Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, has a daily email message that I've found to be inspiring and motivating. See for yourself on his site at DarrenDaily.
A recent message included this image with the question:
If you could go back in time, what do you wish never began?
And I got to thinking about it.
About myself and my personal development journey.
About my business and the areas for improvement I've identified.
And this is what I've come up with:
I wish I had never begun to doubt my abilities to grow a business beyond ‘just getting by'.
This doubting held me back because I began to lower my expectations – of myself, of my clients, of my team.
I began to accept mediocrity and have learned that it is a demotivator and requires no effort, thereby rendering all that I do to be second-rate.
The end result was that I surrounded myself with others who reveled in mediocrity, who weren't impressed with success but actually looked for and applauded all efforts to NOT be special or gifted or motivated. In their eyes it was unnatural to want to be better (because that meant I would be superior to them), unnatural to want to be challenged (because that meant change), unnatural to want more (because so many have less that it's greedy to want more).
This was in 2013.
I ended it in 2014.
Since then I've left the mediocrity behind and have become a better person and a better business owner because of it.
I surrounded myself with people that are focused on being better in their personal lives.
I surrounded myself with people that are ambitious and want more than they have today.
I surrounded myself with people that believe in giving of their time and treasure.
This how I succeeded by ending.
What about you?
If you have something that needs ending – or maybe a list of somethings – then pick one thing.
End it today.
Yes, today. End it.
You can’t change the beginning, but you can create the ending.
Today it’s over.
Say goodbye.
