More: Daring to Live A Bigger Life

As many of you know, I just celebrated another birthday. Every year I take some time to reflect on the previous year of my life, extract wisdom and apply lessons that can empower me to become a better version of myself. As I look over my life, I have been overwhelmed with gratitude for all the challenges, growth and transformation that has taken place. Essentially, I believe that we all desire more for our lives. The problem is that most people lack the skill to articulate what they really want. Clarity is a powerful magnet attracting into your life your greatest desires. I hope these insights will empower you to have the audacity to pursue your greatest life!

1. Acknowledge that you want more for your life. There is nothing more destructive to your life than false humility. Many people in an attempt to appear humble will say that they do not want much for their lives. However, deep down inside they have a burning desire to be more, do more and have more. The problem is that they have allowed their hope to be extinguished, their vision to become limited and their dreams to die. They have settled for a reality that is much less than the life that they were born for. If you want to embrace more for your life, you must first be willing to acknowledge that you want more. I’ve discovered that what you cannot acknowledge you will never attain. Furthermore, what you fail to acknowledge you will never have access to. Stop being timid and dare to vocalize your dreams. What you are willing to acknowledge you are empowered to achieve.
2. Address self-limiting beliefs and perceptions. While I sound deep and profound today, I can think back to a time in my life where I was shallow and powerless. I was not living up to my potential or owning my power. Why is that? I was living my life ruled by self-limiting beliefs and perceptions. Self-limiting beliefs and perceptions are ideologies, philosophies and constructs that are inconsistent with the truth of who you are and who you were meant to be. Additionally, I would add that self-limiting beliefs and perceptions are mindsets that imprison you to cycles of victimization and powerlessness. In other words, it is an assessment of yourself that is incongruent with your authentic self. It is ways of thinking that have ultimately become a way of living. It is ultimately a paradigm that contradicts your potential. If you do not deal with self-limiting beliefs and perceptions, then these mindsets will become entrenched and enslave you to toxic cycles in your life. More importantly, if you do not address self-limiting beliefs and perceptions you will settle for a second-class version of your life.
3. Embrace more for your life. As I enter a new chapter in my life, I am expanding my paradigm to embrace more in every area of my life. In order to embrace more, you not only have to adjust your paradigm, but you also have to create an environment that facilitates new possibilities. In other words, you must create an environment that is conducive for you to thrive spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, economically, relationally, etc. You must understand that a limited environment will never produce a limitless life. How do you create an environment of possibilities? You do it through the thoughts that you think, the words that you speak, and the images that you see. In other words, you must build an environment that supports the possibilities of what your life can become. You must create an environment that stirs your faith, starves your doubts and awakens your dreams. You cannot afford to allow anything into your environment that does not align with the life that you desire. Your environment will either support your dreams or sabotage your dreams. Environments determine whether your promise lives or dies.
4. Associate with people that bring out the best in you. One thing I am certain of is that your connections determine the strength or weakness of your life. From decades of experience, I have learned that you must always associate higher. In other words, you must associate with people that challenge your excuses, push your limits and raise your standards. I have make a conscious decision to surround myself with individuals that challenge my mediocrity and provoke me to pursue a life of mastery. You cannot rise above the quality of the relationships in your life. Often times we do not produce more because we do not require more. You cannot demand excellence from others while accepting mediocrity for yourself. In other words, the quality of your relationships will always be a direct result of the quality of your personal growth and development. You must become more if you want to build meaningful relationships in your life. Instead of prioritizing vanity, I have prioritized being a person of value. As I have become a person of value, I have attracted valuable relationships into my life. Your capacity for greatness is shaped by the connections in your life. Make sure that you are surrounding yourself with people that will love you at your worst and push you to reach your best potential. The right relationships will not only position you for success. The right relationships will propel success in every dimension of your life.