In the midst of the busyness and endless to-do’s of the workweek, and it can be easy to lose track of what is actually the ultimate goal that we’re striving towards.

This is where the importance of vision comes in.

Vision is a popular business buzzword in Silicon Valley and around the country.

Whether you’re interviewing for a new job to advance your career, or you’re raising millions of dollars for your startup, the person on the other side of the table is going to ask you about your 5 year or 10 year vision. 

But vision and its practice, visualization, is not just for a pitch or an interview, it’s something with great power we can leverage in daily life.

What exactly is vision? How can it be developed? Why is it important?

Seeing the Endgame

We typically think of vision only in terms of grand 10-year business schemes or long term life goals, but the reality is that vision is a fundamental component of daily life. 

By understanding the role vision plays in life, we can leverage that insight to more successfully conquer the larger, long-term benchmarks we desire to achieve with confidence and sustained enthusiasm.

I was recently speaking with a friend, Matt, who’s the CEO of a media company in Los Angeles. Outside of entrepreneurship, Matt’s passion is the martial art Brazilian jiu-jitsu.  Recently, he was sparring with an adversary who was larger and more experienced than he. On paper, this opponent should have defeated him easily.

However, Matt had other ideas. As the sparring started, Matt looked intensely for weakness in his opponent’s structure and for possible areas where he was off balance. At a certain point, Matt literally had a vision of the sequence of steps he could take to maneuver the adversary into a rear-naked chokehold. That vision gave him the belief, calmness, and clarity to act decisively, and a minute later he had his opponent pinned and tapping the mat in submission. 

You see, if we have a vision of success, it makes us more likely to succeed in actuality. With a foundational belief in success, we’re more likely to perceive the deliberate, intentional steps needed to reach our goal, and thus we will act with courage, ingenuity, and decisiveness. 

If we practice visualization consistently, our mind begins to expect the things we visualize to come true.

And they do.

This may appear woo-woo to you, but it’s absolutely true. Why?

Esoteric Tools of Peak Performance

Top performers such as Muhammed Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Michael Phelps, Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Drake, Lady Gaga, and thousands of others all credit visualization at a major contributor to their success.

Scientific studies have even shown that people who visualize muscle training without actually exercising can yield similar gains to people who do physical training. However, the biggest gains go to those who do BOTH training and visualization.

Visualization is also a major component of the yoga practice I learned in India, and I credit visualization immensely in the profound physical transformation I have undergone. 

So what are the mechanics of visualization and why does it work so well?

Your Body Only Knows the Present Tense

In our life as human beings, we clearly seem to experience the past, present, and future. We have memories of the past, experiences of the present, and ideas about the future. 

But are we really able to experience the past and future?

The answer is no.

While we may remember the past, we are, in fact, replaying those memories while sitting here in this present moment. While we may imagine the future, again we’re projecting those visions while sitting here in the present moment. The only time we can ever truly experience is the present moment itself. 

This is important to understand because our brain, body, and subconscious mind do not understand our ideas about the past and future, they only understand the information they receive in the present moment.

That is, if you vividly imagine a scene from your past, chemically your brain responds as if that event is actually happening in the present. 

Alternatively, if you vividly imagine a scenario in the future, again the brain, body and subconscious mind react as if that event is happening now in the present. 

Have you had this experience?

Let’s say you send someone a text about meeting up, or you send a client a proposal. You’re anticipating a quick response, but there’s no reply. Minutes and hours pass by, and your mind starts imagining all sorts of ghastly scenarios.

Maybe this person doesn’t like me? Maybe they’re unhappy with me about something? Maybe something terrible has happened to them?

Based on nothing more than hallucinations in our mind, our veins begin to course with fear and our body tenses up.

Finally, the person responds to us. They were at the gym, or their phone died, or they were on an airplane.

We feel relieved.

But how much unnecessary suffering did we create within ourselves?

Unfortunately, this compulsive form of visualization is the only form that most of our society knows how to do. All fear and anxiety essentially come down to a negative anticipation about future events. The truly traumatic events in life are generally few and far between, but how much suffering are we creating on a daily basis within ourselves? 

In the very least, how much does this negative type of visualization debilitate our performance?

Because, if we visualize defeat, humiliation, or tragedy, then our subconscious mind and physiology respond as if that scenario is actually happening, and so our internal state becomes weak and dejected. 

If we visualize success, joy, and abundant opportunity, then our mind and physiology also respond as if it’s actually happening already. We smile, we assume a confident posture, and we explore playfully as we anticipate the randomness of life to pan out in our favor. 

Inception: Creating Memories

With visualization, we’re consciously and deliberately creating new memories. That is, we’re offering our subconscious mind a visceral experience of the result we seek to achieve. The subconscious is unable to distinguish that this is only imagination rather than a real event, so the memory gets stored in the mind the same way any other memory would. 

By building these memories of success, we become increasingly motivated, clear, and courageous in our work as our belief becomes more deeply encoded. Why? Because the subconscious mind begins to believe the success has already happened, and then acts accordingly with a higher dimension of confidence, ingenuity, and drive. We only work hard if we truly believe what we aim for is possible.

A Powerful Process for Transformation

If you’re feeling adventurous in your visualization endeavors I invite you to continue exploring…

In India, I was introduced to a dynamic form of meditation knowns as Chit Shakti. Chit means mind and Shakti means energy. Chit Shakti meditation is a potent process of intense visualization and conscious breathing to create what you desire clearly and precisely in the mind.

In fact, many yogis and mystics of the East even claim that visualization is a key component of creating events that we would generally categorize as a “miracles” such as manifesting a gold watch from thin air or performing healings on the sick.

I can’t say whether such extraordinary claims or true or untrue, but perhaps these fantastic tales can inspire us to consider the true power of the single-pointed mind. 

This meditation may feel a bit mystical to you if you’ve never tried a meditation like this before. From my own experience, I can say it is a very powerful process. Be mindful of what you visualize:)

This process takes about 20 minutes. Sit comfortably with arms and legs uncrossed, back supported, and palms facing upwards. I highly recommended doing this in your own room or in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.

So have some fun in your routine and experiment with this dynamic meditation!

***Visualization Meditation for Success***

Have a blessed week, 
Alex Blanton

As I return to the business world from my 2+ year global odyssey of self-transformation, I’m finding that the success lessons taught by many eminent business leaders are the very same principles I’ve learned my spiritual journey simply distilled into a different language and applied in a modern context.

One of these such people is Jay Abraham. Jay Abraham is a legendary marketing consultant and business strategist who’s helped clients create over $20B in new value over his career. I personally find Jay to be a very enlightened fellow and his now famous Strategy of Preeminence has totally transformed my approach and orientation to my business life.

In essence, the key to this strategy is to turn our focus outwards. Rather than being continually consumed by the idea of “what’s in it for me,” you focus entirely on the other people you interact with.

You empathize with them, you’re genuinely curious about their hopes and dreams, and you respect them deeply. You act as a leader their best interest in mind. 

Operating with this external focus also liberates one from the discomfort of painful of self-awareness. Adopting an inquisitive external focus frees our mind and energy to serve and create in the best possible way.

My favorite quotes from Jay:

“The key to all of life is understanding how to add value to others.”

“If you truly believe that what you have is useful and valuable to your clients, then you have a moral obligation to try to serve them in every way possible.”

“To be the most interesting person, be the most interested. To be the most respected, be the most respectful.”

“The greatest determinant of greatness is going to be our ability to collaborate with others who have pieces of the puzzle we don’t.”

“What can I do; what can I say to create so much value for my recipients, and reciprocally for the people they serve that is so irresistible they simply have to take note?”

The Strategy of Preeminence

In this video, Jay explains what the Strategy of Preeminence means and how it can elevate your life whether you desire more material success, respect, or simply more joy in your journey. Wherever you are on your path, I know you’ll find the insights useful and perhaps transformative.

All the best, Alex

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As we’ve discussed over the past few weeks, our mental narrative in the present is the essential basis of our future possibilities in life.

It’s not that positive thinking is the magic pill, but it’s recognizing that:
1) Our thinking is the foundation of the actions we choose to take and not to take based on what we believe is possible
2) Our thinking acts a filter on reality either revealing or concealing the opportunities constantly flowing through our life.

In part 1, I shared how loving kindness meditation can elevate your sense of compassion and joy within yourself and catalyze physical healing in several dimensions that have been shown scientifically.

This week, I’m sharing the tool of affirmations. 

My experiences with the shamans of South America, the mystics of India, and my continuing meditative practices have shown quite clearly that thought patterns function in a very similar way to our physical muscles. Just as muscle groups used in certain ways consistently over time build strength and memory, the same holds true in our mental structure with our consistent thoughts.

The science of neuroplasticity aligns with this understanding as does research on affirmations from leading institutions.

Affirmations: Dumbbells for the Mind 

Affirmations are a powerful tool for training our thought muscles in a particular direction to bring about the results we want. Just as if we’re playing sports we want our body to function with agility and power in a particular direction, so too in life, our mind must be agile, perceptive, and powerful to create what we desire. 

So what is an affirmation? 

An affirmation is a sentence aimed to affect the conscious and subconscious mind to affect our behavior, thinking patterns, and environment. It’s a mantra, an incantation, a chorus that we repeat to ourselves again and again and again until that thought streams naturally flows in our mind with the unabating energy and momentum of a mighty river. 

By making the desire real inside our mindscape, we begin to act and think as if it is already happening, which, in turn, creates the conditions for that desired result to occur. 

Tools of Titans: The Social Proof of Affirmations

Before we dive further into the mechanics of affirmations, I’d like to share some social proof to get you motivated. Celebrities and global icons throughout history have touted to benefits of affirmations in their journeys to success. I’ve listed a few examples below:  

 “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve” – Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich based upon the success secrets of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison among others.

 “I believe you can speak things into existence.” – Jay Z

 “As far as I can tell, it’s just about letting the universe know what you want and then working towards it while letting go of how it comes to pass.” – Jim Carrey

 “You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big and love big.” – Andrew Carnegie 

“Writing affirmations helps you focus on your goal, moving them from wishful thinking to something in which you are willing to invest yourself…..Perhaps affirmations are a way to manage your own level of commitment. In effect, you are brainwashing yourself, and this might help you get through the tough patches that come with pursuing ambitious goals. When I started Dilbert, I didn’t take a day off for ten years. You only work that hard if you fully expect something good to come from it. I did” – Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert

“I am the greatest.” – Muhammed Ali

“We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon… We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” – President John F Kennedy, 1962 

How to Implement Affirmations into Your Life

I’ve found the best way to practice affirmations is to write them at least 10 times before bed and 10 times just after waking up while saying them aloud. This approach is most potent because it incorporates as many of our senses as possible: tactile, visual, and auditory.

It also leverages the use of “dream time” to allow these thoughts to imprint more deeply in the mind and then sets the tone for the new day’s thoughts in the morning. Top performers such as Josh Waitzkin (Chess grandmaster, the subject of the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” world champion martial artist) touts the advantages of focusing the mind before sleep and upon waking up to accelerate learning and transformation. 

Affirmations are powerful and effective, but they require consistency. Some days you’ll feel like you’re lying to yourself. That’s ok.

Similarly, you may feel like you’re kidding yourself the first couple of weeks in the gym trying to lose weight or gain muscle. It takes time and an element of faith in the process. You may not see or feel a benefit in the first couple of weeks of working out, but those two weeks set the basis for the transformation that will occur in month two, three, or six. It’s the same with affirmations. Practice consistently until they are a part of your blood. Realistically, this takes at least 6 months of practice. 

Examples to Stimulate Your Mind

Below I’ve listed a few generic affirmations to stimulate your mind. A quick google search would reveal 100’s more. The key is to: 
1) Get clear about your desire as specifically as possible. 
2) Throw emotion behind the affirmations. Always say affirmations in the present tense as if it’s already true.
3) Consistency. Train the muscles.

Examples:
Success loves me and always seeks me.
My body is infused with health and energy.
Happiness always seeks me.
My business is capitalizing on exponential opportunity
Financial freedom is here and now
My clients appreciate and value my work immensely.

What affirmations can you come up with for your life? Reply to this email and let me know!

Also, stay tuned for part three where I share my personal favorite tool for mastering the inner mindscape. 

Have an empowered week!
Alex Blanton

The Empowered Human Newsletter

The quality of the self-talk in our minds in the present moment is a direct reflection of what’s possible in our life going forward.

So how exactly do we harness this power of self-talk to transform our life trajectory? One easy way is through loving-kindness meditation. 

Loving-kindness meditation is quick and simple. The science shows it increases positive emotions, decreases migraines, decreases chronic pain, decreases symptoms of PTSD, and activates empathic processing in the brain. It’s also effective even in small doses. Super high performers such as Tim Ferriss have touted its benefits.

Take some time this week or this weekend and try this 

13-minute loving-kindness meditation.

And let me know all you feel afterward!

Also, stay tuned for another powerful tactic for mastering self-talk next week.

Namaste,
Alex Blanton

PS: If you’d like to dive a bit deeper into the rabbit hole of loving-kindness meditation, check out this amazing conversation between Tim Ferriss and Jack Kornfield, an American meditation teacher who trained as a Buddhist monk in Asia.

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Think Oprah Winfrey, or Steve Jobs, or even Coach Boone from Remember the Titans.

Or, the political examples of Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi. These figures literally possessed the ability to move millions and shape history with the power of speech. 

Speech, when directed with consciousness, clarity, and energy, holds the tremendous potential to motivate, inspire, and impel the world towards action.

With a bit of awareness, you too can harness this transformational power within yourself to alter your life completely.

Your Greatest Power

Your speech can be your greatest ally or your most treacherous enemy.

How? Consider this.

We know that others can inspire (or demoralize) us with their speech.

But, when you think about it, who exactly is really speaking to you all day?

That’s right. You are.

Consciously or unconsciously, you’re employing this dynamic tool of speech on yourself every waking hour, 365 days a year via your thoughts. Thoughts are essentially the stories we tell ourselves in an attempt to make sense of the world. Our thoughts have the power to moves us towards higher possibilities or to destroy us completely.

So how are to speaking to yourself? 

You could be feeding yourself a glorious diet of inspiration, empowerment, and compassion. Or, you could be feeding yourself the poisons of fear, insecurity, and guilt.

Whatever you feed, that’s what grows. The quality, tone, and vibration of your daily thoughts are the greatest predictors of your destiny.

Why?

Because persistent thoughts become emotional patterns.
Persistent emotional patterns become our core identity.
Our core beliefs determine our actions (E.g., “I can do this” or “I can’t do this”.).
And our actions, in turn, determine our destiny.

We live in a universe of cause and effect. It’s very fair that way.

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of
your thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought”
– Gautama Buddha

“As a man thinketh within himself, so he is”
– Proverbs 23:7

Change Your Narrative, Change Your Life

So what you getting at here, Alex? Is positive thinking the magic solution that will fix all my problems forever?

For one, I’m not advising to get into some sort of pollyanna positive thinking safety bubble, nor to pretend there aren’t weeds in the garden when there are weeds in the garden.

Rather, I am encouraging that we recognize the facts of reality just the way they are, while also realizing our interpretation (the story) of that reality is 100% determined by us. 

A simple example:

Let’s say 2 kids get cut from the high school basketball team. One kid sulks because he believes the coach hates him and that it’s all unfair. He says to himself, “Anyways, I don’t even like basketball that much really, so why try.” He gives up.

The other kid is disappointed as well, but rather than getting angry and wallowing in victimhood, he gets curious. “What do I need to improve? Where’s the learning opportunity here? How can I work harder until next year so the coach has no choice but to pick me?”

Same facts, the same reality. But different interpretations of that reality open up completely different dimensions of possibility and growth. 

That’s the power of the stories we tell ourselves.

How many times have you seen that dynamic play out at work or in your relationships?

Because the failure is never in coming up short of our target. The failure is in giving up, giving in, and blaming the outside world, other people, unfair circumstances, or even God for our situation. 

But what is a failure, really?

Failure is Only a Story

Thomas Edison famously failed thousands of times. Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Oprah Winfrey, and Tim Ferriss, and hundreds of others experienced great failures before finally breaking through. In fact, if you study great people, you’ll find their success typically comes on the back of their greatest failure. 

What stories were they telling themselves to push forward through the adversity?

They didn’t wallow in self-pity, nor did they blame the outside circumstances. They looked within. Without fear and guilt, they asked the simple questions of, “What can I do differently going forward to achieve a different result? Where is the learning in this challenging situation?”

Consider a wildly different example. An oak tree. Only 1 in 10,000 acorns ever successfully grow to become an oak tree. Only 1 in 10,000! Are those other 9,999 all failures? Does nature have a terrible batting average? Are oak trees total losers as plants?

Or is it simply the nature of the process? Just as oak trees wish to grow and expand to the maximum extent possible, so too we as humans desire continuous growth in our own lives. Perhaps it is simply the nature of the process of life that most things don’t work out the way we intend at our first attempt. Perhaps it’s best to accept and embrace that as a part of the growing experience. By adopting that awareness, we can then tell a different story to ourselves when adversity inevitably strikes.

Failure is not the end in and of itself, but a stepping stone towards a higher possibility.

My Challenge to You

I challenge you the next time something in life or business feels like a failure, to try telling a different story to yourself.

Because whether it’s in sports or an entrepreneurial venture, 99% of the suffering is not in the “failure” itself. 99% of the suffering is the story we make up in our mind about what it means. E.g., “I’m a bad person,” “They don’t like me,” “This always happens to me,” “This is unfair,” “I’ll always be mediocre” etc….

This is what I call the multiplier effect. What was an initial pain of 10 points gets multiplied into a pain of a 1,000 by the distorted magnifying glass of the mind. A pain of 10 is fine. Adding guilt, shame, or resentment to the mix is totally unproductive.

Instead, get curious! Approach it like a child eager to learn without the burden of self-consciousness. What can I learn here? How is this painful experience making me stronger? How can this fuel my desire to work even harder next time? Zen mind, beginner’s mind as the masters like to say.

2 Magic Mantras

Adopt these two mantras into your core operating system and see how it transforms your life.

1) I am grateful in the moments of success for it brings great joy to me and loving energy I can share with others

2) I am grateful for the moments of adversity and suffering because it makes me stronger, wiser, and more resilient.

Wherein lies the failure?

There is no failure.

Only growth. 

Dream big. Be relentless.

Fly on.

Alex Blanton

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……………1 week later……………

“2 of our main customers just canceled their contracts. I am a failure as a human being.”

Have you encountered mental loops like these in your entrepreneurial journey?

As entrepreneurs (or whatever work we’re involved with), often we become deeply personally identified with the work we’re doing and the results of that work. It’s this deep sense of “I am my company” or “I am a <Insert Job Title>” or “My self worth is dependent on quarterly sales.”

It’s a trap that many of us fall into, and it’s understandable given the intense nature of our work as entrepreneurs. In fact, becoming identified with our company may even seem impossible to avoid

However, to generate sustainable and repeatable success over the long-run, it’s extremely important to separate our personal identity from our business results.

Why?

To lead an organization or a team (or even just ourselves) with clarity and wisdom, we need a high degree of equanimity. Essentially, this means having a deep sense of inner balance, composure, and confidence that shields us from succumbing to the compulsive cycles of reactivity.

The situations we face in life and business are inevitably difficult and challenging. Especially as a first time CEO, you’re going to face many situations where you have absolutely no idea what to do. It’s just a part of the job. Everyone faces it (even if they don’t talk openly about it). Whether you react emotionally or respond consciously to these situations could mean the difference between your success and failure. 

Equanimity is the most essential ingredient.

And understanding oneself is the key to equanimity.

Identification and Emotion

Why is personal identification with our company so problematic?

Anything we strongly identify with essentially becomes an extension of our ego. The ego is perpetually concerned with its personal safety and survival. The ego craves love, safety, belonging, and status. There’s nothing wrong with this as these concerns are vital to our physical survival. But, when we extend them into our business pursuits, it leads to problems.

Ego identification with our business creates a situation in which our emotional wellbeing and mental balance become dependent on the week to week volatility of the startup’s activities. That is, our emotional state becomes entangled in a reactionary relationship to what’s happening in the company. Because of this extension of ego, everything that’s happening in the company feels like it’s touching our core identity, so we become overly sensitive to things.

One week may be a big win, so we’re incredibly high (The “I’m Steve Jobs” syndrome). One week may be a big disappointment, so we’re extremely low (the “I’m a worthless human” syndrome). These emotional swings can lead us to make decisions either from a place of overconfidence or from a place of desperation, either of which is detrimental to long term success.

From this state of ego identification, consciously or unconsciously, we make decisions based upon what satisfies our emotional needs rather than what’s best for the organization and the other team members. We add fuel to the dysfunction of the organization, and unconsciously manipulate people and situations, so we feel more loved, secure, or validated.

Facing the Tough Questions

We also may avoid facing the tough questions.

What am I not saying that needs to be said?

Often, for the sake of ego safety, we flake on making the tough the decisions or having the uncomfortable conversations which are often the most critical levers in moving business forward. 

What is being said that I’m not hearing?

Often, we ignore information that challenges our present assumptions and beliefs, especially when we are emotionally involved in these beliefs. This type of inbound information often flows from employees and customers in subtle ways. We should tune ourselves to seek out this type of information, rather than cover our eyes to avoid it. This type of honest, unfiltered feedback represents precious insight.

As entrepreneurs, we want to influence reality.

We want to create something!

But the only way to influence reality successfully is to engage with reality the way it is, not what we would like to believe it to be. Ego is like dirt on the windshield distorting our vision.

May we dream of the stars, but keep our feet on the ground.

Who Am I?

The ultimate question of all true seekers is the ancient and enigmatic question of “who am I?” Whether we consider ourselves spiritually inclined or not, it’s an important question to consider if we care about the quality and results of our life. This question holds the key to our equanimity. 

Consider this…

Without being able to reference anything you do now or anything you’ve done in the past, describe who you are. You can’t describe what you do for work. You can’t list your credentials. You can’t even list what you do for fun or your relationships with other people. Who are you? What are your core values? What is your way of being?

You may realize you’ve defined yourself your entire life by what you’re doing, rather than by what you truly are. 

When we strip away all of the labels, it can be scary. We feel naked, exposed, and vulnerable. It opens many unanswered questions. But, this is vitally important work to do. 

What you do is impermanent, ephemeral, and is really a tenuous thing to attach an identity to.

In contrast, what you are, that most profound truth within yourself, that is yours forever. No person or circumstance can ever take that from you. It’s eternal, regardless of the tumult of the external world. Connecting with this inner essence directly naturally results in equanimity.

And experiencing equanimity is the lever which makes us exponentially wiser and more capable in all else that we do. 

In my journey, asking this simple question of “who am I” within myself, again and again and again, has been the most essential ingredient in my radical self-transformation.

So, I challenge you to look within. Expose the shadows to the light. Dig for the inner treasure. Experience the love that you are.

Who are you?

Alex Blanton

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I was chatting with a friend who is a CEO in New York, she shared with me, “It’s one thing when you’re starting out, and you’re investing your own time and energy into creating something. But as things start rolling, it becomes another pressure all together once you have angel investors and start hiring a few employees. This whole project is no longer just about ME. Now, other people are depending upon the company surviving. The pressure ramps up. As founders, we get sucked into trying to do a million things at once. And taking care of ourselves often gets cast aside.”

This is a common refrain among entrepreneurs. Out of passion for our vision and a sense of responsibility to our constituents (employees, investors, board members), we place the burden of the world onto our shoulders accept the role of the selfless hero who sacrifices everything for the good of the company.

While this may be a seductive comic-book storyline, this is an immature and, ultimately, short-sighted attitude.

The Wise Builder

Entrepreneurship is the ultimate marathon. When we sign up for this job, we should understand that even in the absolute best of circumstances, we’re signing up for years of intense work and adversity which will require sustained creativity and wise decision making to navigate and survive. It’s not if the storms will come, but rather when the storms will come. 

Whether designing a skyscraper or an enterprise, a wise builder understands these inevitable and impersonal stormy cycles of nature and plans accordingly.

As entrepreneurs, we’re essentially building something from nothing. Or, more accurately, we’re taking a vision in our mind and a passion in our heart and attempting to transmute that into a physical reality.

We dream of building a paradigm-shifting product, satisfying millions of gleeful customers, and ultimately leaving a legacy of positive change on the world. But, it’s important to understand that the source and foundation of our success or failure is essentially within ourselves.

“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.” – Winston Churchill

If we compulsively stretch ourselves too thin in a desire to fix everything, we quickly lose our mental and emotional balance. Anxiety sabotages focus and pulls us compulsively from task to task, without clear insight as to which tasks are actually productive. We lose sleep and skip the gym. We order convenient, low nutritional food, and neglect our outside relationships. Our emotional juice begins to wane, and we become more reactive to situations. We start getting annoyed with our co-founder and become less available to junior employees. We feel a sense of isolation and loneliness. Simple life activities begin to feel overwhelming. Our mind races, and we feel as if we’re going crazy…..

Here’s a question.

If your mind and emotions are out of balance, what hope is there for anything you create to be balanced, high-quality, and sustainable?

No chance.

What the Pros are Saying

By far the most difficult skill for me to learn as CEO was the ability to manage my own psychology. Organizational design, process design, metrics, hiring and firing were all relatively straightforward skills to master compared to keeping my mind in check. –  Ben Horowitz , a16z Blog

If you want to maintain your obsession about what you’re doing, the way to maintain that obsession is to make sure you have an appropriate level of energy over a long period of time…To operate at peak performance, you have to rest. The thing that crushes most athletes at the top of their game is overtraining, not undertraining. I think that’s the same with entrepreneurs. – Brad Feld, TechStars and Foundry Group co-founder

The optimal amount of rest and rejuvenation is highly personal for everyone, but taking time for oneself each day is vital to maintaining sustained energy and drive over the long run. What’s most invigorating for you? Whether it’s yoga, running, rock climbing, or creative writing (or even an afternoon nap), time invested in emotionally rejuvenating activities is a vital component of any business athlete’s holistic working regime.

In fact, these activities can be the key to new insights and dynamic problem-solving. Most artists and musicians will tell you their most creative ideas typically come outside of their structured time for “doing work.” When we diversify our activity, we stimulate our mind and energy in new ways which foster novel connections and innovative ideas.

Wellbeing as an Investment 

Obsessive passion is part of what defines us as entrepreneurs. It’s what makes us crazy enough to think we can change the world. But if this passion for our vision isn’t balanced with a system to sustain and nurture our own wellbeing, then we’re in the fast lane on the highway to burnout and apathy.

Questions to consider:

In what ways do I deplete myself and run myself into the ground?

Where am I running from and where to?

Do I feel a sense of guilt or shame around taking time to invest in myself? Why? Are these beliefs and emotions serving my best interest?

What’s one tangible action I can take this week to invest in my wellbeing?

Taking care of ourselves is not frivolous, nor is it selfish. It’s a fundamental responsibility to ourselves, our company, and everyone we touch. Life is a long game. Wellbeing is the fundamental secret sauce in a successful gameplan and an investment which will pay generous dividends for the rest of your life.

Live well  

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Setting a clear vision for your future and generating belief in that vision are the most vital ingredients to strong and sustained motivation. Check it out below

A few other quick items:

1) Prominent venture capitalist, Brad Feld, shared my LinkedIn Article (Why Wellbeing is the #1 Priority for Wise Entrepreneurs) on social media. For those of you how don’t know Brad, he’s been named by Business Insider as the most respected venture capitalist in the world. I think that’s a pretty cool endorsement for my work. Thanks, Brad!

2) As was discussed in my LinkedIn post, gratitude is a fantastic tool we can leverage to increase our wellbeing. There’s a great app called Gratitude Pluswhich can help you effortlessly implement this new habit into your life. I recommend checking it out.

3) Tim Ferriss’ work has made a tremendous impact on my life. Tim recorded a podcast last week with Jerry Colonna, founder of Reboot.io (an executive coaching firm), in which they discuss mental health, life, business, and success. It’s a highly charged episode with much timeless wisdom. Check it out here.

Have a great week! If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Empowered Human Newsletter

However, upon closer examination, this formula of “deferred wellbeing” is a complete illusion. In fact, it is the formula for a fulfilled life set completely backward.

How many times have we set out with this idea of “If only I get into X school, or if only I can make Y amount of income in a year, then my life will be totally set.” “If I can attract this type of social circle, then I’ll feel ok.” Or, “If I can start a successful company, then I’ll feel secure and satisfied within myself.”

But then we progress in life.

Many times we may have accomplished the goal we set to achieve, and yet, once reached, something still feels missing. We pass some major milestone of “success” and feel high for a few days, but then come down only to realize we feel the exact same as we did before.

So we think, “Oh, I guess I need to accomplish this new, bigger goal in order to feel satisfied.” So, in our mind, we move the goalposts of success further ahead, and this cycle of work-goal, work-goal, work-goal repeats itself again and again and again in perpetuity. Thus, we forever find ourselves in an internal state of feeling insufficient and incomplete as we strive towards some goal that’s always out there ahead of us somewhere.

As your friend, I am here to share that as long as you’re putting your wellbeing and happiness on the other side of your success, you’re never going get there. Because the fundamental problem really has nothing to do with your level of external success, the source of the problem is the feeling of incompleteness itself. It’s that internal sense of “whatever I am right now, it is not enough.”

The fundamental problem really has nothing to do with your level of external success, the source of the problem is the feeling of incompleteness itself.

The root of this incompleteness is your deepest internal core psychological beliefs about yourself. These beliefs are encoded into us as small children through our relationship with our parents and the world around us. When we are young, we believe that our environment is a reflection of the absolute truth of the entire universe, so any words or emotions directed towards us early in life we take to represent the absolute truth about who we are. So for example, if we had a parent who always pointed out our shortcomings or peers who made fun of us, then it’s likely we’ve taken on a negative set of beliefs about our worthiness as a person.

It’s only when we grow and mature that we realize the world is vast and diverse, and that the environment in which we grew up was perhaps not the healthiest or the most enlightened. But despite the higher degree of awareness offered by adulthood, we continue to carry these beliefs that were imprinted in us as children because they are rooted so deeply in the mind. These subconscious mental scripts represent the underlying emotional programming which rule every major decision we make in life. Thus, we go through adulthood with this sense of incompleteness that we attempt to fulfill through external things.

Essentially, everything we do in life is done towards this pursuit of fulfillment. If we go to the bar we’re seeking one type of fulfillment. If we’re striving towards a promotion, we’re seeking another type of fulfillment. If we’re going on a date, going to the gym, or even if we’re starting a company, we’re doing so because we believe it will lead us to a more fulfilled and pleasant future. It’s not that pursuing things in life is bad, in fact, it’s completely necessary. It’s just that when we pursue things with compulsiveness rather than with consciousness, it leads to suffering and dissatisfaction.

The Wise Man / Wise Woman’s Approach

I invite you to consider a more direct route. If your ultimate goal in life is to feel fulfilled, peaceful, and joyful, then focusing on it directly is the only approach that actually works because our sense of fulfillment, or lack thereof, is an internal process. So it’s time to examine your core beliefs and your lifestyle choices related to health and wellbeing with AT LEAST as much involvement and urgency as your devoting to building your business or career.

Because, for me, it’s not that being peaceful and fulfilled is our only goal in life or even the highest, but rather it’s recognizing that a state of inner pleasantness, confidence, and balance is actually the most fundamental foundation to living effectively. Only in a state of pleasantness and vibrant energy are you your most creative, dynamic, and resilient. It’s wellbeing which LEADS to true success, not the other way around.

Think about a particular week when you were naturally happy and energized. Whatever challenges came your way, dealing with them felt quite effortless. You were persuasive and influential in your interactions with people. Your friends, employees, and even strangers responded to you with more engagement and interest and treated you with greater respect. Many of us have had experiences like this for a few days or even a few weeks where we felt totally in flow, but there is a problem. We don’t know how to sustain it once it’s going or how to regenerate it once it’s gone.

It is wellbeing which LEADS to true success, not the other way around.

How much more productive, effective, and joyful could you be in life if you could turn this flow state into a daily reality?

The scientific literature now supports our anecdotal experience in a major way. Only in a state of pleasantness and ease do we have our full cognitive capability. Research has also found that just 25% of professional success is determined by IQ, while 75% is determined by one’s optimism levels, social support, and the ability to experience stress as a challenge rather than a threat. Research from Harvard (see TED) also reveals that people are 31% more productive and 37% better at sales when they are happy, and company revenues can improve by as much as 50% when employees are happy.

Imagine if you could be 30% more productive and successful this year simply by taking care of your inner wellbeing. Imagine those gains compounded over 5 years or 10 years. This shift would completely rewrite your destiny.

A New Life Formula

I invite you to consider a new formula for your wellbeing.

Old formula:

1. Work long hours with great tension and stress
2. Achieve arbitrary “success” benchmarks
3. Hypothetical happiness is dangled in front of you set at some point in the future, but you never seem able to get there

New Formula:

1. Internal wellbeing and health is #1 Priority
2. Live and work with joy, wisdom, and creativity
3. Feel sustained fulfillment internally, and generate increased positive and meaningful impact on the world externally

So how we go about designing a life around the New Formula?

You may be expecting a Buzzfeed-like “Top 5 Quick Tips for Happiness,” but the reality is that lasting significant self-transformation requires a certain depth of introspection, motivation, and effort. In fact, it takes tremendous courage because traversing the fires of facing oneself is terrifying, and yet, this fire represents the ultimate portal to our liberation. I promise you this journey of self-knowledge is the most worthwhile journey you will ever make in life by a million miles. In reality, it’s the only journey you can ever make, and while there are no quick fixes, there are simple practices and mindsets you can build into your life, regardless of your present circumstances, that will assuredly manifest steady transformation over time.

Allow Me to Introduce Myself.

My name is Alex Blanton, and I studied finance at NYU Stern, worked at tech startups in New York, and then worked at LinkedIn in Silicon Valley. External success always came somewhat naturally to me, but internally I had struggled with depression, anxiety, and deep insecurity since adolescence. My inner suffering reached a certain excruciating crescendo in my early 20s despite my “successful” surroundings, and so I bid farewell the gourmet cafeterias and lush beanbag chairs of Silicon Valley and embarked into the mysterious and expansive jungles of my inner nature endeavoring to find healing and to understand the fundamental truths about life.

This journey of self-exploration ended up taking me around the world to many mystical locales including the Amazon Rainforest where I trained with traditional shamans and to India where I formally trained with a guru in meditation and yoga in a tradition that’s over 5,000 years old.

This journey has borne for me the inner fruits of joy, peacefulness, and contentment while simultaneously making me orders of magnitude more effective in my external pursuits. These are results I could have never imagined for myself just a few years ago. In an effort to give back to the world from which I come from, I’ve now distilled the tools, technologies, and insights learned on my journey into a secular language and framework that’s relevant and applicable to people living the demanding and oftentimes grueling lifestyle of the modern entrepreneur.

Your Next Steps

2nd, after you subscribe, I’d love to hear from you. I want my work to be oriented towards what is most important, relevant, and high impact for you. So take a look at the resources on the blog, but as a member of my audience, I want to hear about what topics you want to learn more about. Anything specific related to health, wellbeing, psychology, or spirituality you’d like for me to cover? Do you have any questions? I’d love to hear from you.

I look forward to hopefully getting to know you over the next period of time.

Much love, Alex – ab@alexblanton.com

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