It's the Perfect Time for New Beginnings

by Rick White, President 180BIZ                                                             (Estimated Read Time 5 minutes)

In this episode, I’ll talk about beginnings. What a perfect time to do that because it's a new year. And that's probably one of the major beginnings we have in our lives each year.  One of the biggest mistakes most of us make is holding onto the old while we're trying to grab the new. That's almost like breathing in, holding onto that air, and still breathing in more. It can't be done.

Let go of the baggage.

You can't have a new beginning unless you can let go of the old ending. You must let go of the baggage, the luggage, the chains, the guilt, the regret, everything that you're dragging along. It makes me think of Marley's Ghost in Scrooge. We forge these chains over time and we bring them with us everywhere we go. How do you know when someone has that allotted chain and baggage? They're not standing up straight. They're not smiling. They're hunched over. They're downtrodden, bitter, disappointed, frustrated, and angry with life. We turn into someone who reacts to life instead of creating a life.

To have a new beginning, there must be an ending.

You can do something different here. This is an opportunity for a new beginning. But for it to be a new beginning, there must be an ending. There must be some letting go. One of the best ways I've found to do that is to reflect and debrief the past year.  What went great? What didn't go so well? What did I learn from it? What were the lessons? And what am I going to do differently now that I've learned these lessons? If you don’t do that, it's not a new beginning. It's a continuation. And that's why you're not seeing the results you want to see.  You’re continuing the same things year after year.

You must recognize the new beginning. You must step back, stop, turn around, look at this past year, and ask yourself those questions so that you have a chance to reflect on it and grow from it. Recognize that the past, which is what 2023 is now, is a library to learn from. It's not a room to live in. Your past was never meant to dictate your potential, but you allow that to happen all the time because you made mistakes, because you failed.

Your past isn’t a stumbling block. It’s a stepping stone.

I can't tell you the number of times that I have failed in business. I've failed with marriages, I've failed with finances and taxes and everything else throughout my life. But they were not things that held me down. They were not stumbling blocks. They were not cement shoes. They were stepping stones where I learned to get better and grow. And in the process of doing that, I became more. And in the process of becoming more, I had more. And then I became more again, and I had more. And that's what I wish for you.

Learn from your past and then let go of it.

Here's the number one secret… let go of the past. Learn and let it go. That's all you can do with it. The only other thing you can do is live in the past and let that past dictate what you believe is possible. And that's not true. It's a lie.

I was talking to a shop owner recently about doing $2 million a year in his business. He said that he could never do $2 million because he’s never done that before. And I asked, “Was there a time when your sales were less than a million in a year?” He responded, “Yes.  And for longer than I want to admit.” I was merely showing him that he is doing over $1 million now. If he hadn’t done that before, how was that possible? That’s when he understood what I was talking about. He recognized the flaw in that thought process.  In that belief, the past is meant to refine you, not define you, not dictate to you.

Don’t let the past linger.

You have a new beginning every year. You could have a new beginning every quarter. You could have a new beginning every month, every week, or every day. In fact, you could have a new beginning each moment. And all it takes is a deep breath and a letting go so that you can really start fresh. And that's what it's all about, is that ability to learn and let it go. Don't let the past linger because when you do, you're stuck. You're always going to have problems. We just want to make sure that you have new, bigger problems each and every year, because those are a sign of growth. If you have the same problems right now as you did last year, you're stuck, my friend, and it can be better than that. So get help. Get a coach.  I'm a good coach. I would love to work with you. But if it’s not going to be me, find a good coach. There are lots of them out there.

If you have the same problems now as you did last year, you're stuck.

Step back and learn from the past. If you haven't been able to get to where you want to go and you've been doing it and doing it and doing it, recognize that you may need help. That's okay. We all need help. I have a coach.

So, here's what I'm going to ask you to do. I need your help. Can you share this video? There are a lot of people that need help with letting go so that they can finally start new.

Remember to visit our Pocket Business Genius, our next Shop Owners Round Table. I would love to see you there.

God bless. stay safe, have some fun, and go make some money.

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