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THE BIG IDEAS Do You!

What’s Your Vision?
12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success
Know it. Stick to it. BY RUSSELL SIMMONS · GOTHAM © 2007 · 320 PAGES

Mantra
Tools of the mind.

Breakfast of Champions
A big bowl of gratitude. “In the end, the overriding factor in whether or not you realize your dreams is
going to be you. Not the world. YOU.”
Rotting Fish
Don’t stink up your soul. ~ Russell Simmons from Do You!
Don’t Stall
I didn’t know much about Russell Simmons until my friend Robin Sharma (author of The
Get to work.
Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and The Greatness Guide) first sent me this book. There’s no way
Tapas
I would have guessed Russell would have such a profoundly spiritual, yet remarkably “real” and
Burn, baby, burn!
unquestionably successful expression of his spirituality in the 21st Century.
Age & #’s
Age ain’t nothin’ but a #. The New York Times calls Russell Simmons one of “the most innovative and influential figures
Obstacles in modern American business and culture.”
God’s just challenging you.
He’s a hip-hop mogul (affectionately known as the Godfather of hip-hop, in fact), producer,
Eye on the Path entrepreneur and all around rock star. AND, he’s a yogi, vegan and deeply spiritual guy.
Forget the prize.
I like that combo. And I love his book. (It kinda makes me imagine Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits
Being a Blessing
Give before you get. written by a hip hop mogul for the 21st century. :)

Karma Economics Do You! is packed with inspiring stories, Russell’s wit and wisdom on everything from getting
Plant good seeds! your mind right, living with authenticity, dreaming big and doing your best. It’s one of those
books you read and at the end say to yourself, “That author is a good person!” (which is always a
Always Do You
Always. standard by which I measure my favorite books).

So, without further adieu, let’s jump in to some of the Big Ideas in Russell’s 12 Laws of Success.
(And, of course, don’t forget to “Do You!” :)

WHAT’S YOUR VISION?

“In my experience, there’s only one thing that will always steer you toward success: That’s to
have a vision and to stick with it… Once I have a vision for a new venture, I’m going to ride that
vision until the wheels come off.”

That’s powerful.

This entire Note could be on the first chapter alone where Russell establishes “Law Number One:
See Your Vision and Stick with It.” Discovering your vision is Law Number One for a reason.
We’ve gotta have a vision that drives us.

So…
“I dream my painting and What’s YOUR vision?!?
paint my dream.”
“Focus on your vision and keep going until you hit the finish line. Don’t be one of the people
~Vincent van Gogh
who believe in their vision at first but then give up. See it through, no matter how long it takes.
Understand that obstacles are just part of the game. Whatever you imagine, you can achieve.
Once you realize this truth, no one is going to be able to stop you.”

1 PhilosophersNotes | Do You

“I’m just suggesting that
when you’re faced with fear
and anxiety, don’t medicate.
Meditate instead.”
~ Russell Simmons
MANTRA
“The word mantra comes from two Sanskrit words man, (‘to think’) and tra (‘tool’). So the literal
translation is ‘a tool of thought.’ And that’s how mantras are used in Buddhist and Hindu practices,
as tools that clear your mind of distractions. Because when you focus on repeating that mantra
over and over again, soon the noise will die down and all you will hear is your inner voice.”
Mantra. “A tool of thought.”
Have you used mantras before? Powerful stuff.

One of my favorites over the years includes repeating “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank
you, thank you, thank you…” again and again. I did that so much that when my mind was silent
this little voice would pop up out of nowhere and say, “Thank you!” :)

Three more of my favorites came from Deepak Chopra’s brilliant book The Spontaneous
Fulfillment of Desire. (See Notes for a bunch of other big ideas.) They were:

• I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others.

• I am beneath no one.
• I fearlessly handle any and all challenges in my life.

I’ve said those (tens of!) thousands of times. Powerful tools.

So…

What tools of thought will you introduce into your life starting… Now?!!?
“You’ve got to tell God
“A clear and focused mind will last a lifetime. Getting your mind in shape is nothing less than the
thank you every day.”
key to sustainable success in the world.”
~Russell Simmons
…

And, speaking of “thank you!” … how ‘bout a big bowl of gratitude?!?

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS
“When I start my day by reflecting on all the things I have to be grateful for, I’ll have a much
more rewarding day.”

Wow. There’s a powerful way to start your day. In our Notes on Positive Psychology, we often
talk about the scientific FACT that gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to boost our levels
of happiness.

My (strong) recommendation (if you aren’t already doing this): Start your day thinking about all
of the things for which you’re grateful. And end your day the same way. And sneak in as many
other instances as you can. (Especially thank the annoying things/people who are teaching/
challenging you to embody your highest self even when you don’t feel like it. :)

So… For what are you grateful?!?

I’m grateful for:

“The biggest thing that 1. _______________________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________________
separates you from the
3. _______________________________________________________________
success you seek is fear.”
4. _______________________________________________________________
~ Russell Simmons
5. _______________________________________________________________

2 PhilosophersNotes | Do You

“I’ve heard of Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday.
But I’ve never heard
of Someday.”
~ Reverend Ike
“I knew it was unrealistic
to think I could build
an institution overnight.
But if I took baby steps,
eventually it would happen.”
~ Russell Simmons
“It is the Baby Steps you
take, the everyday things
you do, that eventually lead
to the manifestation of
your outcome”
~ David Emerald- The Power of TED
PhilosophersNotes | Do You
Feed yourself like a champ in the morning! :)
ROTTING FISH
“Your purpose is to act on the resources God gives you. If God gives you a bucket of fish, you
have to distribute those fish. If you don’t, they’re going to rot, attract a bunch of flies, and start
stinking up your soul.”
Love that.
Don’t believe Simmons?
How about Joseph Campbell?
—> “To refuse the call means stagnation. What you don’t experience positively you will
experience negatively.”
Not good enough? How about Abraham Maslow?
—> “What one can be, one must be!”
Still not enough? What about Jesus?
—> “If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don’t bring
forth what is inside you, what you don’t bring forth will destroy you.”
You have gifts to give to the world. Give them.
And, please:
DON’T STALL
“The pain that’s created by avoiding hard work is actually much worse than any pain created
from the actual work itself. Because if you don’t begin to work on those ideas that God has
blessed you with, they will become stagnant inside of you and eventually begin to eat away at
you. You might seem OK on the outside, but inside you will be ill from not getting those ideas
out of your heart and into the world. Stalling leads to sickness. But taking steps, even baby steps,
always leads to success.”
So many great teachers remind us of our need to just do it—to just take the next step in this
precious hero’s journey of ours.
Russell brilliantly articulates the pain we’ll experience if we DON’T. It’s subtle but so powerful.
It’s almost like there’s this internal, subconscious computer that’s keeping track of our every
action—giving us a point for every time we step forward into growth and subtracting a point
every time we step back into safety or fear or laziness.
Imagine that.
Let’s say you start this morning at Zero. (Which, thankfully, we’re blessed with the ability to do.)
So, it’s first thing in the morning. Alarm goes off. Do you do what you’ve committed to doing—
whether that’s getting up and out immediately or silently breathing, thinking about your ideal
day and everything you’re grateful for? Or, do you roll over and pull the pillow over your head
and think about all that’s wrong in your world?
You get +1 if you stepped forward. -1 if you went backward.
Then let’s assume you said you’d work out this morning. Do you? +1 or -1.
And you can keep track moment to moment to moment.
3
 +1 or -1. +1 or -1. +1 or -1.
“The key ingredient to
any kind of happiness or At the end of the day, how do you think you’ll feel if you’re subconscious mathematician comes
back to you with a report of -8,549?
success is to never give
less than your best.” You’ll want to turn on the TV and zone out. Or drink a beer (or ten). Or yell at your spouse and/
~ Russell Simmons or kids.

So…

Quit stalling and start taking the baby steps and always remember, the pain of not doing your
best is ALWAYS greater than the pain of stepping forward.

TAPAS
“In the yogic tradition, this principle of using intense effort to burn through life’s distractions
is called Tapas. It’s another Sanskrit word, roughly defined as ‘heat’ or ‘essential energy.’ The
concept is that through a disciplined approach to work and self-sacrifice, Tapas will burn away
the negativity that separates us from God. By working our hardest and happily enduring the
hardships of life we are able to create a sense of peace and clarity in ourselves.”

Who would have thought a hip-hop mogul would be teaching us so much Sanskrit?!?

Tapas.

“The dictionary is the only
place where succes comes
before work.””
The word literally means “heat” or “essential energy” and, as Simmons brilliantly articulates,
as we live our life with discipline, passion and integrity, we burn thru the negativity that can
separate us from God.
And that’s a straight line to bliss.

~ Vince Lombardi My recommendation? Burn, baby, burn.

“The person who understands Dharma will have the opposite reaction to a ‘hard’ job. That
person will be eager to get started, no matter what kind of work is in front of her, because she
understands that she’s doing God’s work. And when you’re working for God, nothing is too
hard.”

AGE & #’S

“Age ain’t nothing but a number.”

How often do you make excuses for why you can’t do something because of your age?

You too old to start something? Too young to go for it?

Ridiculous.

As Simmons advises: “Age ain’t nothing but a number.”

And, in the words of Satchel Paige: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”

“Nobody can give you
freedom. Nobody can give
you equality or justice or
anything. If you’re a man,
you take it.”
~ Malcolm X
What’ve you been holding back on?
Get out and rock it.
OBSTACLES
“Whatever obstacles appear in your path, put your head down and get past them. Those
obstacles aren’t real. They’re just God’s way of testing you. He’s asking you, ‘Do you want to
make it or not?’”

4 PhilosophersNotes | Do You

“The possession of material
riches, without inner peace,
is like dying of thirst while
bathing in a lake.”
~ Yogananda
“My purpose is defined by
the power of giving back
and sharing.”
~ Russell Simmons
“When you do good by the
world, the world will do
good by you.”
~ Russell Simmons
PhilosophersNotes | Do You
How do you respond to obstacles?
Next time you face one imagine that it’s really just God asking you: “Well, do you really want to
make it or not?!?”
(And, answer, “YES!!!” as you get back to work with a smile. :)
EYE ON THE PATH
“I know some people say ‘Keep your eyes on the prize,’ but I disagree. When your eyes are stuck
on the prize, you’re going to keep stumbling and crashing into things. If you really want to get
ahead, you’ve got to keep your eyes focused on the path.”
I love that.
And Russell follows it up with “Always focus on your effort, instead of the results of that effort.”
Brilliant 21st century application of the classic Bhagavad Gita (see Notes) wisdom: “The
awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about
results.”
How about you? Once you’ve frozen your ideal vision in your mind, do you obsess about the results
or do you put yourself on “super pilot” (as John Eliot would say in his great book Overachievement
(see Notes)) and completely immerse yourself in doing your best moment to moment?
BEING A BLESSING
“In my opinion, his problem was that every day, he was waking up trying to figure out what
he can get, instead of waking up trying to figure out what he can give. Instead of asking for a
blessing, he should have practiced being a blessing.”
Brilliant.
Again, we’ve heard this before. It’s simple.
But… are you embodying this ideal?
Let’s wake up every morning striving to find more and more powerful ways to give ourselves to
the world, shall we?!?)
KARMA ECONOMICS
“The science is simple: When you give the world love and respect, the world will give you love
and respect back.”
It’s Law Number Eight (in Russell’s 12 Laws of Success): “The Science of Success: Plant the
Good Seeds.”
We’ve all heard this one before.
The Bhagavad Gita teaches us: “When we do wrong, we come to suffering. When we do good in
the world, we come to happiness.”
The Bible teaches: “You reap what you sow.”
Eric Butterworth in Spiritual Economics (see Notes): “The law is exact: If you give, really work
in a giving consciousness, you must receive.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay, Compensation (see Notes): “Cause and effect, means and
ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end
preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed.”
5

“It takes courage to grow
up and turn out to be who
you really are.”
~ E.E. Cummings
If you liked this Note,
you’ll probably like…
The Bhagavad Gita
The Joseph
Campbell Companion
Seven Spiritual Laws
of Success
Overachievement
Ask & It Is Given
Ralph Waldo Emerson
6 PhilosophersNotes | Do You
Esther & Jerry Hicks describe the Law of Attraction in Ask and It Is Given (see Notes): “Every
thought vibrates, every thought radiates a signal, and every thought attracts a matching
signal back. We call that process the Law of Attraction… The Law of Attraction says: That
which is like unto itself is drawn. And so, you might see the powerful Law of Attraction as a
sort of Universal Manager that sees to it that all thoughts that match one another line up.”
And countless others.
So, what seeds are you planting? Are you looking forward to their harvest? If not, what’s one
thing you need to STOP doing right now that’s no longer serving you? If you’re giddy about the
seeds you’re planting coming to fruition, right on! What else can you do?
And, in any case, what’s the #1 thing you KNOW you should be doing that you’re not currently
doing? Make it a habit. Plant the seeds. Now.
ALWAYS DO YOU
“When I talk about Doing You, I’m really just asking you to listen to that voice of God inside of
you again.”
What’s your voice telling you?
Are you taking the time everyday to get quiet and tune into that deep intuition that’s guiding
you to your Highest Self? Whether it’s turning off the radio while you’re in traffic and quietly
breathing and/or going on hikes and/or sitting in meditation—make sure you’re finding the time
to chat with God.
And, of course, get out there and Do You!!!
Brian Johnson,
Chief Philosopher
About the Author of “Do You”
RUSSELL SIMMONS
Named one of America’s 25 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs, by Inc. Magazine
and often featured on the covers of major magazines from Business Week
and Fast Company to Rolling Stone and Spin, Simmons shares his maverick
strategies and personal sources of empowerment in DO YOU!. These are the
laws that helped Simmons build Rush Communications, a half-billion dollar
music and fashion empire that arose from his Hip Hop record label Def Jam and
launched a cultural revolution in the process. (from his site where you can learn
more about everything he’s up to: RussellSimmons.com.)
About the Author of This Note
BRIAN JOHNSON
Brian Johnson is a lover of wisdom (aka a “Philosopher”) and a passionate
student of life who’s committed to inspiring and empowering millions of people
to live their greatest lives as he studies, embodies and shares the universal truths
of optimal living. He harts his job.