growth Archives - Page 2 of 10

Tag: growth (page 2 of 10)

August 24, 2025

Problem Solver: How I Plan to Face Challenges From Now On

We all must make decisions.

Whether you’re an employee, a businessperson, or the CEO of the most powerful tech company in the world, you face problems every day that need solving.

Whether the issue is big or small, we all set goals for ourselves, face challenges, and strive to overcome them.

Fortunately, there’s a fundamental approach to solving these real-life problems, one that can consistently lead you to effective and satisfying solutions.

It may take a few days for a small problem, a couple of months for a life problem, or thousands of years for a cosmic problem, but there is never a problem that cannot be solved

– Dan Koe.

This means that rather than feeling as though your life is out of your control, you can take charge and shape the world around you.

Instead of being overwhelmed by the challenges you face every day, you can learn to enjoy them and overcome them.

This article is long because it serves as a comprehensive guide to problem-solving.

To fully digest this article, try this approach:

Read half of it now
Bookmark where you stopped
Set a phone reminder to finish it later

Now, let’s get started.

Why Most People Are Ineffective Problem Solvers

Several common attitudes can hinder effective problem-solving. And it is exhibited in these four characters. You might have met one or all of them when facing your challenges.

Person 1: Miss Give-Up

Miss Give-Up is the kind of person who gives up immediately whenever she faces even the smallest challenge.

She just sighs and says, “I’ll never be able to do that.” This does not mean that she couldn’t achieve things if he tried. Sometimes she has a great idea or notices a problem that can be fixed.

But Miss Give-Up is terrified of failing and having people laugh at her. Instead of speaking up or taking action, she sits around feeling sorry for herself.

Miss Give-Up can’t take control of her own life. She feels as though no one understands her, and she blames anything bad that happens on everybody else.

Repeatedly, she says the same kinds of things:

“I’ll never be able to do that. I’m just not that talented.”
“I’m not going to try. What if I fail? Everyone will make fun of me.”
“Nobody understands me. Nobody cares about me. Everybody is out to get me.”

Person 2: Mr. Fault Finder

Mr Fault Finder, on the other hand, is never afraid to speak up.

He is a professional critic. Whatever the plan, he is ready to point out the shortcomings and shoot down everyone else’s ideas. If someone tries something and fails, he’ll be the first to say, “I told you so.”

Mr Fault Finder is always eager to blame someone else whenever things go wrong.

He may have a lot to say about other people’s mistakes, but he never does much of anything himself.

Mr. Fault Finder says things like:

“Come on, I told you what you needed to do. Why can’t you get it done?”
“Well, that won’t work. What a stupid idea!”
“I told you that it would get screwed up. It’s all your fault.”

Person 3: Miss Big-Ideas

Mr. Fault Finder may be a big downer, but Miss Big-Ideas has her head stuck in the clouds.

She loves coming up with new ideas. But it rarely goes beyond that. She never bothers to figure out how to turn her ideas into real plans, and she doesn’t try to get anything done.

Miss Big-Ideas is satisfied just thinking about her great dreams. They’re always better in her head than they would be in reality, anyway.

Miss Big-Ideas has many audacious dreams – dreams that never seem to become realities:

“I want to write a novel!”
“Wouldn’t it be great if I started my own business?”
“I’m an ideas person. Don’t bother me with the tiny details!”

Person 4: Mr. Just-Do-It

Mr. Just-Do-It may not seem like a non-problem solver when you first meet him.

He’s not one to worry about problems or entertain negative thoughts. And when something goes wrong, he quickly jumps into action. His attitude is “I can’t change the past. But I can do something now.”

Mr. Just-Do-It’s tenacity and proactiveness are positive traits.

However, if he knew how to pause and think for a minute before rushing to execute, he would be able to achieve so much more. He also tends to blame every failure on a simple lack of effort and thinks any problem can be solved by trying harder.

When he makes up his mind about how to solve a problem, he refuses to change course. He’s not interested in seeking out the root cause of his problems or in considering alternative solutions. He just doesn’t realise that stopping to think can be just as important as taking action.

Mr. Just-Do-It can often be heard saying things like:

“I’ll never give up. I’ve got to overcome this challenge!”
“I know this will work if I just put in a little more effort.”
“Why stop to think? That’s just a waste of time. Everything is about execution!”

Are you one of these types?

Do you ever find yourself sighing and giving up?

Which do you think is easier? To criticise other people or try to do anything on your own?

Do you love to dream but hate to plan? Or do you attack problems head-on but fail to turn on the brakes when you aren’t getting anything done?

Most importantly, are you more like a problem solver?

The types of people when it comes to Solving Problems

Which one of these types do you want to be?

Essentials of The Problem Solver

The Problem solver has a real flair for setting goals and getting things accomplished.

By striking a balance between thinking and acting, they can accomplish amazing things. Problem solvers enjoy learning from their successes as well as from their failures.

The toolkit of a Problem solver includes identifying the root cause of a problem and setting specific goals. They have positive attitudes and stay focused on what can be changed rather than what has already happened.

The Problem solver comes up with specific action plans to fix their problems and then executes them right away. Once they act, they constantly monitor their own progress.

Problem-solving isn’t a talent that some people have and others don’t. It’s a habit. By developing the right skills and adopting the right attitude, anyone can become a problem-solver.

What is Problem Solving?

Problem solving is a process that can be broken down into four steps:

Understand the current situation
Identify the root cause of the problem
Develop an effective action plan and
Execute until the problem is solved, making modifications as necessary.

All you have to do is understand the situation, identify the root cause, develop an effective plan, and execute.

Even if the problem you face is big and complicated, if you learn how to break it down into smaller, manageable problems, you will be able to solve it.

The Four Steps of an Effective Problem Solver

Once you learn the basic problem-solving approach, you can stop panicking and gain the confidence to solve any problems that you face in life, whether they are about work, business, or your personal life.

I will share some toolboxes that help you in each step of solving problems

PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL-BOX: LOGIC TREE

A logic tree is a great tool to use when you solve problems. It’s a visual tool that helps when you are trying to identify all the potential root causes of a problem and generate a wide variety of solutions.

The key to making a useful logic tree is to break down a problem into categories without leaving anything out. And to group similar items under the same branch.

For example, here is how to use the logic tree to solve a problem like selecting a career path to take after undergraduate studies.

Logic Tree: A Toolbox of a Problem Solver

It may take you a while to get the knack for making logic trees, but once you master it, it will help you to think beyond the initial spark of an idea and lead you to come up with new and effective solutions to your problems.

How to Identify Root Causes of Problems

Life is full of challenges.

You face obstacles as you try to accomplish your goals and dreams. Even the problems that pop up in your daily life can be overwhelming.

But that doesn’t mean you should just give up! Instead, try stepping back and figuring out the root cause of the problems and how you can overcome them.

And here are the steps to do it.

Step 1: Diagnose the situation and identify the root cause of the problem.

List all the potential root causes of the problem.
Develop a hypothesis for the likely root cause.
Determine the analyses and information required to test the hypothesis.
Analyze and identify the root cause.

Step 2: Develop the solution.

Develop a wide variety of solutions to solve the problem.
Prioritize actions.
Develop an implementation plan.

PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL-BOX: YES/NO TREE

You can use a yes/no tree to help you figure out a problem’s root cause or decide how to solve a problem.

To create one, you answer multiple yes/no questions. Write down a question and then consider whether a yes or no answer will lead to an explanation (a bucket) or another question.

Repeat this process for each further question until you’ve created buckets for all the possible explanations.

For the problem of selecting a career path to take after undergraduate studies, here is the yes/no tree for one of its potential solutions.

Yes/No Tree

1B. Develop a Hypothesis for the Likely Root Cause

A hypothesis is a hunch. It’s what you think is the most likely explanation for your problem, but you haven’t yet confirmed it.

By determining your hypothesis and thinking through the reasoning that underlies it, you will be able to check whether it’s right.

From there, you can move on to making a sound decision that will lead to a productive solution.

1c. Determine the Analyses and Information Required to test the Hypothesis

This is where the information collection and analysis part of the problem-solving process comes into play.

You’re not collecting information just for the sake of collecting it or analysing it just for fun. You’re doing it to help you make better decisions.

Try to collect and analyse information efficiently and effectively. This will help you make better use of your limited time and resources.

PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL-BOX: Problem-solving Design Plan

If you start collecting and analysing data without first clarifying the question you are trying to answer, you’re probably doing yourself more harm than good.

You’ll end up drowning in a flood of information and realise only later that most of that research was a waste of time.

To avoid this problem, you should develop a problem-solving design plan before you start chasing after information.

In the design plan, you clarify the issues you are trying to solve, state your current hypotheses and rationale, and list the analyses, actions, and information required to prove or disprove those hypotheses.

Developing this plan before you start researching will drastically increase your problem-solving productivity.

Here is an example of the design plan for the problem we have used as an example.

Design Plan: A Toolbox of a Problem Solver

Additionally, putting your plan down on paper will not only clarify your thoughts.

If you’re working in a group, this plan will also help your team focus on what needs to be done and provide the jumping-off point for your group brainstorming. You will be able to focus on only what you really need to know to decide.

When to Prioritize the Actions to take

Make the key criteria the potential impact of the action and its ease of implementation.

Rate the impact, from high to low, on the vertical axis. On the horizontal axis, plot the ease of implementation, from hard to easy.

The best solutions fall in the top right box, with high impact and easy implementation. The least effective solutions fall in the lower left box, with low impact and hard implementation.

Still on the problem of which career path to take immediately after school, here is what the matrix might look like when prioritising which actions to take.

Then, You Develop an Implementation Plan

Your priority should be the actions in the top right box because their impact is high and the ease of implementation is easy. The next priorities are the actions in the top left or bottom right boxes. The least attractive are the ones in the bottom left box.

People have different strengths. You can accomplish more by collaborating with others who have strengths you may lack.

Your Goals and Achievements are Simply Problems that Need Solving

Problem solvers don’t just have big dreams; they go after their larger goals by breaking them down into smaller milestones.

They ask themselves, “What should I do this year, or in the next three months, or today?” These milestones guide problem solvers toward their dreams and help to keep them motivated.

Once they lay out a plan for achieving a dream, they then figure out the most effective way to achieve each smaller goal and to take the actions needed.

There’s a proven process for a problem solver for figuring out how to achieve such a goal.

Set a clear goal.
Determine the gap between the goal and the current situation.
Form a hypothesis about how to close the gap and achieve the goal.
1. List as many options and ideas as possible.
2. Select the best ideas as the hypothesis.
Check the hypothesis. Go back to step 3 if the hypothesis is disproved.
1. Determine the analyses and information required to test the hypothesis.
2. Analyze and develop an action plan.

Step 1: Set a Clear Goal

Bad examples of setting goals are “I want a laptop”; “buy a laptop.”

A good example is: “I want to buy a 700k used Dell laptop within six months without borrowing money from others.”

The first two examples are unclear. It doesn’t clearly state what you want, when you want it, or how you want to obtain it. In the third example, these details are clarified.

If you have specific conditions for achieving your goal, you should include them in the goal statement. The more specific the goal is, the more specific the action plan will be.

Whenever you set a goal, get into the habit of asking yourself,

What specifically do I want to achieve?
When do I want to achieve it?
What specific conditions do I have?

Step 2: Determine the Gap Between the Goal and Current Situation

Once you set a clear goal, you need to identify the gap between your goal and your current situation.

If the gap is small, the solution may be obvious. But if the gap is large, you may have to really think through how to achieve the goal.

Step 3: Form a Hypothesis

3A. List as many options and ideas to close the gap as possible

Take a moment to list a few ideas. Be as specific as possible.

What did you come up with? Were you able to think of a wide variety of ideas? Sometimes it’s hard to break out of your current way of thinking and come up with innovative ideas.

However, by using the logic tree, you will be able to come up with a wide variety of more specific ideas.

To make the tree grow vertically, repeatedly ask yourself, “Are there other ways of solving the problem?”

You can grow the tree horizontally by asking, “Specifically, how or what falls into this category?”

In this manner, you’ll end up developing a wide variety of specific ideas.

3B. Select the best ideas as your hypothesis

Once you create your logic tree, start to look for the best ideas so you can come up with a hypothesis for how you can close the identified gap.

You can cut a branch out of your logic tree if the idea is clearly not effective or feasible, or if it goes against your values.

When you set a clear hypothesis and rationale, you are more able to collect information and conduct analyses efficiently and discover if your hypothesis is true.

PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL-BOX: Hypothesis Pyramid

The hypothesis pyramid is a great tool for structuring your argument.

Using it to clarify your conclusion and rationale before diving into data collection and analysis will improve your productivity dramatically.

It’s also useful for communicating your hypothesis to others. The basic structure places the conclusion or main message at the top and lists the supporting rationales on the bottom, like the supporting bricks of a pyramid.

There are two main types of hypothesis pyramid: the grouping structure and the argument structure.

The Problem

The answers using a Hypothesis Pyramid

Step 4: Check the hypothesis

4A: Determine the analysis and information required to test the hypothesis.

Once you come up with a hypothesis for how your will achieve your goal, your next step is to figure out what analyses and information will be required to test your hypothesis.

4B: Analyze and develop an Action Plan

The Most Critical Step is Execution.

You have worked all the way through the process from the beginning of this guide. You set a clear goal, figured out the gap between your goal and your current situation, formed hypotheses on how you could close that gap, and checked your hypotheses to make sure they would work.

Now you have reached the most critical step: execution.

The impact of your actions is determined by the following equation:

Impact = plan effectiveness x quality of execution

To achieve the most impact, you need to have an effective plan and great execution. If you have one but not the other, you won’t be able to reach your goal. You need both.

Once you have a concrete plan of action to achieve your goal, don’t forget to create a concrete schedule. Write down everything you are going to do, and when you plan to do it.

Remember to monitor your progress and revise your plan as necessary. Very few things in life ever go as perfectly as planned.

How to Correctly Weigh the Pros and Cons of Your Decisions

The Problem solver is a great decision-maker.

They rarely regret their choices because they take the time beforehand to consider all their options and figure out the best decision for them personally.

PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL-BOX: Pros and Cons: Criteria and Evaluation

Two tools are very helpful when you need to evaluate multiple options and select the best one.

Tool 1: Pros and Cons

The first tool is called pros and cons. This tool helps you broaden your options and ensures that you consider both the good aspects (pros) and bad aspects (cons) before making a final decision.

Step 1: List All the Options

Step 2: List the Pros and Cons of Each of the Options

Next list all the pros and cons of each of the options. Even if you think a certain option is the most attractive, get into the habit of asking yourself, “Aren’t there negative aspects? Are there other positive aspects?”

We tend to be swayed by our first impressions.

If we first think something is attractive, we tend to try to collect evidence that supports that idea. On the other hand. if we think something is unattractive, we tend to highlight only its negative points.

It is critical to avoid this tendency to make a sound decision.

Step 3: Weight each of the positive and negative points you listed

Not all the arguments for or against each choice have the same importance. The next step is to assign a weight to each of the items.

Step 4: Select the Most Attractive Option

Tool 2: Criteria and Evaluation

The next tool is the criteria and evaluation. You can use this tool to clarify which criteria, or qualifications, you should use to evaluate your options and decide the importance of each set of criteria. and effectively evaluate your options.

List All the Options
List the Evaluation Criteria
Decide the Degree of importance of each criterion

You can use three levels, like high, medium, and low, or you can use a 10-point scale.

Step 4: Evaluate Each Option Based on the Weighted Criteria

Step 5: Select the Most Attractive Option

Solving Problems Effectively Will Ultimately Change Your Life

Spend less time worrying about things and more time thinking about actions you can take to get closer to your goals, then actually take action. Be a problem solver.

Ask for advice. You don’t have to figure everything out on your own. Look for information to help you make the best decision in the given time.

Challenge your thinking processes and your conclusions.

Ask the following questions:

What are the pros and cons? Do I have the full list? Which option looks more attractive considering both the pros and the cons? Are the pros and cons really pros and cons? What actions could I take to enhance the pros and to minimize or eliminate the cons?
What are the specific criteria I should be using? Do I have the right ones? Am I weighing each criterion the right way?
Is my evaluation correct? What information am I basing my evaluation on? Is it accurate, up-to-date, and unbiased?
What actions could I take to improve the attractiveness of my options?

Problem-solving is easy when you know how to set a clear goal, figure out how to reach it, and follow through while reviewing your progress and making changes to your plan as necessary.

If you develop a habit of being a problem solver, you’ll be able to make the most of your talents and take control of your life.

You can solve not only your own problems, but the problems of your work, your business, and your community – and maybe even the world.

N.B: This article is largely inspired and takes a lot of its source material from the book, Problem Solving 101 by Ken Watanabe.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

Become Your Highest Self: Every Sunday, I share actionable tips from successful people on how to master money, mindset and meaning. (Please confirm your subscription on the first mail received so the newsletter does not go to junk.)
Fast Track Book: Stay relevant, master new skills, and be ready for whatever life throws at you. This is the complete roadmap to speed up your learning process and expand the opportunities available to you. Available on Amazon.
Personal Wealth Maximizer: Take control of your finances and build financial freedom. The Personal Wealth Maximizer give you the exact knowledge and tools to break free from money struggles and build financial confidence.

July 20, 2025

Blue Lock Framework: Dying to Self to Become Your Best

The Blue Lock Framework is a ruthless yet brilliant approach to understanding what it takes to improve continually.

Long before this framework existed, Marcus Aurelius made a statement in the second century while he was serving as emperor of the Roman Empire.

Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left and live it properly.

Nearly 1900 years later, the above quote remains extremely valuable and applicable. I will explain how and why with the framework mentioned earlier.

The Blue Lock Framework is a concept from a modern anime titled Blue Lock.

Blue Lock describes a brutal football facility where 300 strikers are locked away from the world, forced to compete in a ruthless system designed to create Japan’s ultimate striker.

The system does this through elimination, ego, and evolution.

At the heart of the story is Yoichi Isagi. He is a determined but unpolished player who learns to harness his unique strengths to rise above his rivals.

The good news is that Isagi transformed from an average player into a monster striker by destroying his old identity and rebuilding himself from scratch.

Blue Lock isn’t just a football anime.

It’s about killing everything that holds you back.

Timidity, people-pleasing, fear of failure, self-doubt. Let it all go. Just like Yoichi Isagi, the journey is about continually growing and evolving into a more focused, self-aware, and mature version of yourself.

The Blue Lock framework isn’t just for football; it’s a blueprint for dominating your field, whatever it may be.

Like Yoichi Isagi, you entered this world with dreams and ambitions, but somewhere along the way, you got comfortable. You might have settled for “good enough.” You started playing it safe.

By adopting the Blue Lock framework, you can “die to self” to become your best self.

And here is how the concept of Blue Lock can apply to you in real life.

1. Recognise that You are a ‘Striker’

The modern dilemma is that most people live as ‘passers’.

They wait for opportunities, rely on others, and avoid the spotlight. But the world rewards ‘strikers.’ It compensates those who take the shot, demand the ball, and refuse to blend in.

You are a ‘striker’ in your own life.

In Blue Lock, strikers are selfish by design. They don’t wait for permission. Strikers seize their moment.

You must adopt the same mindset.

Your dreams, your goals, your success. They depend on you taking action.

No one will hand you the ball. You must demand it.

2. Embrace your ‘Ego’

You can’t be selfless without first being selfish.

In the anime series, Jinpachi Ego is the general manager of the Blue Lock project. He strongly believes only his methods can lead to Japan’s victory in the World Cup. Most importantly, Jinpachi tells the players that becoming the best striker in the world requires one thing: EGO.

With the Blue Lock framework, ego is not arrogance.

It is a burning desire to become number one. Ego is the unshakable belief that you are the one who will make the difference. In Blue Lock, Isagi’s transformation began when he understood what ego truly meant.

Isagi stopped doubting himself. He started trusting his instincts. This is your call to do the same.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be – Lao Tzu

Do you want to grow in your craft, improve your relationships, or build wealth?

First, you must accept that you are the problem. And you are also the solution. You must desire growth enough to change.

The version of you that seeks approval or hides behind comfort must die for the competent, courageous version to rise.

Most people fail not because they lack potential. They fail because they lack ego-driven ambition. Most people don’t possess the kind of hunger that dares to say, I want to be the best.

You must embrace your Ego. Everything else flows from there.

3. Enter the ‘Blue Lock’

Once you recognise you are a ‘striker’ and embrace your ‘ego’, you must step inside the pressure chamber.

Blue Lock was an isolated facility where strikers were cut off from the outside world. Their phones were confiscated and their old lives erased. This extreme environment forced them to focus solely on their evolution.

They had to confront who they were when stripped of all comfort and familiarity.

What is your Blue Lock?

Is it waking up at 5 a.m. to build that business? What about saying no to short-term pleasure so you can build long-term greatness? Is it dropping toxic friendships, avoiding mindless scrolling, or daring to build in public?

Everyone who has achieved something real had to enter their own version of Blue Lock.

You’ll face discomfort, isolation, and rejection. But that is where growth lives. Don’t avoid it.

This is how you commit to the process of dying to your old self.

Enter it. Stay in it. Emerge different.

4. Kill Your Old Self

In Blue Lock, Yoichi Isagi’s greatest enemy wasn’t other players.

It was himself. His indecision. His fear and his passivity.

Eventually, Isagi’s breakthrough came when he realised his “team-first” mentality was a weakness disguised as a virtue. He had to kill the people-pleaser, the one who passed instead of shooting. Isagi ‘killed’ the version of himself who prioritised being liked over being effective.

The secret of life is to “die before you die” — and find that there is no death. – Eckhart Tolle

This is how real transformation happens – through the death of who you used to be.

In Blue Lock, every match is an elimination round. You either evolve or you’re gone. And that’s how life is, too.

Every level of growth demands a version of you to die.

You can’t be a confident entrepreneur and still carry the insecurity of your student days. If you are still being emotionally unavailable, you can’t be a good partner. You can’t be financially free while living with a poverty mindset.

Stop protecting the version of yourself that got you where you are.

That person was perfect for getting you this far, but they’ll be the anchor that keeps you from going further. Identify the comfortable habits, the safe choices and the people-pleasing tendencies. Once identified, all these need to die.

You must consciously kill the older version of yourself.

That might mean letting go of beliefs, habits, and identities. And even people. The death of your old self is the birth of your true self.

If you think this is not true, ask Jesus Christ.

5. Compete Ruthlessly (Against Yourself)

The Blue Lock framework is not about being better than others.

It’s about being better than your previous self. Every single day. Isagi didn’t win because he had raw talent.

Isagi Yoichi won because he was obsessed with evolving.

He analysed every loss. Studied every opponent. Broke down his strengths and weaknesses.

That’s what made him dangerous.

You, too, must develop that inner hunger to dominate your past. Yesterday’s wins mean nothing if you’ve become complacent today. Audit your habits, track your goals and compete with your own performance.

Compete ruthlessly against yourself.

6. Develop Your ‘Weapon’

Every successful player in Blue Lock discovered their unique weapon.

For Isagi, it was spatial awareness. Speed was Chigiri Hyoma’s unique weapon. For Bachira, it was dribbling.

What is your weapon?

Without a weapon, you’re just another average person trying hard. With a weapon, you become irreplaceable. In real life, your weapon could be your voice, your storytelling, your coding skills, your leadership, or your grit.

Discover it. Refine it. Own it.

You don’t need to be good at everything.

You just need to be elite at one thing and valuable in a few others. Stop trying to fix all your weaknesses. Instead, identify your one natural advantage and develop it to an extreme level.

What’s the thing you do that makes others say, “I wish I could do that”?

What feels effortless to you but difficult for others? That’s your weapon. Now sharpen it until it’s lethal.

You don’t rise by copying.

You rise by mastering what’s uniquely yours. Your evolution begins the moment you realise your edge. Then you go all in.

7. Adapt or Perish

In the anime, the Blue Lock system constantly rearranged teams and rankings.

The rules always changed. New systems, new teammates, new challenges. Players who couldn’t adapt were eliminated.

Why? To prevent comfort and encourage adaptability.

For instance, every time Isagi got comfortable, something shook him. He had to adapt or perish. Isagi’s greatest strength wasn’t any physical ability – it was his capacity to evolve rapidly.

When the game changed, he changed with it. When his weapon became predictable, he developed new ones. Isagi became a genius of adaptability.

Adaptability is the ultimate survival skill.

You must design your life the same way. Comfort kills ambition. If your daily routine feels too easy, you’re not growing.

Set goals that scare you.

Chase dreams that stretch you. Join rooms where you feel like an underdog. Have systems ready for everything.

Stay curious about new methods, tools, and approaches. Be ready to abandon what you know when it stops working.

Your ability to reinvent yourself is your greatest asset.

8. Collaborate to Dominate

Great teammates share your vision and push you to be better.

In the later episodes of Blue Lock, players begin to realise something profound. You don’t become great alone. Even the world’s best striker needs team dynamics to shine.

But here’s the twist: you must first become complete alone.

In Blue Lock, rivals aren’t enemies. They’re catalysts. Bachira, Nagi, and Rin were rivals who pushed Isagi to evolve.

Work on yourself until you’re not a burden to any team.

Then find your tribe. Form alliances. With the Blue Lock framework, you collaborate not from lack, but from strength.

Find people who are better than you.

Study them. Compete with them. Let them destroy your ego so you can rebuild it stronger.

Learn to see every person who outperforms you as a gift.

Because they’re showing you your next level. This is how you turn competition into cooperation. This is how legends are made.

Develop Your Blue Lock Framework

To embrace the Blue Lock Life, you must:

Recognise you are a ‘Striker’ – Take charge of your destiny.
Embrace Your ‘Ego’ – Choose to want more for your life.
Enter the Blue Lock – Commit to a space where you prioritise purpose and growth.
Kill your Old Self – Let go of limiting beliefs and identities.
Compete Ruthlessly (against yourself) – Level up daily against your former self.
Develop Your Weapon – Know your unique skill. Max it out.
Adapt or Perish – Chase pressure. Kill complacency.
Collaborate to Dominate – Build with others from a place of power.

By following these eight principles, you can adopt a Blue Lock framework that focuses on destroying your limitations, maximising your unique strengths, and continuously evolving to reach levels you never thought possible.

The Blue Lock framework isn’t about being the best when compared to others. It’s about being the best version of yourself.

And remember this:
“To find your highest self, you must first destroy who you were told to be.”

Become your own ultimate striker in the game of life.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

Become Your Highest Self: Every Sunday, I share actionable tips from successful people on how to master money, mindset and meaning. (Please confirm your subscription on the first mail received so the newsletter does not go to junk.)
Fast Track Book: Stay relevant, master new skills, and be ready for whatever life throws at you. This is the complete roadmap to speed up your learning process and expand the opportunities available to you. Available on Amazon.
Personal Wealth Maximizer: Take control of your finances and build financial freedom. The Personal Wealth Maximizer give you the exact knowledge and tools to break free from money struggles and build financial confidence.

July 13, 2025

Being Present is All You Need

Being present is the master key that unlocks peace, dissolves inner conflict, and transforms how you experience every moment of your existence.

I will explain how and why throughout this article.

Right now, as you read these words, there’s a voice in your head commenting on them.

It’s analysing, judging, remembering something similar, or already jumping ahead to what comes next.

This voice feels like “you” – but what if it’s the prison guard keeping you locked away from the only moment that truly exists?

Most people live their entire lives as prisoners of their minds, mistaking the endless chatter of thoughts for reality itself.

They spend their days either replaying the past or rehearsing the future, missing the profound truth that life only happens in one place: the present moment.

This constant mental time-travel creates suffering, anxiety, and a deep sense that something essential is missing from life.

But here’s the liberating truth: you are not your mind.

You are the conscious awareness that observes your thoughts, and in that recognition lies your freedom. You don’t need complex techniques, years of therapy, or perfect life circumstances.

Being present is all you need, and here’s how.

You Are Not Your Mind

The mind is a great tool when used rightly.

However, when misused, it becomes a destructive instrument. For a more accurate context, you usually don’t use your mind. Your mind uses you instead.

The easiest way to know this is by answering these 3 questions:

Can you be free of your mind whenever you want to?
Have you found the “off” button for your inner thoughts?
If you decide to stop “thinking” now, how long does your mind stay silent?

You believe that you are your mind, but this is an illusion.

Not being able to stop thinking is alarming, but we don’t realise because almost everyone is suffering from it. And it is now considered normal. But honestly, the mind has taken you over.

There are dangers to this subtle takeover.

The mind starts with a “voice inside your head.” This voice is the product of all your history as well as of the collective cultural mindset you inherited. This voice then allows you to see the present through the eyes of your past and get a twisted view of it.

Let me give you an example.

For instance, your mind often imagines things going wrong and negative outcomes; this is called worry. Many people also live with a tormented mind in their head that continuously attacks and punishes them. This causes untold misery and unhappiness, as well as disease to this set of individuals.

The good news is that you can free yourself from your mind.

This is the only true freedom.

Start earning your freedom by beginning to listen to the voice in your head as often as you can. Pay specific attention to any repetitive thought patterns. This is how you start being present.

When you hear that voice, listen to it neutrally. This means you don’t judge your thoughts. When you do this, you will realise that you are not this voice. You have also developed your presence.

This presence arises from beyond the mind.

Because now, when you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought. You are now a watcher of the thought. As you listen to the thought, you will feel a conscious presence (your higher self) behind or underneath the thought, as it were. The thought slowly loses its power over you and quickly subsides because you are no longer energising the mind by identifying with it.

This is the beginning of the end of intrusive and habitual thinking.

When your thoughts subside, you will notice the voice in your head is silent. This is a gap of “no-mind”. At first, the gaps will be short, a few seconds perhaps, but gradually they will become longer. When these gaps occur, you feel a certain stillness and peace inside you.

A sense of stillness and peace deepens, and being present becomes your number one activity.

Practice this “Thought-Breaking Process” every day

Take any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and give it your fullest attention, so that it becomes an end in itself.

For instance, every time you brush your teeth, pay close attention to every hand movement, every touch of the brush between your lips, even your breathing. Be present.

Or when you eat food, pay attention to the sense perceptions associated with this activity: the sound and taste of each bite, the movement of your mouth, the smell of the food, and so on. Become aware of a silent but powerful sense of presence.

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. – Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

There is only one benchmark by which you can measure your success in this practice. How much peace did you feel within yourself?

This is the first most important step in being present. Learn to separate yourself from your mind.

You might ask this question – Isn’t thinking important to survive in this world?

The truth is your mind is an instrument and a tool.

Your mind is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is completed, you lay it down. About 8o to 90 percent of most people’s thinking is only repetitive, useless and harmful. Observe your mind and you will realize that this is true.

Your mind is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is completed, you lay it down. About 8o to 90 per cent of most people’s thinking is only repetitive, useless and harmful. Observe your mind and you will realise that this is true.

It’s important to note that when you are no longer your mind, you don’t lose your ability to analyze or learn how to think more clearly.

Thinking and being present are not synonymous. Thinking is only a small aspect of being present. When you are fully present, you still use your thinking mind when needed, but in a much more focused and effective way than before.

In the state of being present, your mind is used mostly for practical purposes, while being free of the involuntary internal dialogue.

Being Present is Your Way Out of Pain

You must learn how not to create pain in the present.

The greater part of human pain is avoidable. It is self-created when the unobserved mind runs your life. The mind creates pain by constantly denying and resisting you from being present. You see, the mind, to ensure that it stays in control, seeks continuously to subdue the present moment with the past and future.

By ignoring or denying the present, an increasingly heavy weight of time (which is past and future) accumulates in the human mind. Everyone already suffers from this weight, but they also keep adding to it every moment whenever they avoid the present moment and reduce it to a means of getting to some future moment, which only exists in the mind, never in reality.

Because of this, the accumulation of time in the collective and individual human mind now holds a vast amount of residual pain from the past.

Yes, the present moment is sometimes unacceptable, unpleasant, or awful.

But it is what it is. Accept and then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.

Why being present is best for you.

If the egoic mind is running your life, you cannot truly be at ease. You cannot be at peace or fulfilled except for brief gaps when you obtained what you wanted. Or when a craving has just been fulfilled.

Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply – Thich Nhat Hanh

Since the ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things.

The egoic mind needs to be both defended and fed constantly. The most common ego identifications have to do with:

Possessions
Relationships
Belief systems
The work you do
Knowledge and education
Personal and family history
Social status and recognition
Physical appearance and special talents
Political, national and racial backgrounds
Religious and other collective identifications.

None of these is you.

Digging Deeper to Being Present

Don’t seek yourself in the mind.

Yes, you might feel that there is still a great deal you need to learn about the workings of your mind before you can be fully present.

The truth remains that the problems of the mind cannot be solved at the level of the mind. Once you have understood the basic dysfunction, there isn’t much else that you need to learn or understand.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. – Buddha

Once you recognise the root of not being present as identification with the mind, you step out of it. You become present. When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting trapped in it. The mind in itself is not dysfunctional.

The mind is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek yourself in it and mistake it for who you are. It then becomes the egoic mind and takes over your whole life.

Being Present is Understanding that Time is an Illusion

Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion.

What you perceive as precious is not time but the one thing that is out of time: Being Present. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time (past and future), the more you miss being present, the most precious thing there is.

Why is being present the most precious thing?

Firstly, because it is the only thing. It’s all there is. The eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds, the one factor that remains constant. The goal is to keep moving forward, not keep looking forward.

Secondly, being obsessed with time, instead of being present to accomplish your goals, is wrong.

Obsession with time introduces the pressure to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. The pressure arises because the past gives you an identity, and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfilment in whatever form. Both are illusions.

Nothing exists outside this present moment.

Have you ever experienced, done, thought, or felt anything when you are not present?

Do you think you ever will? Is it possible for anything to happen when you are not present? The answer is obvious, is it not?

Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened while being present.

Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen while being present.

What you think of as the past is a memory trace, stored in the mind, of a former state of being present. When you remember the past, you reactivate a memory trace, and you do so while being present.

The future is an imagined state of being present, a projection of the mind. When the future comes, it comes as you are present. When you think about the future, you do it while being present.

Past and future have no reality of their own. Just as a mirror has no image of its own, but can only reflect what stands before it, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power, and reality of the eternal present. Their reality is “mirrored” from being present.

Accessing the State of Being Present.

Make it your practice to withdraw attention from the past and future whenever they are not needed.

Step out of the time dimension as much as possible in everyday life. If you find it hard to be present directly, start by observing the habitual tendency of your mind to want to escape being present.

You will observe that the future is usually imagined as either better or worse than the present. If the imagined future is better, it gives you hope or pleasurable anticipation. If it is worse, it creates anxiety. Both are illusory.

The past is a narrative and the future is a fiction. The only absolute truth is here and now. – Naval Ravikant

Through self-observation, more presence comes into your life automatically.

The moment you realise you are not present, you are present. Whenever you can observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it.

Once you can feel what it means to be present, it becomes much easier to simply choose to step out of the time dimension whenever time is not needed for practical purposes and dig deeper into being present.

This does not impair your ability to use time (past or future) when you need to refer to it for practical matters.

Nor does it impair your ability to use your mind. In fact, it enhances it. When you do use your mind, it will be sharper, more focused.

Letting Go of Psychological Time

Learn to use time in the practical aspects of your life (we can call this “clock time”) but immediately return to present-moment awareness when those practical matters have been dealt with.

In this way, there will be no build-up of “psychological time,” which is identification with the past and continuous compulsive projection into the future.

Clock time is not just about making an appointment or planning a trip.

It includes learning from the past so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes. Setting goals and working toward them. Predicting the future through patterns and laws, physical, mathematical and so on, learned from the past and taking appropriate action based on our predictions.

But even here, within the sphere of practical living, where we cannot do without reference to past and future, the present moment remains the essential factor.

Any lesson from the past becomes relevant and is applied now. Any planning as well as working toward achieving a particular goal is done now.

All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment: action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way. – Marcus Aurelius

Your focus of attention must always be in the mode of being present, but you are still peripherally aware of time.

Use clock time but be free of psychological time.

Be alert as you practice this so that you do not unconsciously transform clock time into psychological time.

For example, if you made a mistake in the past and learn from it now, you are using clock time. On the other hand, if you dwell on it mentally, and self-criticism, remorse, or guilt come up, then you are making the mistake into “me” and “mine”: you make it part of your sense of self, and it has become psychological time, which is always linked to a false sense of identity.

If you set yourself a goal and work toward it, you are using clock time. You are aware of where you want to go, but you honour and give your fullest attention to the step that you are taking at this moment. If you then become excessively focused on the goal, perhaps because you are seeking happiness, fulfilment, or a more complete sense of self in it, your state of being present is no longer honoured. It becomes reduced to a mere stepping stone to the future, with no intrinsic value.

Clock time then turns into psychological time. Your life’s journey is no longer an adventure, just an obsessive need to arrive, to attain, to “make it.” You no longer see or smell the flowers by the wayside either, nor are you aware of the beauty and the miracle of life that unfolds all around you when being present.

The Joy of Being Present

To know if you’re getting caught up in worrying about the past or future, ask yourself this simple question: Am I enjoying what I’m doing right now? Does it feel easy and light?

If your answer is no, then time is covering up the present moment, and you currently perceive life as a burden or a struggle.

When this happens, do not be concerned with the result of your action. Just give attention to the action itself. The result will come on its own.

The moment your attention turns to you being present, you feel a presence, a stillness, a peace. You no longer depend on the future for fulfilment and satisfaction. You don’t look to it for salvation. Therefore, you are not attached to the results.

When being present is your default state, how can you not succeed? You have succeeded already.

How The Mind Plans to Avoid Being Present

The best indicator of your degree of being present is how you deal with life’s challenges when they come.

Through those challenges, an already absent person tends to become more deeply absent, and a present person more intensely present.

You can use a challenge to awaken you, or you can allow it to pull you into even deeper sleep.

For instance, if you cannot be present even in normal circumstances, such as when you are sitting alone in a room, or listening to someone, then you certainly won’t be able to stay present when something “goes wrong” or you are faced with difficult people or situations, with loss or the threat of loss.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it. – Thich Nhat Hanh

You will be taken over by a reaction, which ultimately is always some form of fear, and pulled into deep absence. Those challenges are your tests.

Your level of being Present isn’t measured by how long you can meditate or what spiritual experiences you have. It’s shown by how you handle everyday situations and challenges.

Always watch out for Anxiety

Make it a habit to monitor your mental-emotional state through self-observation.

‘Am I at ease at this moment?” is a good question to ask yourself frequently.

Or you can ask: “What’s going on inside me at this moment?”

Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside.

If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within, secondary reality without.

But don’t answer these questions immediately. Direct your attention inward. Have a look inside yourself.

What kind of thoughts is your mind producing? What do you feel?

Direct your attention to the body. Is there any tension?

Once you detect that there is a low level of unease, the background static, see in what way you are avoiding, resisting, or denying life. Examine how you are denying yourself from being present.

There are many ways in which people unconsciously resist the present moment: Negativity, unhappiness, complaining and worry.

But the important point is this.

Wherever you are, be there totally.

See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather.

To complain is always a non-acceptance of what it is. It perpetually carries an unconscious negative charge.

When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power.

So, change the situation by acting or by speaking out if necessary or possible. Leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.

If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options:

Remove yourself from the situation
Change it, or
Accept it.

If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences. No excuses. No negativity. Keep your inner space clear.

OPTION 1 or 2: REMOVING OR CHANGING YOUR SITUATION

If you take any action, whether it’s leaving or changing your situation, drop the negativity first, if possible.

Action arising out of insight into what is required is more effective than action arising out of negativity. Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time.

If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it’s no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.

What if fear is preventing you from acting?

Acknowledge the fear. Watch it and pay attention to it. Be fully present with it.

Doing so cuts the link between fear and your thinking. Don’t let the fear rise into pour mind. Use the power of being present. Fear cannot prevail against it.

OPTION 3: ACCEPTING YOUR SITUATION

If there is truly nothing that you can do to change your present situation, and you can’t remove yourself from it, then accept your here and now totally by dropping all inner resistance.

Get rid of the false, unhappy self that loves feeling miserable, resentful, or sorry for itself. This is called surrender. Surrender is not weakness.

Through surrender, you will be free internally of the situation. You may then find that the situation changes without any effort on your part. In any case, you are free.

Or is there something that you “should” be doing but are not doing it? Get up and do it now. Alternatively, completely accept your inactivity, laziness, or passivity at this moment, if that is your choice. Go into it fully. Enjoy it. Be as lazy or inactive as you can.

If you go into it while being present, you will soon come out of it. Or maybe you won’t. Either way, there is no inner conflict, no resistance, no negativity.

Stress as a Mind’s Strategy to Avoid Being Present

Are you stressed? Are you so busy getting to the future that the present is reduced to a means of getting there?

Stress is caused by being “here” but wanting to be “there,” or being in the present but wanting to be in the future. It’s a divide that tears you apart inside. To create and live with such an inner divide is insane. The fact that everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it any less insane.

You can move fast, work fast, or even run, without projecting yourself into the future and without resisting the present. When you move, work, or run, do it totally. Enjoy the flow of energy, the high energy of that moment.

Now you are no longer stressed, no longer dividing yourself in two. Just moving, running, working, and enjoying it.

Or you can drop the whole thing and sit on a park bench. But when you do, watch your mind. It may say: “You should be working. You are wasting time.” Observe the mind. Smile at it.

The Past and Waiting for the Future is also a Plan of the Mind to Avoid the Present

Die to the past every moment.

You don’t need it. Only refer to it when it is absolutely relevant to the present. Feel the power of this moment and be fully present.

To face the future, ask yourself what “problem” you have right now.

Not next year, tomorrow, or five minutes from now. What is wrong with this moment? You can always cope with being present, but you can never cope with the future, nor do you have to.

The answer, the strength, the right action or the resource will be there when you need it, not before, not after.

I always live in the present. The future I can’t know. The past I no longer have. – Fernando Pessoa

Or is your goal taking up so much of your attention that you reduce the present moment to a means to an end?

Is it taking the joy out of what you’re doing? Are you waiting to start living? If you develop such a mind pattern, no matter what you achieve or get, the present will never be good enough; the future will always seem better.

Don’t you agree that this is a perfect recipe for permanent dissatisfaction and nonfulfillment?

Are you a habitual “waiter”?

How much of your life do you spend waiting?

What I call “small-scale waiting” is waiting in line at the ATM, in a traffic jam, at the airport, or waiting for someone to arrive, to finish work, and so on.

“Large-scale waiting” is waiting for the next vacation, for a better job, for the children to grow up, for a truly meaningful relationship, for success, to make money, to be important, to become enlightened.

It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole lives waiting to start living.

Waiting is a state of mind. It means that you want the future; you don’t want the present. You don’t want what you’ve got, and you want what you haven’t got. With every kind of waiting, you unconsciously create inner conflict between your here and now, where you don’t want to be, and the projected future, where you want to be.

This greatly reduces the quality of your life by making you lose the present.

Please note that there is nothing wrong with striving to improve your life situation.

You can improve your life situation, but you cannot improve your life.

Life is primary. While your life is already whole, complete, and perfect, your life situation consists of your circumstances and your experiences.

There is nothing wrong with setting goals and striving to achieve things. The mistake lies in using it as a substitute for the feeling of life.

The only point of access for that is by being present.

There is nothing wrong with setting goals and striving to achieve things. The mistake lies in using it as a substitute for the feeling of life.

Discovering the Inner Purpose of Life’s Journey

When you are on a journey, it is certainly helpful to know where you are going or at least the general direction in which you are moving.

But don’t forget: the only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is.

Whatever you need to know about the unconscious past in you, the challenges of the present will bring it out. If you delve into the past, it will become a bottomless pit: There is always more.

You may think that you need more time to understand the past or become free of it, in other words, that the future will eventually free you of the past. This is a delusion.

Only the present can free you from the past. More time cannot free you of time. Focus on being present. That is the key.

This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play. – Alan Watts

You cannot find yourself by going into the past. You find yourself by coming into the present.

So don’t seek to understand the past, but be as present as you can. The past cannot survive in your presence. It can only survive in your absence.

Recognise Your State of Presence

To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself. Otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum, will drag you along like a wild river.

To be rooted within yourself means to inhabit your body fully. Always have some attention on the inner energy field of your body. To feel the body from within, so to speak.

Body awareness keeps you present. It anchors you in the state of being present.

The Secret Meaning of Waiting

In a sense, the state of presence could be compared to waiting.

This is not the usual boring or restless kind of waiting that is a denial of the present, and that I spoke about already.

It is not a waiting in which your attention is focused on some point in the future,e and the present is perceived as an undesirable obstacle that prevents you from having what you want.

In that state, all your attention is in being present. There is none left for daydreaming, thinking, remembering or anticipating.

There is no tension in it, no fear, just alert presence. You are fully present with your whole being, with every cell of your body. In that state, the “you” that has a past and a future, the personality if you like, is hardly there anymore.

You are also to be like people who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door for him when he comes and knocks. Luke 12:36

And yet nothing of value is lost.

You are still essentially yourself. You are more fully yourself than you ever were before, or rather it is only now that you are truly yourself.

End Drama and Conflict in Your Life Forever

When you live in complete acceptance of what is, that is the end of all drama in your life.

Nobody can even argue with you, no matter how hard he or she try. You cannot argue with a fully present person.

When you are fully present, you cease to be in conflict.

There are cycles of success, when things come to you and thrive, and cycles of failure, when they wither or disintegrate.

If you cling and resist at that point of these cycles, it means you are refusing to go with the flow of life, and you will suffer.

Instead, offer no resistance to life.

To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness.

This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad. It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependency on form is gone, the general conditions of your life tend to improve greatly.

Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them (while they last)

All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease.

Understand the Meaning of Surrender and You Will Understand Why Being Present is All You Need

There is an important concept I must address before I let you go and focus on being present.

Based on what you have read so far, it seems If we always accept the way things are, we are not going to make any effort to improve them. After all, both in our personal lives and collectively, progress is all about choosing not to accept the limitations of the present but to strive to go beyond them and create something better.

How do we then reconcile surrender with changing things and getting things done?

Here is the truth: to some people, surrender may have negative connotations, implying defeat, giving up, failing to rise to the challenges of life, becoming lethargic, and so on.

True surrender, however, is something entirely different.

It does not mean to passively put up with whatever situation you find yourself in and to do nothing about it. Nor does it mean to cease making plans or initiating positive action.

Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life. The only way where you can experience the flow of life is by being present, so surrendering is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation. It is to relinquish inner resistance to what is.

Inner resistance is to say “no” to what is, through mental judgment and emotional negativity.

For instance, if you find your life situation unsatisfactory or even intolerable, it is only by surrendering first that you can break the unconscious resistance pattern that perpetuates that situation.

Surrender is perfectly compatible with acting, initiating change or achieving goals. But in the surrendered state, a different energy, a different quality, flows into your actions. In the state of surrender, you see very clearly what needs to be done, and you act, doing one thing at a time and focusing on one thing at a time.

You must live in the present… Find your eternity in each moment. – Henry David Thoreau

If your overall situation is unsatisfactory or unpleasant, separate this instant and surrender to what is. That’s the flashlight cutting through the fog. Your degree of presence then ceases to be controlled by external conditions. You are no longer coming from reaction and resistance.

Then look at the specifics of the situation.

Ask yourself, “Is there anything I can do to change the situation, improve it, or remove myself from it?”

If so, you take appropriate action. Focus not on the 100 things that you will or may have to do at some future time but on the one thing that you can do now.

This doesn’t mean you should not do any planning. It may well be that planning is the one thing you can do now. But make sure you don’t start to run “mental movies,” project yourself into the future, and so lose being present.

Any action you take may not bear fruit immediately. Until it does, do not resist what is. If there is no action you can take, and you cannot remove yourself from the situation either, then use the situation to make you go more deeply into surrender, more deeply into being present.

Surrender is not Indifference

Do not confuse surrender with an attitude of “I can’t be bothered anymore” or “I just don’t care anymore.”

If you look at it closely, you will find that such an attitude is tainted with negativity in the form of hidden resentment, and so is not surrender at all but masked resistance. As you surrender, direct your attention inward to check if there is any trace of resistance left inside you. Be very alert when you do so. Otherwise, a pocket of resistance may continue to hide in some dark corner in the form of a thought or an unacknowledged emotion.

Surrender is how you change the world

You may be in a situation at work that is unpleasant.

You have tried to surrender to it, but you find it impossible. A lot of resistance keeps coming up.

If you cannot surrender, act immediately. Speak up or do something to bring about a change in the situation. Or remove yourself from it. Take responsibility for your life.

If you looked in the mirror and did not like what you saw, you would have to be mad to attack the image in the mirror. That is precisely what you do when you are in a state of nonacceptance.

And, of course, if you attack the image, it attacks you back. If you accept the image, no matter what it is, if you become friendly toward it, it becomes friendly toward you, too.

This is how you change the world.

You Have the Power to Choose

Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, or pain.

Nobody chooses insanity. They happen because there is not enough presence in you to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness.

You are not fully here. You have not quite woken up yet.

In the meantime, the conditioned mind is running your life.

It always looks as if people have a choice, but that is an illusion. If your mind, with its conditioned pattern,s runs your life, if you are your mind, what choice do you have? None.

You are not even there. The mind-identified state is severely dysfunctional. It is a form of insanity. Almost everyone is suffering from this illness in varying degrees. The moment you realise this, there can be no more resentment. How can you resent someone’s illness? The only appropriate response is compassion.

Most importantly, when you surrender to what is and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. You do not need it anymore. Being Present is the key.

And how will you know when you have surrendered, and you are being present all the time?

When you no longer need to ask this question.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

Become Your Highest Self: Every Sunday, I share actionable tips from successful people on how to master money, mindset and meaning. (Please confirm your subscription on the first mail received so the newsletter does not go to junk.)
Fast Track Book: Stay relevant, master new skills, and be ready for whatever life throws at you. This is the complete roadmap to speed up your learning process and expand the opportunities available to you. Available on Amazon.
Personal Wealth Maximizer: Take control of your finances and build financial freedom. The Personal Wealth Maximizer give you the exact knowledge and tools to break free from money struggles and build financial confidence.