Eyal Danon’s Blog

I used to think that you had to accomplish a lot every day.  Now I don’t think like that anymore.  Hard work will pay off in due time.  All you need to do is keep on moving the ball forward, even if it’s one inch at a time.

You must fight the urge to achieve BIG things every time you do something.  Small daily progress will add up quickly over the course of the year and will not deplete your energy.

Remember - never give up!  Just keep on moving the ball forward, using good old hard work and your intuition as your ultimate guide.

What is the “18 Principle”?  At it’s core, it’s a new system of personal development, based on a unique life stages model.  As I have observed how successful people are able to “shift gears”and focus on different themes during their life time, I have become convinced that if one is looking for a peace of mind and personal fulfillment, life should be broken down to specific developmental phases that correspond to long term age cycles.

I’ve heard different versions of the journeys these successful people, from all walks of life, took in order to become what they needed to be, from Manhattan to London to Beijing.  More often than not, the person telling the story wasn’t aware of having had a grand plan starting out. His or her journey had invariably started with a dream, a passion, and a burning desire to do something specific.

That dream then turned into a period of exploration during which the dreamer “road-tested” various paths until a plan emerged and he or she seized upon an opportunity that would lead to the fulfillment of his original passion and allow him to create something grand. That creation, in turn, led to the financial independence that allowed him to retire in his fifties and use his wisdom and experience to mentor other dreamers and, finally, to give something back to the world.

The more I heard these stories, the clearer it became that the lives of those who were most successful fell into five distinct stages:

1. The Dreamer (birth to 18)

2. The Explorer (18 to 36)

3. The Empire Builder (36 to 54)

4. The Mentor (54 to 72)

5. The Giver (72 onwards)

Those who choose the long road for personal development will be like the moso plant, a type of bamboo that grows in China. After the moso is planted, there is no visible growth for up to five years. Then, as if by magic, it suddenly begins to grow at the rate of almost 2 ½ feet per day, reaching its full height of 90 feet within six weeks.

But it isn’t really magic. The moso’s rapid growth is the result of the miles of roots it developed during those first five years of getting ready to mature and grow!

Fear Buster Exercise

A very effective strategy I use with my clients involves role-playing.  I ask them to imagine that they are participating in a drug trial developed by a major pharmaceutical company.  The drug is called “Fear Buster” because it eliminates all your fears for 12 hours.  As a safety precaution, the drug company has designed this new drug in such a way that you will not be stripped out of your basic survival skills, so you will not, for example be tempted to jump out of the top floor of the Chrysler building.  However, all other fears are eliminated - fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of being different, even fear of success. 

Once my client is in the right frame of mind, his goal is to mentally live an entire day without any fear.  All of a sudden he walks, in his mind’s eye, into his boss’s office and asks for the promotion he so clearly deserves. He approaches the office bully and confronts him head on; he sees himself pick up the phone and call a long-lost friend whom he treated unfairly in the past.

As they engage in this mental role-play, my clients are having the time of their life. Once they are done with the exercise, I tell them that this is their life.  That’s how they can live from right now. It’s up to them, but they have now seen and experienced what it can be like to live without fear.  Once they’ve done that, they don’t want to turn back. The key point here is that fear can be conquered through practice, patience and creativity

What are Your Passions?

As a dreamer, your responsibility is to find out what motivates you, what is your real passion.  What do you want to do?  Who do you want to become?  Your passion will become your source of energy.  Remember this.  It will keep you awake at night, tingling with excitement.  

The following questionnaire can be used by anyone who is not sure what his or her true passion in life really is.  Some of my customers have used this intense process of self-discovery when they were already in their mentoring years in order to reconnect with what was real and meaningful for them. 

The Passion Questionnaire

Here are the most important questions you must ask yourself: 

1. If no one were going to pay me for whatever I did, what would I enjoy doing anyway? This is the ultimate question. Do not think about money, ego, prestige, or what “others” will say. Deep in your heart, what really excites you?

2. What needs to happen in order for me to become outstanding at doing what I enjoy most? What skills, attitude, and behavior do I need to develop?

3. Who are my role models?

4. How did they get to where they are right now?

5. What can I learn from their stories?

6. What kind of support and help will I need to reach my goal?

7. Who can help me right now to get on the right path toward fulfilling my dream?

8. How do I engage these people and win their support?

9. How can I win over their hearts and souls to help me achieve my dream?  

You must become proficient in the art of persuasion.  You need to become energetic, passionate, and full of life and big dreams. A word of caution here.  There are people who will try to kill your ideas, usually because they fear that you will fail, but sometimes also because they do not want to see you succeed.  Don’t share your dreams until you feel confident enough to talk about them, and even then, confide only in those who encourage and support you.  It’s interesting to note that the Wright Brothers, for example, were subject to public ridicule for many years.  Most people considered them crazy.  As a result, they learned very early on to trust themselves and a very small group of friends.  That’s it.  Do not reveal your intentions until you are sure people will support you in your quest.

A key activity you need to engage in as a dreamer is to discover your natural talents.  Are you good with mechanical objects?  Do you enjoy analyzing data?  Are you quite good at striking up a conversation with almost anyone?  These natural talents, whatever they turn out to be, will become your road map for success. 

I believe in finding and nurturing your natural talents rather than trying to improve on your weak spots.  Work with what you have, not with what you wish you had.  It’s much easier to work with your natural gifts, making them stronger and stronger each and every day.  What you need to do is make your natural talents shine. 

I have been practicing Tae Kwon Do for years, and one competition in which I participated illustrated this principle beautifully.  The person who won the tournament was not the strongest, fastest or most flexible.  Actually, it was a young person who had lost a hand in a car accident.  To compensate for the loss, he developed an amazingly effective and powerful side kick.  All he used in the tournament was his powerful side kick, over and over again.  At the end of the competition, he was able to beat all his rivals and win the trophy.  He didn’t try to improve his punching technique, nor did he try fancy kicks.  He found one kick that particularly suited him and used it to maximum advantage.  That’s what you should do with your natural talents.  We all have natural gifts.  Find out what yours are and just keep on working them.

Your Natural Talents Finder

Answering the following three questions will help you to find your natural talents, regardless of which stage of your life you’re in right now.

1. How would you describe yourself?  Please supply specific examples for each talent that you have.  If for instance you describe yourself as “courageous,” supply at least five examples of a situation in which you displayed courage. Feel free to list as many attributes and examples as you wish.
2. How would others describe you?  Write down any praise or positive feedback you have ever received.  Take your time doing this exercise, as quite often it’s difficult for most of us to remember these positive moments.
3. Which of the natural talents you’ve identified do you use the most?  I believe that you need to work only on your key strengths and maximize the natural talents you already have instead of worrying about your weaknesses!

We all intuitively feel that timing is important to everything that we do, yet very few are able to capture the essence of timing as a long term process vs. an opportunistic attempt to take advantage of a current situation, such as the ups and downs of the stock market or the “best” time to start a new job.

What if we could take a long term approach to timing our life for success on all fronts?  What if we allowed ourselves enough time to spend with our kids and not feel guilty about it?

Last week a friend forwarded me an article from the Financial Times on Ynon Kreiz, someone that I grew up with 30 years ago.  Turns out he is now CEO of a $5B media company in the UK.  The real fascinating thing for me is that he pretty much followed the “18 Principle” to the letter, exploring the world as a wind surfer until the age of 30, learning about different cultures, different people and more importantly about himself. 

In his words, “I got to the age of 30 and my longest work experience was one year”.  He dedicated the next 6 years, from 30 to 36 to prepare himself for the “Empire Builder” stage, getting a business degree at UCLA and then the breakthrough came when he met Haim saban, a media mogul that made his fortune with the Power Rangers.  Saban turned out to be the mentor that every empire builder needs in order to grow and develop.

It’s important to note that this mentoring relationship is beneficial to both sides.  As Saban notes in the article ““I did take a bet on Ynon, and it paid off… big time”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/25/ccprof125.xml

Good luck Ynon!

I have been reading Haruki Murakami “Wind Up Chronicles”, and it prompted me to buy his new memoir, “What I think about when I think about running”.  Interstingly enough, I have found out that Murakami is riding a bike with the inscription of “18 Till I Die” – a song by Bryan Adams.  Bryan refers to the time when he will be 55 by saying Someday I’ll be 18 goin’ on 55!  Well, he is 49 now, I wonder if he still feels the same way…