Success Advice
How To Become Someone You Don’t Recognize.

It sure is possible not to recognize yourself.
The photo on the left is me blind drunk about to go to a rave party, having made a lot of money the month prior from a startup.
The photo on the right is me eight years later giving an inspiring speech at Etihad Stadium to an audience full of leaders and several people I admire.
Everybody tells me I’ve changed so much.
I think change is for the better.
Before the change:
The person I was on the left spent most of the weekend hanging around the cool kids. They all liked me for my nice BMW, DJ career and carefree attitude.
While I never took drugs, they did. They smoked a drug called ice every weekend.
It destroyed their lives. They became drug addicts. I could have become like them. Luckily I didn’t. I found meaning and changed instead.
It wasn’t easy, but I ended up never talking to any of those friends again.
One year after this photo was taken my startup dream came crashing down.
I walked away from it all and realized that I had a severe mental illness. It was this battle with anxiety that caused me to be a drunk and act like an asshole in the first place. Instead of trying to solve the problem I attempted to cover it up.
Status, cars, money and drugs were what I used to avoid the problem.
After the change:
The person I was on the right (taken earlier this year) eats healthy, rarely drinks, reaches millions of people through regular blog posts, reads lots of books, is wise with money, leads a team of digital marketers for a 900 person listed company, and most of all — have overcome mental illness.
I spent every day since the photo on the left was taken trying to be a better person and figure out how I could help people in the process.
I didn’t come to this realization on my own.
I’m not that smart, unfortunately.
Through the process of reading what the most impactful people on the planet do, I saw a pattern. I’d have to be an idiot to miss it after reading so many books.
- You must learn to deal with fear
- You must have a meaning beyond your own existence
- You must be patient, focused and work on your goals every day
Once I discovered this pattern, I began writing about it every week. I posted articles on my friends Wordpress Blog. No one really paid attention. I didn’t care. I was paying the price of discovering a meaning for my life and that was enough of a reward. Little did I know it was going to change other peoples lives.
Fast forward to when the photo on the right was taken, and I was reaching millions of people every month as a blogger. I never could have thought that I’d write so much and help so many people.
Being vulnerable and seen as a leader in front of so many people, scared the crap out of me. I nearly didn’t get on stage at Etihad Stadium. Then, I remembered the pain of what it was like to be the person on the left. I didn’t want to be that scared person any longer.
The key difference between the person on the left and the person on the right was this:
- The person on the right wasn’t selfish
- The person on the right overcame mental illness through understanding the power of thoughts
- The person on the right didn’t give up
I can’t even recognize the guy on the left anymore. He died many years ago.
It’s possible to become a completely different person. I’m living proof and I’m not special.
Find what is meaningful to you.
Tackle whatever challenge you’ve been avoiding.
Then you’ll change.
If you want to increase your productivity and learn some more valuable life hacks, then join my private mailing list on timdenning.net
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