Five Minutes To Your Best Year
I want the best year ever in 2023. And as I cannot control the outside world, cannot avoid the reality that I have lost things: people, resources, capacities…I have to focus on what I CAN control: my behaviors. And through my behaviors, my thoughts and emotions (there is a feedback loop here. Controlling thoughts and emotions controls your behaviors, and controlling your behaviors controls your thoughts and emotions)
The commitment is to a "Diamond Hour" of time every day that belongs to no one but me me me. And frankly, the more committed you are to supporting your family and community, the MORE important this time is.
But I also need to break this down to the "Atomic" level, the level where it is impossible for me to lie and say I didn't have the time to do it. And that means the "Five Minute Miracle", five sixty-second breathing breaks, one every three hours.
I cannot say I don't have five minutes. If I don't take that time IT IS SOMETHING ELSE. Some ego fear. Some lack of focus and clarity. A lack of faith in myself.
The fact is that this is identical to the "sentence a day" thing: if I can plant this seed, it will grow. So let me look at my possible reasons to NOT take these breaks every 1-3 hours.
I don't believe it will make a difference. Sounds like so little. But notice: if I say I love science, then it would make sense to perform the experiment. I'm risking what, about two hours a MONTH doing this? What is the cost-benefit ratio? In what universe does it make sense that the average person spends more than ten time this much on social media and television. Far more. FAR more.
So…let's apply the Three Gates to this objection.
Is it TRUE that five minutes a day will have no impact? How do you know this? If the promise is a doorway to a new and better life, what would it take for you to think it is worth investing a few hours over the course of several months to test it and see?
Is it KIND to yourself not to take the chance? Risking a couple of hours against the possibility of reduced health, increased success, health, and fitness?
FITNESS you say? How can you do that? Well, try grafting the Five Tibetans onto the Five Minute Miracle, performing your reps of one exercise per session. Yes, you can improve your fitness thereby. And if you are smart enough to really study what you are doing, if you boost the time to say three minutes per break (or the full Pomodoro five!) you can do SERIOUS good. Remember: the Harvard Step Test only lasts five minutes, and is considered a fine measure of underlying aerobic and systemic fitness. The implications are fascinating, aren't they? That the right exercise, maintained for no more than five minutes, can really affect your entire body?
Try doing five minutes of Turkish Get ups, and call me in the morning.
But is it USEFUL, even if there is some physical benefit? Only if you believe the health of your mind and emotions make a difference in life. Let's look at that.
If every year, you spend a day examining what you did last year, make adjustments, and plan for the next three-five years…
If every month, you look at the next 12 months and the last 30 days. Are you on track? Great. No? What is happening. Compare your behaviors to your "perfect template." If YOU kept that writing schedule, meditation schedule, study schedule, Date Night schedule, exercise schedule, whatever…and the world gave you lemons instead of lemonade, if you study the lives of others walking a similar path, you'll see this is just business as usual. Things go up and down. Get focused, and ready for the next brass ring that comes around, and never lose faith it will happen. Notice the opportunities other people are oblivious to: can you see how easy it is to get caught up in daily problems, and temporary setbacks, and not see the beauty, joy, and success opportunities around us? If you can see this with other people, you can begin to see it for yourself.
If every WEEK you look at the last week, and the next month, you know what you need to do every day THIS WEEK to stay on track.
Now then…if every DAY you write in your journal in the morning, use that to guide your day, and then check it in the evening: are you on track? What went right? What went wrong? Where did you let yourself down? Are you letting those poisonous voices in the back of your head run your game, or is your COMMITMENT to yourself, your family, your community controlling you? Are you letting fear BLOCK you or DRIVE you? Are you more motivated by fear or love? Every day you can get a snapshot of this, and it needs not take more than five minutes with your journal.
Then, if you take that FIVE MINUTE MIRACLE, you have five opportunities during the day to check and see if you are on track, but also to take a break and renew yourself, pump up your energy, center yourself, remember you are not a machine. Just 300 seconds a day minimum.
What can you do in that time?
Breathe
Swiftly visualize your long and short term goals as you do, in all three major arenas. Ten seconds on body, ten on relationships, ten on career. I suggest IN THAT ORDER so that you are tapping into your survival drive, then your heart, then your mind. True, Kind, Useful.
Swiftly think of someone or something you love, and/or someone who loves you. I like to quickly imagine Jason, Nicki, or Tananarive. THEY are why I fight. Visualize my own "inner child", that "Little Stevie" who started the journey, and is alive and well within me BECAUSE HIS FATHER IS A WARRIOR. He is safe, and happy, as all children deserve to be.
By breaking the pattern of mindless grinding activity, I am taking control of my life again. And again. And again. When you do this, you will start noticing how swiftly you get off track, and take joy in stepping back on the path so you can just chop wood, carry water and flow through the next one-three hours until you take another break.
Most people think about their lives once a year, when it is time for their New Year's Resolutions. Peak performers do this once a week. It is extraordinary to find someone who does this once a day, morning and night.
Imagine what doing this FIVE TIMES A DAY, gently, lovingly, with joy and faith.
That five minutes will start making you more and more efficient and effective. Your excuses will start to evaporate. You begin to work your way toward that Diamond Hour, which can totally transform your life:
In twenty minutes I could kettlebell until drenched in sweat, alternating with twenty minutes of blessedly deep yoga recovery
In twenty minutes I can write a two pages of very rough draft, alternating with days of editing and polish: a book a year.
In twenty minutes I can connect with my family, share love and support, and align our actions. Or, I can meditate and connect with Little Stevie, the source of my blazing energy.
The five minutes you cannot deny yourself will expand into that hour, with which you can destroy the illusions that the outer world controls your inner world. Put your hands on the wheel of control of your life.
FIVE MINUTES A DAY OF DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING. That's all it takes to begin. ANYONE willing to try this is of my tribe, and I will do all in my power to support you. But you HAVE to take the first step.
Do that. Take this step. I swear I'll be there on the other side, hand out, filled with love and pride.
You are like me.
Namaste
Steve
(Join us on the weekly FIREDANCE show. All questions answered. Nothing off the table. See you Friday at 12 noon Pacific!
