Are you ready for 2014?

Our view while goal setting at the W Singapore

Let me ask you again. Are you ready for 2014? Many of you are probably asking yourselves at this point, “Am I ready for what?”  This is the most common reaction I get when I ask people if they are ready for the next year.  Most people never even think to plan for their life.  People plan for grocery shopping.  People plan what they are going to do over the weekend.  People plan for what they are going to have for dinner.  People plan what outfit they are going to wear. But rarely do people plan for their LIFE.  They prioritize a television show or a party over the time, energy, and focus it takes to plan the life they want to live. 

A few weeks ago, my friends and I spent the weekend at a beautiful hotel overlooking the water and spent 13 hours designing and strategizing our lives for 2014.  We set goals. We set plans. We created strategies to see our goals come to fruition.  It was a powerful weekend.  It began with a review of our goals from 2013.  We celebrated victories and confronted challenges that we faced.  We explored the 12 domains of our life and programmed our minds to work on these areas on a regular basis.  We refined or recreated our personal affirmation statement.  We designed everyday incantations to feed our minds.  We did a guided goal setting session where we dreamed and wrote down everything we would love to learn, create, be, do, and have in all of the areas of our life and boiled the list down to 10-15 things that we would focus all of our attention on in 2014.  We created our intellectual board of trustees that would “advise” us in all of the domains of our life.  We expanded on each goal with vision casting and strategies to see that these things come to fruition.  It was an empowering, inspiring, and challenging weekend. 

So I ask again, “Are you ready for 2014?”  Do not leave your life up to chance.  It breaks my heart to see so many people going through the motions of life without ever really fully living.  Are there things you would love to do that you have yet to do? If you are anything like me, you have plenty of those things!  There is so much to experience.  There is so much of an impact we can have on the lives around us.  In the vastness of our universe’s time continuum we are but a tiny speck.  What do you plan to do, have, and create in this short time we have?  What kind of a legacy do you want to leave? When you are 90 years old sitting on the balcony with a cup of tea looking back on your life, what do you want to see and remember? Do you want to be known for clocking in and out of work on time or do you want to be remembered for truly living a life worth living? 

You will face challenges along the way.  You will have doors slammed in your face.  You will run into walls and stumble upon boulders.  In doing so, new doors will open.  People will show up in your life to help you climb those walls and move those boulders.  It is in times of our greatest challenges and adversities that life’s greatest gifts are revealed to us.  We do not get to experience those gifts if we stay where we are.  Dare to be great.  Dare to experience more, see more, and love more.  Dare to step on the edge of your comfort zone and discover a life worth truly living.  

Love,

Matt

It is never too late!

Marina Bay, Singapore

What will it take for you to feel like you're really happy? Have you even thought about it before or are you just plugging along on the hamster wheel that is life? I am an observer of people. I love to watch people, study people, read people, and see what really makes people tick. I look around and see people who are really happy and fulfilled and others who say the only good thing about Monday is that it is only five more days until the weekend. You get the point right? I see people that handcuff themselves to a job they hate or a relationship they feel miserable in for decades or even a lifetime. I also see people who are chasing their dreams. I choose to surround myself with people that inspire me. One of my close friends is giving up an extraordinary income and a great job to chase his dream of traveling around the world. I have another close friend who just opened up his own chiropractic practice from scratch with an amazing amount of hard work and determination to transform his community. I have another close friend who is expanding his practice by leaps and bounds while keeping in great shape and building a great new marriage. I have another close friend who gave up his chiropractic practice in a foreign country making a great income to move to a place to start over because he saw more potential for fulfillment and enjoyment in his life. All of these individuals have taken huge risks in their life and have been rewarded immensely in the process. I, for one, gave up a great job near my family and sold everything and moved to the other side of the world with nothing but a couple of bags and a huge desire to create.


Unfortunately, I also see people miserable in their lives. I observe people who are broke, unhappy, and unfulfilled. I see people who are in a job they hate, making money that they can barely survive on, and going home to a relationship they do not feel fulfilled in, and a mirror they don't feel comfortable looking in. It breaks my heart to see people living like that. They just keep walking on the hamster wheel hoping for something to come along and save them from their life, or even worse, giving up all hope and giving in to a life they don't enjoy.

The reality is that many of us fall somewhere in between the "I have everything figured out and am living my dream life" and "I hate my life and I am living a miserable existence." From what I observe, we are much farther away from the first one than many of us would like to be. We get comfortable. We get complacent. We just give up. We give up on a life we would love for the life we have. We budget rather than create abundance. We settle rather than explore. We accept mediocrity rather than chase greatness.

Would you like to travel more? It really isn't as expensive as you might think if you do it right. Would you like to start a blog or a website about your passion? Do it. It's free! Would you like to start that new business you have always dreamed about? When it's your passion, it doesn't feel much like work. Would you like to learn to dance or speak a foreign language? Fei chang hao! Would you like to live in a foreign country, move to Hawaii, or even relocate to the other side of town? If the will or desire is strong enough, you can make it happen.

Learn to become a child and dream again. Dream big dreams and place massive action behind those dreams. Maybe you have a family and can't uproot your whole life just yet, you still can learn to dance, speak a foreign language, start a blog, take a trip to a really cool location, and the list goes on. Get out there and chase your dreams. You can thank me for it later.

Love,
Matt

Do you need to clean up your life?

Anyone that knows me knows I do not have a great reputation for having organized personal spaces.  Sure, the main area of my office and home look great, but it isn’t uncommon for my room, desk, personal office, closet, and even my computer to look like a tornado has hit it.  Living in a city, I do not have a car anymore, but when I had a car, it was usually a mess as well.  I just never placed a high value on keeping those things clean.  After all very few people were going to see those places and the ones that did, I was close enough with to not really care if they thought I was messy or not.  I remember the first time a few years back I heard a professional speaker illustrate his distaste for messiness because of how it carries over into all areas of life.  He stated, “Watch out for a messy car. A messy car equals messy panties.”  That analogy, while crude and tasteless, holds tremendous value and truth.  How you are in one area of your life reflects all areas of your life.  Living one area of your life exceptionally does not give you permission to be a mess in another area.  Living an exceptional life requires a commitment to all areas of life. Life is not a zero sum game. 

Unfortunately, while that comment stuck with me, it never made an impact on me enough to stimulate a lasting change.  Why? Simple.  Because I associated more pain with taking the time to file papers on my desk than the eye-sore of a messy desk.  I associated more pain with the time to straighten up my room than I did to the clutter that it had on my life.  I knew that all that clutter was creating blockages in my life, even if it was only metaphorically although I am sure it had physical manifestations as well, but it did not create enough of an emotional impact for me to change it.  The truth is that I do not enjoy the mess and the clutter.  I just did a really good job ignoring it.  I finally decided I needed to “clean up my life.” So I did things like I do when I commit to anything. I went all out and did not just put a few papers away.  I went into just about every nook and cranny and straightened everything out, even the stuff that is hidden.  I still have a few things to clean up but almost all of my personal spaces, even my computer, have gone through major transformations in the last couple of weeks. 

Here is the really cool thing.  Although I did not have an ulterior motive in “cleaning up my life,” it has positively carried over into other areas of my life.  Literally, the moment I decided to start cleaning up, the practice improved.  More people started referring friends and family in for care.  More people have been renewing their commitment to chiropractic care and the improvement in their health. There has been more synergy between the staff in the office.  My quality of sleep has improved.  When you clean up ANY area of your life, it affects EVERY area of your life. 

What are you waiting for? Pick up mop and start cleaning!

Love,

Matt

My 100 page Lifebook...

Working on my Lifebook in Chiang Mai, Thailand

For the past 3 months, my mastermind group has dedicated ourselves to working on our Lifebook.  It is a program we broke up into 12 weekly sections where we visioneer our ideal life. Not in a “wishful thinking” type of way but more in a “this is what I am going to create” type of way.  In the end my Lifebook is over 100 pages of pictures, visions, and strategies for creating my dream life.  It is meant for inspiration but there is also the pragmatic side of strategizing its attainment.  As I was completing my last section, it was asking to create my life 5 years from now.  Where would I be physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, and financially?  What would I have created and what am I going to create? What would my life look like? That is when the doubt started to kick in.  That is when I started to dream up some magnificent dreams, but my rational side would start to say, “That is not possible” and “You are not good enough.” I have a dream to speak to crowds of thousands all over the world inspiring them to live the life of their dreams.  My negative voice would tell me, “I do not have what it takes.  Do you really think you are as good as Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, and Mark Victor Hansen?” I want to create products that people could use in the comfort of their own home and computer to create and manifest amazing things in their life? My negative voice kicks in and asks “Do you really think you are as good as Deepak Chopra, Oprah Winfrey, and Jeff Bezos?” I want to create a foundation that serves underprivileged communities and families, helps them get back on their feet, and gives children a head start in life, but my negative voice asks, “Do you really think you are going to be powerful enough and influential enough to do that?”  I want to travel all around the world for months at a time or even years, but my negative voice asks, “Is that really practical? Will you really have the time?” 

We all have this negative voice.  We all have this voice that tells us we aren’t good enough; we aren’t powerful enough; and we aren’t smart enough.  We have this voice that likes to tell us to play small and play it safe.  This little voice is our ego afraid of failing; afraid of becoming bruised; afraid of being damaged.  This little voice knows if it can just convince us to play small, we will never have to worry about failing.  The reality is that if I listened to this voice I never would’ve moved across the world, built the practice of my dreams, and traveled to some of the most exotic locations around the world.  The truth is if I let that little voice run my life I never would’ve left the comfort of my hometown and explored the vast and unknown of the world.  From time to time that voice continues to creep its way back and what I realize is that my vision, my passion, my circle of influence, and my intention must be louder than that little voice.  That little voice is never going to disappear so we all have to learn how to create a relationship with it and use it like the dim light of the moon.  It doesn’t guide us where we need to go but it does provide us with the light to be aware of our surroundings.  It provides just enough protection to not be dangerous, but we certainly shouldn’t be directed by it.

I remember very distinctly when I was getting ready to graduate from chiropractic school, living in China with barely enough money to eat, and writing out my dreams in a little red journal.  I was laughing at the absurdity of what I said I was going to create in the next 5 years.  I thought it was almost silly that I thought I could create something like that in such a sort amount of time.  That was the little voice rearing its head again.  But I figured it couldn’t hurt to dream!  I just went through that journal the other day, almost exactly 5 years later than when I wrote it and was blown away by how much of those things actually came true; some of which I far exceeded.

As I sit here now laughing with disbelief at my next 5-year goals, I can’t help but wonder “What if?” What if this is just the beginning? What if that little voice doesn’t know what it is talking about? What if I am powerful beyond what I ever imagined? 

And the question I would love for you to ask yourself is “What if you are too?”

Love,

Matt 

Adventures in Paradise

There is an interesting paradox about life whereas the quieter the outside becomes, the louder the inside becomes.  After finishing an amazing 3 days in the office serving hundreds of people, seeing more lives transform than I can possibly count and doing 2 talks in the office on chiropractic, innate intelligence, and living a life of full expression, I find myself sitting on the beach on the beautiful island of Tioman, Malaysia. I'm looking out at the turquoise water under the clear blue skies with the jungle behind me and a great cup of coffee in hand. Life is great, if it wasn't for the pesky voice in the back of my head.  You see, anyone that knows me knows I have one speed and that is full throttle.  A huge step in the personal growth process has been learning to relax and enjoy the moment; to realize that not doing anything is sometimes the best thing I can do for myself.  When I first arrived at the resort, my first thought was "What should I do now? I should go for a swim, grab lunch, do a bit of reading, go out for a snorkel, work out, and then and then and then."  Why? Because my belief system has always been that doing nothing is a waste of time; that doing nothing is for lazy people; that doing nothing is unproductive and a poor use of time. Also, and probably the most unsettling feeling, is that doing nothing means I need to start to listen to the little voice inside of me. So when I got here and realized there really is not much to do, there are very few people around, and the only internet is in one section of the resort, I got a little freaked out. Thank goodness that moment of craziness only lasted for a few minutes because now instead of driving myself crazy with keeping busy, I can begin to do the real work and just be present and hang out with myself.  I can begin to go through the process of enjoying the solitude, meditation, nothingness, and giving up the expectation that I need to expect anything at all for a couple of days. Sometimes the most beautiful plan is that of having no plan.  That can be a pretty powerful plan in and of itself.

We can all learn a lot from the practice of solitude.  We can learn a lot from the practice of nothingness.  It is in the space of nothingness that everything exists.  It is in that deep place of nothingness and presence that creation exists.  It is in the deep place of nothingness that we are able to connect with ourselves and everyone around us.  I know this may seem very abstract and esoteric but I promise you there is nothing more concrete and directly applicable to our lives than this idea of nothingness.  Let me give you an example. Let's say you're looking at creating a relationship with someone. It can be anyone; a lover, friend, co-worker, or employee.  Each party enters with a "full glass." Each party has a set of expectations, wants, desires, and needs.  The biggest thing that can destroy any relationship is unmet expectations and the poor communication that usually goes along with that.  As we empty our glass and shed layers and layers of baggage and expectations, we open ourselves up to a greater possibility of connection.  What do you think is easier - meeting 17 expectations that are ingrained in a person's being, most of which they have no idea about or not having to meet any expectations and starting with an "empty glass" to create anything you want? What is going to set you up for a successful trip more - having the expectation that in order to be happy there has to be perfect weather, perfect food, perfect accommodations, and everything run perfectly on time or entering the trip with no expectations except that no matter what happens, you are going to make the best of it? If it rains, great. More time to read and write.  If it's sunny, great. More time to swim and enjoy the sun.

When we can begin to shed our expectations; when we can begin to drop our baggage from the past; when we can begin to empty our bucket of crap, we open ourselves up to a world of creation and manifestation.  We begin to create the feelings we want and not the feelings we are victim to.  We open ourselves up to finding the joy in the chaos as well as the calmness.  Time for me to go empty my cup, enjoy the calmness, and get off my computer so I can embrace the beauty all around me.

Love,

Matt

Journey back in time...

Hiking in Landmannalaugar, Iceland

Life is a lot like hiking a mountain range.  There are going to be peaks and there are going to be valleys.  I remember my first real hiking trip every.  It was also my first real trip overseas.  It was 6 years ago when I took a journey for two weeks to the “Land of Fire and Ice” – Iceland.  Iceland is a majestic country unlike anything I have ever seen before filled with enormous glaciers, beautiful waterfalls, and a unique landscape mixed with black volcanic lava fields, hot springs, glaciers, breath-taking waterfalls, green grass, rainbows, and gorgeous mountains.  My best friend, Matt and I, decided to do a 4-day trek which is listed as one of the top 3 treks in the world.  It was an approximately 60 km hike over varied terrain and altitude.  One day we were hiking over beautiful green landscape, rocks, and mountains.  The next day it was across the flat black sand desert.  The next day we were hiking on the glacier across snow and rocks.  The last day was a mix of canyons consisting of every color of the rainbow built into the walls, turquoise sulfur springs, towering black volcanic rocks jutting out of the ground, and we finished off the 4-day adventure relaxing in a natural hot spring. 

The days were a mix of emotions.  I started off the hike with spirits high and energized for the adventure.  After the first day, both of my hips locked up on me and I spent the whole next day practically waddling about 12-14 km.  It was a really tough day for me.  I was exhausted, especially seeing the expanse of the landscape we had to cover in front of us and the height of the climbs we had to make with a 40 lb back pack on our backs.  There were times I was frustrated I ever decided to do the hike and really wanted to stop (although that was not possible because there was no where to go).  There were times where my legs were screaming, my heart was pounding, and I just wanted to collapse, but I knew it was not an option so I kept moving.  Doesn’t this kind of remind you of life so far?  Then the climate would change for the better. We would get to a peak and have coffee and a snack over-looking one of the most beautiful and pristine landscapes in the world.  I would sit there basking in gratitude for this amazing, life-changing experience.  I met some of the most incredible people, including a guy we affectionately nicknamed “Super Dad,” who was a university professor taking his wife and 3 kids on this trip with him.  He carried all the supplies for everyone, was a PhD, pulled his mattress from the mountain hut we stayed in outside in the freezing cold under the stars, spent time surfing and kayaking the frigid waters of Scandinavia, among a plethora of other accolades that are too many to name.  We would spend one day bored hiking across the flat desert sand, but then spend the night in a hut amongst the snow capped mountains.  We would spend the entire time living off oatmeal and dehydrated vegetables and quinoa, and then were beyond grateful when a gentleman offered us a tomato and cheese sandwich at the end of our journey.  It was nothing special but by comparison it felt like a meal at a Michelin-star restaurant.  My friend, Matt, still talks about that sandwich to this day.  We also capped off a brutal 4-day trek relaxing for hours in a crystal clear natural hot spring that was so beautiful I couldn’t even dream something like that up.

The thing about life is that it is not really life if you are only hanging out in the valleys or balancing on the peaks. It would have been impossible to appreciate a tomato and cheese sandwich the way we did without living on oatmeal (which I still won’t eat to this day) and dehydrated food for 4 days.  The views from the snow-capped mountains and of the multicolored canyons would not have been as mesmerizing if we just saw them in a picture and did not labor through the hours of hiking to reach those places.  The hot spring at the end of the journey would not have seemed so sweet if I could just access it from my backyard.  In life, we need both the peaks and the valleys.  The valleys are great because that is where our character, emotions, values, and beliefs are tested and it is also where the most growth takes place.  The peaks show us how our hard work has paid off. 

We cannot deny or escape the fact that life is going to be a journey of peaks and valleys.  We are going to have trials and tribulations and we are going to have victories. We are going to be tested physically and emotionally and we are going to experience periods of intense joy.  A true sign of growth and evolution of the soul is to be able to navigate the peaks and valleys with gratitude, grace, peace, and love.  It is to be able to detach from the outcomes and the location of the journey and live in the moment.  It is to be able to clear your heart from hate and the mind from anxiety and from a place of centeredness ask, “Where is the joy in this moment?  Where is the gift?” It is when we can be as grateful for the valleys as the peaks; when we can be patiently peaceful in the valleys and patiently joyful at the peaks that we begin to become a true master of our life.  It is something that may take years to master.  I know that I am only at the beginning of this process and you may be too, but we all need to start somewhere.  What better place than here, and what better place than now? 

Love,

Matt

This one thing can change your life...

Me in Bali

The more and more that I study successful people, read books on success and personal development, and become an observant observer of my own habits and behaviors, the more I realize there are certain things that are unequivocally and uncompromisingly essential to living a brilliant life.  Is motivation important? Yes. Is discipline important? Absolutely. Is compassion, empathy, and communication important? Without a doubt they are.  Although all of these are important, none of these are made possible without the lynchpin that holds every piece together.  There is one thing that makes all of these possible and so much more.  I cannot overstate the importance of this trait.  I cannot drill enough the capacity of this skill to transform your life.  Without further ado, allow me to share this life-building, life-changing, and life-magnifying trait you. It is STATE MANAGEMENT.  The good old ability to manage your state at all times, in all situations, and in all circumstances can do more for your life than anything else you can master. It is also probably the single most difficult thing to master as well.  But as we talked about before, the truly magnificent things in life are not easy.  If the magnificent things in life were easy, everybody would be living magnificent lives but we know these kind of lives are far and few between. Why? Because they take work! And work is a dirty little word to most people but I’m digressing. We will leave that for an article on another day.

So what is state management?  State management is the ability to control, create, and express any emotion and any decision through volitional consciousness in any situation or circumstance. Huh? Let me break it down for you.  It is the power of choice.  It is the power to have full control over your life no matter what is going on.  It is the ability to choose love amidst the hate that is all around; to choose hope in times of challenge; to choose compassion when someone is verbally attacking us; to choose discipline in times of distraction; to choose inspiration when we are feeling weak and tired; to choose to serve in times of personal struggle; to see the gifts in life when everything seems to be against us; to choose to be powerful when we are feeling beat down; to choose patience in times of inner turmoil; to choose faith in times of adversity; and to choose loving words, thoughts, and deeds when it is so easy to go the other direction.

Unfortunately, many people are ruled by their emotions.  They are reactive rather than proactive.  They allow the emotion of the moment to dictate their next move rather than taking control of their life.  They have a Pavlovian conditioned response to any stimulus that enters their sphere.  Just like the dog that salivates when they hear the bell ring, most people react to what goes on around them rather than being in control of their lives.  A driver cuts you off? The road rage kicks in.  A spouse or partner pushes your button? You react, and most likely not from a loving place.  A rough day at work? You’re miserable and take it out on everyone around you. A boss or client yells at you? You get depressed, angry, or sad. Financial challenges, relationship issues, or overwhelmed with work? You get annoyed, obsessive, or feel helpless or paralyzed.  You see that slice of pizza or French fries? You have to have it.  Did you exercise today? Nope, just did not have the motivation. Have you started that new project or goal you have been meaning to get to? Not yet because you got caught up with television.  Did you open that book you know you need to read? Not enough time in the day and you are too tired.  You see, this list could go on forever!  Many of us are totally run by our emotions in all areas of our life.  We have very little ability to effectively manage our state.  I can’t begin to speak as though I have perfected this yet. I wish I did! The truth is that creating the ability to master my state has been something I have been working on for years and has proved to be a huge challenge. And yes, it has improved dramatically but I still have a long way to go before I would consider myself a guru in this area.

I have discovered firsthand how improving this area of my life has transformed myself as a person, a leader, a boss, a friend, a son, and my relationship with myself. It is something I know I will be committing the rest of my life to mastering and I still will only put a dent in the realm of what is possible in this area.  The beautiful thing is even a small dent is analogous to dropping a pebble in the middle of a still pond where small changes create a ripple effect that shakes the very foundation of who you are as a person and the people around you. It will transform you as a person and create a level of control in your life that so few people possess.  It will be exactly what you need to literally manifest the life you have always wanted.  I know of nothing more powerful and transformational in the world of personal development than this.  I hope you enjoy the ride.

Love,

Matt