Your future has nothing to do with your past,” the great motivator Tony Robbins tells us. That’s true, but only if you’re willing to accept the idea that things can get better.
Ask anyone who dropped 25 pounds and finished their first 10k run. Or the person whose career, company or industry got downsized, who retrained and got a new job, and who is now happier – maybe even making more money than ever before.
The truth is that things can get better, but only if we commit to making changes. Things don’t get better by themselves. As the old saying goes, you can only coast downhill.
If unhappiness motivates you to make a change in your life, it’s been called “divine dissatisfaction.” If you are willing to use that unhappiness as a lever for improvement, amazing things can happen.
Are you willing to work to bring about the change you want to see? If you are, then your future has nothing to do with your past.
I can’t because I’m … (fill in the blank: too old, too young, too busy, not smart enough, discriminated against, whatever).
When you say these things, you are acting like a con artist. And you are the primary victim of your con. Mostly out of fear, we construct imaginary limitations around ourselves. We use these self-imposed limits to keep us from getting ahead – like an invisible wall blocking our progress.
This invisible wall keeps us from opening that new business, registering for that class, saying yes to that person who wants to date us, hire us, marry us or whatever.
Look in the mirror and paraphrase President Reagan’s famous 1987 speech at the Berlin Wall by telling yourself: “Tear down this wall!”