Джон Харгрейв - Mind Hacking [How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days]

Perhaps this is why we do not value imagination for its fundamental importance: as a mental workspace where everything begins. Imagination has reality.It is real in the same way that a blueprint is real to the finished building. It is real in the same way that a schema is real to the database. It is real in the same way that an idea jotted down on a whiteboard is real to the business itself.

Put another way, imagination is a representation that precedes the thing itself . And you—the “you” that is separate from “your mind”—are able to summon it at will. It is an awesome power.

Imagination,

then realization.

In 1962, legendary science fiction writer and geek hero Arthur C. Clarke wrote an essay entitled “Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination.” In that essay, he famously declared that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” As an example, if we took a human from the Dark Ages and showed him a modern computer or microwave oven, he would be convinced they were powered by sorcery and witchcraft.

Looked at from Clarke’s perspective, our imagination is both an incredibly advanced technology , and indistinguishable from magic . The fact that you can conjure up entire worlds in your mind—that you can visualize the future course of reality—really is like a kind of magic.

However, we must be careful to avoid falling into “magical thinking.” I am regularly amazed at how many well-educated people suffer from one of the two following superstitions:

• Magical negative thinking:the belief that if we think or say something terrible, it will instantly come to pass. You can spot this thinking through the use of phrases like “God forbid” or “knock on wood,” or putting a little too much faith in fortune cookies. Certainly we are constantly imagining things that do not come to pass; we do not need to be afraid of our own dark thoughts.

• Magical positive thinking:the belief that all we need to do is think positive thoughts, then sit back and relax as life “manifests” them for us. When I talk about imagination being like a kind of magic, I am not saying that imagination will make things magically appear. That requires hard work, and the techniques you’ll learn in Part 3. But, consistently applied and mixed with work, it will make things more likely to appear, just as 1-Click eventually appeared for Jeff Bezos.

It is a simple and obvious fact that nothing of value can be achieved until you first see it in your mind. So tell me: When you unlock that secret treasure chest in your mind, what do you see?

Feel, Do, Have, Give, and Be

5

Now that you’re warmed up, we’ll play five easy imagination games. The goal is to simply write down one result for each of the following mind games.

The Mood Chip.A group of biotech-hardware entrepreneurs have developed a revolutionary new “mood chip” that can be surgically implanted into your brain. Originally developed to treat Alzheimer’s, they’ve found that it can treat a wide array of symptoms, from depression to ADD. The chip can be programmed to give you a “feeling boost” in any emotional direction you like; in fact, different versions of the chip are marketed with names like Happy, Calm, Focused, Inquisitive, Ambitious, Compassionate, Decisive, Empowered, and Positive. (Think of these in relation to the problem loops you identified earlier.)

You have the funds to buy exactly one Mood Chip. Close your eyes and imagine: What is the one word that describes how you would like to feel?

The $50 Million Inheritance.It’s a story straight out of a movie. A great-great-great-aunt whom you’ve never met passes away, leaving behind a small fortune. Her will stipulates that her estate must stay within the family; because she was quite old herself, all her relatives are now deceased, except for you. She lived very frugally, so other than selling her mobile home and twelve cases of Diet Pepsi, the rest of her $50 million fortune is yours, right now, in cash. You now have the freedom to do anything you want in life, from building your own monster truck to climbing K2.

Close your eyes and imagine: What is the one thing you’ve always wanted to do?

The Genie in the Lamp.Some people buy scratch tickets; you buy antique lamps. You travel the world, shopping in obscure Middle Eastern bazaars, in hopes that you will finally find the enchanted lamp that contains a wondrous genie. One day you return to your hotel, shopping bags full of lamps, and find that you’ve hit the jackpot: not one but two lamps contain a genie, each granting you one wish. Knowing the genii are crafty and will do anything to trick you out of your wish, you pull a meta-wish and wish the first genie to force the second genie to honor his word. Now you have one wish left.

Close your eyes and imagine: What is the one thing you would like to have?

Your Evolution Contribution.The legendary hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, in his excellent book Principles , talks of evolution from a very practical viewpoint. He describes evolution as the desire to “get better,” stating, “society rewards those who give it what it wants.” 6In other words, the way to get rich or be “successful” in worldly terms is not to chase money or success but to contribute something genuinely useful to the world . This is ideally something you’re passionate about, whether raising great children, writing great music, or developing a great new compression algorithm.

Close your eyes and imagine: What is the one thing you would like to contribute to the world?

The Funeral Speech.One day, both you and I will be dead. (Sorry to break the news.) During our funerals (I don’t know how we both have funerals on the same day, I’m just trying to make you feel better about being dead), our loved ones will stand up and say a few words about our lives, nicely condensed into a ten-minute speech, because a lot of people will be anxious to get to the sandwich trays at the reception. When they give your eulogy, what is it you want them to say about you? In other words, who do you want to be?

Close your eyes and imagine: What is the one adjective that describes who you would like to be?

MIND GAME

The Five Words

Complete the five imagination games in this section. Write down one word for each. (It’s better to get it done than get it perfect. You can always add more later.)

Write down the five words on your practice sheet.

[2.3]

Benjamin Franklin was a geek.

“Throughout his life,” Walter Isaacson notes in his excellent biography Benjamin Franklin: An American Life , “he loved immersing himself in minutiae and trivia in a manner so obsessive that today it might be described as geeky.” 1He points to Franklin’s methodical research, unbounded curiosity, and constant inventiveness (note our Analyze, Imagine, and Reprogram framework again!) on topics as diverse as ballooning, education, electricity, eyeglasses, fire safety, heating technology, music, politics, and weather.

Franklin was also a master mind hacker. Hundreds of years before people were using fitness-tracking devices, he came up with a self-improvement experiment that let him track his mind hacking progress in a measurable, scientific way. As described in his autobiography, Franklin gave his experiment the lofty title of the “Moral Perfection Project.” He began by laying out a set of thirteen virtues that he wished to develop in himself: 2

• Temperance:moderating eating and drinking