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Hey, Colleague:
I’ve been reading your articles and it’s making me think outside the box. All I use to know was to go to work and pay bills. I’m starting to think there is more to life… but I feel stuck. I want to do more and achieve more but I don’t know where to start. What advice do you have?
— Anonymous
I’m sorry to hear you are stuck! We all go through stages in our life where we feel like we want more and that’s just a sign that we are ready to grow. Let me give you a new perspective in hopes of giving you a new mindset shift.
Success is a mindset game
Comfortable is nice but people get stuck — which is why some never do the great things they want to achieve in life.
I’m all about the zero-fluff, no shortcuts, and have a ‘take no prisoners’ attitude. I come from an athletic background and we know if you want to succeed, it’s up to you to push yourself because no one’s going to do it for you.
It may not work for everyone but I believe it's the fastest way to level up and I don't know about you, but time is the most precious currency to me. I’m willing to take the harder route if it means I save time.
It was just a mindset shift.
The hard truth: many of us make excuses and don’t think big enough
In the , Grant Cardone preaches if you want to be successful, you have to work 10 times harder than most people. If you want more, you truly have to embody that mindset.
Here is one of my favourite passages from the book:
*Before you say, "I don't need extraordinary levels of success" or "success is not everything" or "I just want to be happy" or whatever else you may be mumbling to yourself at this very moment, understand something:
In order to get to the next level of wherever you're doing, you must think and act in a wildly different way than you previously have been. You cannot get to the next phase of a project without a grander mindset, more acceleration, and extra horsepower. Your thoughts and actions are the reasons why you are where you are now.*
Now, that’s fine if what you truly want is to stay the same. But do you?! If you want to do big things, your limiting beliefs and self-talk are holding you back.
I had to do a lot of inner work transforming my mindset from one of scarcity to one of abundance
Growing up, I’ve always known there was more to life but I had spent a decade in the conventional route before I resigned from the nine-to-five and began my own agency to design the life I desired — of time freedom, autonomy, and in control of my salary.
It took me a few years to realize my full potential — but there are no limits to potential, and I’m still on that journey to do better and take more risks every day while trying to stay grounded and not burn out.
It’s not easy but it’s possible.
It’s a journey called: LIFE
I came from an immigrant family where my parents worked multiple jobs to give me the life I have today, yet I was conditioned to think, “you have to save! Work at a nine-to-five! Do as the government says!”
To a contrarian thinker, this basically meant we are a slave to the government, society, and glass ceilings.
Something in the back of my mind always nagged at me and I challenged this limiting belief my entire life despite having no physical role models to influence me.
I truly believe our natural state of being is to strive and thrive for more.
After all, as a species our only purpose is to reproduce so of course, the universe has ingrained this mindset in all of us.
If we aren’t able to do more, we will become extinct.
Driven by dopamine
If you want to get scientific, you are driven to succeed by the neurotransmitter of motivation and drive, dopamine. I’ll save you the tangent for now but you can read all about it in one of the many books that changed my life: .
How I got out of my comfort zone
Fitness (CrossFit and cycling) taught me how to get out of my comfort zone by pushing my limits. I started working out consistently when I was 20 after I realized how much weight I’d gained from the desk job and free food in my new tech career.
Because I stayed consistent and disciplined, this quiet, introverted girl from Saskatchewan ended up spending the last decade climbing the same mountains the cyclists do in the Tour de France. If I can do it, anyone can do it.
I built confidence in myself which helped me succeed in all aspects of my life, especially my career.
Results equate to motivation.
By continuously maintaining my active lifestyle, I strengthened the circuits in my brain to do more and want more.
My drive to succeed comes from continuous momentum, pushing forward, and knowing that there is no one to save me but myself.
It all begins with you. Work on yourself
- Work on your mind.
- Cultivate emotional intelligence.
- Audit your environment.
- Curate all the content you consume.
- Keep your standards high.
- Write and read as much as you can.
- Learn to see the good in everything.
- See everything as happen for you, not to you.
- Wake up every day with an intention to plan and execute.
