I don’t think there is a more polarizing vegetable. At the mention of them the reactions are generally one of “Yuck!” Some people say just the name leaves a bad taste in their mouth. I, however, am one of the ones in the other camp; I happen to love them.
I didn’t grow up eating Brussel sprouts; in fact, I didn’t even try them until I was in my twenties. I think that made the difference. Those who were forced to eat them before their palate was ready have rejected those poor little miniature cabbages for all eternity.
How often do we do the same thing with certain habits?
Experience changes things
Say you tried dieting before you were fully ready to commit. You wouldn’t have much success, right? Perhaps you thought to yourself, “I hate dieting! This isn’t for me,” and you just gave up and never tried to diet again because of that early failure.
Allow your palate to mature and give it a second (or third or fourth…) try. As we grow and change throughout our lives, we are more able to see connections that we couldn’t before. Our experiences in different parts of life are able to shape our thoughts and decisions in the rest of our life.
Take money for example. As an impulsive young woman, I had to have a tight grip on my finances. I had to know exactly what my bank balance was and what my upcoming bills were before I would allow myself to go to the mall.
I thought constantly about how much was ok to spend and where the line in the sand would be on my spending limit, whether it was for a new clothes or groceries. I couldn’t simply enjoy going out with friends, I obsessed over what I would allow myself to spend on dinner. I stopped eating out altogether at one point, choosing to eat at home and meet up with everyone else later. All of that worrying was what I thought budgeting was.
I told myself that worrying was the only way of being smart with money. In effect, I let my money control me. I hated it! When my husband and I first got engaged, I happily gave him pretty much total control of the money and budgeting. I gave away my power with it and for years, I would avoid any conversation that was centered around money.
Fear breeds avoidance
Being afraid of money isn’t healthy. I just wasn’t mature enough to learn how to budget properly and find a way that made me comfortable. This is still something that I struggle with, due to some deeper issues, but I’m slowly (very slowly!) finding ways to make my budget work for me and not the other way around.
Face your brussel sprouts!
Maybe you have been avoiding brussel sprouts for too long. Try them in a different way. Try them roasted instead of boiled. Or sautéed up with bacon and cranberries. Instead of counting calories and being afraid of food, find a different diet that works with how you are NOW. Instead of being afraid of money, find a budget plan that works with your lifestyle (and personality). Instead of forcing yourself to date the way everyone else does, find something that works for you.
So the next time you hear your friends talk about Brussel sprouts, don’t just shudder and say “Yuck!” Think about how you can see them in a different light.
Christina is a graduate of The Journey Training. The Journey Training is an experiential training that can help you see different perspectives, conquer your fears, and find different directions to success. Perhaps you’ve been struggling with something even though the answer has been right there in front of you. Maybe you just need to pause, take a breath, and step sideways so as to see things from a different perspective. The Journey Training can help you do that! Sign up for the next Threshold class today!
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I can be extremely self-conscious about my abilities from time to time. I am considered “the crazy guy,” the out of the box thinker. I travel all over the country speaking about crazy ideas and ventures. I even mentor others on building their own road to success. You might picture me as this courageous guy with nerves of steel, right? Wrong! I still get nervous before speaking engagements, but I do them. I recently wrote another book but what will others think of my writing?
Fear
There are stories going off in my head right now. They are very real….to me.
I wrote this book to brag about my knowledge
I am working to promote me, not my book.
Who am I to be giving “tips” to others?
The list goes on and on, and I know that I am not the only one that lives with doubts like this every day!!
Courage
What am I going to do with these criticisms swirling in my head?
Are these thoughts really true about me?
Do I believe these things about myself?
Regardless of what other people think, is what I am doing supporting my purpose and mission?
Once you have worked through those questions you will know better how to work through criticisms that you are dealing with.
Are any of these criticisms true about myself? Courage is not the absence of fear, it is having the fear and pushing through it. I choose to focus on my mission and push ahead.
I wrote this book to pass on that knowledge. I have been honored to co-author the book with a talented friend of mine. Bryan Smith and I are very proud of this book. Breaking Conformity is our first professional book about business. This book will help new and seasoned professionals. I have acquired so much knowledge and have learned valuable lessons from those before me, including brilliant individuals who have mentored me. It is important to share information and pass on that great knowledge to others.
Breaking Conformity will help new emerging leaders as well as veteran ones to look at business myths that plague us. It will give the rest of the story, which will help in overcoming any hurdle quickly, making the length of time to success even quicker.
As this book prepares to launch I am filled with anxiety, nervousness and fear but also pride and excitement to share this with others. I am pushing through the fear and choosing courage. How will you push through the fear today, this week, this month? Choose courage!
*Breaking Conformity is available on Amazon.com on October 19th 2015. Help us to help others by purchasing our book. Help us become #1 best sellers on Amazon!
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“What are you afraid of anyway? ”Let’s face it. We’re all afraid of something. Thunderstorms, snakes, heights, darkness, public speaking – or maybe being alone or taking on a new challenge; whatever it is, fear is fear and we all deal with it at one time or another. Whether we realize it or not, fear often times is a big factor in our lives.
But what exactly is fear? If you break it down, fear can be described simply as:
False
Education
Appearing
Real
Fear from perceptions
My fears may not necessarily be like your fears, but they are no less real. I personally find clowns to be delightful and funny, but have a friend who cowers in fear at even the mention of them. While I don’t believe she will ever encounter an evil clown who intends to do her harm, her perception of clowns prevents her from seeing them any other way.
Is her fear real? Yes, it certainly is.
Fear from experience
A person very close to me had an automobile accident recently and had to get past the fear of being behind the wheel again. The fear of having another accident was very real, but if they hadn’t worked through the fear, they would have been left with no way to get to work and provide for their family. Fear can be so powerful that it can impede your ability to even do some of life’s necessary functions. You can literally become a slave to fear.
Bondage from fear
It seems at times that there is no way to avoid becoming prey to the spirit of fear. Fear is a very powerful emotion and succumbing to it can be very easy. On the other hand, overcoming fear doesn’t seem to be as easy as falling victim to it. Sure, fear exists; otherwise, courage wouldn’t exist. But far too often our fear can be magnetized into something much bigger, causing us to hesitate, or even turn and run! The good news is that much of the time, a fear is a nothing more than a lie from the enemy. You can overcome it and you can break free from it.
“Feel the fear, move through it, do it anyway” – Jillian Michaels
The Journey Training can give you the tools you need to overcome fear that is hindering you from living the life you desire and deserve. Each person that has attended The Journey Training has had to overcome some fear that they had in their lives. Whether it was a fear in the past, a fear of the future, or even a fear of change. Signing up for the Training may have been the first step through fear for many.
Living a life free from fear is possible. How do I know? Because I was once wounded by fear and let it hinder me from living life fully. And sometimes, I just have to look in the mirror and say “What are you afraid of anyway?” Maybe you should let The Journey Training show you how to get the tools to identify and overcome fear. Life lived without being slave to the spirit of fear is a good life indeed.
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I see it every day – parents sheltering their kids from experiencing the world as they were meant to – by being involved wholly! We did it for a while, too. I remember when David was young, we never let him watch anything scary on television. It was Blue’s Clues and Elmo – which to me can be pretty scary – and that pretty much wrapped it up. We were doing him a favor, right?
Well, we thought we were, but let’s take a closer look. We took him to Disney on Ice one year, and when the “villains” came skating out, David began sinking down in his chair and closed his eyes. He was terrified! This behavior confused Darci and she didn’t know what was wrong with him! I knew what was wrong – he hadn’t eaten any dirt.
Dirt can be good for you
My mom always said, “Go outside and get dirty!” As a young boy, I was all about that! And getting dirty has its positives. Did you know exposing yourself to germs actually builds up your immune system? So a person who never gets exposed to certain things can be in danger of getting sick!
When you travel to foreign lands, you can be susceptible to germs you’ve never been exposed to, causing a danger of getting sick. You have little or no immunity to some diseases where you’ve never tread. Once you’re exposed to something, you may get sick, but then your immune system builds up antibodies that can fight off the disease the next time you come into contact with it. In fact, when you are vaccinated for something such as smallpox, they actually inject a dose of that very disease that cannot reproduce into your body. Your body fights off the disease and is programmed to make you immune.
When we saw David freaking out over the villains, we knew at that point we needed to stop being overprotective. He needs to be exposed to the world. Otherwise, he will be in for a shock in other areas of his life. We all need to be exposed to the real world. Otherwise, we’re all in for a big surprise!
Dirt is experience
I look at experience like eating some dirt. If you want to conquer something, get some experience! I remember when I first began teaching David to throw a ball. He looked hilarious! Then, as he tried again and again, he got better. Soon he was one of the best ball throwers on the team! It was awesome to watch, but without the practice and experience, he’d have never been able to throw a ball.
When I was on The Biggest Loser, I was thankful. I was thankful that I had played sports and gone through two-a-days in football. I was thankful that I “cut mud” on my Uncle Goddard’s paving crew and wore myself slick! I was thankful I wrestled – probably the hardest 5 minutes you’ll ever spend in your life. My dad exposed me to these things. Some dad’s didn’t. I saw some others on the show that never experienced the tough work I had. I think that helped me to do well on the show – that I had eaten some dirt before that time.
Get dirty to get successful
Most people want success to fall in their laps. Others try something, and at the first sign of adversity they give up. I’ve seen people (and I myself have) run the 99 yard dash over and over again. What is the 99 yard dash? It’s quitting when success could have been yours had you just kept going a little longer. I learned on my journey on The Biggest Loser that I had to Lose My Quit to win at anything in life. Success often takes time.
Huey Lewis and the News suddenly hit it big in the 1980’s, and people called them an overnight success. The truth was they had been a band for 20 years at that point! They had been playing the same style of music together for a long time before hitting it big. It’s just that people often see success and don’t see all of the work that goes into it. Huey Lewis and the News got out there for 20 years and ate some dirt – over and over again – until the time was right for their move into the big show.
Winning is a dirty business
When you fail, look at it from the perspective that you ate a little dirt. The germs you ingested made you stronger for the next time you come upon an opportunity. You’ll fail a little better next time, and eventually success will be yours! You just have to get up, brush yourself off, and start all over again.
So the next time you try to avoid failure, you just might be avoiding success! Don’t let your fear of failure steer you around the experience you need to succeed. Just get out there and eat a little dirt – you’ll eventually have everything you need to win!
Each month in The Journey Training, we see people realize that they’ve been avoiding the things that they need to experience to get what they truly want. Often, what you want is just beyond what you fear most. Why not enroll in the next Threshold class and find out just how successful you can be! I promise you, literally eating dirt won’t be a part of the weekend!
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I was watching an old episode of Bob Newhart. This particular episode was hilarious! A woman came in for a session and began to tell Bob her issues. She said, “I have this fear of being buried alive in a box. I just start thinking about being buried alive and I just panic…I can’t go through tunnels, get in an elevator, or in a house…Anything boxy.” Bob replies, “I’m going to say two words to you and I want you to listen to them very, very carefully. Then, I want you to take them out of the office with you and incorporate them into your life. Are you ready? Here they are: STOP IT!”
Many behaviors, fears and habits that we have are detrimental to our lives. If we would just STOP these things, we could move forward and stop being stuck. Unfortunately, it is not that easy! If it were, no one would need a therapist, a mentor or a teacher. These people in our lives often tell us what to begin doing to find success and what to stop doing to keep those things from holding us back. Let’s take a close look.
If you are overweight, the direct cause of being overweight is eating too much. This will cause your waistline to get larger and your weight to get heavier. So just STOP IT, right? It’s that easy! Just STOP eating so much. If you are always broke regardless of how much money you make, the cause of this is usually mismanagement of money. Reckless spending and not budgeting your money will always cause financial chaos! So just STOP IT, right? If you are constantly losing friends because you get angry easily, just STOP IT! If you are paranoid that people are always trying to rip you off, then you never let anyone help you, just STOP IT!
I wish it were that simple but it usually is not. You see, these behaviors, bad habits and fears are only symptoms of a bigger problem. When you constantly try to STOP IT without getting to the core root of why you do it, it is like cutting a weed off at the surface and leaving the roots. It will always end up growing back. However, if you find out why you are doing these things and you deal with that issue, then the behavior will usually end up falling in line! So how do we find these core root issues?
In The Journey training, we help people find these core issues and deep-rooted reasons. We help people figure out why they sabotage themselves with behaviors, fears and habits. Sometimes it is something that happened years ago that they cannot even remember. Maybe it is an experience they had years ago that is deeply embedded in their subconscious mind and in turn is running their lives. You see, when I was on The Biggest Loser at 430 pounds, I did not have an eating problem. I had a thinking problem. Until I found out why I believed the way I believed, I could not change it! I just went on diet after diet, losing weight and putting it back on – until I had lost over 1,000 pounds in about 10 years. However, the moment I went searching for those roots to dig up, I lost the weight and changed my life for good! Has it been easy? NO! But has it been worth it! You bet your life! So instead of paying all that money to read another book giving you the 10 steps to changing your life, why not attend The Journey Training and take a real step to experiencing lasting change. What have you got to lose? Well, I had 239 pounds to lose. AND I DID!
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I was watching an old episode of Bob Newhart. This particular episode was hilarious! A woman came in for a session and began to tell Bob her issues. She said, “I have this fear of being buried alive in a box. I just start thinking about being buried alive and I just panic…I can’t go through tunnels, get in an elevator, or in a house…Anything boxy.” Bob replies, “I’m going to say two words to you and I want you to listen to them very, very carefully. Then, I want you to take them out of the office with you and incorporate them into your life. Are you ready? Here they are: STOP IT!”