Archive for January, 2009

Reading multiple “how to” blogs and books is a complete waste of time and here’s why…

The secret to success in life is simple. It goes like this:

1. Decide what the One Thing you really want to do is.
2. Work relentlessly at being great at doing it.
3. After you’ve been working at it for a while honestly appraise whether you are talented enough in this area to succeed (believe me, I have seen enough live music to know that sometimes hard work just ain’t enough to cover for complete lack of talent).
4. Keep working at it.
5. Get it out there (don’t hide under a bushel).
6. Don’t get distracted.
7. Keep working at it until you succeed.

This is the conclusion I have come to after years and years of digesting just about all the self-help and “how to” literature that one man should ever read.

Of course everybody’s journey is different and I am generalizing, but my point is that at the end of any self-help journey this is where you end up if you are actually going to go on and succeed.

“If you’ve got really smart people who are all focused on the same mission, then usually you can get some things done.”

Barack Obama

By Steve Mills

When I bought my house just over four years ago, the area behind the back shed was an absolute mess. There were weeds taller than I am, an old incinerator and rusty pieces of discarded metal poking out of the ground and out from under piles of rubbish.

Although I had never gardened much before (you tend to only do the bare minimum when renting), I saw this overlooked and mistreated piece of land as the perfect place to start a veggie garden. It got plenty of sun, I could catch water from the shed roof for a rain tank, and the weeds obviously loved it, so I supposed carrots, potatoes and tomatoes would as well.

It took me a few weekends, but I eventually cleared the area, made garden beds, set up a compost bin and I was on my way.  Over the past 4 years, having a vegetable garden has given me such knowledge and enjoyment, things that I would not have ever thought of. It is one of the most basic things we can do to feel some kind of connection to nature and the seasons.

OK so my last post was a bit hardcore, but it was meant to be. I wanted it to be a short, sharp, unexpected shock.

Why? Because I don’t want Rebel Zen to be just another blog. In fact, Steve and I do not intend Rebel Zen to just be a blog but something much more multi-faceted than that.

We have both of us had a break from regular posting in order to refresh and now I think we are ready to come back to Rebel Zen with a fresh perspective for 2009. And no, it’s not going to turn into a ‘doom and gloom’ activist blog BUT we are hoping to shake up the personal development scene as best we can – to confound expectation. That’s why it’s ‘Rebel’ Zen not ‘Feel Good Zen’, y’know?

What I am interested in is how can we move boundaries around and mix the idea of a personal development brand with activism, with art-for-art’s-sake, with music, with offline ‘real world’ happenings, and with whatever else we want to throw into the mix. And importantly – how can we make this something about ACTION not just IDEAS – because ideas are fantastic but without action they are just puffs of smoke on the breeze.

How’s that for a positive “personal development” message?

But it’s true; life on Earth is actually pretty fucked up.

We live on an insane planet full of misery, illness and evil. Right now millions of people are dying of horrible illness, injuries caused by accidents, crime and war or they are starving to death. They are starving to death because of “man’s inhumanity to man”, in other words they are dying because those in power are too evil and selfish to do the right thing.

People, often innocent women and children, are terrified, injured and/or dying because of war. Stop and think for a minute what war is, how truly insane and disgusting it is: Governments sending armed soldiers (usually under-educated, immature men who have been encouraged to act like savages) with high-tech weaponry to tear other people’s flesh, to smash heads and bodies in a splatter of gore, to put other people through massive, unbearable agony, burning, disfiguring, severing limbs – babies, children, women, men. The horror is so hard to face up to, so easy to ignore and yet so real for a great number of people.

I wrote about this ages ago here. Basically sums up my philosophy of life.

By Seamus Anthony

I was just listening to a Jerry Seinfeld interview (as you do) and the interviewer asked him what advice he has for aspiring comedians to ‘make it easier’ for them.

Seinfeld just laughed and said “No, there is no way to make it easier” (I am paraphrasing).

He then told a story about some big “How-to” comedy industry festival (of workshops etc.) and what he would do if he was asked to run it.

He said he would get rid of all the workshops, all the industry bigwigs and just gather the comedians into a big room and then unfurl a banner that reads:

“JUST WORK”

And then he would send them all on their way.

So whether or not you want to be a comedian, I think there’s a lot of truth in this (although first I think you need to know what you want to work towards).

So that’s my big resolution for this year – to just work hard at my big dream and make it real. That’s it.

Hi there – just a quick note to alert you to a new article by me over at The Change Blog:

The Power of Monomaniacal Obsession

If you like it please do give it a digg or a stumble – cheers!

Seamus Anthony