“Perfectionism and procrastination
are evil twins, giving you a million
excuses why nothing is ever good
enough…
YET.”
– Matt Furey
When to Be Positive
Here’s a thought I began to ponder a few weeks ago:
”I will remain positive and productive during the best and the worst of times.”
You may find it helpful in keeping your mind clear and your days productive.
Never tell yourself, “There’s nothing I can do.”
There is always something you can do, especially when you understand the power of prayer, visualization and the positive energy that comes through you with each and every breath.
See it. Feel it. Be it.
Matt Furey
Doing It Daily
“A goal you can accomplish and repeat on a daily basis, with such great consistency that you rarely, if ever, miss, is a goal that can move mountains, carve tunnels or build bridges to a brighter future.”
– Matt Furey
10X Your Ability to Visualize
“Daily practice will bring these mental pictures, or memories, clearer and clearer. The effect of learning will also be cumulative. Practice will strengthen the tie-in between mental image and physical sensation. You will become more and more proficient in relaxation, and this in itself will be “remembered” in future practice sessions.”
– Maxwell Maltz, M.D.
Yes, you can visualize. On a scale from 1-10, you might be a 1, but this doesn’t mean you “can’t do it.” It only means that you CAN and WILL get better at it with consistent practice.
Visualization is the same as any other skill you have already mastered. You didn’t master it by reading about it and “trying” it once or twice. You practiced religiously. Whether you want to improve a little bit, or to 10X your skills, practice is the path you tread.
If you want to learn to draw, play a musical instrument, build homes or become a professional in any given task, you get better and better with daily practice. No one escapes this truth.
True, some people catch on faster than others, but being slower out of the gate doesn’t mean you “can’t” compete.
Reality proves that being slower in the beginning is oftentimes a tremendous blessing because you now have an opportunity to dedicate yourself to learning the finer details of WHY something works the way it does. Fast learners are prone to taking their abilities for granted, of overlooking the details, and this leaves them susceptible to being surpassed by the “less-talented” person who follows the Laws of Practice.
You can and do picture things in your “mind’s eye” all day long. You do it with your eyes open. You do it when you dream. You do it when you close your eyes and remember a scene from the past or preview a goal you want to accomplish.
As I teach you in Theatre of the Mind, if you have trouble with your eyes closed, practice with your eyes open. This will help you SEE that you are visualizing, you are imagining, and YES, you CAN DO IT.
See it. Feel it. Become it.
Matt Furey
The Deadline
“One of the most powerful forces
in human history was the
discovery of the deadline.
Without a deadline,
some things get accomplished;
with it,
everything.”
Matt Furey
Overcoming obstacles
Here’s my Monday memo:
“Overcoming obstacles is infinitely easier when you change your mental images from impossibility to probability; from there is no way to here’s the way.”
Matt Furey
Why Will Power Doesn’t Work
“In the battle between will power and imagination, will power always loses.
Will power loses because it imposes and forces its way. Imagination wins
because it creates spontaneous, natural rhythm and flow. Will power causes
resistance while imagination creates momentum.”
– Matt Furey
My best-selling product, Dao Zou, strengthens your imagination along with your body. There is no will power used whatsoever in this program. Meditatively move as you picture your goals. Breathe deeply, connect and let go. Feel the buzz of energy you’ve heard about, but never experienced.
The Good and Bad of Procrastination
Last week, one of my clients told me what he used to do when it was time to get to work on a goal he’d set for himself.
“Clean the cabinets, organize the chest of drawers, go shopping, online or offline, watch the news and so on,” he said. “Everything that isn’t important gets moved up the list because you don’t want to deal with your goal. You know you’re supposed to be working on what’s supposedly important to you, but you take a detour.”
There are, however, activities that may appear to be a form of procrastination, but they aren’t. Instead, they are opportunities to engage in creative thinking time.
My favorites are walking, power naps and a 20-minute sauna.
When I walk, my mind enters a stream of ideas, quotes, book titles, stories to tell, etcetera.
Although taking naps is often frowned on in the western world, and for no good reason, if the frowners only knew what a 15-20-minute nap does for creativity, they would make it their mandatory practice.
Sometimes, believe it or don’t, sitting in a chair doing nothing is a supreme way to organize your thoughts and realize what direction to move. I never think of it as procrastination.
And then there is practicing Theatre of the Mind, wherein you take some time once a day (or more often) to visualize and imagineer what you will be accomplishing in your life. Before you begin your day, or partway through the day, and/or at the end, you sit, relax your body, breathe deeply and picture the results you want to create.
Is Theatre of the Mind a form of procrastination?
Not at all, yet the blind may mistakenly think it is.
Taking the time to visualize the result you want to create is the most powerful practice you can engage in, yet it doesn’t appear, to the unknowing, that anything is happening.
As I wrote for my followers on Instagram – @mattfureysays – “The vast majority of peoples’ problems are mental imagery problems.”
The same is true of procrastination. If your mental image of procrastination is one in which you’re putting off the doing of what you want to be doing, you have a different outlook on the matter than someone who views what he or she is doing as creative thinking time.
Theatre of the Mind is creative thinking time. So is walking. So is napping.
Oddly enough, cleaning the chests, the cabinets, closets and drawers could be as well. But it usually isn’t because the person doing these things ISN’T picturing a goal or the steps to the goal. Instead, the person is avoiding the goal by engaging in “busywork.”
If you are stumped while working on a project, you could go for a drive and turn it into creative thinking time. You could also use the time to procrastinate. The choice is based upon how you picture what you’re doing in your mind’s eye.
If procrastination is a problem, you can begin to picture it as an opportunity to expand your thinking. First, picture a goal you want to accomplish as you supposedly procrastinate. See yourself being done with it, on the other side of it.
Sooner than you think, as you’re vacuuming or dusting, you’ll be catapulted into doing what you want to do.
You heard it here first, my friend. Turn procrastination inside out and it becomes Theatre of the Mind time.
See it. Feel it. Do it.
Matt Furey
By the way, Theatre of the Mind is available – and you can also digitally download it at audible.com
Do it.
Good Goals – Bad Goals
’twas a long, long time ago.
I was listening to an audio series in my car when I first heard the phrase. And I was stunned by the imagery that came to mind.
The self-development speaker said, “If you don’t set goals that scare you, you’re not thinking big enough.”
Set goals that SCARE you? I thought to myself. That doesn’t make any sense at all.
Over the years I’ve heard this “set goals that scare you” refrain repeated by numerous motivational speakers. I wholeheartedly disagree.
Why?
Because fear paralyzes people. When you’re afraid it’s pretty hard to take action, to truly give a task your all.
Fear causes you to move in the opposite direction of what you want.
Instead of setting goals that “scare” you, how about setting goals that EXCITE you, goals that inspire you so much you feel compelled to get up and go?
More importantly, how about setting goals that you consciously believe in?
If you consciously believe you can achieve an objective, you’re going to successfully persuade the subconscious part of your brain to believe it, too. But if you’re “scared” when you ponder your goal, you better lose the fear if you expect to get what you want.
So many people are setting goals that frighten them – and this is one of the main reasons that these same people, year after year, feel frustrated about where they are in life.
The Zero Resistance Living way of achieving goals teaches you to eliminate negative emotions from your visualization practice. You learn to set daily goals, which are the hallmark of the super achiever.
Having a 20, 10, 5 or 1-year goal only works when you are securing plenty of daily victories that create unstoppable forward momentum.
And that’s what both you and I want to see and experience.
Set daily goals that INSPIRE you and you’ll create momentum. With daily momentum, your long-term goals can be accomplished.
See it. Feel it. Be it.
Matt Furey
Become Who You Picture Yourself to Be
“When you have great intention, you become who you picture yourself to be.”
– el Furecat aka Matt Furey
How do you picture yourself when preparing to speak with your boss, wife, husband, son, daughter, friend, neighbor, etc?
In each and every scenario, you see yourself being a certain type of person. And then you act accordingly.
And this will never change unless you deliberately picture yourself in a different way – and do so with great intention.
A few days ago I consulted with a man who was preparing to meet with his boss to ask for a long overdue raise. He was nervous and fearful about the meeting.
I asked him, “How big is your mental picture of yourself when you imagine yourself in the meeting?
Answer: “Not very big.”
“And the feeling?”
“My feeling is weak. Almost lifeless,” he answered.
“How about your boss?” I queried. “How big is he in your imagination?”
“He’s HUGE,” the man replied. “He’s really big and powerful.”
“Is it any wonder that you’re feeling nervous about your meeting?”
“True,” he replied. “I’m already experiencing the side effects of what I’m imagining. Man, this sucks.”
“It sure does,” I said. “But the good news is you can change your mental imagery with a single picture that you infuse with the power of intention.”
You cannot override the mental imagery you have inside your mind with weak, lifeless, tepid emotion.
But the second you begin to understand what intention is and how it works, what you are imagining begins to take place in your life.
Imagination without intention doesn’t bring about change. Imagination with intention gives you the keys to change your life for the better.
You have the power to affect change in your circumstances. In fact, you already are affecting your circumstances. Examine your mental imagery and you’ll see the proof.
See yourself bigger and better, then stand back and observe how the seas begin to part for you.
Matt Furey
