Practice Drills for Training Your Mental Focus.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Mental Endurance
• Attention Control
• Mental Concentration
• Emotional Mastery
• BASIC Willpower

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Self
• Close-Up, Onto Thought - requires adjustment to both thought and emotion - a sort of ‘narrowing in’ and willful intensification.

Exertion Type:

• Whichever is necessaryto access the proper state of Mind

Application Level:

• Self-Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Privacy
• Timer or Watch with an alarm
• Paper/Pen for making notes

Willfully and intentionally summon, gather, and compress your Awareness into a strong state of focused determination, then HOLD that Attentional state for an extended period during a training session. In other words, take your disbursed, unfocused Attention and wield it into a sword ready to cut through distraction in favor of unflinching action.

Here, we practice and become proficient at forming and holding a specific, resourceful, empowering State of Mind along with its associated feelings. You should learn to wield this tool with utmost skill so that you become a center of power through whom greatness naturally and readily flows. 

Mastering the ability to summon, gather, and direct all mental resources in a way that hammers through mental sluggishness is very important. When you don't feel like doing a thing, nothing breaks that molasses-like avoidance mentality like a fresh infusion of white-hot, intense determination that refuses to back down from an obstacle.

Because the mental state of 'PURE RESOLVE' rapidly dismantles any feelings of procrastination, fear, or avoidance, the importance of this tool cannot be overstated!Accessing and maintaining any motivating, inspiring, productive, positive, confident, strong state of mind (whenever and wherever you wish) is key for effective, efficient action during long-term Focus upon a single, important objective.

This exercise trains you to intentionally put yourself into an unstoppable, productive mode that nothing can corrupt, not random thoughts, not negative situations, and certainly not any other human being!In this basic version of the method, you will be tapping into the mindset of pure RESOLVE - the utter determination to see something through no matter what.

Our objective is to fireup the mindset so strongly that all other thought or contradictory emotion is shut out of your Mind and perception as you single-mindedly and CONSCIOUSLY ‘dail in on, lock on, and hold onto’ the mental state and experience of PURE, ABSOLUTE RESOLVE.

In the beginning, set your timer’s alarm for three, five, ten or fifteen minutes. As you grow familiar with the experience and your ability improves, you may increase the time of your effort. Because this technique expends a massive amount of mental energy, pace yourself initially so that you do not over-exert to end up battling fatigue.

At some point in your past, you have been in an intensely determined State of Mind. The situation may have been small or perhaps large in scale, but you refused to give in, and you decided that you must succeed - that nothing would stand in your way. Your Attention was narrowed, your thoughts aligned with the objective, and you poured your entire being into the moment.

You PRESSED yourself, with your energies gathered like sun shining through a magnifying glass focused into a tight beam to light fire to its target.Are you familiar with the feeling?

Perhaps you’ve had it recently in reaction to ‘getting yourself together’ - it may even be the very feeling that led you to this training.

Recall and remember what that sense of determination feels like. Experience it fully and intensely, immersing yourself into it, and when you have it, HOLD that  mental state. Do not let it fade away.

Thoughts may arise. Distractions may rear themselves. No concern. In this, there is only one important thing, and it is the state Of PURE, ABSOLUTE RESOLVE!

If the mindset begins to lose integrity due to pestering thought or wavering Attention, just bring it back even stronger than before. Maintain the mindset as best you can for three, five, ten or fifteen minutes (your timer alarm will notify you when the exercise is over).

Of course, your proficiency is expected to improve with practice over a few weeks of effort until you can access it quickly and hold it for longer periods.

I recommend that you do this exercise for a minimum of one month, each and every day in order to learn as much as you can about the state itself so that you can apply it to other areas of training.

The state itself is described as a ‘TOOL’ because it is a mental implement that can be applied to numerous areas of your training. For instance, there will be many instances wherein you settle in to do one routine or another only to discover that your mind has no interest in cooperating with your objective.

It will want to wander here and there, into fantasy, into thoughts of the future or past or insignificant nonsense. That kind of cognitive disobedience requires you to tap into your personal determination in order to succeed. The challenge requires RESOLVE on your part to take the situation in hand and PRESS your mind into obedience and onto task until it settles down and carries out your demands without coersion.

“And just what about this training makes pure, ABSOLUTE Resolve such a necessity?”

Let’s suppose you like the idea of gold*, the concept of it being useful as a medium of exchange, something that you could use more of so that you could get choice material goods,go more places and do very interesting things - maybe it would serve as a means to increase your freedom in practical way.

Most people can relate to this idea. That said, if someone walked up and freely handed you a simple map to a hidden yet sizeable reserve of the stuff and informed you that you could keep all that you found if only you would make the journey to the top of the a small mountain to the treasure’s location, one reasonably expects that you would begin the climb in earnestand right away.

The minor discomforts of climbing up a hill - the temporary aches, the expenditure of time and energy, even the rise of complaining thoughts or selfish discouragement fromother people - would be powerless to stop you in your overwhelming determination that you MUST have the reward which you seek.

In the end, you’d have gold.

*If not gold, conceive of any idea that you hold as a highly prized priority worth obtaining.In this training, the tool of Resolve will propel you through the same obstacles, up the grade, and onto treasures that imagination can barely conceive, because what you obtain isabove and OWNS even the power of imagination.In fact, you will need to access and push the limits of your resolve in order to do this exercise.

The great news is that the use of Resolve is self-perpetuating. The more you use of it, the more you have to use and the more effective you become at using andgrowing your store of personal power.

With this Key, doors will begin to open in your mind and your life.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Working Memory
• Memory Recall

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

Review the Intellectual technique Basic Mental Resolve to ensure that you have the basic skills necessary to focus your power of Resolve so that the following method is easier to carry out.

For a minimum of 90 days, execute the following exercise and see how close and consistently you can successfully carry it out.

When you arise in the morning, take 10 to 15 minutes to form a single-word term or image in your mind to represent a specific idea. With utmost resolve, hold it on the stage of imagination to etch it in memory, then decide with similar resolve to recall that word or image from memory at a SPECIFIC time of day that is at least six hours AFTER you forge the target. With each day’s attempt, slightly change the time you are determined to recall the target.

That complete, do not attempt to refresh in mind or think about the target. Do not use a timer or alarm to remind yourself to recall the target. Instead, allow yourself to be concerned only with the tasks and actions of the moment in accordance to your normal daily schedule. When the time comes to recall the item, then do so. You can track the passing of time, but us no aid other than your Attention.

You may not at first be able to match the predetermined time exactly; too, it may be necessary for you to continually prevent your mind from dwelling prematurely on the target. Continue carrying out the technique over the suggested period of time to improve accuracy.

Feel free to experiment by alternating between word terms and images.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Mental Endurance
• Attention Control
• Mental Concentration
• Mental Focus

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought - requires adjustment to both thought and emotion - a sort of ‘narrowing in’ and willful intensification.

Exertion Type:

• Whichever is necessary to access the proper state of Mind

Application Level:

• Task-Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Timer or Watch with an alarm

Now, you can test and study the unified mental state that can propel you along a sure, straight, time-efficient course toward your objectives. This mental state has numerous terms attached to it including:

• Concentrated Power Of Will
• Focused Mental Concentration
• Concentrated Mental Focus
• Singular Focus
• Iron Will

Ensure that you have reviewed and practiced the “Basic Mental Resolve” exercise so that the fundamental skill and knowledge acquired through its use helps you master this very valuable method.

Place yourself in a unified mental state of ABSOLUTE RESOLVE. Do not continue this technique until you have attained that state of Mind. When you have attained it, form a vivid thought in your imagination of a significant goal in which you are interested, one which, should you achieve it, would make a major difference in your life. With this detailed image in Mind, resolve with every bit of intensity that you will attain it!

Remember your training from the previous exercise - there is NO other consideration than the thing you shall have, and NO feeling other than the utter determination to bring it about. There is no call to wonder on how you’ll get it done or to dwell on the rewards of making it happen. Set aside all such distractions and come back to the idea of the objective integrated totally with the state of resolve. Stoke the mental state to peak intensity. When you have done this for 15 minutes, the exercise is complete.

This is the feeling you should have about such an important objective, and you can now practice so to develop the power to bring it to mind anytime.

Practice this technique DAILY, after you get up in the morning and before you go to bed at night. Feel free to do it a third time during the noon hour or anytime before you are about to start the work necessary to accomplish the target objective.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Attention Control
• Mental Concentration
• Mental Focus

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought
(requires adjustment to both
thought and emotion - a
sort of ‘narrowing in’
and willful
intensification)

Exertion Type:

• Whichever is necessary
to access the proper state
of Mind and launch
immediately into the
required Task

Application Level:

• Task-Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Solitude

You are about to grasp and turn the most important key in the lock of your higher destiny, therefore you must take great care in the reading and carrying out of this method as the skills and habits you acquire through its practice are to be a part of your daily life when it comes to addressing and carrying out your bigger goals.

Before you begin, familiarize yourself with introductory techniques like the “Singular Mental Concentration Builder” technique (a training drill for resolute Concentration) that you are skilled at gathering all your dispersed Attention to a single point AT WILL, and quickly.

Also, two techniques that warm you up for this one, which are “Basic Mental Resolve” and “Intermediate Mental Resolve."

We now tap into your Personal Power Potential by combining the attributes acquired through the prerequisity exercises - those attributes that manifest themselves in your ability to:

• Detect and recognize when your Attention has been hijacked, your Mind having been distracted.

• Willfully gather all your disbursed Attention.

• Bring yourself QUICKLY back out of imagination, daydreaming, wandering thoughts, and distraction by outside sources.

• Calmly brush aside the small, disturbing sense of shock that often accompanies your noticing the characteristics of your own Mind’s strangely irrational behavior, knowing that the more clearly you can see what occurs, the more power you acquire to affect self change.

• Happily endure whatever levels of strenuous discomfort come with having to wrestle with your own Attention to get it to obey.

• Demandingly bring into clear view the objectives you’ve set for yourself.

• Infuse the thought of that objective with absolute, RESOLVED determination to execute relentlessly!

• Approach what you do - from the most mundane daily chores (brushing your teeth, washing dishes, etc.) to the tasks of vital
importance (preparing for a business presentation, training a subordinate, etc.) - as though it truly matters; Consciously directing the heated pinpoint focus of your power of singular Concentration to doing EVERYTHING with the same care that an Artisan pours into her craftwork.

And so we come to the vital pivot point that tilts your Mind to move you forward along the line of elevated Destiny.

If you have properly planned out an objective (such as the “SIGNIFICANT GOAL” pictured in Mind as part of the prerequisite “Intermediate Mental Resolve” technique, you should have some idea of what the next step or task is regarding that objective. On the other hand, if you have not conducted proper planning, then your very next step is to begin that step.

Whatever the very next step, task, item, or action is in your plan, rally all your mental resources to achieve the peak state of Mental Resolve as you have done in prior work.

Since you already know your larger objective and have trained your state of mind so that you are utterly RESOLVED to attain it, form a thought of the VERY NEXT STEP, TASK, ITEM, or ACTION on your list and then permeate that thought with the same white-hot intensity that you did with the larger aim.

Whether you have to make a phone call, visit and establish a relationship with a reliable new business contact, go to a library to do research, or practice a skill, you are to IMMEDIATELY LAUNCH YOURSELF INTO THAT ACT once you have combined the THOUGHT of it with the POWER OF RESOLVE!

This technique is to be a part of your daily way of conducting your affairs and is now your TOP PRIORITY OF THE DAY AFTER YOU AWAKEN. Before you set off in your day to achieve your goals, you are to bring your aim to mind and connect to it with a Unified Mindset inflamed with irresistable Resolve.

Every TASK related to that objective is to be similarly painted in your Mind with the same unstoppable mental state. Each moment of the hours involved is to be guided through Singular Mental Concentration.

Do these things on a daily basis and within sixty days you will be a different human being, one to whom success is naturally drawn - and for whom failure does not exist.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Attention Control
• Thought Control
• Impulse Control

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding
• Attention Directing & Holding, Onto Thought

Application Level:

• Task Concentration
• Self Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Privacy & Quiet
• Stopwatch or Timer to track session time
• Pen or Pencil with Journal or Note paper to chronicle your experience

Strong Mental Focus requires the ability to not only control your Attention but the skill to willfully, mercilessly control which THOUGHTS you FORGE and FOCUS on! This method trains you in the fundamentals of Forging An Exclusive Thought, allowing no competing signal impulse to influence your central nervous system. When you control the nature and content of your thoughts, you establish your own emotional destiny - as goes your thought and emotion, so goes your actions and the consistent results you realize in your life!

Refer to the prerequisite Basic Thought Shutout mental exercise and ensure to adequately practice it prior to beginning this technique. As with many methods under this system, the prerequisite establishes a particular type of reallife knowledge that goes a long way in helping you do well with the current method.

Set yourself up as you know to do from the Basic Thought Shutout exercise, and after having cleared your Mind of thought (creating thus a clean slate), instantly forge an idea in your imagination - a simple picture image - ensuring that the thing imagined is not so complicated that it causes blurred, unclear details. You can draft whatever thought form you wish, to that end, but you are to allow no competing imagery, selftalk, or external distraction to interfere; for you are here concerned only with the target task.

There may be a tendency for other thoughts about (or related to) the target to rise up in your Mind, but you should resolve to narrow your Attention so that all you see and experience is the target. If you were given a camera and instructed to take a photo of a specific person in a crowd, you would need to adjust both your aim and the width of your lense aperature to shut out anything or anyone not belonging in the shot. If you needed more impact or detail, you would adjust the zoom of your lense to get in closer on the target.

Once you “Clear The Mechanism,” and forge your thought in the creative furnace, do your beset to maintain clarity of the target for one minute.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Visual Working Memory
• Mental Concentration
• Mental Focus

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Timer or Stopwatch

Use the techniques of the Breathing Concentration exercise (quietly and calmly concentrate upon the feel of your breathing - deep and relaxed inhalations and exhalations) to arrive at your Unified State of Mind, quiet, calm, free from mental noise, you the Captain on the bridge of your vessel with your hand upon the wheel.

Sit quietly where you will not be disturbed. Choose one word that represents a concept that you find appealing - perhaps something having to do with a goal you wish to achieve or a characteristic you desire to embody, such as the conceptual term ‘HEALTH’. Say this word aloud to yourself a few times to know its sound and tone, then you can begin.

Next, form a single thought in Mind consisting of the word itself, forging it so that it is clearly, solidly visible in your imagination. Let that be your Concentration target, whereupon you will aim your Attention and hold it there without faltering or becoming distracted by external influences.

Whether your session time is 5, 10, 15, or more minutes, allow NOTHING to distract your from the task. Often, when taking this action it has the effect of your being in a calm pool, and any action you take is a ‘movement’ in the pool, causing waves to start forming. Keeping your Attention squarely on the task mitigates the formation of waves of noisy background chatter. If at any point you realize you’ve been distracted or something is pulling at your Attention, tighten your mental grip on the task! You must care for absolutely NOTHING other than the task at hand, because in truth, nothing is more important than you getting hold of the reigns personal power.

When you have forged the idea clearly in Mind and it stands alone, zoom in on it to inspect it as though turning around with an invisible pair of hands. Comprehend the nature and substance of the meaning of the target. There is nothing but the idea in your Awareness. Now, let it be still there in the midst of your Mind...then release it and let it fade away to nothing.

In this, you have accessed your Unified State of Mind, stood in the expanse of quiet, created a thought, knew it fully, and sent it back into nothingness, leaving you there as Thinker, and creator of thought.

Continually extend the session duration as each day passes, for greater skill and profitable lessons that can then be applied to daily life.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Auditory Working Memory
• Mental Concentration
• Mental Focus

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Timer or Stopwatch

Sit quietly where you will not be disturbed. Choose one word concept that will be your Concentration target, such as the conceptual term ‘WEALTH’. Use the techniques of the Breathing Concentration exercise (quietly and calmly concentrate upon the feel of your breathing - deep and relaxed inhalations and exhalations)to arrive at your Unified State of Mind, quiet, calm, free from mental noise, you the Captain on the bridge of your vessel with your hand upon the wheel.

Say your word concept aloud to yourself a few times to know its sound, then repeat saying it a few times in your Mind without speaking it aloud. That done, you will express it repeatedly, at a comfortable pace, in your Mind, permitting NOTHING to distract you from the task during the allotted period of time set aside for the session (5, 10, 15 mins, as you choose).

If at any point you realize you’ve been distracted or something is pulling at your Attention, tighten your mental grip on the task! You must care for absolutely NOTHING other than the task at hand. Try to ‘see’ the word in your thoughts, but more importantly, HEAR yourself utter it mentally.

Continually extend the session duration as each day passes, for greater skill and profitable lessons that can then be applied to daily life.

If helpful, before beginning the exercise, consider the mental illustration of an individual in possession of dynamic personal power who from the moment they open their eyes in the morning to when they close them at night are able to hold one singular objective on the stage of their Mind so that every act, every conversation, everything they do and every thought that occurs is the result and momentum-forwarding result of the one consciously maintained purpose.

When you think you understand what that means, go back and TRY AGAIN, because it is even more profound than what you just imagined! A human being - YOU, for instance - waking up with a thought, carrying that thought with you ALL DAY LONG, with such resolve and power that NOTHING can disturb it, and ALL your words and actions spring from it.

Imagine that person’s life (feel free to imagine yourself as the person) seemingly arranges itself to align with that expression of that purpose, without the person having to struggle. Imagine that everyone around that person works to enable the successful actualization of that purpose—and those few who oppose the purpose seem to magically disappear from the circle of influence to be replaced by inspiring people who possess the resources to help the purpose succeed. Imagine that person having no strain, no stress, no anxiety or worry, and living from a level of consistent, pleasurable joy and optimism.

Now, the possibilities of Mental Focus begin to reveal themselves to you.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Attention Control
• Thought Control
• Mental Concentration
• Mental Focus

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Attention Directing, onto Thought

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Stopwatch Or Timer with Alarm
• Paper, Pen Or Pencil
• Privacy

To get started, you’ll need either a stopwatch or a timer with an audible alarm to notify you when a session time has expired.

Also, have a piece of paper with a pen or pencil ready so that you can jot down notes about what you experience during the exercise. Reserve a set time dedicated exclusively to doing this training technique, and a place where you will not be disturbed by anyone.

Gently close your eyes and take one slow, deep breath, bringing your Attention to bear on the task at hand, and concern yourself with nothing else.

Carefully form a simple image in your Mind, perhaps a triangle, circle, square, or anything else that you can hold a crisp picture of. If you have a difficult time visualizing items in mind, choose the simplest image you can conceive of, even if it’s a simple dot. You may find that you need to create a certain color background in your imagination in order to form your image in contrast against it, as in mentally painting a solid white backdrop against which you create a red circle.

Your task is to forge the image crisp and clear in your mind for without it fading away, shifting in color, warping its shape, or becoming displaced by another, competing thought during your effort to form it clearly.

In the process of establishing your image, CLARITY is your key. Do not accept a vague target. Exert your creative energies in order to see or perceive the mental object, enriching its character until it is so richly rendered in thought that it almost appears real.

Practice Equals Power!

Remember that your Mental Focus objective is to have and live with a level of mental power that forges a vision, holds that vision in Mind each and every day, all day long in everything you do, so that your every action fulfills that greater purpose and moves you forward in a straight line along its course.

Foundational in this is the ability to THINK CLEARLY about your objectives, and to do so without interference from random, valueless thought, emotion, or impulse.

If you set aside just 15 to 20 minutes a day practicing the incredible technique until you can perform it for 10 to 15 minutes straight without becoming distracted, you will achieve a level of Attention control that’s stronger than almost anybody you’ve ever known. You can then take that new level of skill and apply to any task or goal you’re working toward for success. To really accelerate your progress,practice twice a day for 30 days.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Attention Control
• Thought Control
• Mental Concentration
• Mental Focus

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding
• Attention Directing, Onto Thought
• Attention Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Stopwatch Or Timer with Alarm
• Paper, Pen Or Pencil
• Privacy

Let's now add weight to the more basic challenge of Simple Mental Image Formation. Just a quick review on forming a simple image in the mind as follows:

• "Gently close your eyes and take one slow, deep breath, bringing your Attention to bear on the task at hand, and concern yourself with nothing else.
• Carefully form a simple image in your Mind, perhaps a triangle, circle, square, or anything else that you can hold a crisp picture of. If you have a difficult time visualizing items in mind, choose the simplest image you can conceive of, even if it’s a simple dot. You may find that you need to create a certain color background in your imagination in order to form your image in contrast against it, as in mentally painting a solid white backdrop against which you create a red circle.
• Your task is to forge the image crisp and clear in your mind for without it fading away, shifting in color, warping its shape, or becoming displaced by another, competing thought during your effort to form it clearly."
  
  
  Repeat the basic exercise, only now you will time yourself in your ability to keep the image on the stage of your Attention for longer and longer periods of time, once formed. The image you forge will now become a friend whom you are not to forget, but become more intimately familiar. Though this may seem a bit simple, you will discover that the challenge is significant.
  
  While you are training with this method, you will experience strains and stresses of mental exertion, which is good if you persist, because you will be developing the endurance you need for real-world Mental Focus. Initially, begin with five minute sessions, building to ten minutes, and eventually to fifteen. When the image changes shape or color, or when your Attention is distracted by a thought or is pulled away from what you are doing by some external influence, look at your timer to see how much time passed before integrity was lost. When you have noted how long you were able to hold the image, try again. Continue the process for the duration of the exercise session. With each session, intentionally exert the effort to hold the image’s integrity of shape and color for longer than in prior attempts.
  
  You will start out being able to maintain an image for brief periods before the image either disappears or warps into a different shape or altogether different thought. As you practice, such tendencies shall decrease, allowing you to hold an image for much longer. This teaches you in a very real way the challenge of putting your brain to work at holding something as simple as a circle in thought. With time, the lesson and the habit become ingrained. In truth, this exercise all by itself will greatly expand your ability to Focus.
  
  One benefit of primary importance derived from this exercise is an incredible heightening of Mental Awareness that allows you to notice, in real time, the thoughts that rise and fall in your Mind without your directing them. After some days of working to hold a thought steady in direct defiance of distracting thoughts that seek to rise up and steal your Attention, you will be alarmed at how often your good intention is hijacked by mechanical, impractical ideas that do nothing but run in circles. As you grow in your Awareness of these culprits, so too will you grow in your power to keep them from revolting to throw you off course; also, you’ll become better at getting back on track if you temporarily veer off.
  
  

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual (using Creative Imagination)

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Thought Control
• Attention Control
• Mental Endurance

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding
• Attention Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Training tracker or paper to write on
• Pen or pencil
• Timer or watch with second-hand to track time
• Privacy

The untrained Mind does not easily hold a single thought for very long before that idea is transforms into another, and that one warps into a following one, in an endless parade of chaotic imagination, all day long.

Your strong Concentration in the immediate present and your long-term Power Of Focus depend on the well-practiced skill of keeping a single idea on the stage of Awareness for lengthy periods of time while holding back distracting thoughts and impulses, any or all of which can emerge to crowd out and take the place of an important idea.

The following exercise gives you the mental strength and experience to perform that action whenever necessary, for as long as necessary.

Decide upon an object of which you will form a picture in your Mind, perhaps an apple or a baseball, even something as simple as a red triangle, depending upon how well you can keep the image intact. If you have very much diffi culty, try something simpler to imagine. Now, set that picture as a thought and hold it there.

When that image changes shape or color, or when your Attention is distracted by a thought or is pulled away from what you are doing by some external influence, look at your timer to see how much time passed before integrity was lost. Write the time down.

You will start out being able to maintain an idea on the stage of imagination for brief periods before the mental impression either disappears or warps into a different shape or altogether different thought. As you practice, your mental endurance will greatly increase, allowing you to hold an image for much longer.

Your improved ability is necessary for maintaining Concentration on a single task, and foundational for being focused on a particular objective over the long term.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Thought Control
• Attention Control
• Mental Endurance

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding
• Attention Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Training tracker or paper to write on
• Pen or pencil
• Timer or watch with second-hand to track time
• Privacy

With some success forming and holding single images, you will now work on adding more weight to your effort, thereby increasing strength and flexibility along with mental endurance.

Rather than create a single image in thought to hold,create two different images, such as those of an apple and a pencil. Maybe try seeing two lines intersecting in the shape of a plus sign, with one line green and the other red.

The objective is to not only maintain the integrity of each, but to do so as long as you can exert the effort before the images lose color, shape, or are interfered with by a thought that steals your Attention.

As with most of the exercises in this method, note your times and how they better as training goes along. Feel free to vary the complexity of your images as long as you are able to maintain good detail, because the more detail you put into an image, the more of a challenge it will be to maintain.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Thought Control
• Attention Control
• Mental Endurance

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding
• Thought Manipulation
• Attention Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Training tracker or paper to write on
• Pen or pencil
• Timer or watch with second-hand to track time
• Privacy

Now tap into the rarified creative powers of The Great Inventors and Scientists and Creators across the ages.

Review the Intellectual technique “Interconnecting Image Form & Hold, Advanced” to ensure that you have the basic skills practice at forming, holding, and combining interconnecting mental imagery with adequate clarity so that the following method is easier to carry out.

Conduct the prerequisite exercise as suggested, but now you will add a powerful, challenging creative twist that will be of significant benefit.

As you are now quite familiar with the device (able to construct and disassemble it in your imagination), now set aside an amount of time each day for the next few days (or more if necessary) to turn the effort of your thoughts to forge an IMPROVEMENT wherein some parts may be added or removed, better adjusted or rendered more efficient for more effective operation of the item. 

The result should logically have something to do with, say, greater output or less cost or higher productivity or any other manner of expanded practicality.

Develop a series of questions that you can use as cues to your creative intellect, such as:

• Which changes here would make this item less noisy to operate?
• What minor addition to this item would make it more attractive?
• How would I arrange the components here for easier use?
• Is there something that, if removed, would be more convenient?

Merely to have brief reminders at hand, feel free to sketch details of those portions to be added or removed as you continue your contemplation over time, but do not lean on those renderings as a crutch. Do not use sketching to forge the idea - do that entirely in thought - but use it only to record what you create.

Over the next six months (or longer), chose one item per week to use as a subject for this technique. Your creative and intuitive abilities will blossom to extraordinary degrees.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Thought Control
• Attention Control
• Mental Endurance

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding
• Thought Manipulation
• Attention Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Training tracker or paper to write on
• Pen or pencil
• Timer or watch with second-hand to track time
• Privacy

Review the Intellectual technique “Interconnecting Image Form & Hold, Basic” to ensure that you have the basic skills practice at forming and holding basic, interconnecting mental imagery with adequate clarity so that the following method is easier to carry out.

In your imagination, bring up two or more images of related, practical, & interconnecting parts. Hold them for a time, then carefully bring them together to combine them in their proper manner. For more of a challenge, work a combination of three, then four, etc until you can conceive, hold, and assemble increasingly complex mechanisms or arrangements in mind.

Taking the ideas presented in the previous technique, here are some examples of combining the imagers into practical arrangements. The imaginary key would slowly be inserted into the imaginary lock with vivid clarity and accuracy, and gradually turned, so gradually that you must challenge yourself to maintain the integrity of the combined imagery. The flower would be slowly planted into the soil of the flower pot, and...

• The bolt screw would be inserted into the nut, turning thread by
thread, until it is firmly tight
• Light bulb gradually turned into the socket and become lit
• The long-stemmed rose would be carefully arranged in the vase
• The pencil inserted into the sharpener
• The small, larger, and largest cogs’ teeth placed, interlocking and you may venture to animate them to rotate one another
• Tire, rim, and hubcap, interconnected into one unit
• Axle and two wheels combined, ready to bear a load
• Small, encased fan motor, fan blades, and fan belt assembled


In this way, you are tapping into a most powerful creative skill employed by great minds like Einstein, Tesla, Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, and Stephen Hawking.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Thought Control
• Attention Control
• Mental Endurance

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding
• Thought Manipulation
• Attention Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Training tracker or paper to write on
• Pen or pencil
• Timer or watch with second-hand to track time
• Privacy

At the height of your creative power is the ability to create complex arrangements in mind to the degree that you can forge detailed constructs by thought - tools, machines, music compositions, writings, artistic visions, and inspiring plans for your future. Great inventors, writers, artists, business tycoons, and pioneering scientists capitalize on this natural skill, and so can you to your bountiful profit.

Review the Intellectual technique “Interconnecting Image Form & Hold, Intermediate” to ensure that you have the basic skills practice at forming, holding, and combining interconnecting mental imagery with adequate clarity so that the following method is easier to carry out.

Prior to executing this technique, acquire and carefully observe a simple device or machine with few enough parts that you will be able to analyze and commit their individual characteristics, purposes, interconnecting relationships, etc. to memory to be recalled without the device being in the room with you. Again, go for a SIMPLE device, such as a small kitchen tool or appliance; perhaps something associated with repair of an engine. You may need to take the item apart, so ensure that you pay close attention in order to reassemble it should the item be needed for other use. People throw away so much in today’s society that you should have no problem getting your hands on something to take home for this effort - in fact, you may already have numerous items readily available.

          • One trainee has a very fancy coffee thermos that she used.

          • Another, a cheap electric pencil sharpener that had stopped working long ago.

          • Still another, a utility knife commonly seen in the construction trade.

Whatever device you decide, be prepared to become very familiar with it for this purpose:

• Set the device before you and spend some time studying it, thoroughly, turning about and seeing it from all angles so that you understand how, externally, it is put together.

• Using whatever tools are required along with materials to take notes so that you do not lose track of parts and their relationships, disassemble the device and lay out its parts in an organized fashion. Ensure your notes help you to reassemble the device if its complexity demands it. As you take it apart, concentrate on the logic of the parts, their interrelationships of connectivity and purpose and how they contribute to the successful operation of the whole device.

• Take as much time as necessary (hours, a few days, but no more!) to mentally master the look, feel, and practical nature of the parts to a degree that, in your imagination, you can create detailed image of every part. In fact, purposefully isolate every part and, after looking at it, form an image of it in thought, practicing to connect it in mind with parts that are associated with it. When you are confident that you have the device mentally figured out, proceed to the next step...

• Without the device in the room with you, experiment with seeing the device whole. As you did when having it in hand, turn it about in your mind and study it carefully. If you feel you have missed an important detail or two, go get the device and perfect your memory of it.

• Visualize disassembling the device, slowly, without losing track of its parts. In your mind, lay each part out carefully once taken off the device.

• Then, reassemble the parts of the device in your imagination until it is back to its original configuration.

• Continue doing so until you can do it with ease and speed.

As you become proficient at this method, you can increase your challenge by doing more complex devices, understandably taking more time to become familiar with them in order to successfully carry out the technique.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Thought Control
• Attention Control
• Mental Endurance

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding
• Thought Manipulation
• Attention Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Training tracker or paper to write on
• Pen or pencil
• Timer or watch with second-hand to track time
• Privacy

Now tap into the rarified creative powers of The Great Inventors and Scientists and Creators across the ages.

Review the Intellectual technique “Interconnecting Image Form & Hold, Advanced” to ensure that you have the basic skills practice at forming, holding, and combining interconnecting mental imagery with adequate clarity so that the following method is easier to carry out.

Conduct the prerequisite exercise as suggested, but now you will add a powerful, challenging creative twist that will be of significant benefit.

As you are now quite familiar with the device (able to construct and disassemble it in your imagination), now set aside an amount of time each day for the next few days (or more if necessary) to turn the effort of your thoughts to forge an IMPROVEMENT wherein some parts may be added or removed, better adjusted or rendered more efficient for more effective operation of the item. The result should logically have something to do with, say, greater output or less cost or higher productivity or any other manner of expanded practicality.

Develop a series of questions that you can use as cues to your creative intellect, such as:

• Which changes here would make this item less noisy to operate?
• What minor addition to this item would make it more attractive?
• How would I arrange the components here for easier use?
• Is there something that, if removed, would be more convenient?

Merely to have brief reminders at hand, feel free to sketch details of those portions to be added or removed as you continue your contemplation over time, but do not lean on those renderings as a crutch. Do not use sketching to forge the idea - do that entirely in thought - but use it only to record what you create.

Over the next six months (or longer), chose one item per week to use as a subject for this technique. Your creative and intuitive abilities will blossom to extraordinary degrees.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Basic Thought Control
• Mental Flexibility
• Clarity Of Mental Focus

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up
Exertion Type:
• Thought Formation
• Attention Directing, Onto Thought

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Stopwatch Or Timer to alert end of session
• Pen or Pencil with Journal or Writing Paper to take necessary notes

Ensure that you have some mastery with prerequisite single image forming and holding techniques prior to beginning this method.

With some success formulating and holding single images, you can work on complexity, flexibility, and control by forging additional images in an ordered series. By this technique, you are becoming competent at intentionally planning, forming, and manipulating worthwhile, self-generated ideas, thereby adding power and practical value to your imagination. This exercise has two parts...

First, one by one, decide on and formulate three different images in your Thoughts. Keep each image simple as in prior exercises. Form one image and let if fade as you bring up the next image. Repeat the series of images in order, again and again, with clarity. Next, increase the amount of time each image remains on your mental stage - 10 seconds, 15 seconds, and 30 seconds per item. You will encounter increasing difficulty in establishing and maintaining clarity as you lengthen the duration. In the more advanced version of the method, you will have the opportunity to boost your mental endurance further.

Second, write out a series of TEN generally simple items that you will use as guides to form pictures in Thought. When you have your list completed, briefly form an image in Mind of each item. Then, review the list and memorize the order of the objects until you can recall the entire series without looking at it. Next, one by one, in order, briefly, visualize an image of each item, recalling them from memory. That successfully accomplished, increase the amount of time each image remains on your mental stage - 10 seconds, 15 seconds, and 30 seconds per item.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Creative Visualization
• Visual Working Memory
• Strong Thought Control
• Mental Endurance
• Mental Flexibility
• Clarity Of Mental Focus

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up

Exertion Type:

• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding
• Attention Directing, Onto Thought
• Attention Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Stopwatch Or Timer to alert end of session
• Pen or Pencil with Journal or Writing Paper to take necessary notes

Ensure that you have some mastery with prerequisite Dynamic Image Series Formation technique prior to beginning this method.

With success already achieved at formulating a series of crystal clear images, you can work on your ability to keep the images on the stage of your Attention for longer and longer periods of time without allowing your thoughts to wander or your Attention to be distracted; and, for the duration of the exercise session, put the series in proper order.

Write out a list of ten generally simple items that you will form pictures of in your imagination so that you can then hold those images in Thought for extended periods of time. Review the series and memorize the order of the objects until you can recall the entire list without looking at it. Next, one by one, in order, briefly, visualize an image of each item for ONE MINUTE, recalling them from memory. 

With that successfully accomplished, increase the amount of time each image remains on your mental stage - TWO minutes per, THREE minutes per, FOUR minutes per item. This may take a few weeks of practice before you can execute longer durations without the images fading, shifting, or warping and without your Attention becoming distracted.

In this very rigorous mental technique, when you are able to hold each image in your Mind uncorrupted for FIVE MINUTES, you can be assured that you are attaining high levels of mental mastery which can be strategically applied to your life objectives.

You now KNOW and should remember that you have the natural ability to think what you want to think, when you want to think it, and maintain any idea as long as you are willing to expend the necessary effort and energy to do so. The development of Mental Focus will require you to MASTER the arena of Thought, thus this method well prepares you.

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Working Memory
• Visualization
• Clarity At Goalsetting
• Mental Focus

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up

Exertion Type:

• Attention Directing & Holding, Onto Thought
• Thought Formation
• Thought Holding

Application Level:

• Task Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Stopwatch Or Timer

With steady practice of previous Focusrelated exercises you will be more than ready to begin intensive sessions wherein you formulate detailed, vivid visionary images of what you want for your life. Such deeply attractive images, intentionally designed, access and etch themselves into the deepest parts of the Mind, activating many Subconscious mental resources that enhance your ability to perform and achieve with growing ease.

Do one or two sessions per day wherein you set aside a minimum of two 15 minute blocks to Concentrate on a vision of what is important for you to do, be, or have in your life. Let no unrelated thoughts enter into the picture, but instead make the effort to enjoy this time, looking closely at the picture of what you want, entertaining even the smallest details.

Feel free to collect photos and items representing what you want and that will help you forge the idea with more clarity in thought. The more pleasant and inspiring the concept - the more it genuinely aligns with your heartfelt desires - then the easier it will be for you to accomplish the exercise, and the more enthusiastically your brain will Focus for its actualization.

Once you have decided what you want and are able to visualize what life will be like when the objective is accomplished, set aside time once or twice a day to rally your thinking efforts in contemplating those pleasurable ideas, putting them squarely and exclusively at the forefront of mental activity. Whenever you have time to spare, practice this method.

There is nothing more important in the achievement of significant objectives than the ability to hold the Focus of your thoughts squarely on those objectives, and your Attention squarely on those thoughts. Action springs from thought, and if your action is to be congruent with your genuine, right desires, then your genuine, right desires must grow to dominate your mental stage.

Exercise Category:

• Life Application

Areas Of Improvement:

• Attention Control
• Mental Endurance
• Mental Concentration
• Mental Focus
• Momentum of Action
• Personal Productivity
• Time Management

Before you attempt this Life Application exercise, ensure that you have reviewed and trained well enough on at least one Mental Concentration and one Mental Focus technique to the degree that you can control your attention in such a way as to stay on a single task for at least thirty minutes without becoming significantly distracted. In other words, by now you should be able to produce 90% rigorous effort during a 30 minute period. If you have that level of discipline, you should be able to do quite nicely with this method.

Further, resolve now that you will endure and overcome any sense of fatigue or uncomfortable mental resistance as your brain seeks to engage in things that have nothing to do with the training at hand. If you've followed proper training advice up to this point, you may already have developed the fundamental mental toughness required to shake off these simple mental obstacles.

We now begin EXTENDED effort at uncorrupted productivity.

Whereas you are not expected to be immune to a stray thought here and there during this technique, the objective is to refuse any form of distraction that would cause you to be thrown off task completely.

In this technique, there is a high probability you'll discover that your biggest interruption is your own self attempting to seek distraction from the discomfort of intense focus. This discomfort is to be expected at first, but over time it will fade to be replaced by a pleasurable enjoyment of the experience of a mind well-trained for obedient, productive, successful focus.

In your day's schedule, arrange an exclusive FOUR HOUR time block wherein you will take strictly congruent actions toward a single goal. Every task, act, and thought is to be solely concerned with the chosen objective. Nothing else is to be given consideration. Ensure that everyone who might drop in to see you or call you knows ahead of time that you will deal exclusively with matters related to this purpose alone. In fact, if the job at hand does not require the participation of other people, then you are to take no calls or visits. Most likely, you'll find the world can get along quite nicely without constantly
interrupting you.

Conduct the exercise in this manner:

For 15 minutes, turn your imagination to thinking of the task you are about to do. Think of nothing else but the task. Perhaps you might run the individual actions steps through your thoughts, or form an image of yourself engaged in the task, holding onto it with utmost resolve.

After that, spend the next three hours and forty-five minutes carrying out the task and its congruent actions. Waste no time whatsoever thinking of unrelated items or people. Engage in no social conversations. Everything you do during this time block MUST move the project forward.

If you must take a break for water or bathroom, make the time expended up by extending your time block. Four hours is four hours with no exceptions to the rule.

When finished, write down a note on your experience. Did you feel discomfort at such intense, concentrated action? Did your mind attempt to pull away into daydream or fantasy? Did you resolve to repeatedly bring your attention back to the present moment and onto the task at hand? Did you properly resist all temptation for distraction?

Develop the ability to work in this manner on a daily basis, and you will be operating in the rarified atmosphere of the most productive, successful human beings in the world!

Exercise Category:

• Life Application

Areas Of Improvement:

• Attention Control
• Mental Endurance
• Mental Concentration
• Mental Focus
• Momentum of Action
• Personal Productivity
• Time Management

Before you attempt this Life Application exercise, ensure that you have reviewed, trained on, and are comfortable with the Life Application exercise Action Congruency Basic. If you have not done well with that prerequisite, you will not be able to effectively conduct this technique.

Again, resolve now that you will endure and overcome any sense of fatigue or uncomfortable mental resistance as your brain seeks to engage in things that have nothing to do with the training at hand. If you've followed proper training advice up to this point, you may already have developed the fundamental mental toughness required to shake off these simple mental obstacles.

We now continue EXTENDED effort at uncorrupted productivity. Whereas you are not expected to be immune to a stray thought here and there during this technique, the objective is to refuse any form of distraction that would cause you to be thrown off task completely.

In your day's schedule, arrange an exclusive EIGHT HOUR time block on TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS (16 hours, total) wherein you will take strictly congruent actions toward a single goal. Every task, act, and thought is to be solely concerned with the chosen objective. Nothing else is to be given consideration.

Ensure that everyone who might drop in to see you or call you knows ahead of time that you will deal exclusively with matters related to this purpose alone.

If you are an employee seeking to integrate powerful productivity into your workday, let your boss or manager know what you are doing for the sake of profitable productivity. Do not be surprised if he or she asks for more information for their own benefit.

If the job at hand does not require the participation of other people, then you are to take no unrelated calls or visits. Whatever meetings or calls you MUST make related to this purpose are to be as efficient and short as possible, with no socializing or wasteful activity.

Conduct the exercise in this manner:

For 15 minutes, turn your imagination to thinking of the tasks you are about to do. Think of nothing else but those tasks. Perhaps you might run the individual actions steps through your thoughts, or form an image of yourself engaged in the tasks, holding onto it with utmost resolve.

After that, spend seven hours and forty-five minutes carrying out the objective and its congruent actions. Waste no time whatsoever thinking of unrelated items or people. Engage in no social conversations. Everything you do during this time block MUST move the project forward.

If you must take a break for water, bathroom, or lunch, make up for the time expended by extending your time block. Eight hours is eight hours with no exceptions to the rule.

When finished, write down a note on your experience. Did you feel discomfort at such intense, concentrated action?

Did your mind attempt to pull away into daydream or fantasy?

Did you resolve to repeatedly bring your attention back to the present moment and onto the task at hand?

Did you properly resist all temptation for distraction?

What will you gain and how will you benefit if you build this approach into a normal habit in your career or business?

Exercise Category:

• Life Application

Areas Of Improvement:

• Attention Control
• Mental Endurance
• Mental Concentration
• Mental Focus
• Momentum of Action
• Personal Productivity
• Time Management

Before you attempt this Life Application exercise, ensure that you have reviewed, trained on, and are comfortable with the Life Application exercise Action Congruency Intermediate. If you have not done well with that prerequisite, you will not be able to effectively conduct this technique.

Resolve now that you will endure and overcome any sense of fatigue or uncomfortable mental resistance as your brain seeks to engage in things that have nothing to do with the training at hand. If you've followed proper training advice up to this point, you may already have developed the fundamental mental toughness required to shake off these simple mental obstacles.

We now MASTER extended effort at uncorrupted productivity. Whereas you are not expected to be immune to a stray thought here and there during this technique, the objective is to refuse any form of distraction that would cause you to be thrown off task completely.

In your day's schedule, each day for one full week, arrange an exclusive EIGHT HOUR time block wherein you will take strictly congruent actions toward a single goal. Every task, act, and thought is to be solely concerned with the chosen objective. Nothing else is to be given consideration. Ensure that everyone who might drop in to see you or call you knows ahead of time that you will deal exclusively with matters related to this purpose alone.

If you are an employee seeking to integrate powerful productivity into your workday, let your boss or manager know what you are doing for the sake of profitable productivity. Do not be surprised if he or she asks for more information for their own benefit. If the job at hand does not require the participation of other people, then you are to take no unrelated calls or visits. Whatever meetings or calls you MUST make related to this purpose are to be as efficient and short as possible, with no socializing or wasteful activity.

Conduct the exercise in this manner:

For 15 minutes, turn your imagination to thinking of the tasks you are about to do. Think of nothing else but those tasks.

Perhaps you might run the individual actions steps through your thoughts, or form an image of yourself engaged in the tasks, holding onto it with utmost resolve.

After that, spend seven hours and forty-five minutes carrying out the objective and its congruent actions. Waste no time whatsoever thinking of unrelated items or people. Engage in no social conversations. Everything you do during this time block MUST move the project forward.

If you must take a break for water, bathroom, or lunch, make up for the time expended by extending your time block. Eight hours is eight hours with no exceptions to the rule.

When finished, write down a note on your experience. Did you feel discomfort at such intense, concentrated action? Did your mind attempt to pull away into daydream or fantasy? Did you resolve to repeatedly bring your attention back to the present moment and onto the task at hand? Did you properly resist all temptation for distraction? What will you gain and how will you benefit if you build this approach into a normal habit in your career or business?

Exercise Category:

• Intellectual

Areas Of Improvement:

• Attention Control
• Thought Control
• Impulse Control

Perceptual Focus:

• Close-Up, Onto Thought

Exertion Type:

• Attention Directing & Holding, Onto Thought

Application Level:

• Task Concentration
• Self Concentration

What You’ll Need:

• Privacy & Quiet
• Stopwatch or Timer to track session time
• Pen or Pencil with Journal or Note paper to chronicle your experience

In a more advanced effort at ‘Thought Stopping,' we now explore an ability you may not have suspected possess, and that is the power to shut out and shut down any train of Thought whenever you wish. In this, a psychological ‘Law Of Displacement’ comes to your aid in that the cognitive processes necessary for the existence of a rambling, noisy stream of thought can be reallocated (at will!) to the purpose of intensely centering and narrowing your Attention to demand an instant of silence on the stage of your Mind.

Start your timer, and by sheer intensity of effort, drive every thought, thought image, and all mental chatter out of your Mind, keeping your Mind a blank slate for as long as your endurance can hold out. There is naturally available assistance for you in that the process of turning your Attention onto itself in the attempt to enforce quietness is a thought-displacing activity (the resources of your brain being used to generate the thought-based activity become reallocated and re-purposed in order to do the exercise).

When you find yourself unable to successfully keep the peace because thoughts overwhelm your efforts, stop the timer and note how long you were able to successfully keep your Mind blank.

The effect can be that of standing up in a loud, boisterous audience and motioning everyone there toshut up and pay Attention. The sudden silence that results may at first be shocking, and itself result in a new round of thoughts remarking on the incident, but your task is to similarly shut those thoughts out, also, over and over again during the entire length of your session. Over time, you’ll note a longer and longer period of silence between the emergence of mental noise as well as an increasingly easier time at commanding Thought to hold still.

Exercise Category:

• Procrastination Buster
• Attention Signal Decay Approach: DECAY DISTRACTION SIGNAL BY CENTERING YOUR ATTENTION

This technique takes advantage of your brain's natural tendency to cause a thought to fade away when you refuse to actively feed it with your Attention - when you willfully decline to accept or participate in the thought.

The approach is a thought control tactic, that of Signal Decay:

Any Thought, Emotion, or Mental Pattern Fades Away When Starved Of Active Attention.

If in the middle of any mental pattern you choose a target of Attention that has nothing to do with the pattern itself, and then hold your Attention onto that target with single-Minded purpose, any ongoing thoughts shall fade away rather quickly, depending on how effectively you maintain your target.

Bring yourself out of the pattern of mental procrastination by turning your Attention to your breathing, fully immersing yourself into the quality of the act of breathing in and out. Allow yourself to have no other concerns, nor should you give your perception to anything other than the rhythm, depth, feel, and quality of comfortable inhaling and exhaling.

Do this for five minutes, dismissing any and every thought that tries to creep onto the field of your perception. If necessary, continue the exercise even longer until all distracting or negative, momentum-thieving thoughts and feelings have faded.

You will begin to notice a change in mental state as the sluggish momentum of procrastination vanishes along with the unproductive thoughts that cause it. With your perception and Attention cleared of unwanted resistance, begin the very first necessary action by shifting your gathered Attentional resources from your breathing to the action itself, continuing to dismiss any thought or other distraction that may attempt to steal your Attention.

If you find yourself trapped once again by uncomfortable thoughts, repeat the process.

Exercise Category:

• Procrastination Buster
• Attention Signal Interrupt Approach: ATTENTION SHIFT WITH TARGETED OBSERVATION

The approach is based a thought control tactic known as Signal Interrupt.

Any negative or distracting thought, emotion, or mental pattern can be interrupted and rendered ineffective in your mind by immediately taking willful control of your Attention and redirecting so that you patiently, scientifically observe the nature of the thought, with it's emotional content, without participating in anything that you perceive during the observation.

This tactic aligns with our previous lessons about procrastination only having power in your Mind as long as you fail to exercise power over your Attention. When in control of your Attention, you are also in control of your PERCEPTION; therefore, while consciously, purposefully guiding your Attention in a demanding task, you cannot be simultantously immersed in and suffering from any negative thought.

At the onset of the feeling of resistance - of not wanting to do, of procrastination - will yourself to stop whatever you are doing and gather your Attention to place it onto a target. The effect should be one of snapping yourself out of a daydream and focusing your Attention onto something such as your breathing, or on the fact that you're in the room you're in, or perhaps a spot on the wall - any target will do for a brief moment.

When you do this, the movement and feeling of the thought-based incident should still be resonating in your Mind because it generally will not instantly vanish. This result demonstrates that you have the ability to snap yourself out of a thought - which also reveals the profound truth that your intellect is distinctly seperate and larger than any stream of thought, a fact which can be illustrated by your ability to fantasize whenever you wish. The more you grow to understand this, the more it will help you in yourtrain ing.

The instant you have your Attention gathered onto a new target, shift it back to the still-resonating thought. That is, try to notice the thought(s) running through your Mind at that very moment.

When first trying this exercise, it may help you to ask a focusing question, such as, “What thought did I just have or what thought am I having that is causing this resistance?“ Then again, the thoughts and feelings may have been vivid and potent enough that their presence is somewhat obvious.

DO NOT PARTICIPATE BY REACTING TO WHAT YOU PERCEIVE, but objectively note the content and nature of the incident, even describing them to yourself or writing down a note regarding what you observe. Just as you would not leap into thelion's exhibit at the zoo, avoid casting yourself into the mental fight - remain distant!

DO NOT 'RESURRECT'THE INCIDENT or give it life by attempting to relive it. The natural course of every thought and emotion that arises in your consciousness is to fade away, thus, you should allow it to do so as you observe it. If it does not fade away within a few minutes, then you are most likely keeping it alive by participating in very subtle ways.

Expand your perception and widen your Attention to observe the effect the incident is having on your body, be it tension, anxiety, or something else. Feel free to take take slow, deep, purposeful breaths and note how that releases tension and, at the same time, further distances you from the ongoing thought-based experience.

Maintain your task until the thought and any emotional content tied to it loses all physical effect, even if the thought does not entirely die away. The important thing here is to discover that you have the ability to interrupt the ongoing pattern by placing it under the microscope of your Attention.

Begin the first, small, simple action of the task that your Mind was trying to avoid, and do in such a way that you continue to snap yourself out of any daydreaming in order to hold your Attention on the details and steps of the task itself.

If you discover yourself caught up in thought as a participant, repeat the process, so that you may eventually become a master of thought, rather than its beast of burden.

Exercise Category:

• Procrastination Buster
• Attention Signal Decay Approach: DECAY DISTRACTION SIGNAL BY FOCUSING ON PRESENT REALITY

The approach is based on a thought control tactic known as Signal Decay. Also, it is tied to the use of one of your mental training Power Tools, that which we refer to as The Psychological Present - sometimes referred to as 'The Present Moment,' or 'The Now,' or simply, 'Now'.

Any thought, emotion, or mental pattern can be interrupted and transformed into productive thinking by willfully altering the ongoing negative imagery and changing its content to reflect a desired outcome, thereafter holding one's Attention firmly onto the new imagery until one's state of mind adjusts to match.

When you find yourself in a state of internal conflict over whether to go with a productive thing or submit to the temptation of escapism, gather all your Attention and rally your perception so that you are fully aware of where you are and what you are doing at that very present instant. Notice everything about how you are postured, the feel of your breathing and your clothing on your skin and the temperature of the air on your face, any tension in the muscles, etc.

Settle your Attention on RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW and do not allow yourself to be swept back into the grip of thought. In fact, have no interest whatsoever in ANYTHING except to become aware of yourself. If a thought begins to slither up into the Mind, acknowledge its presence while keeping a tight grip on where you are and what you are doing. Over and over again, as many times as you must, bring your Attention back to here and now.

The action of reallocating your mental resources onto this Attention task takes control of and redistributes the mental energy that would otherwise be wasted in self-conflict. Useless concerns, mental chatter, thoughts and impulses may begin to protest, but you must make it your absolute priority to maintain this high level of awareness until the underlying thoughts and feelings of resistance with their tense inner conflict fade away.

This technique may take only a few moments, or a few minutes, or it may take longer, but the important thing is the willful action of redirecting your Attention AWAY from being caught up - from being tricked or suckered into participating in mechanical reactions that try to pass themselves off as your personal inner voice.

Then begin the very first action of the task with the intent to stay in the Here and Now throughout to task.“

If negative thoughts creep in - if ANY THOUGHTS AT ALL creep into your Mind and cause you to forget where you are and what you're doing (in other words, if you start daydreaming in ANY form) - willfully guide your Attention back to here and now, using the same Attention targets as before, such as the full posture of your body, the feel of your breathing, the feel of the clothing on your skin, the temperature of the air on your face, or the level of tension and feel of your muscles.

Allow your Attention to fall once again on such targets, and just hold it there long enough until the previous mental distractions begin to fade away.

Do this enough times over a few weeks, and you'll discover that you can consciously act in direct defiance of the thoughts and emotions that flow through your central nervous system. The realization will eventually dawn that you are not the thoughts you think all day long, but are instead possessed of a much larger intelligence than cannot be contained in any single thought.

Exercise Category:

• Procrastination Buster
• Attention Signal Decay Approach: USING SELECTIVE ATTENTION TO DISPLACE A DISTRACTION SIGNAL

Any thought, emotion, or mental pattern can be actively removed by displacing (crowding it out) with a consciously chosen target on which to give and hold your absolute full Attention.

If, while in the middle of any mental pattern, you consciously choose a target activity on which to willfully hold your Attention with single-Minded purpose, the ongoing mental experience will vanish in your perception to be totally replaced by the mental demands and experience of the chosen target.

Honest Question: “Will There Be ACTUAL Pain, Or Is It IMAGINARY?”

When you know full well that you are experiencing procrastination toward a specific task, take a few, deep, relaxing breaths and ask yourself, HONESTLY, whether you honestly believe beginning the task will result in actual, physical damage to yourself, or whether your Mind may simply be resistant to getting started.

If your answer is that there is actual, physical pain involved, re-evaluate the situation for a better solution.

If you can honestly determine that the pain is entirely in your Mind, admit it to yourself.

Proceed immediately to start the smallest, most simple first step of the undesired task, giving every iota of Attention to it, allowing no thought to distract. This will build a habitual, productive reaction to unproductive, action-stalling thoughts that would otherwise steal your potential.“

If negative thoughts or unpleasant attitude begin to creep into your Mind, begin the process again.

Exercise Category:

• Procrastination Buster
• Attention Signal Decay Approach: ESCAPING DISTRACTION BY INTERRPUTING THE INPUT SIGNAL

The approach is based a thought control tactic known as signal Interrupt.

Any Thought, emotion, or mental pattern can be interrupted and transformed into productive thinking by willfully altering the ongoing negative imagery and hanging it's content to reflect a desired outcome, hereafter holding one's Attention firmly onto the new imagery until one's state of mind adjusts to match.

If, while in the middle of any unproductive mental pattern, you consciously interrupt it and willfully transform negative thoughts into productive ones that reflect a desired outcome, and then hold your Attention firmly onto the newly transformed ideas, your mental state (dominating thoughts, emotions, and impulses) will inevitably adjust to match.

For this exercise, consider a task that you have not begun because you are uncomfortable with it. Perhaps one that seems too large or difficult, a task that has remained undone due to your sitting around feeling totally overwhelmed because, in your Mind, there seems to be a thousand pressing things to do all at once.

Take that uncomfortable idea - which, as you think of it, is looming, intimidating, and disturbingly large in your Mind - and break it down in your imagination to its smallest individual tasks. You do not need a strong visualization ability for this. For instance, if you are an auditory learner, simply talk yourself through the exercise, describing the idea to yourself in detail.

Think clearly as to what small steps make up the task and consider each for a few seconds. Finally, bring the very first, smallest, highest priority step into the center of your focus until it is all you see in thought.

Hold that thought in Mind for a minimum of one minute until all feelings of resistance give way and make room for a more comfortable, pleasurable feeling of ease at completing the one, simple first step.

Begin the first action while giving it absolute, full Attention, dismissing all external and internal distractions.

Keep in Mind that you can take ANY thought that makes a task seem 'unpleasant' in your Mind and make adjustments to the thought itself until the task becomes pleasurably attractive.

You can break down an overwhelming thought, brighten a dark thought, inspire a boring thought, infuse humorous into a dull thought, and raise courage out of a fearful thought.

Whenever you interrupt and transform a negative pattern, keep your Mind targeted onto the new, productive thought until your entire mental state adjusts itself, then begin your first, small, simple action right away.