Strategic Discipline Blog

My journey through Acute Myeloid Leukemia continues with Chapter V from CANCER CURED – The Most Powerful Force in the Universe

(Previous segments of CANCER CURED are available here:  CANCER CURED BOOK -to read these from the beginning you’ll need to scroll through to the bottom to find CANCER CURED – What do You Feed?, which is the first in the series.)

This is Chapter V – The Most Powerful Force in the Universe. This is the 4^th segment from this chapter; Ignoring Reality: Greatness Is Holding Fast to a Dream, Independent of the Environment.

My love for my wife, Michelle, had no boundaries. I constantly searched for ways to please her, to make her feel loved, and adored.

One of the disappointments I’d had was not having given her a trip to Hawaii, which we’d discussed first when we got married, and then at our 5- and 10-year anniversaries. Each time, because Michelle controlled the finances in our household, she’d expressed concern about being able to afford it. Due to her anxiety, we delayed scheduling the trip.

I desperately wanted to make that a reality for her. Michelle rarely complimented me. This probably exacerbated my desire to please her. I wanted her to notice and admire me. I continuously looked for ways to make her feel special. I felt compelled to give her compliments and attention believing someday she would appreciate it.

I loved Michelle and was committed to her unconditionally.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” ~ Napoleon Hill

I’ve read Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich many times. I’d repeated affirmations every day for most of my adult life. The challenge for us isn’t getting anyone else to believe we can do it. It’s convincing ourselves to tune out any negative vibrations and concentrate on what we want. This single-minded focus combined with elevated emotions can help us achieve anything!

As you’ll discover. Positive thinking isn’t enough to bring about change or achieve the outcome you desire. Many people think positively yet feel negative.

To achieve change in our lives we need to think, act, and feel the change as if we’ve already accomplished it. That’s difficult for most people to do since we live in a world of causality.

To truly change, you must think so that you can see other choices, act in new and different ways, create a new experience, and feel a new emotion.

It took me several months to realize this.

In Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, Dr Joe Dispensa shares that to change we have to be greater than our environment, our body, and time.

When you look at the great leaders and inspirational people in history, they all were inspired and held a belief greater than their environment, body, and time. Read the biographies of John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Joan of Arc, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Marie Curie, and Winston Churchill. Every one of these individuals had a concept in his or her mind of a future reality that existed as a potential in the quantum field. This vision was alive in an inner world of possibilities beyond the senses, and in time, each of these people made those ideas a reality.

I share this to reveal the possibilities of our unlimited power. The capacity of my mind to believe, despite the evidence the doctors and nurses shared with me, provided me with the wherewithal to deny, obstruct, or feign denial of the desperateness of my illness. (the latter being, to fake it until you make it!)

Dr. Carter, in my interview years after my cancer remission, revealed one of the keys to my success was the physical condition I was in despite five chemotherapy. Dr. Carter indicated most patients cannot withstand five chemotherapies without becoming gravely sick. After 5 chemotherapies, they’re unable to continue further treatment.

Providence, my training, my attitude, faith, and deep commitment to my family, my love for Michelle, luck, all contributed to my physical condition.

When I entered the hospital, I weighed 220 lbs. By the time I’d gone through these 5 failed chemotherapies, my weight was below 180. Despite my cancer, I may have been in the best shape of my life since high school!

In another chapter, I fully recognized from The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, that most patients don’t die from the malady they enter the hospital for. They die from an infection they acquire while in the hospital. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Michelle and her vigilance and caution to sanitize and protect me whenever I leave the hospital.  

Despite my awareness, before my clinical trial, I contracted pneumonia. As you’ll discover I spent 12 hours in ICU battling it, a turning point which resulted in me being able to move on to my clinical trial.

Was I lucky?

“Luck is what happens when preparedness meets opportunity.”

~ Roman philosopher Seneca

“Everything gives off its true fragrance when it’s crushed.”

You won’t find this quote directly attributable to anyone if you Google it. A customer and friend shared this with me when I later went through my divorce with Michelle. It proved to be an inspiration to me as I went through my cancer treatment. I wish I always acted this inspired to act differently. To be at my highest ideal. I’m still a work in progress.

If I could watch myself when I am most miserable, discouraged, frustrated, in my deepest anguish and desperation I know I’d be even more disappointed in my actions.

Many times, I get set off beyond any measure of the size of the challenge.

In retrospect, we are always measuring our behavior and performance, or at least I am. When we recognize we are being judged during our good times and bad, perhaps we will act differently.

In Joseph J. Ellis’ book Founding Brothers, he shares the conviction that each of the founding fathers of our country had a vision and believed their actions or inactions would be judged by history. They had a profound understanding of the impact their decisions would have on future generations. Their actions were weighed against the historical perspective they felt they would be viewed.

Ellis believes it’s what held them together to make them act so responsibly and idyllically.

If only we could judge ourselves to these high standards and appreciate how our behavior affects our legacy.

What’s your vision of your ideal self? Who could you be if you truly were the person you feel, and aspire to be?

You must create this vision, thoughts equal to this vision, practice, rehearse, and envision yourself acting, and feeling commensurate to this vision. This is how you become greater than your environment, body, and time.

When you measure yourself against this standard, “Everything gives off its true fragrance when we are crushed,” you become more mindful of your behavior and actions.

Call to Action

Challenge your team, your business, yourself. Contact Positioning Systems to schedule a free exploratory meeting to challenge, inspire, and ignite purpose and passion in your business!  

Create an environment where everyone is inspired to give their best.

Growth demands Strategic Discipline.

I’ve shared my faith several times in these blogs on Cancer Cured. I would not have survived cancer without my faith. There’s a difference between faith and hope. We’ll explore the next blog from Chapter V of Cancer Cured – GOLDEN KEY: Don’t Think About Your Problem, Think About God.

Building an enduring great organization requires disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action, superior results, producing a distinctive impact on the world.

Discipline sustains momentum, over a long period, laying the foundations for lasting endurance.

A winning habit starts with 3 Strategic Disciplines: Priority, Metrics, and Meeting Rhythms.   Forecasting, accountability, individual, and team performance improve dramatically.

Meeting Rhythms achieve a disciplined focus on performance metrics to drive growth.

Let Positioning Systems help your business achieve these outcomes on the Four most Important Decisions your business faces:

Positioning Systems helps mid-sized ($5M - $500M+) businesses Scale-UP. We align your business to focus on Your One Thing! Contact dwick@positioningsystems.com to Scale Up your business! Take our Four Decisions Needs Assessment to discover how your business measures against other Scaled Up companies. We’ll contact you.

NEXT BLOG – Chapter V - GOLDEN KEY: Don’t Think About Your Problem, Think About God.