Have you ever done something that later made you go back and ask yourself, “Why did I do that?” Or maybe, “Why do I keep doing that?”
I have for sure!
Well as funny as life is, the way it will teach you lessons is through pain and experience. At some point, these messages finally got through my thick skull. I began to try and figure out why if I knew what the outcome would be, I kept making the same choices. It then dawned on me… It was because of my negative patterns that I kept struggling. I did have a little help coming to this realization though…
One of the things that used to happen to me a lot was that I would run out of gas – constantly. I mean almost on a weekly basis I would find myself late for an appointment, or to work, and calling around to find a ride to get there. I would be stressed out, embarrassed, and frustrated that this kept happening to me.
Finally, one day a friend of mine said to me, “Man I don’t mind helping you out, but this seems to be an all the time thing with you, what’s up?” Embarrassed to admit it, I hung my head down low and begrudgingly told him I don’t ever have enough money for gas. I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t make eye contact with him for the rest of the ride.
He then said to me, “Robbie you need to change your patterns man.” In the moment I just agreed with him and brushed it off. Later that night however, I was sitting at home and thinking about the morning’s events and the decisions that I had made to that point in my life.
As I sat there lost in thought it finally became clear to me that this situation, amongst other things, kept happening to me due to my patterns. My bad patterns kept me making bad decisions, which in turn negatively affected my life.
What did I do? I sought help. I took a personal finance course to help me get my finances on track and stop running out of gas on a weekly basis. How was this achieved? I changed my patterns.
When I noticed this evolution happen to me, I started to ask myself what other self-destructive things I was doing to cause negative results? I started to go over my life with a fine-tooth comb to see what other things I could quickly improve upon.
All these years later when something in my life happens and it has a negative effect on me I have learned to stop and ask myself what patterns have I been doing to get me to this point? What small changes can I make today to have a different outcome in the future?
I can tell you this, I haven’t run out of gas in more than 5 years now. Because I changed my patterns.
What patterns can you change? What keeps happening “to you”? Are you constantly feeling frustrated because of a repetitive outcome?
Maybe it’s time to take a serious look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Do I really want to continue living my life this way?”
Why wait? What better day to start than today! Make it happen.
As always, train hard, be a beast!