How to Be, Do, or Have Anything

"A powerful resource for creating the life you have always dreamed of."

—Jack Canfield, coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Soul

   and author of The Success Principles

Ever wonder why some people achieve their dreams, while most feel trapped—forced to live a life they haven’t chosen? Is it a matter of fate, luck, or genes—or can anyone learn to unleash their creative power to build the life they want to live? Laurence Boldt asserts that the creative process is the ultimate formula for success, the key to transforming your fondest dreams into living realities. In How to Be, Do, or Have Anything, he reveals the secrets of the creative process in a simple step-by-step formula that anyone can understand and apply. Once you have mastered this formula and begin consistently applying it in your own life, you will realize that it can be employed to create virtually any result you can imagine. 

"How To Be, Do, or Have Anything by Laurence G. Boldt is one of the best books I have ever read and that I have seen written in the area of achieving your personal goals in life. I believe that it is one of the best books on the market. Laurence has done a great job of explaining clearly and in detail how you can really achieve your dreams in life. It is an excellent book and I would highly recommend it."

—Norman Barlow, Ph.D.

"After a thorough review of Laurence Boldt's book, How to Be, Do, or Have Anything, I must say I wish I could make it required reading in our country's school system as well as throughout the offices of corporate America. Having worked as a counselor and teacher for the last 27 years, I can't honestly say I've ever come across any better resource to help people take control of their destiny. Boldt's book beautifully and powerfully inspires action, and then backs up the encouragement and inspiration with solid, grounding tools to use in actually getting on with those actions in our lives. This book can be used by "already successful" and "still struggling" people alike, unlike so many other self-coaching books that, without admitting it, require a fat wallet to implement all of their suggestions for a better life. How to Be, Do or Have Anything is a solid, undiluted, down-to-earth helping of fortitude and strength. I wish every man woman and child could get a copy into their hands and read it cover to cover. If they did, I'd probably have to find another line of work. Thank you, Laurence Boldt, for a job well done!"

—John Anderson

   New York, NY

"I was visiting Seattle in May when I picked up a copy of "How to Be, Have, etc." and began working my way through it. I don't believe in coincidences, and this was exactly what I needed to put my hands on at this time. I became so excited reading it that I had to put it on a shelf while I purchased and read every book Mr. Boldt has written to date (in chronological order). I am currently in the middle of Zen and the Art of Making a Living. I have awakened each morning to find I still retain that feeling of excitement and anticipation which tells me I'm on the right path. Specifically, the exercises in the books have helped me to clarify the direction in which I wish to go."

—Kevin Ferris

   St. Louis, MO

"How to Be, Do, or Have Anything is our favorite book. Use it as a how-to guide and workbook or as an overview to the power of the subconscious mind. This is a book we're sure you'll refer to over and over."

—www.ownthepower.com

"I have been a fan of Laurence G. Boldt since I read Zen and the Art of Making a Living. Actually, I change my career path after reading that book. Based in that experience, I bought this new book. The approach is very methodological and based on down-to-earth exercises you can do. Reading the book, I felt like talking to a friend about my aspirations and dreams, and he helping me how to convert them in reality. Very recommendable.

—A reader from Miami, FL

BOOK REVIEWS

"Anyone can be taught how to be, do or have whatever they want (within reason), contends consultant and personal coach Boldt in this extensively revised and updated version of his Manifest Your Destiny: Life Planning with a Punch (1984). Employing the same approach as in his 1991 classic, Zen and the Art of Making a Living, he offers a mix of inspiration, philosophy and how-to in a step-by-step format that entails creating a vision, committing to it, following through and periodically evaluating one's progress. Rooting his concepts in common sense and clear language, Boldt illustrates them with bracing quotations, graphics, related questions and exercises (including examples of how Leonardo Da Vinci or Michelangelo might have responded to them). As in his other books, readers can dive into the chapters in any order that dovetails with their goals, skills and interest level. Those familiar with Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way books will find Boldt's daily log and "manifestation journal" familiar, while those who have read widely in the genre will find his approach to topics like visualization, overcoming fear, and sharpening one's focus and decision making reminiscent of Barbara Sher's Wishcraft, Susan Jeffers's Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway and Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People."

—Publishers Weekly

Don't let the title of this book fool you —it isn't just another "sleep you way to infinite riches" guide. Rather, Laurence G. Boldt has written a thoughtful book about setting and achieving realistic yet inspired goals. Whether you want to start your own business, develop more rewarding personal relationships, or create a healthier lifestyle, he clarifies the different steps necessary for achieving your dreams. With the use of exercises at the end of each chapter, the book explains how to identify and focus on one or more goals, demonstrates how to listen to your heart, and helps you determine whether you chose your goal for yourself, or to please someone else. Boldt also explains concentration, commitment, discipline and motivation as issues related to getting what you want. Further, he illuminates the obstacles of distraction and fear that sometimes prevent you from fulfilling your potential. Inspiring quotes open each chapter.

     This book should be required reading for all young people, not to mention those adults among us who have not yet decided what they want to be when they "grow up." Otherwise, for anyone needing a fresh burst of motivation or a crisp new sense of direction, this book is, at the very least, a useful companion.

—Bodhi Tree Book Review

"Is there something you really want? Do you have an ambition to write a book, climb a mountain or start your own business? Maybe you dream of going back to school or changing your career. Maybe you just want to change your financial circumstances or develop better personal relationships. Possibly you're not even sure what you want; you just know this isn't it. If you struggle with getting started, following through or persevering toward any of your goals, this book with the outrageous title, "How To Be, Do or Have Anything" is one to take a look at. If you've ever met someone who dreams bigger, does more and lives larger than the rest of us, you know how a positive attitude can inspire you to aim higher. Reading this book is a little like finding someone successful and convincing them to show you how it's done. But this book goes beyond inspiration with concrete suggestions for following your dreams.

A book with a plan

It's this practical approach that makes the book worth reading. While other books may inspire you to go after what you want, this one helps you develop a plan. It points out the hurdles, encourages you toward the next step and provides you with common-sense advice for reaching your objective.

     The book provides readers with a "manifestation formula." That's a fancy name for a straightforward approach to turning ideas into action. Author Laurence G. Boldt concentrates on the first four steps of the formula: vision, focus, desire and commitment.

     If that sounds like nothing new, Boldt assures readers it isn't. Everything that's ever been accomplished from landing on the moon to baking a pie goes through this process. It's just that many people lose their way. They might get stuck, move too fast or try to skip a step. They also lose confidence, succumb to fear or give up too soon. There are a multitude of ways to fall short of your potential.

Four stages: vision, focus, desire and commitment

Boldt takes readers through the stages of his manifestation formula beginning with vision. At the vision stage, he encourages readers to allow themselves to dream big, consider the outrageous and not disregard the impractical. This is the stage for creativity and imagination, observation and experimentation. Boldt shows readers that creating a vision also means discovering the purpose and direction of your goals.

     After vision comes focus. Just as you would scan a landscape when searching for something, once you find what you're looking for, you focus in on it. In this section, Boldt explains how to develop concentration, make decisions and set goals. Important stuff that moves you out of the realm of imagination and into the realm of action.

     Stage three concerns desire. Boldt explains that great ideas and great plans often get left by the wayside when the first obstacle comes along. Maintaining your motivation is critical to keeping up your momentum. And he offers suggestions for dealing with doubt when it inevitably appears.

     Finally, there is commitment. Boldt explains how to deal with distractions overcome fear and follow through on your goals. He explains, "When you want something so much that you are willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, you have reached the point of commitment."

     Each chapter is followed by written exercises to help readers explore the particulars of their own goals. The book also makes use of quotes from famous and successful people. In the margins of the pages you'll find wisdom and encouragement from the likes of Bette Davis, Thomas Edison and Leonardo Da Vinci.

     If you're looking for common-sense along with inspiration, "How to Be, Do, or Have Anything" has it. And if you need to be reminded that going after something better, trying something new, and making your life more satisfying is worth the risk, this book is great place to start."

—Laura Lyjak, Career Focus Magazine

The title of this book proposes to show you how to be, do, or have anything. At first glance, this seems an outrageous claim. While I admit to wanting to grab the reader's attention, there is more going on here than mere hyperbole. Of course, the "anything" referred to above must be something that is actually possible to realize or accomplish. Yet what is truly impossible is difficult for us to judge. In the course of our daily lives, we encounter as actualities things and experiences that only a hundred years ago would have seemed impossible fantasies far beyond the reach of any reasonable expectation. The times we live in compel even the most pragmatic of realists to be very cautious about saying what can't be done.

"The thing always happens that you really believe in;

and the belief in a thing makes it happen."

—Frank Lloyd Wright

I also want to make it clear that the "how to" in this book refers to general principles of the creative process. How to Be, Do, or Have Anything is certainly not an encyclopedic volume, exhaustively detailing the specific techniques involved in all of the arts and sciences, and I doubt any potential reader, even at first glance, would mistake it for such. When a French team under the direction of Denis Diderot, chief editor of the Encyclopédie, undertook such an effort in the mid-eighteenth century, the result was some seventeen volumes. Today, were a large team of experts to attempt a similarly comprehensive compendium of today's arts and technologies, the result would be many times that size and would already be out of date by the time it could be published.

My objective in writing this book was to present the principles of the creative process in a simple, step-by-step formula that could be easily understood and effectively used by virtually anyone. While some stumble upon it by accident, and a very few make a concerted effort to cultivate it, most go through their entire lives without ever coming to recognize, much less to consistently apply, the creative power they possess. It strikes me as a great failing of our educational system that we do not teach people how to create the results they want in their lives. Instead, we teach them that creativity is the private domain of uncommon individuals who work in special fields. Nothing could be further from the truth!

I have seen firsthand the transformative effect that using the principles in this book can have on even so-called troubled or difficult people. The material contained in this book was originally developed for a course on creative empowerment, called Manifest Your Destiny. In addition to being offered in college classrooms and in seminars for the general public, this course was given to "troubled" high school students and to prisoners in a federal penitentiary. It was particularly gratifying to see how participants in these latter two groups responded to this material. Many found the experience life transforming. They reported dramatic increases in self-confidence and a new sense of optimism about their prospects in life. This not only confirmed my faith in the innate creativity of all human beings but reaffirmed my belief that many good people go "bad" simply because they don't think they can do anything else. If this material can have this kind of effect on those society labels as incorrigible, how much more can it do for you? I am convinced that anyone who understands and consistently applies the principles described in this book will meet with success.

Application is critical. This book is meant to provide an interactive experience for the reader. While you will gain value from simply reading the material in the chapters that follow, you will gain much more by doing the accompanying exercises. The text of this book is meant to provide information and to serve as a catalyst and stimulus to action. The real value comes with doing the exercises, for in so doing, you'll begin to actively engage your own creative capacities in shaping your life. Reading about how to use a hammer and saw will not build a deck or a fence. To the get the finished product, you have to pick up the tools and use them. In the same way, learning about the tools with which you can change your life isn't the same as putting them to work. The creative formula presented in this book will work for you, but you will have to work at it. Don't confuse reading this or any other book with taking the concrete steps necessary to changing your life.

Getting the most from the principles in this book will take more than knowing about them; it will even take more than the personal engagement required to do the exercises. Above all, it will take passion. The poet Yeats said, "Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire." That fire is your creative passion. More than knowledge or even effort, it is your passion that empowers you to be, do, or have what you desire. In every child, the fire of creative passion burns bright. Yet if the bumps and bruises of life have dampened your flame, you must determine to stoke it up again. You fuel your passion by paying attention to what makes you feel alive and energized to what interests and excites you. Passion cares; passion wants; passion ignites spontaneous action.

Resist the temptation to play it safe or hide behind cynicism. There is more to lose than win by holding back. After all, failure can be overcome, but if you lose your passion, you're beaten before you've begun. To lose your passion is to suffer the greatest defeat that any man or woman can ever know, for with it go confidence, beauty, and joy. Only those who keep the fire of passion burning bright have a chance of knowing what a grand and glorious thing it is to be alive. To live your passion, you must believe that something inside of you is stronger than any outer circumstance. You must eliminate not merely the words but the thoughts "can't" and "impossible." You must believe that YOU ARE THE ANSWER -- that whatever the problems and challenges you may face, you have what it takes to master and overcome them.

Given these provisos, I stand behind the promise of the title. It can be logically derived from a simple set of axiomatic tenets, which I call "The Seven Principles of Creative Living." I believe that each of these tenets withstands the test of critical examination, as well as that of common sense. They are briefly sketched below and will be developed at length throughout the course of this book. The message of this book can be summed up in a few simple words: Live your passion. Activate your innate creative power. Best of luck in the creative adventure of transforming your most cherished dreams into living realities!

The Seven Principles of Creative Living

1. Among human beings, creativity is a natural, and not an exceptional, trait. Birds fly, fish swim, humans create.

2. For the individual, personal freedom and self-fulfillment depend upon the conscious 

expression of his or her innate creative capacities. Without such expression, one will meet with unhappiness and unnecessary limitation.

3. Social and psychological factors may limit or impede an individual's innate creativity. These factors can be overcome.

4. The creative process follows a definite pattern and is essentially the same for all outcomes.

5. The creative process is knowable and understandable. It can be taught and learned. (This process will be revealed and explained in this book.)

6. The more one creates, the more confident he or she becomes of his or her ability to create.

7. Experience gained in applying the creative process in one area of life can be transferred to other areas.

Copyright © 2003 by Laurence G. Boldt

All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt from How to Be, Do, or Have Anything may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.