Tony Michalski's Master Key Coaching

Focusing our thoughts to one specific purpose or aim is paramount to achieving anything of lasting value. More often than not, many of us “scatter” our thoughts, never concentrating on one goal and following it through. When we learn to keep our thoughts focused on one aim, then – and only then – will we see results.

Need proof of this? Listen to or read about what people say when they describe the people who “made it.” Every time those people are described by friends or associates, the words, “focused”, “driven”, and “single-minded” are used. In The Master Key Workbook, I quoted Larry Ellison, the billionaire CEO of Oracle, speaking about Bill Gates.

“Bill Gates wants people to think he’s Edison, when he’s really Rockefeller. Referring to Gates as the smartest man in America isn’t right … wealth isn’t the same thing as intelligence. One thing everyone will say about Mr. Gates, though, is the fact that he is driven and has a laser-like focus when he sets to do something.”

Being successful does not require lots of intelligence. If one focuses what one has to a certain definite aim, then one can accomplish anything! As it is said in the Bible: “Faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.”

Here is how Haanel described the power of concentration in Week Twelve of The Master Key System:

Week Twelve is enclosed herewith. In the fourth paragraph you will find the following statement: “You must first have the knowledge of your power; second, the courage to dare; third, the faith to do.”

If you concentrate upon the thoughts given, if you give them your entire attention, you will find a world of meaning in each sentence and will attract to yourself other thoughts in harmony with them, and you will soon grasp the full significance of the vital knowledge upon which you are concentrating.

Knowledge does not apply itself; we as individuals must make the application, and the application consists in fertilizing the thought with a living purpose.

The time and thought which most persons waste in aimless effort would accomplish wonders if properly directed with some special object in view. In order to do this, it is necessary to center your mental force upon a specific thought and hold it there to the exclusion of all other thoughts. If you have ever looked through the focusing screen of a camera, you found that when the object was not in focus, the impression was indistinct and possibly blurred; but when the proper focus was obtained the picture was clear and distinct. This illustrates the power of concentration. Unless you can concentrate upon the object which you have in view, you will have but a hazy, indifferent, vague, indistinct, and blurred outline of your ideal and the results will be in accordance with your mental picture.

An example of concentration or focus is to think of sunlight. As the sun pours its light onto the Earth, it gets scattered by the atmosphere. We can gather that light with a lens, though, and focus it into a ray that will readily and easily start a fire.

In The Master Key Workbook, I devised a little exercise to help you exercise the power of concentration. It’s fun and a little rewarding.

This week, you are going to have some fun – and make some money! You are going to put into action what you have been learning. By the end of this exercise, you may be a few dollars wealthier than when you started. Sound good? Good.

Visualize a quarter in your mind. Imagine it vividly and in detail. Keep it ingrained in your mind. Take as long as you want to visualize that quarter, perhaps a few minutes or so.

Next, vividly visualize that you are going to find that quarter on the street. 

Imagine the scene of you taking a walk and finding a quarter somewhere, perhaps when you are walking the dog or maybe strolling through the mall.

Look for the quarter when you are walking. Every time you are taking a walk, visualize the quarter.

How long did it take you to find the quarter?

You can use this exercise for just about anything! How about finding a parking space in a crowded mall parking lot? Or traversing heavy crosstown traffic? When I use this technique to find a parking space or to get through traffic, I visualize a warm knife sliding easily through butter and I say to myself “I will move through this traffic like a hot knife through butter.” I then mentally (and sometimes physically) repeat the word butter, almost performing a mantra.

It usually works! I do have great “luck” with finding parking spaces. And getting through traffic easily happens with a decent regularity. (Another time I will explain to you how I think this actually works. Believe or not, I do not think that it is the “Law of Attraction” per se.)

So, give these exercises a shot. A true, honest shot. Concentrate. Visualize.

Get for yourself the best of everything.

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Segal’s Law states this:

A man with one watch always knows what time it is.

A man with two watches is never sure.

Many have heard this before reading it here. What does it mean, though?

In a nut shell, it means that when one pursues more than one goal or aim, he rarely achieve either. One’s efforts become too dissipated and he rarely (or never) allows himself to focus on just one thing – quite possibly the one thing that would make for him his fortune. 

All of us have talents and skills, wants and needs, goals and desires. That is normal that is what makes us a human being. If we look around us, though, and look at those who achieve and attain, we will notice a startling thing. That thing is the fact that those who attain massive success, achieve that success in one thing – one specific thing.

Bill Gates achieved his success in the computer industry. Rush Limbaugh attained money and fame through radio. Tiger Woods mastered the game of golf and succeeded massively.

One thing. These people – and others like them – took one thing and ran with it. They ran with it until they achieved all of their goals.

Most of us fritter our time and talents by leaping from one toad stool to another. We never settle on any one. We jump around like lost frogs looking for the next fly to eat.

The smart frog, on the other hand, finds his place and lets the flies come to him. And come they do!

It has been postulated, and in my experience proven very true, that it takes ten years of doing something before any kind of success or mastery is to be attained. A person studying for a black belt in karate will study that long before they attain that vaunted level of skill. Microsoft went public as a company in 1986 and it grew through the nineties, but not until the later half of that decade did Microsoft really become a household name.

It takes time and patience and persistence – and more than a little perspiration – to achieve a goal.

What many find the most difficult, though, is finding just that one thing to do.

The greats were in many ways most fortunate because they found their passion early. Tiger Woods, Ludwig Von Beethoven, and others like them began studying their crafts while exceptionally young. That is one answer as to why they were hyper-successful.

That begs the question, if one is getting off to a “late start”, does that deny him from the race?

Not at all. Albert Einstein was 26 when he published his Special Theory of Relativity. Babe Ruth was older when he became the home run king. Many CEOs and executives work many years through the ranks before they begin to see the fruits of their labors.

In other words, age is rarely of consequence.

The hardest battle one will fight with himself is deciding what that one thing is!

Take the time to discover what it is exactly you want to do. I wrote The Master Key Workbook to assist you with that “great battle”. It’s a step-by-step guide to discovering what is important to you and how to form a plan to attain it. Most people have found that once they decide definitively on something, whether that goal be tangible or intangible, it is often times easier to achieve than they thought it would be when they were merely musing and day dreaming.

A person merely “wanting a job” will often find it difficult to obtain a desirable position. The person who declares “I want to be an engineer!” will practically have their path laid out for them.

A person who wants “somebody – anybody!” in his life will more than likely by mired in bad relationship after bad relationship. The person who takes the time to define exactly what they would like in another person will eventually find that person and enjoy a sublime happiness.

You who would like to own a prosperous business must take the time to decide what you want to trade. Once you have that, you can then form you plan. And then you implement. And then you persevere. And then you prosper. If you jump from one plan to another or one industry to another with no good reason, though, then you will never gain the traction you need that will propel you to success.

Once you have that one thing in mind, then you can put into practice what Haanel wrote in Week Seven of The Master Key System

Visualization is the process of making mental images, and the image is the mold or model which will serve as a pattern from which your future will emerge. 

Make the pattern clear, and make it beautiful; do not be afraid – make it grand. Remember that no limitation can be placed upon you by any one but yourself; you are not limited as to cost or material; draw on the In?nite for your supply, construct it in your imagination; it will have to be there before it will ever appear anywhere else. 

Make the image clear and clean-cut, hold it firmly in the mind and you will gradually and constantly bring the thing nearer to you. You can be what “you will to be.” 

Decide! Decide! Decide! Find that one thing and pursue it with every fibre of your being! Don’t relent and never surrender. Time is running short. Run with your dream or else your dreams will run past you.

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When I drive, I look at the signs and businesses that line the roads and streets. Recently, I asked myself a question that revealed a fatal flaw in my thinking – a fatal flaw that just may be the difference betwixt wealth and insecurity, becoming what I wish to be and remaining in my current position.

Whilst looking at the sundry businesses – at the many different ways people were creating wealth and personal prosperity – I asked myself a simple question and one, I am certain, you probably have asked yourself a plethora of times.

What is the difference between them and me?

Perhaps you did not use that exact wording, but the spirit of the questin is the same. On that night, like many uncountable nights, I wondered about the people of commerce and industry and power and ideas. I wondered why Sam Walton could create his line of stores, yet so many are left wallowing in positions that they could barely stand – and which kept them barely above water.

While I had asked myself that question many times in the past, on this particular night I had a revelation. I followed with another question:

Why am I looking for differences when, intrinsically, no real differences exist?

The differences I saw and noticed weren’t the real factors that contributed to anyone’s success or failure. It wasn’t a matter of brains or brawn, capital or ingenuity, push or pull. Rather, it was a matter of doing things – at least, just doing something. Anything!

It has often been the nature of popular business books and pop psychologists to earn their sheckles by keeping us in shackles with endless ramblings about what makes the successful successful. In other words, most of the common literature on the subject of success has been mired in putting our noses in our somehow unglamourous values and habits rather than showing us what really counts: Doing it!

I have a passion for reading biographies of historical or successful people. In all of the biographies that I have read, there has always been one common element: they are all crazy. When I say crazy, I mean completely nuts, bonkers, whacked. The “successful” have so many idiosynchrosies that to name all of them would be to name every speck of sand on a beach. For now, I will just list a few that I find most amusing:

Steve Jobs: Control freak and not very nice to underlings. Not to mention the drugs.

Donald Trump: Can we safely call him an egomaniac?

Larry Ellison: Braggart, egomaniac, BS-er.

Bill Gates: Do I have to mention his business practices?

Alexander the Great: Delusions of grandeur.

Napoleon: Another one with delusions of grandeur.

JD Salinger: Reclusive.

Lord Byron: Womanizer and scandal monger.

Ted Turner: Speaks before he thinks.

Just by looking at this miniscule sampling of famous personas, it becomes obvious that probably none of them read How To Win Friends and Influence People or The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. All of them have had scandalous exposes written about them. All of them were majourly flawed in one way – or many. All of them pushed the envelope and just did what they did.

That, it turns out, is the deciding factor: doing what one wants to do. There is no preparing, no training, no self-improvement necessary. How big would Microsoft be today if Mr. Gates simply welcomed competition with a smile? What would the news industry be like if Ted Turner kept his mouth shut and minded what he said? I can answer that: kinda dull. His brashness earned him billions.

I do not write this as a vindication for all of our vices and failing points. I do not write this to stop people from reading self-improvement books and attending seminars. I write this for the people who do those things again and again and again. Those people must realize that the difference between them and the successful is merely the ability to dig in one’s heels and get to it.

Too often, I speak with a person who continually reads the books and attends the seminars and always has a plan or scheme for self-improvement. Listening to them is like listening to a Dead Head recant all of the shows to which he’s been. “I saw Tony Robbins in Atlanta, ‘99; Dr. Phil in Boston, ‘00; I was to Chopra’s book signing in New York last month…” and the litany continues ad nauseum. The kicker is that the person still isn’t particularly happy, fulfilled, or successful. Do these seminars and books make the person happy? Yes, like crack makes a drug addict happy. The person catches his buzz and feels that in doing so, he is doing something. In the end, though, he is not.

All of the speakers and motivators say the same thing: Do it! All of the books reiterate that simple, yet poignant, phrase. There comes a time when a person realizes that they do not need to be completely organized or a polished speaker or a flawless person. Instead of studying the books, they should take what they learned and apply it to real life by working on their dreams. Or if not their dreams, then something – anything!

Or, as Haanel wrote

“You must first have the knowledge of your power; second, the courage to dare; third, the faith to do.” 

You have the knowledge of your power (if you don’t, then keep reading this blog and get The Complete Master Key Course – you’ll get it!); the courage to dare will come to you, if you don’t have it already, as you take those first steps toward your goal. All that’s needed is for you to have the faith to do. To get that, forget what you’ve heard and read; instead go boldly forward with what you know.

There are no real differences between us and them. The “differences” that certain authors and speakers like to notice are just fluff. I may have been a tad hasty when I said that their are no differences, perhaps there is one:

The successful know that they are flawed, but they just don’t care. They just do it!

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In Week Eight of The Master Key System, Haanel writes:

14. Do not confuse Imagination with Fancy, or that form of day dreaming in which some people like to indulge. Day dreaming is a form of mental dissipation which may lead to mental disaster. [Emphasis mine.]

15. Constructive imagination means mental labor, by some considered to be the hardest kind of labor. But, if so, it yields the greatest returns, for all the great things in life have come to men and women who had the capacity to think, to imagine, and to make their dreams come true. [Emphasis mine.]

These are the lines that I believe confuse many people. Let’s look at them closely.

Haanel considers constructive imagination to be “mental labor” while he states that day dreaming is something that “people like to indulge” but is a form of “mental dissipation”. CONSTRUCTIVE is the key word when trying to differentiate the two.

When you use imagination in a constructive fashion, you are using your mind – your mental faculties – to envision things as you would like them to be. While it can be pleasing, it can also be hard, difficult work. For example, let’s say you are working on a project; you will want to imagine in your mind the outcome that you would like. In Week Sixteen, Haanel relates an interview with Henry M. Flagler, the Standard Oil multimillionaire who

…admitted that the secret of his success was his power to see a thing in its completeness. The following conversation with the reporter shows his power of idealization, concentration, and visualization – all spiritual powers:

9. “Did you actually vision to yourself the whole thing? I mean, did you, or could you, really close your eyes and see the tracks? And the trains running? And hear the whistles blowing? Did you go as far as that?” 

“Yes.” 

“How clearly?” 

“Very clearly.”

That, my friend, is using constructive imagination. With that in mind, it will be easy to see how constructive imagination can be confused with daydreaming.

Day dreaming is basically mental masturbation. It takes place when you do NOT think about things in a constructive fashion, rather you think of them in an “I wish” sort of way. For example, listening to music and fantasizing about being a great singer when you have no musical ability whatsoever is day dreaming – and therefore wasteful.

While that is mild, day dreaming can get worse. Worrying is the WORST form of day dreaming! When you worry, you “day dream” about things that may not ever happen, but you instill in you mind and body a very real feeling of fear and anxiety. Do you see how this works? Do you see how this is NOT constructive? It is at best dissipative – and at worst destructive.

Look at it this way: If a person buys life insurance, he is using his constructive imagination to foresee a possible situation that may happen in the future. Therefore, he buys a policy so that his family will be cared for in the event that the worst comes to pass. There is no worry there, just good planning.

A person who worries, on the other hand, would use his mind and time to wastefully envision every horrible thing that could happen. And then he dwells on those possibilities. He doesn’t just take care of business and then get on with his life. No, he fritters his energy on events that may never happen – and, statistically speaking, probably won’t.

Haanel’s goal with The Master Key System is to train the brain – to inculcate in a person mental discipline that will help him to achieve high aims. Having mental focus is at the top of the list and one cannot have that focus if he wastes his most valuable resources (his mental power and his time) entertaining frivolous things.

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For Wrinkled Brows

Try the well-known cream, SWEETNESS OF TEMPER. It tones up the facial muscles, reduces wrinkles, and is very uplifting.

For the Lips

Use the marvelous lip stick SILENCE. It is particularly good for lips that have been distorted by uncharitable gossip.

For Lovely Hands

There’s really only one preparation to use. It is called GENEROSITY. Get a large size jar.

For Facial Tone

Expose the face to the MORNING AIR, especially between six and eight o’clock. The air during a morning walk or while on the way to work is especially refreshing and uplifting.

For Clear Eyes

Faithful care with that tried and true protective preparation, MODESTY. For the best results we recommend that you carry it with you wherever you go.

These are tips by which to live. Haanel writes about them as have many of the great philosophers throughout the ages. Print this page. Carry these little tips wherever you go. It’s always good to remind yourself about the little things – because the little things become big things … eventually.

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