This is pretty revolutionary stuff, Julian. I mean, though these ideas have been around for centuries, everybody I know today could improve the quality of their daily lives by applying even a few of them. My wife would love to have a Dream Book. She’d probably fill it with pictures of me without my notorious belly.”
“It’s really not that big,” Julian suggested in a consoling tone.
“Then why does Jenny call me Mr Donut?” I said, breaking into a broad smile.
Julian started to laugh. I had to follow. Soon the two of us were howling on the floor.
“I guess if you can’t laugh at yourself who can you laugh at?” I said, still giggling.
“Very true, my friend. When I was chained to my former lifestyle, one of my main problems was that I took life too seriously. Now I am much more playful and childlike. I enjoy all of life’s gifts, no matter how small they are.”
“But I have digressed. I have so much to tell you and it is all flowing out of me at once.”
“Back to the five-step method to attain your aims and realize your goals. Once you have formed a clear mental picture of your outcome, created a little pressure behind it, set a deadline and committed it to paper, the next step is to apply what Yogi Raman called The Magic Rule of 21. The learned men and women of his world believed that, for new behavior to crystallise into a habit, one had to perform the new activity for 21 days in a row.”
“What’s so special about twenty-one days?”
“The sages were absolute masters of creating new, more rewarding habits which governed the conduct of their lives. Yogi Raman once told me that a bad habit once acquired could never be erased.”
“But all evening you have been inspiring me to change the way I live my life. How can I possibly do this if I can never erase any of my bad habits?”
“I said that bad habits can never be erased. I did not say that negative habits could not be replaced,” Julian noted with precision.
“Oh Julian, you always were the King of Semantics. But I think I see your point.”
“The only way to permanently install a new habit is to direct so much energy toward it that the old one slips away like an unwelcome house guest. The installation is generally complete in about 21 days, the time it takes to create a new neural pathway.”
“Say I wanted to start practising the Heart of the Rose technique to erase the worry habit and live at a more peaceful pace. Do I have to do it at the same time every day?”
“Good question. The first thing I will tell you is that you never have to do anything. Everything I am sharing with you tonight I am offering as a friend who is genuinely interested in your growth and development. Every strategy, tool and technique has been tested over time for effectiveness and measurable results. This I assure you. And though my heart tells me that I should implore you to try all of the methods of the sages, my conscience tells me to simply follow my duty and share the wisdom with you, leaving its implementation up to you. My point is this: never do anything because you have to. The only reason to do something is because you want to and because you know it is the right thing for you to do.”
“Sounds reasonable, Julian. Don’t worry, I haven’t felt for even a moment that you were forcing any of this information down my throat. Anyway, the only thing that could ever be forced down my throat these days would be a box of donuts — and that wouldn’t take much,” I quipped. Julian smiled gingerly.
Excerpt from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma, www.robinsharma.com
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