Smarter Goals: Emerson’s 5 Building Blocks for a Powerful Mindset

Smarter Goals: Emerson's 5 Building Blocks

Smarter Goals - where they came from

Ever wonder where all the pied-pipers-of-prosperity get ideas from so they can sound brilliant, wise and genius?  I'm paraphrasing Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill -- This is why it sounds great, gets us excited, yet very little, if anything changes.

I like Hill’s book, yet the truth is he was a scoundrel. Hill was involved in countless scams over the years. One of his earliest involved buying lumber on credit, never paying his suppliers, and selling the lumber to others for cash at rates well below market value.

This, as you can guess, didn’t last very long before Hill went on the run. But that was just one of many scams that Hill would try over the years.

Good News Bad News

Bad news? Well, it wasn’t for me.  A wonderful coincidence led me to The Master Key System by Charles Haanel.  Hill “appropriated” the basis for “his” book so it has some value.  As an English major, I can tell you without a doubt, after reading other books he “wrote,” that there is no way he wrote Think and Grow Rich.  It was one of his wives, Rosa.

It was not bad news for me because I discover The Master Key System… a brilliant 24-week exercise.  It helped me set Smarter Goals because I developed a healthy mindset. 

Digging deeper as the Smarter Goals kept manifesting faster, it led me to Wallace Wattles.  The really good news is that led me to the source of both these great minds utilized.

Full Credit

While Haanel paraphrased Emerson, Wattles' brilliant works quoted Emerson directly.  Without a deep study of Think and Grow Rich, I would never have rediscovered Emerson and I am grateful.  Both gave reverence and full credit to Emerson and I encourage you to get your hands on his essays.

There is no way to convert Emerson’s brilliance and wisdom in this blog but I can share with you a routine I learned, and adopted to set smarter goals and a healthy mindset.  We shared that routine in a previous post. Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated.

When Opportunity comes, it is too late to prepare

Emerson believed that we are all intended to grow.  Unlike all other life forms, growth for us is optional.  Trees, animals, plants all grow to their full potential.  Not us.  When we are not growing, we are unhappy, uneasy so we distract ourselves. 

However, what no other life form has is the incredible gift of imagination.  Getting a healthy mindset has a requirement... desire to become the best we are capable of becoming.

Building Block One: Set the stage for growth.

Make a decision, [not a preference], to find and maximize your potential.  Our potential is far greater than we can possibly imagine but relax.  If you follow these steps, you’ll lose interest in mindless entertainment, [doom scrolling etc.] and be drawn to the field of pure potentiality.

The word decision comes from Latin, decisio.  It means to cut yourself off from any other possibility.  Make a decision now!  Why not discover and manifest your full potential?

Building Block Two: Morning Ritual, Fueling the Mind and and Body.

The science of today has validated Emerson’s assertion that we do not determine our lives, our habits do.  To that end, he utilized rituals to set in motion foundational habits. 

The morning ritual is simple and will most likely involve what feels like a “sacrifice.”  You are designing your day so remember the decision you made at Building Block One.

Hydrate and no noise.  This is a quiet time.  No smart phone, no email, no news.  Design your morning around this ritual first before the noise of the world. 

This involves making your coffee or whatever… and transitioning onto dedicated time for learning.  Read [Emerson?  His essays are short]… pick one book and master it. 

I’d suggest The Science of Being Great by Wattles.  Once study is over, get some exercise.  Mind and body.  Take a walk, yoga, workout. Physical exercise is a catalyst for both mental and physical well-being.

Building Block Three: Mid-morning & Afternoon Ritual, Productivity and Focus

Manage your workday by keeping the main thing the main thing.  In today’s world the noise is loud, and the distractions are innumerable.  Focus makes or breaks everyone.

Your workday has one more step. Organize your work area, desk, clean it up.  Plan out the next day of work and get everything you need to execute that plan together and in the order you need it.  Setting smarter goals and growing personally is dependent on organized planning.

Building Block Four: Evening Ritual, Relaxation and Recharging

Needing mindless entertainment will dissipate in a few weeks.  Once you begin to experience personal growth triggered by a healthy mindset, that mindless entertainment simply becomes boring and pointless.  If you must get a little,fine. But set a limit and by 7:00, shut it down.

Close out your evening with some thinking about what you studied that morning.  Think about how you can incorporate what you are studying into your life, your work and most importantly into your personal relationships. 

Do some journalling. Even a page or two a day will pay massive dividends.  You will quickly move from not knowing what to write about to getting ideas, thoughts and feelings about your life improving… your potential expanding.

This ritual of unplugging, reading, reflecting and writing most likely is going to be uncomfortable at first; yet within a month you’ll wonder why this isn’t taught in school. You will grow to love it.

Go to bed earlier and get up earlier so the “don’t have the time for this today” excuse does not leak in.

Building Block Five: The Ritual of The Chain, The Power of Consistency

Back to Building Block One and the word, decision.  No matter what, don’t break the chain.  One of the biggest “lies” is that it takes 21 days to establish a habit.  It takes 60-70 if you are already in the habit of forming new habits… 90+ days if you are not practiced at deploying new habits.

The Nudge [for adults only]

As you read this, were you building the “time” excuse?

One life… if you don’t have the time to do it right, when do you think you’ll have the time to do it over?

believe

mark j

#HealthyMindset #MasterKeyExperience #NothingLikeIt