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Tag Archives: success
You Wanna Be More Successful? Flirt More!
Back in April, I lectured about psychologist, Shawn Achor, and all his trailblazing work in the area of brain research connected to happiness. He developed a term called “The Happiness Advantage” that basically shows that when we choose to be happy in the present, all the learning centers of the brain are turned on and we perform better than when the brain is neutral, negative, or stressed. (Here’s the full video.)
He also discusses how our brains seem to be wired to chase happiness that’s been established by this societal myth (from parents and teachers and institutions) that says “success brings happiness.”
It doesn’t.
But we believe that if we work harder we’ll be more successful and if we’re more successful then we’ll be happy. Eureka!
But what his research has shown is that what the brain does – after achieving success – is just change the goal post of what success looks like.
So we get good grades, but then we have to get better grades.
We get into a good school, but then have to get into a better school.
We sign with a great agent, but then we want a better agent.
What Mr. Achor’s work shows is that “happiness is being placed on the other side of success” so we keep pushing success over the “cognitive horizon.”
And the sad realization is that we never get there.
Of course, we’re here to experience success in our lives. We want to be productive and fulfilled and monetarily rewarded for the work we create. We want to enjoy material security and feel like we’re making a difference.
But what we need to do is realize that our brains actually work optimally (and then so do we) when we choose to find joy in the present, regardless of a future event’s outcome.
Train the brain. Reverse the formula. Change the paradigm. Get happy now. Become a little more present. Find ways to be.
We’ve discussed so many different ways throughout this past year – meditate, spend time in nature, exercise, practice gratitude, write in a journal, do things for others.
And I’m adding another one.
I’m not sure how scientific it is, but it works.
Flirt.
You’ll be surprised by not only the happiness advantage it creates, but a lot of other side benefits and perks too.
Posted in Everything Else
Tagged Brain science, Happiness, Inspiration, Shawn Achor, success, Tom of Finland
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WHERE DOES INSPIRATION COME FROM?
There was a recent New York Times piece entitled, “Where does inspiration come from?”
In it, the writer discovered that the genesis of inspiration and creativity isn’t as enigmatic as we once thought. It involves three stages:
Step 1: Work. Step 2: Be frustrated. Step 3: Repeat.
Artists and creators of many different mediums and art forms were interviewed (from Alicia Keys to Patti Lupone) and the only common ingredient among all of them is this: Try again repeatedly.
So, you see, it’s not so mysterious after all.
The reason we often don’t experience greater moments of inspiration and creativity in our own work is that we quit at the “frustration” phase, not knowing that this stage is an important part of our creative development.
Learning and growth look like this:
We have plateaus of learning and then a “pop” or creative explosion or “spike” or light bulb moment or breakthrough occurs and then you get to a new level. But then you plateau for a while at this new level before you get another spike. You can stay at a plateau for long periods. Weeks, months, years. But don’t be dismayed when you feel stuck at this stage. It’s simply the gestation period.
And it’s all ascension. Always up. Even if it feels like you’re stagnant. As long as you’re staying on the path, it’s always up.
George Leonard, in his book Mastery, discusses this same learning curve for all growth and learning in life. Plateaus followed by creative pops followed by plateaus. And then he describes 3 types of personalities that get in the way of “mastery.”
The Dabbler – Reaches a plateau, gets bored because he hasn’t yet gotten a spike and then moves onto another thing. Only to repeat that pattern over and over again in various different fields.
The Obsessive – Lives only for the spike and pushes hard for those moments. Because he’s working so hard to try to get those openings – he burns out. He does everything he can to get those growth spurts but once he sees that growth has a plateau stage, he stalls.
The Hacker – Reaches a plateau but is content to just stay on that straight line. He doesn’t want to do any self-reflective work so his line extends on and on without any sort of growth spurt.
We possess a little bit of each one of these types within us, but truly what makes us fall short of our own mastery is simply stopping.
So take it from the experts.
You’re not doing anything wrong. You don’t lack the essential ingredients to make an amazingly creative and inspiring cake.
All you need to do is keep trying.
Posted in Everything Else
Tagged acting, Actors, Creativity, George Leonard, Inspiration, Mastery, success
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RE-COMMIT TO YOUR PATH. THAT’S YOUR DHARMA.
There is a Sanskrit word that’s very popular today called Dharma.
No! Not that 1990’s ABC sitcom, Dharma & Greg!
Dhamma-vinaya. Which is one’s path. One’s journey. One’s work.
There is a beautiful saying that if you’re searching for your path – you’re already on it!
If you’re questioning and searching, then things will reveal themselves to you as you engage in an open dialogue with yourself along your journey.
But that’s not what we do.
We live in a culture that is all about coveting other people’s journey, because it seems like their lives are more glamorous and exciting and thrilling and problem-free!
“I’ll have what she’s having!”
But you can’t. You have to work through your path.
And re-commit to it.
Sometimes, you look at your path and it’s hard and full of stones and potholes and it seems entirely uphill. You think you’re on the wrong road; that you should be on the Yellow Brick Road. Nope. All those obstacles on your path are part of what make your path yours. You just have to recommit to overcoming them.
I think because of the popularity of spirituality in our culture we can sometimes use it as an excuse to not get on with the work that we have to do on ourselves to get to our next level.
We use spirituality as an escape clause to get off our path. Sound familiar? Thinly veiled “spiritual” aphorisms that allow us to not be accountable or responsible.
“It’s not part of the plan.”
“If it were easier, it would’ve happened.”
“There’s something better in store for me.”
“It’s just not the path I’m supposed to be on.”
If those sayings give you solace and peace of heart in times of trouble. That’s OK, because at a deeper level, they are true. All things will work out. And different things reveal themselves to us when certain things don’t pan out as we intended.
But I’m talking about when we use those sayings as excuses to not go after our dreams, to not stay committed, to give up, to lose hope, to become passive.
When you hear yourself saying something that may pass as quasi-spirituality, listen for the second thing you hear which may be an excuse. Or rationalization. Or avoidance. If that’s the case there’s only one thing you can do.
Re-commit.
Re-commit to this glorious path that is your life. With the things it wants to teach you and show you and have you embrace. Especially the stuff you’re most scared of.
Re-commit to the inherent qualities within you of courage and perseverance and fortitude and the science of possibility that dwells everywhere in the moment.
Re-commit to the things that we’ve used fear or rationalization or excuses or postponement to avoid because we were actually scared but didn’t want to admit that to ourselves.
Your path will show you how to do these things. You just need to re-commit to it.
Posted in Everything Else
Tagged acting, Creativity, dharma, Dharma & Greg, Inspiration, path, spirituality, success
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HOW TO OVERCOME YOUR FEAR OF SUCCESS
Fear of failure?
Get over it.
You’re not scared to fail. You do it all the time, often without realizing it. If you’re reading this now, you’ve probably had hundreds of failures in life leading up to this moment. And you’re fine. You survived them. You’re still breathing. They actually probably proved to not really be that big a deal and were necessary for your growth and awareness and your progression toward what you want. Every success you’ve had is intimately linked with your failures.
So, what you’re really afraid of is your success.
Eeeeeek.
If you succeed, you’re going to be found out that you’re a fraud. Not talented. Unworthy. A loser. Incapable. Stupid. A fake.
Actually, those are the labels you’ve co-opted because they’re in line with the things you’ve been telling yourself for a long time. As long as we continue to believe these lies about ourselves we don’t have to step into our power that “success” beckons us to awaken.
We become so identified with the untruths, the stories, the lies we tell ourselves that to actually step into a new possibility for us in life – a new success, a new opportunity, a new challenge – is scary because we finally have to confront our left brain drain train thoughts.
So there’s a conflict between that which we’ve been telling ourselves we are and that which we wish to be.
As Marianne Williamson would say, “It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”
So that’s what meeting your challenges face-to-face on the playing field of your life is really about. Deciding that you’ve outgrown these things you continue to destructively tell yourself.
Deciding that the pay-off for thinking them and identifying with them does not serve you any longer.
Deciding that real success is simply stepping into the light and discovering you are not these things and will be perfectly safe in letting them go.
HOW DO I GET AN AGENT? (OR GIRLFRIEND? OR JOB?) . . . JUST DECIDE.
Will Smith actually said it. The secret to his success, was simply “deciding” that he wasn’t going to let anyone or anything stop him from having a career.
It sounds so simple. And in many ways it is.
We often find living our creative lives (and the accomplishing of our goals) to be a haphazard experience. This is partly due to our mind’s thousands of thoughts telling us we can’t have what we truly desire.
Our creating becomes compromised because instead of aligning ourselves with our powerful intentions, we instead get sidetracked by our thoughts that run counter to them.
Just because I have 70,000 thoughts a day, doesn’t mean most of them are real, beneficial or supportive. In fact, most aren’t. And as we listen to the damaging noise in our left brains, we create unseen roadblocks on the paths we really want to be walking.
We neutralize our creative intentions by listening to the junk thoughts we tell ourselves.
“Just deciding” is an empowering way to change the dialogue in your head. Partly because it gives you a good kick in the ass to remind you what’s possible for you and that it’s up to you to get out there and start taking action.
But it’s also a confidence booster, because you begin to realize that once you decide, there comes a sense of effortlessness; a sense of knowing – that if it isn’t this agent, or this manager or this girlfriend or this boyfriend – that the right person you are meant to line up with (the person who’s really going to get you) is just around the corner. So you stop sweating the small stuff. You stop acting desperate. You stop having attachments. You let go.
So the real work is to become more mindful. Stop drinking the poison just because it’s offered to you by your lazy mind. The contrary thoughts you have about yourself are incompatible with the decision you made for yourself to “just decide.” So, ultimately, there’s no room for the two thoughts to co-exist.
So which do you want to think about. Which gives you more joy? More empowerment? More confidence?
Our creative journeys aren’t just about what you are creating in three-dimensional space. They are really the journeys that take place within our heads.
So next time you hear yourself saying something stupid, tell yourself, “I just decided. And there’s really no room for you too. You gotta go.”
“In my mind, I’ve always been an A-list Hollywood superstar. You just didn’t know yet.” ~ Will Smith
#39 – WHAT YOU “GET BACK” IS WHAT YOU PUT IN
Sometimes you’re going to want to quit.
It’s normal. People feel that way in all walks of life and in all pursuits; from artists to athletes; from mothers to media moguls. If you didn’t feel that way, I’d think you were maybe not normal.
But often, in an artistic career path, we choose to quit not because we aren’t having fun or aren’t being challenged, but because we allow society’s (warped and incorrect) definitions of “success” determine our self-worth and happiness.
But society has it all wrong.
You aren’t creating for millions of dollars. You aren’t creating to have your face on a gigantic billboard. You aren’t creating to have the most famous website or brand.
You’re creating for the pure joy of creating.
(Yes, those other things are fine – and they stroke your ego deliciously – but they are the end-products of creating and ultimately don’t bring happiness.)
But you let society’s standards of “success” poison your joy of your journey. Of honoring who you are and where you are.
If you’re 30 and “haven’t made it,” or “aren’t famous,” or still have “a day job,” you internalize the negative associations derived from a monetary and results-oriented model that says “you’re a failure,” or “untalented.”
And then you turn these untruths on yourself and start feeling resentful. Or angry. Or jealous. Or bitter. And feel like you deserve to be getting “something back.”
It’s understandable!
But you can’t take on this societal dysfunction. Stop making an artistic process (or any process for that matter) a means to an end.
There is no end to get to.
Start giving back to yourself. You’re never going to get it “back” from society anyway. Because society and its standards are fickle and based on the whims of fads and trends and demographics and sales and popularity polls.
You want more love in your life; give more love. You want more support; give more support. You want more of an adventure; be more adventuresome.
It all starts with you. You want more from this world – go out into the world with more of yourself engaged. Smile more, listen to other people more, look on the upside of things more, laugh more, stop taking everything so seriously, be more generous, be more kind, be more forgiving.
As you do you’ll begin to feel that anything is possible.
And that’s because – in creating – it is.
“Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.” - Erica Jong
#5 – FAILURE IS AN OPTION. FEAR IS NOT.
James Cameron said that. And he should know. He made PIRANHA II. Absolute 1981 trash. But if he’d given up after such a dismal failure he would have never created AVATAR. Indeed, his future successes were born out of his early failures.
Fail. That may seem counter to what we’ve all been taught, but only in failing do we ever achieve any sort of growth, understanding, insight, expansion. Within each failure is the seed for future success.
If you look at your life, you will see that every success you’ve had has come from overcoming obstacles and disappointments, falling down and getting up again.
The willingness to fail is the spirit behind every major accomplishment. Because doing things that matter involves great risk. Once you decide that trying something – which includes failing – is better than not trying at all, you begin to see that failure, itself, does not define you. It is actually a construct of the ego, used to keep us from attempting new things. The ego will do whatever it can to keep you looking good. And there’s nothing more crushing to our ego-selves than attempting something and having the experience not measure up to our expectations. But the ego is just one tiny part of who we are.
The greater part of you – the seeker – the part that transcends the ego, desires adventure. It desires risk. It desires stepping into the unknown. It is not concerned at all with the outcome of things. Or how we look. Or keeping us safe. Or comfortable. Or defended. It just wants to create. Powerfully. Non-judgmentally. Fearlessly.
Can you imagine how radically different your life might look if you started to live from that sense of freedom?
Homework: This week – fail at something. Try something that’s hard. Do something in which you could get rejected. Attempt an experience that might humble you. Step beyond your comfort zone. You might notice that if you give up the attachment to the end results (and how you look) — that even if you don’t get what you desire — the act of attempting something is more fulfilling than the outcome anyway.
Why? Because you tried.
“The greatest danger for most of us is not that we aim too high and we miss, but that we aim too low and hit the mark.” — Michelangelo
Posted in Fear and Failure
Tagged acting, Avatar, failing, James Cameron, Michelangelo, success
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