The Most Successful Shop Owners Empty Their Junk Drawers Often

by Rick White, President 180BIZ                                                            (Estimated Read Time 4 minutes)

Today I want to talk about your junk drawer. You know what I'm talking about. We all have at least one. In fact, typically you have one at home and you have one at work, right? That junk drawer is not your friend. Every time you walk over to that junk drawer, you open it up and what do you think? “Man, I have to clean this sucker out and get rid of the stuff that I don't need!” Every time you see it, it's just another thing to do.

Your junk drawer holds your past mistakes, hurts, and unkind words.

But I must say, you have a junk drawer on the inside too. This is where you keep all the past mistakes, hurts, and unkind words you’ve experienced in the past. You keep them all inside. Then every once in a while you open up that drawer. Every once in a while you get triggered by something or by what someone says. It brings back something that keeps you from moving forward. You don't have to have that junk drawer.

Junk drawers keep you from achieving everything you want.

And why am I bringing this up? Why is this a business thing? Because I'm telling you that your junk drawer is keeping you from achieving everything you want. That's the truth. A past mistake that creates doubt, that creates boundaries that aren't real. A feeling that you don't want to fail again. But you must stop thinking of it as mistakes and failures. They are simply lessons. So things didn't go your way. Things didn't go the way you expected it. That's life. Step back, learn from it, and then let it go. That's what we do with the mistakes.

Some of the worst things that happen could end up being the best things that happen.

The other is our hurts. I've had some hurts. I've had some disappointment. Instead of seeing those as bad things, and something that's happening to me, I have worked very hard to train my brain to recognize that these things are happening for me. That there are lessons inside of our hurts  There's something to learn, something to grow through in the process of going through your hurts. I joke about my divorces all the time, but they were some of the most painful times in my life. And at the moment they were the worst thing. But in hindsight, they were some of the best things that ever happened to me because they were the spot of significant growth and realizations, and I am who I am today because of that.  I've been able to help people because of that.

Don't let others' damage become your reality. 

And then let's talk about unkind words. Let's face it. Everyone has someone in their junk drawer who told them that they were never going to amount anything, that they were dumb, stupid, ugly, short, fat, or whatever.  But do you know something? Don't let their damage become your reality.

Empty your junk drawers today. Learn the lesson then throw away the package.

What I would like you to do today is empty your junk drawer. I want you to go through all this stuff that's been bottled up inside. I want you to go through them one thing at a time. If you find something, learn the lesson, and then throw the package away. You don't need anything in your life that will create doubt, disbelief, or bitterness. You don't need any of it. Clean the junk drawer out. Go through everything and get rid of it. Recognize that your past is something to learn from. It's not there to define you. It's not there to keep you down.

Don't carry yesterday's garbage into today's potential.

Don’t keep carrying yesterday's garbage into today's potential. That's why it never feels like a new day. Come on, let's not do that anymore. Let's learn from what we've gone through. Let's be grateful for where we are. Let's stop living in the past and letting it dictate who we can become, where we can go, and what we can create. Let's do something amazing this week. What do you think? Stop letting the past dictate who you are. It's not true, not unless you let it be true. Instead, what I would rather you do is to learn, let it go, and live life. Become the best you can.

We have our shop owner’s roundtable, on the second Thursday of every month, 7 p.m. Eastern, and we would love you and your friends to drop on us. Shop owners only come in. And then also, we have our upcoming webinar second Thursday at 1 p.m. 

Everyone, have an amazing week. God bless, have fun, and go make some money. 

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

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