Be a Thriver

One of my former students from Summit High School was a gang member. When he came to my class, he was facing tough charges. He was a big kid, about six-foot-four 275 pounds. He was tough and let everyone know it. He wanted revenge for the murder of a fellow gang member. I told him that hatred was like taking poison and expecting the other person to drop dead. It would never happen. He didn’t believe me, so I took him through an exercise I do with my participants when they are stuck. I showed him how his body was weakened by his thoughts. I performed the exercise three more times and, each time, his body was weakened by his thoughts of revenge. It proved to him that his thoughts affect his physical body. He changed over the next few months, and when he went home, he was different. I also know he had a tough road ahead of him, and I like to believe he made it. If you keep focused on what you really want, you will succeed.

Take a moment and think about what you want for your life. If money were no object, would you move to a nicer place? Would you go to school? Would you hang out with different people? Would you quit your job and go to work someplace nicer? Would you travel? What would you do?

Now here is the tricky part. It’s not about the money—it’s about the mind-set. It’s about your perspective. How many times in the last week have you said, “I can’t do that because _______.” Or “I have to do ________.” That’s not really true. You choose to do or not to do things based on your beliefs. Consider how your life would change if you changed your belief around a matter and took action toward something you wanted.

Let’s use the hypothetical belief of “I had bad things happen to me when I was younger, and so this is how I am now.” You can come up with one of your own. The reason I’m choosing the belief “bad things happened to me” is Elizabeth Smart, whose story made national headlines. When she was fourteen, she was kidnapped from her bedroom and forced to be the second wife of a man she didn’t even know. She was later saved and is now living her life on her terms. She is not a victim anymore. I don’t think she ever was. She just had bad things happen to her. She is strong and living her life to the fullest.

The difference between a victim and a thriver is the mindset. When you believe you can, you can.

T. Harv Eker, an author and motivational speaker, says, “You can have reasons or results, but you can’t have both.” It’s true. You can make excuses for where you are, or you can make different decisions and get the results you want. It’s all about perspective and how we believe things are.

Make the decision to be a thriver this week.

Talk to you soon,