Genius

An amazing talk about genius. Absolutely brilliant!

Exercise Three from the Fountain Of Youth

And we continue with the five Fountain Of Youth Exercises from the book of the same name…

The Colonel tells how to do Rite Three

self improvement health exercises

self improvement health exercises

“The third Rite should be practiced immediately after practicing Rite Number Two. It, too, is a very simple one. All one needs to do is to kneel on his ‘prayer rug,’ place his hands on his thighs, and lean forward as far as possible with the head inclined so that the chin rests on the chest. Now lean backward as far as possible; at the same time the head should be lifted and thrown back as far as it will go. Then bring the head up along with the body. Lean forward again and start the rite all over. This Rite is very effective in speeding up Vortexes E, D, and C; especially E.” (more…)

Great Exercises To Maintain Health Pt 3

And we continue the story…
And then he tells about Rite Two…

“Like Rite Number One,” continued the Colonel, “this second one is for further stimulating to action the Seven Vortexes. It is simpler than the first one. In Rite Number Two one first lies flat on his back on the floor or on the bed. If practiced on the floor, one should use a rug or blanket under him, folded several times in order that the body will not come into contact with the cold floor.”

“The Lamas have what might be called in English a ‘prayer rug.’ It is about two feet wide and fully six feet long. It is fairly thick and is made from wool and a kind of vegetable fiber. It is solely for the purpose of insulation, and so has no other value. Nevertheless, to the Llamas everything is of a religious nature, hence their name for these mats-‘prayer rugs.’”

“As I said, one should lie full length on his ‘prayer rug,’ or bed. Then place the hands flat down alongside the hips. Fingers should be kept close together with the fingertips of each hand turned slightly toward one another. The feet are then raised until the legs are straight up. If possible, let the feet extend back a bit over the body, toward the head; but do not let the knees bend. Then, slowly lower the feet to the floor and for a moment allow all muscles to relax. Then perform this Rite all over again.”

“One of the Lamas told me that when he first attempted to practice this simple Rite he was so old, weak, and decrepit that he couldn’t possibly lift up both legs. Therefore he started out by lifting the thighs until the knees were straight up, letting the feet hang down. Little by little, however, he was able to straighten out his legs until at the end of three months he could raise them straight with perfect ease.”

“I marveled at this particular Lama,” said the Colonel, “when he told me this. He was then a perfect picture of health and youth, although I knew he was many years older than I. For the sheer joy of exerting himself, he used to carry a pack of vegetables weighing fully a hundred pounds on his back, from the garden to the Lamasery, several hundred feet above. He took his time but never stopped once on the way up, and when he would arrive he didn’t seem to be experiencing the slightest bit of fatigue. I marveled greatly at this, for the first time I started up with him, I had to stop at least a dozen times. Later I was able to do it easily without my cane and with never a stop, but that is another story.”

Chakra Exercise 2 – Leg Lift

chakra-exercises

To do this exercise lie flat on your back, with your palms face down on the ground. Then lift up your head until your chin touches your chest and lift your legs up in the air. Lower your legs and head, then repeat.

Tomorrow:
The Colonel tells how to do Rite Three

Be the fittest, most rested, most intelligent, best funded and motivated person

One of the best reads I do each morning is marketing guru Seth Godin.

As  I continually learn how to write copy for my different blogs, sales letters, and clients, more and more I am turned off by the conventional idea to sell with hyperbole.

Seth’s post this morning sums up my feelings very well…

Here it is…

People really want to believe effort is a myth, at least if we consider what we consume in the media:

  • politicians and beauty queens who get by on a smile and a wink
  • lottery winners who turn a lifetime of lousy jobs into one big payday
  • sports stars who are born with skills we could never hope to acquire
  • hollywood celebrities with the talent of being in the right place at the right time
  • failed CEOs with $40 million buyouts

It really seems (at least if you read popular media) that who you know and whether you get ‘picked’ are the two keys to success. Luck.

The thing about luck is this: we’re already lucky. We’re insanely lucky that we weren’t born during the black plague or in a country with no freedom. We’re lucky that we’ve got access to highly-leveraged tools and terrific opportunities. If we set that luck aside, though, something interesting shows up.

Delete the outliers–the people who are hit by a bus or win the lottery, the people who luck out in a big way, and we’re left with everyone else. And for everyone else, effort is directly related to success. Not all the time, but as much as you would expect. Smarter, harder working, better informed and better liked people do better than other people, most of the time.

Effort takes many forms. Showing up, certainly. Knowing stuff (being smart might be luck of the draw, but knowing stuff is the result of effort). Being kind when it’s more fun not to. Paying forward when there’s no hope of tangible reward. Doing the right thing. You’ve heard these things a hundred times before, of course, but I guess it’s easier to bet on luck.

If people aren’t betting on luck, then why do we make so many dumb choices? Why aren’t useful books selling at fifty times the rate they sell now? Why does anyone, ever, watch reality TV shows? Why do people do such dumb stuff with their money?

I think we’ve been tricked by the veneer of lucky people on the top of the heap. We see the folks who manage to skate by, or who get so much more than we think they deserve, and it’s easy to forget that:

a. these guys are the exceptions
and
b. there’s nothing you can do about it anyway.

And that’s the key to the paradox of effort: While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don’t get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time.

This is a hard sell. Diet books that say, “eat less, exercise more,” may work, but they don’t sell many copies.

With that forewarning, here’s a bootstrapper’s/marketer’s/entrepreneur’s/fast-rising executive’s effort diet. Go through the list and decide whether or not it’s worth it. Or make up your own diet. Effort is a choice, at least make it on purpose:

1. Delete 120 minutes a day of ‘spare time’ from your life. This can include TV, reading the newspaper, commuting, wasting time in social networks and meetings. Up to you.

2. Spend the 120 minutes doing this instead:

  • Exercise for thirty minutes.
  • Read relevant non-fiction (trade magazines, journals, business books, blogs, etc.)
  • Send three thank you notes.
  • Learn new digital techniques (spreadsheet macros, Firefox shortcuts, productivity tools, graphic design, html coding)
  • Volunteer.
  • Blog for five minutes about something you learned.
  • Give a speech once a month about something you don’t currently know a lot about.

3. Spend at least one weekend day doing absolutely nothing but being with people you love.

4. Only spend money, for one year, on things you absolutely need to get by. Save the rest, relentlessly.

If you somehow pulled this off, then six months from now, you would be the fittest, best rested, most intelligent, best funded and motivated person in your office or your field. You would know how to do things other people don’t, you’d have a wider network and you’d be more focused.

It’s entirely possible that this won’t be sufficient, and you will continue to need better luck. But it’s a lot more likely you’ll get lucky, I bet.