In my recent downtime, I decided to go on a reading frenzy. I read everything from Simon Sinek, to Dj Khaled, to Tim Ferriss. You know what I learnt? We’ve all come from difficult places. Everyone has a story to tell and that story is incredible.

Who’s Tim Ferriss?

Tim was a depressed college kid, who nearly ended his life because of a culmination of negative events that all occurred in a short space of time. One day, he borrowed a book from his university on how to commit suicide. His downfall? He tried to borrow a second book on suicide, but someone else was borrowing it so that they could do the same thing Tim wanted to do…end it all.

As a result, the library sent out a note to remind Tim the book was back in, but they accidentally sent it to his parent’s place. Tim’s mom called him and as he was able to break his own destructive thought pattern, and stop himself from committing suicide. Now Tim is one of the most iconic self-help, motivational figures on the planet.

If we’d asked him back during the time he was thinking of committing suicide what he’d become, he would have never dreamt of what he is right now. What we think we can be and what we’re capable of is vastly different.

I challenge you to read a few books from some of the greats mentioned above. You’ll quickly see that we all come from pretty ordinary, often challenging, environments. Whatever tough period you may be going through right now, we’ve all been there.

What I thought I could be

I always thought I was an entrepreneur at heart and not much else. I tried to be a DJ one time, but I lacked the mindset and the understanding to be successful.

I thought being a DJ was about how many friends you could bring to a gig, or how good-looking you were. I thought that there must have been something that I didn’t have because all of my DJ buddies were selling out nightclubs all over the world.

“As it turned out, I could have done the same if I just believed in myself”

As my life went on, another side of me started to emerge. It was that side that stopped giving a F$%# about what people thought, and concentrated on giving everything I had. It was the side of me that said: “I can achieve the impossible and I can inspire and change the world if I want to!”

It started as a subtle shift in the way I was thinking that was sparked by a giant man called Tony Robbins. He didn’t accept my ridiculous excuses anymore, and he wanted me to take action and stop living in fear. Tony wanted me to travel the world, make people smile and give something meaningful so that my life would leave a legacy for others.

Even after this transformation in 2013, I still didn’t really think that little old me could be outstanding. I thought that I would continue my business interests, and maybe live a happy life once and for all.

The success junkie

Then I started writing for Addicted2Success. Completely under-qualified and really a horrible writer, I just started sharing my thoughts. I wrote from the heart and wanted to share the lessons I’ve learned.

I spoke about anything from almost being murdered, to my crazy diet and fasts, to meeting different influential people. I didn’t make it about me; I made it about the advice and helping anyone who would listen.

Fast-forward a few years, and I am now reaching over 25 million people a month with my blogging. Every day I get the privilege of waking up to emails of thanks and inspiration from people all around the world.

I’ve been able to connect with leaders, entrepreneurs and ordinary people from hundreds of countries. It’s changed my perspective on life. I don’t tell you this to impress you; I tell you this because I want you to see that we are all so much more than we think we can ever be.

I thought I was a “B” Grade entrepreneur that would never do anything memorable. Social media has proven that idea to be a total myth. That’s right I was wrong!

Dark times

Just like all of you, I regularly experience rock bottom, catastrophic and sometimes absurd situations. The advantage I have now is that I can deal with these challenges. It’s no walk in the park, but I’ve developed a way to navigate my way through the storms, and I’m currently coaching people privately to do the same.

We can easily fall into the trap of thinking that we can’t be more than we are right now because we have this big problem that is stopping us dead in our tracks. It’s the sort of problem that occupies 80% of our thinking time, and it even drowns out the movie we are trying to watch when we get home from work to relax.

When you realize that what you are going through is probably happening to someone else just like you, it puts things into perspective. It makes your problem so much smaller so that you can chunk it down and deal with it. For me, I can’t be down for too long because people look up to me for inspiration and practical strategies.

I’m forced to see the positive in everything because to not do so would go against everything I preach to my supporters on social media. How is this relevant to you? Because you can do the same by getting someone to be accountable too.

Don’t let this negative world win

This negative world can drag us all down. It’s so easy to believe that everything is too hard and that you will never amount to anything. I’m here to tell you that that’s total crap! There’s someone on the other side of the planet begging to have your life and your problems.

“There’s someone who would give everything they had to live where you live, work where you work and eat what you eat”

Rewind the tape and go back to what you do have. We can never go back to a single moment. You’ll never read this blog post again with the same perspective.

You’re more than you think you can ever be. Your special, you’re you and that’s why you are going to change the world in some crazy way and blow away all the critics, haters, has-beens and procrastinators with your unique gift. Now get to work.

If you want to increase your productivity and learn some more valuable life hacks, then join my private mailing list on timdenning.net