Your Own Prison

"In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true."
- John Lilly
The total number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of Federal or State adult correctional authorities was 1,440,655 at year end 2002. At year end 2002, 1 in every 143 U.S. residents was incarcerated in State or Federal prison or a local jail.*
I estimate that roughly 80% of the remaining US population lives in asimilar state of prison, a prison created inside their own mind. They have been incarcerated in much the same way criminals are kept in jails, through the daily routine of making bad choices.
There are 5 lessons that you must understand, embrace and do to be able to make good choices in Life.
1. Life is supposed to be hard.
You must understand that no one owes you anything and that everything must be earned.
2. You MUST set short, medium and long term goals.
Make them what you would consider to be extremely difficult to reach at each level. Approach every decision with your goals in mind and make the choice that will bring you closer to reaching your short, medium and long term goals.
3. Make Good Choices at Least 75% of the Time.
You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to already know everything and make the right choices 100% of the time to be a happy and successful person. About 70% or better will put you so far ahead of most people it will really surprise you. You see good choices are like compound interest, they build on all of the good choices that have been made before them. Consider it a mathematical equation where each bad decision is worth .8 pts and each good decision gives you 1.2 pts. Let's also assume that you have to make one key decision everyday, you really make many but for this example we will only use one per day. Over the course of 1 year or 365 days if you make bad decisions 50% of the time and good decisons 50% of the time you end up with a relative score of 365. Now let's look at the person who makes good decisons 70% of the time. His score at the end of the year relative score is 394.2. Now that is after just one year you are approximately 8% better off than the "old" you. Stay with me, because this is where it starts to get good. So we see that you are better off 8% this year than your "old" self. Now let's apply the compound interest rule to this formula. After 5 years of this simple 8% yearly improvement you will be
. It should be viewed more like 1.2
That's right, I know people who make the wrong choice most of the time. They generally have some or all of these qualities: fat, unhappy, unhappy about their life and usually have a depressed financial situation loaded with debts.
4. Always, Always, Always be Honest, Especially with Yourself!
I can not emphasize this point enough. Honesty builds character because it hard. Most people have "acceptable" reasons for lying. What they don't understand is that you dont tell lies to protect others, you do it to protect yourself. You are protecting yourself from the consequences of your honesty.
5. Whomsoever compels you to go with them 1 mile, go with them 2.
This lesson is the multiplier of the other lessons. If you want to have above average success through the other 4 lessons without this one it is possible. But with this lesson your successes will be multiplied by 5x-10x.


"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure."
- Mark Twain

*U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/p02.txt