Third-Person Journaling

Journaling is a fantastic way to get things outside of your head. But an even better way to view the issues you face in an objective manner is to describe them in the third person.

Journaling in the third-person is an exercise to detach yourself emotionally from your own challenges and problems by projecting them onto a persona. For instance, instead of writing “I’m stressed out over this issue,” or “I’m nervous about this upcoming launch,” I might write: “Danny is stressed out over this issue,” or “Danny is nervous about this upcoming launch.”

Have you ever noticed that sometimes you have trouble coming up with appropriate solutions to your own problems, but when a friend asks you for advice, you know exactly what they should do?

This is a curious paradox, indeed. One additional benefit of third person journaling is that it distances you from a challenge so that you can give advice in much the same manner — as if you were giving advice to a friend or colleague.

Theater of the Mind

The “Theater of the Mind” is another psychological concept created by Maxwell Maltz, author of “Psycho-Cybernetics.”

Maltz had a background as a cosmetic surgeon, helping patients to physically transform their entire appearance. He discovered something troubling: even though he was able to correct an ugly person’s external scars, their inner scars would still remain.

In other words, his patients became physically beautiful but still saw themselves as ugly, unworthy, and unlovable.

To achieve success, you need to develop a practice that allows you to see and consider yourself as a success first. You need to be able to happily achieve, rather than feeling the need to achieve to be happy.

If you want to do great things, visualize yourself doing those things in your mind’s eye first, creating vivid mental images. If you want to give a great speech, notice how confidently you stand on stage, gesturing and speaking. Listen to the sound of the crowd as they roar their approval and offer you a standing ovation.

In my own personal practice, I’ve found absolutely essential to not only have a “theater of the mind” but also a sanctuary of the mind. A quiet place I can retreat to at any time in my mind, free from all of the cares, concerns, and people in my life. A place just for me. Access to this sanctuary allows me to confront the challenges of daily life in a sane, orderly, clear-headed manner.

Energy Release

For me, this is a relatively new technique that I’ve begun to experiment with this year, which has already delivered great results for me. It’s called “EFT Tapping.”

The purpose of EFT tapping is to release energy through acupressure points on the head and body while simultaneously citing affirmations that release negative mental and psychological energy.

Tap each of these acupressure meridians at least 5 times, verbally acknowledging the problem that is upsetting or bringing you down while reciting an affirmation of love and acceptance:

“Even though I ______, I love and accept myself completely.”

Examples:

“Even though I’m stressed over this breakup, I love and accept myself completely.”

“Even though I’m nervous about going onstage, I love and accept myself completely.” “Even though I’m tired and have a headache, I love and accept myself completely.”

EFT tapping is somewhat unique among positive-thinking techniques in that it doesn’t ignore a problem; it acknowledges its existence while still allowing the practitioner to love and accept themselves despite the problem or flaw. It’s about accepting the fact that we are hurting but also accepting ourselves in spite of the pain, which opens a path to healing.

Cultivate True Excellence — Maximize Downtime

“Gentlemen, you, too, have spare time. The man who says: ‘I would do such and such a great thing, if only I had time!’ would do nothing if he had all the time on the calendar. There is always time—spare time—at the disposal of every human who has the energy to use it. Use it!” — Bruce Barton

The easiest way to stand out and separate yourself from the herd — to rise above the mediocre majority, claim your competitive edge, and achieve true greatness — is to capitalize upon your downtime.

Consider these facts for a moment:

1. Abraham Lincoln was a tired rail-splitter who self-educated himself by crouching over tattered books over candlelight, creating his destiny as his fellow laborers snored away — in his spare time.

2. Thomas Edison was an underpaid and overworked telegraph clerk who chased fantastic, nonsensical dreams… who famously proclaimed that he discovered 10,000 ways that didn’t work. He would go on to light up the entire world — in his spare time.

3. Alexander Graham Bell was an unknown professor at an obscure university who loathed the drudgery of the days. He spent evenings and holidays tinkering on a queer device, at which his colleagues laughed. He invented the telephone — in his spare time.

4. Scott Turrow wrote eleven best-selling books which have sold more than 30 million copies while commuting by train to his day job as an attorney in London. Yet another example of a person who created an empire — in his spare time.

I sold the last car that I owned more than five years ago and have been hopping around from country to country via bus, train, and plane ever since. Watching the behavior of my fellow passengers during these commutes is eye-opening (and also frustrating and mind-numbing).

Candy Crush. Pokemon Go. Senseless browsing of newsfeeds. To borrow a phrase from Tyler Durden: I saw so much potential, and saw all of it squandered.

I can only imagine how many minutes and hours I witnessed people wasting on buses, trains, airplanes and the like. I’ve tried to calculate in my head how many thousands of hours of combined productive potential was lost, between us, during these commutes.

Now, I work remotely from home or from coffeeshops, mind you. I can’t imagine commuting every single day and wasting so much downtime in such an unproductive fashion.

Interestingly, I began to notice that when I worked from planes or subways — I was far more productive than usual. Perhaps the thought of an unproductive plane or train ride to another city was such a strong incentive that it motivated me more than usual. Perhaps it was the high of putting my downtime to use. Perhaps it was the fact that there was no WiFi (except hotspot when needed) or distractions.

For a time, I deliberately turned the Bangkok’s Skytrain into my remote office, and wrote about the results. TLDR: it was one of the most productive periods of my life, and I often got a full day’s work done before lunchtime.

Besides the standard “Maker’s Schedule” work such as writing, designing, and editing projects, you can perform certain “Manager’s Schedule” activities during downtime as well. For instance, one of my favorite tricks is to list out contacts in a document and then write out the emails I plan to send once I have an internet connection.

For some reason, this practice has always proven to be a more efficient way of creating the emails I need to send. My inbox is too cluttered, too distracting, and WiFi provides too much temptation to browse around.

Now, one important distinction: when I talk about making the most of downtime, I’m suggesting practicing a regimen of creation. Lincoln, Edison, Bell, and Turrow were all men who created something. I created this book.

While any great act of creation requires a great deal of self-education, be mindful of which side of the divide you are on. Great people create, mediocre people consume. I’m not a fan of reading books or listening to podcasts during free time just for its own sake.

If you must consume information, practice what I call “firing range exploration” — know the exact nugget of wisdom you are seeking before you begin. “Free range exploration,” by contrast, can sometimes be useful but is usually aimless and inefficient, leading us nowhere.

And as soon as you discover new information, implement or teach it.

And please, above all else, skip the newsfeed. Be disciplined where your downtime is concerned.