How To Disrupt The Daily Grind >>> Slipstreaming Your Dream

Lessons From Jim Carrey, Poets, Artists & Me

Jayne Stevenson

Published in

The Startup

12 min readFeb 1, 2018

In a speech that Jim Carrey gave to the Maharishi University of Management, he defined the grind and the dream through the painful observation of his father’s life.

“So many of us chose our path out of fear disguised as practicality,” he said.

“My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that was possible for him. So, he made a conservative choice and instead, he got a job as an accountant.”

{Note: This is not just Carrey’s opinion. When veteran comedian Rodney Dangerfield met Percy Carrey, he was astounded by his comedic talent.}

Carrey reveals.

“When I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. Our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which is that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”

Carrey learned the heartbreaking lesson more than four decades ago, at a time when job security and the world economy were far more stable. Before a slew of psychopathic companies screwed the economy.

His advice is so apt for today’s chaotic political and economic times.

Amidst today’s chaos arrives the perfect conditions for you to grab hold of your dream and slipstream it into the daily grind.

What Is The Grind?

Grind as a noun means “hard, dull work.”

As a verb, to grind is to “reduce something to small particles or powder by crushing it.”

Old English grindan means “to rub together, grate, scrape. To destroy by crushing.”

The grind is everything that dulls and shrinks you and your life.

The Effects of Dull, Hard Work

“Remember — boredom is the enemy, not some abstract ‘failure’.”
― Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek

In the United States, people spend on average 35–40 hours working every week. That’s around 80,000 hours total for a typical career.

Evidence from one large-scale US study shows that less than only one-third of employees are engaged in their work.

The Florida State University studied 4,963 adults aged 32–34 from 48 states and concluded that boring, repetitive work causes cognitive decline.

The grind causes stagnation and repulsion.

In the grind, nothing happens other than what happened yesterday. Life is fixed and predictable.

You yearn for an exciting invitation or a lucky break, but without a vision of what these opportunities may look like, they are unlikely to manifest.

In the grind, you feel pressured, rushed, and yet bored. You lack the energy to push forward because there is no inner purpose guiding your actions, only obligation.

The energy of the grind is repulsion, retraction, and recoiling.

You are compelled to move backward, and away from your required tasks; therefore, you need to fight against the emotional resistance to complete even the smallest tasks.

The conflict wears heavily on your mental health.

Signs that the grind is winning:

Lack of enthusiasm and energy.
Chronic complaining.
Addiction to food, alcohol, drugs, work, pornography, etc.
Extramarital affairs or the desire for them.
The desire to game the system through scams, gambling, and risky investments.
A feeling of disappointment at the end of each day.
Feeling haunted and panicked by meaning of life questions.

What Is A Dream?

As a noun, a (waking) dream is ‘a cherished or meaningful purpose, desire, ambition, or ideal.’

Dream as a verb is to ‘imagine or invent something.’

Origins of the word dream in Old English are found to mean ‘joy, mirth, and music.’

The Effects of Meaning and Purpose

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.”
– Rumi

The effects of purpose and meaning on our health is a relatively new field of research. And yet there exists substantial evidence that purpose and meaning (the essence of a dream) are connected to healthy cognitive function, good memory, and anti-ageing.

The American Heart Foundation found in a 2015 study that “people who have a strong sense of purpose in life are less likely to develop brain infarcts as they age. Having a purpose in life may also protect against dementia, movement problems, and death.”

In a 2017 study by the Harvard School of Public Health, researchers found that “if you feel you have a higher sense of purpose in life, a sense of meaning, and a goal and direction in life, you are more likely to remain healthy and physically strong as you grow older.”

The dream causes positive desire and change.

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
— Walt Disney

As you work on activating your dream, things happen.

Opportunities come your way because you can visualize them.

By aligning with and manifesting your most meaningful desires, you feel a sense of power and control over your life.

Acting on your desires causes you to move in ways that are congruent with your natural physiology and neurology. You are designed to move forward. You face forward, toward the future.

When your inner feelings and actions are aligned, you’re no longer fighting yourself to get things done. You are on the path of least resistance, and this releases positive energy that keeps you healthy.

Signs that the dream is winning:

Enthusiasm and energy for living.
The desire for healthy experiences, food, exercise, and activities.
Gratitude for what you have.
Commitment to loved ones.
A humble demeanor.
Generosity.
A desire to find meaning.
A sense of satisfaction at the end of the day.

How I Disrupted The Grind With My Dream

“When we can’t dream any longer, we die.”
― Emma Goldman

In my twenties, I wrote and directed art and narrative films that screened in art galleries, film festivals and television networks across the globe.

A decade on, I grew tired of the sporadic nature and income of project work, and so I made a firm resolve to have regular employment for the next five years.

I gave up writing and filmmaking and went into business assisting a startup ambient media company.

Nine months later, a mysterious illness struck.

I couldn’t get out of bed. My body felt like concrete. My brain slowed — almost to a halt.

Certain that I’ had chronic fatigue, I visited several doctors, but none confirmed of my self-diagnosis. My illness remained a mystery.

Then one night, I dreamed of a crone-like woman (who’d previously guided me in dreams). She was standing next to a film projector that was playing scenes from my current life intercut with scenes from my former filmmaking days.

The message was a no-brainer. I needed to do my job and keep tending to my dream.

As soon as I had a project, a dream on the boil, I recovered.

I spent early mornings, some nights, and weekends writing, planning and wrangling crew members.

My holidays were spent making films guerrilla style, and although the productions weren’t on the scale of my previous films, they were featured in art galleries and on my local television network.

The most significant benefit, however, was to my health and emotional wellbeing.

Sure I was working hard, but at that stage of my life I wasn’t done with my dream, or should I say, my dream wasn’t done with me.

I kept tending to my dream, and in return, my dream kept me healthy and happy.

Now To Slipstreaming Your Dream

“The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized — never knowing.”
― Jim Rohn

If you have a dream that you long to create, no matter what your logical mind tells you, you must create it.

The secret is to create your dream on a scale that stretches you, but which you can manage.

Value Your Time Like Gold.

“Be not afraid of growing slowly. Be afraid of standing still.”
– Chinese Proverb

When the grind is in control, your time gets devalued because you feel as though someone else is controlling your time: your boss, the family, work colleagues — anyone but you.

The grind mindset sees time as big, opaque, isolated, fixed blocks: 9 to 5 for working, 5 to 6 for commuting, 6 to 8 dining, etc.

The dream mindset sees time as small, transparent, flexible, connected opportunities to create: 7 to 7.10 for meditating, 10.30 to 10.35 for brainstorming, 9 to 9.15 for penning the novel.

America’s top personal trainer and health expert, Ben Greenfield, wrote a fantasy fiction book, The Forest, in 15-minute daily increments.

To approach your dream, you first need to reflect on the truth of your time — that every piece of your time is a portion of your life, and therefore your most precious resource.

Once you respect this truth about yourself, you will automatically see what everyone else can’t: the fragments, bits, junctures, and between times as opportunities for manifestation.

You will bypass the big, onerous blocks that were previously preventing you from breaking free of the grind.

Begin to identify 3 to 15-minute time slots, and you will wonder how you ever missed them.

Learn From Great Artists and Scientists.

The following poets had day jobs while they created their bodies of work. Charles Bukowski: Letter Filing Clerk, Robert Burns: Tax Collector, Frank O’Hara: Museum Curator, Wallace Stevens: Insurance Lawyer, Walt Whitman: Government Clerk, Robert Frost: Factory Worker.

Musician Philip Glass was a plumber and taxi driver.

Musician Laurie Anderson worked as a cashier at McDonald’s.

Author TS Eliot was a banker.

Kurt Vonnegut owned a car dealership that went bust. Fortunately, he had a dream to fall back on.

Albert Einstein worked full-time in the US Patent Office while inventing by night.

These creators were in the grind but not of it. Their works are evidence that they belonged to the dream mindset.

Can’t Find Your Dream? Create One.

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.
― Kurt Vonnegut

If you demand of yourself that you must find your ultimate, true, one and only dream, you’ll be defeated at the outset. Give yourself a break.

Finding your dream is no more worthy or meaningful than creating it.

Moving toward something positive with the slightest curiosity will interrupt the grind and usher in renewed energy.

As you move in the general direction of a desire, you’ll start with a few practical tasks; gathering materials for the project, meeting with one or two other people for discussion, volunteering to be part of a community effort.

The important thing is to start. If it doesn’t go anywhere, start again.

Embrace Your Fear.

“Fear is always triggered by creativity, because creativity asks you to enter into realms of uncertain outcome. This is nothing to be ashamed of. It is, however, something to be dealt with.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert

As you step forward in the general direction of your dream, fear will arise.

Your fear of the unknown, the panic of not knowing where you are going, or what exactly you are doing, and the childlike naivety of fumbling are sure signs you’ve shattered the grind mindset.

Stay with these healthy, chaotic feelings; your creativity has just been unleashed.

Don’t Be Half-assed.

“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”
– Ella Fitzgerald

Have the attitude that you’re going to do whatever it takes to find or create your dream.

Get your physical, mental, and emotional muscles working.

Do whatever it takes to stir up your energy: exercise, bodywork, running, or coaching or counseling.

Make A Deal.

“If you’ve built an expensive lifestyle around a well-paying job, what would happen to your life if you downsized and sought out more joy or generosity?”
– Seth Godin

All creation requires a sacrifice. There is no way out of it.

Decide what you are willing to sacrifice, e.g., idle time, weekend sleep-ins, a Netflix series, alcohol, unhealthy eating, a regular social event, one of your gym nights.

Let whoever needs to know that you are committed to doing something outside of the grind and you’ll need X amount of time in the morning or on two nights a week.

Ask for their understanding and support. If appropriate, ask them to keep you accountable.

Look Within.

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”
– Helen Keller

Connect with your inner vision in a way that feels natural, e.g., through meditation, contemplation, automatic writing, or by recalling your sleeping dreams.

I once had a client who danced her way into her dream job. She’d never danced before, although she was a classical musician. She was naturally extraordinarily cautious, and she would overthink everything. Freeing her body through spontaneous dance released her imagination.

You can’t connect with your inner self through thinking. Thinking will only frustrate you and send you on a never-ending search. It’s crazy making.

Only your deep feeling mind brings you up close and personal with yourself. Your ego relaxes, and you tune into what truly matters.

Play.

“The opposite of play isn’t work, it’s depression.”
– Jane McGonigal, Game Designer and Author

If you feel stuck in the grind mindset, begin to experiment with creativity and play.

Here’s an idea.

Take a material that you enjoy touching, e.g., silk, fur, paper, pencils, paint, clay, soil, a plant, or food.

Visualize an object: a painting, a piece of clothing, a clay creature.

Relish your senses and be playful about what you want to create.

Give it your best shot.

Conceive the idea and create it quickly. Then do it again… and again.

Does this sound like a silly waste of time? It is if you are in the grind mindset. You feel childish.

In the dream mindset, this profound experiment ignites creativity for creativity’s sake.

If you want to create your dream, you have to practice creating.

Change Through Creativity

As you set out to create your dream, your life will change in ways that you cannot possibly foresee.

Opportunities arrive, seemingly from out of the blue, in the form of people, events, and resources, for two reasons:

#1. Pattern Disruption

“Creativity is the defeat of habit by originality.”
― Arthur Koestler

Disrupting the repetitive, automatic patterns with intentional acts toward your meaningful desires transforms habitual consciousness into creative consciousness.

Creative consciousness remains dormant in the grind mindset.

Creative consciousness belongs to those with a dream mindset; the innovative professionals, entrepreneurs, inventors, writers, artists, and humanitarians that change the world.

#2. The Mystery Of Creation

“ Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise.”
― Julia Cameron

As you put something into the world that previously didn’t exist, mysterious forces come into play.

Like bringing a child into the world, your creation takes on its own life.

At first, you look at your creation and find it difficult to believe that you created it. But as you look a little deeper, you begin to see yourself more clearly than you ever have.

You realize your connection to something far more vast and mysterious than your individual identity.

Making something that becomes creative itself gives you a sense of wonder and awe. You feel a natural reverence for your life and the life-force.

The whole experience of struggling to manifest your dream will now make perfect sense.

The ultimate goal of leaving the grind mindset for the dream mindset is for you to understand where your true power and beauty lies.

You are the conduit of creative consciousness. And as such, you become a powerful and useful human being.

“Engaged in the creative process we feel more alive than ever, because we are making something and not merely consuming, Masters of the small reality we create. In doing this work, we are in fact creating ourselves.”
— Robert Greene, The 48 Laws Of Power

Back To The Funny Man

Jim Carrey is someone I admire, not only because he followed his dream, or because (to me) he’s one of the funniest comedians alive, but because he possesses heart-earned wisdom.

“Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. Don’t let anything stand in the way of the light that shines through this form (you). Risk being seen in all of your glory.”

Thanks for reading! Now let me show you how to fast-track your Dream Mindset 10x with my FREE CHECKLIST.