Every single one of us, no matter who we are or where we come from, want to find success. Oh sure, we all define success a little differently, but that doesn’t stop us from craving it. For some people, success seems to come easily. They have a golden touch, while others seem to be rocked by misfortune and calamity at every turn.
Have you ever stopped to wonder what the difference is between them? I promise you, it’s not that one has an easier set of circumstances, or is lucky, or anything like that. Actually, it’s pretty simple: one of them believes the myth that they’re broken, and the other one doesn’t.
Yep, you read that right. All that stands between someone living that “charmed” life or not is accepting that they aren’t broken. There’s nothing to fix. And the good news is that this is true for every single person on Earth.
Let’s dig a little deeper into this, shall we? Because, crazy as it may sound, once you understand this key concept, you will be able to achieve anything you want. Finally, success beyond your wildest dreams can be yours!
The Rugby Lesson
Before we really look at how you can unlearn this myth, I think it will help to show you exactly how the idea that we’re broken can eat away at us like a cancer. And to do that, I want to share a personal story with you.
As a young boy, my father played sports with me, and that was everything in life. I wanted nothing more than to be a professional rugby player, as I heard how my father admired the players, and I saw the excitement on his face when he took me to a live game.
For me, success meant only one thing: being a professional rugby player. Growing up in New Zealand with the mythical All Blacks towering over you, it was the only logical choice. To be successful was to be an All Black.
I dreamed of the day I would make it on the team. I practiced “the Haka” in the mirror and knew this would be my future.
My first years in life were influenced by rugby. I took a ball to school every day. I’d arrive early to play before lunch, and then I’d go straight to practice after school. In my small world, I was the best. Then at about age seven, I moved away from the classmates I had grown up with and moved a year ahead to be with the “senior students.”
In this new class, the teacher had us run a circuit every day (probably to burn off all the extra energy seven-year-olds have). Every day, I turned up ready to win, and every day I was disappointed. The top highest place I ever got was sixth, which was a horrible place to finish, considering most of the class couldn’t care less and just walked. I didn’t understand why.
One day, as I finished the race, I was mocked for my “weird running style.” All the other kids thought the way I ran was hilarious. I was devastated.
One day while holding back tears, I told my father about this, and he confirmed my biggest fear. I was slow—really slow—and not at all athletic.
Apparently, as a child, I didn’t crawl. I had underdeveloped leg muscles, and my parents had taken me to all sorts of doctors. I was so upset that my dreams were being ripped away from me. All my heroes were athletic men who were admired for their physical attributes. There was no way I was making the All Blacks if I didn’t change.
Trying to Fix What’s “Broken”
I decided I needed to fix myself. I urged my father to help “make me right.” We tried everything: consulting sports physiologists who worked on national teams, personal trainers, and coaches, daily running training, and buying the most expensive shoes. We spared no effort to make me right.
This became my obsession, and my dad went right along with it because he had the same structure. As a child, he was in leg braces and spent most of his youth swimming and weight training his way to achieve the dream of sporting success. Like father, like son.
We had our sporting successes, but not in rugby. At age fifteen, I played basketball for my country, represented my city in the under ‘20s, and was on the starting team that won the national title. We made it, and then I gave it all away. I stopped.
This pattern continued my whole life. I sensed I was broken and obsessively fixed myself to reach a goal, only to stop as soon as it was achieved and start all over again. It was like I was addicted to the chase.
When I looked around at others, I saw I wasn’t alone. All of us are addicted to our patterns of needing to fix our reality or problem-solve to create an “ideal future,” and we never get there. Our identity never lets us. That’s because the identity that creates the action/desire is in direct conflict with the desired reality.
Unlearning the Myth
The personal development world thrives from the idea that you must fix yourself. It keeps people in oscillating patterns. The truth is, you can have everything you desire right now. The idea that you are broken is a myth.
You do not need to fix yourself. Creating beautiful, amazing results has nothing to do with you as a person. Success is not personal. The idea that it is personal is a big problem.
Once I learned this simple and profound concept, I realized my dream life. I now run two multimillion-dollar companies (one earning nearly a million per month) from my home office in the paradise of the Gold Coast in Australia. I am married to the most beautiful, amazing, heart-centered, intelligent woman I have ever met (and yes, I am biased). I have great friends, play tennis every day, and lead a world-changing movement of people. It really is a dream come true.
I’m not alone, either. I’ve seen numerous clients detach from the myth that they are broken and in so doing, gain success. I know you can do it too—you just need to unlearn the myth and accept, instead, that you are whole, complete, and powerful.
History is full of people who arrive at success just the way they are. There is no right way to do anything (no matter how many times you’ve been told there is). You have a genius; you have a way to do life that is perfect for you. Once you realize that, my friend, you can end the conflict between the identity of being broken and the identity you want to achieve, and you will be unstoppable.
For more advice on how to find success in life, you can find You’re Not Broken on Amazon.