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By Casey Grey
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---WARNING--- This post (and all future posts) will be very different than previous posts ;) If you're from Canada, you may remember the Freedom 55 ad campaigns. The insurance company running the ads was attempting to alert Canadians what it would take to retire by the age of 55. I remember seeing those ads and saying to myself "freedom 35 is what I'm aiming for!"
Things started off well and in my young naive mind I was well on my way. I started my career at the young age of 17. I met my beautiful wife, Natasha, at the age of 19. I bought my first house at 20. I proposed to Natasha at 21. I bought a second house at 23. I started my business at 24 while Natasha was doing her Masters in clinical psychology. Natasha and I got married and started building our dream home at 26. We had our son when I was 27. Life was looking good! At least from the outside... Although I looked successful on the outside, I did not feel successful. Debt was pilling up and every day I felt more and more like a slave. Freedom 35 was no longer in site and once I turned 35 we were right in the thick of the pandemic and not only was I not financially free, I was now locked down as well. We had to close down another business we had started and the debt spiral continued. I was on my knees but trying to hide it from my wife. There was no need for both of us to be stressed so I carried the burden myself. So let's back up a little. What is freedom? For me it was doing what I want, when I want, wherever I want, with whoever I want, however I want. That's the financial freedom the world is trying to sell to us everyday. I remember being at a personal development event that was held by a very well know person. There were hundreds of people there. At one point in the event, all the men, including me, were yelling freedom. The music was blasting and the ground was shaking. It was a powerful experience. It was like the men yelling "FREEDOM" in the Braveheart movie and running into war. I came out of that event on fire but it did not last very long. What I have come to know is the freedom I was chasing is not freedom at all. It's a trick. It's a lie. It's a trap. As long as your freedom is tied to some "thing", you are always trying to get more or you are trying to hold on to what you have because once you loose that thing, you will loose your freedom. True freedom can never be lost once you have it. True freedom lifts you of the burdens you are carrying on your shoulders. True freedom is not achieved, it is received. How do I know this to be true? I am experiencing it in my life right now. I can honestly say that I feel more free today than I did yesterday, last month or last year. My freedom grows every single day no matter what happens in my life. How did I receive this freedom? I made one simple decision. A commitment that changed my life. The last blog post I wrote was about surrendering. I know in my heart that I had to surrender. To let go of the control. I had one thing wrong though. I was surrendering to the wrong thing. The decision that changed my life was to surrender and commit my life to Jesus. If you're an atheist or don't believe in Jesus, don't stop reading yet. That's what the enemy wants you to do. I know exactly where you're at because I was there before as well. Just a couple more minutes. I promise the end will be worth it. I remember saying when I was a kid, "I wish there was a a guide the life." The truth is that there is and it's called the Bible. It's not some religious book like I originally thought. The more I study it and the more I put the things I learn into practice, the better my life gets and the more free I become. Now don't get me wrong. This is not some prosperity thing. I still have to deal with all sorts of struggles, pains and so-called bad things. The difference is that I'm free from the burden of carrying all those burdens on my shoulders all by myself. God will carry as much as I want to give him and I'm giving him more and more every day. I'm no longer a slave. I'm not a slave to money. I'm not a slave to stuff. I'm not a slave to my business. I'm not a slave to anybody. I'm a servant of God and servants are cared and provided for. If I'm a servant, I'm not in control though? How is that freedom? If you're trying to control everything in your life, how's it going for you? If it's anything like my life, probably not very well. Control does not equal freedom. If it did, once you lost control, you would loose your freedom. Which I'm guessing happens every day. The truth is that God's plan is always going to be better than our plans. We just have to get out of our own way, surrender and commit to Him. I know this to be true because He was working in my life before I believed in Him. Remember that freedom 35 dream I had? I achieved it and I didn't even realize it until I sat down to write this. The reason I wrote this is because Pastor Doug Millar asked me to share my testimony at church after sharing a little bit of my story with him. I achieved freedom 35 because at the age of 35 is when I decided to surrender and commit my life to Jesus. God's plan was way better than my plan (and I can share dozens of stories proving this). If you have read this through to the end, I'm guessing you're either already a believer or you're searching for something. If you're searching, I'm praying for you. I'm praying you see the light and start the feel the freedom that I now have. You are one decision away from freedom. All you need to do is accept Jesus into your life. If you're not sure how to do that, please reach out to me. We can do it together. If you want to watch the testimony I shared at church, you can watch it here. It's around the 15:30 mark of the video. The law of attraction states that everything that we are experiencing, have experienced or will experience has been attracted to our lives by our own doing.
Personally, I believe in this. And if you're reading this, I'm guessing that you believe it or some part of you believes it to be true. Like most things in life though, it's easy to take credit for the positive stuff. When you get that promotion, land a new client or finally get that date with the person of your dreams, you can say "I did this!" But what about the negative stuff. Are you taking credit for that? Or are you blaming external factors? Thanks to Grant Cardone's The 10X Rule, I have come to realize, yet again, the power of words. I often say that things are happening FOR me but he has flipped that around to things are happening BECAUSE OF me. That simple change of words creates a radical shift in mindset. All of a sudden I am taking radical responsibility for everything that happens in my life. Yes, I know most things in life are out of my control but that does not mean I have to relinquish responsibility. We are responsible for our own lives. If shit's not working out or you're not happy with your current situation, that's on you and nobody else. Some things are easy to measure and track.
If you have decided to begin playing the piano, it's easy to see your progress. If you play baseball, it's easy to follow your stats and see the areas that are changing. If you lift weights, it's easy to track if you are getting stronger. If you invest your money, you can see it go up and down. But what about things like your emotional strength? Or your parenting skills? Or your character? Or your leadership skills? Or your relationship with your spouse. Often, the things that are most important are the hardest to track and since we can't track them we don't give them the attention they need. Tracking is important, especially in business, but it's not everything. How do you define success?
Money? Freedom? Relationships? Health? Spirituality? All of the above? Is success something you get or something you feel? If other people believe your are successful, does that make you successful? The ONLY way you will ever FEEL successful is if you are fulfilled and the only way to be fulfilled is to do what you want to do. Happy Monday! I hope you're doing what you love. If you're not, I hope you're putting a plan into place to make it happen. If you're not, that's on you... You are what you think.
Or are you? I have a lot of "thoughts" come through my mind but I'm NOT my thoughts. Perhaps you are what you think about most. That could be true. The more you think about something, the higher the chance of attracting it into your life. If you often think about being sick, I bet you are sick quite often. If you often think about having lots of money, I bet you have lots of money. On the flip side, if you often think about how you don't have money, I bet you don't have much money. If you often think about being fit, I bet you're in pretty good shape. Whatever it is that you think about most of the time is likely showing itself in your life. Partly because what you think about most, you start to believe. That means you are what you think AND believe. So, if you want to change your life, change what you think about most. Change your beliefs. I should eat healthier.
I should go to the gym more. I should watch less TV. I should work less. I should spend more time with my kids. I should. I should. I should. Stop guilt-tripping yourself! Stop "shoulding" all over yourself! It's not helping you. Is it motivating you to change? I would venture to say that it's not. I bet it's only making you feel like shit. How about you compliment yourself instead? Acknowledge yourself for all the great you did. It's a lot easier to build on a solid foundation than one that has been broken down over the years. And if the foundation is broken down, it will take some time to repair it. The sooner you start, the better. Would you talk to your child the way you talk to yourself in your mind? Deep down, we're all just kids looking to be acknowledged. P.S. If you have young kids, you are building their foundation right now. Do you think you're stupid or do you think you're a genius?
Do you think you're weak or do you think you're strong? Do you think you're a terrible parent or do you think you're the greatest parent of all time? Do you think you're a terrible spouse or do you think you're a terrific spouse. Do you think you're sick or do you think you're healthy. Do you think you're a follower or do you think you're a leader? Do you think you're disconnected or do you think you're connected? Do you think you're tired or do you think you're full of energy? It's true, you are what you think... But only if you believe it. On January 8 of 2019 I committed to a Daily Blog and I kept that commitment. 365 days of a posting a blog every single day!
Not only have I kept it but I will continue to write every day. I will commit to another year and I suspect it will continue on after that. But that’s not my commitment for 2020... Today, January 8, 2020, I am committing to something new... I’m committing to a daily podcast. I will make sure that everyday you will hear my voice (if you choose to subscribe to Lean In with Casey Grey). Just like when I committed to writing daily, I am doing this because I want to be better than I was yesterday (or in this case, last year). I want to become a better speaker and storyteller so that I can help people find that inspiration inside of them and release it! I said it last year and I’ll say it again. New Year's Resolutions are useless unless you are committed. What are you going to commit to today? Supply and demand is easily understood. If you want to increase the supply, you need to increase the demand. When the demand increases, the supply will naturally increase. It has to.
Why not apply this to our lives? If you want to increase the supply of love, wealth, energy, health, vitality, enjoyment, fulfillment or anything else, you simply need to increase the demand. Where you place that demand is of great importance though. You must demand it from the source. That source is you. You are the only source who can supply whatever it is you want more of. Take responsibility, raise your standards and go after your dreams. (That's how I ended up with these two.) How often do you go out and look for feedback?
How often do you ask for feedback? Do you only ask when you know it's going to be positive or are you open to the negative? In reality we're constantly getting feedback. We get feedback from our bodies in terms of how we feel. If we're fat, that's an obvious sign that we're not eating healthy. If we feel sluggish or have a foggy brain, that could be a sign of lack of sleep or also not eating healthy. If we have have pain in our joints, that could also be related to food or lack of exercise. If we feel anxious, perhaps it's a sign that we need to get something off our mind. Whatever it is, it's up to you to listen to the feedback and do something about it. We get signs from our kids. They are sponges and products of their environments. If my son starts to be rude, get frustrated or show any signs of inappropriate behavior, the first place I look to is myself. Did he learn this from me? If so, it's a sign I need to change. If it's not me, perhaps it's a sign he needs to be in a different environment. If your kid is hyperactive, perhaps you need to cut back on the sugar he eats. If your kid is showing signs of aggression, perhaps he needs to watch less TV. If your kid is not listening, perhaps she just needs some more attention. Once again this is all useful feedback. We also get signs in other areas of our lives like our careers, our relationships and our finances. If your career is not going as planned, perhaps you are in the wrong field or working for the wrong company. If your partner is being distant, perhaps they need a little more attention. If you don't have the money you want, perhaps you're spending too much in the wrong places or perhaps you're not delivering enough value. The list goes on... But it's not all bad. If you have lots of money or your kids are fantastic or your career is going great or you're in the best shape of your life, that means you're doing something right. Figure out what's working and do more of that! Just don't ignore the other signs. Keep in mind that it never stops though. Things are changing all the time. It's the natural way. Be open to feedback and go out looking for it. You will be better because of it. |
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