According to plan

Life is not a rehearsal.
There is no first draft.

There is only the 'live' edition of your work.

When you write as if every word is being read by a million people, you will write better.

Your life is being executed according to the program that has been written.

By design however, you are kept in the dark. You are in the dark every step of the way. Your only objective is to get from point 'A' to point 'Be.'

Getting from point a to point b is the point of your 'program.' Seeing where we are (the her and now) and the actions we are taking is the path we are on.

What's point B? It's where you will 'be.' Were you will be is defined by how you are 'being' right now. Point B is actually Point 'Be.'

The process is simply to make progress. To move from a space of unknown to known. The process is permanently impermanent. Change is part of the design. The challenge is the point. If it's not challenging, we'll find ways to make it so.

Driven by frustration

Frustration is evidence the process is working. As programs designed to solve problems, frustration is what drives us. To resolve the frustration is the carrot. You may fail 10x for every success, and that's why success deserves to be celebrated.

Our awareness is constantly expanding. Like a flashlight filling the room, to see further you must step further. As you step into the light, the darkness is behind you.

You will hit obstacles that require education. Education followed by experimentation. Knowledge without application means little.

Frustration, obstacles, setbacks, failures, mistakes - they are all part of the process of progress. The only real failure is failing to learn from our mistakes.

we need templates to …

In the absolute simplest terms, the purpose of our 'program' is to produce an outcome. To move from point A (where we are) to point B (where we need to be). In the process, we will encounter obstacles. The obstacles must exist for the program to work.

Without obstacles, we are only a witness to the world. Obstacles require us to engage. To resolve and think.

Systems are key.

A program is written to produce a particular outcome.

It's less about discovering our 'life' and more about finding our 'immediate' purpose. Knowing your life's purpose is like trying to write a business plan before you've run a business. It doesn't work. I once asked a very successful brewery owner if he ever looks back at the business plan he wrote. He said he only looks at it to see how ignorant he was about running a brewery! As it is with our life. We can't see any further ahead that the steps we take.

Software developers (and even pharmaceutical companies) will create a product, fulling knowing that they are not sure how their product will be applied. You can build it for one purpose, only to find it's true value lies in something completely different (read the history of Viagra).


Only by breaking down the process, can we see what it takes to achieve a desired outcome.

Frustration occurs when we expect a different outcome. Insanity is doing the same thing expecting a different outcome.

Thus frustration is an indicator that the process is unfolding.

Where we get tripped up is when we demand the outcome without respecting the process we must go though to produce the outcome! Overcoming Obstacles are part of the process!

Getting frustrated because you aren't producing the result you desire?

If the outcome is $1mil, then what is the process? Break it down.

Look for the tools. Run the program. Fix what is causing the errors.

An ease about the system the life runs within. Accepting the framework is a huge relief. Knowing that system is there!

To make a million bucks, you will no doubt have to overcome obstacles. Many are internal, many are external.

You are exactly where you need to be. Trust in the perfection of the moment.

I often beat myself up for the things I didn't do (i.e. the course on Udemy). But what if the reason you didn't is so that you would NEED to take PubWriter further?

Errors are just obstacles that we must overcome. There's absolutely nothing wrong with errors! If not for errors, we wouldn't have a clue on how to resolve them.

Obstacles are part of the process. Our program was written to overcome the obstacle. By design.

There'd be no purpose to the program if there were not obstacles to overcome. Overcoming obstacles are the purpose of the program!

Running the same program twice… and errors pop up. Something was thrown in that we missed.

Living skillfully is all about paying close attention to the creation now so that errors are less likely later.

It's about being able to resolve the errors quickly when they do arrive. It's about seeing the err in our ways - how we created the error. How we were the cause.

Pause and look for the cause.

Nothing is ever wrong, we just need to adjust our inputs according to the outcome produced.

There are no insurmountable errors, only challenges ahead.

The key to equanimity is knowing that the obstacles are simply there to challenge the program. The obstacles exist for the program to respond to.

Yoga is preparing myself for the obstacles ahead. It's not preventative maintenance, it's programing. What I am doing is installing subroutines so that I can overcome the obstacles ahead.

When you don't do things like Yoga, you are ill prepared for what lies ahead.

If you work too much, you will suffer the consequences of working too much. Too much yoga and not enough work also has is consequences.

Finding a healthy balance is the key aspect to running a program with error free outputs.

Further Reading