You are amazing. You are unique. Your mind and body are built to support you in growing and developing throughout your life, even well into old age. We are all born with the potential to achieve whatever we put our minds to during our lifetime.

Neurogenesis

It was once thought that we were born with a certain number of brain cells, neurons, and that these brain cells gradually died over our lifetime, never to be replaced. We now know that not to be true. We are constantly developing new brain cells throughout adult life through a process called neurogenesis. In fact our brain actually changes shape according to how we use it, what demands we place on it and what skills we develop. This is called neuroplasticity.

So, if you think that you can’t change, or you are too old to change, then think again. You will change and you are changing constantly, throughout life. Every decision that you make or don’t make changes your life in some way. Your decision to read this newsletter changed your life because you have spent time reading this rather than doing something else. The ideas that you may have read in previous newsletter articles from me have changed you already in some way.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said “A mind stretched to a new idea never regains its original shape.” He was right!

You have choices in life, you can do the same things and create the same results, or you can make better decisions and get better results.

Take the blame for your success

In some ways we are conditioned by society into thinking that we can blame other people and other things for our problems and our lack of ability to influence our lives. Myths are established that support us in passing over responsibility for our results. People say “I am too old to change now.” This is not true, it is a myth and it gives people an excuse to avoid the perceived pain in doing something new.

When I was at school an English teacher there told my class that there was nobody in the class that had the ability to write a book. He essentially said “you are not good enough”. We hear this sort of thing all the time and it sinks in unconsciously so that whenever we consider the possibility of doing something we think, I can’t do that because I am not good enough. That one statement by that teacher gave everyone in the class an excuse not to write a book.

Jessica Ennis, won a gold medal at the London Olympics in the Heptathlon. She says in her autobiography that she was told throughout her career that she was “too small” to be any good in her field. She had the excuses if she wanted to take them but she chose otherwise and so can you.

Choose reasons over excuses

Whenever you ask someone to do something for you they will either do it or they will give you a bunch of reasons why they could not do it. Whatever people think their reasons are, they are not reasons, they are essentially excuses. They will blame the weather, the traffic, the economy, their partners, their family. Anything rather than taking responsibility for their own results. People will even blame their own shortcomings rather than decide to do something about them. “I’m not very good at following instructions.” They say it as if it is a fact and they cannot do anything about it.

In any situation you can choose to take responsibility or make excuses. You can choose to be the cause of your own success, or you can be at the effect of other people and things. You can change now by choosing to take responsibility in all areas of your life including your thinking. This does not take time, this is a change that you can make now.