The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 67 Degrees
We live in boxes. Some boxes we put there ourselves, some boxes are built by friends and family. Still others are installed by the system.
These boxes create invisible boundaries in our lives and businesses that affect our thoughts, words and actions.
The question isn’t how to break these boxes. That’s pretty easy to answer. When you find one, you make the decision whether to leave it, change it, or destroy it.
The real question is how many boxes are you currently living in that you can’t even see? That’s a far more important topic.
We even have boxes about the most mundane things… like walking a dog.
My wife rescued our dog Tucker about 24 hours before he was going to be sent to doggie heaven at the shelter. He’s been with us now for almost two years.
During that time, he’s grown up a bit and gotten a lot stronger. But despite my efforts, he’s still a little bit unwilling to become one of those well-behaved dogs you see on leashes.
Apparently, the willful non-compliance gene runs even in our pets!
When we’re out walking and Tucker sees a bird, squirrel, lizard, or cat, he pulls like hell. Cats are especially bad. (Darn you cats!) Tucker is so strong he could almost take your arm off. He goes from 0 to red zone in like .2 seconds.
So when I go out to walk him, I have a choice. I can either spend the entire time training (which means turning around constantly, stopping, starting, etc.) or I can actually take a walk.
Some days I opt for the training, some days the walk. While he’s improved a lot, there’s a ton of work to be done.
And then my wife came in yesterday after taking Tucker around the neighborhood and told me she had made a new discovery about how to get him to stop pulling.
Instead of walking the dog on the leash like every other human in the world does, you thread the leash UNDER his left leg and then walk him.
The feeling of the leash under his leg when he pulls keeps him from doing it.
Well I’ll be. That’s a pretty simple solution now isn’t it? Why didn’t Mr. Genius think of that? Because of his box, that’s why.
What boxes are you not even aware of in your business that are completely controlling your results?
Don’t believe you can charge triple your current fees and have more clients than ever?
Don’t believe that you can work 2 hours a day and double your income?
Don’t believe that you can throw your cell phone away and actually have some peace in your life?
Where are your boxes?
The way to figure that out is very simple: question everything. Get in the habit of turning OFF the autopilot that 99% of folks have engaged 24/7.
When your autopilot is on, you are not equipped to see anything except what you’ve been programmed to see.
Turn it off and start seeing things clearly. Maybe for the first time ever.
When something comes into your radar, ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?”
The last issue of the Rainmaker Letter focused a lot on this “autopilot” that most people allow to run their lives.
It was a good issue. In fact, just got some feedback last night from a subscriber (you’d probably know his name) telling me it was one of the best issues ever.
If you missed it, sorry, the train continues forward. One of the functions of the Rainmaker Letter is to point out the boxes and to give you the tools you need to change them or destroy them.
If you don’t already subscribe, here’s where you can take care of that. How many more issues are you going to miss out on? How many boxes can’t you see?