Welcome to Hell Week. For the next seven days, every act you commit will most definitely make a difference, and I believe it will be an immensely positive one. There are many facets of mental training, but they all come back to this one simple principle: by raising your level of consciousness so that your every action becomes deliberate, a matter of choice and free will, you will lead a better, more productive life. It’s really no more complicated than that.
I have tremendous faith in the human spirit, and I believe we can squeeze more out of life than we ever thought possible. Think for a moment about the progress we’ve made as a civilization—sending spaceships to the moon and Mars, developing a computer that fits in the palm of your hand, curing all manners of once life-annihilating disease. Each of the milestones started with one simple idea, often in the mind of one man or woman, though of course they would have plenty of help along the way: Steve Jobs tinkering in his garage, Louis Pasteur experimenting in the laboratory, President Kennedy vowing to “land a man on the moon and return him safely to the Earth” by the end of the 1960s.
Each of us is capable of living more intensely, more successfully, and enjoying more of life’s fantastic moments. The choice is ours. We can continue to develop and to learn. We can form dreams and chase them down. First, however, we must bring these goals to the forefront of our minds. This is the meaning of Hell Week.
On Monday, we’ll establish a new level of consciousness with regard to habits. On Tuesday, we’ll turn to focus, concentration, and moods, or “modes,” as I like to call them. Wednesday will force you to think deliberately about your use of time. Come Thursday, we’ll face your fears head-on. On Friday, we’ll learn how to rest with purpose. Saturday we’ll turn inward. And Sunday will be a day of focused perspective.
This is the program I’ve developed through years of mental training, working with hundreds of clients of all ages and walks of life. I believe it uses the major skills and faculties needed to live an optimal life. The program is designed to be self-reinforcing. The work on habits that you do on Monday will lead to positive modes, which in turn will allow you to manage your time better, and so on. Of course, Hell Week is just the beginning. The skills you learn over the next seven days will need to be refined in the weeks, months, and years to come.
Beyond the seven daily themes, there are a series of rules that you must live every day. Think of them as your basic training. In the military, most soldiers eventually specialize in one particular area—paratrooping, in my case. But all soldiers must also learn a basic set of skills, such as marksmanship and teamwork. The same is true for civilian Hell Week. With that, here are the rules that you will adhere to all day, every day.