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Name: higher purpose. The secret that keeps you going every minute
About the book "The Highest Goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute.” Michael Ray
Have you ever wondered what is your meaning of life? Most likely yes, and not even once. I really want to go my own way, to be unique, not like everyone else, so that later you will be remembered, proud and appreciated what you left behind. But what is in reality? We, in fact, live according to a plan invented long ago: an unloved job, a small salary, not a hint of self-development. Everything, like everyone else. Of course, here you can blame the country, and people, and even your parents for not instilling confidence in your abilities, but not yourself. But it is worth understanding only one thing, and you will radically change your life.
Michael Ray known for a very long time because of his famous course called "The Creativity of Business", which had an incredible effect on those who took it. There was a feeling that Michael Ray knew some secret, which he shared with the audience. And it was this secret that influenced the lives of people, instilled in them self-confidence, inspiration and tremendous strength. He helped them find the true meaning of life.
Making the world a better place is easy enough, you just need to start with yourself. Unfortunately, we begin to appreciate and understand ourselves only with age, with life experience, when we already understand that work is not just making money, but also the opportunity to give something wonderful to people, to make some product perfect and useful. That relationships are not just love, passion, desire, but this incredibly wonderful feeling inside, which makes you and your soul mate better, more harmonious, elevated and inspired. It may seem to someone just a set of words, but believe me, in the future you will understand true value all those beautiful words.
Michael Ray talks about the highest goal, which is harmony with oneself and with the world around. Of course, you need to strive for something bigger and more perfect, but at the same time, you shouldn’t forget about such simple things that not everything in the world happens the way you want it to, and you won’t even be able to influence it. If you have achieved harmony with the world around you, you began to perceive and understand everything differently, this does not mean that the world is aware of all your goals and will begin to change, will begin to put things in order in all respects. If you give love to people, this does not mean that they listen to you at all.
In the book "The Highest Goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute” by Michael Ray, you will find answers to the most important questions that every person should know. In order to understand your highest goal, you need to be mentally prepared for this. You need to want to change and improve, you need to understand how the world works, its laws and rules.
In the book "The Highest Goal. The secret that supports you every minute ”Michael Ray presents simple tasks, after which you will find out what you really like in this life, what brings true happiness and pleasure. The exercises here are enough to achieve the main goal - to find out what is the meaning of life for you.
On our site about books, you can download the site for free without registration or read online book"The highest goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute” by Michael Ray in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and a real pleasure to read. Buy full version you can have our partner. Also, here you will find latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginner writers there is a separate section with useful tips and recommendations interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary skills.
Quotes from the book "The Highest Goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute.” Michael Ray
But the "path of the hero" has to go through more than once: so you went to school and started from scratch, then studied, overcoming difficulties, graduated from school and triumphed. And then they started again from scratch. So you continue your journey, passing the "path of the hero" and along the way acquiring new knowledge and finding your own "I".
Each of the stages presents its own gift: innocence deepens the lessons of previous trials and provides an opportunity to start anew. The call gives energy and makes you move. Initiation improves skills and deepens self-knowledge. Allies support. Breakthrough takes you to another world. And celebration gives rise to pleasure and strengthens the skills that will help in a new path.
Turn your life into a work of art!
In later years, I came to the conclusion that there are two approaches to life. The first, used by most, is the "children's coloring" path. You do what you are told. Walk along a well-trodden path. Act within the prescribed limits. And in the end you get a pretty, but ordinary picture. The second approach, which is chosen by a few, is the path of the artist: when they take a blank canvas and write a masterpiece. This path is more difficult, risky, uncertain and requires creativity. But this is the only way to make your life a work of art.
Do not compare yourself and your work with other people and their successes. Don't worry about the future and don't regret the past. Don't look for recognition or rewards. Work hard and push yourself to the limit for the sake of the work itself.
When you live from your heart, you realize that there is only one way to deal with a relationship problem and that is to see a higher power.
Many sages and creeds proclaim this truth. But it is not so easy to implement it. Relationships test us from time to time, sometimes several times a day. These tests appear in different form and for each in their own way.
Named the most creative person in Silicon Valley by Fast Company magazine, Michael Ray developed and taught Stanford's acclaimed "Creativity in Business" course for 25 years.
From the very beginning, Ray's course began to have a very strong effect on the graduates. It seemed that they had access to some secret source of energy and inspiration. Ray concluded that his classes helped students find their "higher purpose" - the power that gives real meaning to your life, which speaks to your deepest being.
Through this book, through practical exercises, stories and advice, Michael will help you find your higher purpose.
Foreword
On a warm September evening in 1982, I studied my class schedule for my second year MBA at Stanford. In addition to production strategy and corporate finance, there was a course called Creativity in Business. "That's an oxymoron," flashed through my head. I added this course at the very end to somehow balance the too dry analytical subjects.
And at 15:20 I leisurely entered the auditorium and sat down in an empty seat. While waiting for teachers Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers to start the seminar, my classmates and I talked to each other, talked about our summer work, exchanged opinions about the class schedule.
Nothing happened and we chatted some more. Still, the seminar did not start.
In the end, we realized that Michael and Rochelle were already in the audience, looking at us and waiting for something. The noise gradually died down as each group of students chatting one after another found teachers patiently waiting for us to pay attention to them. Finally, Rochelle Myers, a petite woman in long flowing robes with a large silver medallion on her chest, stood up and said in a barely audible, almost whispered voice, “Today you are embarking on a ten-week journey in search of your inner being.”
I immediately opened the general schedule to find a replacement for the course. My search was interrupted by Michael Ray, who offered us a meditation exercise. “Slowly take a deep breath,” Michael said. - Feel the energy arising in the toes of your right foot. Feel it rise up your leg. Focus all your attention on your right leg. Don't do anything, just feel your right leg…” It seemed to me that I made a big mistake.
That evening I told my wife Joanna that I had a great class schedule, "except for this course I'm about to quit." I told her about Rochelle in flowing robes and about Michael, who reminded me of Yogi Bear in a wrinkled professorial suit (later I found out that as a spiritual guide he really practices yoga), who teaches us to meditate. I majored in applied mathematics in college and later worked at McKinsey. I enjoyed (which I still feel) engaged in data analysis and theoretical development. And here is…
Joanna listened to my wailing, and then confidently said, “I think you will benefit from the Michael Ray course. Wait for him to refuse, maybe you like it?
She was right: I would not have reached such heights and my life would not have been so bright if not for this course. And I am not alone in this opinion. Not even a year goes by without one of the graduates noting how grateful he is to fate for having been able to take this course at one time. But then we did not know yet that we had already taken the first step in a life-long journey to finding our highest goal.
However, the experience was not easy for an insecure simpleton obsessed with data operations. “When will we get any technology for creativity or management methods for creating innovative products?” - I asked a couple of weeks after the start of the course. I longed for tools, technologies, methods - something practical and useful.
In response, Michael told a story about a businessman who came to the Master in search of enlightenment. They sat down to drink tea, and the businessman began to talk about his life: about problems and difficulties, about how he aspired to reach some heights, how he was looking for the right path, and meaning, and purpose, and ... and the Teacher remained silent and poured tea into his cup. It was already full, and the Teacher poured and poured, and already the tea overflowed, filled the saucer, then spilled onto the table and, finally, onto the man's knee.
"Hey! What are you doing?" the businessman shouted and jumped up, dusting off his trousers.
“Your cup is overflowing,” replied the Master. - You all add, add and add ... to your life. Until you empty the cup, you will not find a place for enlightenment in yourself.”
Michael and Rochelle explained that we are not on a “journey” for new skills and knowledge: its goal is to remove obstacles on the way creativity. They proceeded from the premise that there are no people who do not know how to create, but there are those whose talents have not yet been discovered. They wanted us to realize that each of us has our own treasure chest in the attic - with creativity - and we just need to do a thorough cleaning - remove all the rubbish that is littered with this chest in order to open it and look inside. The essence of the metaphor was the challenge to each of us: "Turn your life into a work of art!"
In later years, I came to the conclusion that there are two approaches to life. The first, used by most, is the "children's coloring" path. You do what you are told. Walk along a well-trodden path. Act within the prescribed limits. And in the end you get a pretty, but ordinary picture. The second approach, which is chosen by a few, is the path of the artist: when they take a blank canvas and write a masterpiece. This path is more difficult, risky, uncertain and requires creativity. But this is the only way to make your life a work of art. Creating a masterpiece requires non-standard solutions, searching for a starting point, a guiding thread in the absence of convenient contours and lines of a ready-made set. Such attitudes are the highest goal, and this book will tell you how to build your life with the help of Michael's discoveries.
When I attended the course in 1982, Professor Ray had not yet defined the ultimate goal. Yet the idea was everywhere, like an overarching concept, a hidden framework of creative experience. Now, twenty years later, Michael has pinpointed the metaconcept and describes it in detail in these pages.
At the center of the process is the idea of rules for every day. These are mantras that you not only repeat day after day, but also follow them for a while (usually a week or a little longer). At Stanford, the day-to-day prescriptions gave us a hard time: “If it doesn’t work out right away, don’t push yourself. Be careful! Ask stupid questions. Destroy judgment, create curiosity. Don't think about it. Be ordinary."
But most complicated rule was: "Do what is easy, what is effortless and brings joy." Unfortunately, we had to follow it during the mid-year exams, so we immediately had problems: “If you only do what is effortless and brings joy, you will have to skip the exams. How to complete this task without failing the rest of the subjects?
I decided to think of exams as climbing pitch four on Naked Edge in Eldorado Canyon. Naked Edge is one of the most beautiful peaks in all North America; it is ideal for climbing, except for the fourth pitch. Every time I climb the Naked Edge, I dread this part of the route. It is necessary to squeeze into a crack widening downwards and crawl along the overhanging wall, as if inside a bell, with your legs slipping, which is why you slide down every now and then, and your shoulders getting stuck in the narrow upper part of the fault. The unusual combination of claustrophobia and uncertainty is exacerbated by the fact that none of the protective devices are effective at this stage. (So if you fall out of the crevasse and lose some of your equipment, you will be flying downhill for a long time, breaking bones along the way.) Nevertheless, despite the highest difficulty of this stage of the route, I climbed the Naked Edge perhaps thirty times . Taken separately, the fourth rope is sheer hassle and tedious physical labor.
son-in-law in the context of this amazing place, on a wonderful day, with a good partner, and considering that climbing is my favorite sport, the fourth pitch brings true joy. I compared my exams with her and dealt with the problem.
Michael's concept of the highest goal develops this thought in depth and gives a philosophical answer to the question: “What in your life can be considered as the most difficult peak? What higher goal will you pursue so passionately that you will be able to find the strength to carry out the hard routine work necessary to complete your work?
The highest goal is the quintessence of the accumulated wisdom of the great teacher over the years, who, in his modesty, considers thousands of students to be his teachers. What I appreciate most about this book is its personal focus. Professor Ray speaks directly to each person, helping him to determine the highest goal of his own life and achieve it. It is very difficult: in order to reach its logical end, you will most likely have to seriously change your life. And for me, as well as for others, Michael and Rochelle helped to abandon the routine, the traditional path and pave my own path in life. I was then in my early twenties. With their help, I have found a path that combines passion (what I love to do), purpose (what I am sent to this earth to do), and economics (what I do for a living). In other words, I have found a path to my highest goal. Perhaps after reading this book, the same will happen to you.
Higher Goal - Michael Ray (download)
(introductory fragment of the book)
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THE HIGHEST GOAL
The Secret That Sustains You in Every Moment
Berrett Koehler Publishers
Published with permission from Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
© Michael Ray, 2004
© Translation into Russian, edition in Russian, design. LLC "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", 2014
All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use, without the written permission of the copyright owner.
Legal support of the publishing house is provided by the law firm "Vegas-Lex"
© Electronic version of the book prepared by Litres (www.litres.ru)
To my students and teachers:
May the flow of goodness never dry up
The real joy of life is to have a purpose, the importance of which you yourself understand ... to be natural and strong, and not one of a bunch of neurotics and whiners who complain that life does not care about their happiness.
Bernard Show
Joy is the highest goal.
Chinese proverb
Foreword
On a warm September evening in 1982, I studied my class schedule for my second year MBA at Stanford. In addition to production strategy and corporate finance, there was a course called Creativity in Business. "That's an oxymoron," flashed through my head. I added this course at the very end to somehow balance the too dry analytical subjects.
And at 15:20 I leisurely entered the auditorium and sat down in an empty seat. While waiting for teachers Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers to start the seminar, my classmates and I talked to each other, talked about our summer work, exchanged opinions about the class schedule.
Nothing happened and we chatted some more. Still, the seminar did not start.
In the end, we realized that Michael and Rochelle were already in the audience, looking at us and waiting for something. The noise gradually died down as each group of students chatting one after another found teachers patiently waiting for us to pay attention to them. Finally, Rochelle Myers, a petite woman in long flowing robes with a large silver medallion on her chest, stood up and said in a barely audible, almost whispered voice, “Today you are embarking on a ten-week journey in search of your inner being.”
I immediately opened the general schedule to find a replacement for the course. My search was interrupted by Michael Ray, who offered us a meditation exercise. “Slowly take a deep breath,” Michael said. – Feel the energy rising in the toes of your right foot. Feel it rise up your leg. Focus all your attention on your right leg. Don't do anything, just feel your right leg…” It seemed to me that I made a big mistake.
That evening I told my wife Joanna that I had a great class schedule, "except for this course I'm about to quit." I told her about Rochelle in flowing robes and about Michael, who reminded me of Yogi Bear in a wrinkled professorial suit (later I found out that as a spiritual guide he really practices yoga), who teaches us to meditate. I majored in applied mathematics in college and later worked at McKinsey. I enjoyed (which I still feel) engaged in data analysis and theoretical development. And here is…
Joanna listened to my wailing, and then confidently said, “I think you will benefit from the Michael Ray course. Wait for him to refuse, maybe you like it?
She was right: I would not have reached such heights and my life would not have been so bright if not for this course. And I am not alone in this opinion. Not even a year goes by without one of the graduates noting how grateful he is to fate for having been able to take this course at one time. But then we did not know yet that we had already taken the first step in a life-long journey to finding our highest goal.
However, the experience was not easy for an insecure simpleton obsessed with data operations. “When will we get any technology for creativity or management methods for creating innovative products?” – I asked a couple of weeks after the start of the course. I longed for tools, technologies, methods—something practical and useful.
In response, Michael told a story about a businessman who came to the Master in search of enlightenment. They sat down to drink tea, and the businessman began to talk about his life: about problems and difficulties, about how he aspired to reach some heights, how he was looking for the right path, and meaning, and purpose, and ... and the Teacher remained silent and poured tea into his cup. It was already full, and the Teacher poured and poured, and already the tea overflowed, filled the saucer, then spilled onto the table and, finally, onto the man's knee.
"Hey! What are you doing?" the businessman shouted and jumped up, dusting off his trousers.
“Your cup is overflowing,” the Master replied. “You keep adding and adding and adding… to your life. Until you empty the cup, you will not find a place for enlightenment in yourself.”
Michael and Rochelle explained that we are not on a “journey” for new skills and knowledge: its goal is to remove barriers to creativity. They proceeded from the premise that there are no people who do not know how to create, but there are those whose talents have not yet been discovered. They were trying to make us realize that each of us has a treasure chest in the attic - with creativity - and all we need to do is a thorough cleaning - remove all the rubbish that this chest is littered with in order to open it and look inside. The essence of the metaphor was the challenge to each of us: Turn your life into a work of art!»
In later years, I came to the conclusion that there are two approaches to life. The first, used by the majority, is the "children's coloring" path. You do what you are told. Walk along a well-trodden path. Act within the prescribed limits. And in the end you get a pretty, but ordinary picture. The second approach, which is chosen by a few, is the path of the artist: when they take a blank canvas and write a masterpiece. This path is more difficult, risky, uncertain and requires creativity. But this is the only way to make your life a work of art. Creating a masterpiece requires non-standard solutions, searching for a starting point, a guiding thread in the absence of convenient contours and lines of a ready-made set. Such attitudes are the highest goal, and this book will tell you how to build your life with the help of Michael's discoveries.
When I attended the course in 1982, Professor Ray had not yet defined the ultimate goal. Yet the idea was everywhere, like an overarching concept, a hidden framework of creative experience. Now, twenty years later, Michael has pinpointed the metaconcept and describes it in detail in these pages.
At the center of the process is the idea of rules for every day. These are mantras that you not only repeat day after day, but also follow them for a while (usually a week or a little longer). At Stanford, the day-to-day prescriptions gave us a hard time: “If it doesn’t work out right away, don’t push yourself. Be careful! Ask stupid questions. Destroy judgment, create curiosity. Don't think about it. Be ordinary."
What is this book about
"This is possibly the most important book you will ever read."
Feedback from one of Michael Ray's students
A book about how to find your highest purpose in life.
Named the most creative person in Silicon Valley by FastCompany magazine, Michael Ray developed and taught Stanford's acclaimed "Creativity in Business" course for 25 years.
From its inception, Ray's course began to have a very profound effect on the graduates. There was a feeling that they had access to some secret source of energy and inspiration. Ray concluded that his classes helped students find their "higher purpose" - the power that gives real meaning to your life, that speaks to your deepest being.
In this book, through practical exercises, stories, and advice, Michael will help you find your higher purpose.
From the foreword by Jim Collins
At 3:20 p.m., I leisurely entered the seminar room, found an empty seat, and waited for class to begin. As professors Michael Ray and Rachel Myers began to talk, classmates and I chatted, telling each other about our summer jobs and class schedules. Nothing happened, so we chatted some more. Still nothing happened. We eventually noticed that Michael and Rachel were sitting in front of us, waiting for something. Noise gradually
subsided, as each group of chatting students took turns noticing the teachers, who patiently waited for us to pay attention to them.
Finally, Rachel Myers - she was no more than five feet tall, in a long flowing robe, with a large silver medallion on her chest - stood up and said in a barely audible voice, almost in a whisper: "Today you are going on a ten-week journey in search of your inner being."
I immediately began flipping through the course catalog looking for a replacement. My search was interrupted by Michael Ray, who offered us a meditation exercise. "Slowly take a deep breath," Michael said. "Feel the energy in the toes of your right foot. Feel it move through your foot. Focus on your right foot. Don't do anything, just feel your right foot..." It suddenly seemed to me that I made a very grave mistake.
That evening I told my wife Joanna that I had a great class schedule, "except for this course I'm about to quit." I told her about Rachel and her flowing robes and about Michael, who reminded me of Yogi Bear in a wrinkled professorial suit (only later I found out that he really is a yogi, that is, a spiritual guide), leading meditation classes with us. I majored in applied mathematics in college and worked at the McKinsey Institute. I had (and still do) a passionate love for data-driven analysis and research.
Joanna listened and then simply said, "I think the Michael Ray course will really help you. Why don't you stay and see what happens?"
And it turned out this: I would not be where I am today, having lived the wonderful life given to me, if not for this course. And I'm not alone in this. Not a single year goes by that I don't stumble upon other graduates who feel the same way as I do and who are grateful to have taken this course early in their lives. Little did we know at the time that that experience would be the first step on a life-long journey toward the subject of this book: identifying and achieving our highest goal with courage and perseverance.
This is the secret of all people who live in creativity: it allows them to maintain inner balance and makes their life perfect and fulfilling.
We introduce listeners to people who have defined their highest goal. Among them are architects and artists, public figures and war heroes, academics, singers, composers and dancers, entrepreneurs and engineers, scientists, financiers, psychologists, politicians and monks. All of them achieved unprecedented success in their fields, made a name for themselves and made a fortune. Some founded new enterprises or had a huge impact on the development of American and world culture. Others have radically changed the way we work and are constantly in touch with our course participants.
At meetings within the framework of the Personal Creativity in Business course, they willingly talk about what helped them reach the top, describe the creative process and their experiences; talk about their work and what they see as the purpose of their existence.
Despite the crisis or the vicissitudes of love, they feel connected to something higher and realized - early in life or later - that this connection brings them closer to what they need. They are open to life and see it as an adventure. They are not stopped by media warnings, news of the approaching end of the world, obligations to family or friends, and even their own mental problems.
They consider each life situation and his potential role in it from a higher position. Don't rush anywhere. Concentrate all their attention. And new opportunities open up for them. They depend on a kind of grace that descends upon them, on the creative energy from this source.
This is the secret that this book reveals: the highest goal is always waiting for you beyond the traditional definitions of success.
A fundamentally new model of success
When my colleagues at Stanford and I developed the creative course, we saw it as an adjunct to other business courses. If our students were able to unleash their creativity, this, we believed, would help them to use the analytical knowledge gained in the study of other disciplines.
But gradually it became clear to us that all business courses actually promoted a lifestyle expressed by the unspoken assumption that financial success and the benefits that come with it is the main goal of every person. The premise of our course is very different: we wanted students to recognize their inner wisdom and power, their connection to everything on earth—an entirely different kind of success. Without realizing it, we offered not so much methodological program and new ways of doing business, how much a different perception of life.
Students who have unlocked their inner potential and defined their purpose for being have found that they can make a difference in the world. Graduates later told us how they built their lives based on this premise, how they went to achieve the goal, using the knowledge gained through our course. Here are some examples.
Denise Brosso built a career based on the conclusions she made about herself during her studies. She realized that, in fact, she is an intermediary. Co-founding the Women Entrepreneurs Foundation (WEF) shortly after graduating from Stanford in 1993, she has been a game changer in helping women entrepreneurs raise funds and build networking businesses. For example, the WFP conference alone generated $185 million in investment for 26 new businesses created by women.
Jeff Skoll, who took the course in 1995, believes that it was there that he learned to see his inner world. He made an impressive fortune on eBay, becoming one of the five richest people in the United States under the age of 40. He then founded the Skoll Foundation, "with the aim of providing investment to entrepreneurs, establishing connections between them and recognizing their merits."
Dominic Holder, Dean of the Sloan Program at the London Business School, has excelled in more than just business. He is also known as a teacher of Buddhism. In one of his recent books, Mindfulness and Money: The Buddhist Path of Abundance, he says that the course "opened the eyes of many students to spirituality in business."
