How to go from Miserable to Unstoppable

I wanted to share some thoughts with you that help me when I find my motivation levels are low. A few years ago I met, the “3 Foot Tall Giant” at a conference and was privileged to hear him speak. Let me tell you a little bit about him. He was born with birth defects. He was literally a chest with a head two arms/hands and two tiny little feet. He was wheelchair-bound and had been this way his whole life. He had a medical condition that people usually die from early in life. In layman’s terms, he had brittle bone disease. Sean had broken over 200 bones in his body before he was 18 yrs old. When he was born, doctors told his parents he would likely not live more than 24 hours. But he lived to be 40 years old, passing away in 2019.

And when I say he lived, I mean he LIVED! In his life, he got married, earned multiple degrees, became a doctor of clinical psychology, worked in politics, and decided to use his life to help others as a motivational speaker. When I heard him speak it was just a few months before he passed away. The lessons I learned from him will stay with me for the rest of my life and are what I lean on when life gets hard.

Sean shared the idea of living an unstoppable life and the formula to get it. But before that, he said that most of us are living the Miserable Life Formula. And it’s important for us to recognize that so we can pivot and change.

Now you may not consider yourself to be miserable but I think we can all see an area or two in our life where we are unhappy. The formula for living a miserable life is pretty simple. Maybe you’ll recognize some of these steps:

Focus on what you don’t want. Have you ever had someone tell you to not think about purple elephants? Guess what you automatically think about- yep! Purple elephants. When we focus on what we don’t want it leads us to live in a world of fear. Fear of losing your business. Fear of losing a relationship. Fear of ourselves. Fear that people will see that we aren’t perfect.
Focus on what you don’t have. This is all about envy. Looking at other business owners and comparing yourself and your achievements to theirs. Thinking that what we have right now is not good enough.
Focus on what you don’t like. This leads to complaining. I don’t like that we have to be careful with money

Focusing on the wrong things is the fastest way to become miserable. I definitely see this in my own life. When I heard Sean speak, I was surrounded by people with billion-dollar companies. It was easy for me to look around and feel less-than. Focusing on what is lacking is easy.

Now, the opposite of living a miserable life is living a passionate life. Here is the formula Sean shared:

Focus on what you want- Have you taken time to really think about what you want in life? I’ve talked to a few business owners who have achieved their professional goals and get to a point where things are running smoothly and they start thinking “Now what?”. Do you take time to dream? If it has been a while since you have thought about what you really want, plan some time to do that this week. Do you want more peace, joy, and prosperity? Do you have specific professional goals? Do you have relationship goals?
Focus on what you have- Have appreciation and gratitude for what you have. If you’ve been through my program, you know the weight I put on this idea of gratitude. The key is to not say “thanks” but be consistently grateful for what you have.
Focus on what you like- What are the things that are great in your world? What do you have passion for? Sometimes as business owners it is easy to get so involved with work and family that you can forget yourself. What are some things you liked to do in high school? Once you figure out what you like, find ways to act on that. If you love fine foods, plan to go out to a nice restaurant once a month. Or maybe take a cooking class so you can make your own. Most of you know I have always loved dancing. So I attend dance fitness classes as often as I can.

So, now the next step is taking Living a Passionate Life to Becoming Unstoppable. And here is where I had my big ah-ha moment as I listened to Sean speak. This is his formula for becoming unstoppable:

We need to be impeccable in our own self-care. If you have self-care you will never lack self-confidence. Are you taking care of yourself? Not just your health but also your mind and relationships. If you focus on self-care, you will never have to worry about self-confidence. You’ll feel great and excited about life.
Align with your sole purpose. You might also say your life’s purpose. Even if you are not working in a position that you would describe as your sole purpose, you can still align with your sole purpose. Figure out what that is then bring that to your office. When you are living your sole purpose, you feel joy and fulfillment.
Surround yourself with influential people. Not just the people working within your organization, but also outside of your work environment. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. So, are the people you associate with bringing your average up?

I truly believe that all of us have the capability to become unstoppable! It’s time. Step out of the life of misery and into a life of passion and fulfillment.