Читать книгу Manage your dream. Your opportunities are endless - Влад Рековски - Страница 5

November 5, 2018. Today I started writing this book and set a new, rather unusual and difficult task for myself: I am starting my own experiment, experience. The result of this work must be embodied and fulfilled in a future unknown to me. I will remember this date and return to it in my new reality, which I will describe in the second book a few years later.

Three days ago, my family and I flew from the city of Pune, located in central India. At this point, we have already lived there for some time and went to an unfamiliar place for us in southern Goa. Our plane landed in the historic town that bears the name of the famous Portuguese explorer – the navigator Vasco da Gama. This small town of just over thirty thousand inhabitants is the main city of the state, which until 1969 was a colony of Portugal.

Having traveled 44 kilometers in a local taxi, we stopped in a quiet place of Varca on the picturesque coast of South Goa, where we planned to spend our holidays during the festival and the Diwali holiday.

Over the years, observing and working on my subconscious, I have become so accustomed to constant activity that, even while on vacation, I get full satisfaction only if I am partially engaged in something productive, something that will become useful in the future not only for myself, but also for my family. Of course, I do not forget to pay attention to my daughter, who at the age of three is incredibly active, and not a single swim in the sea is complete without my participation. I do not disregard my beloved wife either! In order not to fall under the influence of my subconscious, my brain is used to constantly controlling it. In the future, I will call our subconscious, this “main dictator” of human consciousness, the voice of the body.

How to control your subconscious, why is it necessary and what is generally meant by this concept – my book tells about this, where I described my thoughts, actions and those events in my life to which they led.

Here, on the western coast of India, forty kilometers south of the city of Vasco da Gama, I begin to write this book.

Ural. Ilmensk reserve

For forty years of my life, I watched my thoughts and what important changes took place in my biography. When I was still a ten-year-old boy, I mentally always saw myself as a winner in any school sports, a successful student, a leader of all kinds of events, and constantly thought that all the boys, because of my achievements, wanted to be like me. And, imagine, I became like that.

By the age of fourteen, I had accumulated a whole pile of certificates of honor for sporting success, I was the chairman of the educational committee from schoolchildren, and at the same time I was the chairman of the sports commission there. At the age of fifteen, I became the chairman of the school forestry, we often went to competitions on knowledge of nature between schools in our city of Miass in the Chelyabinsk region. At the age of twelve, I independently, without knowledge of music and attending music courses, learned to play the guitar and organized a political song ensemble at school. We even had Cuban patriotic songs in our repertoire, such as “Guantanamera”. In addition, I managed to master several sports and competed in boxing, karate, cross-country skiing, volleyball and high jumping.

Everything that I achieved in those years – today I understand it very clearly – I received all these achievements and success only thanks to my thoughts and a great desire to be so. And I got everything that I myself wanted: to become what I already saw myself at the moment when I had not yet achieved my goals!

I’m 17 years old. First year at university

At the age of seventeen, I entered the University in Sverdlovsk (this city was renamed Yekaterinburg in the 90s), at the Faculty of Economics of ULTI. Competition – five people per place. I successfully passed three exams: mathematics, physics and essay on the proposed topic, gaining fourteen points. The only thing left to do is to pass an interview. But, alas, my fourteen points turned out to be a semi-passing level – one point was not enough for me to pass the competition for sure. And here I am at the interview, I include all my energy, memory and a great desire to be here, among the students of the Faculty of Economics!

As a result, my success in school and achievements played a decisive role: I get my cherished, missing for one hundred percent confidence, my winning BALL! I have fifteen points! I won!

The first course at the university in 1986—1987 is successful and quite active: I get involved in public life, I become the head of the Komsomol organization (the Komsomol still existed in those years, at the end of the eighties, before the coming changes in the politics and economy of the country in the nineties). I play the guitar, meet the most active university students. This leads me to the creation of “Fireworks” disco club, in which my classmate Kirill Sukhov and I become the hosts, write individual and thematic programs for holding entertaining disc evenings that take place twice a month on our campus. This gives me the opportunity to earn a little in addition to my scholarship, which was fifty rubles, and, moreover, I expanded my possibilities in organizing hobbies in my free time.

I have become quite a famous person at the university after several months of study: many students recognize me and invite me to all kinds of events and parties. Life starts to go like a script!

1987 year. Conscription into the ranks of the armed forces.

Unexpected, but true!

Any person on his life path is faced with surprises and sudden difficulties, obstacles, and all kinds of unforeseen situations arise unexpectedly and unpredictably. It happened to me too. In May 1987, a decree of the USSR Ministry of Defense was issued on the additional conscription of students of higher educational institutions into the ranks of the armed forces. Despite the presence of a military department at our university, I, like many other students, had to go to the army, changing my plans not of my own free will. For me this news was an absolute surprise. I joined the army on June 5, 1987, not having time to pass the last exam in chemistry, which I always had difficulties with due to the lack of special interest in this discipline at school.

How did I take this change for myself? Very calm. My inner voice told me at that moment: “If it turns out this way, then it should be so”! I calmly set myself up for the coming changes!

(I draw your attention! Further in the text, do not confuse the concepts of “inner voice” and “voice of the body”, or our subconsciousness! These are completely different concepts. You will understand in the process of reading what the difference is.)

We spent almost a week at a recruiting station on the outskirts of Sverdlovsk, and late in the evening we were put on a train and off we went. Where we were going, none of us knew. There was no information at that time. Waking up early the next morning and looking out the window, to my great surprise, I saw that the train was at the Chebarkul train station, twenty kilometers from Miass. Without waiting to disembark from the train, I took a ballpoint pen and in large letters on the right leg of my jeans, from top to bottom, wrote the name of the city: “Miass.” A little later, this inscription on jeans played a significant role in the events that unfolded soon, which influenced not only these two years of service, but also my subsequent life.

Approximately two hours after arriving at the Chebarkul station, they dropped us off, put us on buses and brought us to the military unit of the Sivash division. Sorting of the young replenishment has begun. The total number of conscripts standing on the huge parade ground of the unit was about five hundred people (later I learned that in case of hostilities, the parade ground was provided as an airfield for military helicopters). One of the sergeants of the unit, seeing the inscription on my jeans, came up to me and asked: “Are you from the city of Miass?” I quickly replied, “Yes!” – “Excellent!” – said the sergeant and asked: – “What is your surname?” – “Rekovski!” – I immediately blurted. After that, the sergeant said sternly: “Well, when I say your last name, you should come up to me. I take you to my unit. You will not regret! Got it?” – “So exactly!!” I blurted out again.

Another life

And here I am enlisted in the 2nd battalion of the 31st motorized rifle regiment of the Sivash rapid deployment division. It was a hot summer. We entered the unit’s location, went up to the third floor and entered our barracks. The sight was unexpected: on one floor there were two companies, each with 120 people (4 platoons of 30 people each). There were no partitions between companies and platoons. It was one huge room with bunk beds. At that moment, I realized that it was necessary not only to survive in such conditions, but to succeed. I definitely need to stand out from the crowd and try to do more than the rest!

And here is the first formation of the company after visiting the bathhouse. All are dressed in uniforms, some of the guys look funny – those for whom the clothes did not fit. I was lucky because the clothes fit me.

After the roll call and check of the new squad, a survey began: “Who is the athlete?” I responded immediately. My name was written down. A number of other questions followed, but I waited. For example, to the question “Who plays the guitar or other instruments?” I deliberately kept silent, because already earlier, even before the conscription, I had heard from experienced people that the nights are very short for those who play the guitars.

So my new everyday life began, a new life in completely different and, at first, completely difficult conditions. During the first three months, our training program included only military, drill and physical training. The basis of military training was based on firing from an infantry fighting vehicle. The IFV-1 became legendary during the war in Afghanistan, and we used the entire base of its weapons, including the AGM (anti-tank guided missile). I tried to memorize everything that I heard and saw, and concentrated my attention as much as possible. I especially focused on targeting and combat tactics exercises, and then I did the analysis for myself.

First success

After two months, I had accumulated enough knowledge to propose my own options for conducting maneuvers, and I was noticed, despite the fact that my proposals often failed due to lack of experience. As a result, when, three months later, a special platoon of the thirty most successful for undergoing special training with subsequent appointment to senior sergeants was created in our regiment from three battalions, I was included in its composition. And the kind of young people who were gathered into this special platoon later affected my subsequent life after returning from the ranks of the armed forces.

We began to study military science with instructors who trained and trained special forces. Physical activity was easy for me – I practiced a similar experience and sports training from an early age. Combat tactics are, first of all, logical thinking and a creative approach, which I also acquired from childhood. We helped each other in any situation, we were like one family. For example, no one wanted to come to our platoon’s location – and this is a row of beds in a common company. Old-timers, or, in army slang, “old men”, had heard a lot about our brotherhood and were treated with respect.

I’ll give you one example. We are running a forced march to the famous Chebarkul training ground, which has become tactical in our time. The distance from our barracks to the landfill is fifteen kilometers. We are running in formation in full combat build, in addition, in each of the three platoon squads there is one heavy tank machine gun. It is transmitted when running from one soldier to the next one running behind. After five kilometers of running, the machine gun was already a significant additional load, which was not easy to cope with. At least for me it was a serious test! I accept the machine gun and, not having time to place it more comfortably on my right shoulder, I hear: “Give this piece of iron to me!” Sergei Stolyarov, nicknamed “Schwartz Niger”, picks up the machine gun, holding the barrel with his right hand. So we nicknamed him for the volume of the biceps – the same as that of the famous actor.

There were all sorts of other cases. For example, when at night someone replaced normal boots with leaky boots from one of ours, the boots were returned to the owner in twenty minutes. In the dining room, on the tables at which we sat, there was always a full set of food, and no one took it away from us, which we observed, and more than once, on other tables.

In the harsh winter conditions of the Urals, while at the tactical training range, we took turns warming ourselves on the armor of our infantry fighting vehicle. The nose of the car heated up from the constant operation of the engine, and when, according to the assignment, it was forbidden to kindle a fire, we were saved only by the warm armor of the bow of the BMP. We changed places at the stove at night in a tent at minus twenty-five degrees, lying on a bed of pine rags, prepared by us during the day, clutching a Kalashnikov assault rifle. All this, like many other things, we have experienced together.

The common goal helped us and united us in those conditions: not just to survive, but to live and live as best as possible for these two years in those conditions! We had no choice at that time. There was only what was. This was our general mind.

Of all “ours” I was the last to be demobilized, as I was finishing my “demobilization chord”. For three weeks already, on the instructions of the company commander, Major Syutov, I took part in the construction of the Memory Alley of Heroes. A hundred poplars were to be planted on the alley, paths were laid between them, benches were put up, and in the central part a four-meter cube welded from a metal frame was installed at a height of two meters for placing posters. This whole ensemble was supposed to show off in front of the building where our regiment was located. I would like to look today, thirty years later, at this alley…

To complete this assignment, I could take five privates and carry out work at any time of the day. Removing the time limit was one of the necessary prerequisites and a condition for the successful implementation of this “chord”, since no materials or funds were provided for this, and the task had to be completed. Where did I get the building material? – you will ask. And what do you think? And I am smiling now! This was a forced step, I could not act differently and acted against my will. Henceforth, I have never resorted to such methods of obtaining building materials and equipment or any other benefits.

1989. Return to the former life

And now the long-awaited June 1989. Two years of service have come to an end. We return to our former life, only a little different people: not the boys we were two years ago. During these two years of service, I took part in the transportation of explosive goods by trains across the territory of Russia; in the mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, when our group was transferred in the summer of 1988 to the city of Baku to maintain order and tranquility in the city; I stood at night on military guards, guarding military installations; I learned how to fire from almost any type of weapon of the ground forces and much more. I was demobilized with the rank of petty officer and with the specialty “commander of an infantry fighting vehicle – driver’s backup mechanic”.

During my service, I learned for myself twelve principles of survival and success for my whole life:

• evaluate the situation realistically. Don’t swim in illusions;

• make a decision, otherwise it is dangerous;

• act right away, otherwise it’s too late;

• don’t take risks without thinking – you will die;

• rely only on yourself, otherwise you will lose;

• a huge plus if you still have someone to rely on;

• look for your own kind;

• take an example from the strong;

• think positively even in the most unfavorable conditions:

I can do it! I will not give up!

• faith in yourself and the memory of people close to you help;

• I will always eat what I want and only healthy food;

• I will never freeze in the future.

Many years have passed since then, or rather, thirty. I still observe these rules today, only about a dozen other important rules have been added to this list, which you will learn about in the process of reading this book.

When I returned from the ranks of the armed forces, there were still two months left before study – it’s time to earn extra money and buy yourself everything you need for a new life.

But at that time, his father’s illness progressed, he was on a three-month course of treatment in Moscow, in a hospital for reserve officers and participants in hostilities. My father was not a military man, but he had good connections, which allowed him to get into this unique clinic. Due to my father’s illness, I came to the Ural Mineralogical Reserve, where my father had been working for sixteen years by that time. I began to help my mother with the housework at the Karmakkul cordon, which was located in the southernmost part of the reserve, twenty kilometers from the city of Karabash and the northern part of the city of Miass. We moved to this place when I was seven years old, before that we lived in another reserved cordon. I grew up in this forest, among the picturesque Ilmensk lakes and forested mountain ranges with incredible stone piles left after the Ice Age. It was my home and unique corner of our planet.

I was a very good fisherman and I was by spinning and much to my surprise the bite was incredible that summer! In the morning hours, from seven to nine, the pike itself was caught. I managed to pull out up to 10—12 good, large specimens of pikes, which in total was about thirty kilograms. Having loaded them into a bag and covered two kilometers on foot, I got on a bus in the village of Novaya Andreevka, which was located by the Miass River, and in half an hour I was at the collective farm market. I sold all the fish in fifteen minutes. A line of five to seven people lined up while I was preparing for the sale and laying out a simple inventory consisting of hand scales, packaging material and a certificate of fish inspection in the market laboratory.

I looked after the farm instead of my father, rode around on horseback the territory of the reserve entrusted to him for protection, accompanied by our German shepherd named Bars, and could earn a little for my needs.

Our father’s family comes from the city of Murom, its roots can be traced back to the 17th century. Our ancestral brick house with two floors for four families, and today it is four apartments, in the village of Berezovka, which is located fifty kilometers from Murom, was built in 1752.

My ancestors at that time were well-to-do peasants, they traded in the harvesting and sale of wood, forged all kinds of wares for agriculture and had a small trading store, which was located in a two-story house opposite, across the street.

The trading shop was located on the first floor, built of bricks, and the second floor of a small square served as a single-family dwelling.

Next to this house is the third house of our family: a one-storey one, built of logs by my grandfather Alexei Vasilyevich at a later time – at the end of the 18th century. My father, Yuri Alekseevich, was born there on July 7, 1936.

My brother and I had to do the housework since childhood, and the bulk of the work fell on the summer school holidays. For this reason, my brother and I never went, like other children, to summer children’s holiday camps. And we had our own camp in the forest. My brother and I spent the whole summer in a tent on the shore of the lake, two hundred meters from the cordon. The lake, up to eight hundred meters wide and two kilometers long, is located near the mountains, and the evening echo for us was one of our entertainments before going to bed.

Our subsidiary farm consisted of two cows, two piglets, up to eight bulls, up to fifteen fine-wooled white sheep, about two dozen chickens, sometimes there were big black turkeys. We also had a service horse named Savras, as well as two dogs: a Siberian Laika and a German purebred shepherd named Bars. Bars, at the age of five, was shot by a resident from the nearby village of Novaya Andreevka in a shootout during the arrest of the poacher Stepan Vorsov. Vorsov shot a large elk, and if not for this shootout, he would have got off with a suspended sentence. As a result, he received five years in prison. But traces to this character led my father one more time after eight years. Vorsov ordered the murder of my father to his former cellmate. The attempt was unsuccessful thanks to the strong physique and incredible strength of Yuri Alekseevich. Despite the fact that the father was already seriously ill at that moment, he did not give up and worked as usual.

Our chores in the summer were complemented by the care of a huge potato field of sixteen acres. At least it seemed to me and my brother that way. And if not for the Colorado potato beetle, which appeared around 1979, when I was about ten years old, the hassle might have been much less. Harvesting forest berries was also time-consuming. We had to stock up on: three three-liter jars of wild strawberries and blueberries; up to ten liters of candied red viburnum; up to three buckets of lingonberries and cranberries; dried porcini mushrooms – depending on availability; about a fifty-kilogram bag of dried fish. The lake began to feed us with fish five years after our arrival. At first we lived in another cordon, Savelkul, in the very wilderness of the Ilmensk reserve, and the nearest town of Chebarkul was about thirty-five kilometers away. When I went to the first grade of school, we moved to a new place. At first, when we first arrived, there were practically no fish in the lake. It took about five years to restore fish stocks in it. Fish stocks were in poor condition because of fishing by poaching – nets and electric trails. My father and I were fishing by spinning in the summer, sometimes using nets when there was no bite at all. In the winter season, there was only one opportunity for fishing – live baits, which were installed on the ice up to ten or twelve pieces. As a result, three or four pikes could be caught per day.

Everything that I described, my brother and I knew how to do. We didn’t have much free time, as I said, so we really appreciated it and learned to use it as efficiently as possible, which I still do today, after forty years of my life.

The list of my brother and I’s tasks also included chopping birch firewood, bringing water from the river, cleaning the barnyard, watering the beds, driving livestock from pasture in the forest at the end of the day, and so on, but all this – only in the summer. When classes began at school, priorities changed, and the emphasis was on doing homework and attending sports clubs. I was fond of volleyball, skiing, was engaged in the boxing section, participated in many competitions and social life of the school, worked with a personal trainer, my father’s friend – Alexei Malolkin, the champion of Russia in karate in the 70s.

Alexey worked for several years, like my father, in the neighboring cordon. And he would still have worked, but once, as a result of a clash with violators of the protected area regime, with a group of former convicts – there were six of them – Alexey was forced to use his service weapon, a 7.62 mm carbine. As a result, a criminal case was opened against him and almost sentenced to imprisonment. This would be the end if he, despite his recognizance not to leave, had not gone to a personal meeting with the USSR Prosecutor General in Moscow. The case against Alexei was closed after this meeting in Moscow, and he was acquitted. My father helped him get an appointment in Moscow.

Meeting the right people is one of the essential prerequisites for success. Look for and keep in touch with people who can teach you something. Maintain contact with those people whom you would like to be like or have those traits that you may not have yet, but these people already have.

I will cite several examples of outstanding personalities who respected my father very much and who often visited us: Major General Karpukhin – the head of the special forces group “Alpha”, twice Hero of the Soviet Union; Viktor Petrovich Makeev – General Designer of KB Miass-20; cosmonaut Pavel Romanovich Popovich from the group that trained in the first team together with Yuri Gagarin; Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences, Professor, Doctor of Sciences Viktor Alekseevich Koroteev and several other very bright and famous personalities.

How did my father’s acquaintance affect me? – you ask. When I was five years old, General Karpukhin brought and presented me with a suit of a cadet of the Suvorov Military School, which was tailored for me, and I proudly put it on sometimes. I felt and imagined myself to be a very courageous and significant person. I am already at this age to the question of cosmonaut Popovich: “What do you want to become, fighter?” – Immediately and clearly answered: “I want to become a general, comrade general!” To which he smiled broadly and replied: “So, you will definitely be!”

Our guest is cosmonaut Pavel Romanovich Popovich, 12/22/1975, second from the left (in the center – mother Lydia Aleksandrovna, in front of the left – brother Dmitry, I am on the right, next to me is father Yuri Alekseevich)

From the words of my father – the story of cosmonaut Pavel Romanovich Popovich:

“In 1959, by a resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, a decision was made on the selection and preparation of cosmonauts for the first flight on the “East” spacecraft. They chose from fighter pilots because they are the most trained and have the characteristics suitable for this. The selection was very tough, both according to medical criteria and physical data: the candidate must not be older than 35 years old, height no more than 175 cm, and weight up to 75 kg. At the time of selection, we did not have any information for what purpose we were selected. For us, the military, it was a common thing.

For the initial interview, 347 people were selected out of 3,400 candidates, but of them only 29 military pilots were able to complete all stages of the medical examination.

The first cosmonaut corps was formed on March 7, 1960, 12 people were enrolled in it. Only after that, it was announced to us for what purposes our detachment was formed. We became the first participants in the program, which was named the “East” Program. Yura Gagarin flew first on the “East-1” spacecraft, and my finest hour came a year later: in August 1962, I flew into space on the “East-4” spacecraft. This was the first program of two manned spacecraft. Andrei Nikolaev then flew the second ship – “East-3”. In this flight, we conducted the first experiments on radio communication between the crews of two ships in space. In addition, I could control the “East-4” spacecraft using the first manual control system”.

My father once asked Pavel Romanovich about the conditions for staying on a spacecraft, to which the cosmonaut replied, thinking a little: “Yura, conditions are not for normal life in this piece of iron! There was room for me alone a little more than one and a half cubic meters, one armchair in the center, from which it is not even possible to stand up at full height…”

Cosmonaut Pavel Romanovich Popovich, 12/22/1975

One spring, when I was six years old, I was running on the ice of Lake Savelkul, holding on to the frame of the baby carriage, which I was rolling in front of me. Suddenly, the ice fell under my feet, and I found myself in the water. Fortunately for me, the wheels of the baby carriage did not fall under the ice, but caught on the edge of the ice. I continued to hold on tightly to the frame of the stroller, realizing that if I let go of my hands, I would fall under the ice. I screamed, because my mother was about three hundred meters away from me on the ice – fishing with a winter rod. She was a great lover of winter fishing, and in summer she almost never fished – I believe that with our farm in the summer there was simply no time for this. I shouted until Mommy ran up and, grabbing my jacket, pulled me out of the water. After this incident, I did not become afraid of water and did not stop going on the ice. I only became more circumspect, especially in spring, and I avoided those places where the snow had a yellowish tint.

My father taught me a lot, including how to set goals and how to deal with difficulties. “Self-hypnosis is a great force”, he repeated in a difficult situation. He himself did not smoke or drink alcohol. I have never seen my father tipsy, distressed, demotivated, sad or confused. He often told me: “Smile more often! Do not be afraid of difficulties, but overcome them. Look for a way out of any situation and do not give up in front of an obstacle. If you started a business, then be sure to bring it to the end! Only then can you start another business. Set goals and go to them as the ship makes its way under the guidance of the captain. And your life will be bright, although not always easy. But you will get what you want”. I remember his parting words very well today.

How could a person with an eighth grade education know this? – I asked myself more than once. And here is my answer today: he learned all this through communication with people. I will write more about this important factor later.

Despite a serious and incurable illness, my father lived fully for another twenty-two years and passed away on Easter in Germany at the age of eighty, only two months before his eighty-first birthday. Not long before that, I visited him, having arrived from Russia for a couple of days in Germany, in the city of Goslar. The last six months have been quite a difficult time, especially for my mother, who was always by his side. I put my arms around my father’s shoulders before leaving, stayed in this position for a while and realized that I was seeing him for the last time. My father passed away a week after my departure, in April 2017. I am very grateful to him for the fact that he was able to convey to me everything that I use today in my difficult, but very dynamic and diverse life!

1989 year. Sverdlovsk. I am 20 years old

So, I am returning to the city of Sverdlovsk, now Yekaterinburg, in the fall of 1989. I meet with my friend Sergei Stepnoy, with whom we served together in the same battalion of the Sivash division from the very first to the last day, and we start doing business. Also my former classmates and friends Vasily Chudny and Vladimir Furmanov returned after the service. Vasily and I ended up in Chebarkul together, but six months later he was assigned to eastern Germany, near Magdeburg. Vladimir was drafted a year later and ended up in a construction battalion, where he also had to go through difficult times … We recovered for the second year of the Faculty of Economics and continued our studies. Student Valery Lepninsky joined the three of us on a new course. I realized over time that this was a very successful and active union for the embodiment of our ideas and true friendship.

Today Valery is the owner of the large corporation “Our time”, formerly “Ural machines” LLC. Vladimir Furmanov is the general director of a pasta company known to everyone in Russia. Vasily Chudny, unfortunately, tragically passed away back in 1999, but his departure to another world was not associated with his professional activities.

We returned from the army two years later as other people, respectively, our interests and goals also became other. We began to think about how we can become free. Yes, that’s right: we wanted to be free! To be free from stereotypes of life, not to depend on circumstances and from other people, to have the right to choose for ourselves and make decisions independently! We wanted to be ourselves: to be individuals, entrepreneurial and successful!

And what do you think, my dear readers, what was necessary to have for this? Quite right – money! We needed money. Not just a certain amount, but an unlimited amount of financial resources. Our new life began with this! We started looking for an opportunity to make money.

A new beginning: entrepreneurship

I guess it’s pretty easy today to say, “Maybe I should do some business?” There are enough opportunities for this, and even such niches exist in the service sector. But if you do not have that entrepreneurial streak, that energy, self-discipline, a certainty of purpose and a great desire to become such, it does not matter! The economic situation in Russia by 2018, despite the constantly updated sanctions from the United States, provides more and more opportunities for growth in large companies, both Russian and in companies with foreign capital! It all depends only on yourself.

So, let’s go back thirty-two years ago, in 1989: the country is on the verge of bankruptcy, the courts and militia do not work properly, mired in corruption and bribery. The country’s economy is completely ruined, capital was exported to the USA and to European countries! The most important set of simple products is sold with coupons, the privatization of what has not yet been plundered begins. People are waiting for salaries for six months, factories are closed. The country is in chaos. This is how we saw the USSR at that time, on the threshold of new changes. We ourselves did not know and did not understand what kind of changes. But one thing we understood for sure – right now we need to act. As one very well-known proverb says, “water does not flow under a lying stone” – we repeated these words almost every day and looked for opportunities to cling to at least something: we discussed together our ideas and evaluated how successful it could be, what risks it can bring and what benefits we can get for investing in the future in larger projects.

It all started, from the point of view of today, quite simple and straightforward, but we began to act two months after our return to civilian life.

My friend and colleague Sergei Stepnoy and I are starting to buy scarce goods in Yekaterinburg and resell them. We delivered goods to the region, we sold them in the Chelyabinsk region and the Khanty-Mansiysk district. We sold everything from nails and sweatshirts to candy, oranges and women’s imported tights. We did not trade at retail, but only in wholesale. We bought wholesale lots and in two or three days we were already reselling with a profitability of at least 100%. It was a success.

We successfully studied at the university, combining studies with our entrepreneurial activities, and, of course, did not forget about health. Health is one of the most important conditions for success in life and business! Our difficult past and military service helped us a lot in this. Starting from the second year, all the students once a week, on Wednesdays, attended the military department, and we – those who served our two years – quite logically received an exemption from military training classes. And we went to the bathhouse every full additional day off. We bought out for six months in advance an individual complex with a swimming pool and a steam room, accommodating six people, according to the price list. We met in the bathhouse at the same time, from nine in the morning to one in the afternoon. Our suites had a tea room, a relaxation room, a spacious pool and, most importantly, a very hot steam room. At the same time, we have never consumed alcohol over the years: we always had a supply of herbs for tea, jam and muffins with us. We gradually determined our method of visiting the bathhouse, so as not to harm, but to improve our health and constantly increase immunity. We had a strict rule: no alcohol! We used Friday and Saturday, or one of these days, for delicious and fun dining. Most often, we visited then the restaurant “Petrovsky Hall”, where we were regular guests. As they say, we are always remembered there!

Weekly and regular trips to the bathhouse were not our only occupation in order to improve health, and we pursued not only this goal. We also tempered, trained and tested our state of awareness in this world: thus, every time I felt myself one step closer to nature, closer to that closed “I”, which in the process of daily routine of tasks and the influence of the surrounding reality takes us into side of our inner and real “I”. For me personally, it was also a constant process of withdrawing myself and my body from a comfortable state into a state of stress and discomfort! Why do you need to do this regularly? You will get the answer to this question by reading the book to the end!

So, there were four of us comrades, all of them were students of our university, and we got carried away with dousing with cold water according to the Porfiry Ivanov’s system known only in Russia. This experience was for me the first discovery of the limitless possibilities of man. I will gladly share this experience with you.

Porfiry Ivanov’s system – dousing with cold water:

it works 100%

Our group “hike in the bath”, as we called it, included a regular and the most ardent bather Misha Sharkov – a very extraordinary personality. Sometimes he was completely unpredictable; it’s good that such moments did not come so often. This happened when Misha was drinking some alcohol. Misha regained consciousness only the next day. Sometimes he did not remember where he drank and with whom. In addition, he really loved to compete with someone strength at such moments. For this reason, Misha did not appear the next day in class after such adventures. But, nevertheless, it was he who infected me with the water dousing system. And I began to gradually prepare myself for this. Here I would like to note one fact: after we began to regularly engage in pouring cold water, my friend Misha stopped drinking alcohol altogether.

The principle of recovery from Porfiry Korneevich Ivanov was based on unity with nature, in which it gives strength and nourishes with its energy. Porfiry tried to control emotions and consciousness, to control all internal processes, avoiding excitement and fear. He walked freely in winter, in any frost, practically without clothes, only in shorts, and twice a day he doused himself with cold water outside. Porfiry Korneevich was born on February 20, 1898 and lived, despite all the difficulties and hardships of his life, eighty-five years. He passed away on April 10, 1983.

How it all started: when Porfiry Korneevich developed cancer on his arm, he was about thirty years old. The stage of the disease was quite advanced, and the doctors could not cure him. Porfiry decided to catch a cold and to lie to bed in order not to suffer. To do this, he daily went out naked into the street in the freezing cold, wiped himself with snow and doused himself with cold water. Over time, he began to notice that, on the contrary, the state of health, contrary to expectations, began to return to normal, vigor and physical lightness appeared. Ultimately, the disease receded, and Ivanov did not stop hardening on this and began to experiment further.

I will describe in great detail how I conducted my daily dousing with cold water.

Phase one: I doused myself with cold water in the bathroom every morning before breakfast and every evening before bed. It is enough to pour two buckets of cold water on yourself, but always with your head. Before that, you need to perform a fairly simple breathing exercise for 3—5 minutes.

Breathing exercise:

Stand up straight and lower your arms and head down. Exhale the air completely. Hold your breath for 3—4 seconds. After that, gradually inhale the air deeply, while raising your arms and head up. Raise your arms above your head, palms up. Do not squeeze your fingers at the same time, keep your palm open, and your fingers should be pointing inward, towards each other. Hold your breath for 4—5 seconds. You can close your eyes (if you are doing the exercise in the evening, with a starry sky, then I advise you to open your eyes and watch the stars). The head should be raised as high as possible, but without effort. Next, lower your arms down and exhale completely the air from your lungs, like a pump! When you exhale the air, lower your head down.

The arms should be lowered along the body, the head should be lowered. Turn your palms 90 degrees towards you in the direction of your head, bring your hands together so that your fingertips lightly touch each other. Begin to raise your arms along your torso up to chest level and inhale deeply and fully at the same time! Hold your breath for 2 seconds and exhale quickly while helping with your hands. Take your arms away from your chest in front of you and turn your palms away from you … When you exhale and hold your breath for 4—5 seconds, lower your arms.

Repeat this exercise 3—4 times.

Significance of this exercise: It is the easiest, fastest and most effective way to move energy through your body. When you breathe in and raise your hands and head up, you turn to the Universe and fill yourself with healthy and strong energy. When you breathe in and raise your arms from below to chest level, you accumulate your negative energy, your illnesses and pains. Further, with a sharp exhalation, you simultaneously help with your hands to push out all the negative energy from yourself, and together with it push out your illnesses, fears and experiences!

So I opened my first health secret to you – breathing exercise.

I have formed this exercise for myself on my own, conducting training for many months and years, while observing the results. In this case, it is necessary to think only positively and, in addition, to carry out training consciously and completely trust yourself.

Faith is one of the following basic prerequisites for success!

Phase two.

A week is enough to practice dousing with cold water in the bathroom or shower room, as well as get used to the breathing exercise.

In autumn, winter and spring, you can douse yourself with cold water outside. During the warmer months, you can douse yourself with cold water in the apartment.

In winter, we always doused ourselves, regardless of freezing temperatures. Our record is minus thirty-five degrees. We pour out two buckets of cold water on ourselves in turn, with a short interval of two minutes. After pouring out the first bucket, be sure to do the breathing exercise twice! Do not rush to pour both buckets on yourself and quickly run away to a warm room. I assure you that you will not catch a cold. Yes, hair freezes in seconds, that’s right. Your skin dries out very quickly and your body turns pink. This is a rush of blood, your circulation is increased. You feel at such a moment easy and at ease.

When you have done two breathing exercises, pour out the second bucket of water, but pour water over the whole body, including the head! Compliance with this rule is very important, otherwise there is a risk of a difference in the blood pressure of the head and body, which can lead to headaches and discomfort.

When you have poured the second bucket on yourself, do 2—3 breathing exercises! When you are finished, you can go into the room. As Porfiry wrote, if suddenly you feel unwell, pour cold water on yourself again during the day. Good luck and you will forget what diseases are!

The magic of water. Water is the most important and valuable element of life on our planet, as is, in principle, sunlight. But besides this, water is a conductor of information and a carrier of energy! Think about it when you pour cold water on yourself or when you just stand in the shower in the morning or evening.

Save water, use it for its intended purpose and do not pour it unnecessarily, when, for example, you did not close the water tap in time.

Phase three: for professionals.

Dear readers, I do not recommend this exercise for beginners!

If you have been pouring cold water on yourself for several months, if you have tested yourself in the winter season and can assess your capabilities, only in this case you can try this third phase.

So, the temperature outside is from minus five to minus sixteen degrees. Easy jog for 20 minutes. You need to run in swimming trunks and light shoes. After that, you need to pour cold water on yourself, as in the second phase. Next, you need to put on shoes, since dousing with cold water occurs without shoes, and then you need to continue a quiet run for 20 minutes.

Step into a warm room after your run. In any case, your body will receive a slight degree of hypothermia: lips are slightly blue, body is reddish in places. You will feel cold, but that will soon pass. Throw a blanket over yourself and just sit quietly.

Attention: under no circumstances take a warm or hot shower immediately!

Caution: Light jogging because your muscles and tendons are not as elastic as usual in subzero temperatures or when your body is cooling. In order not to damage them, do not overdo it and run easily and calmly, without stress. At the same time, breathe calmly and evenly and do not deep, but short breaths so as not to damage your lungs with cold air.

After 20—30 minutes, you will feel pleasant relief and lightness in your body and a surge of energy. You will feel hungry. I advise you to eat light food, preferably a vegetable salad with vegetable oil. Otherwise, it will be difficult for your stomach to cope with the stress.

Good luck and good health!

What have I learned from the dousing with cold water?

Five very important elements that are the foundation for creating the foundation of our health:

1. Breathing is a tool, or, more precisely, our magic key, which allows you to open a secret door and get into the relationship of the energy of the body with the energy of space around us (the energy of the quantum field).

2. Thoughts: it is necessary to strictly control your thoughts and distinguish conscious thoughts from the thoughts of your subconscious, or, in other words, from the signals given by your body – “the voice of the body”.

3. Your attention: concentrate your attention on everything that you feel and sense inside you, concentrate your attention on your internal organs and the whole body. Then turn your attention to the space around you, feel yourself in this infinite space….

4. Magic of Water: water is a source of energy and information from the outside, provided that you can concentrate your attention on it.

5. Faith is the most essential condition for any success. You need to believe in yourself, in your capabilities and in the limitless capabilities of the quantum field in space. In other words, faith is a self-hypnosis that concerns not only your capabilities, but also the capabilities of other people who can positively influence you.

Dear readers, these five principles, or five basic elements, are the main part of what is most important, which is what my book is about.

All these elements are nothing more than a tool for working with the subconscious: our weaknesses, laziness, fears, insecurity, anger, envy, and so on. In the subconscious, there is a constant interaction of our brain with our body, which opposes our conscious thoughts, with this mysterious force that works against us!

“How to make our subconscious mind work for us?” – you will gradually get an answer to this question as you read the book. And at this stage, for a quick perception and understanding of what our subconscious is, I will give several examples that, most likely, any of us experienced.

Examples of the influence of our subconscious

on ourselves

One fine day, or perhaps for many days or months, your mind will tell you that it’s time to take on your health, and that you do not need to eat too much, especially in the late evening, and that in this way you can lose excess weight and improve your figure. And now several hours pass. You feel uneasy as that very evening is coming soon! And now, attention, your inner voice tells you: “Why are you so nervous that you are so tense! We always felt so good. You ate and watched TV. Let’s try today for the last time to eat, and tomorrow we will probably be able to think of something about how to proceed”. And you start to eat, but with even greater pleasure and in more quantity, as if this is the last time! When the meal is over, you think again: “Well, I ate like a pig again”, or something like that. The next day comes, and the situation either repeats itself, or you continue to eat without a twinge of conscience. So, the very voice that calmed you and told you that you need to relax and continue living as usual, this is our subconscious, or, in other words, the voice of the body!

So, what results have I achieved for myself by dousing with cold water?

1. I have never had colds or any other diseases.

2. I was always in a good mood, I was very active and full of energy, necessary for study and, additionally, for entrepreneurship.

In the winter season, I wore an autumn leather jacket and autumn boots with thick soles. When my body began to cool down and feel that it was going to freeze now, it began to quickly generate energy and warm up, and on its own, without the participation of my brain!

The 90s have come

Two years have passed since our return to our former, but still a different life. We attended, when necessary, lectures and practical classes at the university and devoted a lot of time to our young business. I worked more and more together with Sergei Stepnoy: we built our own schemes of work both with other entrepreneurs, retail bases, chain stores in the regions, and with mafia structures – in order to protect, first of all, ourselves, and only then our business. We have defined for ourselves one very important rule for our business: “We cannot earn all the money” – which means that we do not get involved under any circumstances in everything that is connected with drugs, weapons, extortion and other dubious deals! After about eight to ten years, we were convinced by the example of some entrepreneurs and representatives of mafia structures known to us that this decision was absolutely correct.

We no longer stood in lines at shops and trade centers with bags, and did not take our goods away by taxi, as it was two years ago. My ability to establish contacts in any field and with any people, as well as the necessary acquaintances, brought us to another level. We bought oranges for cash, loading the truck at night at the “Yekaterinburg Sorting” station directly from the arrived train with the goods from Greece. Candies and other sweets were shipped to us at the “Sweetly” factory according to our list, and at that time we were drinking coffee with a supplier in his office. Imported goods from the base were brought to the specified place and at the agreed time on prepayment, which we transferred the day before delivery in a cozy restaurant near the railway station. Our success was already on the way to new success, and we really appreciated it. We hardly talked to anyone on this topic. The golden rule of success: keep your mouth shut!

And at that time we used to say: “You know little, you sleep better” – and smiled at each other.

I will tell you about the fate of my childhood friend named Dmitry. I will not give his last name, out of respect for his father, who is rather well-known not only in Yekaterinburg, but also in scientific circles of Russia. Dmitry’s family moved to Yekaterinburg a little earlier than me. Due to his father’s status, he belonged to the so-called “golden youth”. They lived in the city center, not far from the 1905 square, in an elite area already at that time. I often visited them, often staying overnight. Dmitry was an excellent biathlete, but after moving to Yekaterinburg and meeting young people like him, he changed his interests and, like his new friends, began to look for opportunities to make big money quickly. And they began to do it. They drove Mercedes cars, went to restaurants every day, drank a lot, and walked exclusively in leather jackets and Adidas tracksuits. This was the “central” mafia group. What Dmitry specifically earned, he did not tell me. I only know that they successfully played one game that became very popular among the people in those years – “thimbles”. It was a superbly worked out and win-win scheme. People were losing everything they had, and even expensive clothes, trying to win back what they had already lost. But in this game, only the one who has the same three thimbles wins. Many times I closely watched what was happening from the outside, as I often traveled on business and visited the area of train stations and airports. The meaning of the game is deception, and what the players see is an illusion. Those who cheat them and drag them into this illusion of acting are great actors. The total number of organizers of this show could reach fifteen or twenty people.

These young guys had their own world, their own strong friendship, and they called themselves “the brigade”. The most famous TV series that came out on television in the late nineties – “Brigade” – I watched it for the first time in 2002, while living in Germany. Memories flooded me about the meetings with those guys, about Dmitry’s wedding with Yulia, where the guys from the “brigade” sang on stage, embracing, a song from the old and very popular film “The Diamond Arm” with the words “but we don’t care, but we don’t care, we are not afraid of the wolf and the owl…” I recalled how we celebrated the birthday of Dmitry’s two twin sons, how we went fishing, and much more. This film made a very strong impression on me then, returning me eight years ago, to that “gangster” Yekaterinburg.

I still met Dmitry in February 2013, when I first visited Russia and flew to Yekaterinburg nine years after leaving for Germany. We met with him at his parents’ country house. To my great surprise, I hardly recognized Dmitry. Alcohol consumption and, in the past, addiction to drugs have taken their toll. Dima looked fifteen or twenty older than his years. His voice was very hoarse and quiet, his head and shoulders were lowered, his back was hunched over. It was very difficult for me to watch this without tears. But that was not the worst thing.

His wife Yulia crashed in a car accident in 1996 when she was driving a Zhiguli car after their children. Dima took her BMW that day, as he had crashed his Mercedes the day before, returning from another party from the restaurant well drunk. For this, he strongly blamed himself, because if Yulia had gone to the BMW, the accident would not have happened. Even if an accident happened, she would, sitting in the BMW, get off only with fright, crashing into the same bus due to icy conditions. During the collision, the Zhiguli formed like an accordion, and Julia died instantly.

But this was not the last sad news. I started asking Dmitry: “How are your friends? How are Sanya, Yurka, Pasha, Seryoga? How are they?” Dmitry was silent for a while, poured a full glass of red wine, which I brought with me, and, before drinking, said with tears in his eyes: “You know, bro, and there is no one else alive. I was the only one left. Let’s drink to them!”

After I wrote these lines about the fate of my friend, I paused. I walked out onto the balcony of our apartment and looked out over the beautifully lit garden and decorative pools with fountains. It was already dark, and the gone heat of the day gave way to the pleasant warmth of the late evening. I felt a light, fresh scent of a green garden and, at the same time, the specific humidity of the Goa air. Voices came from the restaurant …

We stayed for two weeks at this hotel. Today our sixth day of stay ended here, and my family was very happy with both the hotel itself and the very warm, about thirty degrees, water in the ocean. We walked a lot in the evenings along the endless sandy beach, which at low tide turns into a huge coastal area with very dense coverage due to the minute sand. The hotel had direct access to the sea. The sandy beach and its bar and fish restaurant were separated from the main small three-story buildings by a golf course partially planted with coconut trees. More than a dozen white Indian herons roamed the field every day. Today is the seventh of November. For the fourth day I am writing my book, which, perhaps, will remain an essay about my life for my children. Maybe … This is only the seventeenth page for today, which I wrote, but at the time when you read this book, the page number will change to a higher number due to subsequent updates and changes in the text. I recall and describe those events in my life that are important to me, and which in my future played an important role in decision-making. So let’s go back to 1993.

1993 year. New changes. Another life

I graduated from university in 1993. Sergei and I had earned a small amount of capital by this time, and it was time to properly invest part of the money we earned. We decided to open a line for the production of pasta in the region, near Yekaterinburg. Pasta is a product that is always bought, regardless of the economic situation in the country, income level and the status of buyers in society. In addition, this product, according to our preliminary calculations, gives a fairly decent profitability – from 100 to 200 percent. To do this, it is necessary to organize properly all processes, from the purchase of raw materials to the organization of production at a sufficiently high level, and most importantly, to establish sales of products. With regard to sales, we have already developed numerous contacts and connections with chain and individual stores; several dozen retail outlets and networks have cooperated with us. In addition, we were preparing a program for selling in bulk to other regions. Of course, the wholesale price was significantly different from the sales price, but the capacity utilization of the equipment we intended to buy had to be maximum. In addition, there are other economic indicators for the successful operation of any enterprise, such as fixed and floating costs of production, transportation costs, depreciation charges, taxes, and so on. We had a business plan ready. It remains for us to find suitable areas, which turned out to be not such an easy task. We tried to ensure that all conditions meet our requirements, namely: the distance from Yekaterinburg is no more than fifty kilometers, the proximity of transport links, the area must have a reserve for the subsequent expansion of production for the lines of baking bread and other bakery products. We also needed space for warehouses – both for raw materials and for finished products; the possibility of opening a company store directly at the factory and the availability of communications: electricity of sufficient power, heating, sewerage and water.

I was already married at that time. My wife studied in the same course as me. We practically did not know each other and did not communicate after my return from the army, having studied together for six months. And in March, I invite her to my twentieth birthday, which I was preparing to celebrate at the “Big Ural” restaurant. We began to maintain a relationship after this celebration, and we got married in the fall of 1993. The parents of my future wife were working in Cuba at that time, they were building a nuclear power plant there. She came to Yekaterinburg from Ukraine, where their family has lived for the past ten years.

The last, fifth course has come to an end. In June, we passed all exams and received our diplomas. Our student life ended there, the life that became a real discovery for me. These seven years of my life, including two years of military service, opened the gates to the future for me. These were the brightest, most dynamic and the most memorable years for me. During this time, I have created a foundation for my beliefs, goals and positive thoughts. I became who I wanted to be and who I wanted to remain for the years to come. Only one task remained – not to stop, but to develop and improve further.

I needed to decide on the next place of residence, taking into account our business plans with Sergei. At that time, I did not have my own housing in Yekaterinburg. But my wife and I decided to go to the nature reserve and visit my parents before we get to grips with the housing issue. I haven’t been there that often in the last three years.

The road to the Ilmensk Reserve, going through the towns of Kasli and Karabash, took four hours: the shortest route by bus from Yekaterinburg to Miass was 160 kilometers. It was very convenient for us that we got off the bus, passing the village of Novaya Andreevka, and, bypassing all other transfers, we found ourselves two kilometers from the Karmakkul cordon.

Many names of villages in this region, like the names of almost all the lakes of the Southern Urals, have Tatar names. The name “Karmakkul” means, for example, “hook lake”. Kul is a lake. The neighboring lake, two hundred meters later, is called Syrytkul, then, two kilometers later, Terenkul, and so on. The reserve itself was formed back in 1918, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin signed a decree on the creation of the Ilmensk mineralogical reserve. In our time, the reserve is called “Ilmensk Mineralogical Reserve named after V.I. Lenin”.

The walk to the reserve takes about twenty minutes: you need to overcome a kilometer ascent through the first mountain range 400 meters high, and then go down to the foot of Lake Karmakkul. Another ridge of the same mountain range stretches from the opposite side of the lake – Ilmensk. It is more picturesque than the first, and its height is already 650 meters. Lake Karmakkul is connected by rivers with two other lakes included in the reserve. One of the most picturesque and deepest reservoirs of the reserve – Lake Ishkul with several islands – is located in the northern direction, five kilometers away. The protected zone, for which my father was responsible, consisted of the territory from our lake and part of Lake Ishkul with a total length of eight kilometers from north to south, and from west to east – the entire territory from one to the other border with an average width of seven to eight kilometers. The peculiarity of the security zone is that the entrance and entry into the reserve is completely prohibited. For sixteen years the reserve has become my home for me.

When I came to my parents, I saw that my father’s health had deteriorated. The disease slowly crept closer and closer despite all his efforts and positive mood. The reason for the acceleration of negative dynamics was the fact that Russia stopped purchasing some medicines in Europe in 1993, and instead began to use analogues of domestic production. His condition deteriorated sharply in just three months, during which his father took a Russian-made drug. My mommy told me about this in detail, that’s what I still call her!

Father’s illness began to progress

My father had a very rare disease, the source of which has already been precisely established. It is caused by microorganisms that enter the human body when eating fresh wild berries or as a result of direct contact with wild animals. The most dangerous of all animals in this regard are foxes.

These microorganisms settle mainly in the lungs and liver of a person and begin to multiply there gradually. A person infected with such microorganisms at the first stage, sometimes lasting for years, does not feel anything until the number of microorganisms begins to manifest itself in mild shortness of breath and a slight (up to 37 degrees) increase in body temperature. At this stage, the lungs and liver cease to fully perform their functions, and the person begins to feel it.

Until now, it has not been possible to find a remedy that could completely cure a person from these microorganisms. Modern medicine has not yet developed such a drug. The existing German medicine allows only to stop the growth process of pathogens and reduce their activity, which leads to an improvement in the condition of an infected person. In 1995, my father spent several months in Hamburg, in a special clinic for tropical diseases, in which there were only four such patients from Germany.

And then, in 1993, the Ministry of Health of the USSR (Russia) stopped buying this medication in Europe, and the released Russian analogue, after a week from the beginning of its intake, began to have very strong and severe side effects on my father’s body. Our family at that moment had to decide where to get German-made medicines for my father. We found an opportunity to buy it in Germany. The cost of the course for a month was about eight hundred US dollars, and the drug had to be taken constantly throughout the rest of my life. So fate has set a new task for us: how to cope with all this?

It was not easy for us at all. But we all: me, my mother, my brother and my father came to this decision together, weighing all the “pros” and “cons”. Only one major factor was for me personally: my father’s health! There was no other way.