When times are good, it is easy to be optimistic. When times are bad, we see who can keep the faith. We control thoughts, or we control nothing.
The essence of self-mastery is the clarity to know exactly what you want, the discipline to control your thoughts during your days, and the awareness to feel and be a successful person despite what’s happening all around you.
The question is how do you retain optimism in tough times? If you have not been tested in life, you won’t understand the question. If you have been tested by terrible adversities, you’ll know how it’s easy to lose your certainty.
In my home office, I’ve hung countless framed quotes on the walls. These are my favorite quotations to remind me of the best ideas I’ve every discovered. I call these my wall-hangers. A quote to me is an idea capsule. And so I’m surrounded by ideas. A phrase above my writing desk states: THIS ONE DAY. It reminds me of what’s most important in life.
What’s my motivation for these quotes in plain sight? The joke is that I’m so dumb I hang quotes in front of me so I’ll remember them. The truth is that I rely on these thoughts and ideas to hold me up during my difficult times.
I read and listen to people worthy of being read and being listened to. I do these things to keep my faith intact and to build my character.
So what should you do now during tough times?
Give your attention to that which empowers you. I’m not suggesting you put your head in the sand and ignore the reality of your life conditions.
I am suggesting you don’t let overwhelming problems claim your energy. Give your energy, and your attention, to empowering things.
In my own life, upward mobility has relied on my daily capacity to hold a clear goal in my mind and to believe I would achieve it despite all evidence to the contrary. Negative feelings and doubts arose during soul-crushing setbacks, of course, but my attention has always veered back to goals.
Focus on the things you want with calm assurance. And use this focused time to build your vision. The best thing about hard times is that they’ll open our mind to learning. When times are good, very few people are learning anything.
I wrote The Wealthy Gardener during three long years, and I wrote it for exactly times like these. It’s a book that empowers you. And it’s built on everything I learned in my personal struggle, and by studying the best of the best.
In that way, it’s not just my book. It’s a book of many lives and many lessons. I’d suggest you get the audio book and listen to it repeatedly.
It can help you use the wasted times of life when you drive, wait in lines, exercise, walk, and so on. These are the odd moments that usually amount to nothing. Start using them.
Self-mastery is controlling your internal state regardless of external conditions. It is mental transcendence. It is the stubborn command of thought, intention, and emotion.
“I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself,” said Pietro Aretino. We control thoughts, or we control nothing.
When times are bad, we see who can keep the faith.
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