The human mind is truly astonishing in its capacity, but to get the most out of it, some time should be spent in training it, maintaining it and perfecting its abilities. Of course no one really wants to do this, as it doesn't seem to achieve anything. Sitting quietly in meditation for example does nothing to further my business. However to neglect maintaining anything, including mind and body, is a popular false economy. If you want anything to work at maximum efficiency, you must at regular periods give it a rest, check it over, modify it, upgrade certain parts and repair others. Fail to do so, and your system or machine will run increasingly less efficiently and finally break down altogether.
Mind and body are not exempt from this principle. Unfortunately both are often criminally neglected on the grounds that people have better more important things to do. The flaw in this argument is of course that important things will not get done well if the mind and body doing them hasn't been properly maintained!
There are many time-management strategies for fitting meditation and exercise into your day, but they all assume that the right mindset is there in the first place! My experience as a therapist has taught me how to establish the mindset before attempting to establish a new regime.
The clients I see fall into three categories: those who are paying me full fees, those who are having their fees paid (by partner or business) and those who receive free treatment in return for testamonials. All these clients get the same high quality of therapy, and are also given "homework" to reinforce the suggestions I have planted in their minds. Can you guess which group are the most diligent in their homework? Yep, you guessed, the full-fee payers!
Those who have paid for themselves have made an investment: they have made a significant sacrifice in order to achieve the objective. Consequently, they are more focused on the objective, and recognise their homework as essential to achieving it. This is the mindset that gets results faster, wanting to see a painful investment already made paying off!
To achieve excellent results must include a disciplined programme of maintenance. The maintenance must therefore be seen as synonymous with the objective. Exercise for example in isolation is a pointless uncomfortable waste of time, but having a body able to do what I want it to is very important to my credibility as a therapist. In other words, if I want to be a top notch world-renowned therapist, spending time maintaining mind and body is as crucial to my success as treating clients, marketing and networking. It's not the body per se, it's what an able body will deliver me.
Of course an able mind and body is essential for most ambitions, not just mine. The key then is to be focused not on the maintenance itself but what the maintenance will deliver. It is just as essential an activity as delivery of your service. People focused on the objective they really want for themselves (as opposed to being pressured into) and realise that maintenance is vital to that objective will be more diligent and more successful.
Make this your affirmation: THIS ACTIVITY IS BRINGING ME NEARER TO THE THINGS I WANT.
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