When the mind isn’t focused on a goal, it becomes warped and focuses on negative issues.
I read something about this in a Dan Koe letter.
Dan was talking about the word Entropy.
When your mind is in entropy, you tend to go into a downward spiral.
The problem with entropy is that your mind makes up scenarios that aren’t true.
You re-live regrettable memories.
You think about how silly or stupid you looked in moments that happened years ago.
It’s not a good feeling to have.
It’s almost like you’re in those regretful moments again.
It’s like having a bad dream (in real life) over and over again.
It’s why many people are argumentative.
It’s also why you meet people who start arguments out of thin air.
If you don’t have a goal you’re working towards, what else will you think of?
Let’s approach the issue of entropy and negative thinking logically.
Say you have two paths in life:
Path 1 - You’re focused on achieving a goal.
Path 2 - You don’t have goals, and you’re coasting through life.
Path 1 - Focused on a goal
In this path, you can only think about achieving your goal.
When you wake up, you create ideas to achieve your goal.
When you go to bed, you hope you dream of new ways to solve problems related to your goals.
When you talk to people, you’re approaching each conversation from the lens of someone who has a goal in mind.
If someone doesn’t talk about things related to your goal, you tune them out.
On the other hand, if you meet someone with the same goal as you, you have an instant connection with that person.
That’s the reticular activating system in your brain.
It focuses on the things that it’s looking for.
And if you want to achieve a goal - that’s all your brain is going to see.
It’s why you NEED to set goals in life if you want to avoid negative, toxic thinking.
Goals are step one if you want to reduce anxiety and stress in your life.
That’s path number one.
Let’s look at path number two in life.
Path 2 - You’re coasting through life with no goals
Just writing the title of this section was depressing.
It brought me back to times in my life when I was coasting.
Doing anything life brought my way (with no purpose).
Path two is a direct image of someone floating through life.
It’s a life that has no meaning.
In path two, you’re simply existing.
In this path, you have no focus.
You’re hoping that something comes along and gives you a reason to live.
You’re on edge about everything people say to you.
It’s because you’re unsure about yourself.
When you have nothing to live for (no goals in mind), your mind naturally drifts toward negative thinking.
You dwell on mistakes you made in the past.
You focus on small words or sentences you could have said better in an argument.
You think about stupid things you said that made you look immature.
You constantly drift into anxiety and stress because all you can think about are negative things.
The mind is much more in tune with negativity than it is with positivity.
It’s why the news is so negative.
You are wired to be negative.
Thousands of years ago, If you didn’t see the danger in front of you, you might lose your life.
Seeing the negative used to be a positive.
It’s what kept you alive before we had modern civilization like today.
The problem is that we’re still wired for negativity.
We can’t see the forest from the trees.
Meaning we can’t see the big picture.
Unless…
Unless we have a goal that we’re working towards.
Goals open up the bigger picture.
As a matter of fact….
Goals create the bigger picture.
A goal is the picture.
You have to paint an image in your mind of what you want in life.
If you don’t, you’ll have a picture painted for you (and it won’t be pretty).
So…
How do you create a new image in your mind?
I use something called the:
Image Creation Process.
It's the 5 step process to create an eternal goal for your life.
Here's the 5-step process:
Renew your mind.
Serve other people.
Understand your mind.
Set eternal goals.
Repeat steps 1-4.
Let’s begin with step one.
Renewing your mind. 👇🏽
Step 1
Renew Your Mind
Creating a new image in your mind starts by feeding your mind new images.
The best way to feed your mind is to watch what you consume (mentally).
It’s like going on a diet.
If you eat healthy food, you renew your body.
The same concept works with your mind.
Here’s how I do it:
Read the Bible.
At least one chapter per day.
The Bible is the most pure book I’ve ever read.
There are no bad intentions in it.
Every word in the Bible is meant to bring you closer to God.
The main concepts in the Bible (based on my experience) are:
Salvation/Sanctification
Holiness/Righteousness
These concepts are repeated throughout the New Testament.
There are so many different life lessons in each chapter.
The Bible teaches you something new every time you read it.
The key is to get a study Bible because it’ll open your spiritual eyes to things you never would have seen before.
My mind has come to realize how sick it is to:
Lust
Envy
Lie
Cheat
Hate
Steal
Be prideful
Or do anything against myself or someone else.
People have a misconception that the Bible is restricting, but that’s such a lie.
The Bible is liberating.
Think about it.
Earlier, we talked about how people with no goals have negative thoughts flooding their brains.
Think about negative thoughts for a second.
Negativity, stress, and anxiety feel like being enslaved to the mind.
How are negativity, stress, and anxiety a representation of living freely?
It’s not!
When you succumb to the desires of your flesh:
Lust
Envy
Pride
etc.
You get the results of lust, envy, pride, etc…
Everything in life is made up of actions and reactions.
For example, let’s look at a sin like lust.
If your action is lust, you’ll get the reaction of lust.
Anybody can lust.
Lust means:
Having a strong sexual desire for someone.
It’s a perverse way of thinking about another person.
That’s not a liberating way to live your life.
Even if you sleep with that person, it fulfills you up to the point of climax.
Then it’s over.
It’s like eating a piece of candy.
It feels good in the moment, but when the candy is gone, you’re left with empty calories and a desire for more.
I’d call that an addiction.
If you have something -
Feel satisfied for a brief moment -
And then you need more of it to get the same feeling,
That’s an addiction.
It’s exactly how people addicted to cocaine or heroin feel.
They desire the drug
Consume it
And then want more of it shortly after.
They’re never completely satisfied.
That’s closely related to insanity.
Sin will literally drive you insane!
There has to be another way.
That way is righteousness.
It’s the only way to free yourself from bondage and addiction.
Your spirit and mind have to be renewed from the inside out.
If your mind is filled with lust, envy, pride, unforgiveness, etc., you’ll never be free.
Transformation begins in the spirit and in the mind.
When you read a good study Bible, your spirit gets fed the right nutrients.
When you have the right nutrients feeding your mind, you start to lose some of those old ways of living.
It’s like a detox.
You have to constantly pour in the good if you want to get rid of the bad in your body.
That’s why “renewing your mind” is step one in the process of creating a new image in your mind.
The holy (or righteous) state of your mind doesn’t lust, envy, pride, etc.
When the word of God renews your mind, you literally become a new creature and experience life from a new perspective.
PS—The only way to truly experience this new creation is to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
So...
Here’s the three-step process to renew your mind:
Step 1 - Ask Jesus to be your lord and savior
Step 2 - Repent of your sins (lust, envy, pride, unforgiveness, etc)
Repentance is a whole different subject.
But just know that it means “Truly changing your old way of living and pursuing this new life.”
Step 3 - Read the Bible daily to renew your mind and fight the old way of living (by reading the word and talking to God).
You won’t be perfect, nobody is.
But the goal is to be disciplined.
It’s like being in good physical shape:
Staying in shape requires:
Exercise
Eating right
Drinking water
Getting sunlight
etc.
It’s a daily thing.
If you neglect discipline for too long, you’ll fall out of shape.
Renewing your mind is a daily discipline.
Renewing your mind is step one of creating a new image in your mind.
Let’s go to step two.
Step 2
Serve other people
At a certain point, you realize that the world’s way of life is backward.
Most people approach life in 3 ways:
"If you do something good for me, I’ll do something good for you."
"If you’re popular or have money, I’ll associate with you."
"If you have a bright future, I’ll invest in you."
It’s completely backward to how it’s actually supposed to be done.
If you look at the people who make the most impact (and money) in life, they do things completely different.
They serve people first.
Serving people does three things:
It releases you from needing results.
It shows people that you genuinely care about them.
It transforms you and other people from the inside out.
Let’s break each one of those things down:
Releasing your need to see results.
When you do things for results, you constantly look for results.
If you don’t see results, you lose motivation.
When you lose motivation, you have to rely on your discipline.
And most people don’t have the discipline to keep going when they don’t see results.
Especially the people that are doing things SOLELY for the results.
For example:
If I were writing because I wanted to make a lot of money and buy a Ferrari, I would be looking for the money and the Ferrari every day.
If I were writing every day during this 75-day writing challenge, I would expect the money and a Ferrari.
My mind would be on the money and the Ferrari.
Which means my mind wouldn't be focused on the process of becoming a better writer.
Which also means...
I wouldn’t become a better writer and accomplish my goal of:
Transforming the human experience.
Instead, my goal is to become a better writer.
As I work to become a better writer, I hope to transform the human experience by sharing my life lessons.
I’m not worried about external results.
My focus is on things I can control.
Becoming a better writer so I can transform the human experience.
The goal is servant based.
It's focused on helping people transform their perspective on life.
It’s not external results-based.
There’s a huge difference.
Your goal should be:
To help people in everything you do.
If you keep people as the reason you’re doing something, you won’t lose the motivation.
There’s always someone you can help.
And there’s always something you can control.
You can always control your ability to get better and help other people along the way.
The results usually come as a byproduct.
So the second thing you need to do is put people first.
Be people-oriented.
When you focus on getting better at solving other people’s problems, you naturally become more valuable.
The more valuable you become, the more opportunities you attract.
When you attract more opportunities, money comes as a byproduct.
Keep people first.
Having a servant attitude fixes your motivation and discipline problems.
Most people can’t stay focused on something because they don’t have other people in mind.
When you take the results out of the picture, you naturally have an energy source that can’t be extinguished.
People will always have problems, and if your goal is to help them solve those problems, you will always have something to work for.
But there’s something I should warn you about…
If you don’t renew your mind, you will focus on yourself.
It’s natural to want everything for yourself.
Look at any two-year-old.
Everything is “Mine, mine, mine" to a two-year-old.
It’s human nature.
How else could you explain the selfishness of a toddler?
That’s why you have to become a new creature by reading the word of God.
Everything starts to make sense when you read the Bible.
That's why I say, “Renew your mind.”
When you have a new perspective on life, you have a new way to approach life.
Jesus said in John Chapter 13, Verse 14:
"If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet"
Everything changes when you wash someone else’s feet.
Put yourself second and watch how many people appreciate your servant attitude.
To create a new image in your mind, you must do something different from what human nature tells you to do.
Serve others and watch the blessings flow in.
External blessings and riches are nothing without internal peace and joy.
Serve others, you’ll be surprised what happens.
Here’s how I serve others:
I’ll take out my friend’s trash when I’m at their house.
I’ll do the dishes for my family or my girlfriend’s family after dinner.
I'll make dinner for my family.
I’ll unload the dishwasher when I’m at my girlfriends’s apartment.
I’ll write these newsletters in hopes that my life experiences forever transform someone’s mind.
How do you show up to the world?
Are you a giver or a taker?
Be a giver.
Be a servant.
Okay, step 3 to create a new image in your mind.
Step 3
Come to grips with your Mind
You have to become a student of human nature and psychology.
You NEED to understand what’s happening in your mind.
If you don’t, you’ll be ruled by the stories in your head.
When a voice pops up, you need to understand that sometimes the voices you hear are not good for you.
Not all voices serve you in a positive way.
You need to be able to see those voices for what they are.
This requires you to study psychology and human behavior.
The best books I can recommend are:
The best course I can recommend to you is:
You need an awareness that (the personality type you have) + (the life experience you have) has shaped the voices in your head.
You can’t keep walking through life unaware of what’s going on in your brain.
You need to understand:
Human Biases
Prejudices
Behavior Patterns
Habits
Personality types
Economic laws
Human Nature
And general Psychology
The more you become aware of who you are and how your brain is wired, the better off you’ll be.
When you realize that psychology plays a huge part in how you behave and respond to the world, you’ll start to approach life differently.
There’s a lot of research about the human mind.
Practice self awareness and become a master of human behavior/psychology.
I can’t say this enough.
You need to see yourself for who you are.
If you go through life without understanding the way God wired you, it’ll be a shame.
If you never find out about yourself, did you really live?
Here’s a good start to figuring out who you are
The more you understand yourself, the more you’ll understand other people.
Your relationships will take on a new form.
You won’t argue with people you used to argue with.
You’ll see them for who they are (their personality) rather than thinking they’re a weirdo.
Practice psychology and watch how the image in your mind begins to change.
On to step four.
Step 4
Set Eternal Goals
When you take the internal steps to:
Expand your mind.
Create a new image across the fabric of reality.
You start to take control of the things you can control.
And you trust God that he’s in control of it all.
As you begin to
Dive into the word of god.
Serve other people.
Understand who you are.
You’ll see the world for what it is.
Or at least have a better perspective.
Which allows you to create a goal worth achieving.
There are plenty of people in the world who are pursuing goals that will not matter in the grand scheme of eternity.
Don't be like most people.
You want something that’ll last beyond this lifetime.
Something that’s worth working on in the next dimension (when your physical body is long gone).
And that’s where this step comes in.
This is where you combine everything you’re learning from God about who you are in his kingdom.
You finally come to grips with what you’re passionate about.
And it’s not about the money.
You'll choose something that seems strange to yourself.
It'll probably be something that you've been ignoring for a long time.
Maybe something you used to love doing as a kid.
For me, it’s writing.
I realized that I’ve been doing jobs in tech, but my true passion is writing.
I feel alive when I write.
I come up with ideas that I can’t explain in person when I write.
I have doses of inspiration that last all day long when I write.
I can’t suppress that anymore.
That’s why I had to create the goal of doing 75 hard (writing edition).
I know that God has put the skill of writing and communication into my spirit.
I have to cultivate the gift that he’s given me.
And I want to encourage you to go that route, too.
Whatever you do, make sure it’s something that you're doing for the glory of God.
Don’t do this for the money, fame, cars, houses, girls, guys, pride, etc.
That’s all going to waste away.
Do it for a cause worthy of God’s kingdom.
That’s going to motivate you, and you’ll find the time to make that happen.
So, pick a goal and stick with it.
I challenge you to do something like the 75 hard challenge that Andy Frisella created.
Or do the 75 hard (writing edition) for a goal you set for yourself.
It’ll keep you accountable to the gift that God gave you.
As you pursue your gift, notice how little things try to take your focus away.
Become aware of your habits and the lack of discipline you have when you’re working on something worthwhile.
It’ll become apparent to you.
Those are the things you’ll focus your attention on.
And you’ll figure out a way to solve those problems.
As you do, your mind will come up with new solutions.
You’ll begin to master your craft.
And you’ll be focused on the right things.
You won’t be consumed by negativity, stress, and anxiety.
You’ll be consumed by the mission God put you on this earth to pursue.
So go pursue it, my friend.
Alright, on to the last step
Step 5
Repeat Steps 1-4
In a nutshell, here's the 5 Step Image Creation process:
Renew your mind.
Serve other people.
Understand your mind.
Set eternal goals.
Repeat steps 1-4.
As you work on this process, it’ll work on you.
Keep doing it.
Don’t stop.
It’s going to become a cycle that allows you to grow beyond your wildest dreams.
And when you think about it - what else do you have going on if you’re not pursuing your purpose?
There’s no better cause to work on than your purpose in life.
It’s what you were made to do.
Cheers, my friend.
Kaelan Moss - MinuteAdmin Out ✌🏽
