This guest post was written by Diggy, author of Upgrade Reality.
When wild animals are first captured and put into zoo cages they try everything to get out of that cage. They bite it, run into it with their full weight, and claw at the cage. They persist for weeks and months and they take any chance they can to free themselves.
But after a few years of captivity these wild animals lose their fierce desire to be free. You could leave the cage door unlocked so the animals could escape if they wanted to, but they won’t. They won’t even try, because they’ve become comfortable and given up the instinct that they could ever be free again.
Are you like these wild animals in a cage? Have you lost your initiative to succeed and make good things happen in your life?
You may think your past is indicative of your future, and that you’ve been cast in an imprisoning mold. You may believe that just because you haven’t yet been successful in X, Y or Z that you will never be successful in that venture and you may as well accept your fate.
The mindset of your past being indicative of your future is a trap – an extremely easy and unnecessary trap.
Your Wake-Up Call
“Everything you can imagine is real.” -Pablo Picasso
Your reality can be whatever you want it to be. The limits to what you can achieve are an illusion. These achievement limits are mostly not set by others, but by you yourself.
Often things are not as difficult as they seem:
For years athletes couldn’t run one mile in under four minutes. Once Roger Bannister ran a mile under four minutes, proving that the human heart could hold up when running that fast, others quickly followed. And once Olympic champion, Vasily Alexeev broke the weight lifting barrier of 500 pounds, other weight-lifters broke his record knowing it was possible. Yet before he could do it himself, Alexeev’s trainers changed his limiting belief by rigging 501.5 pounds of weights to look like 499.
This is also true for how you have lived your life from the day you were born until this very moment. You wake up each morning and do as you have been doing for years. You’ve got a belief system setting limits for yourself as to what you can and deserve to achieve.
People will jump at the chance to tell you what you can and cannot do. Most people love to break down your dreams and get you to do what they think is best for you. Sometimes your closest friends and family will crush your dreams without even realizing it.
But remember that your dreams are yours. They are what your heart knows and feels, and it doesn’t matter what others think of them. (Read The Alchemist.)
Take a close look at the following quotes and see how some of the most influential and talented people made incredibly strong statements that turned out to be totally false:
- “Everything that can be invented has already been invented.”
– Director of the U.S. Patent Office, 1899 - “A rocket will never be able to leave the earth’s atmosphere.”
– The New York Times, 1936 - “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
– IBM Chairman 1943 - “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”
– H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927”
Upgrade Your Reality
Again, as Pablo Picasso once said, “Everything you can imagine is real.”
Therefore, you can upgrade your current reality to a vision of what you want. The way you perceive your reality to be is the way that your reality becomes. Let me explain:
You don’t need to be unhappy about the condition of your social life, your finances, your fitness or anything else that you’ve accepted as your reality just because ‘it’s always been like that.’
There are countless examples of people who have come from nothing and built up some of the biggest companies in the world. (Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Oprah).
I know many of you reading this article will agree with me that change is possible and have areas in your life that you want to change. But I also know that many of you who conceptually agree with this will not take action and persist long enough to see the change you want.
Hard Work + Persistence = Guaranteed Success
You should not accept a frustrating, unhappy lifestyle. As long as there is the slightest possibility of improvement through hard work and taking action, that’s exactly what you should do.
With smart work, faith, commitment and persistence, you will become successful! Whether it takes you a month or ten years, as long as you never give up and execute a strategy, you will succeed.
Don’t expect a quick fix though. Don’t expect to put in a little bit of effort for a small period of time and see your dreams come true.
Transformation can take years. Many successful people have failed multiple times before they get the big results. But even though your situation won’t change drastically overnight it can change noticeably in a short time frame. You can see a gradual improvement within days or weeks if you were to start today.
The biggest obstacle to overcome in seeking improvement is the problem of, “Where do I start?”
Even if you are motivated enough to research a solution or method for changing your situation, you’ll likely find many conflicting opinions and advice from all sorts of sources and gurus.
The most sure-fire way of finding your strategy to success is to use a proven method.
Find someone (or multiple people) who have already accomplished goals aligned with yours, and research their methods. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel. Just copy the masters and tweak their methods for you own circumstances. This eliminates the guess-work and trial and error that you would encounter if you were to blaze your own trail. (Read The Success Principles.)
You Must Believe You Deserve It
Achieving success is only one part of the equation. Keeping the success you achieved is an entirely different thing.
You need to feel and believe that you are deserving of the success achieved. Otherwise your subconscious will sabotage your process and put you back in a lesser situation that you feel you deserve.
It may sound crazy, but it’s a fact of life. Take the following quote as an example:
“A shockingly large number of lottery winners end up in financial ruined. National statistics show that about one-third of lottery winners ultimately file for bankruptcy.” -Milwaukee Magazine
“The reality is nearly 70 percent of all lottery winners will squander away their winnings in a few years,” the Connecticut financial advisers said in a news release. “In the process, they will see family and friendships destroyed and the financial security they hoped for disappear.”
Even though people who win the lottery have suddenly received more money than they ever dreamed of, most of them will feel like it’s too good to be true. Their mindset limits a financial transformation. In their hearts they are still the same low-wage earning workers that they were before winning, which is why they end up losing all their money. They feel stuck in their old situation, because that is what they feel they deserve.
You may think the lottery example does not apply to you. Just wait until I win the lottery! The main point is that if you spend months or years working towards a final goal and achieve success, you need to feel like you deserve it completely.
Be The Change you Want To See
You deserve to wake up in the morning and be happy. You should feel good about yourself and excited about the life you’re living. You should do work you love, be in the relationship that you’ve always wanted to be in and be healthy enough to enjoy it all.
- Start today.
- Be the change that you want to see.
- Make sure you feel it in every fiber of your being.
- Work hard, follow a proven strategy for success and never give up.
- Don’t just think about goals, take action and make good things happen!
Diggy writes about personal development and has created a 122-page ebook under the same name at his blog: Upgrade Reality. You can subscribe to his blog via email to receive weekly articles just like this one.
Photo by: Miguel Angel
Anthony says
Marc & Angel, I can honestly say I love all your different articles for simple life improvements and several other things just to contemplate. I’m a 14 year old teenager residing in Guam and yet even I have been fascinated by your work for over a year. Shows how just about anyone could read your work and be inspired to do great and life-changing things. I never miss a chance when I get to read any of your articles or quotes and I always spread good word for your website to anyone I know will enjoy it, just as I did. Keep up the good work!
With high hopes, Anthony
Waldo Gammon says
“Be the change you want to see.”
That is quite possibly the best advice to achieving happiness.
Simple, but effective.
It definitely requires one to step out of their comfort zone, but once you learn to do that… you will achieve a much more pure form of happiness. Self-fulfillment.
Rosie says
Very inspiring post! The best part of it was,
“You Must Believe You Deserve It”
I may do everything right but how often I leave that little bit out.
Diggy says
Hi Marc,
Thank you so much for posting my article and allowing me to connect with your audience!
I’ll check in regularly to respond to comments and any questions left here.
All the best
Diggy
Upgradereality.com
Debs says
Marc and Angel, thank you for being such an inspiration. I look forward to Monday mornings just to read your thought provoking and inspirational gems. I live in South Africa and recommend your writings to all my friends. Every week there is something that I can strongly relate to. I suffer from depression, anxiety and self doubt, but after reading your blog I always feel stronger and more positive. I know I can be the person I was always meant to be. I am happier now than I was a year ago and I know that I will get better and better. I am that change I want to see.
Diggy says
Hi Debs,
Glad to hear you enjoyed the article!
I also live in South Africa, Cape Town actually:)
Keep being happy!
Cheers
Diggy
Tazz says
Oftentimes it is easy to lose sight of the goal because so many little niggling things that need our attention. I sometimes forget that my dreams too need to be achieved. Thank you for such an inspiring article.
I found your website thru a link fr another site, and hv been spreading the good word with family n friends. Keep up the good work!
Sending my love from Malaysia.
Melody | Deliberate Receiving says
Excellent article Diggy. If we don’t change our mindset, we can offer all the hard work we want, it isn’t going to change anything permanently. I love the lottery winner example. Even if you can accomplish a spike in your vibration, if you don’t manage to hold on to it, circumstances will just revert right back to where they were. The great thing is that once we know that, once we know that we can deliberately change our beliefs and mindset, we can attract the life we want.
Hugs,
Melody
Jennifer says
Another great post, thanks again for a great eye opening article!
John Sherry says
Love it Diggy. I thought I was the only one who knew about the US Patent Office but good to see that you also believe that the mankind mind can actually halt progress, quash dreams, and dampen enthusiasm with a lower reality. Better to ramp up the inner individual mind to design and live in a world of our own making. After all ‘they’ thought Star Trek was just a TV show but now we are using half the ideas they had on the series. Gene Rodenberry knew and did it anyway and so should we!
AE Thanh says
Everything starts within and the outside is a reflection of that. Your repeated thoughts eventually translate in actions and behavior. Just make sure you have the right thoughts so you will get the right behaviors.
And anything worthwhile is worth working for. I agree with Diggy, hard work + persistence = guaranteed success.
Connor says
Great article!
This tackles that big issue I think everyone faces: taking action. I am guilty of reading inspiring things and then just sitting there.
It takes so much force to push yourself out of a slump. It really seems to be a “do or die” situation. It’s articles like this that reinforce that.
Insp1re says
Yet another great post!
It made me think of this quote
“Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.” – Cynthia Nelms
I mean what is the point in choosing to be miserable when happy people attract so many more great things in life?!
Thanks,
Caryn says
This is one of the best posts I have read on any blog. Love the false quotes and the bit about peers telling you what you can and cannot do. Very well written and inspiring. Ironically, it comes on a day that I was just having this discussion about career paths with my boyfriend.
Perhaps I do not fully get what you mean, and if so, I apologize. But I happen to disagree about why people who win the lottery lose all their money though. I think they tend to spend it because they see it as unlimited and make extravagant purchases, not necessarily because they feel stuck in their old situation.
Heather says
This blog is so wonderful and inspiring. Lots of love from LA!
Diggy says
@Melody – Hi Melody, thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed the article:)
@John – Yeah it’s amazing how things that seemed like science fiction a few decades ago are actually being used on a daily basis. I wonder what the world will look like 50 years from now…
@AE – All your conscious thoughts program your subsconscious, so every time you repeat something in your mind, you are training your subconscious to believe in that. That’s why you should always think positive thoughts and not negative ones.
@Connor – Thanks man!
@Inspire – Glad you like the article, thanks for commenting 🙂
@Caryn – Wow, thanks for the kind words!
I think the lottery winner situation has to do with a number of things:
1- When you win such a large amount of money without having needed the skills and intelligence to acquire it through business, you probably don’t have the skills to maintain or reinvest that money
2- Like you say, because it’s such a big amount it’s easy to be fooled into thinking that it will not disappear when you spend it.
3 – There may be feelings of guilt or that you didn’t deserve to win it, and subsconsciously you feel the need to lose it or spend it so that you no longer feel guilty. It sounds strange, but this is a very true psychological phenomenon.
Thanks again for all the kind comments everyone!
Cheers
Diggy
saira says
Well said, diggy! I don’t have words to describe how I admire your thoughts.
Malan Shroff says
I sincerely liked reading this one… very effective for me in my life right now.
Bryce Christiansen says
This is a great post and the quotes and stories are amazing.
However, I have to disagree with the headline Hardwork + Persistence = Guaranteed Success.
Success can mean very different things to different people. There are plenty of persistent hardworkers who don’t feel that they are successful, and the fact that they keep doing things that way doesn’t guarantee their success.
Think of the 10% of the country who don’t have jobs. Surely some of those are doing both those things and still not seeing success.
Success is not a simple formula of two ingredients. It’s more like a blender. You put in hardwork, strategy, passion, balance, flexibility, and even some luck along with a bunch of other talents and skills. You probably will come out with something amazing, but it might be too mushy or chunky depending on when you stop the blender.
My point is success is never guaranteed, and it is a dangerous myth to have people believe hardwork will guarantee it.
Vic says
Great Article, Diggy. I really mean that.
You’re right you must believe! That is the main ingredient in success. Because if you don’t believe that you can make your dreams a reality, who else will? I enjoyed your analogy of the wild animals being trapped in a cage. When the people around us tell us that we cant to do something that is actually our cage!
Ereline says
I love this article! It says so much of what I believe and try to live. I wish that everyone understood that what happens to us always begins in our heads, good or bad. If we think it, we become it. It really is just as easy to think the good things as the bad ones. As I have always told my son, it’s a choice that we make. Even if your best plans fail, you have successfully made SOMETHING happen, you’ve gotten an outcome, something you can learn from. Learn and try again!
Nea | Self Improvement Saga says
What an awesome article, Diggy! I’m a firm believer that the possibilities in this world are endless. If we hear the limiting beliefs of others and take them into ourselves, we choose to stand behind that same wall of limitation. But nobody is stuck there. At anytime, we can choose to resume the process of creating our own reality instead of living someone else’s.
Tatyana (Tanika Palm) says
Diggy, what a lovely article: “But after a few years of captivity these wild animals lose their fierce desire to be free.” Once, in my home country, Estonia, I observed how zoo workers were feeding animals. Workers did not bother to close doors during feeding and cleaning cages. Animals were nervous, they circled inside their cages, somehow heads down and passing open gates (doors) without recognizing that the doors were open! The same happens to ‘indoor’ cats and I suspect, to owners of these cats as well!
Tatyana, the author of “Prisoners of Fame” in Kindle Store.
umesh says
Great story! Extremely encouraging!
Jessie Simpson says
“Perception becomes reality and what you perceive becomes what you believe.”
-Dr. Richard Hughes
Hughes states that, “someone perceives something it becomes real. Perception in all aspects of professions and life is all that matters! How people perceive the world, others and the actions of others is paramount in the world.”
For works of kindness and other related materials may I suggest a visit to backacrewoods2 on scribd.
Jillian says
Thank you..thank you for such wonderful article. just truly broke a smile on my face. 🙂
ezzard says
I loved this short read. Thank you for the motivating words.
Toussaint says
Love it!
Robert Williams says
Amazing site you guys! I just stumbled upon it and will read it everyday from now on. You words have really made a lot of stuff make sense for me.
Thanks so much
Robert
Nolo says
I was so down and this has awakened me. I want to achieve a lot and it truly starts with me, thank you.
Nolo.