C H A P T E R  2
Unfolding Full Potential -- and Using
it
It's 8:30 a.m. and the phones are ringing off the hook on the seventh
floor of the World Financial Center in Manhattan. What do you think?
What do you think? What do you think? What do you think?
"That's what I hear all day long," says Walter Zimmermann,
first Vice President at Lehmann Bros. "Customers want to know what
you think. There's a lot at stake. If you're wrong, they can lose a lot
of money. And if you're right, they love you for it."
Mr. Zimmermann works in Lehmann's Global Energy Department. For him each
work day actually starts the night before when he develops an "outlook"
for the next day. Where does he think any rally will fail? Where does he
think any decline will stop? Does he think it will be an uptrend or a downtrend,
or does he expect a "congestion" day? On that basis he decides:
"How bullish am I? What's the best way of taking advantage of that
up move? Should I stay with what I have? Should I add on? Should I reverse
my position?"
Mr. Zimmermann must develop an outlook for each hour, each day, each
week, each month, and each quarter. Most of the people he deals with are
short-term traders. They rarely hold anything for more than a week. They
need to know from Mr. Zimmermann at each moment during the day, "Is
this still your outlook? What do you think?"
Mr. Zimmermann has been practicing Transcendental Meditation for 23 years.
"My kind of work requires a unique combination of analytical skills
and intuitive clarity. My tool is not the price charts or the news wires.
My tool is the clarity of my awareness, with which I can pick up on things
sooner than other people. I'm competing with some of the best minds out
there. Everybody has the same information; everybody can look at the same
price charts; everybody reads the same newspapers. But success comes to
the person whose awareness can penetrate more deeply and, at the same time,
be more sensitive to the onset of trend changes. If you haven't developed
that kind of awareness, you're going to get crushed by the oil markets.
"Unfolding your mental potential is not simply time well spent;
it's absolutely necessary if you're going to succeed. Transcendental Meditation
gives me the clarity of mind and inner calm that does not get overshadowed
or shaken by the high level of emotions and tension and anxiety that characterize
this kind of work place."
Mr. Zimmermann started out with E.F. Hutton in Manhattan in 1984. The
company was bought out by Shearson and has gone through several name changes
to its current name, Lehmann Bros. Mr. Zimmermann has been highly successful
through it all.
"This is a very stressful work environment. The petroleum market
is the most volatile market out there, by a wide margin, and that volatility
takes its toll. Normally you just don't last as long as I have. The people
I started off with have burned out and gone on to other things. I attribute
my endurance to Transcendental Meditation. Endurance has its advantages.
If you endure, you remember things that other people weren't there to experience.
You gather wisdom. If you've 'seen it all,' you basically know how to deal
with it all.
"If someone asks me about Transcendental Meditation, I ask them,
'How valuable is mental clarity to you? How valuable are insight and innovation
to you? How valuable is it for you to be able to see what other people don't
see? If that's of value to you, then Transcendental Meditation is something
you can do to get as much clarity and insight as you require.' "
Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation is not just a technique to reduce
stress. It is much more than that. It is a practical, effective procedure
for developing consciousness -- for unfolding your full mental potential
and using it in daily life.
Is There Time?
We have to be practical when it comes to time. Every day there are pressures,
deadlines, and responsibilities to meet. There's a business deal to close,
children to send off to school, a term paper to write. And tomorrow will
probably be even busier.
So is it practical to take time to consider developing mental potential
-- much less do something about it -- when there's so much to accomplish
with so little time?
Perhaps intuitively we've always known that we weren't using our full
potential in life, but due to the pressing demands on our time and energy
today, we've had to put these considerations off until tomorrow -- or to
a distant future.
Is this being practical? Hardly.
If There's a Choice
Psychologists and psychiatrists estimate that we use between 5% and 10%
of our mental potential. And there are days when even that figure may seem
generous.
If you had a choice, wouldn't you prefer being able to draw upon more
of your creativity and intelligence to resolve a problem at work, or organize
your household, or take a test at school?
What could be more practical than having a clear, organized mind; or
the ability to learn quickly and remember things accurately; or the capacity
for broad comprehension along with the ability to focus sharply, for long
periods of time?
Nothing could be more practical, and therefore nothing is more important
than developing full mental potential -- and using it.
How do you unfold mental potential through Transcendental Meditation?
Quite naturally. You simply gain access to the unlimited reservoir of
energy, creativity, and intelligence that is located at the most settled,
silent, fully awake level of your mind -- the source of thought.
To understand how this is possible and to see how simple and natural
it is, first we'll start with a few common experiences in daily life.
Excited Mind/Settled Mind
Two business professionals are reviewing the draft of a transaction over
lunch at a crowded restaurant.
A high school student is working on a calculus problem with the television
on.
Neither the business professionals nor the student are finding much success.
Why? There is too much noise. Where there is more noise, there is more confusion.
Where there is more silence, there is more order, more intelligence.
So the business professionals meet later in a quiet conference room to
complete the details of the transaction, and the student goes to his room
to study.
Whenever we have something important to do, like study for a class or
work out a business deal, or whenever we have something important to say,
like a heart-to-heart talk with a family member or a close friend, we try
to find a quiet place. Because when the mind is allowed to settle down,
it naturally gains in clarity, comprehension, and decisiveness.
The Purpose of Transcendental
Meditation
What is the purpose of Transcendental Meditation? Just this: Because
of the constant demands on your time and energy, it's not often that you
can get away to a quiet place for a long period of time. And even if you're
able to get away, then because of the build-up of stress and tension, it
can take a long while before your mind really begins to settle down.
What you need is a way to develop the ability for your mind to always
remain clear and settled, a way to use the full potential of your mind at
all times -- even in the midst of the most hectic activity.
That's the purpose of Transcendental Meditation. It's a simple technique
that allows the active mind to settle down -- and continue settling down
-- until it reaches its own perfectly calm, collected state, where the body
is deeply rested and the mind is silent, unbounded, and fully awake.
Transcendental Meditation is also very practical. It can be practiced
anywhere at any time. Whether it's been an intense day at work or school,
or a lazy Sunday, whether you're just home from an all-day downtown business
meeting or a weekend boating trip, you can practice Transcendental Meditation
and benefit from this settled state of awareness.
And exactly what is this most settled state?
It's the full potential of consciousness -- a silent reservoir of unlimited
creativity and intelligence found deep within your mind. And this reservoir,
as we'll see later, is the same as the source of unlimited creativity and
intelligence found deep within nature itself.
Dr. Christopher Hegarty is a management consultant,
who speaks at more than 100 business conferences a year, on developing
the fundamentals of competence. His client list includes chief executives
at IBM, AT&T, Blue Cross, Xerox, and the United Airlines Pilots Association.
He has been practicing Transcendental Meditation for over 20 years.
"The world is changing so fast, with so much new information to
process, that to survive in business today -- much less succeed -- demands
an optimal level of mental competence," says Dr. Hegarty.
"I consider Transcendental Meditation to be the single most effective
technique available for developing this inner potential. Transcendental
Meditation removes the stress and 'debris' from your mind and nervous system.
It gives you access to your own deepest resources -- what I have experienced
to be a limitless source of energy and intelligence."
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