“Left to its own devices, your mind will traffic in the negative, worrisome, and fearful all day and night.” -Darren Hardy
The human mind does not care about the sort of life you lead. Its focus is your survival.
It’s always looking for the negative. It doesn’t like change, it doesn’t like uncertainty and doesn’t want risk.
Give your mind a chance, and it will make your head a terrible place to be.
So, if you don’t control what goes in, and what goes on in your mind then it will control you and life will just start happening to you.
The People You Hang Around Shape Your Life
“You cannot hang out with negative people and expect to live a positive life.” -Darren Hardy
I know a lot of smart and intellectual folks who could have incredibly bright futures. But because they insist on hanging around the wrong sorts of people their lives are heading in a downward spiral.
We’ve all heard the saying: “You are the sum of the 5 people closest to you.” This is completely true.
The people in your environment will shape your thinking, your goals, your attitudes, and even your personality.
Hang around negative people, and your thinking will be negative. Have close contact with depressed and defeated individuals who see no good in the world, and you will begin to see no good in the world.
While, surround yourself with ambitious individuals, and you will have ambition. Surround yourself with people who succeed, and you will be successful.
So, if you really want to shape the life you want — and deserve, you must consider if you have right the people influencing that life.
Do your friends force you to raise your standards?
Or do they prevent you from rising any higher?
If you have friends who are no good for you, get rid of them.
Like Jordan Peterson said in his book, 12 Rules for Life,
“If you have a friend whose friendship you wouldn’t recommend to your sister, or your father, or your son, why would you have such a friend for yourself?”
Get Real Freedom in Your Life by Not Worrying About Things You Can’t Control
“If you want real freedom in your life, you must make a decision to stop allowing external events to shape your happiness.” -Tony Robbins
It’s easy scroll down your Facebook feed or turn on the news and begin to worry about everything that’s wrong with the world.
And many people do worry greatly about the things they cannot control — sometimes even more so than they care for their own lives.
But what a terrible a way to give up your power. You cannot change all the problems in the world, but you can change your own world.
Like Mark Manson, author of the bestselling book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck wrote in a recent article,
“People are always complaining that [Trump] should delete his Twitter account, but how about this: stop reading it! Stop clicking on articles about shit he tweeted. Stop watching news segments about shit he tweeted.”
Now, that sounds much better. That’s something we can control.
Do the same thing in your day-to-day life. There will always be events that occur which are outside of our control. But you’ve got the power to allow how they shape your life.
If you don’t get the job you wanted, get fired from your job, or even lose a loved one.
You could let these events bring you down, you could let them cause you great misery. Or you could be grateful for what you do have, and use them to empower and shape a better future for your life.
In Conclusion
“If we do not create and control our environment, our environment creates and controls us.” -Marshall Goldsmith
How are you going to live your life?
Are you going to allow your life to be shaped by negative influences?
Are you going to let external events shape your happiness?
Make the decision to take control your mind before it controls you.
Because the truth is, you cannot afford not to. To live an extraordinary life you must take ownership, and that starts with your mind.