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The best method to stop sabotaging your life and success is to fortify your mind from the negative influences of the world. Think about the information you are absorbing on a daily basis. Each experience in your life creates your perception of what is going to happen in the future. As a result, negative or counterproductive information will result in you subconsciously never pushing yourself to achieve your goals.
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Stop sabotaging your life
The most common example is the one of Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile. Up until he accomplished this feat in 1954, no-one had ever ran a mile in under 4-minutes. At that time, doctors thought running that fast would have an adverse impact on the body. As a result, no one ever ran that a mile in under 4-minutes before Bannister. Yet, within a few months of Bannister breaking the record, dozens of runners broke the record themselves. It was not until the negative belief was replaced with one of success that the runners stopped subconsciously sabotaging themselves.
Some of the beliefs you have about your life and abilities are no different. Because you belief your goals are not reasonable or possible, you are sabotaging your life and holding yourself back.
Change the information you are receiving
Have you ever noticed how the commercials differ depending on the channel and program you are watching? If you are watching the travel channel, the commercials are going to talk about taking a vacation. You will see cruise commercials and deals on timeshares. If you were to watch a sports channel, you are going to see commercials selling wings, beer, and fun. Even the commercials on the channels my daughters watch are full of toys.
Each of these commercials teach the notion that happiness is external. That you cannot be happy until you purchase their particular product or service. Think about the car commercials that do not mention any features, but only show someone’s experience while driving. You can feel the satisfaction and feeling of prestige and success the driver is experiencing in their new car. This is a key differentiation for luxury products.
In the example of the car, you really only need a reliable vehicle that can get you from Point A to Point B. For someone to purchase a luxury car, they are looking for more than reliable transportation, but the status associated with the vehicle. Understanding this key fact, luxury vehicles speak to that experience in their commercials, while more affordable cars talk about their safety rating and MPG.
What the commercials say about the viewer
If you tell me what you watch, I can tell you something about yourself. What do the commercials on the stations you watch say about you? There are some news programs that make the world seem so bad that if someone were to watch that program, then they would have to believe doom is imminent. As a result, the advertisers on that program are selling gold and survivalist food packs. It is very difficult to watch negative programming every day and have a positive outlook on the world. Each of your experiences is impacting your perception of success and reality.
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Why I don’t watch slave movies
When Harriett Tubman came out, I did not watch it. When 12 years a slave came out, I did not watch it. I have no problem reading history books and making sure I understand the struggle, impact, and resiliency of my people, but to watch something for entertainment; not for me. I have people in my life who tell me I should watch them because it shows how blacks overcame oppression.
While I can appreciate that, the movie puts you in the mindset of being a slave. You are naturally thinking, “What would I do if I were in that situation”; which means you are imaging yourself as a slave. Do I need to explain to you how damaging that type of a mindset is to your consciousness? Now if you want to show me a movie of a successful black running a business and giving back to his community, I will watch that all day.
It is all fun and games until you are sabotaging your life
To those who believe they are just watching a movie for fun and it doesn’t influence them, consider this:
- How do you feel when you leave the movie?
- Do you feel anger at how blacks were treated?
- Do you feel sadness that people would treat people that way?
If you are not leaving the movie saying,
- That was a well acted movie
- The soundtrack in the movie was really good
- The director should have cut this one scene as it did not move the story along… then you have absorbed the movie as a real experience.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that your mind does not have the ability to separate fact from fiction. Think of a dream you had that felt real until it didn’t. Your subconscious is made of experiences, whether those experiences are yours, someone else’s, real or fiction. These thoughts create your belief system and your beliefs become your reality.
Was that Jesus or am I seeing things?
My daughter’s and I would visit people from our congregation when they were in the hospital. Outside of the hospital, there would be statues that are supposed to represent people from the Bible. As we walked up one day, Alek said, “that’s Jesus dad”. Understanding why she said that, I told her that was not Jesus, but one person’s opinion of what he looked like. And because that image has been shared for so long, people now act as if these opinions are historical fact. You live in an age where people are sharing pictures of their waffle and saying they can see Jesus.
There are congregations where images are painted around the building, included in their curriculum, and a part of the sermon; but again, these are not accurate depictions of anyone from the Bible. Your beliefs and your actions are inseparable and if you do not guard the information your mind processes, you will never be able to change your life.
Sabotaging your life 101
If you find yourself taking actions that is contrary to the results you want for yourself, start by looking at the information you are absorbing on a regular basis. Your life will significantly change if the only thing you do this year is stop absorbing information that is sabotaging your life and you start absorbing information that helps you create your dream life.
Find someone that you respect and start to read information about them. You can also follow them on social media and engage with them when they share their content. As you make this a normal part of your life, you are going to discover you are now thinking of ways to create their success in your life.
I love reading stories about people who have achieved feats similar to my own goals. When I would watch TV, one of my favorite shows was Shark Tank. As I watched each episode, I would take a mental note of the questions the Sharks asked and whether I knew those answers in my own business. Then I would judge the presentations and note things that I thought would make sense to incorporate into my business. I even hypothesized whether I would accept that deal or which Shark I would choose if I had a choice.
Does the help or hurt my life
It is a natural process for your mind to absorb information attempting to answer the question, “how does this impact me?”. Your mind wants to ensure you are safe and the best way to do that is to judge experiences solely on how they would change your life.
The information you allow yourself to take in dramatically impacts the way you interact with the world. If you are living the achojah ‘rise to the challenge’ lifestyle, you must make a conscious effort to absorb information about the life you want to create. Once you are creating the mindset to accomplish your goals, you are going to need to limit (if not completely remove) the information that creates doubt in your mind. It doesn’t make sense to take one step forward by gathering positive information and then take one step back by watching negative information.
Final thoughts
Finally, you are going to want to put pen to paper and write your goals down. Studies show if you watch, listen, and write down your goals, you dramatically increase the chances of you accomplishing your goals. It is amazing how many people miss the critical step of writing their goals down. Studies show upwards of 90% of people do not write their goals down and to no surprise, about 90% of people fail to accomplish their resolutions each year. Make sure you are among the 10% who successfully change their life by writing your goals down and reading them every day.
Until next time,
Continued blessings,
Dre “living the achojah lifestyle” Griggs
Sources:
Neuroscience Explains Why You Need To Write Down Your Goals If You Actually Want To Achieve Them