What does Sunday, 12 am, New Years and most importantly tomorrow have in common? They’re the start! You are a great promoter of these events but a lousy showman. “Wait until tomorrow.” “Wait until the 1st.” “Wait until New Years.” You wait, get off to a bad start, which affects the rest of the show, then begin hyping the next event. What is your obsession with the number one? Hmmm? 2 may not be as straight as 1 but that doesn’t mean you should count yourself out if you get off to a bad start. Mr. The Ending Is Everything, hey, the start is important too. It should be planned, also. Let’s put that jive-turkey November in our rearview mirror and concentrate on the reindeer in headlights. Hmmm? You are NOT watching Psych tonight! You are NOT going to sleep at 10; you are going to sleep at 9. You’re waking that butt up at 4 in the morning and not going back to sleep if you randomly wake up earlier. Hmmm? No more of November’s distractions! A new evil rises!
Tag Archives: foresight
Har-old, if yesterday was the last day of your life, are you happy with how you spent it? The answer is no, isn’t it? So, Har-old, what are you going to do today to make the answer a YES! tomorrow morning? Hmmm? And oh, no cheating, you have to ask, answer the question, while looking at me in the mirror.
Yesterday’s Road Philosophy
From my friend Peter Thomson with paraphrases from me for you, Har-old:
Think forward in time to the point where you wish you would have achieved a certain result and imagine you haven’t achieved it.
Sit down with a piece of paper answering the question, “If only I’d . . . I would have achieved it.” What are those dots?
Write whatever ideas come to mind. If your mind gives you an answer, don’t question it at this stage. You can edit later.
Reason this works so well is that it uses the two main feelings that causes us to take action, that’s pain and pleasure. The avoidance of pain and the gaining of pleasure.
If you feel like you ought to have achieved the result and you’re telling yourself you haven’t then you are strongly prompted to look for solutions.
Why?
Because you’ve triggered away motivation. Away motivation is the catalyst for action. Towards motivation prompts the continuation of action.
Another way to gain is to imagine you wanted to achieve a certain result by a certain time and that Yes! you did do it. With the positive feelings in mind, actually imagine the pleasure you will experience. Remembering you’re imagining you HAVE done it not that you will do it. Answer the question, “I did it because I’d …” What are those dots?
Again. Write down whatever your mind says.
Another way is to take a random noun. This can be picked from a dictionary or book. Ask your mind to associate that noun with the problem, opportunity or circumstances at hand. By making your mind make strange associations and connections, you will be surprised at what answers float into your consciousness. It’s reported that Edward De Bono, the man responsible for the expression, lateral thinking, used the word cheese to come up with the idea of televisions with picture-in-picture. Taking the word cheese and thinking what cheese has that t.v could have. Holes? What holes? Eventually leading to holes in the screen to see what was on the other channels.
FY,
Har+new
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October 22, 2011
Your two fortune cookies from July 22, 2011 …
Linger over dinner discussions this week for needed advice.
Tiera. IHop. Yeebizan. Original plan.
This fortune cookie came true.
Your other fortune cookie …
Remember three months from this date! Your lucky star is shining.
It’s not October 22, 2011 but the progress you’re making tells me this one will come true as well.
Mark your calendar. You’re creating your own luck!
Let’s do this, Har-old.
I love you!
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
P.S. Eat more Chinese!
Death Is Written In Blood On The Mirror
If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.
Just like Steve Jobs, I want this quote to make a strong impression on you.
From now on, every morning, I want you to look in the mirror and ask yourself, “If today was the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today?”
But I think this question is better in hindsight than foresight.
So, I want you to ask yourself this, “If yesterday was the last day of my life, am I happy with how I spent it?”
If the answer is “NO!” for 3 consecutive days, you NEED to change something. Something, Har-old. You have to! This is a must.
Apply what I told you in 3 Months To Live.
As I’m writing this to you, I’m listening to some music from your time. It’s this Kanye West song called Drunk And Hot Girls. He just dropped a gem that is proper for this letter:
You only live once; do whatever you like.
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
P.S. Listen to the third story from Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech over and over until you get it. My favorite lines was, “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Are you inspired yet?
My Butt Itches
No matter what happens, don’t move. If you feel like you have to scr
atch your nose, don’t move. If your ass itches, don’t move. It will go away. Just sit still. And as the stillness begins to settle, things that are happening on the outside become less important. Some thoughts come into your mind, but you’ll begin to realize how insignificant they are. You’ll find the distractions will eventually disappear. The way you’ll make the distractions disappear is by focusing on your breath.
Har-old, have you noticed every time you find that comfortable spot where you can cross your legs, close your eyes and meditate, you itch … somewhere … your nose, your butt, your head?
Sometimes the uncomfortable sensation of the itch takes control of your thoughts and fills your mind with scratching, eventually forcing your hand.
Other times you ignore the uncomfortable sensation by taking possession of your mind with thoughts of comfortable sensations and the itch just disappears.
Okay. It’s obvious which one I prefer. So, here’s the connection …
The only time a distraction is doing some good is when you’re diverting your attention from something worrying and unpleasant to something different or more pleasurable. Only time.
But when you are doing that “pleasurable” and “desirable” thing and you let something of lesser importance or even another interest distract you, you are scratching your skin completely off. Concentrate on ONE thing at a time. Remember: The jack of all trades is seldom good at any.
This is what I want …
Set aside one day (every week on the same day) as self-organization day. Think and plan for several hours on self-organization day. Every hour for the following week should be scheduled. WRITE YOUR SCHEDULE DOWN! I would tell you to allow room for flexibility but this could be a distraction in itself and cause you to drift. So, make your schedule tight!
Self-organization day will increase your thinking ability and doing of things in their order of importance. The day will improve your foresight and raise your planning level. The day will help you save future time and make you look at yourself in disgust for how unorganized you use to be.
That’s not for me! I can’t do that sort of thing-live on a schedule. I wouldn’t be happy.
Well, I’ve got good news for you. You are already living on a schedule. And, if it’s not a planned one, it’s probably a poor one.
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
Do I Really Look Like A Guy With A Plan?
Ledger’s Joker said,
Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it, you know. I just do things.
Was he telling the truth? Or was he just manipulating Harvey? This is the part where you get confused. Why? Because the things The Joker did in The Dark Knight was so complex and impossible that he HAD … to plan them for months, maybe even years. Well, I’m here to reveal to you that he was telling the truth. The Joker is a mastermind at improvising criminal activities.
I cringe when you waste time planning, over-planning and never doing. So, I’m stepping in to develop chaotic thinking patterns.
- Lower your level of inhibition which will allow you to plan accordingly with complex and impossible plans.
- How to lower your level of inhibition? Stop self-reflecting! Har-old, you either over-think and never do, or do then over-think what you’ve just done and think negative results. Cure the former by doing it the moment you start to over-think, no matter if you’re “ready” or not; cure the latter with patience and thought-changing.
- How to stop self-reflecting? Be a kid again. This will be easy since you have a child-like imagination. Ever heard the phrase, “Children are innocent?” Guess what? They’re not. Children aren’t innocent; they’re powerful. How? As Robert Greene said, “Children may be naïve in many ways, but they often act from an elemental need to gain control over those around them. Children suffer greatly from feeling powerless in the adult world, and they use any means available to get their way.” Children do NOT know the difference between right and wrong. How cute? No! How genius??? When a child makes a “booboo” the parent has to point it out. Why? Because children aren’t hindered by reflection.
Obsolete
Dear Kirsten,
I struggled with the correct pronouns the last time I wrote the letter. I mean, we’re the same person, so how do I address myself? In the end, I decided to exclusively use second-person pronouns, which I will be continuing for simplicity’s sake.
Think about all the things you love. Think about your television shows, movies, books, websites, videos, podcasts, everything. You have lots of interests. Now, think ten years into the future. How many of those things will still be relevant, then? How many of those things will you care about?
Very few. Yes, you would still tune in on those television shows when the turned on the marathons of the rerun channel. You might listen to those songs occasionally. But on the whole, all of the things you like will soon be obsolete.
Don’t kid yourself. Your kids aren’t going to know who “Lady Gaga” or “Justin Beiber” is, unless they hear their songs played on the ‘00s radio channel. I mean, how many pop artists from your mother’s time can you name?
And you know the books you read? Forget about it. Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Twilight- they’re not going to be read. Or they will, sitting on library shelves, alone. Perhaps Harry Potter has gained a second life because of parents reading it to their kids, but other than that, the books you love won’t be known or understood or cared for. And even if they are, they won’t be read in the same way that you read them, along with a whole generation.
Don’t even get me started on technology. iPods? Obsolete. The blue laptop you spent so many hours typing on? Obsolete. The television where you watched your favorite shows? Obsolete. Even the kitchen appliances you own are things of the past in their current form.
However, the same thing goes for the things you hate. In the future, nobody cares about Divergent or Inkheart or Maniac Magee. Your kids couldn’t tell you who any of the crash-and-burn reality TV stars were in 2011. They couldn’t talk about The Other Guys, or Katy Perry, or the war between Harry Potter and Twilight.
And why should I be telling you of this seemingly bleak world that seems to be devoid of everything you love and hate? Because I’m telling you to not be tied to what you love. Don’t close your mind because somebody doesn’t like the books or music that you do, because chances are nobody will have heard of it in ten years. Don’t spend constant hours in front of the computer squabbling over the internet on whose interests are better. Don’t post about your hate of Divergent all over Internet message boards because it doesn’t matter.
Very few things are wastes of time, Kirsten, but those things are one of them. While those discussions can sometimes be good and profitable pastimes, usually they’re not. Usually, they just separate you from others even more than you already are, and I regret spending so many hours moaning about the things I hate.
But I’m not telling you to have no interests. No, of course not. Love what you love and hold it dear. I’m just trying to put things into perspective, because what seems to you as massively important will just disappear. So don’t sling mud on websites and chatrooms that won’t exist in a few years. Take all the good you have learned from the things you love: character, experience, skill, intelligence, awareness, and all other things that one can gain from media. Take it and bring it out into the world. Because that, Kirsten, is what is truly important about the things you love.
Futuristically Yours,
Kirsten
3 Months To Live
If you had 3 months to live, would you do exactly what it is you’re doing right now? And if you’re not doing what you’re wanting to do, what are you waiting for?
I know what you’re waiting for … the doctor to say, “Har-old, you have 3 months to live.”
Like Napoleon Hill said,
Isn’t it strange that so often people have to be cut down by failure and defeat before they learn that they have minds capable of mastering all their problems?
9 months. Birth is predictable. When mother finds out she’s pregnant, birth months are foreseen. You live your whole life knowing your birth date. You know death is certain but you don’t know when it will happen, giving birth to the phrase, “Live everyday like it’s your last.” This is one of the unfairnesses of life. That’s why those people who get told they have 3 months to live, 6 months to live, are BLESSED. Yes, blessed!
They waste no time planning. They just do.
The wind blew this bucket over with a piece of paper in it. The paper is blowing in the wind, flying all over the place. Run and catch it. Read it. It’s a list. A to-do-list. Check marks are beside everything. There are dates beside every listed item. Notice how close the dates are to each other. “All of this in a few months,” you say to yourself. Things you say you have to wait for, be “patient” for, things you say you have to plan, know-it-all before you get started. Think that list was just written? No! Look at the quality of the paper. That list is old.
Har-old, you will soon meet someone who knows when they will die. This person won’t be sad. They will be carefree, happy, motivated and a kid again. Pick their brains! Study them. Adopt their 3 month mentality.
And you know who that person will be?
You!
Every 3 months you will die and attempt to out-do what you did in your previous life. Every 3 months you will re-create yourself. Every 3 months you will be re-incarnated into a more richer you, a more handsome you, a more healthier you, a more smarter you, a more livelier you.
Your dreams can happen faster than you think but don’t let failure and defeat be responsible for inspiring you to action.
Take responsibility for your life!
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
Possessions Start First In The Mind
Napoleon Hill said,
Give expressions of gratitude many times daily for having received that what you want even before you actually get physical possession of it.
The surprise party you knew about in advance.
You already know who will be there.
You already know where it’s located.
You already know what your gifts are.
The only thing they think you know is the date. Obviously!
So how should you act in the meantime to not tip anyone off?
You play along.
Ironically, you talk about that date, who you wish could be there, what presents you always wanted, where you wished it could be located,etc.
And they will change the subject to show their disinterest in your topic.
Even during the day of the event, they will act like they don’t what today is and how they’re sorry for forgetting.
Then …
That lead will turn on the lights and people will jump from behind couches, fall from ceilings, come out the closet, stick their heads from the fat person they were hiding behind.
And you will look as shocked as ever!
And it will be sooooo believable. You know why?
Because you worked and practiced your “surprised face” in front 
of a mirror every time you passed one. What??? For me???
Har-old, possessions start in the mind and end with the physical.
Starting with the physical displays a real surprised face. What’s wrong with that? It shows you lack self-confidence. It shows you didn’t BELIEVE that it would ACTUALLY happen.
Everything you desire but do not have physically, you possess mentally. You can think your thoughts into your hand. Please remember this!
You already have 2 billion dollars. Your faith is so STRONG that you can see this money before your eyes. So REAL you can touch it with your hands. Har-old, it’s waiting for you!
Tap the side of your head with your index finger.
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
You Do Not Want Eyes In The Back Of Your Head
Author and blogger Brian Kim said,
Hindsight is always 20/20 because you get all the emotion out-of-the-way.
Strong emotions tend to cloud everything.
With that in mind, no matter how crappy your day is, somewhere in the near future, you’ll look back upon it with clear eyes.
Eyes clear enough to see the benefits of that experience and to even find yourself grateful for it.
The saying is, “When you look back, you gone laugh.” Watery eyes for the same event but for different reasons: In the past they were watery because you was crying; in the future they will be watery from hard laughter.
Please skip this step!
Instead, make mastering your emotions your foundation and practice a positive mental attitude (PMA).
Remember what Napoleon Hill said,
Nothing is ever so bad or so unpleasant that it may not yield some benefit if we keep a positive mental attitude toward the experience and make it a habit to look for that seed of an equivalent benefit.
Do not recognize this in hindsight!
Let the mastering of your emotions and your PMA shine in those trying moments.
I want you to develop a strong dislike for hindsight bias. It’s okay when it’s other people’s hindsight because you’re learning something. But I do not want you learning from your own backwards glancing eye.
You do not want eyes in the back of your head; they’re right where they’re suppose to be.
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
Thinking Positive In A Negative Way
Dear Har-old,
Carlson Companies chairman Curt Carlson once noted, “Obstacles are those frightening things you see when you take your eye off the target.”
Meticulous.
It is impossible to think negative thoughts in a positive way.
But unfortunately this is what you have to do to acquire Mount Olympus foresight.
Unhappy endings are much more common than happy ones.
For the future, the motto is, “No days unalert.”
Nothing should catch you by surprise because you are constantly imagining problems before they arise.
Instead of spending your time dreaming of your plan’s happy ending, you must work on calculating every possible permutation and pitfall that might emerge in it.
The further you see, the more steps ahead you plan, the more powerful you become.
So Har-old, you have to ask yourself this:
Can I take being criticized for thinking negative now for a later praise that will only be rewarded IF it turns out I was right?
You can’t have both at once.
Definitely criticized now. Possibly thanked later.
The key to thinking negative in a positive way is NOT dwelling on possible problems. Create a solution for it and move on. Please remember this!
Because dwelling IS your problem.
If life is a movie, let yours be directed by Quentin Tarantino. The ending is always first. Your conclusion must be crystal clear, and you must keep it constantly in mind.
Forseers start from the ending; improvisers start from the beginning.
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
Protected: I Don’t Know Exactly What I’m Going To Do But I Know What I’m Not Going To Do
A Now Is Not A Person, Place, Or Thing
Dear Har-old,
Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev said, “The word tomorrow was invented for indecisive people and for children.”
Had Chinese yesterday. Fortune from cookie read, “If you don’t have time to live your life now, when do you?
So, I will tell you what Chris Rock’s father told him when he thought coming to work early was gone impress him. He said, “Chris it’s no such thing as early, you either on time or you late.”
Remember what I told you in Catch Phrases. You have to, you have to, catch yourself. Kick the habit of saying, “I can’t wait … .”
It’s a damn oxyMORON!
You’re being impatient and patient simultaneously. THINK!
How the hell can you say you can’t wait for something that you are in control of making happen NOW???
THINK!
The worlds of advertising, marketing and promotion have somehow confused you and affected your ability to separate the who’s of control.
Separate control:
They are in control of when movies hit theaters, when albums hit shelves, when phones drop, when clothes hit racks, etc.
BUT YOU ARE IN CONTROL of when you want to “live.” I’m talking when you want 2 bill? When you want kids? When you want to leave Tennessee? When you want to move to New York? When you want the Yeebizan to replace the résumé?
WHEN???
You ARE in control of these things, no one else!
Take back your self-control.
Stop sitting in that waiting room. Put down that magazine. Knock on that door. Opportunity will open. Take off Opportunity’s mask … haha it’s you!
You was making yourself wait. Hahahaha!
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
P.S. I guess a now could be a person, place or thing…I mean you’re a person who’s trying to go places in life but can’t because you keep putting off that one thing you know you need to do…procrastinator!
Forgot Your Password?
Password Hell
Dear Har-old,
Australian musician Michael Hutchence said, ”It’s just as difficult to live in a self-made hell of privacy as it is to live in a self-made hell of publicity.”
You have been really giving me the Erica Albright as of lately:
“The internet’s not written in pencil, Mark, it’s written in ink.”
Do you only hear blah blah blah Har-old, blah blah blah Har-old, blah blah blah Har-old?
Seriously?
You take things so personal you totally MISS the words surrounding your name.
I will NOT apologize.
I am NOT changing my writing style.
I have balanced the pen on the paper well between them lines of Har-old and the rest of the world.
Yes! You ARE unique, you ARE special, you ARE different, you ARE great BUT you are relatable, kid.
I’m using that as bait, don’t you see?
Hell, if you think I’m being too “personal” in these letters you haven’t read nothing yet.
I wouldn’t dare … or would I???
I WOULD!
But …
I got sympathy for my “old” self and I will give you complete control over these Too Personal To Publicize letters.
I will give you a password and who you share that password with is in your total control.
But I have a feeling it’s going to be no one at all. It’s a reason why I’m calling them Too Personal To Publicize. But if you do share it, I advise people who you’re already close to or people who you want to get close to … those lucky individuals!
The only thing I will make public about these Too Personal To Publicize letters is the headline.
Now this doesn’t mean I will stop writing the standard letters. The standard letters will still be consistent.
The Too Personal To Publicize letters will be slow.
Why?
Because turning a sheet of paper into a mirror takes time.
You have been warned.
I RULE WITH A IRON FIST!
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
Why Didn’t I Notice This Before?!
The view from Mount Olympus
Dear Har-old,
“You’re just like your dad. Y’all watch the same show over and over.”
Then you responded, “Yeah I watch shows at least twice. First time for entertainment. Second time for educational purposes.”
Remember that.
How about you get it the first time?
Ironically, all your favorite detective shows like Monk, Psych, Criminal Minds and SVU have clues in every episode.
But you don’t have your “aww” moment until the last ten minutes of the show.
Then when you watch the re-run, that’s when you get the detective-eye:
You see the things you blinked on before.
The things you missed because you had your focus on the top of the t.v screen instead of the bottom.
The things you missed because you don’t have two t.v’s in the room, so you had to change the channel back and forth to see what was happening on your other favorite show, that just so happened to be on at the same hour.
Next time you watch a NEW episode of a detective type show, work the case from home.
Open eyes. Open ears. Open mind.
Then when those last ten minutes come you will say “I knew it” instead of “aww.”
Watch shows like these to develop your Mount Olympus foresight.
It’s always who you least expect.
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
The Future You Is Telling The Present You To THANK The Past You
Image via Wikipedia
Dear Har-old,
Because I am the future, foresight is the main “cheat” available to you.
The following will establish your foundation.
First. Learn to live with regrets. Not without. To regret is to learn something new. What you don’t know, learn about; what you do know, learn more about. Regret only cheats you when you beat yourself up over your research skills and when you try the impossible: change the past. Regret aids foresight because the past guides it. History repeats itself.
Second. Learn how to play chess. The best way to improve your ability to think ahead is to practice thinking ahead. Chess strategy consists of setting and achieving long-term goals during the game. Players take a chess approach to life too.
Third. Murphy’s Law. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Read and assimilate Law 29 in The 48 Laws of Power. Your transgression was not seeing it 3 hours away. You should’ve envisioned and planned your reaction to every possible worse case scenario inspired by Betty & Co. Because you didn’t put your reaction under control, you was left to improvise. Five disagreements since you have been back; three of those had the potential for death or prison. Death or prison. DO NOT DIM ME! Now you have hindsight bias, shaking your head and saying, “I knew this was gone happen.” WELL, WHY THE HELL YOU LET IT HAPPEN?!
Your observance is the milestone of 30k. Your money is the root of evil. And that evil is a job you hated. So, if you let what you start with waste away, you will be right back in another job you hate. Let that motivate you! You are an ENTREPRENEUR! Nothing else! You didn’t know at the time but now you know why you consistently saved. So, the future you is telling the present you to THANK the past you. You are a lot closer to two billion with 30k than you are being broke. Your first 100k will be a bitch so work dog-gone hard, man. You’ve been stuck on 30k for too damn long. Since you don’t have income coming in, what you built can be easily demolished by little things such as food, bills, hygiene items, unexpected expenses, etc. Remember: It’s better to be in a by-choice situation than a by-force one. The world is yours!
Futuristically yours,
Har+new
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