You walk into the bookstore, mixed emotions in tow. Your heart is seeking an outlet, an outlet for your current state. Quietly, glancing through the bestsellers, you reach the aisle that seemingly has the answer to all your questions — relationships, job satisfaction, mental health, meditation and even the singular key to success that forces a game of treasure hunt in this massive aisle of “self-help”

Your memory runs through the plethora of suggested reads and you pick one from the aisle in hopes of unlocking your journey to success. The pages look familiar and in them, the ideas and solutions almost redundant.

Patience

Perseverance

Dedication

Consistency

… and the list goes on

Your mind is well educated with the process and every piece of advice, yet you feel a force pulling you back from having it all. The answer lies in a simple yet profound question :

What is your biggest success and failure ?

I’m not trying to take you on a roller-coaster ride of emotions, so hang in there.

We all have a favorite story — One happy success story and another sad and painful story of failure. You’ve repeated each story a hundred times to your friends and family, and a million times in your head! The attachment to each of these stories is so intense, that it is a part of your identity.

However, each story is also an obstacle to the success you deeply desire TODAY!

YOUR STORY OF FAILURE

“ My past is the epitome of missed opportunities ”

Whether it is a relationship you failed to bring to fruition, a business opportunity you passed upon, or a failure to commit to a demanding journey, you love this story. Each time you begin to take a step forward in the direction of your dreams, this single story of failure pulls you back 10 steps.

The outcome — a mind filled with more fear than confidence, leaving you right where you are, in the middle of a 20 feet aisle of “self-help”

You will not overcome your failures by attaching yourself to the same story for a lifetime. Learning from past mistakes is important, but being subconsciously devoted to them is merely a hindrance to growth. Just because you failed one time or even a handful of times in the past, it must not prevent you from seeking success today.

The next time you find yourself repeating your sad story, take an affirmative stand to reject being taken over by your past. Motivate and inspire yourself to avoid reiterating the incidents that have stopped you all along.

“What has happened was a mistake, but what I have NOW is completely under my control”

“ I no longer wish to be devoted to my past ”

“ My failure yesterday is only a milestone for my success tomorrow ”

Stop scribbling your past each day and start painting your tomorrow.

YOUR STORY OF SUCCESS

This one is hard to stomach simply because

“ Why change it when it worked the last time ? ”

True, but if you were successful in selling a piece of real estate once, does that imply you will succeed in all future deals ? Or if you were a mega hit when you wrote your first article, would you simply continue writing around the same topic ?

Imagine the pride on your face each time you share your wonderful success story to a group, and only you can truly experience love and joy for that moment. You feel like the king of your own conquest who was triumphant in an endeavor others can only experience through your words.

It is hard to give up on this story and move forward and change what worked wonders for you at one point in time, because past success has instilled an unwanted arrogance in you. It is this arrogance that is mistaken as self-confidence at times, preventing you from accepting the smallest ideas from another person.

Success demands adaptation and maintaining the pace with a constantly changing world is key to sustaining in a competitive environment. Sure, some of your strategies will be relevant and evergreen no matter which age we live in. These are the strategies you will often find in thousands of self-help books dealing with how changing some of your habits can lead to productive growth.

However, trying to reproduce success based on obsolete strategies is only an imagination demanding a loud boom to snap you out of it.

Don’t let history curtail the smiles of your future

It isn’t always failure that prevents future success, but the deep involvement with our favorite stories that acts as a major obstacle. Treating each day as new and possessing the ability to make decisions based on current scenarios requires practice. When your thoughts wander towards a story you cherish, make sure you aren’t planning the rest of your life based on it.

Make your failures no more than lessons, and successes a mere source of inspiration !