BREAKTHROUGHS

What did you decide?  Are you one of the 5%?  Maybe you decided that you’re tired of being led by others, and you’re ready to move into the 5%.  Whatever your decision, you now must back it up with actions.  If you’re already part of the 5%, what actions have you taken in the past to get you there and what future actions will you take to continue on this path?  Learn and grow means it’s continual…you never stop until you’re done.  Be hyper aware of your thinking.  It’s called metacognition – think about your thinking.  What is that record constantly playing in your head? 

For you to become or maintain your 5% personal development, there have to be breakthroughs.  I will be sharing many quotes from Tony Robbins’ book, Money Master the Game as much of what he says “speaks to me.”  You decide, as always, what speaks to you.  (Pages 184-199 for those of you reading the book.) “So what is a breakthrough?  A breakthrough is a moment in time when the impossible becomes possible…you make a move to truly change and improve your world.”  The key is to truly change and improve your world.  The 95% will think about, dream about, and wish for, however, no action is taken.  However, when you reach the point of no longer settling it is amazing!  “Draw a line in the sand, commit to a new goal and set a new standard.”  “True transformation happens in a moment.  It may have taken you ten years to get to the point where you were ready or open, or maybe even provoked….”We struggle with something for years – a job or career, our weight, or a relationship.  We’re miserable until one day a trigger goes off.  Suddenly, That’s it. “

We have all had breakthroughs of one kind or another in our relationships, our physical self, our emotional self, our spiritual self, finances etc.  A breakthrough to move you forward is different than wishing things were different and making a change because the “grass looks greener” on the other side.  That way of thinking is back to the 95% who blame others and find excuses, with little if any acknowledgement the part they played in the problem which is exactly why life will eventually repeat itself without the necessary change – YOU!   We all have the ability to change everything in our lives.  “No matter how long something has been a certain way, you can change it all in a moment, a moment of real decision, a decision that is acted upon.”  Remember, the key is to truly change and IMPROVE your world.” 

According to Robbins, “There are three steps to creating a breakthrough: three forces that, together, can massively change any and every aspect of your life.”  These are the same three things no matter what kind of breakthrough you’re hoping to achieve.  If you want to change your life you have to change your strategy, you have to change your story, and you have to change your state.” 

“The best way to get a new result, the fastest way to get a new result is to find someone who has already accomplished what you’re after and then model his or her behavior.”  If weight is your issue, find someone who use to be overweight AND has not only been able to lose the weight but they've kept it off for 10+ years.  If you are struggling in your relationship, find someone who has rekindled the passion and is in love even more MANY years later.  You’re looking for successful models NOT those who want to tell you how to do something but haven’t achieved the success that you’re looking for.  It’s not luck.  It’s changing your strategy.  “The right strategy can save you the most valuable resource of all: time.  If you start with a proven plan, the right strategy, you can literally convert decades of struggle into days of achievement…why reinvent the wheel?”  We are all surrounded by family and friends who aren't physically fit, are in lousy relationships, are always blaming and using excuses.  If we continue to go to these people for “advice,” or if we listen to their advice, it will only serve to reinforce the beliefs we have that nothing will work.  WRONG!  Hopefully, you are realizing that you need support, a mentor, someone who will listen, give honest advice whether you like it or not, and you value who they are and the part they play in your life.

Unless you’re in an abusive relationship, all relationships go through struggles and challenging times.  A marriage with both parents working, a new born, young children etc. has its own set of challenges as does a marriage with negative influences being put upon one or both of the partners, if there’s addiction by one of the partners, children with disabilities either physical or cognitive etc. all cause marriages to be challenged.  From my own 38 years of marriage, there have definitely been ups and downs, challenges, frustrations, and demands.  The ups and downs are always there, but it’s how Jon and I made a point to find a strategy that would work to keep us together.  One strategy always involved communication which meant we had to make time for us.  That time together “looked” different when our kids were little, when they were teenagers, even when we were empty nesters still working, and now in retirement. Another strategy, if you will, was to focus on what was going right, what we loved about the other person, and the positive virtues rather than the “failings.”

Step number two, according to Tony, is the power of story.  “Without the right strategy, you will fail.  And when you fail, you develop a lousy story….If you’re not taking action there’s only one reason: you've created a set of beliefs that you've tied into a story – a story about why it won’t work, why it can’t work, why it only works for other people.  ‘It’s only for the rich, the thin, the lucky, the happy in relationships.’  It’s easy to come up with a limiting story.  So why bother to take action on a strategy that you ‘know’ will fail?  Well, strategy here isn't the problem.  Your story is.”

“The people who make change happen, who get stuff done, who accomplish, who shift, who grow, who learn, they take their strategy and attach a new story to it…It goes from being a story of limitation to a story of empowerment: ‘I will not be one of the many who can’t, I will be one of the few who do.  Our stories may be true, but if they aren't helping us, if they’re stopping us from having the life we desire and deserve, we have to change them.  Stories control our emotions, and emotions drive all of our behaviors and actions.”   Will you choose to use your story, or will you allow your story to use you?  “Change your story, change your life.  Divorce the story of limitations and marry the story of the truth, and everything changes.”

The last of the three steps is your state.  “Your mental and emotional state colors your perception and experience of everything in life.”  There is a lot to how we think and all that we need to learn about our thoughts but as Tony says, “in a nutshell you can immediately and radically change how you feel (and not just hope you feel good) by learning that by changing your body first, you can change your mind.” That means to do something active whether it’s taking a walk, going out to get fresh air, exercising, working out in some form, running, or whatever works for you.  It’s movement and it gets our heads into a better state. “Great strategies may surround you, but they will be invisible to you unless you put yourself in a strong, determined, and empowered state.” 

“We all get what we tolerate.  So stop tolerating excuses within yourself, limiting beliefs of the past, or a fearful state of mind.”  Once again, are you part of the 5%, one of the few?  Or are you going to continue to be one of the many, the 95%?  “Most people start out with high aspirations but settle for a life and lifestyle far beneath their true capabilities.  They let disappointments destroy them.  Disappointment is inevitable when you are attempting to do anything of great scale.  Instead let your disappointments drive you to find new answers; discipline your disappointments.  Learn from every failure, act on those learnings, and success becomes inevitable.”   

“You have to be willing to give 100% with zero expectation of receiving anything in return.  For example, only when you’re willing to take 100 % responsibility for making a relationship work will it work.,” according to Darren Hardy in his book, The Compound Effect.  “If I always take 100% responsibility for everything I experience – completely owning all of my choices and all the ways I responded to whatever happened to me – I held the power.  Everything was up to me.  I was responsible for everything I did, didn't do, or how I responded to what was done to me.”  That’s the mindset of a person striving to be one of the 5%. That's the mindset of a person who looks for different strategies, changes the story and has a state of mind that looks for answers.  That's the mindset of someone wanting breakthroughs in his/her life.

I wish you a mindset of creating breakthroughs  and being willing to give 100%.