Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 513 of the wildly successful lifestyle podcast! I hope this finds you thinking good thoughts, and if it doesn’t, I hope this episode encourages you to be aware of and challenge the thoughts that hold you back. We each have the insane ability to create a life we love and we don’t have to go very far to do it. If there are things in your life you want to change, the ability to change them are within you just by the way you think about them.
I mean, Have you ever wondered why things are the way they are? Why some people can seem to always land on their feet no matter what happens and others can’t seem to ever get out of that same rut they’ve been in for years? There is a secret to why things are the way they are. And it’s one of my missions to see to it that it’s not a secret anymore.
I was sitting this morning and I was having my coffee and I noticed I had been completely lost in thought for I don’t even know how long. I had been thinking about the past week, about Christmas, all of our friends, and family and then my thoughts went to certain people and on and on until I shook myself out of it and came back to present. All of that had been sort of on autopilot. I noticed how I could definitely make myself feel bad with some of those thoughts. The Christmas tree and decorations are still up and I thought it’s sad that it’s all over and how quickly life is going by and that led to more thoughts of the same and I recognized I needed to get it together and be more intentional with how I was thinking. Well, it Just so happened that the book by James Allen called “As a Man Thinketh” was right in front of me as it has been every morning for the last 6 months and I chose this day to finally read it. It’s a very short read and even though I did have to look up several words to understand them and I had to reread a few paragraphs to take in what they meant, I feel like I can see how some of the decisions I’ve made were products of the things I have thought about consistently.
It helped me understand so clearly why things are the way they are.
I wrote down three things that stood out to me. The first being:
Circumstance does not make the man it reveals him to himself. My takeaway from this is that The same thing can happen to two men, one will learn from it and thrive and the other will use it as a reason of why he quit or why he never made it in life. When tough things happen to you what are your go to thoughts? Are you intentional with them? I talked in the last episode about the initial shock and initial thoughts may not be very positive but eventually you have to be intentional with the thoughts you are having about anything that happens. What does your response to the circumstance you have right now reveal to you about you? Is that response empowering you to keep going? To move forward? To find another way? That’s the attitude that will lead us to our own greatness.
The second thing that stood out is this: Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot. It rapidly crystallizes into habit and habit solidifies into circumstance. What I took from that is Good thoughts and actions have to result in good results just as bad thoughts and actions have eventually bad results. If the only thing you did was improve the quality of your thoughts your life would drastically and dramatically improve. Some aren’t even aware that it’s their thoughts that are creating the life they live. But every action you take is because of a thought just as every oak tree comes from an acorn. That’s how James Allen brings it to life for me. Think about a thought you had recently and think about that thought as an acorn, what’s growing from that thought? Is it something you want to keep watering or is it something you want to see come to full fruition? Think about that because that’s exactly what each and every thought does…it bears fruit if you water it. You’re not doomed if you have a bad thought, that’s human. You’re doomed when you keep thinking it. So be intentional about each thought.
The third thing that stood out being this: Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves. They therefore remain bound. That made me think about the things we do that we know are harming us but we do them anyway thinking we will fix it later. Or we will change when the kids get older or when the job gets better. I remember Eric telling Molly when she first started working that she needed to put 10% away in her 401k. She already felt like she didn’t have enough money and now he wanted her to put 10% away not to benefit her now but to benefit her in 40 years? She was basically like are you kidding me?? He knew if she didn’t have the discipline to do it at 22 you wont at 32 either. Fortunately he had leverage and now she’s 33 and has been saving 10% since she was 22 and is well on her way to personal financial security. Tony Robbins always says “When is NOW a good time to start?” The things that often benefit us the most generally come from delayed gratification. It’s too easy these days to have instant gratification. We don’t want to delay anything. Why would we when quick and easy dopamine is literally in our hands in the form of our phone or in 5 minutes away in the form of fast and easy food? The answer to that is this…study after study has shown the benefit long term is exponential in comparison to the short term gratification. We can see that in what we eat, how we move our body, our financial security, our mental health, our career and our relationships all benefit from delayed gratification. Are you willing to improve yourself or are you choosing to stay bound by your current circumstance? I have a lot of work to do but one thing I know for sure is I’m willing to improve myself.
My challenge to you today is to order the book by James Allen “As a Man Thinketh” and read it. Even if you just order it, you’ll read it when you’re ready for it like I was today. Share this with the first three people that pop in your mind. I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days!
