The Life Magic Keys to Achievement

Part 1 : The Principles

For help with any of the issues raised here please contact Life Magic Healing Centre, Auckland.

Achievement of anything and everything in life is essentially down to two key factors. Understanding this, and knowing how to apply these keys, is all you need to achieve anything you wish to in life.

The two keys are simply ABILITY and MOTIVATION.

ABILITY

Note firstly that the word is ability and not might-ability, should-ability, may-ability, could-ability, try-ability, or any of the other lesser expressions of ability. Ability means: “Possession of the qualities required to do something; necessary skill, competence or power”. If you have the ability to do a particular task then you will be able to do it, if you wish to (are motivated to).

So what constitutes ability?

WHAT ENABLES YOU TO PERFORM THE TASK?	WHAT PREVENTS YOU FROM PERFORMING THE TASK?
Knowledge	Apparent lack of knowledge
Skill	Apparent lack of skill
Effort	Apparent lack of effort
Power	Apparent lack of power
Time	Apparent lack of time
Money	Apparent lack of money
Other required resources	Apparent lack of other required resources

It becomes obvious that if we face a particular task, desire or opportunity, we can achieve it if we already have the ability to do so. If we feel that we don’t have that ability, we can identify the specific area of lack and tackle it. Note that the things that prevent us from performing the task are “apparent lacks” of the quality required. That lack, whether it appears to be major or minor, can be overcome if you desire that (see motivation below).

Let’s discuss these specific elements that make up ability:

Knowledge – Understanding the information provided in these notes is a good foundation for knowledge. On top of this you will need information about the particular objective that you have. Research is vital, whether it is 5 minutes, 5 days or 5 months. Knowing what it is that you will be doing reduces the fear factor – the fear of the unknown.
Look for information in the resources that are available for that particular subject. The Internet is a tremendous source of information on any subject, though always use the Internet with care and common sense. In addition there are books, libraries, field research, talking to experts or other experienced people. Be curious, and acquire all the knowledge you can on the subject.
Skill – Assess the skills you need for the task. A skill is “a special ability in a task, sport, etc., especially an ability acquired by training; something, especially a trade or technique, requiring special training or manual proficiency”.
If you need an improvement in your skills, identify what you need. Perhaps it is a skill you can acquire while you tackle the current objective. Alternatively you will need to acquire that skill through training or study.
Effort – You need to put in effort to achieve anything. Life and its achievements are not handed out on a platter. Motivation, which we discuss next, comes into this. Also be aware that you have to give up something in order to get something else. This may just be time and effort, but can often be much more.

Power – Some tasks require the power or authority to do them. Do you have that power? If not define what power you need.

Time – Time is a major resource, and it is the scapegoat for many non-actioned tasks. In fact time is relative, and there are 24 hours in every day, 7 days a week, for every man, woman, child and animal on this planet. Some people manage their time better than others, that is true, but there is no reason why time should be a constraint on your desires.

Money – Money, strangely enough, is a nebulous resource much like time is. There is an unlimited supply of money in the world, and if you need money as a resource to achieve your objective, you can get it! You can also achieve a lot with a little money, and you can spend a lot of money and achieve very little.

Other required resources – There may be other resources that you need to achieve your objectives. These may be specific to the task, and you need to assess such resources in the same way as we have done above. If the above is in place, you will find that other required resources will prove not to be an issue.

So as you go through the factors that constitute your ability to undertake a particular task or objective, identify and write down what you see as shortfalls or obstacles in your way. You are not focussing on these as problems, merely clarifying the steps you need to take in order to achieve your ultimate objective. When you have these “obstacles” identified, make the resolution of each of them the subject of a further review of the factors that constitute your ability to do the task. Thus you break down all the constituent parts of your objective into the fundamental issues which you need to tackle.

Do this in writing as that adds clarity to your thought processes. At the end of the process you will have a specific list of actions to take in order to acquire the ability to achieve your specific objective, desire or goal. This process cannot fail, and you will achieve what it is that you want to achieve.

MOTIVATION

Motivation is another thing altogether! You may have the ability to undertake a particular task, be it making a cup of tea or designing a space rocket, but unless you are personally motivated towards achieving that, nothing will happen. Motivation means “the desire to do; interest or drive; incentive or inducement; the process that arouses, sustains and regulates human and animal behaviour”.

So what constitutes motivation?

WHAT ENABLES YOU TO PERFORM THE TASK?	WHAT PREVENTS YOU FROM PERFORMING THE TASK?
Desire	Apparent ambivalence
Passion	Apparent apathy, indecision, fear
Intention (Will)	Apparent indecisiveness, procrastination
Focus	Apparently scattered, unfocussed, unsure
Expectation	Apparent pessimism, doubt
Belief in yourself and your abilities	Apparent self-doubt, self-hate
Positive Attitude	Apparent negative, irresponsible attitude

Once we have satisfied the ability test already discussed, motivation to go out and do it is all that it takes. Your personal motivation is the make or break issue. If you really desire to do it, you can. If you don’t desire it that strongly, the outcome cannot be guaranteed.

Note too that the Law of Survival of the Fittest applies – it is the person (or entity) with the strongest motivation that wins. This can be applied to interpersonal situations, to activities that you are doing on your own, to health, to everything in fact. What or who has the strongest motivation/intention/focus to do what they do and be what they are? That is the one that prevails.

Let’s discuss now the specific elements that make up motivation:

Desire – "To crave or long for intensely." The first step in getting any experience is to desire it. Of course this may be conscious or sub-conscious, but where we are working positively to achieve something, we need to consciously desire the intended result. The desire sets up an invisible link to the object of your desire, which already exists, at least in principle. If you weaken your desire, or change your mind about that desire, this invisible link is broken and the manifestation will not occur. This is your choice.

Passion – “A strong affection or enthusiasm for an object, concept, etc.; the object of an intense desire, ardent affection, or enthusiasm.” Passion is a very strong emotion and is really the key to all the other aspects of motivation. If you have passion about the task at hand, you probably have all the other bases covered as well. It is still worth checking on that, but feeling passionate about things and activities is a tremendous start.

Intention (Will) – "The resolve or design with which a person does or refrains from doing an act." and "The faculty of conscious and deliberate choice of action; volition; determined intention." The next step is that you specifically intend to experience the manifestation of your desire. There is no doubt in your mind with regard to the outcome. Without this strong intention your desire is no more than wishful thinking.

Focus – “A point upon which attention, activity, etc., is directed or concentrated; to fix attention on or concentrate”. The attention needs to be specifically directed towards the desired activity for you to feel motivated to action it. Without this focus you will feel scattered and unsure, and you are unlikely to experience the motivation you need.
Another aspect of focus is continuity. You will find that if you are not able to keep your focus on the task at hand, you will lose the thread of what you are doing – lose continuity.
Expectation – "The act or state of waiting for something, whether feared or hoped for; anticipation." The act of expecting something to occur is very powerful. When you genuinely and continuously expect something to happen, that expectation attracts the object of your desire towards you and to manifestation in your life, almost like the force of gravity. This is due to the Universal Law of “Like creates like”.

Belief in yourself and your abilities – Belief is “A principle, idea, etc., accepted as true or real, especially without positive proof; trust or confidence in a person or a person’s abilities, integrity, etc.”. Do you have absolute confidence in yourself? Do you have confidence in your abilities? Do you think you can do the job? If you believe it, you will be able to do it.

Positive Attitude – Attitude means "mental view or disposition, especially as it indicates opinion or allegiance." A half-hearted effort will give either a half-hearted result, or probably no result at all. Likewise, if your attitude for wanting to create, say, a new car, is just to be up one on your neighbour, that attitude will work against you, and you will not achieve the outcome you were desiring and expecting. You need a positive attitude that is directed towards achieving your desired result for all the “right” reasons.

Once again go through these factors and ensure they are all in place. If they are, you cannot fail. If you find something lacking, analyse that aspect further by going through each of the elements in terms of that specific quality, writing down the details. As before you will end up with a written list of specific actions you need to take in order to acquire the motivation to achieve your specific objective or desire.

Note that we have listed in the table the “apparent” negative qualities that are possibly preventing you from performing the task. When you are working with the specific qualities in order to address them, always use the words “apparent lack of ____ (the positive quality)”. Thus rather than use “apathy”, use “apparent lack of passion”. The reason for doing this is that you are focussing on a positive word (“passion”), and are qualifying the lack as being only an “apparent lack” as opposed to being a real or absolute lack.

All the way through we have said write it down. This is because the process of writing it down clarifies the mind, and also enables you to clearly remember each of the points you have identified. This means no issue can be overlooked when you come to resolve them in order to achieve your specific main objective.

OTHER FACTORS

There are some further factors that are keys to your achievement, but these are virtually automatic. I say virtually because you have to accept them, and their fruits, into your life. If you are open to accepting these factors, your success will be supreme!

So while I have emphasised the need for writing everything down, and even for some regimentation, this is countered by these much more flowing factors, factors I might add which are crucial to your ultimate success.

OTHER FACTORS

Intuition

Synchronicity

Attraction

Taking Responsibility

The Fundamental Self

Accepting the Whole Package

The Laws of the Universe

Intuition – is “Knowledge or perception not gained by reasoning and intelligence; instinctive knowledge or insight”. It is a very valuable resource that it is well worth cultivating. Intuition involves listening to your inner self, and using your own judgement about what is right for you.
Prerequisites for developing intuition include:
- Being optimistic, but at the same time realistic, discriminating and use your common sense
- Cultivating a clear mind – get rid of mental and physical clutter
- Being receptive to new ideas
- Being expectant and aware
- Recognising your successes as you have them.
Developing your intuition is a self-development exercise of its own, and is covered in detail in a book by Penney Peirce². Nevertheless, just following the above hints will make you more aware of the level of intuition you already have, and will aid your use of the Life Magic Keys to Achievement.
Synchronicity – is “A meaningful coincidence of two or more events, where something other than the probability of chance is involved³.” When you experience coincidences like this, you find that you are in “the flow of things”. Everything happens just as you need it to – when you are ready the next step appears. People who can help you suddenly appear, and when you need other resources they are there. Everything is effortless and falls into place. Impediments dissolve and our timing is immaculate. We are in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.
This principle is part of Eastern philosophy, and is specifically linked with The Tao. It indicates the fact that everything in the Universe is connected. In practical terms for ourselves, if we are dedicated to working with the Keys to Achievement, you will find that synchronicity will be a natural factor in your life.
Attraction – Your mental image, your attitude, your intention, and your belief all blend to a specific colouring of “causal impulse”. That causal impulse will attract the like effect or result, since like creates like. So you will find that you draw to you circumstances and opportunities which will lead to the creation of the effect/result that matches your causal impulse.
You literally attract to you things and experiences that have the same qualities as you have in yourself.

By the same token, that same causal impulse will repel circumstances and opportunities that are counter-productive to your achieving the result that matches your causal impulse.
Taking Responsibility – You need to accept absolutely, and without reservation, that you are personally responsible as creator of every aspect of your life for everything that “happens” to you, for your every action and your every experience. You are the cause, and you experience the results.
Nevertheless, whether you accept your responsibility or not, you are still responsible.

It follows from this that once you have accepted the truth of this, absolutely nothing stands in your way. This is as apparent as the biblical rhetorical question: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

You are creator and designer of your life. You create the good things and the bad, the fun and not so fun things. You are in total control of your life and are not a victim at the whim of the outside world. This has always been true for you, and is true for every person. Unless you are conscious of it you can misinterpret what “happens” to you, and you can feel to be a victim and look around for someone or something to blame for the things you don’t like about your life. Once you become aware of the fact that you and only you are responsible for your experience of life, you can take conscious action to choose and create the life experiences you really desire.
The Fundamental Self – The Fundamental Self, your essential psychological makeup, is the major influence on your achievement. As Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right!".
Effectively what we are doing with all the techniques and ideas in helping you to achieve anything you wish to in life, is working to change the Fundamental Self. When you do experience achievement in your life, you learn by that, and that changes the Fundamental Self, maybe in just a small way. Likewise everything else that “happens” to you in life has an influence on you and effects how you will attract further events in your life.

So in some ways this can be viewed as a virtually automatic factor in your life and in your achievements. However, from a different viewpoint it is the one fundamental that you are addressing and need to address. For this reason, we approach the “improvement” or enlightenment of our Fundamental Self through the two key factors of Ability and Motivation, and let the Fundamental Self take care of itself.
Accepting the Whole Package – When we take on a new job, get married, buy a house, or in fact do virtually anything, we are taking on the whole package. The new job may have good pay, a great job description, and lots of other good things about it, but it may also have bad working environment, a grumpy boss, and no prospects, etc, etc. You may get married to a lovely partner, but s/he may have strange habits, strange family and poor health.
The Whole Package concept is one we often overlook. We see the good, desirable points on offer and are sold on those, without accepting the rest of the package. We need to be more aware of the total package and make sure we attract Whole Packages that are to our benefit.
The Laws of the Universe – Just like there are Laws of Mathematics and Laws of Science, etc., there are a number of Universal Laws, which are irrefutable. Bruce McArthur¹ defines it this way: “A Universal Law is an unbreakable, unchangeable principle of life that operates inevitably, all the time”. There are many Universal Laws, but we will focus on just 5 for our purposes here:

1. The Law of Cause and Effect: There is a cause for every effect

This Law has a number of corollaries (sub-laws that follow from it), which are equally as true as they are based on the Truth of this Universal Law:

Nothing is by chance
There are no such things as accidents or bad luck
Life is the experience of your choices
You are responsible for everything that happens to you.

2. Like creates like

Some corollaries of this Universal Law are:

You reap what you sow
You must give in order to receive
Your life experience mirrors your self
Like attracts like, and opposites repel
As you believe, so it will come into reality for you
You intensify what you focus on
You attract what you expect
Forgiveness attracts forgiveness.

3. The Law of Increase: Your attitude and intention determine the extent of your result

There are four aspects to working with the Law of Increase, and you will remember that we covered these in more detail under Motivation above. You will note that the initial letters spell IDEA.

Intention
Desire
Expectation
Attitude.

As you maximise these qualities in your ideas, so you will bring your idea into actual reality.

4. The Law of Balance: The Universe remains constantly in a state of equilibrium

The Law of Balance means, amongst other things, that Man can create an expectation or a potential for a specific effect, and that will act as a cause to fulfil that need (imbalance).

All exchanges between you and others balance.
In all your dealings with others, in business, in marriage and in life in general, always give more than is expected. Always add value. The Universal Law will recompense you with "additional blessings" in order to keep the equilibrium.

The Law of Cause and Effect ensures that the Law of Balance exists.
Every effect that results from a cause balances that cause so that the Universe remains in a state of equilibrium.

You have to sacrifice one thing in order to receive something else.
For instance:

You sacrifice 40 hours of your time a week to receive a weekly wage
You sacrifice your single days and ways to get a wife/husband
You sacrifice the price of a product/service to buy that product/service
You sacrifice dishonesty to be seen as a person of integrity and honour
You sacrifice honour to take up thieving and dishonesty
You sacrifice "ignorance is bliss" to develop your spiritual nature.

5. The Law of Self: You are a unique individual, and the fulfilment of your desires is of primary importance. The same is equally true of every other person.

This Law states that effectively you are responsible only for yourself, and only you are responsible for your self. That means you live your life and no one else can live it for you. Likewise, you cannot live or interfere with anyone else's life. Your desires and wants and needs, and their fulfilment, are of essential importance to you. So you need to concentrate on your own fulfilments, because every other person is in exactly the same position as you are, looking after their own needs, wants and desires and their fulfilment.

IN CONCLUSION

Different teachers and organisations offer numerous different techniques towards achieving your objectives, be they spiritual, health, career, relationships, or whatever. The point is that they all work to a lesser or greater extent, and some work for some people and some work for others. Some techniques are totally contrary to others. There is no definitive set of instructions. Whatever technique you are using, what you really are doing is gaining the Ability and Motivation to achieve your objective. Whatever you believe will work for you, will work for you. In fact you can dispense with all techniques and just believe and that will work too. In this situation you just do it and be it.

However inexperienced you are, or how much self-doubt you carry, you can still reach the pinnacle of personal achievement by working with the principles discussed in this paper. What matters is your state of mind, or what we have called your Fundamental Self. This is your starting position, and this will determine which of the areas you need to put most attention on. If you need to put attention on all of the factors we have discussed, so be it. You now know the principles you need for success – the Life Magic Keys to Achievement.

Go well.

alan

Alan Dawe
Life Magic Healing Centre

If you have any queries or need help with the practical aspects of this article, please contact us. We are located in Howick, East Auckland. And if you haven't seen it, take a look at our Home Page.

Reference Sources

All definitions in quotes are courtesy of Collins English Dictionary.
1 Bruce McArthur – Your Life: Why it is the way it is and what you can do about it - Understanding the Universal Laws. 1993. A.R.E. Press.
2 Penney Peirce – The Intuitive Way: A Guide to Living from Inner Wisdom. 1997. Beyond Words Publishing, Inc.
3 Carl G Jung – Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, from the article "On Synchronicity", Appendix, pg. 104.