Your Trajectory Code

How to Change Your Decisions, Actions, and Directions, to Become Part of the Top 1% High Achievers

Jeffrey Magee

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781119043232
• eBook ISBN: 9781119043324
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Get your entire life on track with an accelerated trajectory

Your Trajectory Code is a guide to understanding why you are where you are, and not where you want to be — and how to change it. Once you understand what the trajectory code is, you can gain an accelerated understanding of yourself and others, including family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and anyone else. You'll be able to recognize how tiny 1% adjustments can significantly change your trajectory for the rest of your life. Your inner dialogue guides you along your trajectory, and this book will teach you the five fundamental types of people in your consciousness, and how they can either accelerate your rate of success or derail you straight into a trajectory of misery.

We all have the opportunity to make decisions and guide what line or path we follow in life. One trajectory takes you toward greater accomplishments, while the other moves you in the direction of mediocrity and complacency. Understanding the trajectory code and line is what separates winners from losers, and Your Trajectory Code shows you how.

• Gain a deeper understanding of yourself and others
• Make tiny adjustments that have a big impact
• Discover who in your life might hold you back
• Steer your trajectory toward achievement and success

The path of your life is not predetermined. You have control, and it's never to late to make the changes that could bring you greater happiness. Have you settled for "good enough" long enough? Are you ready to rock the boat? Your Trajectory Code is the key to figuring out what needs to change, and how to change it to point your trajectory skyward.

Chapter 1
Understanding Your Mental TC-DNA Imprint
How Your FIST Factor™ Influences the Lines You Follow

So Where Does It Start?

Imagine you are in a time machine. The space your machine currently occupies is the present. Behind you is the past, and directly in front is the future. As you look outward, you see in front of you a massive windshield of life, representing the future opportunities, abundance mentality, possibilities, success, achievement, solutions, collaborations, partnerships, constructive imprints, and influences. Upward to the right of the windshield would be a small rearview-mirror representing your past—experiences, pity, blame, jealousy, revenge, cynicism, what was or could have been, challenges encountered, and negative imprints, influences, and people.

Most people's rearview-mirror images are overwhelmingly negative, and continuously stimulate a defeating internal conversation. Even more amazing is that the rearview mirror represents only about 3 percent of the windshield space—yet it's the area upon which most of us fixate!

Do you find yourself engaging in conversations of disparity or negativity as you view your past? Do you ever think about how that conversation just gains emotional momentum? Chances are that, during these times, you already have or are pushing away positive imprints—people, choices, opportunities, and so on. This is when the detrimental rearview-mirror talk consumes you. To make matters even worse, this is also a place where misery loves company—you typically attract others like you, until you have an army of bitterness. Now reflect on how this imprints your Trajectory Code. How has it influenced—and how will it continue to influence—your trajectory directions?

You may maintain your outside rearview mirror for perspective and benchmarking purposes. However, you must get a firm grasp on the negativity, rip it off and throw it away. Only when you are ready to live in the windshield of positive imprints will you be able to develop a more purposeful you.

One of my earliest code imprints that I carry consciously with me today—and one that had a large part in framing my windshield—was set into motion in a small rural farming community, where I was raised. My first-grade teacher, a woman named Ms. Murphy, calibrated my Trajectory Code for success by holding me back one year. I wasn't aware of it at the time, of course; I was very young, and mostly frustrated that it took me two years to get through first grade. Many years later, I recognized the powerful gift that Ms. Murphy and my parents gave me by holding me back. To be pushed forward when my brain was not ready would have damaged my TC for life. I would have been lost as my second-grade classmates easily grasped new education. Chances are, I would have acted out to deflect attention away from my frustration.

We all have stories and memories of early childhood, teenage years, and early adulthood. Everything that happened during that time is part of our imprinting. Some we had control over, and some was thrust upon us. Recognizing this allows us to control our trajectories and draw upon the imprints that serve us constructively. Manage these imprints and do not allow them to unwittingly dictate your future trajectory, learn how to also not become a victim to them or allow negative past imprints to become your excuse for not accelerating towards successful Point C attainment. This is how you enrich your TC with new imprints to further strengthen your aim and the Lines you follow.

These examples and stories may have activated your subconscious voices of emotions; so let's add to the dialogue and start to unlock these secrets to a TC that enables you to achieve the greatness within. The best place to start is by developing an understanding of how your own mental TC DNA imprint influences your Trajectory Code, and we do this by taking an inventory the early years. No matter our age, there are people that have had an influence on who we are and how we see ourselves. Some may still occupy conscious or even unconscious space in your mind. Some may still be alive and with you; others may have long since passed away, yet you can still see them and hear them in your mind.

If you recognize that there are such people in your head—and thus, your life—and you mentally bring them up on a sort of mental roster, some names may immediately come to mind. This may not be a long list if you really drill into this first examination or lesson. So take your right hand palm up and flex open your fingers. As you bring up the first and immediate names on this mental roster, assign one name per finger in a countdown.

I call this your FIST Factor™, or your mental board of directors. These are the people that have calibrated your Trajectory Code through life. By becoming aware of how these people have influenced your past and present, you can manage how much time you allow them to influence you in your future. Now you can recognize some of the imprinting from your past that in fact has played active or passive roles in guiding you to where you are today.

Spend some time really looking inward on how these people, places, events, and experiences have been there to shape who you are today within your FIST Factor™ (more detail on this concept in coming sections). If this is not the trajectory direction you seek, recognize that YOU and only you can rewrite the imprinting. By changing your FIST Factor™ and instantly altering your inner dialogue, you immediately adjust your Trajectory Code and thus trajectory direction in any situation. Simply acknowledge your initial FIST Factor™ and imprint forward from there.

Are these windshield or rearview-mirror people?

Here is another way to recognize how the mental imprint of these forces can subtly change within us—and thus potentially alter the Lines you plot and your trajectory destination without your consciously realizing it.

1. Imagine the grocery store you presently go to on a regular basis for your staples. Now as you look at your present FIST Factor make-up, how many of the people you see have changed in the past year?
2. Now consider the grocery store you went to on a regular basis 10 years ago. Look at your FIST Factor make-up and see how many of them have changed in the past 10 years.
3. Consider that what you currently do professionally reflects on your FIST Factor make-up. Now go back 10 years: What were you doing professionally or where were you physically working nine-to-five? Do you notice any difference in names with a significant change in reference points?
4. This final reference will help you recognize how altering just one trajectory course variable can change the make-up of your TC and influencers, which can affect your entire trajectory calibration and destination in life. Where do you physically live today? Go back 10 years ago, today. Do you find any difference? If so, look at your FIST Factor. Any difference?

Notice with any of these questions that as you change a major life variable, you may have added healthier TC influencers. You also may have lost a great mental connection with which you should reconnect. Maybe you have already recognized some unhealthy influencers; try to replace or at least limit their TC influence time upon you. In this way, you can manage your Trajectory Code imprinting and take control of your destinations—by always being mindful of past imprint influences and future imprint needs.

Consider the example of 16-year-old 2012 Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas. Gabby's own mother realized that if she stayed in the East Coast inner city, Gabby's TC imprinting would have been stacked against any degree of life success in her discipline. So she sent Gabby to Iowa to train under a TC superstar and to live with an adoptive family. Both changes would most surely be constructive windshield TC trajectory direction calibrators—and subsequently success-oriented FIST Factor contributors.

Your TC starts with those people that occupy your mental space—the individuals that either consciously or unconsciously take up room in your head. Recognize who they are. Then, pull forward the ones that serve positive forward windshield time, limit the rearview-mirror voices, and add only focused achievers forward into your space.

You can have multiple FIST Factors. There might be one that serves as the dominant overall force for you. Or perhaps you have specific situational-driven FIST Factors made up of different people for different needs. Perhaps there is someone whose input you value in a work situation and from whom you seek guidance. That person's mentorship will accelerate your trajectory success at work. Imagine the level of trajectory direction achievement you could attain if you had access to a wide mental platform of superstars. This is the perfect reason to begin meeting and networking with a greater, richer, deeper circle of people today. One way to do so is to consider your FIST factors' FIST factors, as this will help to expand your network in concentric circles.

You can inventory your defeats and successes by recognizing how you internally process situations and events. We tend to invest more time on our defeats and allow our internal dialogue to replay the negative, instead of reflecting on a defeat simply as a lesson learned and an opportunity to avoid such a mistake in the future. Likewise, we spend far too little time reflecting on successes to learn from them. Imagine the trajectory success you could experience if you engaged in more internal constructive dialogues versus negative dialogues. The TC you carry has been shaped by the FIST Factor you carry, and there is a direct connection between your FIST Factors and your TC.

Now let's take your TC to another level by examining your trajectory direction calibrators. You can think of this as a sort of GPS that guides you and which you can continuously fine-tune for greater effectiveness. As we know, your FIST Factors serve as your internal guidance system and trajectory influencers. They open your eyes to windshield perspectives or hold you back through rearview-mirror doubts. Notice the percentage of time you spend, in any given hour, in positive or negative self-talk. Then multiply that for every 24 hours, and onward, for the amount of time in any given year of your life thus far. It can become very revealing and alarming for most to realize how much we've held ourselves back by listening to these limiting voices—voices that come more frequently from ourselves than from anyone else.

Consider a time when you found yourself in a perceived trauma or high-stress situation. Does a solution-oriented inner dialogue influence your trajectory response? Or is it an activated emotional reaction that kicks in and influences your inner dialogue? What does that inner conversation reveal in terms of quantity of viable solutions—or do you become even more panicked at an increasingly limited trajectory of options? When someone provides constructive feedback to you, do you in fact hear it as positive and make the changes they've suggested—or do you begin an internal debate or attack the messenger?

Just as the computer adage GIGO—garbage in, garbage out—claims, so too it is true for the TC that you design and reinforce. It takes conscious dedication to build a positive TC and to continue to hold yourself accountable to that TC.

Consider where you want your trajectory to take you, both in the present and in the long term. Think of a ladder leaning up against a wall to represent any endeavor you seek to aspire upward to. On the bottom rung of the ladder is always you, and anyone you seek advice, counsel, mentorship, or guidance from should always be on the rungs above you. Vet them from the perspective of what you already know to be true. If the people you surround yourself with can't push you up in any particular and specific need area, then you should not be allowing them or inviting them into your inner physical or mental circle.

One area of study I pursued in college was journalism. Our professors always were mindful to instill within us the idea that journalists report the news based upon fact, as arrived by other subject matter experts and verified by at least two additional unrelated sources. The Sunday paper and a portion of the evening newscast would be reserved for commentary provided by the elder, more learned journalist with perspective. Nowadays, we hear plenty of online and television reports based on hastily gotten and biased information. Without a balanced FIST Factor and inner dialogue, most people accept at face value what they hear and read, thereby arriving at uninformed viewpoints. Now imagine how this ignites your windshield or rearview-mirror energies and influences your trajectory. Thankfully, you can right your course to ensure maximum positive impact by recognizing how the people around you influence your Line's direction, length, richness, and distance.

To ensure the imprints and influences these FIST Factor calibrators have on your psychology are healthy, make sure you actu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Introduction–Your Trajectory Code: The Mental DNA Imprint to Who You Are, What You Do, and How to Design an Adaptive Attitude for Achievement!
• Chapter 1: Understanding Your Mental TC-DNA Imprint: How Your FIST Factor™ Influences the Lines You Follow
• Chapter 2: Understanding How Your Identity-Purpose Statement™ Imprint and Trajectory Empower You to Manage Your Line
• Chapter 3: Walk the Line: Assuming Ownership and Trajectory Balance
• Chapter 4: Understanding Your X-Factor on Your Trajectory: What You're Best Suited to Do
• Chapter 5: Applying Your Player Capability Index™ to Your Trajectory Direction
• Chapter 6: Applying PFC FISHES to Your Life Trajectory for Balance and Inner Harmony
• Chapter 7: Shift Happens…Trajectory Shift Drivers and Bridges That Create Sustained Positive Change
• Chapter 8: Understanding—and Fixing—the Gap between Lines for Trajectory Realignment
• Chapter 9: What Line Really Matters? Smart versus Safe Trajectory Decisions
• Chapter 10: Intersecting Lines: Thinking about Lateral and Vertical Trajectories
• Chapter 11: The Cracks in the Line: Relationships Can Make or Break Your Trajectories
• Chapter 12: Alignment: Blending Trajectories with Others for Shared Success
• Chapter 13: The Power of Low Expectations
• Chapter 14: Purposeful You and Your Trajectory Code: Victim or Victor? Your Self-Talk Is Critical
• Chapter 15: Conclusion: Trajectory Do-Over and Core Driver
• About the Author
• Index
• End User License Agreement