Q4:"What's the best lesson you've experienced so far?"

December 17, 2014 marked my first anniversary as an entrepreneur and college drop-out. I invited friends to ask me about my journey. Here is the fourth of the series of questions and my response:

Q4:"What's the best lesson you've experienced so far?"

The biggest lesson I've learned so far: DON'T QUIT. The world is full of quitters; I chose not to be one of them. People quit good things all the time. They quit when it gets hard or confusing or when they forget why they started something in the first place. Quit being a quitter! And quit being around quitters! Stick with the things that move you forward in life, and get rid of the things that don't.

(Image found here.)

I had a mastermind session with my friends a few weeks ago. We went around the room and said one thing about ourselves that we wanted to believe in. "I'm worth more", "I'm genuine", "I'm a force to be reckoned with." When it was my turn, I said, "I'm a winner." It felt so crazy and so right to say it at the same time. What was even cooler is that my friends said that they believed that about me, too, and told me why they thought so. 

(Me with some of the winners I surround myself with, September 2014)

And now I tell it to myself all the time: I'm a winner, I'm a winner, I'm a winner. In times of doubt, I tell myself I'm a winner and I stop doubting. In times of confidence, I tell myself I'm a winner and I suddenly find more ways to win, or I get closer to winning at what I'm doing in that moment.

"I'm a winner." It's an affirmation. It's something you have to believe and tell yourself everyday, because "what you say is what you get." You words affect your thoughts, and your thoughts affect your actions, and your actions affect your belief, which repeats the cycle of success--or failure. I don't let things get in my way. "I don't have any hangups!" (Dexter Yager)

(Dexter Yager exercising, not long after he suffered a stroke, because he's a winner.)

As I wrote before, I was faced with challenge after challenge when I was trying to go to England, but I won in the end and I went to England in spite of everything. Whenever I face a challenge when I'm working, I find a way to deal with it and accomplish what I set out to do. When plans change, I don't fall apart: I reset my goal and go after it with a new game plan. Whenever I have issues with other people, I keep my attitude up and keep moving forward, because that's what winners do. When I decided at the last minute to do a month-long trip this year, I found and accepted ways to make it happen, despite all the crazy things that happened in the process. When I set an income goal, I reach it. When I set a sales goal, I reach it. When I'm scared to set a goal, I set it. And when I'm scared I won't reach a goal, I review it, review my plan, adjust my plan if necessary, and keep going after the goal. It's a funny mixture of looking ahead and going with the flow.

(Me, posing with a winner during my whirlwind, last-minute, totally worth it trip in September-October 2014)

Learn to ask yourself this question whenever something, good or bad, happens: "What does this experience make possible?" (Michael Hyatt)

(Michael Hyatt was one of the winners I started listening to via podcast when I decided I wanted to be a winner, too.)

But..I can't--!

Honestly, I'm not perfect at it. But I've found a way to eliminate my tendency to make excuses: I'm a winner because I've learned how to redirect my energy. Instead of spending my energy on being sad, anxious, stressed, or anything else negative, I take that same energy as soon as I feel negative feelings coming on and use it on something else: contacting people, making sales, scheduling appointments,  finding new clients, following up with clients, digging deeper into my mind to solve a problem, imagining how I can make things different and imagining what things will be like when they ARE different. I learned how to do this through (1) trusting in God and (2) believing I was made for more.

(This is God meeting you on your entrepreneurial journey and telling you to chill out and trust in Him. Image found here.)

Also, work with what you've got. I you live at home, work with it. If you're married and have kids, work with it. If you're broke, work with it. I don't mean perpetuate or eliminate it; I mean improve it.

(Me, excited about the conference I was attending, which happened to be full of winners, October 2014)

And don't forget to say:
I'm a challenge-crusher.
I'm a problem-solver.
I'm motivated.
I'm focused.
I was made for more.
I'm a WINNER.

Practical tips:

• Find or create a mastermind group (I'll write about what a mastermind group does in a later post).
• Read and listen to personal development products, because you're not going to adopt a winner's mentality by accident.
• Surround yourself with winners, because they'll build you up and impact your mind in powerful ways.
• Focus on your WHY--your dream, your purpose.
• Affirm yourself everyday with affirmations like "I'm a winner!"