Remember as a kid when you purchased a puzzle and started putting it together? Some had 100s of pieces, some as many as a thousand. The more majestic the picture, the more complex the puzzle.

What came first, the puzzle or the picture? The picture of course.

The fun was putting the fragmented picture together so as to recreate it. You knew all the pieces fit together in a specific way, but you had to discover which way.

When it got really hard to put the puzzle together, it led me to give up on the puzzle till I was ready to try again. Sometimes I never tried again because I believed the pieces were wrong and gave up trying.

We can have the same experience in achieving our goals. We may have the end picture of what could be in mind, but in the process of assembling all the pieces of the puzzle together, we begin to have doubts and give up.

“The bigger the goal, the more majestic the outcome, the more complex the puzzle, requiring patience, perseverance and certainty.”

When doubt creeps in you can imagine a room wired with electricity. What happens when you flip the switch on? The electricity is there, the wiring is in place, the bulb works… you just take the action of flipping the switch and the room lights up.

The result of anything you wish to manifest in life is already in place. It is up to you to take the necessary steps, and actions to see it through.

“The outcome and process towards a goal exists before the thought, you just need to persevere in putting it all together.”

Focus Is Key

Before a problem comes up, so does the solution and the process to solve it. The same holds true with goals. The outcome and the process to achieving a goal exists before we even commit to it.

In a potential state, the process is fragmented like the pieces of a puzzle.

Focus plays an important role in achieving our goals. Without focus, actions don’t come together to form the end picture. Just like a puzzle, without focus actions towards a goal are like moving puzzle pieces around without purpose.

“To manifest life’s goals, we have to defragment all the pieces that go into it.”

Imagine what would happen if the order of the universe was off by even a nano-fraction of a second. If the Universe decided to stop focusing, it would be disastrous. With order and with the right focus we can create amazing values and achieve our goals.

Take something as simple as a chair. The chair was consciously designed out of the desire for something to sit on, but the composition of a chair required the conscious integration and use of nature’s resources (wood or metal), individual need (I want something to sit on), global benefits (everyone needs something to sit on), and business outcome (everyone will buy a chair).

What gave birth to the chair is the conscious integration of all four values: Personal, Business, Global, and Universal.

Self-Reflection

Life experiences can often shape how we perceive ourselves as a piece of the puzzle and how we fit in the bigger picture called humanity. We can’t see how all the pieces DO FIT TOGETHER, when we are fragmented within ourselves.

Fragmentation outside of us (chaos), is because of the fragmentation within ourselves (internal conflict).

How does one break free of internal conflicts that get in the way of achieving goals?

You have to be willing to see and re-trace where the fragmentation started. The purpose of becoming fully self-aware is so you can understand how to put the pieces together based on reality. It’s not work you can do alone.

Work with a friend, a mentor, a coach, a therapist… someone you trust to help you see aspects of yourself that are blocked.

“Stop for a moment focusing on being great and try to see the garbage you are holding on to that blocks you from being magnificent.”

A decade ago, I spent seven weeks with one of my mentors, teacher and friend retracing where I gave away sparks of my own magnificence. I listed 40 life events that had a profound negative impact on my life, dating back to as early as the age of two.

I wrote how they made me feel, and then one by one, I discussed them and relived them with the intention to understand any negative beliefs I created that shaped my future. In re-experiencing all those events, I began to see the sparks of my essence I gave away.

Using some neuroscience brain-hacking techniques, I took those sparks back. The benefit of retracing everything was in becoming more self-aware of the mental jail cell I had created for myself. I had replaced my sparks of magnificence with limiting beliefs in an effort to protect myself.

I often hear people talk about being afraid to be vulnerable as a defense mechanism. Often all we are doing is keeping ourselves locked into a mind prison.

“You can’t be bold and play life in a big way without being vulnerable.”

Being self-aware requires being able to see when we wear masks that manifest in a vicious cycle of self-sabotage. This isn’t work that can be done alone.

This kind of self-reflection is like removing arrows that have wounded you. It is dirty work requiring help from others who have already done the work or are willing to get into the weeds with you.

The theme that emerged at the end of those seven long weeks, was that to achieve my life goals I have to be willing to give more than I receive in life. That can’t be done if you are afraid to be vulnerable.

Give More

To achieve anything in life, you must be willing to give all you have to it and shift your narrative from being attached to the outcomes, to finding joy in the process.

“The fun of a puzzle is the challenge in putting together all the pieces.”

By detaching from the outcomes, we can focus on giving for the sake of giving. We can find joy in the state of giving more, and in the journey. This vulnerable state of being opens your heart.

An open heart allows the individual to see the puzzle pieces clearly, un-fragmented and that is one of the secrets to succeeding at anything.