Learn to Ride a Bicycle

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="040f0f21egerdp.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="041203c0.jpg" border=0 width="32" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#66334C" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Magic of Reading</B></FONT><B>      |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Magic of Reading"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03ff2f02egerdp.jpg"> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14">    <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14">  <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14">    <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="34fadd00.gif" border=0 width="173" height="208" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="042f0f03.jpg"> <div> <I>Learn to Ride a Bicycle    </I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Here is a life lesson you can use over and over to provide clarity and purpose to every minute of every day of your life.  Dr. Davis has developed a remarkably clear and simple technique inspired by a passage in the self-improvement classic book </B><I><B>Psycho-Cybernetics</B></I><B> by Maxwell Maltz.  Imagine your day is like riding a bicycle.  Are you a smooth rider, or do you just stay in one spot trying to balance the bike without moving forward?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The solution to being a smooth rider is moving forward.  But how do you do it when you don't know where you want to go?</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Learn to Ride a Bicycle</B><FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B><IMG SRC="3c3cb0e0.gif" border=0 width="203" height="270" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="13" VSPACE="0"></B></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Getting along in life is not as difficult as you may     think.  There is a secret to it, a knack you must develop to fully flourish.  It is not complicated or esoteric.  It is actually simple and quite fun.  It is like riding a bicycle.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The idea comes from Maxwell Maltz's </B><I><B>Psycho-Cybernetics</B></I><B>.   Here is the advice Maltz gives to an advertising executive who no longer had a goal to pursue:  “Functionally, a man is somewhat like a bicycle.  A bicycle maintains its poise and equilibrium only so long as it is going forward towards something.  You have a good bicycle.  Your trouble is you are trying to maintain your balance while sitting still, with no place to go.  It's no wonder you feel shaky.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Maltz's prescription:  “Get yourself a goal worth working for.  Better still, get yourself a project.  Decide what you want out of a situation.  Always have something ahead of you to `look forward' to-to work for and hope for.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Here's a step-by-step process:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>1.  Decide to learn to ride your bicycle.  That is, decide you will find a project to immerse yourself in or a goal to move towards.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>2.  Prove the power of this technique simply by observing how you feel once you have a clear goal to achieve or project to do.  As soon as you make up your mind to do something, you likely will feel supercharged.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>3.  Complete the project.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Some projects can be completed in 10 minutes others may require a lifetime.   If it is a big goal you have in mind, like visiting 100 famous places before you die, break each of the 100 projects down into doable steps.  Obviously, focus most of your attention on completing activities related to the first place you will visit.  As long as you are clearly focused on completing your project, even a huge goal like this, you will find your bicycle is moving forward and is not shaky.   If you are not used to setting goals and completing projects, why not begin with things that can be quickly and fairly easily done.  Choose something likely to work if you stick with it.  As you become more proficient, you naturally will develop more challenging goals and projects.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>4.  After you have worked with clarity and vigor for several weeks on project completion, assess your mental state.  How is your bicycle?  Are things better or worse than they were before?  You always have the option of going back to the way you were, balancing precariously on your stationary bicycle!  Or, you can resume the exciting process of riding your bike, traveling cross country, going somewhere.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>5.  Continue to establish and complete projects.  Enjoy the process of being fully engaged in life.  Be truly thankful for the day you found this technique, this way to go.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>End</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Projects Dr. Davis is working on currently or has completed within the past year:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </B><B>Learn Spanish-a big project! </B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </B><B>Practice keyboard, guitar, harmonica:  Each instrument takes 30 min a day for fast  progress.</B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </B><B>Establish Ben Franklin University and post on internet</B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  Plan, market and do a 20-week 12-state travel schedule performing as Ben Franklin. </B><B> </B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  Plant a vegetable garden</B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  Golf several times a week, shoot regularly in the 70s</B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  Various daily exercise projects including:  Treadmill, Yoga, 8 Minute Wonder</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     These projects make a life.  Indeed, they are the spice of life!</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id127.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ben Franklin University"><U><B>Ben Franklin University</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>