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September 14 - September 21, 2017
“The man who has lived the most is not he who has counted the most years but he who has most felt life.” —Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities aren’t really that rare. Actually, the rarity of such opportunities is relative to each observer. From one perspective, wormholes are commonplace while from another they are once-in-a-lifetime. What you focus on expands.
perceived to be complex, it will take longer to complete. Thus, by pursuing things we believe to be important and breaking them down into their smallest parts, time slows and more is accomplished. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. By slowing time, we can live exponentially more life than those around us.
When we were children, time slowed down. Time meant something; or more likely, we were oblivious to linear time. Ignorance of time literally was bliss. We weren’t simply racing through life—trying to meet deadlines, trying to get through the day, trying to get through our career so we could finally retire, always looking forward to vacations.
What good is money when you don’t have time?
As opposed to selling away our futures to have high quality stuff, we’d be better off reducing the quality of our stuff in order to improve the quantity and quality of our time.
The passing of the experience isn’t the focus of this book. Rather, the focal point is the amount of life packed into each experience. Compacting the largest amount of life into the briefest timeframe is how moments are remembered and time is dilated in relation to others.
You could live more life in one congruent day than many people live their entire lives.
Slowing time is truly a matter of quality more than quantity. The destination a person is traveling toward must be intrinsically desirable. When on the wrong path, time will fly and what was done during that time will be forgotten. The goal isn’t an infinite quantity of time, but the highest quality of time. This is where time slows down.
Perhaps the greatest way we can show our love is by giving the gift of our time.
While the time we spend with others is precious; the time we can create for others is priceless.
The problem with pursuing happiness is that it is elusive. Wayne Dyer has said, “There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” People who think “I will be happy when…” are speeding up their time rather than slowing it down. In other words, they believe that once they accomplish a certain task or goal, only then will time slow.
Thus, according to the linear perspective, the only real time is the present. The past is gone, and the future only exists as an endless amount of distant probabilities.
it.” Certainly, a linear perspective of time removes personal freedom and in the same moment eliminates individual responsibility.
Tony Robbins jokes, “How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it’s expensive and takes a really long time.”
Change doesn’t have to take a long time, it happens the instant we decide.
time. A person can change her beliefs, attitudes and dispositions, the meanings of experiences, and desires for the future all instantaneously.
Within a perceived reality, it is the responsibility of each person to choose their destinations as well as the pathways and pace involved in reaching those destinations. Ultimately, we create our own universe.
Slipstream is a science-fiction term explaining a technique for faster-than-light space travel, similar to hyperspace travel or warp speed. Slipstream is an abstract concept, and thus perceived differently by different fiction authors.
What got you here, won’t get you there.
Of course, we can’t travel backward in time. However, this entire book is about traveling forward in time. To do so requires vision. To have vision is to consciously create your desired future. So what if you could have a conversation with your future self? What vital information would your future-self give you? What is your vision for the future?
What would you like the people to say about you? What would you like them to say about your character and contributions? What achievements would you want them to remember? What impact would you like to have made in their lives? Start living today with that picture of your own 80th birthday clearly in mind. In that picture, you will find your definition of true success.”
I once heard that Bill Gates makes so much money that if he saw $1,000 dollars lying on the ground, the act of bending down and picking it up would take more time than the time in which he passively makes $1,000. That may be a gross over-estimate, but it portrays a powerful idea.
Not only is time the ultimate currency, but in actuality time is our only currency. Our time is the only thing that really belongs to us. Everything else belongs to the world and the universe. We can’t take our money or stuff with us when we die.
Freedom is the keystone in the pursuit of happiness. Personal freedom is the ability to direct one’s life according to personal desires. For the majority of people, internal and external constraints limit that freedom. External constraints are inflicted upon us (such as cultural norms, family upbringing, and the global economy). Internal constraints (such as fear, insecurities, and lack of knowledge) we inflict upon ourselves.
There are three distinct requirements for personal freedom: 1) a heart at peace, 2) healthy relationships, and 3) upright character.
However, change for the sake of change alone can be detrimental—change ought to accelerate us in a desired and useful direction.
If you feel stuck, your universe is begging you to change.
Contrary to popular belief, change is necessary and should be desired, not avoided.
Rather than simply going where you need to go, be willing to become who you need to become.
truthful service—by helping others create miracles in their own lives. At stage four, the goal is no longer to evolve as a person, but to evolve as a people. The goal is to create utopia by globally transcending space-time.
Where are you going? What are you working toward? Where is the destination your daily decisions will take you? How long before you will get there? How fast could you get there? Are there other paths that could get you there faster? What wormholes are within your reach? How far into your future could you slip? If you were to get there tomorrow, where you would go next?
He told me, “Ben, anything is possible, but not everything is possible.
Standing before the door of indecision, we choose none.
Right now, most of us engage in far too many priorities. If we have more than three priorities, we have none.
From everything I’ve studied, the fewer the priorities in our lives the better. The few the goals we are pursuing the better. We should have no more than four or five key areas of our life. If we have more, we have gone too broad and will not make it very far in any of these. My four vital areas of life I put all my energy into are: my faith, my key relationships, my vocation, and personal growth.
The gap between what we know we should do and what we actually do is enormous.
How are you piloting your life? What feedback are you receiving to correct your course? How often do you check your guidance system? Do you even have a guidance system? Where is your destination? When are you going to get there? Are you currently off course? How would you know if you are on the right course? How can you minimize the turbulence and other conditions of life that divert you?
Empirical research has found that commitment to difficult goals increases when goals are made public, when locus of control is internal rather than external, and when goals are self-directed rather than assigned.
Once you cross the point of no return, life becomes simpler and easier.
A true pro gets paid, but doesn’t work for money. A true pro works for love.
Essentialists are people who make fewer decisions, but take the time to contemplate those decisions. By doing so they make fewer, better choices.
Having a structured routine is about setting the pace for your day, but it is also about reducing decision fatigue. Psychologists have found that the more decisions a person makes, the less power they have to make later decisions.
The morning ritual also sets your day on the course of your choosing. Avoid checking email or answering the phone during the first few hours of your day—that time is sacred. Checking your email is simply a database of other people’s agendas. Thus, by checking your email at the beginning of the day, you have already set a pattern that your day is not going to be designed by you, but someone else.
skills, and money is essential for getting where you want to go faster. You simply don’t have the time to do it all. Furthermore, other people are willing to do it for you. Other people can be your wormholes. If you have a message to share and don’t have platform, you need to leverage someone else’s.
“If you ever find a man who is better than you are – hire him. If necessary, pay him more than you would pay yourself… If you always hire people who are smaller than you, we shall become a company of dwarfs. If, on the other hand, you always hire people who are bigger than you, we shall become a company of giants.” —David Ogilvy
According to Gallup, only 13% of people are engaged, passionate, and happy about their jobs. About 63% are “not engaged” and 24% are unhappy.
The majority of humanity is stuck in a vacuum of time that continues to accelerate at an increasing speed. These people need to be freed from their slavery to time and empowered to consciously slow their time and expand their lives. Most people feel powerless. They simply can’t fathom having enough time. Life becomes a drag—something to just get through. Everybody is working for the weekend—the rest of the week isn’t worth living.
A primary goal of this book is to foster a focus of humanity to move beyond Stage 3 to Stage 4 culture. We are a small population on a pale blue dot in a galaxy that is one of millions. Most of our issues are transient and distractive. We must move beyond our petty disagreements and form a human tribe that acts in unity towards the evolution of the whole.
Once I started trying to live my dreams, my life became a chaotic mess.
