Its not your circumstances.
It’s not how much money you have, or don’t have.
It’s simply that you are not willing to do what YOU need to do to succeed.
Now here’s the good and bad news.
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. I hate dwelling on the negative!
There isn’t a prescription to success. I know. I searched for it long enough. I thought if I found it, I would be sorted for life! That secret recipe that successful people keep to themselves. That vital CLUE that would give me what I want. I looked high and low. Well, I’m going to break it to you, it doesn’t exist.
There have been times when I really fought with this. When things weren’t going my way or my goals didn’t seem ANY closer I would begin to think that success was for other people; that I might as well give up this game.
Wake up, Karen! What the HELL are you doing? Get real! Get a job! Other people tolerate it. So can you. Get back to the real world.
And I would allow doubt to creep in and sometimes stall me temporarily.
This is when most people give up. But you aren’t most people. You have something you need to do; a life to lead that only YOU can lead.
Would you fight for your life? Will you fight for your dreams?
What risks will you take? What opportunities will you create?
What are you willing to DIE for?
What PROMISE are you going to make to yourself that you will live the life you want NO MATTER WHAT? This is the day that I woke up and committed to living my life my way, no matter what.
Fear and despair haven’t got a place on your road to success. You MUST beat your negative thoughts into submission! Become fearless in the pursuit of your goals and your success.
How do you do that?
This is what I did and if it worked for me when I began this practice around 16 years ago, and it can work for you.
You have to make it a practice. A daily practice. Sometimes a minute by minute practice.
1. Become aware of your negative, disempowering thoughts. Whatever they are and whether they are about yourself or someone or something else.
e.g
‘I’m never going to achieve it, what’s the point?’
‘Well, maybe I WILL achieve it! There’s no reason not to if I keep trying’‘God, I my friend Elena really irritates me every time I speak to her.’
‘I’m choosing to spend time with someone who annoys me. I can also choose not to and spend that free time finding friends who I really get on with’‘I’m so dumb sometimes!’
‘I’m really smart and have more than enough intelligence to figure this out’.
You get the idea. Replace your negative thoughts with EMPOWERING thoughts. But you MUST do it all the time and make it a practice. Soon you will recognise those thoughts and hear your disempowering words that you speak and you can STOP there and then, right in your tracks and CHANGE your thoughts and words to ones that serve you.
2. Stop watching/reading/listening to the news. This is something I did about 19 months ago or so. Why on EARTH would you fill your head with the worst that’s going on in the world BEFORE you’ve even started your day, let alone any other time of day. This is one of the worst habits that we as a society have gotten into. It’s 99% BAD news. If you seek it out – because it’s not reported – there’s 100X (or MORE!!) GOOD news that’s happening. Has my life been affected by not watching the news? Yes! Absolutely. In 100% positive way.
Your MIND IS YOUR CREATIVE HUB. Whatever you have right now and whatever you have achieved and wherever you are, has been the result of your THINKING. Your thinking habits are what’s going to drive you in life. Or not. Surely you would want your CREATIVE HUB to have as much room for positive creation and be FREE to think about what matters rather than have it filled up with killings, and stabbings, and theft and robbery and DEATH. You and I both know already that these things happen, we are not ignorant to it, but I know I can’t create the life I want and HELP as many people as I want to if my MIND is being slowed down by the weight of the negative in the world.
3. Lastly, people. You are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with. You’ll hear this time and time again and I believe it to be quite true. You adopt their thinking habits, their financial habits (and earning power) just for starters.
I know when I worked in an office environment, after years of putting up with petty thinking of others and general negative energy it affected me. I have to FIGHT AND CLAW my way out of there to survive. It nearly killed me. DON’T let that happen to you. It’s when you realise that you have a choice that you can take action.
Are the people you are surrounding yourself with raising you up or dragging you down? Is there anyone in your life that you are tolerating? You don’t HAVE to spend time with these people. You can CHOOSE not to. I’m talking online and offline here. If you are following people on twitter/FB etc that just annoy you or post a stream of negativity (or even if one negative tweet is too much for you), then you can decide NOT to follow them. It’s up to you! Find role models, people who you aspire to be like, people who are doing what you want to do. Find NEW friends and groups who are aiming high and who, just by being in their company, make you feel GOOD!
This is your life and every day you get to SPEND your time how you want to. Or how you CHOOSE to. Your days are flying by anyway, so better make them count by doing what you want to do, with who you want to do it with!
Back to to the prescription for success. The GOOD news… you can create YOUR OWN recipe for success! And doesn’t that sound a HELL of a lot better than following some prescription anyway?!
HELL YES!
And don’t talk to me about the rules of business. I’ve thrown that book away a long time ago and I’ve written my own. This is business NOT as usual. I’ve never been any good at being told what to do anyway, so better that I do it MY way. And you can totally do it YOUR way too.
Why doesn’t everyone’s journey to success look the same?
Because YOU aren’t the same as everyone else!
You have a different mindset.
You have a different outlook.
You have different beliefs.
Your financial situation isn’t the same.
Your living conditions aren’t the same.
Your social circles isn’t the same.
Your daily routine isn’t the same.
Your knowledge isn’t the same.
Your support system isn’t the same.
Your habits aren’t the same.
Your history isn’t the same.
Your idea of success isn’t the same.
But that’s WHY your success journey will never be like someone else’s. There may be some similarities for sure, but the length or your journey and the road you take IS YOURS ALONE!
And THANK GOODNESS as who wants to be the same as anyone else?
MY story isn’t the same as anyone else’s. There will be parts of it that people resonate with and that may naturally draw them to me. And there will be parts of me that other people don’t get, like or understand and they won’t hang around. And that’s fine. They aren’t the right people for me and it saves everyone time and energy. The other day I got an email that basically told me…
‘You waffled too much in your webinar’
I couldn’t care less. I’m not here to please everyone. I won’t! I can’t.
But I am here to HELP some people. THIS is why I do what I do.
The more I speak my truth and tell my story (and believe me, you ain’t heard nothing yet!), the more people unfollow and unsubscribe. BUT at the same time, I connect with more people who relate and get something out of what I do.
So, get out of your own way and bring forth the CONVICTION that you have what it takes to have what you want and reach your goals. Then COMMIT. Then, of course, TAKE ACTION.
ABOUT Karen Strunks is a speaker and author and helps daring, rebellious, non-conforming women create a No Compromise life and business doing exactly what they love.
