There Is No Change Without Pain!
Your New Life Requires the Death of Your Old Life! It's impossible to change and remain the same, yet that's exactly what so many of us try to achieve. Whether it's adopting a new business structure, or getting fit, or letting an idea go, or adopting a new one... we try to maintain the status quo with all our might! We want change, we want better outcomes, but we don't want to change a thing. We don't want to do the work. We want easy. We wan't magic. And surprise, surprise, we are left wishing things could be different. And as the saying goes, a goal without action is just a wish!
One of my mentors, the wonderful Mel Robbins, says it like this: The Cost of Your New Life Is Your Old Life! We hang on to the old because change is painful. It's hard to let go, but you can't change and remain the same. That just isn't possible! Another way of saying it is; “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”
Today marks 4 years to the day I let my old life die. Sounds dramatic doesn't it?! But in reality my old life died on a walking track at Mt Macedon, an hour north of Melbourne. We'd called in to visit an old friend who lived in the area and he took us on 'quick' walk up a mountain track. It damn near killed me! I was struggling with every step, out of breath, uncomfortable and sweating bullets despite the mild weather. I quickly fell behind as my friend raced up the track. In that moment I knew I had to make changes. In that moment I killed that overweight unfit guy and began rebuilding him. I killed him with a decision. A 5 second decision. I'd recently ready Mel's book, The 5 Second Rule, and employed the rule in that moment. That decision killed my excuses as surely as if I'd ambushed them on that track and left them in the bush. By the time I returned to the car old me was gone, even though I still looked exactly the same. Every day since them has been a process of employing the action I knew I needed to take in order to be the guy that could race up a mountain track with relative ease. A course of action I'm still taking and modifying.
Change Starts With A Decision, but It Doesn't End There
Today I'm 37 kilos lighter and significantly fitter. I walk 4-5 kms most days and weight train under the supervision of a coach 4 days a week. My diet is nothing like the diet I consumed 4 years ago. I track my food, my weight, my measurements and I report these to my coach. I am accountable to the decision I made all those years ago! It started with one quick decision, and continues with daily, hourly and momentary decisions. I continue to refine myself by letting go of the behaviours and habits that no longer serve me. As they comes to light, as I have the clarity around what needs to change, I change! The cost of my life today was letting go of bad food choices, alcohol, laziness and excuses. I am more alive today because I chose to kill the old me!
This Is True In Business!
It's the same with business. We avoid change because it's hard! We hang on to routine, comfort, what we know, because it's easier than doing the work to get where we say we want to go! We do this even when we know things aren't working. We hang on to ur excuses when we should move on. I am coming up to 22 years in this business. It looks nothing like the business I started all those years ago. As I have had clarity around the direction I wanted to take, I have had to let go of old ideas and structures to recreate my business on many occasions. Each time creating a better business. When you know better, do better. I am in the process of doing this right now with the creation of The Rough Diamond Academy. The cost of this new business is the old business. The prospect of what this new business will bring fills me with excitement and energy.
And so I ask you, are you hanging on to a life that no longer serves you? Are you missing opportunities because you are afraid of change? Are you trying to hang on to the old but wanting the new? If so, let it go, you can't be different and the same. If it's calling you, go toward it. If it excites you, even if it's daunting, go toward it. Embrace the new life and let go of the old life. That's the price!
David Fuller
CEO - Rough Diamond Academy
For over 21 years David has been building websites for clients. In 2013 he pivoted from running a web design agency to working hands on with clients to help them build their businesses by reaching their ideal clients. Going beyond the website. The experience of working at the coal face is the foundation of The Rough Diamond Academy. Real life experience for real life businesses. It starts with building a site, but that's only the beginning!
