Leonardo DiCaprio once said, “Every next level of your life will demand a different you.”
Of course, most people never do it. They never evolve. They never give up who they are for who they could become. Instead, they continue to live the same stagnant, mediocre, and boring lives.
That’s fine; if you decide to play small, that’s entirely up to you.
But the question is: What actually happens when you do go to the next level?
Let’s see.
You’ll Initially Feel Like Turning Back
You’ve just let go of your story. You’ve given up your past. You’ve let go of your need to predict the outcome in order to embrace a bigger future.
And as a result, your subconscious will immediately be fighting for homeostasis. It will try to convince you that you’ve taken a wrong turn and need to go back. But what’s interesting, is that you actually can’t go back.
As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said,
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”
Your old life isn’t actually there for you anymore. You can never go back to how things once were; you’ve seen and experienced things that have made you a fundamentally different person.
Just like when we as people realized the sun did not revolve around the earth, but the other way around, you’ve begun to see the world from a different perspective.
Your paradigm has shifted. You’ve evolved. You’re no longer thinking or playing so small.
Opportunities Begin to Present Themselves
Once you start seeing the world from the perspective of your dreams rather than your current circumstances, opportunities quite suddenly begin to present themselves.
Not necessarily because they weren’t there before; indeed, they were likely there all along, you simply couldn’t see them.
As Dr. Stephen Covey said,
“You see the world, not as it is, but as you’ve been conditioned to see it.”
Hence, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
This is how life becomes a giant chessboard for you. You’re now playing a grand strategy. You’re seeing opportunities all around you and carefully deciding when to strike.
Although, what’s interesting, is that you’re not actually competing with anyone but yourself.
You No Longer Care if Other People Can’t See the Future You See
Because you know you can’t live an extraordinary life by living in ordinary ways, you stop worrying about what other people think of you and your beliefs.
You understand that your behaviors would likely look absurd if you were viewing them from other people’s perspective. So, instead of having anger and detest for them, you have empathy and compassion.
You simply want the best for all.
In fact, you actually prefer that other people can’t see the future you see because it means you’re doing something important.
As Seth Godin once wrote,
“If not enough people doubt you, you’re not making a difference.”
Your Fears Turn into Self-Trust
“No matter what you want to change, it won’t be as terrifying as the first step you take toward making it.” -Ryan Holiday
After the initial shock of going to the next level and having seen yourself operate beyond fear, your paradigm takes another huge shift; you begin to realize that all your previous fears were illogical.
They didn’t actually make sense.
So, now you’re free — free to act without the limitations of your subconscious. Nothing becomes impossible to you.
You’ll come to find yourself in freighting situations and rather than fearing the outcome, you’ll begin to trust yourself.
You’ll have seen yourself do it before and know that you can do it again.
Your Future Becomes Predictable
“Your future is as bright as your faith.” -Thomas S. Monson
Every day you’re moving towards the vision you’ve declared in your head. You’ve solidified it in your journal and changed emotional state towards it.
Although, to you, you’re actually already there. You’ve “assumed the feeling of your wish fulfilled,” and now everything’s just become a necessary set of proceedings.
The question to you is not: How will my future transpire? But when?
Everything Starts to “Click”
After showing up day after day, experiencing a whirlwind of emotions, and countless setbacks, everything begins paying off.
You launch the project, the deals start coming through, the right people begin showing up.
What was once just a vision and a “crazy idea” starts to look very real in your external reality.
And now that you can see it all coming together, you start sprinting.
To quote Shawn Achor,
“The closer you perceive your success to be, the faster you move toward it”
You Get Stuck
Just as everything begins to transpire; BANG! You hit a wall.
The old adage of, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” becomes very real to you.
Everything you’ve done in the past suddenly comes crashing down. All the routines, strategies, and processes that have served you so well start working against you.
In turn, you start to question everything you’re doing. You wonder if this the life you really want; are you even made out for it?
Although, this is exactly where you should be. In fact, it might be where you are right now.
You’re forced to either reinvent yourself or stay stuck.
Of course, most people are satisfied with the little bit of success they’ve already gained. They’re not experiencing enough pain or curiosity, so they never go to the next level.
The question is: Will you?
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