Are you making the most of your mind? These are the three easiest, and most powerful, hacks I know.
I remember a few years back I was doing an interview for some online start-up mag (which, ironically, flopped.)
They sent me a bunch of questions. I was supposed to fill them in and send them back to them, and then they’d write it up like you were having a conversation over lunch. Usual b.s.
Anyway, I write up a bunch of answers and give it to someone in the office to proofread.
They come back to me and say, “Jon, are you sure about this answer?”
“Which answer?”
“It says, ‘If you had to pick one thing, what would you say is the key to your success?’
“Yep.”
“You wrote, ‘my mind.’”
“That’s right.”
“um…”
They had a point. You can’t really lay down an answer like that without sounding like a wanker.
So I changed it. I said, ‘My people’. The great people at Knowledge Source. It’s all about the people.’
(You get a lot of kudos for an answer like this. It makes you sound like some silicon valley visionary. Very popular answer.)
But now that we’re here in the warm, supportive bubble of the couple of hundred thousand people signed up to this blog, I’m willing to open the kimono right up and say that, actually, yes, my mind is the key to my success.
Am I a wanker?
As it happens, yes. Yes, I am. I’m a total shit-stirrer. That’s one of the fun things about being me. But I don’t think about this as big-noting myself.
Because I don’t really think of my mind as mine.
I don’t think language has really evolved in a way that helps us talk about this stuff easily yet, but what I mean is, the part of my mind that drives my success feels very removed from the me that is writing this blog, that wanders around talking and interacting with people, or even the mind that prefers vegemite to peanut butter.
If it didn’t feel like inspiration rose out of some deep inner place, I would even say that it comes from somewhere else, somewhere heavenly even – like a lot of peoples through time have done.
Inspiration feels like it belongs to someone else – like it is authored by someone else. I’m just lucky enough to be on the receiver when it gets dialled in.
We can all sense how powerful the sub(or super?)conscious mind is. I mean, just think about everything it does. Can you imagine if you had to do everything consciously? Regulating breathing, releasing hormones, secreting digestive juices.
That’d be nuts.
As it is, there is a T-Rex of unconscious processing occurring, while a little monkey of consciousness sits on its head wondering about what the other Spice Girls are up to these days.
So the question is, how do we harness the full potent power of this T-Rex, and channel its power into our productive lives?
This really is the million dollar question. Like it is for me, I totally believe that your mind is the key to your success. Everything is in the mind. And when I look at what I’m trying to do with the No B.S Friday series, it’s all comes down to this: making your mind your most important ally, your most crucial resource, the key to your success.
So are you with me on the wanker train yet?
Ok, so back to the question. We have a T-Rex of ferocious power, and a monkey with an interest in pop music. What do we do?
Think about it this way. You are the CEO of an organisation with 1,000 incredibly talented staff (like me).
However, you never talk to them. You never see them. They keep the company running while you think about the Spice Girls (like me).
Obviously the first thing you’d do is try and open up some communication channels, and spend time tuning into the wisdom they have to offer. You might not want to hear from the bowel unit unless there’s a problem, but there’s a deep and powerful wisdom available to you if you can grasp it. So:
Hack 1: Make time and space for your intuition
We need to treat our intuition the way old poets used to treat their muse – as a fickle fairy that would only show up when the conditions were right. We need to throw out the picnic blanket of the soul, and patiently wait for her to show up.
And while we’re patiently waiting and chasing flies away from the sandwiches, we can’t just check a couple of quick emails, or drop so and so a message, or flick through facebook. We need to just stop, and wait.
Don’t give the mind little jobs to do. Don’t throw it titbits of stimulation. Just let it settle.
People who know me know this side of me. I feel like I’m at my most productive when I’m staring out the window, or thumbing my coffee cup, or watching the ankles of people walking past the window.
I know that space when the linear, step-by-step mind disengages, and the deeper, associative mind takes over. And I know that all of my best ideas happen in that space.
Hack 2: Direct Your Daydreaming
That said, we still want to engage with the process. While I think it is important to give the mind some time totally off the leash every now and then, there is real power in something I call ‘directed daydreaming’.
In this process, you set out the things you’d like to think about. This is bigger picture stuff – a nutty problem at work, some relationship that isn’t flowing smoothly, your goals for the year.
Having pegged out the space, then just let the mind wander where it wants to. Don’t ask it for solutions. Don’t ask it for insight. Just let it meditate and mull on whatever takes its fancy. Put up a fence and then let the gentle cows of thought wander where they will.
Watch them. Follow them. See what they keep coming back to. Be curious. Unpack, but don’t analyse.
And that’s it. Let the deep gears turn. The fruits of this exercise often come long after the session is over.
Hack 3: Make it a habit
I kinda believe that if you keep the channels of communication open, then the deep mind becomes a more present and more immediate influence in your life.
I like to block our regular sessions. Put it in your diary. Know that 4-6 Friday afternoon, you’ll be having a good ol think. Make that commitment to your muse.
If she knows she has regular access to you, there’ll be more fruit in her basket each time she comes.
—
So that’s it. Three hacks for making the most of your mind, and for living a more inspired and aligned life.
I actually can’t think of any lower hanging fruit in the journey to success. In terms of payoff to effort, these hacks are off the chart.
And if you see me dreamily staring out the window, don’t disturb me. I’m busy.
I’m doing my most important work.
How do you access the power of your inspiration?
Tom says
How good is that!!!
What is almost unfathomable is that all life on earth has developed over millions of years, from the first self-replicating protein molecule in the primeval soup. Maybe a lightning bolt started the ball rolling.
The brain developed, originally to regulate the body and then to form a self-aware mind, with imagination and that amazingly powerful subconscious mind which you marvel at.
It seems that since that fortuitous moment, no other new spark of life has ever occurred.
The recent discovery of planets within other solar systems, which are potentially suitable for carbon-based life forms in aqueous environments only emphasises the infinitesimally small chance of humans ever being developed from a simple replicating molecule.
But, it unfortunately seems that the higher powers of the brain are overruled by the primal base instinct of survival – “LOOK AFTER NUMBER ONE” – “To hell with everyone else”, quite literally.
“The good that I would I do not; and the evil that I would not, that I do”.
While we are all inter-dependent individuals gathered into groups, we are subject to herd instincts, where the alpha male dominates via violence.
That is why personal ambition of politicians and other powerful people displaces or delays what all humans in their moments of serious reflection almost invariably consider to be in the best interests of all mankind – and for that matter, for all forms of life on earth.
Hopefully, common sense will prevail and we won’t “do a lemming”.
Incidentally, Jon, instead of creating worrying decision-making situations at snack times, try rye bread with a little Vegemite, a little honey and a little peanut butter. The uniquely Australian black spread was originally developed to utilise the vitamins and minerals found in the discarded yeast from Carlton Breweries. Now it serves as the glue that holds our wonderful society together. Thank Gaia for yeast – and all its precious products, be they vino or ale!!!
ron goddard says
hi jonno. another inspirational masterpiece. i have often wondered why genius is so sporadic. is it because the receptors of some peoples’ minds are more in tune than others? if we can think of the many ‘geniuses'(genii?) then one wonders at their ability to translate their dreams or incoming thoughts into reality. take john lennon and his ability to write songs, sing them and play the piano and guitar with equal facility. a true genius. but he caused too much peace in the world. bill gates, the enabler of internet. where did his genius come from? thomas edison? (light bulbs) and the doyen of modern thinking; dale carnegie. there must be flow of info racing around our universe looking for a ‘home’. that flow just hasn’t found my mind yet i am sure of that. maybe i will go have a lay down now, something is sure to happen! thank you jonno for a very thought provoking article. one can sense a change of guard in late february. cricket is closing fast and footy is in the air. talk is about top4, top 8. but nobody ever gets it right. cheers, ron
Kerrie Randell says
hahaha – once more great words of wisdom from my favorite guru-of-worldly-wisdom-and-insights!!!
Andrew says
Haha… Hey Jon, keep your mind off Geri Halliwell…. !! She’s mine…!!
ron goddard says
oh jonno, it will take more than genius to stop a wee crisis energising in the financial world, of which we are part. info just in says, ‘bulk up’ big time on cash and food. forget your credit card and your real estate ‘values’ cos there won’t be much to value about. your call
Linda McGaw says
Hi John, It was 2009 May when I walked along the street in Ivanhoe and saw “Knowledge Source” on an window upstairs in the Main Street. It then took me another 2 months of curiosity when I established you were not a Chemistry lab…but a Source of Inspiration. I attended a few events in crowds of up to a few hundred over the next 12 months. You may remember me showing you a Leonardo Da Vinci 1796 book, your comment was the value may well have been in the history under the binding.
To cut a long story short, I continued my entreprenual training in Australia for the next 4 years with various chosen entrepreneurs. I soaked up Knowledge over those ensuing years and returned to New Zealand 3 years ago…from zero to a successful business. I learned how to Mind my Mind.
Lucky I lived in Ivanhoe at that time, had your sign not been in that upstairs window, I may not have ended up where I am today. Thanks a Million… Linda McGaw
John McMahon says
This does start the neurons firing. Also says something about staring out the window and day dreaming!
How big can ya think!