Life's Story
In Paul Murray's novel Skippy Dies, there’s a point where the main character, Howard, has an existential crisis.“‘It’s just not how I expected my life would be,'" he says. “‘What did you expect?’” a friend responds. “Howard ponders this. ‘I suppose—this sounds stupid, but I suppose I thought there’d be more of a narrative arc.’” But it's not stupid at all. Though perhaps the facts of someone’s life, presented end to end, wouldn't much resemble a narrative to the outside observer, the way people choose to tell the stories of their lives, to others and—crucially—to themselves, almost always does have a narrative arc. In telling the story of how you became who you are, and of who you're on your way to becoming, the story itself becomes a part of who you are. A life story doesn’t just say what happened, it says why it was important, what it means for who the person is, for who they’ll become, and for what happens next.
My Story
In 2016 my entire life story changed. I went from having nothing and having a disgusting, toxic mindset, to changing my life story. The people that I spend time with transfer their beliefs and mindset to me without I even realizing it. I made a list of all the people I have spend time with and then put a red line through any who are toxic and bring me down. I needed to make room for new connections and new friends. Before I changed my life story, I was scared to create something because I was worried I’d be judged or not good enough.
Become ruthless with negative talk
Meaningless, negative conversations are screwing with my mind. Negative people love to complain yet they forget how lucky they are to have even been born. Racking my brain over any obstacle that’s put in my way will chew up time that I could be using to create something phenomenal. No matter how much I have plan, I could never predict correctly the outcome of every challenge. So if I don’t know, and if the universe can’t tell me, and my mentors can’t tell me, then I don’t worry. Worrying is not going to get me anywhere. Stop getting lost in the desert with no water and take a drink from the fountain of faith. Faith that says: “I am good enough.” “I will find the answer.” “I can be amazing.” These are the answers I was seeking. Believe in myself.
Quit my current job
This one’s not straight out of one of those self-help blog posts that says we can all be rich if we quit our 9–5. That’s BS advice. There’s a good chance though that you hate your current income-producing activity known as a job.I was at this same point in 2016 and it bugged the crap out of me. I was so serious about changing my life story and made a decision to quit my job. The cool thing about quitting my job is that I’ll be forced to find another one. Urgency will motivate anyone to do something else. The biggest benefits will come from the hardest decisions. The more tough decisions I make in a short space of time, the greater the change in my life story. We all get bored in our career and quitting my job is how I escape this nightmare.
Change the World
Wanting people to follow the rules of how I play the game of life is sabotaging my success. No one is ever going to act the way I want them to so I quit expecting this false idea to come true. I humbly accept the fact that humans make mistakes and piss each other off. Get used to quickly moving on from disappointments that are created by my circle of colleagues and family, and got back to reality. What’s that reality? Creating something that will be remembered long after I’ve gone. The story of my life won’t be perfect either so I left the expectations at the door and get to work showing them all what I have got. I am capable of achieving so much more than what I have done to date. I want to see me double my results by getting focused and cutting out all the noise. Life can be full of disappointment or packed with joy and happiness. The story is mine to write so get the pen out and make a decision which one will be true for myself. Go all out. Be me. Change the world.