Photo Credit: Unsplash/Guillaume Briard
By Dr. Bryan Hawley
How to focus for life change in 2020.
The New Year just brought in a huge amount of energy. Could you feel it? I am riding this wave by doubling down on the daily meditations and really focusing on what I want to see manifest. So, I thought I would put pen to paper or rather sausage fingers to little keyboard and share what I am doing in hopes of inspiring or helping others to thrive in 2020.
One of the first things that I did was to get quiet! Start looking within and taking “internal action.” I have done this for years with my patients but finally started doing it on myself (I know barbers have the worst hair, and doctors are lousy patients) and have seen some drastic changes. I also created a master plan for 2020 based off my core desires and beliefs. I have it written out in detail in a spiral notebook that automatically lays out a roadmap for me to follow; all I have to do is stay focused and stay the course.
What is it, and how did I do it you ask?
The key to creating a life unlimited is using what I call The 4 Lenses to look at different foundational areas in your life. I actually have eight foundations, including Health and Fitness; Personal Reality (our environment we surround ourselves in everyday); and Spirituality/Religion. (If you want a list of all eight I use, reference the download link on my ad in this issue or email me at hawleybryan@yahoo.com.) Using the four lenses—or personal perspectives—will make the foundations in your life come alive, and they will illuminate a path to follow in 2020.
How I begin is to take out my spiral notebook and write. I list my first foundation, let’s look at Health and Fitness for the sake of example herein. Then I run that under the 4 lenses and write out in detail what I perceive about Health and Fitness while looking at it through the lenses. After I finished writing this foundation, I ended up with five detailed pages that are like personalized plan for me to follow.
First Lens: Belief
What is my belief about the subject? Do I have dogmatic beliefs that were just handed down to me that I am blindly following? Or is this originating because I have weighed the evidence in order to foster a personal belief. Is my belief justified, and will it benefit others and me?
Second Lens: Vision
What is my vision? Can I foresee myself doing this in the future and being happy and fulfilled? What will I be doing, and how will it make me feel? How are my senses of smell, hearing, taste, and touch informing my vision? For example, If it’s a new car how does it sound, how does the leather smell, how does it feel to drive it?
Third Lens: Why?
What is my why? Why do I want to place this path, goal or object before me? Why do I want to do this? Is it for me, family, ego, status, friends, etc.? Is it going to solve world hunger, bring peace, or help one person or the masses? Why am I choosing to do this? The stronger the “why” the more likely your vision is going to manifest. Because when obstacles pop up—and they will—the stronger your “why” is the more horsepower you will have to bust through those obstacles.
Fourth Lens: Action
What action am I going to be taking in 2020 to make my vision happen? Without action or motion, nothing happens in this physical world. I can sit on the couch and meditate all I want until eventually they come and repo the couch. We have to develop action steps that are big enough to move the needle in the direction of our vison. For example, if you want to lose weight, just thinking about it might not be enough to move the needle on the scale. Making a plan to research diets, join a gym, get a fit app, etc., etc. would be an example of an action step that can take you in the right direction. This step not only has to result in action, but also has to put a time frame on it. For example, by Tuesday I will have visited three gyms in my area and thrown away all the high carbs in my pantry.
Without going too deep. Many of the patients I have coached in Foundation 1 are obese and desire to get leaner. I often find that they lost integrity with themselves. Somewhere along the line they have broken a promise they have made to themselves regarding their health and fitness (outside of extreme medical conditions).
Most people know basic good vs. bad dietary and lifestyle choices, but when they lose self-integrity they start making all the wrong choices. The key is to try and take them back to when they first broke that promise or made the bad choice and forgive themselves. Then they can restart by making an “anchor promise” and re-establishing integrity with themselves. The anchor promise could be something as simple as brushing their teeth every night before bed, BUT under no circumstances can they break that promise. Then add another simple promise, and another, and another and soon they will be back on track.
After running the 8 Foundations under the 4 lenses, I formulated what I call The Master Index, which is basically a bullet point short summation of my 8 Foundations. It reminded me of an index card that I would write info on when studying for midterms, hence the name “Master Index.” This is something that I keep handy, and something that I scan over before doing meditations.
Now the glorious thing about this exercise is that it will change! As you reach your goals and achieve your desired outcomes, you will want to experience new and other challenges. The book you create is dynamic and will be ever changing. That is how life works—it is always changing and expanding, and now you have the direction to create a manual and guide to the life you want!
It’s true our life path doesn’t come with a manual—but we can create one.
Dr. Bryan is a published author, national speaker, and personal growth consultant. He also owns an online digital marketing agency and has created a simple online course on digital marketing to help other coaches, and authors break out into the world and reach audiences. You can find out more on his website http://www.drbryanhawley.com or email directly at info@drbryanhawley.com.