Introduction
This is not a magic wand; in fact, nothing is going to change about your life if you fail to go beyond just reading this book. You will have to courageously decide to learn from it and put it into practice before any of the principles work for you.
What you have right now may be the compass you need to steer your life from the dictatorship of your past and give yourself the chance to heal properly, escape the shackles of your yesterday and move onto the greatness you truly desire.
There comes a time when you get to the point where you have just had enough. Not only are you at your wit's end, but you are also at a point where you know you badly need a change and you are ready to do anything to get that change. This is a critical point, and I want you to be able to harness the power of that moment and completely turn your life around.
However, before we continue, there is a critical need to identify how you got here. A wise man once said that if you fail to recognize how you got here, you may not be able to make it far from here. Getting to the point of seeking help is one thing but being able to identify what brought you for help is another. Every pain is real, and I will not try to take anything away from it; however, pain cannot be diagnosed or treated if the source is not identified and removed.
About the Author
Bill (The Bearded Beast) is the motivational speaker and host of the Global Podcast “The Bearded Beast Show”. Bill takes a no-holds-barred approach to helping you make better life decisions by exposing the one's you may currently be making and not realize. Bill has a no-sugar coating approach to telling you what you NEED to hear, not what you WANT to hear.
Bill has devoted countless hours to helping others see their true potential and create the best version of themselves possible. The Bearded Beast Show podcast is a must listen and the mission behind the show is to reverse all the failed parental, cultural, and business strategies of the past. Whatever Bill takes on you can be rest assured his approach to life is simple and direct and his content is created to help change the world for the greater good.
Chapter One: Dealing With the Past
This is the point where I need you to be brutally honest with yourself, with the past and with what you want. One of the most vital issues at this point is not to be afraid of facing your weaknesses, your failures or your fears. To do this, you need to take some time out to reflect on where you have been, what you have been through and how you got here.
Facing the past is never really easy, especially if you have not been making a lot of progress, the natural tendency is to want to forget everything and move on, but the fact is that you will never truly be able to move on without dealing with issues that matter.
There are things you wish you could just undo. There are parts of your past that you are not proud of; some of them you did, some you refused to do and some just happened to you either because you were careless or you didn’t see them coming and they are painful. The pain is not just because they happened, but also because there is nothing you can do to forget them or completely erase them. It sucks and I know.
One of the most difficult aspects of the past is the mistakes we made. There are those minor ones we can joke about, there are those ones that are serious but can be undone and forgiven; however, there are also these ones that are fatal and we can’t still get ourselves to even face them. Sometimes we just wish they could just disappear or we and everyone else will just forget them, but the truth is that they will stay with us for the rest of our lives.
We cannot change the past or undo it. The only thing we can change is how we see the past; how we see the mistakes, how we interpret the errors and how we respond to them. Our past is our past; the good, the bad and the ugly; they are all parts of one package from which we cannot pick and choose. The best way to respond to them is to accept them as reality and deal decisively with them that way.
Here is how I believe past mistakes can be dealt with:
1. Take responsibility
It doesn’t matter if it was not intentionally, as long as you are directly or indirectly responsible, you have to accept that. You will never be able to deal with mistakes if you choose to play the blame game. Stop looking for who to blame or for excuses to defend yourself; the earlier you accept the responsibility, the faster you will begin to heal.
2. Apologize if you hurt anyone
Mistakes take on a whole new dimension when someone else gets hurt. It is more difficult when you have to face the fact that somebody else will have to suffer because of your error. It is not the end of the world. You need to be strong enough to face the party or parties that are hurting and apologize.
Apologies won’t change anything and they won’t undo what had happened but they will give you the chance to talk about what happened and express your grief and regret for it. It doesn’t have to be accepted and you do not have to wait until they are ready to accept it; go ahead and apologize.
It doesn’t matter if it was met with anger, defiance, insults and threats; just offer your apologies and get it over with.
3. Learn your lessons
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. You need to ask yourself what you are taking away from every mistake, hurt, pain or bad situation. As long as you get to learn something, then you have not failed.
4. Make amends if possible
If you have the opportunity to make any form of amends for the troubles you have caused, it is alright. However, do not try to undo what you have done or sacrifice yourself just to show how sorry you are. Find out if there is anything you can do to remedy or make up for the situation you caused and do your best to make it up.
I even prefer taking some time before I try to make anything up to someone or for something; this allows me to clear my head and decide on the best cause of action.
5. Move on!
Close that chapter; turn another page; forget the past and move on! You still have the rest of your life ahead of you; do not allow the mistakes of the past to color the kind of future you want to have. Do not internalize the mistake or your failure; you are not a mistake. So, it’s a brand-new day, step outside the shores and make something of your life!
Chapter Two: Reinvent Yourself
There are times when life seems to have turned upside down, and you seem just to be floating in space without any new drive or motivation to give meaning and purpose to what you do daily, it may be time to find a new gear and reinvent yourself. This is never an easy process because it requires making changes, no one likes to change! If you have not learned the secret of reinventing yourself, you may find yourself outdated and irrelevant in any and every aspect of life. It is the ability to stay relevant and ahead in any field and sphere of life.
Here a few things you may need to do when you want your new self to come forth and save the day:
1. Alter your sleep-wake routine
This is one issue I always love to start with. I have come to realize that most of the time when you need a boost of motivation to perform better; you may need to check when and how you sleep and when and how you wake up. If you are not observing a healthy sleep-wake routine, the cracks will eventually show up. The rule is simple: go to bed early and wake up early; it is the beginning of any wealth.
2. Sort out your company
You can never see beyond the type of company you keep. One of the fastest ways to change who you are right now is to change the people you spend time with. Either positively or negatively, we soon begin to look