Build Your Passion for Life Through Constant Challenges
These past few weeks have been extremely busy for me. Besides working on and traveling for interviews, TV spots, and other promotions for my book, we have been building a new home. We are at the point where we are moving in but are still in the middle of completing most of the rooms which makes life in general rather chaotic, to say the least.
There is nothing I’ve done in real estate that has been quite like the experience I’m having in building my own place. It’s both thrilling and stressful, the process is intriguing, and nearly every day presents a new, often minor, but still necessary challenge to deal with. I could be getting frustrated. I could step back and just let the contractors make all the decisions.
I could give into the easy and quick methods and just get this done. But this place will be a sanctuary for me and my wife and a place to gather and build memories with family and friends. So, even though giving this my hands on attention has been time consuming and trying, it is another great challenge and an energizing experience that I know continues to feed my passion for life.
As I talk about in my book How to IGNITE Your Passion for Living, keeping your passion for life strong means constantly challenging yourself. This should be applied to all areas of your life. Whether you’re changing your financial situation, simply trying to improve your cooking skills, or building a home, put the greatest effort into your goal to get the most you can out of it and to grow your passion for everything you do.
- The High Value of a Hard Won Success
- Using goal setting to become a better person
- The power of simple hard work
The Many Rewards of Intense Physical Challenges
You may have noticed that I talk a lot about my physical activities and how they relate to goal setting and accomplishments. But what I should also tell you is that I play competitive tennis, bike tough hills, and hike mountains because these tough physical challenges also give me a fantastic natural “high†that contributes to my ability to succeed. And that high is not all from the psychological boost the physical accomplishments give me.
According to numerous studies, that super good feeling you get from intense physical exertion is a result of endorphins and dopamine being released into your system and the burning of a stress hormone called cortisol. Endorphins are hormones that block brain receptors from receiving pain-signaling molecules, acting much like an opiate drug but without the negative side effects. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that triggers feelings of pleasure. Cortisol, on the other hand, is a hormone that is produced when we are under physical or psychological stress and, when present in excess, inflames and damages our organs. Intense exercise though, burns cortisol reducing this inflammation and making us feel better overall.
The euphoria and increased feeling of well-being that results from these physiological changes along with the mental stimulation novel and challenging experiences combine to give you an unbeatable feeling and that will increase your passion for life.
So get out there and, with your doctor’s blessing, find new and exhilarating ways to push yourself physically. It will not only increase your health, it will heighten your overall motivation and help elevate your level of accomplishment in anything you aim to do.
The High Value of a Hard Won Success
A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was going back to compete in the Men’s Singles Tennis Tournament at the Huntsman World Senior Games. Two years ago I won the gold, last year I won the bronze. I am very happy to let you know that this year I won the gold, again. I was as happy about winning the gold this time as I was the first time primarily because I have worked so hard to regain my first place position.
If I won the gold year after year in this competition, the excitement would diminish quickly. But because the tournaments are still challenging for me, I knew I would have to work hard to regain a first place position. If it was too easy, the win would have been far less valuable and not nearly so satisfying.
That’s why I tell you to push yourself and choose goals that will challenge you and test your abilities and determination. Besides the fact that lofty goals will encourage you to go farther than you would if you set moderate goals, the intense feeling of achieving something you had not accomplished before is amazing and as well as being an extremely strong motivator to keep going. A win with no effort will feel empty. Just look at all the lottery winners who have ended up being miserable. Personal success that is accomplished after long, hard hours of work and persistence will always have an intrinsically higher value than anything that just drops in your lap.
You can read more about setting goals for higher personal satisfaction in Chapter 9 of my book. And remember, you can now buy the books for below wholesale when you buy 10 or more at a time. Just write Michael Hansen at michaelhansen_99@hotmail.com with your order to get this huge discount.
Share your great discoveries + book discounts
Human beings naturally like to share, but at the same time, we tend to share frugally. We like to share our good news, our bad encounters, our opinions, our troubles, our workload, our days off and the latest gossip.
On the other hand, we tend to hoard valuable finds if we think it will cost us money or time. This kind of thinking is rather backwards. As they say, talk is cheap. If you are going to take the time to tell someone about something so that they really understand and believe in your convictions, it will usually take a lot less time and energy to just show them.
For instance, telling people at work that you found the best bakery in town just around the corner will never have as much impact as bringing in and sharing a box of the baked goods.
This kind of thinking is what is behind the writing of How to IGNITE Your Passion for Living. I wanted to share my formula for success. But rather than just talk to people about it, I put it down in a book that people could use to follow my steps to success and see for themselves how well it works.
I am always looking for more ways to share these ideas. I have noticed that many of my readers write to tell me that the book helped them so much, they have bought copies for others as well. I’d like to encourage all my readers to share the valuable insights in the book by doing the same. But to make it easier, I’m going to start offering significant discounts for ordering multiple copies.
You can still get a single copy of the book for just the cost of shipping and handling through this site but the offer for a FREE copy of the book ends in just a few days. The retail price of a single soft bound book is $14.95 plus shipping and handling.
But from now on, I’ll offer you a bulk discount so you can pass the book on to people you’d like to share these techniques with: $5 a piece for orders of 10-19 copies or $4 for 20 or more. And I’ll even cover the shipping and handling for you.
Just send my personal publisher, Michael Hansen, an email at michaelhansen_99@hotmail.com with your book order requests. He’ll get in touch directly, and personally handle all the details.
As Norman MacEwan said,
“Happiness is not so much in having, as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.â€
Steer your thoughts down a bright road
The mind is an incredible force. With it we can change how we act or feel or even what we are able to accomplish. Some people believe that they can’t do anything about how they feel or what they think about. But that’s just not true. You are in control of your thoughts and feelings through your mind. It’s all a matter of what you will your mind to do.
My daughter, Kristin, died tragically at the young age of 16. I don’t need to tell you that it was a very difficult time for me and my family. For quite a while afterwards, my thoughts would constantly turn to her and the pain I felt at her loss. I couldn’t find joy in my life anymore and it took all my energy to focus on the things I had to do day in and day out. I knew though, that she would not have wanted me to go on that way.
So one day, when that unbearable loss swelled up again, I just willed myself to think of the things in my life that I truly enjoyed, choosing tennis, seeing myself playing and winning match after match. I imagined how happy Kristin would be to know that I was out enjoying life. I focused on these thoughts until I felt the sadness lift. From then on, I kept myself from heading down that despairing path by imagining myself doing the things I loved.
You can do the same thing to get through painful times, increase your confidence, increase your happiness, and accomplish what you want to accomplish. Simply turn your focus away from the dark, judgmental, and pessimistic thoughts that keep cropping up. Choose to think of the things you truly love to do, the things you’ve already accomplished, and the wonderful things you have, and will have, in your life. Choose to take your thoughts down the bright and positive path.
You can read more about the power of the mind and what I call “Mind roads†on page 112 of my book, How to Ignite Your Passion for Living. You can get your copy or get a copy for someone who you think would benefit from the book’s sure-fire formula for getting what you really want.
Using goal setting to become a better person
Do you ever wish you could just better yourself as a person? Do you feel overly pessimistic, especially judgmental, or too self-involved? If you aren’t happy with who you are, you can improve this just as you can improve your financial situation, health, or skills. Although it is less common to hear that someone’s goal is to be a nicer, better person it isn’t any less important or admirable. In fact, it might be one of the most important goals you can have.
The approach to bettering who you are is not much different than any other goal. The most important thing to remember is to take it one small step at a time. You became who you are over a long period of time and were affected and changed by many small influences and experiences.
Changing your attitude towards others and how you live your life will likewise take many small gestures and encouraging encounter. Start by taking note of the things you do that make up the behavior you want to change. Then take on just one of those things and focus on eliminating and transforming it into something positive for others and yourself.
If you’ve read my book you know about the power of the ‘Bite Size’ approach to reaching your goal. If you haven’t read it, you can get your copy here, then go to Chapter 6 on page 57 for the story of how this method kept a man alive and helped him rescue himself when everything was against his survival.
If something so simple can be so powerful as to save a man’s life, it can certainly help you to improve the person you are and better your life and the lives of those around you.
Putting your time in
Next week I head off to the Huntsman World Senior Games where I will play in the Men’s Singles Tennis Tournament. In 2007 I played and won the gold for the 60-64 age group. This adventure in tennis competitions started as a goal to reach the top of the tennis rankings for my age group in my state of Utah. And I did that, last year. How did I manage this, after dealing with arthritic hips that hardly allowed me to bend or run even half way down the block? Well, surgery helped but mostly it was just simple hard work.
The process of attaining a goal includes more than just defining your goal and planning your steps. Reaching a goal requires time–the breadth of time it will take for you to amass the knowledge & experience you will need to attain your specific goal and, most importantly, the hours you put in working at it, practicing what you know, until you’ve mastered what you need to reach it. Nothing happens without those many hours of work.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Outliers, he spends a entire chapter discussing what he calls the 10,000 hour rule. The idea is that you need to concentrate your energies for 10,000 hours to be the very best at whatever it is you have set as a goal. That’s 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year for 5 years. That is quite a commitment, concentrating on that one thing for that long. Most people won’t go that far and that’s why anyone willing to put in that kind of time will find themselves the very best in the world!
Being smart or having a particular talent is certainly helpful, but the most successful people aren’t necessarily, or even usually, the smartest or most talented. They are the ones who put in the time and mastered the skills they needed to succeed.
The power of simple hard work
One of the most fascinating areas I went through on my recent European trip was the Baltic states. Even though these regions didn’t really start to modernize until 1989 they have made incredible progress in the short time since. The roads are wonderful, food is terrific, the people are incredibly friendly, and technology is sprouting up everywhere. We even had full internet service on the super bus we took from Latvia to Estonia. I have to say, I didn’t expect to see such advancement, especially so soon after many decades of Soviet occupation and repression.
It’s obvious this development didn’t happen spontaneously in the Baltic states. The people of these countries worked very hard to get where they are today and continue to work hard to support the growth and improvement of their region. There was no magic pill or secret formula that brought on such incredible growth. Just a goal, persistence, and plain, old, hard work.
You can also see the results of such determination in the hardworking immigrants that come to the United States, many with no money and no prospects when they get here. Still, many manage to build businesses and successful careers from nothing more than perseverance and their own blood, sweat, and tears. Even when you don’t seem to have anything else, you have the ability to work hard to achieve whatever it is you want.
So look to the former Soviet countries and to the rousing examples of their success for inspiration and as an example of what can be done with simple determination and hard work.
One more thing about working hard—and keeping at it. Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers puts forth the 10,000 hour rule. His research has revealed the difference between the “haves and the have not’sâ€â€”10,000 hours. Gladwell calls it the 10,000 Hour Rule. He points to phenomenal successes like Bill Gates and The Beatles. These were not particularly brilliant or gifted people—just hard workers, putting in 10,000 hours of more of consistent work on their focus. More on the 10,000 Hour Rule in a future blog.
But for now, continue to set BIG goals for yourself, write out your B-RAM lists, and get to work!
Give Your Brain the Novelty It Craves
Have you ever considered how children and young people are always trying something new, pushing themselves, eager for adventure … but older people seem to be content to do the same things they always do in the same old way?
It’s just a generalization as I know many older people, myself included, that still continuously seek out new and challenging experiences. However, there is a sense of complacency that is easy to fall into as we get older or as the obligations of our life wear us down.
As our physical energy wanes, so does our ambition, and next thing we know, our brains turn off and we are just living on autopilot. It’s at that point that making any change in our lives gets very, very difficult.
The thing is our brains don’t wear out the same way as the rest of our body. Normally the brain is still willing and able to do its job learning, solving problems, and amassing knowledge even when we physically feel worn out. But when faced with a lot of stress or just dull repetitious experience the brain deteriorates.
To keep your brain in top shape, give it the novelty it craves. Educating yourself through books, television shows (like PBS and the History Channel), and on the Internet will certainly help, but remember, your brain is a multi-sensory organ. Feed all of it.
Get out of the house, out of town, out of the country when you can, and experience new sights, smells, sounds, flavors, and textures. New experiences will boost both your physical and mental energies and motivate you to do even more.
In fact, go and create a â€bucket listâ€â€”that stuff you want to do before you kick the bucket, like Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholsen did in the movie “The Bucket Listâ€. I sure know that having my own “bucket list” motivates me to get out and do more and avoid stagnancy. There’s just so much to do in our short time here.
More on my bucket list–and some of the huge goals I have in that list–in the near future.
Keeping up that energy and motivation are KEY to getting what you want. So go out and enjoy life, learn and explore, and keep your mind sharp and your energy up.
Being Ready for Serendipity
Life is full of unexpected and random encounters. Sometimes the opportunity and the assistance you need to reach your goal or enact the change you want in your life will just drop into your lap from the most unexpected places. You need to be open and ready to grab on when serendipity comes your way.
It was just such an incident that led us to an invaluable and ever so delightful friendship with a wonderful, generous man named Krzysztof Fialkowski. My wife and I love to travel. Having a life that allowed us to travel and experience the multitude of cultures out there was a primary goal of mine when building my wealth and shaping our life. In our travels we run into many people and strike up an interesting conversation here and there but usually we just move on afterwards. When my wife got waylaid by a friendly stranger at a stop in Poland I thought of it as one of these momentary distractions and wandered off to look into the next leg of our adventure.
Eventually my wife brought her new acquaintance over and introduced him and we all chatted for a bit. An unexpected friendship bloomed right then and there and now Chris, as we call him, personally takes us around the neighboring countries when we visit Eastern Europe and has introduced us to places we would never have encountered if it had not been for him. My goal of experiencing different cultures was expanded on several levels by this random encounter. Had I been in more of a hurry that day we meet Chris and cut short the conversation, we would have missed out on an invaluable opportunity and friend.
You never know where serendipitous encounters will arise. Don’t make assumptions about what someone or some event can do for you. Get out and meet new people, go to a variety of social events, and visit new places, and seek learning from sources that stretch you. You never know what will come your way. It could be the very key you need to reaching your goal.
