“Are we having fun yet?”
Today I woke with these lyrics playing in my head.
I’ll get to the song in a bit.
It’s not even that relevant, but the theme is very much one thing I’ve been focused on in quarantine.
Let me ask you something—
Have you gotten happier in quarantine?
It’s not a trick question, btw.
I’m being totally serious.
And I know for some friends and clients it’s been true.
Of course for lots of reasons it’s a crappy time, and it’s not just how they’ve chosen to see it.
But all this has slowed down our lives.
Given them more time with their pets and family.
To focus on the things that most matter to you.
So whereas some people seem to be really spiraling down in this hard time.
Others seem to be using it to spiral up.
It’s been my most transformational phase
Now, to be honest, I say this a lot.
I measure my getting betterness all day every day.
My daily exercises are built to monitor your mind and actions minute to minute.
Constantly, I mean, literally, constantly, optimizing each and every moment towards “achieving” your perfect day.
That’s the Ultimate Days System I’ll hit more next week.
When you monitor and optimize the mind and actions so closely, you can see what’s happening daily.
And also what’s happening in phases over time.
From WTF to it’s all good
If you were reading these newsletters a couple months ago you saw some resistance in me.
I was looking at the choices we were making around this virus and saying WTF.
But then focusing, working the mind every day I came to see it differently.
This simple mind knows nothing.
Only what information it’s served and how to respond like a robot according to conditioning.
When no matter what your brain thinks of this situation, it’s out of your control.
And focusing on ALL you can control—how you think, feel, actions you take—is the best you can do.
The anvils of the mind
You may have seen me talk about anvils.
The notion being that steel is forged with heat and a good beating, and similarly anvils forge you the same way.
Unfortunately it can take hard times to forge you.
To drum in your most important learnings.
And the one that kept evolving in me comes back to that song.
Not the one I wrote about above, which you’ll know from a google search.
The song I wrote about back here when I was getting more playful around all this.
“Swing” from the chandelier
Being reminded that no matter what is going on in your life, you choose how you respond, there I wrote—
Even if you are imprisoned in your home, you can still swing from the chandelier.
I said I wouldn’t talk about Frankl yet it’s what he saw in the Nazi concentration camps.
You get to choose how you think and feel.
No matter what.
The only life you are ever going to be living is right now.
Even before all this mess many people were so-so happy at best.
And whether the lockup has you spiraling down or helped you spiral up, well, that’s a matter of where you put your focus.
With a little help from my friends
One thing you see is that people are drinking a lot more at home during this phase.
It’s understandable.
Alcohol, pills, drugs, other “tools” are basically all our society gives you for managing your mind.
And although they can harm you, they also teach you something incredibly valuable.
Nothing in your life needs to change for you to think and feel different!
And it was this idea that led me to develop my most valuable tool.
A tool I spent a good 10 years of my life researching, not even knowing I was seeking it.
And another 5-6 years or so, testing perhaps thousands of iterations developing.
No matter what is happening in your life, it’s a tool that helps you feel amazing at will.
5-6 minutes. Super-simple, a little silly, yet so incredibly powerful.
It’s called The Cure (short for The Cure For The Human Condition), and it’s also in this free video program for Focus Tools.