Do you have trouble setting goals? Would you like to have greater focus, str
onger follow-through, and achieve dramatically better results? Would you like to learn how to get anything you want from life–more money, a new home, a promotion, better relationships, a greater sense of fulfillment, or anything else you can imagine?
If so, then read The Magic Lamp: Goal Setting for People Who Hate Setting Goals
The Genie of the Lamp
Imagine taking a stroll one balmy evening when, in the twilight, you stumble across an ancient brass lamp, the kind you might expect to find in a Turkish bazaar. You stoop to retrieve the lamp and notice in the dimness an inscription carved along one side. Centuries of tarnish and neglect make the writing almost illegible, so you buff it two or three times with your sleeve.
KAA-WHAM! The lamp erupts in a blast of smoke and flame. Stumbling backward, you drop the lamp and shield your eyes. When you open them again, standing before you, as big as a billboard, is a genie.
He looks at you with a gleam in his eye. And with a voice that rolls in like thunder from the horizon, he says, ‘I am the Genie of the Lamp. What will you have, Master, what will you have?’
What would you ask the Genie to do?
What do you want from life?
Before you can make your wishes come true, you must first decide what to wish for. When people don’t get what they want from life, usually it’s because they don’t know what they want. They grind through one work week after another, daydreaming about the good life, but they rarely muster a clear idea of what that ‘good life’ should be.
Perhaps the most startling truth about human nature is that anyone can do something truly remarkable in life if he or she has something truly remarkable to do. Once you decide what you really want, the rest falls into place. You awaken each morning with a reason to get out of bed. Your days are filled with meaning because you fill them with meaningful work. You are able to take advantage of of your talents, your time, and your opportunities because you have a purpose.
So go ahead, slip into the driver’s seat. Figure out what you really want–not what you’re supposed to want, not what someone else wants for you, but what you in your heart of hearts want for yourself.
Brainstorming
The easiest way to find out what you really want is to ask yourself. The quality of the answers you receive will depend on how you ask your questions, so I suggest you use a tool that is designed specifically to help you tap the power of your subconscious mind. This tool is called brainstorming.
1. Write the topic you want to brainstorm in the form of a question at the top of a clean sheet of paper. All you have to do is to ask a question.
2. Write whatever popos into your head. Ask yourself the question you’ve written at the top of your page, then listen to your answers–all your answers. The best way to listen is to write your answers down. Write every thought that floats into your mind when you ask your question.
3. Accept with gratitude whatever pops into your head. No matter how silly your thoughts may seem, no matter how impossible, or preposterous, or embarrassing, remind yourself how fortunate you are to have so many interesting ideas. Think of each idea as a gift.
4. Keep your pen moving. Keep writing even if what you write seems nonsense. Keep writing, and sooner or later you will discover you have something to say.
5. Save your criticism for later. Write, don’t judge. You can judge later. Brainstorming is a tool to generate ideas, not to evaluate them.
There is no time like the present to begin your first official brainstorming session. So take out a blank sheet of paper and write this question at the top:
What would I really want from life if I were absolutely, positively certain I would get it?
Now write your answers.
Believe it or not, you own just such a lamp. It is located about a centimeter behind your eyeballs, right between your ears. And medical science has even given it a name. It’s called the human brain. It is the most powerful computer on earth. And you own such a brain, free and clear. Yours is the equal of any other brain on the planet. You are its sole proprietor, the only one who can summon forth its awesome power to make your wishes come true. You are literally your own genie, brimming with the godlike power of creation. Congratulations!