Applying Theory To Everyday Life: A Musician's Perspective

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 213 | Integrity and Momentum

Theory: As you become more persistent with your goals, you strengthen your integrity.

Applying it: Notice all the ways that the ego tries to convince you to give up and have the stomach to rebel against its orders.

 

Becoming more conscious of Ego has allowed me to realise what a tease it can be. It tempts you to follow its bait and indulge in those surface-level pleasures you know and loved once upon a time, even though you know that they are bad for you. Eating junk food, procrastinating, seeking comfort, quick and easy sexual relief... But the more times you choose to persist against Ego, you start to build integrity within yourself and confidence in your own judgment and abilities.

It's difficult when you become a slave for the Ego because every time you try to impose some change to your routine, you have no integrity to back you up. That's why perhaps the biggest hurdle to making changes in your life is the starting one. But as you jump over the first hurdle and you defeat the Ego once, you feel slightly more reassured for the second hurdle. And the more you persist against the Ego, the more self-assurance and integrity you create.

Another word to describe this process could be "building momentum." That suggests that it kinda works like rocket fuel for your brain. The more momentum you accumulate, the more energy you can put back into your actions in order to create more momentum.

I've been planning a yearly routine to be set in stone tomorrow which will help me to concentrate better on my goals. But if I haven't already built up enough momentum from defeating the Ego before, I may have never been able to take this as seriously as it feels right now. Sure my track record hasn't been perfect but I've persisted against the Ego so many times now that I feel confident enough to properly self-govern my own like like a true boss. Refinement will be necessary along the way, but my integrity is strong enough to do it.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 214 | Failed Psychology of Musicians

Theory: The reason why most musicians never reach the greatest levels of success is because of their lack of commitment to the cause.

Applying it: Realise that the biggest thing holding your musical career back is your need for comfort, financial stability and attention.

 

I've been in lots of bands and have talked with lots of musicians over the last 10 years. Would it come as a surprise to know that most of the bands that I have joined in the past have now been disbanded? In most cases, it was because of the usual things: members had other jobs and commitments elsewhere, the money wasn't coming in, gigs were very infrequent and mostly unpaid, that sort of thing. But what if each of those excuses were exactly that... Excuses?

A few years ago, I was quite the pessimist. I found it incredibly difficult, even impossible, to believe that anyone could earn a living by doing what they love. Nevertheless I pursued this goal with every inch of fibre in my body. And thanks to the self-coaching and personal-development work that I've been doing over the last 2 years or so, my outlook has transformed. I believe in that goal so deeply that I've committed all of my free time and efforts to pursuing a career doing exactly what I love.

My psychology has evolved into something more positive than the majority of musicians I've had the pleasure to work with. All of the time, I see these amazingly talented musicians who don't believe in themselves and their abilities to pursue their dream career. In fact, that was me not too long ago. Because of this, they don't want to make their dream goals a commitment for life. Instead, they'd rather get some money coming in to provide them with the financial stability that they think they need in order to start working on their goals.

But I realise the truth now. After studying even just a little bit into the success mechanisms of the mind and the principles of successful business strategies (which I know of nobody face-to-face who has done this), it's so damn obvious to see that if a person wants to start working on his goals tomorrow, they will never work on them right now. If they have no faith in their abilities, they will quit the first chance they get. If they are constantly needing financial security, they will never take the big leap into the unknown, unpaid territories of starting their own business.

And that's why I prey that my future selves will continue to remember these truths along the long journey of the professional guitarist. My life purpose is actualised. I feel driven as fuck after a powerfully motivating day. Let's continue with the same persistence and same willingness to succeed. And most importantly, let's do it as happy and inspired as fuck!

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 215 | Looking Up The Mountain

Theory: As you stand at the bottom of the mountain looking at those who made it to the top, feel inspired by their efforts rather than bitter or envious. After all, they climbed it too.

Applying it: Try to distinguish any negative feelings for those who had the guts to pursue and transform their career.

 

This one has been a tricky one to get my head around over the last few years. I used to feel so jealous about popular musicians who were not much older than me that were receiving all the fame and glory just because they could sing a bit. Seeing as I came out of a generation of teenagers who had to put up with Justin Bieber, One Direction and the various boybands out there, it seemed "cool" to hate those people as a guy. Especially as a music student, we were studying masterpieces by some of the greatest composers who ever lived. Yet it seemed like these studs were almost more infamous somehow.

Older generations must have honestly believed that we were all gonna love that stuff. But honestly, it felt like society was trying to exploit the fact that I'm nothing special. At least, that's how I interpreted it. The cause of the suffering was all my own. And thankfully on this self-actualisation journey, I've been able to recognise that my feelings are created by my own thoughts about the circumstance. If my teenage self had only realised that those kinds of musicians (while they certainly aren't the most musically gifted) in fact work incredibly hard and that their sole purpose was to appeal to the younger female demographic, I may have been able to snap out of my disillusions.

Today, I looked at some of the top musicians on Patreon to get an idea of what a big success looks like. The quality of their work blew me away and the amount of followers and views they had received felt incredibly daunting. The thought had crossed my mind that these guys are way better than me with what they do. But that's when I decided to take to this journal: to put things straight.

They've put the work in for a long time and made a name for themselves because of it. The only reason why I'm not in their position right now is because I've barely even started. Now university has ended, the time has come to take my work just as seriously (and I have been). It's going to require lots of patience and persistence to get to where they are, not to mention a lot of personal sacrifice for not much in return.

I'd like to think that if people can realise that my biggest purpose for acquiring money is to invest it into the work that I do, then perhaps they will be more willing to support it too. It's a scary situation at times. But if I can remember what I am now and visualise what I would like to become in the future, hopefully things will work out.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 216 | The Hidden Magic Of Deadlines

Theory: No matter how short or long you set deadlines for yourself, you will ALWAYS be able to complete your goals in the time allocated.

Applying it: Consider shortening your deadlines as much as possible whilst also keeping them realistic. Instead of giving yourself 8 hours in a working day to complete your tasks for the day, try cutting it down to 4 hours for instance.

 

This beautiful nugget of information was given to me by Brooke Castillo. She has a place in my heart for being the very first port of call when it came to self-help and self-coaching. She hosts The Life Coach School Podcast on iTunes and I highly recommend it to anyone into that thing and also anyone who just wants to hear a positive, happy, reassuring voice!

In one of the podcast episodes, she talked about how the deadlines we set for ourselves have a huge impact on our productivity and state of mind. For example, if we give ourselves 8 hours to accomplish some daily tasks, it will always take the whole 8 hours to complete those tasks. But not all of those 8 hours will be filled with actually getting on with the job. Instead, we will procrastinate, let our minds fill up with self-doubt, distract ourselves and waste time on top of all the work that we inevitably have to do.

Whereas if you have the same amount of tasks to complete but you give yourself only 4 hours in the day to accomplish them, it will always take the whole 4 hours to complete the tasks (provided that you take it seriously). How so? Because in actual fact, the tasks don't need the whole 8 hours to be completed. It's just a lie we tell ourselves. If we remove all the distractions, the self-doubt, stress and frustration that comes along, we can save valuable time which can be used for other important things like relaxation, meditation, self-actualisation, spending time with the family, etc.

I know this to be true even from the last few days. I've been writing up some detailed plans for my goals for the next 8 months and each time that I sat down to write, I gave myself 4 hours per day to complete the task. And in every single case, I've managed to complete the tasks super fast. And the best part is that I have the results on my Mac to prove it. The next step for me to do now is to start planning what things I could be getting on with if I complete all my tasks mega-early in the future.

Deadlines provide the ultimate motivation when taken seriously. Don't give yourself a long deadline out of comfort because chances are you'll piss away 80% of the time beforehand and do all the work in a mad rush for the last 20%. That was me all through university! It's not necessary to wait to do the work later when you have the capacity to do it now. Don't wait up. Be swift with your deadlines and don't worry about making things seem uncomfortably early: your mind will figure out a way to make it work.

And as for making deadlines impossibly early, I think it's safe to say that everyone will receive strong intuitions when they come about!

 

Pick of the day;

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 217 | Subconscious Reassurance

Theory: After you have been doing self-actualisation work for some time, your subconscious mind will inevitably start to change into a powerful tool for self-assurance and self-confidence.

Applying it: Take delight in the instances where you recognise the subconscious mind working in your favour rather than against you.

 

Last night, I had a dream that's remained with me for the entire day and hopefully for a long time. It's quite a boring dream to describe the details of, though. But it had a powerful subtext that I noticed the moment I got out of bed. It was my subconscious mind reassuring me that the current path I'm taking and the current action steps I'm working on are inevitably going to lead me into new territories. But always in the end, I will reach my destination.

The dream was very straightforward. I was driving along in my car in some unknown town in another country. Everything was unfamiliar to me. But I never felt lost or started doubting my abilities to reach my destination due to the simple fact that I had faith in the sat-nav to get me there. That was the entire dream! I never even made it to my destination in the dream. But that didn't matter. I recognised that this dream drew a direct parallel with my life right now.

I think the idea for this dream was probably planted in my head from one of Brooke Castillo's podcasts. She used the car analogy to describe the journey of success. You don't exactly know where you are or how you are going to get there. But if you have faith in your assets and decisions, you know that no matter how scary or frustrating things may seem, you will reach your destination in the end. Can't remember which podcast that was now but obviously it tapped into my subconscious mind. 

And after doing serious self-actualisation work for a while now, it's gratifying to know that my subconscious mind has absorbed the lessons that I've fed into it. It makes me feel so pumped for the future whilst also being really fulfilled about what is right here and right now!

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 218 | Authentic Expression

Theory: Authentic self-expression relies on the individual to make decisions and create things that interest and please him, not other people.

Applying it: Stop creating with the intent to please other people without regarding your own authentic desires. Do what feels right to you and other people will gain value from it.

 

A wonderful thing happened today when I decided to stop watching pointless videos on YouTube this evening. I sat and felt the emotions that I was resisting. It wasn't the easiest of places to be in. But that was only the beginning of something magical that happened. Almost unwillingly, I grabbed my guitar and sat in the dark and empty living room with the lights off and started to play. The music flowed straight through the mind and into the fingertips. Then the singing started. That's when I realised that there was something trying to speak through me.

The excitement hit me that after such a long time, I was on the verge of collecting a song from the Muse within me. But all sorts of worries crossed my mind. For instance, my lack of prior songwriting skills, my inability to write and perform a song in full, and also whether this song fit the conventional pop-culture style of writing songs with verses and choruses. Nevertheless, I let the worries pass and just allowed the creative voice to do its thing without judgment.

It's now almost 3 hours later and have written out the whole song in full with lyrics. Was it any good? Who cares? The fact was that in the moment, I was fascinated with what was being created. I allowed my Self the room to express itself. I gave way for authentic self-expression. And no matter what anyone may think of the song in future, it can never be denied that it came from a deep and sacred place beyond the ego. The ego is, after all, obsessed with making music that it think people will enjoy. But no. This song was created purely for the sake of creation's sake. For the love of music.

It feels like a spirit flowed through these veins tonight and left a beautiful mark on this life forever. To acknowledge music written for you, not by you, is a wonderful thing. And the lyrics express everything that I love about this world. The beauty in simple things and the ego's funny ways of creating suffering for us. It's all there in writing. It's not necessarily poetry on a surface-level. But it's heartfelt. And that's an understatement.

I must remember this for all future creative endeavours. It's a lesson worth hanging onto.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 219 | Relax

Theory: “Scientific experiments have shown that is absolutely impossible to feel fear, anger, anxiety or negative emotions of any kind while the muscles of the body are kept perfectly relaxed.”

Applying it: Whenever you bring your attention to the present moment, bring awareness to the tension in your body and make a conscious effort to relax it.

 

Pulled this quote from Psycho-Cybernetics today. It's actually such an obvious truth that it went straight over my head. How often is it that when we're feeling ridiculously happy or elated that we're also feeling tension in our body? Not at all. That's why people say that laughter is the best medicine. Not because there's anything special about the laughter itself, but because it's a means through which you can let go of all the tension in your body.

It's made me realise the underestimated importance of relaxation. Imagine if you could go through the whole day without once feeling tense, nervous, anxious, or fearful. Or instead of reacting to negative thoughts and obsessing over them, we could just relax and let them go. And imagine if that was every day. Existence would just seem like total bliss from beginning to end. And it's not like we need the suffering in order to appreciate the bliss either. There isn't a single person on this website (or on Earth) who doesn't remember what suffering feels like. Why not aim to keep that feeling as a memory?

Also, I remember hearing somewhere that stress and tension is caused by unconsciousness. That's pretty much the bottom line. When you're not paying attention to the present moment, your mind reverts to the negative position and your body begins to tense up. In Think And Grow Rich, Hill describes that if you don't plant the seeds for growth, happiness and fulfilment in your mind, then like a garden it will start to produce weeds and ruin it's body, i.e. destructive thoughts and habits will grow instead.

So let's just chill together  

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 220 | Reflection

Guess it's about time for another reflection post. The last one seems like such a long time ago. And in ways it feels like not a lot has happened since then. It doesn't feel like so much has happened this month until I stop and think about it. Progress has in fact been pretty good so far. But it's progress that isn't exactly all that worth showing to people.

The biggest change from the last reflection post to this one is that in that time, I've managed to give my life some purpose and commitment. Especially commitment. For a long time, I've had so many great ideas for things to do in the future. But after so long, it becomes demotivating when all you're doing is thinking of ideas and not acting on them. That's the biggest change so far. So big that it terrifies me. But it's worth it all the same.

I've made a commitment to create an album of original music, to kickstart a YouTube channel of some description, and to master the fuck out of visualisation. Over the last week, I've been making plans for all the action steps that I've made for the next 8 months. And to be honest, that's probably why I'm not all that enthusiastic. It's boring! Very boring! But it's a vital part of any endeavour that's out of your comfort zone. My schedule is all mapped out with important deadlines to meet and work hours to complete. The hardest part now is to continue the commitment.

Today was the first day of something other than planning: I finally got to implement the plan. And I've gotta say it went really smoothly thanks to the preparation beforehand. Visualisation was my focus for today and I made some really important discoveries about the mechanics behind it and also the dos and don'ts to use it effectively. I gave myself 2hrs to study, 1hr to practice and 1hr to write up about my practice. A 4-hour work day! And now my inner child is really enjoying the work, I might wanna think about boosting the hours. (Also made some great discoveries about hypnotism in relation with this work. Must write about that soon)

Other than that, my diet is now completely free of junk food despite the temptation. What's more, my acne seems to be finally disappearing after cutting out wheat, dairy, corn and soy from my diet too! No idea which ingredient tends to aggravate it but it feels great to see that my faith in this diet has paid off. Other cool stuff includes my first ever paid lesson as a guitar tutor and the odd wedding band gig here and there.

As for the meditation and enlightenment front, I still meditate every day. Things have been better but ultimately I'm going to bed fulfilled with the day. So if I did happen to die in my sleep, it would be a happy ending so to speak!

These goals of writing an album and making a YouTube channel are provoking a lot of fear within. And that's a clear sign that this is the direction that needs to be taken. My dream the other day was my subconscious mind trying to reassure that everything is going to be okay no matter how afraid or intimidating the journey may seem. Also I'm fully aware that this year is going to be the most difficult one to push past. But I'm gonna do it no matter what. And you guys are totally gonna buy the album and subscribe to the YouTube channel!  

The next reflection post will be interesting because it'll most likely follow after some soul-searching so to speak. I've made it a part of my work to discover my authentic self before beginning this work for sure. Let's see how that goes.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 221 | The Inhibited Personality

Theory: Among lots of other traits, the inhibited personality includes planning too much to perfection and overly self-critical. Your authentic self can shine through when you're able to shed these traits and behave spontaneously.

Applying it: Don't obsessively plan every little detail of your life to perfection. Similarly, don't criticise yourself for every little action you carry out. Instead, just be all-loving for your natural personality.

 

This was a HUGE wake-up call for me today curtesy of Psycho-Cybernetics. Just when I think the book has said all it needs to say, it delivers crucial information at just the right time for me to hear it. It was in chapter 11 of 15 where Dr. Maltz describes the inhibited personality. My concentration wasn't all that great for the first half hour of listening to the audiobook (my bad for practicing a relaxation exercise beforehand), but once he started saying that these personality-types often plan things out vigorously and be overly critical of their actions, a "holy shit" was in order!

As mentioned in the previous journal entry, I've been planning out goals to perfection. And it's only now that my mind has been blown that I can see that this was all out of fear. When I've heard Leo and Brooke giving advice like "plan, plan, plan," perhaps I was the wrong personality-type to take it seriously. It'd be understandable if I had gone through my whole life not giving a shit about my future to then be given this advice but that's not true at all. My life has always been about becoming a masterful musician and it's never likely to change.

 And also this journal has served as a place to criticise my flaws and work to improve on them. Not always. But definitely in the past. And to be honest, a lot of my bad habits did need the criticism in order for me to view them as bad now. But right now, my diet is the healthiest it has ever been (junk free), TV and video gaming are no longer addictions, my relationships are getting deeper, and every time I find myself with nothing to do, I try to fill it with self-actualisation work. Things are awesome right now! And then I have to criticise myself to misery, why?

Even before I listened to that chapter, I'd already decided to screw my plan today and play guitar instead. And it was that spontaneity that led me to write part of a composition for a brand new guitar piece. One for the album! That would've never happened if I forced myself to do the boring research that I was going to do, which I felt was kinda pointless anyway.

After listening to the chapter, I decided to just fuck it and embrace my authentic desire to dress down my everyday outfit and sport a sorting hat (from a Harry Potter studios trip the other year) and just goof around even more on the guitar. It's been such a long time since I allowed myself to do that because "I need to grow up now because I'm 21," but it was such a wonderful moment to be in. The guitar playing was flowing like water through a river and it genuinely felt good to be self-expressing to myself. It even gave birth to a second composition idea. Two for the album!

Today is exactly what I needed. A reminder not to put a fucking downer on life by planning and criticising until the sun goes down. The truth is that my goals and deadlines are still fully intact. But in order to get there, I need to step back and let my authentic self take care of the work in between.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 222 | Worries Are Flags

Theory: Worry thoughts can be flags to declare that something positive is trying to break through.

Applying it: Instead of worrying endlessly, become curious as to what positive insight is waiting at the end of it all. Stay curious until you notice a sudden change in mood.

 

Today, I received a great idea for a YouTube channel and talked enthusiastically about it for hours with a friend. It seemed like such a perfect idea that fell in line with my own values and priorities. Yet it didn't take long before the worrying thoughts started to become apparent. I've not too long ago sat down and diagnosed the worry thoughts in particular causing the emotion and it came down to "I'm not good enough." After consulting one of Leo's videos addressing the matter, I took a peak through The Big Leap and came across this quote:

Quote

A lot of people don't realise that they can dismiss worry-thoughts just like that. One moment the thoughts have a grip on you; then you suddenly realise it's you who have the grip on them. You release the grip, and the thoughts disappear. They come back again, and you release them again. With practice, they disappear and don't come back, if you give your mind a more productive thing to do. The productive thing to do is to look for he positive new emergence that's trying to happen. In other words, when you find yourself worrying, know that there is something positive trying to break through. Your worry-thoughts, particularly if you find yourself recycling the same ones over and over, are a flag waving at you from your Zone of Genius. Something is trying to get your attention. Look beyond the worry-thoughts, and you will often find a new direction that's being laid out for you.

Hope that's big enough  

And in fact, I used this method of dealing with worries a month or two after buying the book until it slipped my mind. After refreshing this concept in my mind, I gave it a go. The worry thoughts felt almost like they were never going to go away. Even typing about them is starting to bring them right back. But by making a conscious effort to look for a positive emergence to come by, it wasn't long before the dialogue in my mind went "You can do anything you want. You really don't know if you're going to be good enough until you try it."

Given the nature of what I intend to create, it also triggered an enthusiasm to learn more from others. I reconnected with my childlike fascinations and giddiness about the possibility of creating content of this nature (I'm being deliberately ambiguous about it on purpose). Furthermore, I came clean about the question "what have I got to lose?" Practically nothing. It's definitely worth giving it a go as it will not only bring satisfaction for myself, but it could hugely benefit other like-minded people.

And so transcending of the original worry thoughts worked for me on this occasion. Let's aspire to make it a common practice.

 

Pick of the day:

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 223a | Nervousness and Excitement

Theory: Situations where you feel nervous and excited are times when you are granted the possibility to advance. Excitement that is not directed towards a goal is often converted into fear or anger.

Applying it: Instead of running away from situations that make you feel nervous, remember that the situation can allow you to advance if you fight rather than flight.

 

It seems like Psycho-Cybernetics has become the bread and butter for producing content in the last few posts and for good reason: it's really damn insightful. The chapter that I went through today focused on "crisis situations," or in Dr. Maltz's words "situations that can make you or break you." We've experienced a fair share of them already no doubt. But in relation to the feelings of nervousness and excitement that comes about before these situations, we have a choice: to embrace the moment and see it through until the end, or to run away and avoid it as much as possible.

This made me think of the Edinburgh tour in August. Although there was no situation that seemed worthy to call a crisis, I was faced with several situations every day that made me nervous and excited. It could have included performing the show, busking on the street, flyering for the show, getting acquainted with the new faces I was living with, etc. And it's my guess that the reason why the Edinburgh trip was so damn fulfilling was because I chose to "fight" rather than "flight." I saw things through to the end every single time.

It makes me wonder that perhaps in order to live an immensely fulfilling life, perhaps it would be worth chasing these sorts of situations. Giving myself challenges to overcome on a daily basis is surely going to build up the momentum if I chose to see them through to completion. It's certainly a better way of using the nervousness and excitement than to convert them into fear.

 

Entry 223b | Truth

Theory: The Truth is now. All else are lies.

Applying it: Contemplate.

 

The Truth is now. All else are lies.

This statement was whispered to me during a meditation session. It's the kind of statement that draws attention solely to the present moment. It's a phrase which has a lot of implications and requires a lot of open-mindedness to explore it's depth.

First of all, consider time. The past is just as much an illusion as the future. Everything that was, will be, will have been, would be, would've been, should be, should've been, could be, could've been, is all a fiction. All there ever is is now. Right here, right now. Any thought for the past, future or potential pasts or futures can only ever occur in the now. They cannot be used to replace the present moment because they are it.

Second, consider physical reality. In a conscious state, does reality exist? The Truth is now. It could very easily be rationalised that physical reality does exist. But how about in a state of unconsciousness like sleep or death. Does physical reality exist? Again, the Truth is now. Not the moment before unconsciousness nor the moment afterward. But in that moment itself.

There's so many other avenues to explore with this statement such as thought, emotions, vision and hearing, identity, Ego, God. There are so many things that can be questioned. But the only ever truth you can find will be in the present moment. In the now. Not from a memory and not from a vision of the future. It's not from what you think it should be nor is it from what anyone else thinks it could be. And it's certainly not from me. The answers are all there right now waiting to be uncovered. The Truth is now. All else are lies.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 224 | Drive

Theory: To be driven as a person means to have a clear mental picture of the person you intend to become.

Applying it: Make sure a single day doesn't go by where you aren't focussing on the long-term future you are destined for.

 

Without intending to go on an ego field trip with this topic, it has to be said that throughout my teenage years into adulthood, one quality that has never changed within myself is drive. A drive that recognises everything that is possible whilst also being present with where I am now. Ever since that so-called crisis situation with my friends back in early secondary school, I knew that I was destined for better things than what were happening at the time. Potentially even great things.

And once again, it's not to suggest any egoic desire to be greater than everybody else because I've since reasoned that we are all equally worthy, special and great in our own way. The point here is that rather than giving up and denying my own worthiness to live a great life, I always embraced the possibility of a better tomorrow. And it certainly did the trick. I'm here, right?

But what influenced that decision? Especially given that my emotions around that time were severely distressing, if there was ever such a thing that could transcend the suffering, it had to be nothing short of powerful. It had to be a cause worth dying for because anything otherwise may have led to suicide. And indeed it was one of the mots powerful moments of my whole life. I remember exactly where I sat in the diner of a caravan park near Leamington Spa, listening to the music of a guitarist who would become my first source of inspiration.

What happened? I realised that if this guitarist can have such an inspiring career, then so could I. In that moment, I created a powerful vision for my own personal future. From that day on, I strove to become the guitarist and performer of my dreams. And all of the best decisions in my life so far have been fuelled by this decision: the desire to shred, the desire to learn guitar pieces that even my teachers felt were too difficult, the urge to learn to play the acoustic guitar, the desire to study music at university, the willingness to audition for (and eventually win) a performance scholarship whilst at university, to perform devilishly hard pieces from all of my guitar idols for my final-year recital, to constantly write and perform new music, to pursue a career as a performing musician.

The transformative power of a strong vision must not be underestimated. My vision is so strong that it has remained intact for a solid 9 years leading up to right here right now. And it feels wonderful. My gratitude is immense for my younger self who managed to create this life right now without even being aware of the wonders he was working. And just like I have done for 9 years, there's only one thing I can do: keep the faith.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 225 | What's The Worst That Could Happen?

Theory: In order to reduce stress, fear and anxiety, a useful question to ask yourself is "what's the worst that could happen?"

Applying it: Simply ask the question to yourself and realise that no matter how terrible you may find your position to be, there is always something far worse that could be happening.

 

Last night was another wedding gig and there were lots of things that went wrong. For starters, it was a nightmare for the driver to get to the venue in the first place, not to mention the difficulty of getting a shit-ton of gear to the top floor of this fancy building. We performed an acoustic set on the roof/balcony out in the freezing cold of October in Liverpool. My blue knuckles started shedding skin it was so cold. Evening came around and we performed 2 sets to a crowd who weren't in the mood for the music until the last 3 songs. When we finally arrived back at our cars at 4:30am, we couldn't find the key to unlock the gate to get to them.

So a good few things went terribly wrong! But despite the driver's frustration, I managed to remain calm and unaffected. It didn't bother me that the worst that could happen was that we'd just have to sleep in the van overnight until someone else could open the gate. Because there are far worse things that could have been happening. To jump straight to the extremes, we could have crashed and died on the journey back, we might not ever have a home to go to, we could be doing a lot worse jobs than what we did.

Maybe as a self-actualiser, you may have noticed that it seems like the majority of people choose to be miserable. The thought crossed my mind last night! But in fact, it would be more true to say that the majority of people don't choose to be positive. Remember that negative thinking results from not planting the seed in your mind to grow positive thinking. If we don't consciously decide to look at the positive, our brains seem to want to return to negative thinking as a default position.

And while a question like the one featured in this post sounds extremely negative to consider, it actually promotes positive thought. By focussing on the worst that could happen, you realise that 99.999999% of your time is actually better than that.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 226 | Psycho-Cybernetics

Written by Dr. Maxwell Maltz.

The reason why it took me so long to complete this book is simply because I got it in an audiobook format. This meant that instead of just underlining quotes that I thought were important, I had to type them all out separately. Which is good in many ways because now I have a consolidated collection of quotes and juicy stuff all in one place. But it took such a long time to type them out because (1) this book is absolutely packed with vital information and practical guidance, and (2) I found it difficult at times to find the motivation to sit for hours and hours typing stuff out.

Lesson learned: audiobooks are not for me.

Focussing on this book, it seems almost impossible to sum up all the good stuff because there is so much in abundance. It's such a great book to read if you're looking for a holistic overview of how the mind functions as a machine, how success and creative mechanisms work, and ultimately how to create a better life. It focusses on how mental pictures can be used to either make you or break you, to give you peace of mind or fear and anxiety. The fact that this book comes from the perspective of a plastic surgeon is particularly interesting because he proves case in point that happiness is not a matter of how your life looks, but at how you look at your life.

Visualisation is a massive topic in this book and it has helped me better understand how it works. One interesting thing of the top of my head is that it works exactly like worrying, except you have a positive goal to focus on rather than a negative one. Maltz also makes an important point about relaxation in the pursuit of success and happiness. It never occurred to me that relaxation in fact has a life-changing impact upon your mental and physical health. This is further emphasised by the tone that follows throughout in which he assures that the best thing to do is to just let your own creative and success mechanisms work for you, rather than trying to force it.

In summary, this book is absolutely worth the credit it gets. A wonderful place to start for new readers (and hopefully not too overwhelming) and a must-have for your bookshelf.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 227 | Make Life Easier For Others

Theory: Perhaps the key to business success is just simply to make life easier for others.

Applying it: No matter what business situation you end up with, look to make your client's life as easy as possible.

 

So not too long ago, I had someone contact me looking for guitar lessons. This was great news because it allowed me the possibility to explore another means of making money as a musician. But I have no teaching experience or qualifications that others might have that would allow them to excel in their field. So as I often do, I turned to the inner wisdom within me for answers. How could I make sure that my lessons go to plan? How can I make sure that my students get the most out of our lessons?

The answer came very quickly: make life as easy as possible for them. And the easiest way I can think of is to do the planning and preparation for them, to set the goals for them, to consolidate the useful information into one sheet of paper to save them the bother. And it makes perfect logical sense to do this because, after all, why bother paying for a guitar tutor in the first place? If they aren't going to make the learning process easier, what's the point of having them?

Being conscious of this ahead of time filled me with reassurance that the lesson tomorrow will run really smoothly with no hiccups. I've planned out the aims and objectives ahead of time, created hand-outs for future students to take away, and all that's left to do in the lesson is to show them how to apply the material. It's straightforward and hassle-free. They don't have to think twice about the planning and preparation because it's been taken care of for them.

This philosophy could easily apply to any other business venture. How does music make your life easier? Because you get to hear what beauty sounds like without going through the hardships of musical training and practice. How do salesman make your life easier? Because they bring the product right to your face without you ever needing to consider looking for it. How do politicians make your life easier? Because they make all the hard decisions that you never have to make, not to mention that it gives you someone to blame when things go tits up!

Perhaps it's a business motto to be embraced. And perhaps the easier you can make other's lives, the more successful you can then become. Just a theory.

 

Pick of the day:

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 228 | The Success Mechanism In Learning Music

Theory: The method of learning a musical instrument, which requires you to first play slow in order to play fast, is a neat example for how the success mechanism of the brain works.

Applying it: Realise that the reason you must play slow first is to feed your brain with the correct procedures so that it can repeat them automatically.

 

So my first full-time guitar lesson with a guitar student went ridiculously well. Although I only shown him 3 chords for his trial lesson, he managed to play them perfectly without hesitation when he came to me. He said that he followed my advice and practiced for 30mins every day, which was wonderful to see it take effect on his playing ability so soon. But the real magic happened in our first lesson today as I used the success mechanism (as described in Psycho-Cybernetics) to boost his learning ability.

After giving him 8 more chords to learn, I decided to test his ability to switch between chords quickly by having him repeat 4 chords in a row along to a beat. This is where the success mechanism comes into play. We started off with a really slow pulse so that he could get used to changing between the chords. So slowly, in fact, that there was no possibility of him failing the task. This meant that with every repeat of the progression, he was feeding his brain with successful attempt after successful attempt.

As I could see him learning effectively, I gradually quickened the pace as his chord changes became automatic. We ended up playing the chords one-by-one at a very fast speed for a beginner. Before the exercise, he admitted that he felt nervous because he didn't know he could do it. After the exercise, he couldn't believe the progress that he had made. It felt so sweet to know that he came in knowing only 3/4 chords and went away knowing how to play 8 different chords, how to play a chord progression to a pulse, and also how to strum whilst changing chords.

It definitely helps that he was more than willing to learn these things unlike some other kids who don't have the desire or focus to follow through (I've casually taught other kids). However, I think even the fact that I subconsciously knew about the success mechanism on a deeper level made all the difference in the amount I was able to teach today. Applying theory to everyday life is good. Applying theory to facilitate someone else's life is (arguably) better!

 

Pick of the day:

(Speaking of playing faster and faster  )

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 229 | Salad Appreciation

Theory: Raw vegetables is perhaps the best food for your brain and body.

Applying it: Aim to eat around 5-7 vegetables every day, along with 2-3 fruits. Also, your daily intake of vegetables should be around half of the food you eat unlike the commonly-known food chart would recommend.

 

If I could only correct one thing about Western popular culture, it would have to be their opinions on salads. People hate the idea of a salad. It's tasteless, raw, nothing spectacular when it comes to many of the fine cuisine that graces our restaurants. Even the fact that it isn't a hot meal gives it a bad name. But I'm here to argue the opposite. What you see before you is a salad that I make every single day around lunchtime. And from the bottom of my heart, this meal is perhaps the best thing ever to happen to my diet.

This is coming from someone who went through therapy as a child because they only wanted to eat junk food. All I wanted to eat as a kid was cereal, toast, chocolate, sandwiches and bits of fruit. That was it. The most standard of meals tasted disgusting to me as a youngster. But as the years passed, I began to expand my tolerance for other foods. So far, in fact, that I started viewing salads as a desirable meal to have. Fast-forward to today and I'm creating salads that not only are filled with a variety of vegetables, fruit and nuts, but also have become somewhat of a legend to those around me for it's size and complexity. (It's hard to tell but this plate is in fact pretty massive!)

But if the picture above is not enough to trick your taste buds into believing that salads are an essential meal for your day, allow me to present some more cool benefits from having them. First of all, your body will receive practically as much vitamin A, C and E as you might need to go about your day along with tons of other nutrients. A rainbow of vegetables helps to increase the variety of nutrients that your body receives. Also things like nuts, egg and olive oil & lemon dressing can be used to provide your body with all the good fats and protein that it needs.

You don't have to go to the trouble of cooking any of the vegetables and you can include almost any vegetable, fruit or nut that you desire. With a large variety of different foods, it also provides an adventure for your taste buds as you combine different tastes with every bite. Also because all the ingredients are cool and raw, there is no other meal on the planet that feels so revitalising and refreshing to your insides. You witness a phenomenon which I call it the 'second taste.' That is, once you've consumed all of the food, all of your insides seem to come to life and experience the taste all over again as it digests.

Starch and proteins are essential for keeping your body full and satisfied for longer. But having a salad like this one seems to have the effect of bringing your body to life and, with that, your mind too. That's why I cannot recommend enough the importance of eating a sufficient amount of raw, fresh vegetables every single day. Sure it may destroy your 'cool kid' image but you'll be surprised to find how much people will compliment your efforts.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 230 | Reflection

Well as with every 10-day period, things seem very different. A lot of the extensive planning that I set for myself has been removed and my emotions and productivity seem to be flowing a lot better. Each day seems to flow really smoothly nowadays. I'm not overly worried or strict with myself and feel no need to criticise my actions, especially because I have developed a desire to be a creator rather than a consumer.

There are lots of things to talk about. My gym routine has been changed to help bulk up some muscle, which seems to have created some good results already. My meditation and ability to be present has also increased. I practiced a sort of walking meditation when I took the dog for a walk this morning which went really well. And on the self-actualisation front, I've bought 7 new books and finished reading two books. I've been doing some more visualisation work and managed to use the image of sitting in a bathtub to convert my cold body into a lovely warm one ready for bed last night.

Since being less restricting on my visualisation exercises, I've figured that there are tons of things I could be visualising to help accomplish my goals. For instance, I've made some great progress with the Wii drum kit that I created a few weeks ago. It might not be long before I can move onto the final phase of that project which would be to record it and share it with the world. The same can be said for my music-making. The two newest compositions have come from a very deep place and a third one is on the horizon. The third one in particular feels very exciting as it literally feels like heaven to play at the moment!

My university friends have scattered now, myself included, but I've been keeping in touch with the ones who were closest to me. I've also managed to make some new friends over the past few months which has been cool. Guitar lessons and odd wedding band gigs are still coming now and then to keep my bank topped up.

I feel like I've completely embraced life on a day-by-day basis now. It's like there really is no need to wrestle with it to get something out of it because everything that I could ever want from it is already here in either actual or potential form. Perhaps the increase in visualisation activities have helped to facilitate this new state of mind. I'm so energised by thoughts for the future that I'm able to really embrace what life has to offer right now. It makes me think of a Psycho-Cybernetics quote:

Quote

Functionally, a man is somewhat like a bicycle. [...] A bicycle maintains its poise in equilibrium only so long as it is going forward toward something.

And there are many things that I'm moving toward: to be the best guitarist, musician, Wiizard (I'm coining the term for a Wii-musician right now), fitness junkie, self-actualiser, meditator, thinker, and emotion master possible.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 231 | Regarding Observation

Theory: As a musician, practicing the observation technique with a small passage of music can have wondrous effects.

Applying it: Repeatedly perform a few bars of music for long periods of time (in hours) and learn to observe the sounds and sensations in great depth.

 

This one is partially inspired from Leo's video regarding observation but from a musician's perspective. Instead of looking at an object and observing it for hours, I tend to use the same approach when it comes to music. Sometimes, I take joy in repeating notes, chords and phrases over and over again whilst absorbing myself in the sounds and sensations of the guitar. And in doing so, my playing style starts to transform into something effortless and flowing.

Today, I repeated a particular phrase for around 1-2hrs to strengthen my pinkie finger. The longer I continued to repeat the phrase, the more I felt as though it were out of my control to stop. The warm tones of the strings, the sensations of the strings under my fingertips, the vibrations of the guitar on my belly, and the musical phrase itself took on more life and beauty as time progressed. It reminded me that this was my life purpose all over. Whilst most people would have suffered in my position, this "work" definitely didn't feel like work.

This observation technique applied to music performance creates some amazing results. One of the most notable ones, which appears after going really deep into the process, is the outer-body experience where you disassociate from your body and simply watch the music happening before you. That feeling can be induced smoother with eyes closed, which is why I also indulge in looking away from the guitar during performance. It makes you realise that you're not the one playing the music. Your body is just the vehicle for the driver (the creative Muse) to operate.

 

Pick of the day:

 

 

[Liam Johnson]

Entry 232 | The Dip

Written by Seth Godin.

The biggest surprise of this book was it's small size. At only around 80 pages long, The Dip makes for an interesting read about "the extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick)." It's concise, insightful, and the key points are neatly illustrated with diagrams, statistics and cartoons. It also abandons the traditional chapter format and adopts a structure that makes each point really clear with the use of headings. In my excitement, I managed to read the whole book in a day!

But since finishing it, what became clear is that this book was written not only to be understood, but also contemplated. Why else would Godin choose to write such a densely-packed book? The structure of the book in fact helps the readability of it after the initial reading because you could essentially flip open any page you wish and jump right in. His writing style is right to the point without sugar-coating or bulking out the paragraphs any more than they need to be.

Although it's not really a practical book, it has resonated with me since the first read. In my own personal life, I'm looking at the future with essentially a blank canvas for which to paint. And the insights contained in these pages have made me realise what I should be aiming for and what we should all aim for: to be the best in the world. He explains that there really is no other way forward. But the only thing stopping all of us from getting there is "the dip," which is a time period through which there seems to be very little results and enjoyment before things begin to grow exponentially.

The long-term impact of this book is yet to become clear to me. However, it was an insightful read throughout and definitely kicks you onto the right path if you're at a loose end.

 

Pick of the day: