— Karen von Blixen-Finecke
You may not know the name Karen von Blixen-Finecke. However, you may be familiar with her pen name, Isak Dinesen. Karen von Blixen-Finecke was a Danish author who wrote in both English and Danish. Two of her most famous English works were Out of Africa and Babette’s Feast, both of which were turned into stunning motion pictures. She offers very wise advice in this quote about a tactic that can be used when attempting the impossible.
When you are up against a seemingly insurmountable task, it’s best to break it down into smaller, more manageable parts. Then you can chip away at it a little bit at a time, and before you know it, you’ll be surprised to find that it’s finished.
It is intimidating to attempt the impossible. It sounds so . . . big. But if you start with a small portion at a time, suddenly the project seems manageable. Breaking difficult tasks down into smaller parts also gives you minor victories along the road to your ultimate goal. You can celebrate each milestone and know that it is getting you closer to success.
Take a look at the three impossible tasks you wrote down yesterday. Pick one and brainstorm ways in which you can break it down into smaller sections and work on it a little bit at a time. Come up with a date for completion, and then put your smaller goals along a timeline leading to your final goal. You now have a plan to achieve the impossible. When do you start?
DAY
111
“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.”
— Tommy Lasorda
Determination is the fire in the furnace of every successful person. Only you decide whether or not something is possible, because you are the only one who has the power to give up on yourself or continue on until you achieve success. You are completely in charge of your level of determination. On a scale of one to ten, how much determination do you have? What can you do to build that fire of determination inside of you?
Well, you can do a number of things. First of all, pick a task that you feel strongly about. Do something that stirs your passions and sparks your creativity. Pick something that has real meaning to you. You’re not going to drum up a whole lot of determination if you’re barely interested in a project.
Secondly, break it down. You learned yesterday that it’s easier to achieve the impossible if you break it down into smaller chunks. Your determination to succeed will build every time you reach a milestone.
Third, be a hero and take that risk. Don’t be afraid to fail, because you know that you will learn from your mistakes. Failure teaches success. You don’t know what you are capable of achieving until you try.
Finally, launch into your impossible dreams with unbridled enthusiasm. Don’t hold back and never, ever quit. You control the fire in the furnace. How determined are you to succeed?
DAY
112
“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”
— Johannes Eckhart
Over the next few days, you are going to take a look at what prayer and meditation can do to help you on the road to success. If religion of any sort makes you queasy, don’t worry. Your next assignment is not to join a monastery. You will have an opportunity to take a non-denominational look at the value of each and decide for yourself if they will be useful tools in your quest for success.
Prayer is simply a form of communication. It’s a chance for you to talk. For some, it is communication with their god. For others, it may be a petition that is sent out to the universe or humanity as a whole. A prayer can be a request, a petition, a thank you, or just a thought that you don’t want to keep to yourself. It’s really up to you who or what you address in your prayer.
A lot of prayers seem to start with, “HELP ME!”
Johannes Eckhart suggests that the most important prayer is, “Thank you.”
What are you thankful for in this world? Make a list, and then find a quiet spot in your home or outside and read the list out loud. Thank God or the universe—or the doorknob if you can’t think of anything suitable to pray to—for these things. Communicate your gratitude out loud.
Prayer helps you to be mindful of what is important in your life. It helps you to put words to your joys and concerns and hopes and dreams. Give prayer a try every day this week, even if all you say is, “Thank you.”
DAY
113
“Everything can be used as an invitation to meditation. A smile, a face in the subway, the sight of a small flower growing in the crack of a cement pavement, a fall of rich cloth in a shop window, the way the sun lights up flower pots on a window sill. Be alert for any sign of beauty or grace. Offer up every joy, be awake at all moments, to the news that is always arriving out of silence (Rainer Maria Rilke).”
— Sogyal Rinpoche
Cindy had heard about the benefits of meditation for years, and she finally decided to try it for herself. She bought Meditation for Dummies and a bunch of CDs that included chanting monks, flutes, and wind chimes. She even found a fancy animal print pillow to sit on while she got “spiritual.”
She followed all of the instructions in the book, but she felt ridiculous. Time crawled by, and she was lucky if she could sit still for two minutes, let alone a half hour. One time she sat on her fancy animal-print pillow for a full forty-five minutes, but she didn’t think she could officially call it meditating. Her own snoring woke her up.
After a solid month of attempts, Cindy finally gave up in disgust. She couldn’t do meditation the right way, and she hated trying and failing every day. Maybe meditation wasn’t for everyone. She put away her pillow and her CDs and moved on.
Have you ever tried meditation and quit, because you got too fidgety trying to follow the rules? There is good news for you today! There are no rules to meditation. That’s right. You don’t have to twist your legs into a pretzel, chant words you don’t understand, and listen to freaky music to reap the benefits of meditation. All you have to do is be silent and pay attention. Your assignment today is to try silence.
DAY
114
“To meditate is to observe simultaneously the formation of thought and breath, and then let it go, without complicating it, without formalizing it, without identifying with it, without rejecting it, letting it follow its own way.”
— Allen Ginsberg
One of the great gifts of meditation is that the rewards far exceed the effort. As was mentioned before, there are really no rules for meditation. There are a few suggestions that seem to work very well for people, and they are to breathe, to be silent, and then just observe what happens. That’s it. Trying meditation is one of the easiest assignments you will have in this book.
Give it a whirl today. You don’t have to find a special spot in a dark room with soothing music. You can do it in the car on the way to work, on the subway, in your room, at your desk, at the gym, on your bike, in your favorite chair, wherever you want. Just take a few minutes to be silent. Feel your breathing. Then, observe the thoughts that bubble up when you have this small opportunity to be quiet for a minute.