One of my Maxwell teammates recently made the comment “don’t write the story until you do the interview.”  I had to think about that statement for a short while until I realized the power it held.

How often do we make assumptions based on first impressions?  I am not just talking about people but also circumstances.  Think about this … something happens in our life and we create a picture of what result that circumstance will produce.

The thing that struck me about this statement is that we have a tendency to think that based on previous experiences, our outcome is already determined.  I think this is one of the biggest things that holds us back from achieving more than we thought possible.

When we experience some type of event in our life, we assume that because “this was the result last time this happened to me that the same result will happen again.”  This is the farthest thing from the truth.  We have the power within us to create whatever outcome we want to.  We simply don’t do the interview before we write the story.

Here are five advantages of doing the interview before writing the story:

1.  CHANGE

If you really want to facilitate positive change in your life, consider the different options you have in moving forward.  You don’t have to do what is expected, nor do you need to let someone or something else decide for you.

2.  EMPOWERMENT

There is nothing more empowering than the realization that you can control the outcome.  Things happen to us all the time that we can’t control but we determine our response to those experiences.  Once you experience the power of controlling your outcome, you will begin to create habits that will make it more of the rule than the exception.

3.  PURPOSE

If you are clear on your purpose in life, the decisions on how to move forward are much easier to make.  The choice you make will either align with your purpose or it won’t.  The first question becomes “will this serve my purpose or not?”  Making decisions that align with your purpose builds momentum.  Momentum builds results.

4.  EXPECTATIONS

The outcome we expect is generally the outcome we get.  If you buy into that thinking, it would follow that if you expect the outcome you want, you will achieve it.  If your first inclination is that the same old result will happen again, don’t be surprised when it does.

5.  ENVIRONMENT

The most important thing you can do to “do the interview” is to get in an environment conducive to processing the information.  The whole idea is to fully understand what the potential outcomes are and understanding the choices that need to be made to achieve the desired result.

When you really think about it, our life is basically a storybook.  All the chapters up until today have already been written.  There is no way to edit the past.  The thing that is really cool about our book is that no matter what happens today, tomorrow’s page is always blank.

The question then becomes … “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO WRITE?”

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Barry Smith   www.buildingwhatmatters.com   12/1/12     Photo by author