I woke up at 5:00 this morning and during my regular ‘meditation’ session, which is really my daily quite time.  I typically wake up before the rest of the house stirs and drift in and out of mediation and half sleep.  Of course thoughts roll in and out of my stilled mind like the morning tide, and sometimes like a raging sea.

I liken my morning quite times to Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein or Henry Ford who were known to sit in a quite empty room with a blank sheet of paper waiting for a great thought or a universal download, except my blank sheet of paper is my mind.

Well, through this mornings’ stillness came a rolling tide with a thought attached - ‘seize the moment’.  As I lay quietly allowing this thought to sprout wings and fly, I became fascinated by the magnitude and simplicity of this concept, so instead of pushing it aside and attempting to meditate further or hopping into the shower as I love to do first thing, I seized the opportunity to capture these thoughts immediately and share them with you.

What I love about writing is that I only ever have a vague sense of what I want to express, and it’s only as I write these thoughts out that just like magic, I actually get to really see them for the very first time.

As I think back to the ebb and flow of this thought, my friend Kirk’s, words of wisdom kept popping up in my mind, ‘seize the moment and you will seize the day’. Mmmm. Before you move on from this thought, allow it to roll around in your head for a few moments, let your mind ruminate on it before jumping to any conclusions or dismissing the thought to a distant un-used corner of your memory chip.

Let’s ponder it together; ‘seize the moment and you will seize the day’. What could it possibly mean? Well, if I ask myself the difference between an Apprentice and a Master, would it not simply be how many moments they have seized and dedicated to the given task?

When I watch my son Calvin in Tae Kwon Do, (he is one belt off his black belt, said the proud father), he simply dedicates moment after moment in the pursuit of perfect form, then as the moments compound, suddenly he experiences a level of mastery that few ever get to realize.

So is it true then, that when we dedicate enough moments to anything, a new language, a degree, a sport, our physical body, even a love-filled relationship, we will ultimately discover a new level of mastery?

Why is it then that so many never experience the succulent reward of mastery? Is it that they feel awkward and clumsy when starting out, or is it that our world is so full of distractions that we simply have no time to focus? Or is it that the task seems so large and requiring so much effort that it is hardly worth the effort? After all, how do you eat an Elephant ‘one bite at a time’?

One of my big lessons in life is to be more patient and kinder to myself when I am attempting something new.  I like to think that I have learnt to allow myself the ‘pain of growing’ or as my friend Renate says, “The only way to it, is through it”.  And I am sure that each of us can think back to a time where we traveled well and truly ‘through it’.

I love the saying “Every Master was once a disaster”, because as I look back over anything I have mastered I can remember clearly the disaster stage.  When I got my pilots license for example, I remember struggling and sweating and sometimes saying a colorful word or two as I attempted to land my Cessna.  Luckily the disaster stage moved aside and left room for mastery, even if the rare fleeting thought of ‘I will never be able to do this’ loomed in view every time I approached the runway.

Another great example is the first time I taught Accelerated Learning.  I was at my friend’s, Mike and Rob’s Chiropractic office and I had invited about 20 people give or take one or two.  I had a video camera at the back so that I could send an audition tape to Peak Potentials which added to the stomach churning fear that I felt.  Accelerated Learning, which was taught to me by Sarah Singer (she is amazing), calls for massive audience participation and for me to manage the energy of the room, (and because it was for Peak Potentials), I was attempting to use their style, or at least my interpretation of their style.

As you may imagine I was ‘way’ over the top, forcing my will on the poor unsuspecting audience, making them repeat almost every word, not just repeat it, but repeat it at a volume that was quite a few decibels louder than anything close to  necessary.  I was clumsy, disconnected and consumed by the fear of missing something or making a mistake.  In fact, I was so self-absorbed that I never really noticed the audience at all.  Honestly, if I had noticed them, it may have been even more terrifying than it was already proving to be.

Here is where the real miracle takes place. In fact, I even came up with my own quote….”The Miracle is in the Action”. D. Wood.

Every one should be the author of a quote. It only takes a moment, seize it.

I never quit, I simply kept taking action and each time I did I learned something.   Sometimes things went wrong in which case I learned a lot, however I kept seizing the moment, kept being kind to myself, kept taking action, and I kept expecting the unexpected.

My first time as an Assistant Trainer on a Peaks stage in front of 1,500 people in Denver, during a written exercise with Baroque playing, I sat on a high bar stool on stage.  As I sat on it, its legs fell off the back of the stage and I disappeared through the curtains, almost knocking myself unconscious against the wall.  I knocked the wind out of my body, had no idea what was happening, the noise that came through the microphone must have sounded more like a caged animal than a trainer.  As I struggled back through the curtains, head spinning, disoriented and winded, I noticed that half the audience was mouth opened aghast in deep concern, while the rest were holding the bellies laughing.  

During my first time as a Lead Trainer in New Jersey in front of 1,600 people, my jacket caught fire on the stage and we had a power outage.  Then there was the time I was thrown out of the hotel with all 200 of my audience.

Many thousands of focused moments later, I am totally at home on stage and have reached a level of mastery to the point where I have become a Trainer of Trainers, and I now look back and realize that my ‘disaster’ stage holds some of my fondest memories and funniest stories.

It came down to my courage to seize that first moment, stumble and fall, then seize another moment and another and another and another.  Not concerned about what the outcome may be and not focused on what may go wrong, just focused on the moment at hand, seizing it with both hands and living it fully.  As I said, every master was once a disaster and imperfect action is better than no action.

David Wood has dedicated his life to training others to achieve success in their lives. Passionate about Personal Development and helping people grow from the inside-out, David inspires people to break thru their fear, embrace change and live in their higher selves. Visit davidtraining.com to learn more about his CD Audio training products, live seminars and events, his free weekly audio message, and much more.

After three years of working closely with T. Harv Eker and Peak Potentials, David Wood is now Senior Vice President and Chief Training officer with Isagenix^® International, the world leader in nutritional cleansing which offers the vehicle to abundant health and financial freedom so many people are seeking. He is committed life partner to Michelle Dohaney and proud father of two boys Calvin and Ben.