If you haven’t already read it, no matter what stage of life you are in or what your bank account looks like, or even what your goals regarding money are - there is one book we highly recommend reading. It is the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. The book was originally written in 1937 (yes, you read that right) and contains one mans work studying highly successful people. His goal was essentially to turn what he had learned from these individuals into a formula for success that anyone could follow and replicate. Even now, nearly a century after its publication, this book contains some amazing truths about life, how we interact with the world, and the power of our mind.
One of the best parts of the book is when he references another poem written by Jessie Rittenhouse. In the poem the author describes someone looking back on his life, the choices he made, and the things he got from it, in dismay. Listen carefully to what he says :
“I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;
For Life is just an employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.”
― Jessie B. Rittenhouse
Take a minute and read that. And then read it again. And then once more. Put yourself in the authors’ shoes, sitting there at the end of a long life, looking back, realizing that what he got out of life, was essentially what HE had asked of life. And then realizing he could have asked for MUCH, much more! Ouch.
We live in a culture that just absolutely loves to assign blame. Responsibility is almost a curse word. If there is something wrong in our lives, we are much more likely to blame our upbringing, our neighborhood, our schooling, or any other host of things from our external world, before we ever get to the point where we look internally to really see if the blame lies a bit closer to home.
There are certainly people who are born into environments that are slightly more conducive to success and prosperity, there is no arguing that. At the end of the day however, the vast majority of how we experience and enjoy (or don’t enjoy) life, and the value and joy we get from everyday living, we hold in our own power. If you look at some of the greatest minds and most influential people to ever walk the earth, many of them were not born into any special environment, and almost all faced more than their fair share of adversity.
We here at Leave the Harbor want you to leave that safe haven that says “my situation is what it is, there’s not a thing I can do about it, and it’s not my fault”, and push out into the waters of responsibility, where, while choppy, an entirely new world of possibilities open up when you realize - “I am the captain of my own ship”.
Here are some way’s we think you can do this on a daily basis :
1. Blame yourself for everything.
Now before you got off into a world of depression, thinking everything in your life is your fault and you are a miserable failure, what we mean here is to stop blaming everything and everyone else for anything you don’t like about your life. Take a moment and get out a piece of paper and write down three things that you wish were different in your life. Then write down next to them why you believe those things aren’t different. If you mentioned something external, out of your control - try again. If you blamed something else, but deep down you know there are steps you COULD take to change that thing, now you’re on to something. If you blamed yourself, because you know for sure it is your own fault, you win. Pick one of the things you’d like to change most and write three action steps you can take starting right now to change that. Sometimes the act of putting down in writing a problem, and taking responsibility for it can work wonders.
2. Be Positive.
The overwhelming amount of evidence, scientific and psychological, has unequivocally proven time and time again that it is not successful people that are happy, but that happy people are successful. Think about it, how many people are out there right now just waiting for their “next promotion, next raise, next vacation, next great thing in life” - all the while believing that when they finally get that thing, THEN they will be happy. Stop playing into that lie. People who get up every morning and choose to be happy, choose to be positive and choose to actively reject negative thoughts, not only experience the world in entirely new and amazing ways, but literally rewire their brains to be receptive to all the goodness that there is around them in the world and make life altering choices based on that new paradigm. These are the people that attract new business, find new opportunities, and are genuinely happier in life. What mindset are you choosing to accept today?
3. View yourself as already at the goal.
So you’ve set your goals, chosen what you’re going for or where you want to find yourself in two years. Now, start envisioning yourself as having already achieved it. You’ve heard the phrase “dress for the job you want” - the same rings true for your life. Don’t make success a potential outcome, make it the guaranteed outcome. Start acting, talking and living as if your goals are already a guarantee. (Side note : no, don’t start spending money you don’t have yet, this is a mind exercise). Once you decide in your mind that you are going to achieve a certain goal, and get your subconscious to truly believe it, you will start acting in ways that are different than we would without any hope. Believe you’ve already arrived, and your subconscious will guide you towards the destination daily, without your even realizing it. Remember - success isn’t something you get handed, it’s the sum of thousands of small choices made day after day that end you up at your goal.
So what are you waiting for, leave the harbor of what you think is the limit of your life, and ask more of it today!
Until next time,
BEN