Discipline Equals Freedom + Building My Infrastructure

[kev014]

I'll start this with some background for anyone interested in following along on this journey. I am currently taking a quarter off from college (Cal Poly for any of you 'stangs out there) to focus on building my eCommerce businesses and more importantly developing myself through a few specific meditation/reprogramming techniques. I am committing to following this format and all of the techniques outlined below until January 1, 2019 where I'll reflect on what has changed in my life both in terms of the external results and my internal being. I'll very specifically detail below my vision, gauge/definition of 'success' and questions for self reflection/analysis. Also before I begin, most of this is written for my own sake in the future; if I begin to question my practices or consider quitting, I'll come to this and know exactly why I'm doing what I'm doing.

One of my biggest weaknesses/vices right now is my lack of self enforced discipline and consistency over a long period of time. I am great at coming out of the gate passionately but I struggle to maintain my daily practices and consistent growth over the long term. Sure, meditating for an hour a day for 3 days in a row may feel good at the time, but in the grand scale of my life my progress has been greatly thwarted by an inability to maintain specific practices for months and years on end. When I have been consistent in my diet or meditation or exercise I've seen some tremendous growth within a 3-6 month period. Additionally, as I have no external structure or discipline being applied to myself right now I must take accountability and apply this 'pressure' on myself. This summer over the past 3 months is the first time in years that I have not either been in school or working a full time job where my time is obviously very regimented. This has been a learning process thus far and I know my progress (or relative lack thereof) is due to nobody's fault but my own. All that being said, I'm eager to embark upon this journey and really start building the life I want and becoming the man I'd like to be.

I am viewing these next 4 months as building as strong of a foundation/infrastructure as possible for the future. This won't be super pretty or glamorous; if all is done according to plan (which it never does) my time will be highly organized and centered around various meditation techniques, business growth, exercise and some fun time with the girlfriend. I am not attempting to self actualize or become enlightened or transcend my SD stage right now. I have two primary goals. First is to build my business large enough such that post graduation I am financially independent and can focus my time/energy as I please. Second (and arguably most important) is to create such a deeply entrenched habit of meditation that I'll have this habit for the rest of my life. Also, if my vision is to live life on my own terms these next few months will be excellent building blocks for making that happen.

As for the specifics, I'll be utilizing a variety of techniques. What I am most concerned with is whether I am actually sitting down to meditate for the predetermined time, reading the books per my timeline or completing my work tasks (i.e. sticking to the plan and maintaining discipline). For the meditation techniques I'll be using Wim Hof breathing, strong determination sitting, Chi Gong, lovingkindness/gratitude, concentration on one phenomena, potentially some mindfulness, and finally some visualization/affirmations. I'm going to be pretty flexible about which practices I'm doing on a day to day basis so long as I meet the daily time minimums and adhere to the protocols outlined in this journal. I'm going to make sure to have a specific intention for which meditation I'll do each day rather than just saying willy nilly figuring it out when I begin. I'll be spending from 5am-7am every morning doing a variety of these exercises (non negotiable). Win the morning, win the day! I'll track this stuff and post here about the techniques of the day/reflections on the benefits and challenges. After this, I'll read for 30-60 minutes and take notes in one of my physical notebooks. I'll detail in subsequent posts my reading timeline. With business, I'll be detailing each night the next day's tasks and tracking time spent/work accomplished. So far this summer I haven't been super productive/organized and have dilly dallied around and wasted a decent amount of time. Finally, each night I'll be reading/visualizing/praying my external vision and who I want to be. I've been enough of a Nazi about all the other stuff so I'm not going to be outlining some 1200 step protocol for this, just get there. My shoulder/back is somewhat fucked up right now so I'm hoping I'll be able to get back in to the gym soon; I'm not too concerned about this though.

Enough for now, I'll post tomorrow with my visions/goals and reflections on the first day. In a few days I'll post my gauge for 'success' and questions of self reflection around the turn of the year.

[kev014]

Alright so roughly three days in and a few key things stick out to me thus far. The first few days I was super tired as I'd gotten about 4-5 hours of sleep a night; adjusting to an earlier bed time has been more difficult then waking up early. For me to sleep a full 8 hours I'll need to be asleep by 9pm. What I'm going to be adding to this four month experiment is that I'll be in bed every night by 9pm. Getting to bed this early will require me to have a solid nightly routine (which I've been trying to instill for quite some time now anyways). This will be pretty simple and relaxing/calming. I'll make some Apple Cider Vinegar+honey 'tea' to help me get in to deep sleep and drink this while reading/visualizing my different visions. Additionally, I'll be lighting some candle/incense and playing some super peaceful music. Finally, I'll do some deep stretching/foam rolling/belly breathing; I'll just do whichever of these my body feels it needs.

In terms of the early morning meditation, this has been awesome so far. When I go outside it's pitch black and I can see all the stars in the sky; this is a pretty majestic way to start and end the day, looking out into the Infinite. Around 6am the stars disappear and the fog starts to roll in. The sun doesn't really come out until around 9-10am I'd estimate. The first day I lied down for some conscious breathing and man was it freezing cold outside. I'm making sure to wear sweats, sweatshirt and have a thick blanket from now on. In the previous post I said I'd be flexible with the different practices I engage in, I'm reconsidering whether this is the best long term approach. I'll reflect back on this next week and see if I'd like to add anymore structure specifically to the type and duration of practice. That being said, my primary focus is first and foremost on adhering to my wake/sleep cycle and morning/evening rituals. My energy throughout the day has been getting better as I've grown more accustomed to these rhythms. I've noticed a quick 20 minute nap sometime between 3 and 5pm is super helpful.

I've been wondering why I haven't had any urge to lift or exercise really for the past 3-6 months as I've lifted weights for the past 8 years. Upon reading 'Enlightenment Through the Path of Kundalini' the other day, I've realized I had a minor awakening in January. I'll go in to further detail with this in subsequent posts but suffice it to say a whole host of emotional issues/prior traumas arose when I was doing some bioenergetics and Osho Dynamic Meditation at Elliott Hulse's Grounding Camp. I mention all this as further background on where I am in life. All that being said, I'm ready to get back into lifting consistently again.  As I used to be pretty damn strong (bench 315 and 250 power clean senior year high school - blah blah I'm a dick I know), I'd developed an ego about my athletic capabilities/knowledge base.

Moving forward, I'm acting as if I'm a total newbie. I'm going to be relearning all of the major lifts (deadlift, squat, bench, OHP, rows, etc.) and deeply engraining the motor patterns in my nervous system. I'll be focusing first and foremost of perfect form and posture. I'm going to try to get my old football weight lifting coach to train me in these movements. I'll probably utilize a 5x5 plan but similar to the meditation, it's just about me actually getting there and bringing conscious awareness to the practice over a few months. The only potential things holding me back from lifting are my rotator cuff/shoulder which I may have torn like 3 months ago while boxing. Right now I have no idea when I'll be lifting, I'll let this flesh itself out. Also, as I was walking today I realized how much I miss the explosive energy required to sprint full fucking speed. Amazing how much this charges me up and let's me channel my warrior spirit in healthy ways. No plans right now about how I'll integrate this.

In terms of the format I use for tracking everything I'm doing and reflecting, I'll make a post here a minimum of once a week and will upload by no later than 7pm on Sunday evening. I'll have a written log in one of my journals for the daily meditation practices, exercising and work completed. I won't really be tracking my diet as this really doesn't change much if at all (eggs and spinach for breakfast, a salad with olive oil, salmon, feta cheese, almonds and maybe some sardines for lunch, and then some salmon/chicken/clean protein source with some quinoa/brown rice for dinner). I'm considering getting all fancy and starting to make some different carb source 'meals' (like sweet potatoes, yams, butternut squash, pumpkin, etc.) If anyone is actually reading this and is curious why I'm doing it like this, I listen to the BulletProof protocol for healthy, suspect and toxic foods.

I'll try to post the key takeaways/insights from the week as well as my adherence to the rules I've outlined (rituals, exercise, work). I said in the prior post that I would post my different visions but I'll wait until another post as this is already long. I've been making and refining these pretty seriously for the past 9 months. I've outlined in pretty vivid detail my vision for my financial life/physical possessions, my physical body/energy/emotions, my relationships, my business/entrepreneurship, who I want to be and what I want to contribute (legacy). Only one really missing right now is my 'spiritual goals' (open all chakras, regain my clairvoyance, full faith in connection with Infinite Intelligence, etc.) I'm going to transcribe all of these from my various journals into my OneNote CommonPlace journal and a physical notebook that I'll have by my bedside to read each morning and night as part of my rituals. 

Everything I've outlined these past two posts is mostly about the format/structure and practices I'll be engaging in over the next few months. My biggest goals, however, are to develop my character/build virtues (discipline, commitment, decisiveness, clarity of vision, objectivity, etc.) and test the Law of Attraction. I've heard about this through enough sources and have seen some pretty decent results in my life/'supernatural phenomena.' I want to see how powerful this truly is. Can I really build an eCommerce business within a year that does millions in sales? Can I really liberate myself from the dollars for hour trade system and travel the world while building a massive business and developing unbelievably deep relationships? Can I help my parents retire sooner? Can I help get the homeless family in Santa Rosa off the street? Can I truly manifest everything I have written down? I think the answer is yes with consistency, vision, discipline, faith and prolonged focus. I'm open to things changing but I am developing more and more faith in the old adage 'Ask and ye shall receive.' I've manifested countless things over the years (girlfriend, social skills, unexpected teachers, etc.) and I'm excited to conduct a 'personal scientific study' on the Law of Attraction.

If anyone actually reads through all this stuff and has any pointers/comments, I'd love to connect; don't hesitate to comment or message me directly!

[kev014]

This past week hasn't been too great in terms of waking up at the right time. I don't have any need to wake up at 5am rather than 6am or 7am and am realizing how difficult it is to get to bed early enough to get enough sleep. Also, I liked the stars at first but it seems like quite an uphill battle waking myself up this early in the morning. Just doesn't feel like its necessary given all the other things I'm doing. I'm going to shift this wake/sleep cycle to 10pm-6am. Also, I do much better when my routines are automated and the same every morning. I am going to begin each day with a walk in the Canyon/SMC hills repeating the same affirmations for about 30-60 minutes. Then I'll go and do some SDS and visualizations for another hour or so. All in all I should be done between 8 and 9am. Going for a walk really wakes me up/become more alert for my seated meditations. The goal of this morning routine is to be as enjoyable and effortless as possible while producing the most results as quickly as possible.

Incantations: I am so happy and grateful now that I have such a wildly successful eCommerce business. I am so happy and grateful now that I easily earn 100,000 dollars per month. I am a multi millionaire.     God's wealth is circulating in my life, his wealth flows to me in avalanches of abundance. All of my needs, desires, and goals are met instantaneously by Infinite Intelligence for I am one with God and God is everything.

My attention has been scattered over the past week and my energy has been pretty low. I am going to take a few weeks break from smoking weed as I don't think this is helping me in any beneficial way right now. I am trying to find a place to do some holotropic breath work to continue the emotional purging I began months ago. My mind isn't focused right now, I'll post a follow up tomorrow on 9/17 by 7pm with more details and reflections.