Why It Feels Like You Never Get Ahead

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The missing piece of success. What is it?

Simple: Most people spend too much time focusing on why they're not successful and not nearly enough time focusing on how they've been successful in the past. Counting your successes is a business tool.

Wherever focus goes, energy flows.

When you go after your dreams, your mind wonders why you’re not there yet, right?

“Why haven’t I gotten all this done yet?” - Every time I looked at my to-do list.

It would get me down & into an unresourceful state. The result? Less gets done. Is that you?

When you look for how far you have to go, you create negativity.

Example:

Yesterday, we paid off our $92,600 student loans! Exciting, right?! Feels amazing! But can you imagine how we felt when we still had $92,000 to go? Can you believe how negative my mindset would be if that’s what we focused on?

I remember when we paid off $46,300. So half. I remember looking at it and saying, “holy shit we still have so far to go.” And I didn’t even take a second and be grateful that we just paid off half of our debt!

Do you see the difference? Can you FEEL the difference?

When you focus on how far you’ve come, what emotions do you feel?

• Happy
• Excited
• Joyful
• Passionate
• Alive
• Free

When you focus on how far you still have to go, what do you feel?

• Fear
• Doubt
• Scarcity
• Pain
• Impatience
• Frustration
• Blame
• Resentment
• Anger

And those groups have a TOTALLY different result in your life! One is exciting. One is painful. One leads to freedom. One keeps you stuck.

The challenge is that most people focus on how far they have left to go and they don’t even notice how far they’ve come. And you go through life living that way, and it just builds frustration, making it so much harder to get to your dreams.

You can't feel bad about how far you have left to go and excited about how far you've come simultaneously.

There’s a piece of your brain called the Reticular Activating System, and its job is to fizzle out all the millions of things that you’re not currently looking for. So whichever of the two you focus on (how far to go vs. how far you've come), you're going to feel.

Check out my blog post, “How To Get Out Of Your Rut When You’re Feeling Stuck - Part 1” – it will explain how to rewire your negative ways of thinking in detail.

My point is that when you focus on how far you have left to go, you won’t even notice how far you’ve come. Your brain doesn’t look for both simultaneously. Does this make sense?

4 Ways To Feel Like You're Getting Ahead

1.) Create A "Crushed It" List

Every night before bed, stop looking at your to-do list for everything you didn’t get done. Count what you have completed. You'll be blown away.

2.) Count Your Life's Wins

Want to know how to feel amazing instantly? Go back through your life and look at everything you’ve accomplished. There are hundreds of things! You can even count brushing your teeth! If you count your wins, you'll be more confident to create more wins.

3.) Do The "Productive Years Remaining" Exercise

Patience is a virtue. If you’re consistently impatient for your dreams, you’re making them harder to achieve because you push away the lesson that'll get you there faster. You want it NOW. I get it. Patience, young grasshopper.

Most human beings are productive from about age 22 to about age 75, give or take a couple of years (Unless you’re a dude, then you’re basically a douche bag until you’re 26 - kidding).

22 to 75. That’s 53 years.

• If you're 25: 3 years used. 50 to go.
• If you're 30: 8 years used. 45 to go.
• If you're 40: 18 years used. 35 to go.
• If you're 50: 28 years used. 25 to go.
• If you're 60: 38 years used. 15 to go.
• If you're 70: 48 years used. 5 to go.

#perspective

Insane, right? You're doing just fine. You've got time. There's a difference between impatience and urgency. Go after your dreams with urgency and then be patient along the way.

4.) Realize How Far You've Come In 5 Years

5 years ago, I over-drafted my bank account every other week. I was 92K in student debt. I wasn’t married. I didn’t have a business. I was getting sick of a corporate job that I disliked. Janiece and I were doing long distance.

Now, we have financial choice. We're debt free. I'm happily married, and we have a dog. I have a great business, and I'm living out my passion.

Insane, right? Life changed so much in 5 years! Yours did too!

Take out a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. Write this out. Where was each of the following categories of your life 5 years ago and where is it now?

• Relationship/ Romance
• Work/ Career/ Mission
• Personal Growth
• Finances
• Emotional Health
• Physical Health
• Overall Happiness

See how far you’ve already come?! It’s incredible, right?

When you focus on that, you realize that you’ll be able to create even more success go forward. Because wherever focus goes, energy flows.

1. Stop counting your failures. Count your successes.
2. Stop hating your incomplete to-do list. Love your accomplishments.
3. Stop looking at how far you have left to go. Look at how far you’ve come.

It’s a game changer.

This is a success tool, my friend. If you use this, you’ll have more confidence behind the action toward your dreams than ever before.

Because you’re focused on what’s beautiful instead of what sucks.

It's an excellent way to live!

Share this blog post if you found it valuable today!

With love,
Brad Bizjack