Do Not Waste Time Idling

“Do not waste time idling, or thinking after you have set your goals”. The previous quote was taken from Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of Five Rings. For those unfamiliar as to whom Musashi is, he was, in my opinion, Japan’s greatest swordsmen and one of its greatest samurai. Musashi was so skilled in the art of the sword that he once used a wooden boat oar that he carved into a booken (Japanese wooden sword) to kill a man in a duel.

The simplicity of Musashi’s message is so powerful and so seemingly overlooked by so many: “Do not waste time idling, or thinking after you have set your goals”. How many people, after they have set their goals, sit around thinking “Is this possible?” “Can I do it?” “Is it worth it?” “Will people still like me?” and so on. They’re literally self-sabotaging the positive events they set into motion only moments ago.

As Joseph Murphy, author of the book The Power of Your Subconscious Mind likes to say “When you place a seed in the ground, you do not dig it up. You let it take root and grow”. Once you have an intention or set a goal, allow it to grow. Feed it, nurture it, give it the sunshine and warmth it needs so it can grow and bloom beautifully. By feeding and nurturing, I mean to think positively about its manifestation. See it coming into your life as you would like it to be. If you have to think about your goals, think about them positively. Get excited about the good things coming your way and be grateful for their arrival.

Speaking of gratitude, a great way to start attracting (or keep attracting for some of you) more positive experiences into your life is to start being grateful for what you have right now. By being grateful for your current reality, you are putting yourself into a vibration to attract more experiences that you can be grateful about. The vibration of gratitude is one of the highest states you can be in. Through it you can attract virtually anything you need for a healthy successful life.

Now back to Musashi’s quote: ““Do not waste time idling, or thinking after you have set your goals” This reminds of the saying “Plan your work, and work your plan”. Once you have set your goals, go to work on them. Don’t wait for the right time, or the right day, or the right person, or when the stars are in the proper alignment, or when that girl or boy finally likes you. If you want life to work sometimes you have to work for life. You have to take action on that business you’ve been thinking about, or ask out that girl you’ve always wanted to date, or sign-up for that gym you’ve wanted to go to. By taking action you’ll open up doors to bring you what you like, oftentimes in inexplicable ways.

I’ll give you an example from my own life. When I was at the University of Southern California, I knew I wanted to start a business. I wasn’t sure as to what kind but I knew I wanted to start my own. While I was thinking about this, I received a phone call from my cousin Dominic that would dramatically change my life “Hey Tony, I am going into clothing design and need a good manufacturer. Can you find me one?” I said yes and told my cousin that I would either charge him a fee for finding a good manufacturer or receive a commission from the manufacturer for bringing him a client. At this same time in my life I was getting really heavily into kickboxing and asked former Ultimate Fighting Heavyweight Champion Bas Rutten if he would train me. Rutten said no as he was no longer training people, asked me what I did, to which I told him, and then he told me he needed some clothing done. That one “Yes” I said to my cousin started a partnership with Rutten and I that became profitable for us both. Also, as I working with Rutten, I was able to meet Dr. Peter Goldman, DC, an amazing teacher and the chiropractor to a lot of famous fighters. Dr. Goldman introduced me to the work of Dr. Thurman Fleet, a man who taught how one can achieve health and happiness through a knowledge and application of the laws of the body, mind, and Soul. Dr. Fleet’s work drastically changed my life for the better and makes up the foundation for what I am sharing with you.

By saying yes to that one question I was able to; start a business which helped thousands of people get into shape, find a great gym (through Bas) to learn kickboxing at, started a profitable business while still in college, and become healthy thanks to Dr. Goldman, Concept-Therapy (Dr. Fleet founded Concept-Therapy), and Zone Healing (Zone Healing is a chiropractic technique created by Dr. Fleet).

So set your goals down and get to work on them! For those that have not set goals before; a goal is: “the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end”. For instance your goal might be to lose 15lbs in 3 months. If you currently weigh 150lbs, at the end of the 3 months you should weigh 135lbs. Goals should be quantifiable. As Jack Canfield likes to say in his book The Success Principles, goals should tell you “How Much, By When”. So for instance if I wanted to earn $15,000 next month, I could say “I will have earned $15,000 by midnight November 30th, 2008”. On November 30th I will either have that $15000 or I won’t.

For my goals, I like to have 30 and 60 day goals that I actively work towards. Right now I actually have a countdown timer on my computer displaying how many days and hours I have left for me to reach my 60 day goals. I like to keep my goals within a 30 to 60 day period as I really feel and notice the impact of them. I also set goals for each week based on my larger 30-60 day goals.

So get to work! And I will see you back here soon.