I’m a strong believer that in order to be successful in virtually anything, you first have to become conscious about it. You have to be able to understand why and what it is you’re going to achieve, and to also be absolutely conscious about how long it’s going to take you and what is the price you’re prepared to pay.
Steve Pavlina has just posted a great article: 10 Ways to Become More Conscious. I like his style a lot, and I agree with his point of view on most occasions. In this article of his, Steve gives you his ten reasons to become more conscious. Each of the reasons has a one-liner explaining the idea of it, so when all of them combined, they look like some a code of conduct or even ten commandments.
Here they are - the ten rules. I strongly suggest you read the full article though:
1. Truth. Truth raises your consciousness. Falsehood lowers it.
2. Courage. Courage raises your consciousness. Cowardice lower
3. Compassion. Compassion raises your consciousness. Cruelty lowers it.
4. Desire. Desire raises your consciousness. Apathy lowers it.
5. Attention. Attention raises your consciousness. Distraction lowers it.
6. Knowledge. Knowledge raises your consciousness. Ignorance lowers it.
7. Reason. Reason raises your consciousness. Irrationality lowers it.
8. Conscious people. Conscious people raise your consciousness. Unconscious people lower it.
9. Energy. Energy raises your consciousness. Disease lowers it.
10. Intention. The intention to raise your consciousness raises it. The intention to lower your consciousness lowers it.
My personal 3 strategies to stay conscious would be these:
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- Knowledge combined with TruthI’m an extremely optimistic guy, but even I know better: if something seems to be too easy, this probably means there’s more learning to be done ;) I try to be honest about everything in my life, and I hate being forced to break my own rules and principles.
Because of this, I do everything in such a way, that truth is my guideline, and knowledge is my means of following it.
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- Reason combined with Desire For anything we do or we choose not to, there has to be a reason. And for positive changes which you know you’ll benefit from in the long term, it is absolutely crucial to have a strong feeling of desire.
Being passionate about your goals will make you stronger and more productive, and will also help you stay focused.
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- Intention combined with Energy Making a decision to achieve something is the first step towards the conscious achievement. When you state your intention to pursuit any goal, you make a commitment.
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And just like anything else, your intentions are going to be much easier to follow through if you have the energy to do so! That’s why I always concentrate not only on the clarify of my goals, but also on my energy levels - because I’ve already learned that without the energy, you’re not likely to do the first step towards reaching your goal, and this will mean you can fail even with the purest intentions and the greatest reasons.
Nothing is as important in reaching goals as the first action steps you take towards the goal as soon as you’re committed to achieving it.
译文:
让自己变得更有头脑
要想真正地成就一番事业，首先从一开始就得要有这种意识，对此我一直是坚信不移的。你必须要能明白为什么你将能够成功和你将成就些什么，同时你也必须要意识到这将需要多久的时间，你将要付出什么样的代价。
斯蒂芬.帕里纳不久前写了一篇不错的文章: 10种让你变得更有头脑的方法. 我非常喜欢他的文章,在大多数情况下我都同意他的观点. 在这篇文章里, 他提出了10个要变得更加理性的人的理由. 每一个理由又会另写一行来进行解释, 所以当所有的理由都排列好时, 感觉非常像一组行为准则,甚至是戒律.
以下就是这十条法则. 尽管如此, 我还是非常希望你们能够去读他的整篇文章.
1: 诚信. 诚信的你会更加真实, 自欺欺人则会让你闭首自固.
2: 勇气. 勇敢的你会更有一份锐气, 而懦弱则让人举步不前.
3: 同情心. 富有爱心的你会更加关注这个社会, 而粗鲁则是对周围的冷漠.
4: 兴趣. 激情的你会积极行动, 不以为然则是视而不见.
5: 注意力. 有心人当然事事留心, 无心总是让机遇从身边溜走.
6: 知性. 有知识的你更容易把握事物, 而愚蠢则是无稽之谈.
7: 理性. 理智让人更加明智, 感性则会意气用事.
8: 有头脑的人们. 和有头脑的人在一起,你也会变得更加聪明, 而近墨者黑.
9: 精力. 精力充沛的你更活气, 而疾病则让人心有余而力不足.
10: 目的. 有方向的你会更加明确而专注, 相反则飘游不定.
我自己对此也有三点来和大家分享一下：
知识与实际结合起来。我是一个特别乐观的人，尽管如此，我却非常清楚： 如果某件事看起来很容易，却很有可能意味着有更多的东西要学。我尽量用事实去看待生活的一切，并且讨厌被迫放弃自己的原则。 因为我做每件事情都这样，现实就成为了我的方向标， 而知识是前进的工具。
理性结合激情。因为我们选择去做任何事，或选择放弃，都是有理由的。为了使事情进展得更加顺利， 为了那些将让你长期受益的一些起色，你需要一种强烈的欲望，这是这是至关重要的。对你的目标一直怀有梦想的力量将会让你变得更为坚强和努力，也会使你全力以付的。
抱负结合精力。 做出一个决定，这只是要实现自己所要追求的成就的第一步。 当你表明你有追求某个目标的意愿时，你就定出了一个任务。
就像任何其他的事情一样，如果你有这个精力去做，那么你的想法就会更加容易实现。 那就是为什么我不仅关注我目标是否清晰，也在意我的精力状况。因为我知道没有能量，你是不可能走出实现目标的第一步的， 这意味着即使你有再大的理由和再纯洁的想法，你也是要失败的。 一旦你下定决心要去做某件事情时， 没有什么是比走出迈向目标的第一步更为重要的了。