I remember back when I first wanted my adventure van. I wanted this custom sports mobile type product where I could load myself in it, put my belongings and just head off into the world. And nothing would stop me right. I had this vision where I’d have solar power and I’d be able to work and I’d be able to do things like these daily growth hacks, anywhere in the world and I would be carefree. I could run my businesses remotely. That’s when I would be happy. That’s when I would be able to relax and stop stressing about work and about friendships and relationships. If I just could get this sports mobile, this sports van, this custom made the thing that I wanted so badly, I would then be happy.
Haven’t we all done that right? And then what happened was, I would work really hard to get there, and then I got the van and built out and had tons of problems as that was happening. And then I took off on a trip, and then I was happy. But the truth is, I was happy or could have been happy the whole time. Isn’t the pursuit the happiness, isn’t that pursuit actually what stifles happiness? Absolutely. How many times have we said in our lives, “I’ll be happy when I have that relationship. I’ll be happy when my husband or wife does X, Y, Z. I’ll be happy when my business makes $8 million or $80 million, whatever it is. Or I’ll be happy when I get a bonus. Or I’ll be happy when I get the new job. Or I’ll be happy, happy, happy, right.” We have these kinds of dialogues in our head. And the truth is, whenever you say, I will be happy, you’re saying it’s conditional. They call it conditional happiness in phycology. And what you’re saying is, “My happiness is based on this particular condition.”
And it doesn’t work right. You’re actually stifling happiness inside of you. You can achieve happiness if you’re waiting for something else. And I’ve experienced this so many times in my life. But what if, what if I would have acted as if I had that sports mobile at the time and lived into that happiness? What if I’d just been like, wow, what would it feel like to step in and to drive, to head up to the mountains, to the beach, camp out, whatever I wanted to do in my own little cocoon right. That excites me and I could have been happy in that moment and enjoyed the journey, enjoyed the process and going through that. Instead of worrying about I got to get my businesses ready, oh what is this van going to do? And I’m custom making it and I got to do all these things. And the vendors I was working with, turned out not to be really good guys and they turned out not to be very smart and they lied to me quite a bit.
So with that being said, I was just stressed. But during that whole journey, it was over a couple of years, I could have actually been happy. I used conditional happiness as an excuse, as a reason to feel overwhelmed. A reason to bring fear upon me. So I’m going to ask you today right, where is conditional happiness in your five to thrive, stifling you from actually feeling and getting everything you deserve and want out of life? Is it a relationship? Is it the idea that when you get the new job or when you get the new employee or when you hit a certain benchmark, a KPI, a key performance indicator in your business or in your life, then you’ll be happy. We all have these conversations right. So the key and trick with us all, is identifying and writing them down. Our subconscious is going to play tricks on us and hide it from us. But if we write these things down, we’re able to actually push through and find true happiness within that moment, within that present time, the here and the now.
So I invite you to do. Don’t be somebody who just listens to these daily grow packs. We have tens of thousands of people that are downloading this each and every day, and I want to make sure you’re one of the ones that are doing the work. Make sure you go over to Facebook and join the Author of Your Own Story private Facebook group, where we’re doing Facebook live, we’re continuing the conversation above and beyond this. In fact, I had a member send me a text message that said, “Doug, in the four days of being in the Facebook group and doing the work, I am further along than I’d been in two years of trying this on my own.”
I want that for you. It’s a free group, it’s a free resource. Utilize your resources, utilize your resourcefulness. And of course, if you’re looking for a mentor or coach, reach out to me. If I can’t help you, I will make sure I will find somebody who can. You deserve all of life’s fruits, especially on this journey, and I want that for you. Have an amazing day. I will see you tomorrow. Remember, go out and inspire somebody, simply by living into your own story.
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