The Wisdom of 10 Ancient Scrolls

Procrastination last week + a stomach bug yesterday… those are my excuses and here is my apology for getting this newsletter out late.

I have made this one extra special for you to make up for it! So grab a cup of tea and let’s dive straight in.

I started this newsletter and my twitter account earlier this year with a simple question.

How do you build a life of health, wealth and happiness?

Fundamental Laws, Patterns and Principles - This is where my research has begun.

Yesterday I spotted The Greatest Salesman in the World on the shelf...

Og Mandino is the Author - I have never read one of his books before now, but I have heard his name among the likes of Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar and Dale Carnegie.

And those guys knew their stuff!!

It turns out that the path to reaching sales targets doesn’t actually involve studying salesbooks or copying the methods of others. Rather, it’s about developing healthy habits and becoming a better person overall. - Funny that!

I see time and time again now that we are the ones that decide to over complicate it and think that it ‘can’t possibly be that simple.’

I picked up the book around 7:30pm and by 10 I was finished. Have you ever done that?…. INHALED a book.

To be fair it’s not that long… just over 100 pages. But still it sucked me right in!

With the holiday season in full swing and the New Year right around the corner I wanted to share with you the wisdom of the scrolls and my thoughts on each.

The Scroll Marked 1

I will form good habits and become their slave.

[In these 10 scrolls] What they will teach me is more to prevent failure than to gain success, for what is success other than a state of mind?

I must practice the art of patience for nature acts never in haste.

It is another of nature’s laws that only a habit can subdue another habit.

My Thoughts:

The best thing about the New Year is it always brings around a clean slate. Yes you can do that on any other day of the year, and it also works on days that aren't Monday.

Success is solely defined by you. Not by anyone else.

One of the biggest questions I have been asking myself this year.

What do I want in life? - This to me is what my measure of success is going to be against.

Once you have started to think about that you need to look at the Habits you will need to develop to get you there. We need to become the new version of ourselves.

Reverse engineer the end goal into habits.

If you don't know where to start have a look back here under Your Habits Hold The Key.

The Scroll Marked 2

I will greet this day with love in my heart.

For this is the greatest secret of success in all ventures.

For just as love is a weapon to open the hearts of men, love is also my shield to repel arrows of hate and spears of anger.

My Thoughts:

To find your love of life again you have to bring your love to the table. What I love about this one is it confirms that old saying.

'Kill them with Kindness'

Just think for a moment how much stress you have going on in your own life and how hard it is to deal with. The more in depth chats I have with people in person and online the more I realise Everyone is going through so much. Everyone! Especially over the past couple of years.

My favourite part about the festive season is the baseline lift in cheerful spirit. Families come together, you find time to spend with loved ones.

Use this time for extra hugs, kisses with your special someone and tell your family you love them - even if you don't like them right now.

One last quote from the book on this. "And most of all I will love myself. For when I do I will zealously inspect all things which enter my body, my mind, my soul, my heart."

Don't forget to love yourself.

The Scroll Marked 3

I will persist until I succeed.

I will remember the ancient law of averages and I will bend it to my good.

I will persist with knowledge that each failure to sell will increase my chances for success at the next attempt.

Each nay I hear will bring me closer to the sound of yea

Each misfortune I encounter will carry in it the seed of tomorrow’s good luck.

My Thoughts:

The only way you can lose is when you give up. Keep moving forward.

Keep breaking down - Your goals - Your vision - Your values - Your ideas

Find ways to bring them to life and move toward it one day at a time.

Create projects for yourself that you want to accomplish and know that skills are transferrable, so if you change your mind and decide to do something else that’s fine!

But keep moving forward.

If you persist - You will win!

I believe in you

The Scroll Marked 4

I am natures greatest miracle.

Since the beginning of time never has there been another with my mind, my heart, my eyes, my ears, my hands, my hair, my mouth.

My Thoughts:

Your direct experience of life is your uniqueness.

This is where the whole 'The Niche is You' comes into play when building a one person business. Still not sure where to start?

Write to the person you were 2 years ago. How did you get to where you are right now?

2 years ago. I was watching and reading and thinking about changing my life and my habits and then not actually putting in the work to get there. Mainly because I have never made a plan and stuck to it.

In the wise words of the main man Dan Koe:

Self-actualize

Self-monetize

Self-transcend

We need your uniqueness in the world. If you are struggling to figure out where to start shoot me a message. Let's have a chat. You are not alone on this journey.

The Scroll Marked 5

I will live this day as if it is my last.

I will waste not a moment mourning yesterdays misfortunes, yesterdays defeats for why should I throw bad after good.

My Thoughts:

This was among the list of personal development paradoxes we touched on last week. You can see the full list here.

This is where breaking your goals down into the habits you need to develop, to achieve them is so important.

Try to find 60mins a day where you can allocate that time to moving you closer to your goals.

Focus on the tasks that will leverage the most of your time in the future as they are developed.

This is how you live in the moment - Once you identify the habits you can just focus on them for a period of time, knowing that whatever happens as long as you are completing your daily habits you are moving in a new direction.

The Scroll Marked 6

I will be master of my emotions.

If I feel depressed I will sing.

If I feel sad I will laugh

If I feel ill I will double my labour.

If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.

If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.

If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.

If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.

If I feel incompetent I will remember past success.

If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.

Today I will be master of my emotions.

My Thoughts:

I have allowed my emotions to hijack my actions for far too long. I feel this is the space a lot of people find themselves in before they realise they are fed up.

I was always waiting to 'feel like it' to get the work done. If I wasn't 'in the mood' I would 'try again tomorrow'

Shake it off, take a deep breath. Just take the first step.

This links back again to building habits. They will benefit you in the long run.

You might get lucky and be able to push through a couple of times, but when 'life' creeps back in your habits will carry you through.

The Scroll Marked 7

I will laugh at the world.

Four words I will train myself to say until they become a habit so strong that immediately they will appear in my mind whenever good humour threatens to depart from me.

“Never will I allow myself to become so important, so wise, so dignified, that I forget how to laugh at myself and my world.”

My Thoughts:

The world is far too serious as it is. We have forgotten how to play, how to be curious, how to laugh at the world and ourselves.

I always used to say to my sisters when things where getting tense in life

'Nobody Panic! This is supposed to be fun!'

At the end of the day what are we doing here if not to enjoy, grow, build, create, explore, laugh, love, live - and all the other amazing things

If you are not happy with the way your life is at the moment just know it is possible to change it. You have seen people on social media and thought 'why can't I just live like that' - You can.

They are proof it is possible.

Find out how and make it your life's mission to work towards it.

Does it matter then if it takes 5-10-25 years to achieve?

What else have you got to do?

The Scroll Marked 8

I will multiply my value a hundredfold.

A mulberry leaf touched with the genius of man becomes silk.

A field of clay touched with the genius of man becomes a castle.

A Cypress tree touched with the genius of man becomes a shrine.

A cut of sheep’s hair touched with the genius of man becomes raiment for a king.

And how will I accomplish this? First I will set goals for the day, the week, the month, the year and my life.

I must have objectives before my life will crystallise.

My Thoughts:

Only you can increase your value. But you have to develop yourself.

And no matter how many times I have tried to ignore this step or skip over it, it is the only one that keeps coming back to bite me in the ass.

You must write down your goals!

Even if you decide to change them later on. Start with goals you know you want to achieve regardless of what is happening in life.

This even came up today!

Anything worth having in life takes time and this is why the goals are so important.

If you are still skipping this step its because (like me for so long) you still think somewhere deep down that there is a secret or a hack or a course or a program that will fix it all for you.

Enjoy the fact that this is a life long endeavour you are about to embark on. I ask the question again.

What else have you got to do?

The Scroll Marked 9

I will act now.

My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible.

All are of no value unless they are followed by action.

My Thoughts:

This is the only thing I can attest to getting to where I am today - Finally taking action.

Thinking, dreaming, wishing and planning are all great but until you start taking action nothing is going to start coming your way.

Write your goals - Break them down - Start taking action

Don't get stuck in the planning to plan phase like I did. It's not going to make it any easier to start.

You got this. Get going.

The Scroll Marked 10

I will pray for guidance.

Never will I pray for material things of the world.

My Thoughts:

Praying for the end result to just appear won’t help you. You don’t want things to just fall into your lap anyway - I've been guilty of praying for this

But the person you have to become in order to have the outcome you want is far more valuable. Enjoying the process and levelling up one step at a time is so worth it.

Imagine going into a game at level 212

1. It will be very difficult and you won’t have figured out all the maneuverers that are gradually introduced in the lower levels to accomplish this one.

2. You will most likely quit and end up exactly where you were when you started.

Have you heard those stories of people who win the lottery, and within months they are back to financial debt?

Their habits took them right back to where they started, and habits don't form overnight.

Thank you for sticking with me through this one.

If you are still with me below is a quick recap and a little on how you can start using this ancient wisdom to your advantage as we move into 2023.

The 10 scrolls

1. I will form good habits and become their slave.

2. I will greet this day with love in my heart.

3. I will persist until I succeed.

4. I am natures greatest miracle.

5. I will live this day as if it is my last.

6. I will be master of my emotions.

7. I will laugh at the world.

8. I will multiply my value a hundredfold.

9. I will act now.

10. I will pray for guidance

Goals for 2023

If you are still at the beginning of building your one person business and have yet to decide the direction of your work. Use this as a guideline for goals in 2023.

I broke down 'The Solopreneur' into 3 core areas of life - If you want to read more I outlined the below graphic in this thread

But for now pick one bad habit from each of the below areas and decide to commit 2023 to replacing it with a new habit.

It could be as small as 20 mins reading before bed - Mind

Going on a 30 min walk twice a week to get you moving again - Movement

Deciding on a mini project for yourself or picking a new skill you want to develop - Media

Write it down, commit to a weekly/ daily schedule - then take the pressure off and focus just on January.

Top Tip - Track yourself.

Then use the end of the month to reflect and reassess for the next.

It all starts with Day 1

I hope you all head into these last few weeks of the year with open hearts and an open mind for what’s possible.

Maja Howard