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Shift the Dial

 Every January I start the year with motivation to achieve what I want to achieve. I have half a dozen or so books I reread every January. 

In 2024 my motivational mantra is shift the dial. Shift the dial towards success. Shift the dial for leadership. Shift the dial for artistic output. Shift the dial for spiritual growth. 

All of us above the age of 40 remember having to tune the radio or tv into a station. That is why I am using the image of a dial to motivate myself this year. 

I get to choose where I place the dial for any given goal. I know I can turn the dial up to 10 for my acting, keep it nice and central for my spiritual growth, and shift it as needed when I need to take the lead. 

To help me calibrate my new dial, I have been using Ryan Holiday's books The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, and Stillness is the Key. 

To overcome obstacles takes perception, action, and will; so you can understand when an obstacle is an obstacle. 

In our modern world it is hard to escape the desire for attention. Social ego is a bad thing but that is not to be confused with psychological ego which is normal and healthy. Social media needs likes, you don’t. 

To really shift the dial towards success you need to understand that stillness is the key. Being able to be still on the inside while active on the outside is the great masters of history's superpower. I have been meditating since I was thirteen to mixed success but thanks to the Covid 19 pandemic I believe I have cracked a formula that works for me. 

What I do now is visualise myself exhibiting monk like calm. What would I talk like? How would I sit? How would I move? And then when I take it a step further I even imagine my breathing and heart rate staying the same when I’m confronted with a crisis. 

This year I am determined to shift the dial and be a person that is brilliant in a crisis. Be the person that goes towards the danger to protect people more vulnerable than me. 

I am committed to turning the obstacle upside down, taking the middle way in terms of ego, and being the calm general in a crisis because stillness is the key  



The Key Way


There are days when life is flowing like liquid sun and others when it feels like you’re stuck in clay;

This is when you must embrace hardship and obstacle and kill the ego, this is the key way.

Sometimes you will learn wisdom in a cave or undergo a stoic trial;

Perception, action, and will is what helps you shift the dial.


Toxic ego is what must die;

Put them before I.

Many people say standing still is laziness but in truth it clears the vision of the mess.

My disability has taught me lessons that’s for sure often in ways I wasn’t looking for.


Every year I turn the dial back to zero; 

Ready for where life might go .

There are days when life is flowing like liquid sun and others when it feels like you’re stuck in clay;

This is when you must embrace hardship and obstacle and kill the ego, this is the key way.





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