Contents
1. Long-Term Goal Mapping
“There are no shortcuts,” says Matthew Lovett. “But you can throw things in your favor with a good plan.”
Well-thought-out, multi-layered plans are one of the most important things you want to work on according to the author. A big reason why so many people find themselves “adrift” in life and not able to really move ahead is that they have no actual plan for doing so. Wishful thinking and good intentions are rarely enough.
“When you put together a plan, what you are doing is visualizing what you want and imprinting it onto your reality. The stronger and more concrete the vision, the better the chance you have of seeing it come to fruition.”
Setting goals is one thing, but the practice of goal-mapping involves another layer of depth and complexity. It’s like drawing up a schematic involving your key goals along with your own personal evolution benchmarks and plotting out the different ways you will reach each point. Creating an actual roadmap specifically for your dreams makes it that much easier to figure out a pathway forward, and can help you recognize potential issues and circumvent them before they ever cause a problem.
A goal-map should be drawn out over the span of several years at the very least.
“Most of what’s coming to a head for me now is the result of goals I visualized well over a decade ago. I knew early on that I had big dreams, and that in order to realize these dreams, I would need a rock-solid roadmap to get me there. While some of the details have shifted over the years, the framework remains the same. I’ve been actively visualizing my goals and manifesting them ever since I was a teenager. It simply works.”
2. No Room For Negativity
If you are already familiar with Matthew Lovett’s writings, you know he is an ardent critic of negative thinking.
“There’s no upside to a negative mindset. I don’t get the appeal,” Matt says. “Negative thinking makes you feel bad, it robs your world of color and life, and on top of everything else, it’s a form of self-sabotage. You can literally talk yourself out of success or limit the opportunities that you see simply because you prefer to be a glass-half-empty kind of person. There’s just no excuse.”
Self-mastery training is one way to overcome a negative mindset and is of central focus in Fearless Self. “I wanted to write a book that took a no-nonsense approach to handle negativity. There’s just not a lot of good resources on the subject out there. In a society that turns negativity, self-deprecation, and depression into quasi-virtues, my goal was to create resources that will help people actively create a better life for themselves that’s not based on weakness, but on strength.”
Having a healthy, positive mindset is like a cheat code to getting what you want from life. The formula is simple: not only does a negative mindset result in stress, which harms the mind and body, these thinking patterns also influence your ability to take action and build success. Although a negative-minded person might talk a big game when it comes to accomplishing goals, there’s a reason why success rarely finds them.
“Fearless Self was written to help people overwrite their negative programming and find success through positive action and mindfulness.”
3. Mental Flexibility
“Being able to quickly adapt and change course after receiving new information is an essential part of succeeding in any environment.” It is this philosophy that has propelled Matt’s success in numerous areas, including writing, empowerment coaching, and the development of several online platforms, including Digital Sages.
“Although you may start out with a comprehensive plan, you always have to leave room for new goals to take shape. If you learn something new that can take you in a different direction that is more beneficial or more profitable, you have to be ready to do so. Getting stuck on any one idea or plan is a recipe for stagnation.”
It’s mental flexibility, Matt says, that enables him to stay ahead of trends and capitalize on a rapidly growing field of self-development in the digital world. “People are turning toward the Web for everything now. As a writer and resource in the self-mastery community, I have to position myself properly and provide my materials where people are most likely to look for them. Originally, I had intended on only writing books through traditional publishing methods. Looking back, if I would have stuck with those methods it would have severely limited the impact of books like Fearless Self. Though I developed the plans for this book ages ago, I was ready to pivot and change my approach in light of a changing world.”
“This is the same mentality I carry with me in all aspects of my life. The tighter you hold onto something the more likely it is to limit you in some capacity. By taking a step back, the full picture comes into view. And that’s when you’re able to digest everything and take control.”
Creating a Foundation For Success
These 3 points would indicate that success is generated through a combination of mindset and planning, and although this kind of glosses over the finer details, it’s fairly spot on.
“A strong mind and some foresight can transform your life in less than a year.” A lot of people don’t want to hear that you actually have to change the way you are and switch up your habits in order to get results, but that’s what self-mastery is all about. The idea of building a successful life isn’t always so much about making specific decisions as it is your overall mindset.
“Someone with a strong, positive mindset will make the best of mediocre opportunities, while another person who is given the world on a silver platter but who has a weak mind will still find a way to complain and mess everything up.”
In other words, it really does all come down to your mentality and how you are able to project your thoughts into the future.
Where does a book like Fearless Self come into play for those who are looking for guidance on how to obtain this kind of mindset?
“This book will change lives,” Matthew Lovett says. “In fact, it already has. The first version, which was half as short and not nearly as detailed, still helped hundreds of people break out of their negative mindsets.” Since the book was written specifically to help train the mind to be healthy and flexible, the wisdom contained within it is perfect for helping ordinary people build the lives they want.
“There is a spiritual slant to the whole book of course,” he explains. “I believe you can’t have real self-development without taking into account the deeper aspects of the world, such as how our minds influence the world around us. Even on a surface level, you can’t deny that your mindset plays a huge role in how you interpret what goes on around you, so if you are constantly thinking negative thoughts, this is what you will experience.”
If you are prepared to undergo real change, Fearless Self will give you the framework. The latest version is available for download at Digital Sages, along with a wide variety of other self-mastery resources and guides.
