Every single one of us has a history. A backstory. Somewhere we came from, stuff we learned while we were there and things that have been programmed in us from a young age (things like, beliefs, habits, thoughts, behavior patterns and standards).
So who we are today is the sum of all of that, plus anything we’ve done since then.
Problem is, if you’re not actively working on yourself and on goals you have for your life, you’re living by default. And default programming can be dangerous to your success.
The Default Setting
When you think of the phrase “default setting,” you likely think of an electronic you own that has a pre-selected “starter” setting until you go in and specifically choose the settings you prefer. These default settings come from the programmers and manufacturers of the electronic.
But the Default Setting also applies to people.
The default programming you have comes from all the things you were taught, told, shown or that you inferred about yourself when you were growing up. It’s the “Default Setting” you’re operating with.
And this setting will set the bar for everything in your life, including:
- The standards you’re willing to accept and/or live by
- The beliefs you hold about yourself, the world, life in general, etc.
- The thoughts you think on a day-to-day basis
- The amount of success, love, money, good feelings, positive emotions, wealth, worth, fame, etc. you’re willing to allow yourself to have
But if your Default Setting isn’t aligned with the dreams that you have or the success that you want, you are screwed. You will never get there. Not like that.
Because you can’t. You’r default programming won’t allow for it. You’ll either sit on your ass forever and never do the work, or you’ll do the work but half-ass it or quit, or you’ll make excuses and procrastinate, or you’ll almost get there but then you’ll self-sabotage and fail and then use that as an excuse not to start over again or to give up…
And you’ll never get what you dream of having.
Sure, you’ll get something, because it’s impossible to do the work and not land somewhere. But will it be exactly where you want? Probably not. And will you achieve the big dreams and big success that you desire? No.
You’ll accept less, you’ll be OK with a secondary option, you’ll take something mediocre and call it good enough.
You can’t not, because that’s what your programming is telling you to do. You don’t need to have it all. You can have some of it and still be happy. Being happy is enough.
Not very inspiring, is it?
And you wonder why you can’t motivate yourself to do your writing.
The only way to get what you want and to live life feeling like every day is a gift that you get to open, is to be aligned with it.
How To Get Aligned
Alignment is all about getting things in a row. It’s about matching pieces up so they create a straight line.
So when I say you need to get aligned to the success you dream of having, what I mean is you have to match what you want with the thoughts, beliefs, actions and habits you have going on.
You can’t be a bestselling author and make money from your books if you’re consuming more than you create, procrastinating on doing the work or showing up inconsistently or with no passion. Being a bestselling author and making money from your books requires specific actions, habits, behaviors and ways of thinking that won’t align with the way you’re acting, thinking and behaving right now.
But you can change that. You can shift it and start to see results almost immediately (’cause you know you’re all about the instant gratification. Who isn’t?).
You do this by looking at the details of what you want and where you want to go, and then taking a look at the specifics of where you are right now. Do this side-by-side so you can compare it. Anything that doesn’t align or match up is what needs to be worked on.
So if right now you’re only writing one day a week, but the author you dream of being is a bestseller with multiple books a year and you know you need to be writing on a daily basis to be that person…then you know what you’ve gotta do.
It really is that simple. It’s maybe not as easy to stick with it and be consistent, but it IS that easy to get aligned (or to at least know what you’d need to do to get aligned).
And what it all comes down to is this: intention.
You can either live your life with intention, on-fucking-purpose, pointing yourself in the direction you want to go and constantly focusing on what you want to create and who you want to be and show up as. Or you can live by default, on your pre-programmed default setting, getting the life and success that lines up with that default (regardless of what it is) and just floating along letting life happen to you and then reacting to it.
The choice is yours.
It really is the red pill or the blue pill. What kind of life do you want? A life where you get to create it and design it exactly how you want it? Or a life where shit just happens to you and you just stand in it, react to it and tell yourself bullshit stuff like, “that’s life” or “that’s just how it is?”
Yeah, that might be how it is… right now. But doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.
If you want it to change, if you want to see something different show up in your reality, you must create a different picture. You must get in there and CHANGE the default setting. On purpose. With intention.
Your writing dreams are out there waiting for you. They’re out there available and totally possible for you.
But you’ve gotta step up to the plate.
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What’s one thing you can do today to start shifting your “default setting?”
