For many years I have been re-playing the successes of my past over and over… trying to recapture those awesome moments where I felt invincible and anything I set my mind to I could achieve. I now know it was easier for me to be successful when I was younger because I was fit, healthy and had a tonne of energy and determination. And the only way was UP!
But something happened…the world changed around me as I ventured into unfamiliar territory…marriage, my father passing away, divorce…marriage again and then KIDS…and just to make life a bit more interesting I had x5 KIDS with only 6 years and 37 days between the eldest and the youngest. Yes! It definitely a challenge when they were babies.
I have always loved my work, my father set an amazing example of being an extremely hard worker. He loved what he did and he thrived each time he closed a deal and was able to bring money home for the family. He had a lot of motivation – 9 KIDS to feed. My father was incredibly generous – he lavished his earnings on us many times, taking us to movies, tearooms and many other amazing outings. But he didn’t always succeed …there were extreme times when we missed meals and didn’t have adequate clothing or foot wear for school. What amazed me about my father was his faith to pull us through those tough times. He would pick himself up and find ways to make money to get us fed and I noticed the moment he changed his thinking to a positive mind-set; our circumstances would change too.
But just like my father, there have been times where I have allowed difficult experiences in my past to affect how I saw things in my present and this always affected my future perspective. When I couldn’t control what was going on around me I fell into a pattern of thinking that “it’s too hard” or “it’s not working out” or my fears of going hungry again would kick in.
And this is why we need to BURN the past… it’s the STING of the memories that need to go – not the memory itself.
Good and bad memories don’t hurt our present or future but our dwelling on them do. A few weeks ago I dragged to the outside incinerator several boxes and rubbish bags of old business documents and personal files dating back as far as 2002. I had worked out that I had moved house at least x9 times since then. Then it dawned on me, I have been carrying that “baggage” overloading myself unnecessarily.
The energy and space required to store these documents and to carry them to each new home was taxing each time. Somehow I had reasoned that I needed them OR I didn’t de-clutter certain boxes for years – I had held onto them for the “just in case” moment. Well, 16 years later, that never came. What baggage have you been carrying around for a long time?
So you can imagine how satisfying it was to burn these files realising that I no longer needed to carry them EVER again.
Yes, some things were a lot easier to BURN and it felt amazing to let go of those files; yet others it took a lot of self-control to throw them in the burning fire because of my attachment to them.
But it had to be done.
This is also true of the thoughts and feelings from our PAST.
We need to take stock and declutter what is holding us back whether it be personal or work related and only HOLD on to the things that will progress us forward. Everything else needs to go.
With all this decluttering I found a very special book “Grow Rich While You Sleep by Ben Sweetland”. I am now three quarters way through re-reading this book and he has once again ignited new and re-ignited old desires I have for my business and personal life.
Had I not gotten rid of the other burdening things would I have had the mental space to be re-inspired by this book? Would I have even found the book?
I think not.
REMEMBER: In order to make room for new thinking and new successes, we must LET GO of the past and EMBRACE what can be in the NOW & FUTURE.
As I write this we are just entering February 2018. Neither you nor I have EVER experienced February 2018 before. Let’s make it a CRACKER month and start by burning the PAST to make room for an AMAZING 2018.
Will you join me? I hope so.
As you ponder what I have written please go away and be intentional about what you doing going forward. I encourage you to write a list of what you will LET GO of and the NEW things you will EMBRACE and hare this with people who are invested in seeing you succeed.
Alternatively you can join our INFUZED support network where we dig deep to find the solutions for business success and hold each other accountable. We call this NETWORKING TO SUCCEED.
Our groups have meetings throughout the Bay of Plenty and Parnell, Auckland.
You can register as a guest by going to www.infuzed.nz/guest-registration or flick me an email on [email protected] and we can organise a catch up.
I would love to hear from you!
Regards
Zita