Back to the DCA

Napoleon Hill is one of the forerunners in achievement.  His book Think and Grow Rich was published in 1937 and is still respected today for its core principles of motivation and success.  Today we have a myriad of folks who have described the Law of Attraction and how our consciousness creates reality.  This basic metaphysical truth is the foundation of matering the art of creating the life you want.  

As I continue to expand into my creative purpose, I am finding my energy to be easily scattered and that I personally fall into a state of overwhelm. When I get overwhelmed, I usually find I want to avoid my goals.  I want to stay home and water the plants, and pet the animals.  Some days I do that, but usually I push my way through.  Not the energy best suited for creative manifestation.

The overwhelm is caused by too many things pulling my attention.   Even though I am working to keep on track, holding my trajectory, aiming towards my goal, the  pull of everything around me is so persistent.  I need a system. I need to draw on the tools developed by those who have mastered the mind.  I need to start building my mental capacity to become the director of my life.  

This lead me back to some of Napoleon Hill's greatest lessons, from Chapter 2 of the "Law of Success" (1928) he describes the Definite Chief Aim.
"Until a man selects a DEFINITE PURPOSE IN LIFE, he dissipates his energies & spreads his thoughts over so many subjects & in so many different directions that they lead not to power, but to indecision & weakness."
Oh man does that quote feel true right now.  All my energy is scattered to the winds.  I have a faint hope of what I want, and yet the effort is towards everything but what I want, and then there is the doubt.  The indecision that makes me believe I should just give up, or keeps me just showing up without any plan.  No more.  I am going to take personal responsibility for my life, and get with the program.

The Definite Chief Aim as Hill describes it is the main goal.  But more than just having this large looming goal, Hill provides a framework for moving towards it in sequential steps.  This is such the critical piece.  Some manifestation techniques as you simply to hold on to the big picture vision, feel what it would feel like to be in that position.  For me, I can see the big pictue, it is simply that I have trouble knowing how to move towards it.  The vision is easy.  The actions are somehow confusing to me, and then I get stuck.  What is in front of me, is not in alignment with where I really want to be.  How do I get to that goal when it seems so far away?

This is where the DCA, or SCA (singular chief aim) comes in.  David McEwen is a great teacher and I followed his youtube video to create my own DCA.  I loved his example of the plants, maybe because these days I am surrounded by plants, and I can feel the problem acutely.  Here he compares the project goal to a single seed.  Your attention is the water for the seed.  But you only really have enough water for one seed/attention for one project.  I like to think of this not as a seed, but a garden.  It takes time to tend to a garden.  Many people need help with their gardens, and so I could go over, water their peppers, weed their cucumbers, and the like, but what happens to my own garden?  I don't have time to do it all.  Basically, if I try to do it all, nothing is going to grow.   Makes perfect sense.

So, I ask myself, how do I know which project is truly mine?  All these things in front of me seem important.  They all have value.  Here is what I have come to understand.  Gifts + Passion = Purpose.  I have spent my life becoming the person I am today.  I am passionate about education.  I have used my gifts to create a curriculum that meets highly creative kids where they are.  There you go! I now know what my purpose is. I need to be sharing this curriculum I have developed.

Looking objectively at many of my projects, I realize they are really about taking care of others.  These goals serve to move others towards their goals.  Although there is nothing wrong with service, and that can be a primary goal, for me it is a distraction from what is my core mission. This is, in fact, my codependency in action.  By fulfilling the needs of others, I lose track of my own purpose. 

Because I have been programmed to believe that taking care of others is more important than taking care of myself, I am struck with a pang of guilt in wanting to follow my own purpose.  This is the shadow work that has to be finished in order for me to fully step on my path, and to stop watering other peoples gardens.

Focusing on the one seed, the big one, will get me where I want to be in life, and will benefit all aspects of who I am becoming because it represents my divine purpose unfolding.  Now to get specific.  I am looking at the curriculum, where I am at so far.  There are a lot of loose ends.  The DCA helps me know where to start.

What is the DCA that hits the sweet spot that comes with the positive byproducts of fulfilling other aspects of your goals.   Success of the AOK program and Conceptual Math program are the big ones.  This is the DCA for sure.  But so many small little steps to get there.

OK, can I make a DCA that is something I believe I can achieve?

Maybe an achieveable goal is having a group of ten kids running the AOK and Conceptual Math program.    

I can create a scene of this.  I see myself in the room with 10 kids all working on their workbooks, they are all learning, laughing and enjoying the experience.  I have parents who are appreciative and paying me money.  They are a part of the community and they love it.

Now the practice.  David McEwen describes the need to run the scene for 20 minute intervals.  Feeling the positive feelings all the while.  But not to keep the scene itself running the whole time, but rather letting it run in 10 to 20 second intervals.  

OK, I am on it.  Time to meditate!

Remember, Always have:

Appreciation for where you are, and Anticipation for where you are going next <3