I asked my dad a few months ago to teach me how to be successful. In reality that was not the question I intended to ask but that is how I framed it.  His answer was quite provoking to the point I have thought, prayed, and journaled quite a bit about it for many months.

His answer was “I can’t teach you to be successful. ”

I was actually quite offended by his answer because he is very successful in business.

“Why can’t you?” is what I wanted to ask as a follow-up question but instead God had me dwell on those words to make me realize “my dad was right”. 

He CANNOT teach me nor anyone else how to be successful.  To be successful in anything starts with a paradigm shift

First, you have to want to change.

Second, you have to see that you are worthy of being or doing something different.

Third, you have to put in the hard work

Turning your life around is not only hard but it is scary.

Why is it scary?

Because change requires effort.

Change also requires responsibility.

The other day I saw a status on Facebook and it was saying that this person was upset because they found out that their life was going to change and the very next thing was “I did not sign up for this.” Let’s just say, you play with fire you will get burned. Maybe not the first time but negative behaviors will result in bad consequences.

So change requires effort.  It requires responsibility, but change also requires that you are no longer the victim in the equation.

When I teach, I tell people that as long as they have breath in their lungs and they are NOT a complete invalid, where someone else is required to care for them 24/7, then they can change.

But there is a challenge when you have never done life without an addiction. An addiction is anything that keeps you enslaved to something or a behavior. Or maybe you have never done life without having a relationship, even when it is toxic (poisonous up to death) and dysfunctional (not operating as it should).

So if you want to have a different tomorrow, it starts today with a choice and tomorrow with the follow through.

It’s your choice