"This is probably the most important book you will ever read"

One of Michael Ray's students

You achieve something, conquer certain peaks, looking back with a sense of pride. Victory screams with happiness under your feet. Here it is - the dream, the goal of your whole life. Now you can die in peace. But how long will this continue? Perhaps tomorrow you will think "It was such a trifle" or "Why did I do this." What's the catch? Why do dreams turn into shameful mistakes, and ideals into caricatures? Perhaps it was an ordinary desire, in its prosaic nature too reminiscent of some kind of mediocrity? It was not the highest goal of your life at all. Forget about her forever. Find a higher goal, define it. Understand what it is worth living for, in the name of what every moment lasts. The answer to questions about the search for the main goal of one's life is given by an outstanding scientific psychologist and author of several bestsellers - Michael Ray. His book is called The Highest Goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute."

About the book “The Highest Goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute”

It tells how to find that very elusive, sometimes illusory, higher goal, the mission of your whole life. The author of the book, named by Fast Company magazine as one of the most creative people on earth, will have a very profound effect on you. It will help you find your higher purpose, find that secret source of inspiration through which you will find answers to all important questions. In the book you will find actionable exercises, stories and simple life advice from Michael Ray. The latter will boldly lead you along the path to the highest goal.

What do you need to take with you on this trail? Author of the book "The Highest Goal. The Secret That Keeps You Up Every Minute” provides some necessary guidance. First, you must choose your life path. There are two options here. You can listen to those around you and start drawing your dream. It will turn out a pretty, but completely ordinary picture. Or you choose the second way. What does he look like? As follows: you put a completely blank canvas, pick up a brush and paint a picture that reflects yourself. It may not please everyone, but its creator will be in unsurpassed delight. This picture is your highest goal. Second, understand the role of anxiety in life.

Try to spend half an hour every day on excitement. Worry, worry. Reasons are in themselves, because there are no absolutely careless people. The rest of the time, try not to let experiences into your own consciousness and you will see how real life is without worries. Thirdly, let's rest your head, meditate.

Throw absolutely all thoughts out of your head, do not think about anything. This practice will help you find your own harmony and understanding of what is happening around. In addition, learn to live in your own, incomprehensible time. Sounds weird? And you try! Forget about time for one day, don't look at the clock. Listen to your clock, try to live and work in the way that suits you in the time continuum. Of course, it will seem difficult, especially being in the workplace, but believe me, you will learn a lot. Take action, achieve the highest goals and read Michael Ray's masterpiece book. You will definitely find out what it is - the highest goal, dream and achievement of your whole life.

The author of The Highest Purpose writes easily and clearly. He gives extremely clear instructions, exercises and practices. This is a kind of manual, more precisely, something higher than it. After all, the theories you mentioned are not axioms. Find your way, your unique method, your path. The reader will want to learn more and more, to look for missing pages. That's what this book is about - your search, research, and goals.

Named the most creative person in Silicon Valley by Fast Company magazine, Michael Ray developed and taught Stanford's acclaimed "Creativity in Business" course for 25 years.

From the very beginning, Ray's course began to have a very strong effect on the graduates. It seemed that they had access to some secret source of energy and inspiration. Ray concluded that his classes helped students find their "higher purpose" - the power that gives real meaning to your life, which speaks to your deepest being.

Through this book, through practical exercises, stories and advice, Michael will help you find your higher purpose.

Foreword

On a warm September evening in 1982, I studied my second year MBA class schedule at Stanford. In addition to production strategy and corporate finance, there was a course called Creativity in Business. "That's an oxymoron," flashed through my head. I added this course at the very end to somehow balance the too dry analytical subjects.

And at 15:20 I leisurely entered the auditorium and sat down in an empty seat. While waiting for teachers Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers to start the seminar, my classmates and I talked to each other, talked about our summer work, exchanged opinions about the class schedule.

Nothing happened and we chatted some more. Still, the seminar did not start.

In the end, we realized that Michael and Rochelle were already in the audience, looking at us and waiting for something. The noise gradually died down as each group of students chatting one after another found teachers patiently waiting for us to pay attention to them. Finally, Rochelle Myers, a petite woman in long flowing robes with a large silver medallion on her chest, stood up and said in a barely audible, almost whispered voice, “Today you are embarking on a ten-week journey in search of your inner being.”

I immediately opened the general schedule to find a replacement for the course. My search was interrupted by Michael Ray, who offered us a meditation exercise. “Slowly take a deep breath,” Michael said. - Feel the energy arising in the toes of your right foot. Feel it rise up your leg. Focus all your attention on your right leg. Don't do anything, just feel your right leg…” It seemed to me that I made a big mistake.

That evening I told my wife Joanna that I had a great class schedule, "except for this course I'm about to quit." I told her about Rochelle in flowing robes and about Michael, who reminded me of Yogi Bear in a wrinkled professorial suit (later I found out that as a spiritual guide he really practices yoga), who teaches us to meditate. I majored in applied mathematics in college and later worked at McKinsey. I enjoyed (which I still feel) engaged in data analysis and theoretical development. And here is…

Joanna listened to my wailing, and then confidently said, “I think you will benefit from the Michael Ray course. Wait for him to refuse, maybe you like it?

She was right: I would not have reached such heights and my life would not have been so bright if not for this course. And I am not alone in this opinion. Not even a year goes by without one of the graduates noting how grateful he is to fate for having been able to take this course at one time. But then we did not know yet that we had already taken the first step in a life-long journey to finding our highest goal.

However, the experience was not easy for an insecure simpleton obsessed with data operations. “When will we get any technology for creativity or management methods for creating innovative products?” - I asked a couple of weeks after the start of the course. I longed for tools, technologies, methods - something practical and useful.

In response, Michael told a story about a businessman who came to the Master in search of enlightenment. They sat down to drink tea, and the businessman began to talk about his life: about problems and difficulties, about how he aspired to reach some heights, how he was looking for the right path, and meaning, and purpose, and ... and the Teacher remained silent and poured tea into his cup. It was already full, and the Teacher poured and poured, and already the tea overflowed, filled the saucer, then spilled onto the table and, finally, onto the man's knee.
"Hey! What are you doing?" the businessman shouted and jumped up, dusting off his trousers.

“Your cup is overflowing,” replied the Master. - You all add, add and add ... to your life. Until you empty the cup, you will not find a place for enlightenment in yourself.”

Michael and Rochelle explained that we are not on a “journey” for new skills and knowledge: its goal is to remove barriers to creativity. They proceeded from the premise that there are no people who do not know how to create, but there are those whose talents have not yet been discovered. They wanted us to realize that each of us has our own treasure chest in the attic - with creativity - and we just need to do a thorough cleaning - remove all the rubbish that is littered with this chest in order to open it and look inside. The essence of the metaphor was the challenge to each of us: "Turn your life into a work of art!"

In later years, I came to the conclusion that there are two approaches to life. The first, used by most, is the "children's coloring" path. You do what you are told. Walk along a well-trodden path. Act within the prescribed limits. And in the end you get a pretty, but ordinary picture. The second approach, which is chosen by a few, is the path of the artist: when they take a blank canvas and write a masterpiece. This path is more difficult, risky, uncertain and requires creativity. But this is the only way to make your life a work of art. Creating a masterpiece requires non-standard solutions, searching for a starting point, a guiding thread in the absence of convenient contours and lines of a ready-made set. Such attitudes are the highest goal, and this book will tell you how to build your life with the help of Michael's discoveries.

When I attended the course in 1982, Professor Ray had not yet defined the ultimate goal. Yet the idea was everywhere, like an overarching concept, a hidden framework of creative experience. Now, twenty years later, Michael has pinpointed the metaconcept and describes it in detail in these pages.

At the center of the process is the idea of ​​rules for every day. These are mantras that you not only repeat day after day, but also follow them for a while (usually a week or a little longer). At Stanford, the day-to-day prescriptions gave us a hard time: “If it doesn’t work out right away, don’t push yourself. Be careful! Ask stupid questions. Destroy judgment, create curiosity. Don't think about it. Be ordinary."

But the most difficult rule was this: "Do what is easy, what is effortless and brings joy." Unfortunately, we had to follow it during the mid-year exams, so we immediately had problems: “If you only do what is effortless and brings joy, you will have to skip the exams. How to complete this task without failing the rest of the subjects?

I decided to think of exams as climbing pitch four on Naked Edge in Eldorado Canyon. Naked Edge is one of the most beautiful peaks in all of North America; it is ideal for climbing, except for the fourth pitch. Every time I climb the Naked Edge, I dread this part of the route. It is necessary to squeeze into a crack widening downwards and crawl along the overhanging wall, as if inside a bell, with your legs slipping, which is why you slide down every now and then, and your shoulders getting stuck in the narrow upper part of the fault. The unusual combination of claustrophobia and uncertainty is exacerbated by the fact that none of the protective devices are effective at this stage. (So ​​if you fall out of the crevasse and lose some of your equipment, you will be flying downhill for a long time, breaking bones along the way.) Nevertheless, despite the highest difficulty of this stage of the route, I climbed the Naked Edge perhaps thirty times . Taken separately, the fourth rope is sheer hassle and tedious physical labor.

taken in the context of this amazing place, on a wonderful day, with a good partner, and given that rock climbing is my favorite sport, the fourth pitch is a real joy. I compared my exams with her and dealt with the problem.
Michael's concept of the highest goal develops this thought in depth and gives a philosophical answer to the question: “What in your life can be considered as the most difficult peak? What higher goal will you pursue so passionately that you will be able to find the strength to carry out the hard routine work necessary to complete your work?

The highest goal is the quintessence of the accumulated wisdom of the great teacher over the years, who, in his modesty, considers thousands of students to be his teachers. What I appreciate most about this book is its personal focus. Professor Ray speaks directly to each person, helping him to determine the highest goal of his own life and achieve it. It is very difficult: in order to reach its logical end, you will most likely have to seriously change your life. And for me, as well as for others, Michael and Rochelle helped to abandon the routine, the traditional path and pave my own path in life. I was then in my early twenties. With their help, I have found a path that combines passion (what I love to do), purpose (what I am sent to this earth to do), and economics (what I do for a living). In other words, I have found a path to my highest goal. Perhaps after reading this book, the same will happen to you.

Higher Goal - Michael Ray (download)

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Title: Higher Goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute

About the book "The Highest Goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute.” Michael Ray

Have you ever wondered what is your meaning of life? Most likely yes, and not even once. I really want to go my own way, to be unique, not like everyone else, so that later you will be remembered, proud and appreciated what you left behind. But what is in reality? We, in fact, live according to a plan invented long ago: an unloved job, a small salary, not a hint of self-development. Everything, like everyone else. Of course, here you can blame the country, and people, and even your parents for not instilling confidence in your abilities, but not yourself. But it is worth understanding only one thing, and you will radically change your life.

Michael Ray has been known for a very long time for his famous course called "The Creativity of Business", which had an incredible effect on those who took it. There was a feeling that Michael Ray knew some secret, which he shared with the audience. And it was this secret that influenced the lives of people, instilled in them self-confidence, inspiration and tremendous strength. He helped them find the true meaning of life.

Making the world a better place is easy enough, you just need to start with yourself. Unfortunately, we begin to appreciate and understand ourselves only with age, with life experience, when we already understand that work is not just making money, but also the opportunity to give something wonderful to people, to make some product perfect and useful. That relationships are not just love, passion, desire, but this incredibly wonderful feeling inside, which makes you and your soul mate better, more harmonious, elevated and inspired. Perhaps to some this will seem like just a set of words, but believe me, in the future you will understand the true meaning of all these beautiful words.

Michael Ray talks about the highest goal, which is harmony with oneself and with the world around. Of course, you need to strive for something bigger and more perfect, but at the same time, you shouldn’t forget about such simple things that not everything in the world happens the way you want it to, and you won’t even be able to influence it. If you have achieved harmony with the world around you, you began to perceive and understand everything differently, this does not mean that the world is aware of all your goals and will begin to change, will begin to put things in order in all respects. If you give love to people, this does not mean that they listen to you at all.

In the book "The Highest Goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute” by Michael Ray, you will find answers to the most important questions that every person should know. In order to understand your highest goal, you need to be mentally prepared for this. You need to want to change and improve, you need to understand how the world works, its laws and rules.

In the book "The Highest Goal. The secret that supports you every minute ”Michael Ray presents simple tasks, after which you will find out what you really like in this life, what brings true happiness and pleasure. The exercises here are enough to achieve the main goal - to find out what is the meaning of life for you.

On our site about books, you can download the site for free without registration or read the online book “The Highest Purpose. The secret that keeps you going every minute” by Michael Ray in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and a real pleasure to read. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For novice writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you can try your hand at writing.

Quotes from the book "The Highest Goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute.” Michael Ray

But the “path of the hero” has to be passed more than once: so you went to school and started from scratch, then studied, overcoming difficulties, graduated from school and triumphed. And then they started again from scratch. So you continue your journey, passing the "path of the hero" and along the way acquiring new knowledge and finding your own "I".
Each of the stages presents its own gift: innocence deepens the lessons of previous trials and provides an opportunity to start anew. The call gives energy and makes you move. Initiation improves skills and deepens self-knowledge. Allies support. Breakthrough takes you to another world. And celebration gives rise to pleasure and strengthens the skills that will help in a new path.

Turn your life into a work of art!
In later years, I came to the conclusion that there are two approaches to life. The first, used by most, is the "children's coloring" path. You do what you are told. Walk along a well-trodden path. Act within the prescribed limits. And in the end you get a pretty, but ordinary picture. The second approach, which is chosen by a few, is the path of the artist: when they take a blank canvas and write a masterpiece. This path is more difficult, risky, uncertain and requires creativity. But this is the only way to make your life a work of art.

Do not compare yourself and your work with other people and their successes. Don't worry about the future and don't regret the past. Don't look for recognition or rewards. Work hard and push yourself to the limit for the sake of the work itself.

When you live from your heart, you realize that there is only one way to deal with a relationship problem and that is to see a higher power.

Many sages and creeds proclaim this truth. But it is not so easy to implement it. Relationships test us from time to time, sometimes several times a day. These tests manifest themselves in different forms and for each in their own way.

Michael Ray is the John J. McCoy Professor of Creative and Innovation at Banc One Corporation and a Distinguished Professor at the Graduate School of Marketing in Marketing, Stanford University.

He studied social psychology, and has written several books, including, written with Rochelle Myers, Creativity in Business, Lorna Ketford participated in the work on The Way of the Ordinary Hero, as for The Spirit of Creativity, Ray wrote it along with authors such as Daniel Goleman and Paul Kaufman. The information presented in the book was used as a guide for a series of programs with the same name, which was created based on this course.

The highest goal. The secret that keeps you going every minute. Michael Ray. Read online, download e-book fb2, txt, epub

Currently, Michael Rey, along with colleagues teaching his course, is working on the creation of the book "Conversations on the Fundamentals". The author is a supporter of setting high goals, both in business and in matters relating to family and loved ones. As a husband, father of six children, who gave him eight grandchildren, he never ceases to amaze that he is still a researcher, imbued with a sublime feeling and a teacher of meditation, who has been following his path for more than twenty years. Michael Rey is a consultant and lecturer, managing a major shopping mall, a manufacturing company, a catalog distribution organization, a start-up aviation company, and three established communications companies. He teaches 2 chanting and meditation classes, usually every week. They are in Santa Cruz, California. There, under the strict guidance of Michael's wife, Sarah, two houses were built, according to her own project, where all events take place. In addition, Mr. Ray is the curator of a group of specialists, which was prepared by him and his team to work on the course of creativity. Thus, they strive to convey the principles revealed by the author of the book to more people around the world.

In the book "The Highest Goal. The secret that sustains you every minute” reveals the basic principles of how to achieve an understanding of the highest goal in life, and find your own.

FastCompany magazine named Michael Ray the title of the most creative person, as he is the developer and leader of the well-known course "Creativity in Business" for 25 years.

Even at the initial stage, students respond positively to this course. They say that, through the information received, Michael gives them access to one of the sources of energy, which is still a secret for most people, as well as inspiration. He, in turn, concluded that the trainings help students find some kind of "higher goal", which is a force that gives meaning to life.

THE HIGHEST GOAL

The Secret That Sustains You in Every Moment

Berrett Koehler Publishers

Published with permission from Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

© Michael Ray, 2004

© Translation into Russian, edition in Russian, design. LLC "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", 2014

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use, without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Legal support of the publishing house is provided by the law firm "Vegas-Lex"

© Electronic version of the book prepared by Litres (www.litres.ru)

To my students and teachers:

May the flow of goodness never dry up

The real joy of life is to have a purpose, the importance of which you yourself understand ... to be natural and strong, and not one of a bunch of neurotics and whiners who complain that life does not care about their happiness.

Bernard Show

Joy is the highest goal.

Chinese proverb

Foreword

On a warm September evening in 1982, I studied my second year MBA class schedule at Stanford. In addition to production strategy and corporate finance, there was a course called Creativity in Business. "That's an oxymoron," flashed through my head. I added this course at the very end to somehow balance the too dry analytical subjects.

And at 15:20 I leisurely entered the auditorium and sat down in an empty seat. While waiting for teachers Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers to start the seminar, my classmates and I talked to each other, talked about our summer work, exchanged opinions about the class schedule.

Nothing happened and we chatted some more. Still, the seminar did not start.

In the end, we realized that Michael and Rochelle were already in the audience, looking at us and waiting for something. The noise gradually died down as each group of students chatting one after another found teachers patiently waiting for us to pay attention to them. Finally, Rochelle Myers, a petite woman in long flowing robes with a large silver medallion on her chest, stood up and said in a barely audible, almost whispered voice, “Today you are embarking on a ten-week journey in search of your inner being.”

I immediately opened the general schedule to find a replacement for the course. My search was interrupted by Michael Ray, who offered us a meditation exercise. “Slowly take a deep breath,” Michael said. – Feel the energy rising in the toes of your right foot. Feel it rise up your leg. Focus all your attention on your right leg. Don't do anything, just feel your right leg…” It seemed to me that I made a big mistake.

That evening I told my wife Joanna that I had a great class schedule, "except for this course I'm about to quit." I told her about Rochelle in flowing robes and about Michael, who reminded me of Yogi Bear in a wrinkled professorial suit (later I found out that as a spiritual guide he really practices yoga), who teaches us to meditate. I majored in applied mathematics in college and later worked at McKinsey. I enjoyed (which I still feel) engaged in data analysis and theoretical development. And here is…

Joanna listened to my wailing, and then confidently said, “I think you will benefit from the Michael Ray course. Wait for him to refuse, maybe you like it?

She was right: I would not have reached such heights and my life would not have been so bright if not for this course. And I am not alone in this opinion. Not even a year goes by without one of the graduates noting how grateful he is to fate for having been able to take this course at one time. But then we did not know yet that we had already taken the first step in a life-long journey to finding our highest goal.

However, the experience was not easy for an insecure simpleton obsessed with data operations. “When will we get any technology for creativity or management methods for creating innovative products?” – I asked a couple of weeks after the start of the course. I longed for tools, technologies, methods—something practical and useful.

In response, Michael told a story about a businessman who came to the Master in search of enlightenment. They sat down to drink tea, and the businessman began to talk about his life: about problems and difficulties, about how he aspired to reach some heights, how he was looking for the right path, and meaning, and purpose, and ... and the Teacher remained silent and poured tea into his cup. It was already full, and the Teacher poured and poured, and already the tea overflowed, filled the saucer, then spilled onto the table and, finally, onto the man's knee.

"Hey! What are you doing?" the businessman shouted and jumped up, dusting off his trousers.

“Your cup is overflowing,” the Master replied. “You keep adding and adding and adding… to your life. Until you empty the cup, you will not find a place for enlightenment in yourself.”

Michael and Rochelle explained that we are not on a “journey” for new skills and knowledge: its goal is to remove barriers to creativity. They proceeded from the premise that there are no people who do not know how to create, but there are those whose talents have not yet been discovered. They wanted us to realize that each of us has a treasure chest in the attic - with creativity - and all we need to do is a thorough cleaning - remove all the rubbish that is littered with this chest in order to open it and look inside. The essence of the metaphor was the challenge to each of us: Turn your life into a work of art!»

In later years, I came to the conclusion that there are two approaches to life. The first, used by most, is the "children's coloring" path. You do what you are told. Walk along a well-trodden path. Act within the prescribed limits. And in the end you get a pretty, but ordinary picture. The second approach, which is chosen by a few, is the path of the artist: when they take a blank canvas and write a masterpiece. This path is more difficult, risky, uncertain and requires creativity. But this is the only way to make your life a work of art. Creating a masterpiece requires non-standard solutions, searching for a starting point, a guiding thread in the absence of convenient contours and lines of a ready-made set. Such attitudes are the highest goal, and this book will tell you how to build your life with the help of Michael's discoveries.

When I attended the course in 1982, Professor Ray had not yet defined the ultimate goal. Yet the idea was everywhere, like an overarching concept, a hidden framework of creative experience. Now, twenty years later, Michael has pinpointed the metaconcept and describes it in detail in these pages.

At the center of the process is the idea of ​​rules for every day. These are mantras that you not only repeat day after day, but also follow them for a while (usually a week or a little longer). At Stanford, the day-to-day prescriptions gave us a hard time: “If it doesn’t work out right away, don’t push yourself. Be careful! Ask stupid questions. Destroy judgment, create curiosity. Don't think about it. Be ordinary."