In the last post we discussed consciousness and mindfully choosing your path instead of simply following the one your environment had prepared for you. The post seemed to touch many on a deep level, as they have relayed their stories to me, of leaving the old, pre-ordained version of themselves behind, to create the life they intuitively felt they wanted to be living. It’s such a radical, life-altering decision.
A few people were taken aback with the language I used about killing off the old me. But I vehemently believe that is metaphorically what I had to do. (And what you have to do, if you’re serious about breaking a permanent – and often generational – cycle built upon limiting or dysfunctional beliefs.)
It’s the ultimate demonstration of the vacuum law of prosperity in action...
The universe abhors a vacuum and always will work to fill it. I think that universal law (natural selection, divine order, or whatever you choose to call it) is inherently good. So when you create a vacuum, the odds are it will be filled with good.
My formative years came in the aftermath of Woodstock, the anti-war movement, and rioting in America. I couldn’t just forget I had witnessed all that and ease into the Midwestern life of bowling on Tuesdays, eating fish on Fridays, and going to the shopping mall on Saturdays. So at 17 years old, I packed everything I could fit into my ’71 Plymouth and drove to Miami. I didn’t have a place to stay, a job, or know a single person there. But I had 350 bucks and a dream to live somewhere with sandy beaches, swaying palm trees, and a big city ethos.
It wasn’t all seashells, balmy breezes, and drinking from coconuts…
I stayed in a roach-infested motel for hookers on Biscayne Boulevard for two months until I found a job and saved enough money to put a security deposit on an apartment. Miami provided my first encounters with hurricanes, rain forest humidity, and gun-toting crack addicts. But I believe the new environment was a vital element of killing off that old me.
And that was simply murder number one…
When I was in my early ‘30s, I had my restaurant seized by the tax authorities and auctioned off at the courthouse to pay my tax liens. That left me $55,000 in debt (when that was a seemingly insurmountable amount of obligation to me), with no house, no car and no job. I ended up selling off all my furniture and slept on the floor. I decided my life wasn’t working out very well, and that required murder number two.
That one was a slow death. I spent two hours a day in self-development to begin, then an hour, and whittled it down to about 30 minutes a day. (Which is where I am still today.) It took about two years, but at the end of that time, I felt as if I had completed remade myself on the cellular level. Then began the period of transformation from poor to wealthy. This was a process of learning how to build businesses and make money.
I made a lot of money and literally became a multi-millionaire at 35 years old. I bought exotic sports cars, $10,000 shoes, $65,000 watches, flew the Concorde, purchased art, spent $500 a week on fresh flowers, and got regular massages, manicures, pedicures and facials. (I’ll admit the rest of the money, I just pissed away.)
Those were heady days, filled with success after success. But there was something missing...
Significance.
This led me to unplug from the world and go on a sabbatical. (If you’re curious, this is the post I wrote back then about why I chose this path.) As you’ve probably already figured out, that sabbatical led me to murder number three. I stopped chasing success and sought significance. Everything went through a filter of meaning: whether or not it would make a positive difference in the bigger picture.
It’s been a pretty good run…
In addition to killing off the old me I killed off 90 percent of my speeches and seminars, and 100 percent of my long-term consulting contracts, which killed off 90 percent of my airplane rides. I’m writing more books, doing only the events that give me a creative high like TRIBAL, and working with an elite group of high-level achievers in my Breakthrough U coaching program.
Right now, I love the path I’m on because it’s the one I envisioned, and then custom built for myself. I’m living my life on my terms. And if for any reason the situation evolves and a different path – or a different person – is required, I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
On the next post, we’ll explore an important and related subject: burnout and what causes it. Until then, what are your thoughts?
Are you suffering from burnout? Are you on the path chosen for you, or the one you chose? Are you the person you always dreamt of becoming – or do you need to kill off who you are, in order to grow into who you are meant to be? Would love to hear from you below.
Peace,
- RG
Prosperity TV
Hi Randy and Prosperity movement tribe! some thoughts I wanted to share:
this afternoon on one of my usually two daily walks, while listening to your Prosperity mp3's on my iPod, an affirmation you quoted caught my reticular activator (paraphrasing)
IE: => "desire is good, desire will transform you" [[ REVELATION]] ~ I had been burnt out trying to grow my courier business from NOT being able to recognize and release one very core belief that probably got very Unwisely imprinted when I was like 9 years old or so..
it was actually so infused in my brain, it created "migrains" to distract me from recognizing it..
and I couldn't see it is why..
if it weren't for my desire to evolve and grow, I wouldn't have been able to connect the dots of "inner resistance" from being so identified with it..
I made a number of small, bad decisions, in the summer - which led to a domino effect and a collapse of my health and courier business as a result - at the worst possible time!
Desire does transform us, ~~ however - if we're not totally aligned with forward vision it can and will give us what we didn't believe we wanted.. but actually did want.
It was agonizing before the collapse NOT being able to articulate and pin point (recognize) the fundamental core limiting belief.
I believe I've nailed it now, just from surrenduring to "the power of spirit intelligence within".
No inner vision - no strong desire - no fire within!
if I knew what that limiting belief was back in the summer, I could have "killed it off" (released it) then.
recognizing the metaphysical "thought and belief displacement" has just become clear in the past 48 hours actually..
The Deeper Mind is deserving of total respect. It's Very intriguing!
P.S. I believe there would have been zero chance of me recognizing the limiting belief UNLESS my courier business collasped. Interesting eh?
Peter!
Very glad to see you going down this path of introspection.
Great post Randy - for me one of the most meaningful I have read from you.its one of those posts that made me go to a quiet room and really think... this is really important and meaningful work you're doing Randy - thank you
Thanks, it's always wonderful to hear that the work is making a positive impact.
Love the post Randy.. lot of gems in there.. but just curious... you must have read and heard a ton of people teach that the $65,000 watch ain't going to make you happy... wonder, did you have to experience it yourself to find out it was true.. or why did it take you so long to find out why it wasn't making you happy?? Or did it?? For myself, baubles never did it for me, my $100 slim gold watch with roman numerals and black leather wrist band always looks classy to me and does it for me.. same with shoes, shirts, suits etc, cars, even wine which I love, often the $50 bottle often tastes as good as a $350 bottle.. about the only thing I can see blowing a load on is experiences... trips, giving to people.. helping people.. dinners and the like.. but that just floats my boat.. don't knock what the other person likes, just don't like excess for the sake of excess which I find a lot of rich people do.. .. find it vulgar..
Thanks for commenting. Yes I think the next post will give me a chance to address a lot fo what you wrote here.
Good for You, I think your finest book is still yet to come.. graham uk
Funny you say that. I just sent the manuscript for book #13 to the publisher today. Hopefully that will be my best one. Until the one after that.
sometimes I consider changing my name and starting a new identity altogether. that said stretching and rehabbing and permenetly healing my bodies injuries I notice myself healing the experiences and memories associated at the same time...so it seems.
that said very grateful for these posts.
working on killing of the old me more and more. its a necessity or I won't get the life i quietly am "desperate for."
that self development ritual is crucial, and seems to be the ticket and will stay on it like my life depends on it. I didn't think to associate getting rid of the old me with the vacuum law. thats incredibly exciting and look forward to following through. I see glimmers of change and the otherside, but the full thing is scary and exciting.
the kill by 30stm seems relevant
Yes, when you recognize the role the vacuum law can play, things get really exciting.
Thank you, Randy. I've been a self-murder advocate for a long time. I agree that it's necessary for growth. One of the challenges with a lot of personal development training is that it focuses on the reinvented person; it points to the glory without revealing the story. That story is all out WAR if a person wants to transform. I'm waging that war on many of my ingrained beliefs that I am still surprised to discover. It's becoming easier. I'm a better, more elegant, fighter these days. But the battle rages on. I'm reframing my thinking to view the war as a wonderful game that keeps me expanding and evolving. I'm accepting and beginning to enjoy the belief that we never arrive. We experience movement and reach important landmarks. We must be willing to look beyond those landmarks toward new horizons and set off to reach them. A declaration I learned in T. Harv Eker's Enlightened Wizard Training gives me a lot of traction. It states, "I am comfortable with chaos, ambiguity, and the unknown."