My Greatest Invention
A draft for TM speech #10
Do you ever feel cheated, deflated and deprived at the end of your day? When you went through the motions, did your job, got tired , but did not accomplish anything truly great? Do you ever feel like saying : "What? That's it??? THAT was my day??? Oh ,no! NO no no no no no no!!!" I have to do SOMETHING about this! "
My day is almost over, I need to decide something important. I know! I'm going to decide who is going to be the Next American Idol! My day is almost over, and I want to find a purpose in my life. I know! I'll google it! What a beautiful blog post! And another! What? This Blogger has a book??? I'm buying it! Where was I? Oh yes! My day is almost over! Nonsense! All I need is a little boost of energy, a cup of coffe, a couple of scoops of ice cream, and this black and white European film, a glass of wine, and then just like Mark Zukerberg, I'm going to burn the midnight oil and build the next Facebook! ( falls asleep, snores, wakes up to a sound of alarm)
(Surprised) Mr. TM? Fellow TM? Most welcome guests? Do you ever feel tired in morning? Do you ever feel like you need a better alarm clock?
Introducing my greatest invention! I want you to reach into your pockets and take the hand-held devices, smart phones or dumb phones, and I want you to set the alarm to 10 pm. I know, it takes time. I'll wait. I have the extra 3 minutes for speech #10. So that's it. That's my invention. That's the thing that changed my life.
Every day, at 10 pm, when I feel cheated, deflated and deprived, when I ask myself " THAT was my day?" I have an answer. ( Strum) Yes. that was your day. And there's nothing you can do about it. There's nothing you can change about your day. Because it's over. And even if you ignore the alarm and cheat and stay up, the only thing that you are going to do is undermine your next day.
My invention is based on understanding of how the willpower works and how much of it do we have.
We don't have much willpower. We are mostly driven by habit. And we have a tiny jar of willpower for the entire day. So don't pretend you have more willpower, just use it wisely. Don't use your willpower to say 'yes', because soon you'll start faking your 'yeses'. Try to use your willpower to say 'no'.
No. I'm not going to decide the next American Idol, I'm tired. No. I'm not going to buy this book, I'll add it to the wish list. No. I'm not going to build the next Facebook right now, because a bunch of bad ideas are throwing a big party inside my head. And I'll just go to sleep.
But if you do follow the 10 pm alarm consistently, you will wake up to a magical world: at 4 or 5 in the morning, when everyone else is asleep you own this world. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates sleep in the fluffy piles of cash, and they can't force you to use their technologies. Your boss sleeps with his Blackberry and he can't make you start doing your job. Even Osama Bin Laden sleeps in the bottom ocean and can't take away your freedom.
This is the time to make the new you . This is the time to do something about the regrets you are going to have in the evening. Create! Write speeches! Learn how to play trombone - your neighbors will love you for that! Build something that matters, help me with the BPTM web site. Early morning is not a time to do another job. We have enough jobs. We do enough chores. We go through enough motions during our day. Early morning is the time to do something that makes you go 'WOW', something irrational.
IRRATIONAL - That's the key word! Don't go jogging at 5 am, don't start making money, don't do anything your boss, your spouse or the rational self would approve. Remember: it's 5 am! They are all sleeping.
Sleep is selfish, especially at 5 am. So wake up and do something selfish: breath in the fresh air, or pour it into a wine glass because that's the quality of the air at 5am. Watch the sun rise just for you and a few crazy people who got up so early. Find that little bird singing outside. Listen to it sing, and say: YEAH! Right on, little bird, I know exactly what you mean. And if you don't know how to jog - yes, go jogging, it's a religious experience for the first month or so, and then you need to find something else. Something you did not do before. Something irrational and beautiful.
To summ it all up, The very early morning is the time to say Yes to life, to watch sunrise from the very top of Maslow's pyramid, to see yourself change.
Then the bosses and the crooks and the telemarketers wake up, and you can't say 'Yes' to life anymore.
You need to keep out of trouble, because these people - they are trouble. The rest of the day is the time to say "Maybe" to life, to say "Sounds interesting" to life, to say "I'll think about it" to life. The rest of the day is the time to do your job, do your chores, go through the motions, and take an ocasional break for a TM meeting.
To 10 pm is the time to say "No" to life and go to sleep.
Was THAT my 10th speech? That was it?? My speech is almost over, and there's so much I did not say,
My speech is almost over, and I need to do something about it . My speech is almost over ... ( The sound of alarm ) ... mr. ToastMaster!
Do you ever feel cheated, deflated and deprived at the end of your day? When you went through the motions, did your job, got tired , but did not accomplish anything truly great? Do you ever feel like saying : "What? That's it??? THAT was my day??? Oh ,no! NO no no no no no no!!!" I have to do SOMETHING about this! "
My day is almost over, I need to decide something important. I know! I'm going to decide who is going to be the Next American Idol! My day is almost over, and I want to find a purpose in my life. I know! I'll google it! What a beautiful blog post! And another! What? This Blogger has a book??? I'm buying it! Where was I? Oh yes! My day is almost over! Nonsense! All I need is a little boost of energy, a cup of coffe, a couple of scoops of ice cream, and this black and white European film, a glass of wine, and then just like Mark Zukerberg, I'm going to burn the midnight oil and build the next Facebook! ( falls asleep, snores, wakes up to a sound of alarm)
(Surprised) Mr. TM? Fellow TM? Most welcome guests? Do you ever feel tired in morning? Do you ever feel like you need a better alarm clock?
Introducing my greatest invention! I want you to reach into your pockets and take the hand-held devices, smart phones or dumb phones, and I want you to set the alarm to 10 pm. I know, it takes time. I'll wait. I have the extra 3 minutes for speech #10. So that's it. That's my invention. That's the thing that changed my life.
Every day, at 10 pm, when I feel cheated, deflated and deprived, when I ask myself " THAT was my day?" I have an answer. ( Strum) Yes. that was your day. And there's nothing you can do about it. There's nothing you can change about your day. Because it's over. And even if you ignore the alarm and cheat and stay up, the only thing that you are going to do is undermine your next day.
My invention is based on understanding of how the willpower works and how much of it do we have.
We don't have much willpower. We are mostly driven by habit. And we have a tiny jar of willpower for the entire day. So don't pretend you have more willpower, just use it wisely. Don't use your willpower to say 'yes', because soon you'll start faking your 'yeses'. Try to use your willpower to say 'no'.
No. I'm not going to decide the next American Idol, I'm tired. No. I'm not going to buy this book, I'll add it to the wish list. No. I'm not going to build the next Facebook right now, because a bunch of bad ideas are throwing a big party inside my head. And I'll just go to sleep.
But if you do follow the 10 pm alarm consistently, you will wake up to a magical world: at 4 or 5 in the morning, when everyone else is asleep you own this world. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates sleep in the fluffy piles of cash, and they can't force you to use their technologies. Your boss sleeps with his Blackberry and he can't make you start doing your job. Even Osama Bin Laden sleeps in the bottom ocean and can't take away your freedom.
This is the time to make the new you . This is the time to do something about the regrets you are going to have in the evening. Create! Write speeches! Learn how to play trombone - your neighbors will love you for that! Build something that matters, help me with the BPTM web site. Early morning is not a time to do another job. We have enough jobs. We do enough chores. We go through enough motions during our day. Early morning is the time to do something that makes you go 'WOW', something irrational.
IRRATIONAL - That's the key word! Don't go jogging at 5 am, don't start making money, don't do anything your boss, your spouse or the rational self would approve. Remember: it's 5 am! They are all sleeping.
Sleep is selfish, especially at 5 am. So wake up and do something selfish: breath in the fresh air, or pour it into a wine glass because that's the quality of the air at 5am. Watch the sun rise just for you and a few crazy people who got up so early. Find that little bird singing outside. Listen to it sing, and say: YEAH! Right on, little bird, I know exactly what you mean. And if you don't know how to jog - yes, go jogging, it's a religious experience for the first month or so, and then you need to find something else. Something you did not do before. Something irrational and beautiful.
To summ it all up, The very early morning is the time to say Yes to life, to watch sunrise from the very top of Maslow's pyramid, to see yourself change.
Then the bosses and the crooks and the telemarketers wake up, and you can't say 'Yes' to life anymore.
You need to keep out of trouble, because these people - they are trouble. The rest of the day is the time to say "Maybe" to life, to say "Sounds interesting" to life, to say "I'll think about it" to life. The rest of the day is the time to do your job, do your chores, go through the motions, and take an ocasional break for a TM meeting.
To 10 pm is the time to say "No" to life and go to sleep.
Was THAT my 10th speech? That was it?? My speech is almost over, and there's so much I did not say,
My speech is almost over, and I need to do something about it . My speech is almost over ... ( The sound of alarm ) ... mr. ToastMaster!