When was the last time you spent 60 minutes working with an elite coach on your life blueprint to map out your 1 to 3 years on your journey to success? Right now, I am opening up my calendar to spend 60 minutes with the individua’s who follow bestbookbits to map out your next stage and season in life through my signature 60-minute life blueprint session. You will also get a free copy of my book success in 50 steps. Click the link below to jump first on a free 15-minute pre coaching chat. Click here to make a booking.. If not, you can always download 500 summaries here

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2 One More and Living in Your Matrix

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit‐hole goes. —Morpheus, The Matrix

I’M A HUGE FAN OF THE MATRIX. Not only was it a groundbreaking movie when it was released in 1999, but the film is also stacked with One More lessons. If you haven’t seen The Matrix yet, stay with me. It’s all going to make sense in a moment. Also, be advised, spoilers are ahead.

The Matrix tells the story of Keanu Reeves’s character, a computer programmer, Thomas A. Anderson, who leads a double life as the hacker Neo. He joins forces with legendary hacker Morpheus in a quest to destroy artificial intelligence that is running human life, known as the Matrix. As they battle the Agents that protect the Matrix, Neo begins to display super‐ human gifts—including the ability to slow down time—that indicate he could be The One, or the chosen person to bring down the Matrix.

Speaking of The One, I want you to realize something. When you see a happy or financially successful family, understand that at some point in their history, they weren’t happy or successful. That is, until The One showed up, and The One in that family changed the family tree forever.

The One can change the emotions, finances, level of happiness, and the way the family thinks, among many other things.

In my family, I am The One. Not because I wanted it or I liked it, but because I was ready to fight for it, and because I learned the strategies it takes to be The One.

My prayer for you is for you to become The One in your family. The reason I love the story of Neo being The One is because I believe it’s a metaphor for what exists in every family.

It bears repeating. When you see a family that is happy, successful, or living out their dreams, understand that they did not start out that way. And then, The One in that family stepped up and changed that family legacy forever. I’m teaching you about the Matrix so that you can be The One who steps up in your family, too.

Here’s something that may surprise you.

What if I told you that you’re already living in your Matrix? What if I told you there are already forces at work deep inside you that are slowing down parts of your life, interpreting and reinforcing what you’ve already programmed into your consciousness? You’re not even aware this is happening.

But it is.

Your Matrix is a more colloquial name for your reticular activating system, RAS for short. Your RAS is the filter that gives weight to the important things in your life and filters out the things that are not.

The RAS is a concept I’ve talked about in the past. Much like creating a One More identity, I haven’t explored it as much as we’re going to do in this chapter. And just like a One More identity, learning about your RAS is vital to linking with many of the other chapters in this book.

However, while understanding the science behind your RAS is important, because people are sometimes intimidated or turned off by heavy duty scientific concepts, I’ve translated our discussion into a more accessible and digestible strategy using the Matrix as an example.

Whether you identify it as your RAS or your Matrix, remember this. Think of the RAS as the filter that reveals to you what’s most important to you in your life.

When was the last time you spent 60 minutes working with an elite coach on your life blueprint to map out your 1 to 3 years on your journey to success? Right now, I am opening up my calendar to spend 60 minutes with the individua’s who follow bestbookbits to map out your next stage and season in life through my signature 60-minute life blueprint session. You will also get a free copy of my book success in 50 steps. Click the link below to jump first on a free 15-minute pre coaching chat. Click here to make a booking.. If not, you can always download 500 summaries here

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Here’s an example that illustrates how the RAS works. Let’s say you want to buy a blue van. Immediately, you start seeing blue vans everywhere. It could be three lanes over on a freeway, when you’re out running errands, or dropping your kids off at school.

Guess what? Those blue vans were always there, you just never noticed them before. But now you see them because they’ve become a part of your RAS. They have been filtered into your consciousness since they have become important to you.

This extends out to other parts of your life. For example, the clients, your level of fitness, the relationships, or the emotions you want become your blue vans. They were always there; you just never saw them because they weren’t programmed into your RAS. You just filtered them out because they weren’t important enough to you at the time.

How do they become important? Through repeated visualization and thought. These things teach your RAS what it should be hearing, looking for, and feeling because your mind moves toward what it is most familiar with.

This is what I mean by slowing down. When you repeatedly visualize and obsessively think about something, you tell your RAS to pay attention to that thought, and that’s when the world slows down.

That’s how the RAS works.

You already do this exceptionally well, but chances are you don’t do it with enough direction, intention, or awareness. However, if you can direct your RAS to focus better on the blue vans in your life, then your life begins to change.

One More thinkers learn to work in concert with their Matrix. In turn, this repeatedly creates opportunities and outcomes that will fast‐forward your life in countless ways.

Living a Deeper Life by Slowing Down Your Matrix

The concept of slowing down time can be traced back to ancient civilizations. The fifth‐century BC philosopher Zeno posed the question, “If a flying arrow appears to be at rest in any particular instant in flight, doesn’t that actually make it motionless?” It was one of many paradoxes he posed in his time.

We’ve come a long way since then. But the concept of our relationship with time still fascinates us. Just like in The Matrix, if you want to live a deeper, more meaningful life, you must learn to slow down your internal pace. From a technical standpoint, The Matrix used cinematic special effects to create what has become known as bullet time. Bullet time was created by placing 120 cameras in a 360‐degree circle around the action, taking thousands of shots, and then stitching those shots together. The results make viewers feel like they’re moving around a slow‐motion scene that plays out in a matter of seconds, which is what you ultimately see in the movie.

As directors, the Wachowskis weren’t the first to use the technique, but they were the first to take it mainstream. It’s used several times in The Matrix and subsequent sequels, but the best known and remembered use is when Neo dodges bullet after bullet on a rooftop—hence, bullet time.

Bullet time can work for you, too. It’s the equivalent of an extreme version of “stopping to smell the roses.” But it’s a lot more than that. When you strategically slow down your physical and mental being, you create a space that allows your senses and brain to reset. You see things differently, and you start to realize One Mores have been there all along.

You just needed to change the variables in your life to see them. The key is to be aware of your circumstances and your environment. Bullet time allows you to go looking for one more business deal, concentrate on one more way to improve your tennis game, or one more way to make your marriage better.

I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it. —Morpheus

It takes time and focus to engage in your present life. Much like The Matrix, you’ll be more invested in what happens to you when you put forth this effort.

Just as important, you must consciously decide which path you want to choose. This brings us to the famous blue pill versus red pill choice Neo must make. When Morpheus asks Neo to choose between the pills, he essentially asks Neo to choose between fate and free will.

In The Matrix, taking the blue pill represents choosing fate. All choices are already decided, and actions are predetermined. The concept of choice is only an illusion. Neo instead opts for the red pill and places himself in a place of free will where he can change his fate based on his decisions. He joins Morpheus and Trinity, another key freedom fighter, who also place a higher value on free will, no matter how unpleasant that world is.

Everyone has this same ability to choose their reality. One More thinkers are simply more intentional about it. They choose free will and action because they know what they want and combine thinking and action to move them closer to their standards and goals. They raise their awareness levels. In doing so, they slow down their world. And their world changes to better align with what they want in life.

Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize, just as I did, there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. —Morpheus

Because of the pace of our lives, we often choose to look at only certain things. To travel along pre‐established paths. For many, it’s a matter of expediency. But it also eliminates several colors in the big, beautiful rainbow of life.

Don’t be too hard on yourself if this sounds like you. From the time we’re born, we’re taught to obey others, follow the rules, and memorize facts. As the world goes faster and faster, it’s more of a struggle to keep up in a light‐ speed technologically driven era. To survive, we constantly accept that others decide what’s best for us and that we should follow without question.

What if you challenged that assumption? Not all the time, but in the areas of your life that are important to you. What if you gave yourself a mental time‐ out and thought long and hard about the choices you face? What if you explored your options more deeply when it mattered?

One More thinkers should be more deeply engaged in their own lives when possible. Your Matrix and your choice between the red pill and the blue pill are waiting for you.

How Your Matrix Works

It’s cool to attach a movie label to one of your core functions. But to fully appreciate how your Matrix works, you need to understand the science behind your Matrix as well.

I mentioned the reticular activating system (RAS) earlier. It’s the mental muscle that allows you to recalibrate your Matrix. Your RAS filters things into your awareness that are important to you and filters out the things that are not.

In neurological terms, reticular means “net or web‐like.” The RAS is a network web formation of nerve cells and their connections located deep in your brainstem, between your spinal cord, traversing up through your thalamus in the center of your brain. These cells extend outward to your cerebral cortex, which is the thin layer of neural tissue on the surface of your brain.

The RAS does not interpret the quality or the type of sensory input you provide it. The RAS activates your entire cerebral cortex, putting it on high alert. This increased arousal creates an enhanced ability to interpret incoming information and preps the brain for appropriate action.

Appropriate action means that the RAS alters your brain’s electrical activity, regulating the electrical voltage of brain waves and the speed at which nerve cells engage. It also releases chemicals that regulate sleep, pain, motor function, emotions, and memories. These chemicals include acetylcholine that regulates movement, and dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin that are associated with consciousness and feelings. The RAS has been linked to psychological disorders, too. Abnormalities in the RAS result in schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, and post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among others.

When you’re awake, your brain produces low‐voltage brain waves that are incredibly fast so that you can organize information quickly and attentively. The same thing occurs during the rapid eye movement (REM) cycle of sleep, which produces intense dreaming, body movements, and faster breathing and pulse rates.

How the RAS configures these signals also makes you more or less alert, more or less cognizant, and will determine how your brain interprets various messages you receive. In this way, the RAS is your brain’s natural filtering system. It filters out everything that’s not important to you or unnecessary noise that interferes with your decision‐making process, including processing messages when you sleep.

The RAS also filters in all the things that are important to you into your consciousness. By doing so, you can create your own reality. But you have to be intentional and work at it. For One More thinkers, your RAS is your Matrix. Understanding the science behind how your Matrix works makes it easier to understand how and why you should find ways to put it to work in your favor.

Here’s a quick illustration. If you’re looking for things to be offended by, your RAS will activate, and that’s what you’ll find all day long. On the other hand, if you’re looking for things to be grateful for, that’s what you’ll find instead.

When you intentionally activate your Matrix to focus on certain things, you’ll see One Mores everywhere.

Without consciously knowing it, your Matrix sifts through a mountain of data and presents only the pieces that are important to you. Your Matrix programs itself to work in your favor. You’ve heard of the saying, “garbage in, garbage out”? I’ll bet you didn’t know there was a whole branch of science connected to it. It’s all about you and your Matrix.

When was the last time you spent 60 minutes working with an elite coach on your life blueprint to map out your 1 to 3 years on your journey to success? Right now, I am opening up my calendar to spend 60 minutes with the individua’s who follow bestbookbits to map out your next stage and season in life through my signature 60-minute life blueprint session. You will also get a free copy of my book success in 50 steps. Click the link below to jump first on a free 15-minute pre coaching chat. Click here to make a booking.. If not, you can always download 500 summaries here

Download the PDF Summary here

Your Matrix also seeks information that validates your beliefs. It filters the world through the parameters you give it. Your beliefs shape those parameters in a self‐fulfilling prophecy of sorts. If you think you’re bad at hitting a golf ball, or painting as a hobby, or giving a speech, then you probably will be horrendous at those activities. Conversely, if you think you can hit a 90‐m.p.h. fastball, learn a new language in three months, or master ballroom dancing in a year, you have a much better chance of doing so. Your Matrix helps you see what you want to see, and then it goes to work to influence your actions.

Your RAS also helps explain the Law of Attraction. This is the concept that you attract what you tend to think about. It’s often touted in some kind of New Age, cosmic way, but the Law of Attraction is a lot less magical and mystical once you understand how your Matrix works.

Here’s a One More thinker key takeaway. When you can train your Matrix to take your subconscious thoughts and marry them to your consciousness, you become intentional. I talk a lot about being intentional, and now you know how and why the process works.

It requires focus and patience. However, if you can master this skill, your Matrix will align with you to reveal information, people, and opportunities to help you achieve your standards and goals.

Training Your Matrix to Get What You Want

The next and most obvious question then becomes, “How do I train my Matrix to get what I want?” There are simple and concrete ways to do this. You start by planting a seed in your Matrix. Think about a situation you want to influence. For example, “I want to lose weight.” Next, give more directed thought to the specific outcome you want. In this case, “I want to lose 20 pounds over the next six months.” Finally, start creating visualizations of how you ideally want that goal to play out. Let your imagination hear the conversations, actions, exercise, foods, and other details you’ll need to reach that goal. To lock in your Matrix, you’ll need to replay these things over and over with intention.

When you do this, you’re unleashing your Matrix to go to work for you. One More thinkers must also put actions to these thoughts. It’s not enough to mentally convince yourself. You can’t wish your way to success. Let’s say you want a dog. You love huskies, but you never noticed how many of them you see during your day until you set your mind to work, deciding that’s the kind of dog you want. Suddenly, you see huskies everywhere.

How about your dream car? Maybe all your life, you’ve dreamed of owning a Porsche. It’s one of those “someday” dreams with no actual timetable in place. Then, your career takes off. You get a big raise and your “someday” Porsche dream starts to become real. You see online ads, TV commercials, and billboards for Porsches. Every time one passes you on the freeway, your brain fires off. You have a chance meeting with a guy who already drives a Porsche, and your Matrix elevates your dream to an even higher state.

When these things happen, your Matrix has taken the first steps in moving you closer to what you want out of life.

Your Matrix and Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is the tendency to interpret new evidence as the confirmation of your existing beliefs or theories. Your Matrix and confirmation bias are joined at the hip. When your Matrix generates specific beliefs or outcomes, confirmation bias kicks in and reinforces those beliefs, further strengthening the effect. As this happens, any evidence or theories that undermine or could disprove what your Matrix believes are undervalued.

Confirmation bias is an extension of selective recall. When you choose to remember things in a certain way that confirms what you’re thinking, you’ll be biased to the outcome you want to achieve. The stronger your beliefs, or the more emotionally charged an issue is to you, the stronger your confirmation bias and selective recall will be.

These embedded beliefs become stronger over time. Subconsciously, through repetition, your obsessions eventually become your possessions. When combined with intentional actions, confirmation bias, and selective recall, your Matrix drives you unrelentingly toward your goals. The key is to make sure the right seeds are planted in your Matrix. If you plant the wrong things, you’ll harvest the wrong results.

Biased interpretations and memories can be powerful tools when you harness them the right way. In our respective worlds, we’re inundated with confirmations daily. Social media is a prime example of an echo chamber that reinforces our beliefs. We gravitate toward what aligns with our thoughts and beliefs. And we often repel points of view that differ from our own.

In recent years, the media has become an obvious example of confirmation bias. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and others routinely express points of view that either confirm or enrage viewers, based on their political leanings. Confirmation bias also minimizes a mental conflict known as cognitive dissonance. That occurs when a person is exposed to two contradictory beliefs, resulting in psychological stress or uneasiness. Confirmation bias helps avoid incongruent points of view and strengthens information‐ reinforcing views that align with what we want to believe.

Your Matrix Is Unique to You

Every person’s Matrix is unique. Just as no two brains are alike, the same holds true for your Matrix as well. You are the one‐of‐a‐kind total of your memories, experiences, thoughts, relationships, fears, ambitions, and more.

That’s why learning how to control your Matrix is a solo journey. You can’t delegate this responsibility. It’s up to you, and only you. And keep in mind, confirmation bias heavily influences how your Matrix behaves. Consider this. A Wall Street stockbroker has configured their Matrix to find money in the vast array of financial markets. By slowing down and letting their Matrix see opportunities, they see deals that someone who is not intentionally wired does not.

Likewise, ponder the plight of a homeless drug addict on Skid Row. Even though they have no place to sleep and wonder where their next meal is coming from, they always find a way to get their next high. They’ve trained their Matrix to find drugs. And they become very good at doing it.

Both are living their realities. They have trained their Matrix to elevate specific thoughts and opportunities consistent with their goals, and everything they run across tends to confirm that they’re moving toward those goals. In each case, their obsessions become their possessions.

Society may judge them differently. But is this either right or wrong, or are they the result of how their Matrix impacted their lives?

The point I make is that your Matrix is yours, and yours alone. You control it, whether you’re looking for your next big sleeper stock or a dime bag of heroin. And the longer your Matrix sees things a certain way, the more ingrained and intense your beliefs become.

Here’s another example. If you’re a quarterback, does it make more sense in a game to avoid receivers who are covered or look for receivers who are open? When you train your mind to look for an open receiver, that’s what your brain looks for instead of focusing on covered receivers.

Rookie quarterbacks often struggle because they don’t have the depth of experience planted in their Matrix. But seasoned Hall of Fame quarterbacks like Joe Montana or Peyton Manning literally picked apart defenses. They were more deeply invested and embedded into believing they could control the action on the field because their world had slowed down and put them into their in‐game Matrix.

If you’re a golfer, you filter out sand traps, water hazards, and out‐of‐ bounds markers on every swing. You know exactly where you want to place the ball on every shot, and that’s all your Matrix allows you to see.

Using your Matrix also extends to your relationships. When you activate your Matrix, you begin to see the qualities in people you want to have a relationship with instead of missing those people who were there all along.

What if, instead of huskies, Porsches, and pass routes, you focused on creating more business prospects? You would begin to hear opportunities at work or on a sales call that you wouldn’t otherwise because your brain is now actively looking for these kinds of possibilities. You begin to see money‐making opportunities that were always there but weren’t filtered into your Matrix before.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you already train your brain to look for opportunities, not roadblocks. You seek ways to connect two disparate services, products, or relationships in a way that will make you money. To some degree, your Matrix filters out all the people who are not good candidates for you to work with and instead focuses on the ones you are most compatible with.

Think about what could happen if you became even more focused on this. Would the quality and quantity of your deals rise? Would you put more money in your pocket at the end of the year? Based on my experience, yes, you would.

I’m a big believer that everything you need is already in and around you right now if you can just put in the work to see it.

Optimizing Your Matrix

Your Matrix is already hard at work. But is it working the right way on your behalf? Do you think about the things that will enhance your life, or are you thinking about avoiding bad things that will detract from your life? There is a difference.

Shifting your Matrix mindset to a more positive framework removes fear and anxiety and replaces those thoughts with confidence and forward momentum. To do this, two things are essential. First, you must intentionally elevate the quality of your thoughts. Frame them in the positive. Set your goals so that when you achieve them, you’ll be excited about the outcome instead of breathing a sigh of relief that you avoided a crisis.

Second, repeat, repeat, repeat!

You must continuously and consciously fill your Matrix with the thoughts you want. Let your beliefs become so embedded that you’re not even aware they exist. However, your Matrix won’t lose sight of them. In its way, your Matrix will become your biggest ally and turn your thoughts into results. Program your Matrix through intentional repetitious feelings, words, and visualizations. Be doggedly persistent if you want success.

Breaking it down further, activation also comes from preparation, gathering knowledge, courage, permitting yourself to fail, giving yourself permission to chart your path, gratitude, and more. Also, remove procrastination from your life. As Victor Kiam, an entrepreneur and former owner of the New England Patriots, said, “Procrastination is opportunity’s assassin.” Conversely, change is the instigator of opportunity.

When it’s time to dance with a pretty girl, you can’t sit on the sidelines, otherwise, another guy will be two‐steppin’ with her in no time. And you’ll just be left at the bar, grumpy and drunk.

Few things are more expensive than opportunities you miss. You pay for them with regret, doubt, and a lingering, haunting feeling of what could have been.

English philosopher Francis Bacon once said, “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”

In the same way, One More thinkers are intentional about opportunities. They set their Matrix in motion and hone this powerful tool through repetition.

When you activate your Matrix, you’ll bend reality and find One More opportunities that will reveal themselves to you in ways you would never have seen otherwise.

When was the last time you spent 60 minutes working with an elite coach on your life blueprint to map out your 1 to 3 years on your journey to success? Right now, I am opening up my calendar to spend 60 minutes with the individua’s who follow bestbookbits to map out your next stage and season in life through my signature 60-minute life blueprint session. You will also get a free copy of my book success in 50 steps. Click the link below to jump first on a free 15-minute pre coaching chat. Click here to make a booking.. If not, you can always download 500 summaries here

Download the PDF Summary here