Psycho-Cybernetics - See Yourself at Your Best

Matt Furey's Super Human Success Blog

Take No Days Off?

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Ten years ago, while watching a workout designed to help young baseball pitchers throw 90 mile per hour fastballs, I noticed one of the athletes in the facility wearing a t-shirt with a catchy slogan.

Take No Days Off

The slogan made me smile because for many years, I lived by these words. In high school and college, I trained three times per day, everyday, and that doesn’t include walking to and from classes – or practices.

Even during the offseason, I maintained my scheduled workouts. I never took a day off because I believed doing so would lead to a reduction in skills. I was partly correct.

The idea of taking zero days off is not reserved for athletes. You will hear the idea championed and touted in martial arts, in music, in writing, in virtually any field.

But is it true? Or do we simply think it into reality?

If you take one day off, are you really going downhill?

In some ways, yes, and in other ways, hell no.

When you take a day off, it’s possible that you will lose momentum, and the skipped day leads to a complete abandonment of your practice. This can and does happen.

It’s also possible that the day off did you a lot of good; that you’re better off because of it. You’re more focused and motivated. You’re itching to get back to work.

Just because you fell off the proverbial wagon doesn’t mean you are going to get run over by a bus. In fact, taking a day off may lead to a surge in energy, desire and momentum. Why? Because you gave yourself a psychological break. And it was needed.

After the day off, in order for you to retake your seat on the wagon, instead of worrying about having “lost your mojo,” just picture yourself back on your horse and buggy, and climb aboard.

Once you’re back on, take notes. See if you are better or worse. You may be surprised; pleasantly surprised.

In my experience as an athlete and martial artist, taking a day completely off from ALL physical training is not a good idea. But giving certain portions of the training, sparring and technique practice, in particular, a rest, was one of the smartest tactical moves I ever made.

Staying “off the mat” for a day or two, led to national and world titles. When it was time to compete, I was “itching” to get out there because I denied myself from doing what I loved to do.

In other areas of life, though, a day off is not a good idea. Think in terms of washing your face, showering and brushing your teeth.

You don’t necessarily “love” to wash your face, shower and brush your teeth, but if you skip a day, you will probably feel uncomfortable. And if YOU don’t, other people WILL.

My current view on “take no days off?”

It’s a great idea. It’s also a bad idea.

Figure out for yourself what to take a break on, and what to do everyday.

Armed with this knowledge you’ll be able to make greater progress without unnecessary stress.

Matt Furey

P.S. Should you take a day off from your Theatre of the Mind and/or visualization practice? What do you think?

P.P.S. Follow me on Substack at mattfurey.substack.com 

Do You Have These Dr. Maltz Classics?

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We’ve done it. We’ve given the Maxwell Maltz classics a breath of fresh air.

As you look at the incredible covers for each book, you’ll definitely be intrigued and want to own them all.

Thank you, Deborah Herman, for the stellar job you’ve done. 

Get these CLASSICS NOW.

Every single book Dr. Maltz wrote is fabulous, and it’s a good idea to own them all. You’ll read them over and over. And they will transform your self-image and your life.

Best,

Matt Furey

Time Management Anxiety

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How much of present-day anxiety is related to that ticking time clock? 

It starts at a young age, when you’re traveling and begin to wonder how much further you have to go.

“How many more miles?” you ask. 

“Not much more,” a parent replies.

A few minutes later, you ask again, “How much further before we get there?”

Same response. 

When you’re in class with a sub-par teacher or professor, can you recall how often you looked at the clock. I know I looked every five minutes in many of my classes.

But when a teacher was really good and the subject truly interested you, the clock was a distant ally. It wasn’t part of the picture.

An hour or two feels as though it is only a few minutes when you’re in a flowful rather than fearful state. When you are creatively alive, your energy rises and time almost ceases to exist. 

On the contrary, when you’re constantly managing every minute of every day, you’re continually adding anxiety into your every move. 

There’s no doubt that many people need a certain structure in their lives, and the ticking time clock is one way they hold themselves accountable. But is it the ONLY way, and is it the BEST way, all day long, in every moment of our lives?

I don’t think so. In fact, I see the never-ending obsession with time as a self-imposed prison. Energy arises when the clock is no longer running the show, YOU are. 

Earlier today I worked with a private client who is taking a deep dive into my new Power Postures program. One of the keys he learned from me is how to take control of your mind by ignoring the clock until you are finished. Instead of telling yourself that you are going to do something for a definite amount of time, there are many other variables at play that you previously ignored.

Focus on these other variables and guess what happens? Time expands and you get more done. As Dr. Maltz would say, “You get more living out of life.”

Focusing on the clock has its benefits and may be necessary at certain times of each day, but it also has many detriments, one of which is the inability to calm down. And that’s a big one.

When you engage body, breath and mind with Power Postures, you give yourself the calmness you deserve.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

How to Calm Down Before You Visualize

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I’ve lived in Florida for 23 years now, and although Hurricane season ends on November 30, I’ve never known one to hit from mid-October onward.

Today, Hurricane Nicole touched down on the eastern coast as a Category 1; much better than a Cat 5. Thankfully, the hurricane morphed into a tropical storm, so we’re doing just fine. It’s almost as though we’re sitting in the eye of the hurricane, where it’s nice and calm. 

Being calm and centered is a good place to be. But how do you get there?

In Psycho-Cybernetics, many exercises are given in regard to moving your body to change your results; it’s the body-oriented approach rather than the mind-only approach.

During these times of emotional unrest for so many, I have found it much easier to get people moving where they want to go by using the body-first method.

Change the way you stand and move from this position, and you instantly change how you feel, especially when you are doing the stances that are proven to work, regardless of whether you believe they will or not. 

When you stand still to feel good, as well as to change your body and your results, magic happens. When you exercise only to change your body, you’ll often be disappointed. Instead of being the eye of calmness and clarity, you’re on the outskirts, where unwanted results are more likely to happen. 

This doesn’t mean that you never go beyond certain physical boundaries. You do. But you will find yourself getting where you want to go faster when you embody a sense of calmness as you move. 

My new course, Power Postures-Tiger Tendons gives you this sense of calmness that you so desire. It helps you heal your body. It helps eliminate aches, pains and unnecessary stress and tension. It gets rid of what was standing in your way.

And it helps you rid your mind of obstructions that make your visualization practice less effective. When you do the exercises I recommend first, then sit and visualize, you’ll be blown away at the difference it makes in your life.

You’ll begin to bring into reality what has previously eluded you with the mind-only approach. 

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

What’s Up With “Massive Action”

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Ever think there’s something missing in the way people are taught to set goals?

In most cases, you’re taught to think big, set goals that scare you, get out of your comfort zone, take massive action, change all your limiting beliefs and eliminate your negative self-talk. 

Meanwhile, a much easier and far less time consuming approach is possible for you. 

Consider the Principle of Momentum. 

When you have momentum flowing for you, you’re almost impossible to stop.

It begins with something as simple as a positive daily habit that you stick with. Next thing you realize is that this positive habit is bearing fruit. It’s working wonders in your life that you might not have imagined when you began. 

You established momentum when you took your first step forward, which made it easier to take the next step, and the next and the next. 

When you’re not doing anything on a daily basis to achieve a goal, you have no momentum… no energy. When you’re creating a positive result every day, it’s hard to stop yourself. 

So the principle of Momentum is activated with small steps, with daily habits and daily goals. It is NOT activated by the idea of ‘massive action,’ as there is no such thing in the universe. You only get to take one step a time. You only get one breath at a time. You can desire more steps and more breaths at the same time, but sorry, that’s not how nature works.

Here what does work: If you nail at least one goal per day, after a month, you’ve “met” 30 goals and your confidence grows. After a year, you have 365 successes you can bank on. And now you can easily tackle bigger goals because you have Momentum on your side. 

Meanwhile, so many of those with the big goals (not daily) feel as though they aren’t any closer than when they started.  In short, they have no momentum.

As I frequently say, “Start small and you can have it all. Start too big and you’ll stumble on every twig.”

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

SEE Yourself Not Responding

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“See yourself sitting quietly and unmoved while an associate rants and raves. See yourself going through your daily tasks one by one, calmly, composed, unhurried, in spite of the pressures of a busy day. See yourself maintaining the same constant, stable course, in spite of the various hurry-bells and pressure-bells in your environment. See yourself in various situations that have in the past upset you, only now you remain “set,” settled, poised – by not responding.”
– Maxwell Maltz, M.D. Psycho-Cybernetics, Updated and Expanded

Yes! 

It’s all about how you SEE YOURSELF in your mind’s eye. 

It’s NOT about how you talk to yourself or how you recite or rewrite positive affirmations. 

The second you begin to PICTURE yourself in a new way, you begin to change. And when you do it correctly, there’s no fight taking place within your mind as you make those changes. 

If there is a fight taking place within your mind as you “work” on changing your life, you’re using will power in a disempowering way.

Imagination trumps will power all day long.

Sure, you can get yourself going with will power, but you cannot sustain it or take it to the next level.

Will power is constantly running out of gas while imagination always has a full tank.

Keep this in mind as you make changes in your life.

Matt Furey

Take the Focus Off Your “Self”

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Hi Matt,

As you encouraged me at the start of your book to write you I hope it’s ok I write to express my appreciation and ask a question.

The question is about the chapters about practising without pressure. It makes a good point. However the chapter afterwards you talk about the power of crisis and I’m curious to understand how the two live together.

You use an example of a man carrying out a piano while his house is burning down and I’m guessing he didn’t practise without pressure. So how do the two align and/or what am I missing :-).

Would be great to hear your thought,
R. B.

R.B.
Thank you for your question. The man who rescued others was not focused on himself. He was focused on an emotionalized mental picture of getting others out of the burning building.

When you practice without pressure, your focus is on the activity you are engaged in, not the “self.”

For example, a golfer who is working on the art of putting, focuses on the ball, the club and how his or her body moves through space as it uses the club. The golfer may also picture the ball dropping into the hole. 

Your self-image is a mental picture, a mental blueprint of your life. It is not yourself, but rather, the image you have of your “self.” Because the image of yourself is not you, you have the power to change the results you are getting in life. 

Continue to read and re-read Psycho-Cybernetics. It’s a lifelong practice with infinite applications. 

Matt Furey

Taming the Dog Inside Your Mind

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“When the phone rings, I ignore it. I conditioned my mind a long time ago to realize that I don’t have to react to the phone.”
– el Furecat

All of us have Pavlovian responses inside our minds. It could be a knock on the door, the phone ringing, a text message coming in or the notification of a new post on social media.

Boom. We feel we must immediately respond. 

The truth is that we have been conditioned to believe that we must respond to every ding we hear. In many ways, we’re no different than the dog in Pavlov’s experiments.

Pavlov rung the bell to let the dog know that food was being served. After doing this a few times, the dog began to salivate as soon as it heard the bell.

But there’s more to the story…

Because even when Pavlov rang the bell and food was not given, the dog still salivated. The dog expected food every time the bell rang, and its nervous system reacted the same way every time.

The dog never caught on.

Human beings respond to all sorts of bells in their environment in much the same way. We see or hear something and we react in a predictable manner. And this continues  for our entire lives… unless we take the time to make our minds quiet and change our conditioned response to something better.

I have two dogs. And they bark every time anyone comes near our house. It doesn’t matter who it is, they respond by barking. 

For quite some time, when I was reading, I used to respond to the dogs barking by closing the book, getting out of my chair and going to the door as I told the dogs to be quiet. 

I responded in a Pavlovian way to the dogs. I didn’t salivate, but I did react in a similar way to their barking.

One day I decided to change my response to the dogs. I entered the quiet room of my mind and imagined the dogs barking. As I heard them sounding off, I introduced a new mental picture of what I would do in the future. 

Instead of getting up and going to the door, I would remain calm and continue reading. And I wouldn’t say a word to the dogs. 

To my delight, the next time the dogs went nuts, I was unaffected. I continued reading. Quietly. 

All I did was change the mental imagery playing inside my head, and my response completely changed.

This situation gave me deep insight into the meaning of the phrase, “Act without doing.”

It doesn’t mean that you don’t do anything. Instead, you picture yourself doing something different, in advance of the bell being rung.

And when the bell rings (or the dogs bark), you end up doing what you pictured.

Instead of “obeying” the conditioned response inside your mind, you act in accord with the new image you are installing in your mind.

It’s easy to do, if you’re willing to stop trying. 

Picture what you want to be doing, and be amazed when you automatically begin doing it, without effort.

Let the dogs bark. Let the phone ring.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

How to Build a Quiet Room Inside Your Mind

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“Each person needs a quiet room inside his own mind-a quiet center within him, like the deep of the ocean that is never disturbed, no matter how rough the waves may become on the surface.”

“This quiet room within, which is built in imagination, works as a mental and emotional decompression chamber. It depressurizes you from tensions, worry, pressures, stresses, and strains, refreshes you, and enables you to return to your workday world better prepared to cope with it.”

– Maxwell Maltz, M.D. – Psycho-Cybernetics, Updated and Expanded

The emotional decompression chamber mentioned above is something that every human being has within, yet few take the time to use it. We spend an inordinate amount of time pondering the issues of the day, and almost no time on retreat to the quiet center within. 

Take an emotional vacation each and every day. Turn off the tee-vee, the radio and all your devices. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Begin to let the steam out. 

Build a room in your mind where nothing can get to you, where nothing can disturb you.

Relax, unwind your mind, recharge and renew.

When you go on a daily retreat to this quiet place within your mind, you will realize that your life begins to blossom and bear fruit in ways unforeseen to you before.

See it. Feel it. Be it.

Matt Furey

The Value of Blowing Off Excess Steam

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“I didn’t have a geyser, or a steam valve in the top of my head, but I did have an imagination. So I began to use this mental picture when I would retire into my mental quiet room. I would remember Old Faithful, and form a mental picture of emotional steam and pressure coming out of the top of my head and evaporating harmlessly. Try this mental picture on yourself when you’re “wrought up” or tense. The ideas of “blowing off steam” and “blowing your top” have powerful associations built into your mental machinery.” – Maxwell Maltz, M.D. – Psycho-Cybernetics, Updated and Expanded

One of the keys to using the mental imagery that Dr. Maltz described in this passage can be found in the words “evaporating harmlessly.”

You blow off steam in a positive way that benefits yourself and others. It would also be a good idea, for visualization purposes, if you’ve never been to Yellowstone National Park, to watch a clip of Old Faithful erupting.

If a geyser blows off steam about once an hour, consider the benefits of doing so at least once a day.

Calm your mind. Let go of the excess pressure, stress and strain.

Matt Furey

Free PDF of Theatre of the Mind Newsletter

Free PDF of Theatre of the Mind Newsletter

Hello and welcome to Psycho-Cybernetics.com - the official site for the original (and expanded) teachings of Dr. Maxwell Maltz, author of the 35 million copy best-seller, Psycho-Cybernetics. I’m Matt Furey, author of the best-selling Nightingale-Conant audio book, Maxwell Maltz’ Theatre of the Mind.

When you subscribe to our Psycho-Cybernetics emails, I will immediately send you an email containing a FREE PDF ($100 value) of my Theatre of the Mind Masters Newsletter called Defeating the Failure Mechanism, which also features a Dr. Maltz piece, When Positive Thinking Doesn't Work. This highly regarded newsletter will show you how to apply the suggestions contained within it into your own life… and make changes for the BETTER!

Best,
Matt Furey
President, Psycho-Cybernetics Foundation

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