What were they missing?

Through the years, plenty has been written about having a positive mindset, creative visualization and the Law of Attraction. First off and foremost, I believe in all three of these topics and/or anything remotely related to them. While I don’t claim to be an expert in any of the three, I’ve read enough books over the past five years to have a layman’s understanding of how the premise works. Hundreds if not thousands of authors have written on the topic. A few that come to mind – Wallace Wattles, Napoleon Hill from years past and Jeffrey Smith and Rhonda Brooks more recently.

I suspect that as I flesh out the idea I’m going to propose here, I’m likely going to need to do more research and digging to verify my claims, however, with what I’ve read so far, I think I might be on to something. For the most part, most of these authors do a great job of describing the process of how to think positively, focus on your dreams and achieve success by just changing your overall attitude. The challenge that many people have is sustaining this success over the long haul.

For those of you who know me well, you know that over the past five years, my life can best be described as a roller coaster ride. All the moves, job changes, divorce, etc. all led to a relatively unstable life that wasn’t grounded in any sort of foundation. However, my most recent move last September brought me back to my hometown of Toledo, OH near family and friends. This past March, I celebrated my one year anniversary with Interrupt Marketing and love has found its way back in my life again – this time for good. Additionally, I’m getting more sleep, eating and drinking better and finding time for myself.

Some may argue that all of these things (job, girlfriend, etc.) are the result of my positive attitude. And while this is likely the case, I’ve struggled for years to understand what I was missing from my life to push me over the hump from really achieving my potential. Ironically enough, I believe it’s the basic components above – sleep, water, food and healthy lifestyle that have and will make the difference.

Let me explain what I mean – think about a garden. If a farmer plants a seed without properly preparing the soil and then providing the necessary nutrients to that soil, it’s unlikely that seed will germinate and grow to it’s full potential. We are the same way. For years, authors have been describing the process in excruciating detail of how to “plant the seeds” in your mind of what you want out of life with creative visualization and positive thinking. But what they always seem to miss and/or not describe in any detail is how to properly prepare your mind, body and spirit to actually help bring these ideas to fruition.

In the coming weeks and months, I’m going to dig deeper into this idea of the importance of sleep, proper hydration, eating well and exercising the body and mind. Because so much has been written through the years on eating well and exercise, the one that has me most curious is what sleep deprivation has done to reduce the productivity and creativity of Americans through the years. While I plan on researching and writing on all four of these areas, I’m going to pay extra attention to the topic of sleep deprivation since I believe it is one of the of the biggest culprits to achieving personal success. So stay tuned.

By the way, the inspiration behind the topic of this blog post came about after a good night’s rest – 8 hours I believe.