Focus Tools Masterclass

I call it mssmr.

The voice in your head.

You might not be auditory dominant like me that means there’s a voice constantly yammering about this or that.

“Oh, remember this.”

“I think that.”

“I feel…”

Inner voice

That’s the psychology term we’re all familiar with.

But what does it even mean?

For starters mssmr lacks vocal cords so it’s clearly different to a voice, right?

To me it sounds more like a computer murmuring mssmr this, mssmr that.

Also the voice changes, so it’s not just a voice.

So what is it?

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There are signs on my walls and desk.

Most of them are now covert.

Hieroglyphs.

A hidden language to anyone who doesn’t know the signs.

And then there are far more overt signs.

Ones that you can never avoid reading.

8 page banner

Each page is just one letter.

Helvetica, 600 font, yellow bold with black highlighting like the “F” you see on this page.

They are taped together all Gucci-like around the base of my desk—

M

O

R

F

O

C

U

S

Yes, without “E,” for efficiency.

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Light it all up…

Really, light it all up.

Pump it up. 

Get excited.

All fired up.

Now, let it all go.

Take a deep breath and slowly exhale.

That’s right, pump it up.

And let it all go. 

That’s The Cure

Actually, just the first two steps, Leading With The Physical.

Using your body and breathing to get yourself fired up, and chilling out.

So you’re left in this high energy, yet calm way of being.

You know how good this feels, and it is perhaps the most exulted way of being.

The flow state, a peak state for performance and happiness, reflects this.

So too does the meditation state, which is often described as alert and relaxed.

At first blush we might consider these ways of being contradictory—You’re either fired up or chilling out.

Yet like a gazelle, and lion for that matter, sitting on the plains of Africa, the blending of these states might be our most natural.

For about 15 years I’ve been cultivating a way of being I refer to as Intense and Cool, which we’ll talk about below, yet I’m still only so-so at.

Directionally I’m right here.

The Cure, shorthand for The Cure For The Human Condition, is my most helpful tool, but it still has a massive limitation.

You’ve gotta remember to do it!

See, a reason I long ago moved beyond the noise of personal development, such as talking about gratitude or positive thinking, to build highly systematic methods and powerful tools is because it never matters what you know.

All that matters is…

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Stay focused.

That’s it.

People keep asking me where I think this is headed.

You know my view.

It’s unknowable.

And every second you spend thinking on unknowables is a second you’re wasting from focusing on what most matters.

Will it get worse?

Better slowly?

Better quickly?

It’s unknowable.

Literally, where it is headed from here is as unknowable as it was to know a year ago that we would be in this situation.

People readily accept that we couldn’t have predicted this.

Yet, how much mental energy is then wasted on trying to predict where it will be a year from now?

Truth—whatever you think on these topics says nothing about the world, and everything about you.

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“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.

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“Why are you so f’n cryptic?” One of my buddies asked me.

Looking at what I wrote this week about the lockup he said—

“I just want to know where you stand.”

“I told you where I stand,” I said.

“I’m focused on the ONLY one thing you KNOW.”

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“We’re still having sex,” my friend said to me.

“What?” I blurted.

“Do you know that some 75 million people have been infected with AIDS and 32 million have died?” She said.

“Yet we haven’t stopped having sex, have we?”

That’s a reason I got good with this shutdown

I accepted it won’t last long.

It’s inevitable.

Just a matter of time before Americans say—

OK, so there’s a threat… we’re getting back to work anyways.

“When haven’t we faced threats?” A military buddy said.

After the most devastating attack on American soil on 9/11…

When we still faced a real threat of terrorists blowing up sporting events, public gatherings, planes, and everything else…

We didn’t just shut down.

Hide in our homes for the next decade.

We got on with it, and for better and worse we kicked back.

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I don’t feel like writing a dramatic opening.

About how this young fit man with big aspirations severed his spinal cord playing football.

Laying on the field unable to move his limbs, terrified.

Years, decades of tireless struggle just to use his legs again.

I don’t want to talk about how it puts our lives in perspective.

Only to say that talking with Rodney Flowers on this podcast showed me something about our goals.

I won’t suggest you listen to this podcast

I greatly respect your time.

And you may know I don’t listen to podcasts like I don’t listen to the radio.

Yet I will say that if you’re looking to learn more on our limitless minds.

And what we can will our bodies to do.

Then you might get value from our podcast  or even just scanning this transcript.

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