This is another superpower. At quantum level, it is an understanding that your brain and your consciousness are the keypad access to a universal replicator. Basically, intent is the ability to think of something very specific, something that you want, and trust the Universe to materialize it in front of you. You probably already experienced this, but in case you haven’t, I am telling you – promising you – that it works. All you have to do is think about it.

For me, even as a kid, walking the path of the hard, high road had been the fun way. I have never been interested in that which is easy, because well, there is no glory in “easy”. Everyone can do “easy” and I had no interest in that. Clearly, that kid that I was had some ego. Alas.

The reality is that I know enough about myself and the world to know that ego is a huge part of this. I like being great. I like being extraordinarily good at what I do; that is irresistible bait for the elephant of the subconscious. It is fuel that powers the push and the pull; it is the atomic source of energy for my battery. You can’t fight the ego successfully (you are who you are, ultimately) but you can channel it to make the world a better place. At least that is my solution.

Because not everything needs fixing; most things do well with redirecting. Case in point: a while back, I knew a father whose two little boys were becoming bullies at school and fighting for dominance among themselves at home. Realizing that he couldn’t watch his two Alphas around the clock to change their level of energy and temperament, he enrolled them in Judo. The boys used the energy in character-shaping, exhausting, daily 2hr practice of the sport and went on to become international level athletes and successful professionals. The Alphas found a different outlet for their drive for leadership.

Watching that happen was a huge paradigm shift form me. It is much harder to stop a fight than to put a MMA ring around it, give it rules and let it happen. It was a lesson in shaping the flow of energy, which is often something most of us work with.

I suspect that at biological level, you and I are the same – our batteries are of the same kind, and if there is any difference, it surely consists in the decision I have made long ago to regularly flip the switch on my nitrox tank. The obsession, the passion for life, the commitment to live each moment fully refers to work too. If I am going to do something, a task, ANYTHING really, the only way something is worth doing at all, is doing it is fully, at 100{9885c0486e5a2dcd1a1edbf76fce71054dca1b0da4585463b276be294d4d00e8}.

This also makes me a pretty deliberate person because once you live like that, you have to be discriminating about the things you choose to dive-bomb into. You actually do fewer things, better, you go deeper – although to the outside eye you would look like a person that does 10 times more stuff than others. You become focused on your desires and dreams to the exclusion of anything else.

So here is the point of this all: you have to choose. If you want to be successful, choose. Choose what’s truly important to you and discard everything else. Feed the obsession and starve the ho-hum. From small things, to big things. Drop all chewing-gum of the mind. If it doesn’t serve the obsession, don’t waste time, energy and mental or emotional bandwidth on it because massive goals would require everything that you have and that needs to come from somewhere. Time is a merciless zero-sum game; if you give some of it “here” you don’t have that time to give it “there”. So choose; choose consciously because when it comes to time not making a choice is a bad choice.

No whining, no excuses, just life in the supreme service of what you truly want. If you have “just a job”, leave. No fear, no rationale. Just leave and go do what you are meant to do. Don’t know what that is? Go to bed every night by asking yourself: “what was I meant to do?” And when the answer comes, you better follow it or you’ll be miserable later. That, I guarantee you.

Subsequently, scrutinize HARD your habits and your relationships. Leave what doesn’t serve behind. Even in small ways. Let’s say you have a coworker that, ever so slightly, influences you. If every time you go have lunch you choose the kale because that person chooses the kale, that’s a sign of a keeper. Conversely, if you choose the chicken fried steak because that’s what that person suggests, that’s not a keeper, not because that person is good or bad, but because being around is not serving your radiant health.

Don’t do things because it’s fashionable, don’t do it because others say you should; go with the absolute truth of who you are. If you feel you could do THAT – whatever that is – for 20 hrs a day, that’s a clear sign of alignment with yourself. That’s what you should do. And eliminate the fluff around it.

An example? I have stopped reading newspapers and watching news in 1997. Not only does that save time, more importantly, it saves mental and emotional energy, and it prevents distraction. I don’t say I don’t watch TV; I do some of that, of course, but almost never live and I try to reduce it as much as possible. And no, I have not seen a lick of “Scandal”, “Game of Thrones”, “Breaking Bad”, or for that matter, the countless presidential debates last year. As a rule of thumb, I do not consume myself with things I cannot change. A story like that is inherently passive; would you rather be the observer or the protagonist? Choose.

I am supremely focused on a handful of things only: my loved ones, my work (which includes writing), travel, health, and learning. That’s it: 5 things. All I do is in service to those 5 things. If it does not further my goals in those 5 dimensions, I don’t do it.

Massive success requires massive levels of action in the direction of that success. And the bandwidth for that action needs to come from somewhere.

If you want to take your company public, change the world, or reach any massive transformative purpose of any kind, discipline is required. Discipline, obsession and the ruthless mastery of time and action.

Choose.

 

Cristina M. Gallegos