going to MOVE? I only ask Jason to aim at 1% per week. That's it. And I know that I'm playing a game with myself, that there are arenas were you really cannot measure change with percentages or numbers. I get that.
But I can set a number with my weight, or have a goal of having a WICKED good time in Manila in 2024.
I can define an amount of time I need to spend with Jason, and how much time HE needs to put into his mental/emotional development to master his demons (2 Pomodoros a day, I believe, is that minimum. Just ONE 25 minute chunk studying the best personal development material on the market, and teaching the principles to others will do it). My daily morning and evening rituals with Tananarive. Reaching out to multiple friends and family every week. One a day would be great.
I can define the pages I write, the amount of research time, the time spent marketing and studying marketing, and the time spent STUDYING MY OWN PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT under the best teachers I can find. NO ONE is the best in the world in two different major arenas. So there is ALWAYS someone to learn from. Always someone to humble you and crush that pesky ego. Every day. Tear down, build up. Every day. Aim at 1%.
And I see no earthly way that if I AIM at 1% per day, I won't exceed 1% per week. And for you guys? I'm willing to bet my reputation that if you will just spend 20 minutes a day, that 1% a week will start feeling EASY, and you'll ask yourself…"hey…what if I deliberately set "creating a daily Diamond HOUR?" And if you don't think that you could set yourself a goal of getting 1% better at stealing an hour back every day…
Are you understanding this process? See how it fits together? All I want for Jason is that he is honest, kind, and strong…and balanced in body, emotions, and mind…and gets better at them 1% per week. For the record, it feels to me that he's improving at about 2% a week. Amazing really.
Give yourself this gift, please. We'll explore using Firedance to achieve this every week, every Saturday at 12 noon Pacific on Zoom.
Steven Barnes is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Firedance...The Next Level
Time: May 20, 2023 12:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84839490050?pwd=aHN3NWlIUno2VEZ6d0dqeFNvaUZLQT09
Meeting ID: 848 3949 0050
Passcode: 951502
