I was out for a walk the other morning, which isn’t something I normally do. But when you want something different in your life, you have to become a different person. You have to become the person who would have those things you’d like to have. So you have to be willing to do things that you haven’t done before to become that new person.
That’s why I was walking before I got started in my day.
I was reflecting on the book I just finished reading. It’s called “Prison of Your Own” by Sean Crane. He was a speaker at the Badass Business Summit recently. I spoke there too.
The book is about his experience of being in prison for six years for a crime he did not commit. And how he maintained his mindset.
What IS Mindset?
You hear people talking about mindset all the time. What does that even mean? Mindset is about where you put and keep your focus. It’s the thoughts occupying your mind. How you talk to yourself. The ideas you keep on repeat. That’s how beliefs are formed.
I recall hearing the quote that beliefs are simply thoughts you keep thinking over and over. If you want to change who you are – if you want to change what you have in your life – you have to change those thoughts and beliefs. Sure, often easier said than done. But it’s completely doable. It simply requires intention.
Anyway, back to Sean’s book. He writes about his young life and how his beliefs about himself and the world around him were established in the first place. Once he’s arrested and even before he’s sentenced to prison, he decided the only way he would survive was to get control of his thoughts.
He implemented an extremely rigorous practice in order to maintain a positive outlook, using visualization and meditation and gratitude. It’s really fascinating because he spent every day, more than 2,000 days, every single day, visualizing, and meditating on what he was creating. He practiced feeling gratitude for everything he had. He focused on what he was creating his life to be. It wasn’t what it was at that moment. It was the life he was manifesting.
Whenever he had the opportunity and other inmates were open to it, he taught these practices to them too.
Now he’s been out for three or four years. One of the things he had been visualizing while in prison was himself on a stage speaking to audiences. That became real at this Summit. I’m so excited I was there to witness it.
His story is amazing. I’m in awe of how disciplined he was and what he accomplished. He remains that way to this day. I highly recommend reading the book; I couldn’t put it down.
Become that New Person
Coming back to how I started this article, when you want to have something you’ve never had before – or even if you want to regain something you used to have in your life and don’t currently have – it’s imperative that you step into the role of the person who would have that thing. And when I say “that thing,” it could be a career, an amazing partner, a beach home, a sense of peace and calm, a healthy body. Could be any situation you can think of.
What would the person who has it, be doing? How would he or she think? Most likely that person’s thoughts would not be self-defeating. Which means you have to reprogram yourself to think different thoughts. The same way Sean did while he was incarcerated. It takes practice and focus and discipline. It’s simple, although not easy.
But how badly do you want – how consuming is your desire – to manifest your situation?
You can certainly have it. IF you’re willing to do what it takes.