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Harness the power of the Gaze to achieve your goals

We are powerful entities. The only problem is that sometimes it is hard to utilize that power in order to achieve goals. We lead such busy lives and it seems that every new invention that is supposed to make life easier just ends of sucking up more of our time. We have goals that are sometimes simple and easily achievable and other times very lofty and require a tremendous amount of energy to attain. There is a way to achieve our goals with greater ease but it requires using more energy than we normally have access to. What I am talking about is using the Gaze in order to harness energy and attain goals. What is the Gaze? The Gaze is a mixture of the focus, attention, intent, interest, and willingness to participate of a sentient being or group of beings. An example of the Gaze is when someone wants to do something like creating a mural in a city, let’s call him Joe. So creating the mural in the city would be the goal. And Joe desiring to create the mural would Gaze at the goal of the mural by putting his intent and energy into creating the mural. But that is the Gaze of only one person. Let’s say that Joe had thirty friends and acquaintances some of them were interested in art. Well at that moment the Gaze of those friends and acquaintances would be unfocused and the energy intensity would be minimal. The people are probably talking to each other about their plans for the weekend, what they ate for dinner, their favorite movies, they aren’t looking at his Mural Project. They just aren’t focused on the Mural Project. So what Joe needs to do is focus and center the Gaze of his friends and acquaintances. One way that he could chose to do this would be to create some kind of event where people could meet and work on the mural and have a fun time in the process. Let’s say he chose to advertise this event on Facebook and invite his friends as guests to work on the mural. This is a great way to attract the Gaze of his friends and focus it on his mural. But for some reason when the day finally came not many people showed up to work on Joe’s mural. Why did that happen? Everything seemed to be working so well. In the next section we will discuss how the Gaze wasn’t actually as strong as he thought it was.

The Gaze is like a beam of light. It can be warm and soft like the light that cracks through the trees while you are sleeping on the grass on a summer’s day. Or it can be thin and focused like a laser beam that can slice through diamonds and solder neurons together. But in order to have a laser-beam like Gaze it takes work. In our example with Joe’s mural. He tried to focus the Gaze of his friends on his goal in order to make it a reality, but he was missing a few things. First of all, the Gaze and reputation are inseparable. Reputation is huge in trying to gain the attention of people. If people are generally dismissive of you, it will be very challenging to get their serious attention on your goals. And why do we need the Gaze of other people to help us achieve our personal goals? The answer is simple, the more powerful the Gaze is on you the faster you will see results for your objectives. Now granted, this may not always be a good thing. In many cases you may find that the Gaze can cause problems for you if you are trying to do covert things in secrecy. Or if you have a tendency to self-sabotage then the Gaze of others may be frustrating because you don’t actually want their help. But if you are living a generally transparent lifestyle and you don’t mind being public with your desires and your life, you will find that an intense Gaze can be extremely encouraging and empowering. This is because if you are like Joe, and you want to do something that requires the work of multiple people like his mural, if you can attract their interest quickly you will increase the probability that the mural will be a success. But in Joe’s case, he didn’t have that great of a reputation of getting things done. In fact, most of his friends thought of him to be a flake. So when he created his mural event, many of his friends thought that the event would be boring and non-fun. Others doubted that the event would exist at all. And other friends thought that they would be stuck with all the work. So this brings me to an important point. The Gaze is powered by reputation and relevance. And powering the battery that is creating that beam of energy takes work. Building a reputation is a series of tiny successes that get people to know something about you. In Joe’s case, since you can’t build a reputation over night, he would probably have to create his mural event and make triple-sure that the few people that did actually come to the event were well taken care of. He would need to make sure that from now on, his ideas were going to be something for his friends to remember and something that people were, “Missing out on” if they weren’t there.

An example of someone who has the Gaze shining on them intently right now would be the superstar known as Lady Gaga. She is a Pop Singer and Dancer and Songwriter who I’ve noticed is all over XM radio. I was in the car with a friend and literally every 3-5 songs that we skipped through on the different channels were a Lady Gaga song. Lady Gaga is having her songs covered by many artists. Jared Leto’s band recently did a cover of “Bad Romance” and some kid in grade school is getting hundreds of thousands of hits on his YouTube video of his cover of “Paparazzi.” Basically, people are focused on Lady Gaga right now. They are listening to her music and emulating her. Some people are even inspired by her fashion sense. Well in order for Lada Gaga to have attracted the Gaze of so many people she worked very hard on cultivating her image and her sound. Lady Gaga didn’t always wear such unique outfits as she does now. In fact I have seen pictures that you can look at as well by clicking here, that show her old style. The reason why I am bringing this up is because it takes a great deal of work to find out what your niche style should be that will attract the Gaze that you want in order to achieve your goals. In the next section we will be discussing how to build the Gaze.

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The way to attract the Gaze onto yourself is to work at it every day. It doesn’t matter if you want the attention on helping baby seals in the ocean, or if you are trying to be the next pop star sensation, or if you are simply trying to make more friends and have an exciting life. If you don’t work at it every day, you will be missing out on building your momentum. And momentum is a key element of the Gaze. I’m tired of talking about Joe so now I’m going to tell you a little about myself and this website and how I’ve used the gaze in order to make it grow. You see, in the beginning, overidon.com was a very small and infrequently visited website. It had some numerous and interesting videos and articles on it, but at the time in 2004 I had no real goal or idea how to attract attention to the site. So I told people via word of mouth about the site and what it was about. This was a great start, but the problem was that I only rarely updated the materials on the site, and it looked like a static web-page rather than a living website. Well, overidon.com went through many changed and then eventually in 2009 I decided to transform overidon.com from a blog talking about my current projects, into a living and breathing blog that discussed everything from video games, to movie reviews, to music reviews, to product reviews, to social commentary, and contemplations and observations of the many facets of life in general. So I blogged almost every day about stuff, and I would post links to my articles on my Facebook wall. So friends who were keeping tabs on their activity stream may have a small probability chance to see my posts. Well guess what happened? Not that many people visited my site. Now, this wasn’t because my articles weren’t good, or because telling people about the articles on Facebook was a bad idea. I wasn’t getting a lot of hits because of an important aspect of the Gaze.

There is a time differential when you do something to attract the Gaze and when you actually get the attention of people. This time differential can be frustrating at first. We all would prefer to see instantaneous results for the work that we put into things. But what happened in the case of overidon.com, was that it took time for my articles to show up in Google searches. And it also took time for people to see enough of my articles on their Facebook activity streams for them to actually decide to click on a link and read an article. Well, what happened was that after a few weeks I was noticing that more people were visiting my website. And my goal was to have overidon.com become a fun website that people would want to visit often. But one problem happened. I didn’t always have something to talk about everyday. Or even worse, I didn’t always have the motivation to write every day. This problem got even worse a few months later when I got pancreatitis. I was unable to blog because I was sick, and when I finally got out of the hospital I lost a tremendous amount of momentum. To make things worse, I looked at the visitor statistics for the site and there were a lot less visitors. Well, a few weeks later I decided to start blogging again. And I made a pact with myself to try and blog every day. I didn’t succeed in blogging every day at first. But I was writing much more frequently than before. And to my surprise many more people started visiting the site. It was very encouraging, so instead of taking a break and relishing my victory, I decided to blog even more in order to satiate the desire of my readers. And what happened was that more and more people started to visit the site. Since there were more articles, more visitors were finding overidon.com from organic searches. And since I was writing almost every day, more people were coming back to visit the site because it was beginning to have a reputation of having consistent content. Now according to Google Analytics, overidon.com has grown from a small blog, to a medium sized website. This is because I was able to successfully harness the Gaze. So I have used the Gaze to encourage me to write every day in actuality, many days multiple articles. And now we even have a comedy series of stories in the “Original Writing” section. So the Gaze has become fuel in itself rather than a goal. And by providing content that I feel proud of, I have been able to maintain the Gaze of many visitors to overidon.com. So now that I have reached my original goal of having overidon.com become a popular website for people to visit. I have modified that goal, so now I want overidon.com to be a fun website to visit for thousands of people per day. And in order for overidon.com to reach that goal, I am going to need to make sure to create new and interesting content every day in order to maintain the attention of visitors and to attract new friends who will make the viewership grow.

So now you may be thinking, “How can I get the Gaze to work for me?” And my answer is, “You need to work for the Gaze, every day, and believe in what you are doing.” If you can feel good about what you are doing, let it be art, writing, music, engineering, sales, social networking or anything else…and if you can work on it every day. You will attract the Gaze, it just may take a while. The key is to enjoy the process of your work and let other people know that you are having a good time working on either your hobbies or your work. If people know that you are having a good time, people will become more interested in what you are doing. It really is that simple. If your hobbies are a chore to you, don’t expect people to jump on their couches in anticipation for your next story of monotony. But once you get into a good groove, and you feel comfortable working on your hobbies and goals every day, and you share your life with others. People will start to care, and your friends will encourage you, especially if they truly are good friends. One thing to remember, is that many people will think they are giving you the, “Realistic” point of view by discouraging you from your dreams and goals. It really isn’t their fault that people do that. So don’t take it too seriously. People can be negative about lofty goals in general because so many people don’t follow through on them. But the key is to choose an objective and stick to it. Don’t do it because you want to prove others wrong. That’s a weak point of view and it won’t sustain you in the long run. Follow your dreams because you want to prove yourself right. Do it because you want to improve your life. And if you stick to that you will eventually attract the Gaze of many supporters and people who want to see your goals become a reality.

-Tyler

Delicious Foam from Starbucks

I love silky foam. The kind of foam that tastes sweet because the bubbles are steamed to perfection. I like it when the bubbles are small and the foam is thick, and it gets on my nose when I take the lid off and try and drink it. Well, today I got some amazingly silky foam from Starbucks from the barista, CODENAME: BIGGY T.  He made me a caramel macchiato that was the perfect temperature, and it had delicious foam. The picture to the left is a picture of that very drink. Now you may have read my previous article about Starbucks foam. In that article I talk about how Starbucks baristas often take shortcuts on making their foam and re-use their milk steaming containers without cleaning them, and so oftentimes their foam comes out with big bubbles. Well the Starbucks near where I live, in Corona del Mar is a real exception. They almost always make great foam that rivals the foam I get from Peet’s Coffee. Also if you notice the drink above, BIGGY T made a cool design with the caramel sauce. He was able to make that design with the milk thermometer.

Now the reason why I am writing this article is because there is a way to signal to your barista that you want good foam. And the keyword is “Silky.” If you say you want a latte with “Silky” foam, most baristas will get the hint that you want actually good foam instead of re-steamed garbage. So they will probably take the time to clean out their milk steaming container and will make you some good foam. If you barista you are talking to doesn’t know what silky foam is, then you are probably not going to get very good foam. If they ask you what silky foam is, and they look like they actually care about making you a good drink then simply tell them that you want thick foam with small bubbles. If they don’t know how to do that, then you are pretty much out of luck. You see, you won’t always get a good barista like BIGGY T. you might get some kind of nooblet of a barista who is making lattes and caramel macchiatos like they are cookie cutter beverages that don’t need love to be created.

Tyler with a Caramel Macchiato (CMAC)

So once you have your latte or caramel macchiato that has silky and delicious foam. Try sipping the foam with the lid off. If you start drinking it right away with the lid on, the foam will eventually start to pop and turn back into liquid form. And you won’t be able to taste the thick foamy goodness in its intended form. So have fun and slurp up some of that foam with the lid off. Savor it, enjoy it. Something interesting to know is that something special happens to milk when it is steamed. It seems that some of the bonds keeping the lactose molecules together in milk break when it is steamed and heated, so then the sugars inside milk really get to come to the surface. That’s why milk tastes sweeter when it is steamed as opposed to when it is cold. That is also a reason why lattes are so addicting. Not only do they have the caffeine, which is addictive, but they also have natural sugars which is very addictive. So lattes and caramel macchiatos are very addictive drinks. But really, what isn’t addictive anymore? It seems like everything that is fun and tasty in this world is either addictive or can kill you some how. So I say try and enjoy yourself and use a little moderation every now and then.

-Tyler

Turkey Cheese Fries

What do you want? Ok, the first things that may pop into mind are: money, sex, immortality, health, love, respect, accomplishment, tranquility…but those things are more like goals than wants. When you really think about it, those things are fleeting, like memories from long ago. Let’s say you want money, and then you get it…there’s only a few things that can happen next. You either want more money. You spend your money. Or else you sit on your money and are satisfied. Sex is great but once you have it you pretty much need to wait to recharge for a while depending on your physical and emotional endurance. Health is cool but most fun things in life either slowly or quickly kill you. Respect is only fun as long as you get it before people start expecting results in exchange for their respect. Then you need to do things in real life in order to maintain or grow that respect. Accomplishment feels great and does wonders for your reputation and self-esteem not to mention that it can possibly boost your financial success. The only problem is that attaining accomplishment oftentimes takes a great deal of work. And you will probably have to forgo on the other items mentioned above in order to accomplish things. And tranquility is very nice but after a while you will start to feel either bored or unworthy. It is only a matter of time before tranquility bends before the pull of chaos in your own mind as well as in nature. The still ocean will always ripple once the volcano erupts. So if what we usually think of as our wants are actually just goals and fleeting ones that that, then what do we want?

We want to create. This may seem strange because you might be reading this right now and be thinking to yourself, “I’m not very creative…but my cousin is.” Or else, “I haven’t felt creative for a long time. I know what I really want.” Do you remember creating something? It can be anything really. It could be a sandcastle with your mother or brother years ago. As the ocean came and wet the sand, you used the wet sand as the base material for your castle. Then you scooped up dry sand and sprinkled it atop your creation in order to make it stay in a more permanent shape…only to watch it disappear under the tide. Eroded away by the very waters that held your creation together. But in that moment when you were creating your vision, you were doing what you wanted to do. And it probably didn’t feel amazingly overwhelmingly pleasurable. And it didn’t feel bad either. Making it felt pretty good, and the small amount of pleasure you gained from making progress toward your vision sustained you like a small meal and water. And it gave you the strength and endurance to create more. Because in that series of connected, seamless moments, you had a clear yet formless and sublime purpose. And with that sense of purpose you worked as if your work had meaning. Thus making it so it didn’t really feel like you were working at all, despite the sweat on your brow and sand in your nails.

Creation is what makes human beings, human beings. Without the ability to create, we would be something less than human. Creation is something that can bring those other goals that we mentioned earlier into fruition easily. If you can create often, people will think of you differently than your less creative peers and you will notice that more opportunities will come your way. When you have a taste of creativity you may notice that you actually feel different. Being creative feels different from being non-creative, it’s really that simple. And being creative actually feels better than how you feel when you are non-creative. So if that’s true than why don’t we try and feel creative and create all the time? The reason for this is because creativity is a skill, not an emotion or state of mind. People may try and convince you that creativity is a gift that SOME people have, but they say those things because they truly don’t understand what they’re talking about and they want to maintain their level of prestige and/or respect so they say some people who are creative are “gifted.” What is really going on is that creativity is something that you experience when you are very young because you are excited by the world and your inexperienced sense organs. Then some people consciously make the decision when they get older to either explore their creativity and hone it, or else to work on other things. It really doesn’t get any simpler than that. Creativity may seem like a spark of divine inspiration, but what it really is, is a catalyst that can either start a chain reaction of movement that expresses some part or perhaps even your entire being. Or else it is a catalyst that is blocked by desires.

Now you may be thinking, “Wait isn’t wanting to create a desire? So wouldn’t I want to desire to be creative?” Well, in short, no. Creativity is not a desire. The act of creation is motion. You don’t think about it or desire it. You simply act and do it. You put the pen to paper and begin writing. You turn on the computer and begin typing. You pull out the pencil and begin drawing. You put on your shoes and begin walking. You step into the water and begin swimming. You put on whatever clothing or outfit you need in order to set your mind in motion. It isn’t a desire. It is more like a choice. It is like choosing between being a powerful person or a weak one. Who really wants to be a weak person? Nobody really. But the difference is that a weak person doesn’t know how to become powerful. And a powerful person makes a choice not to be any other kind of person.

When I started this website in its original form all I knew was that I wanted to do one thing: disseminate information. I didn’t really know or care about what information it was going to be at the time. All I knew what that I wanted to do it. I felt that I had something to share. Looking back the decision I made to create this website and share information was one of the utmost best decisions I have ever made in my entire life. Why? Because sharing information has been a vehicle for my creativity to grow and connect with other people. And out of those connections, I’ve been able to find the glass of water and piece of bread that I have needed, in order to stay creative. If it wasn’t for every single visitor and viewer on this website, I would not feel as creative and pumped on life as I do today. And for that I thank you and every visitor that has come before you. Because you are the reason why I create, which is invariably the reason why I choose to exist.

-Tyler