I used to think that hard work was the cornerstone to success. I believed that if you wanted to achieve anything in life, you simply had to work hard. Harder than anyone else.
I remember reading a quote recently that didn’t make any sense: “Hard work. Well, that’s all right for people who don’t know about anything else”.
It didn’t make sense because I didn’t know anything else.
Working hard was my default mode. Whenever I wanted to accomplish my ambitions, I just went all in. Full throttle. To be honest, it brought me reasonable success.
However, it’s nothing compared to what I experience now. Instead of working hard, things just seem to happen. Turning my dreams and ambitions into reality somehow seems to have become effortless. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still putting in the hours and am not promoting laziness. If you want to be successful, you still need to work – it’s just a different kind of work. Less forced. So whilst I’m still hugely dedicated to my business and putting in the required effort, I’ve stopped fighting for things to happen. Now, things just flow and opportunities continue to pop up around me, over and over again.
So what’s happened? Did I wake up one day with super powers? Or did I just become incredibly lucky?
I believe things come on our path for a reason. One night, after I had finished my day job, I was working away on my business yet again. I was doing my social media when a message from my business mentor popped up on Facebook, recommending this book called ‘Get Rich, Lucky Bitch’. It’s a book about the law of attraction and how to manifest success and wealth.
The title made me laugh. I’m usually pretty down to earth, not really buying in to these kinds of things, but decided to give it a try. After all, I had nothing to lose. The book ended up captivating me. I was intrigued by the stories of people achieving things they thought to be impossible, without working their fingers to the bone.
It got me curious. I wanted that too! I believe life is an experiment, not to be won or lost, but just to be played. And so I started playing – I read more books about the law of attraction and started applying the practices in those books. One of the major things was getting rid of all my fears, doubts, worries and limiting beliefs about myself and the things I want to achieve.
Guess what? Incredible things started to happen to me too.
I used to doubt my coaching skills and question myself over and over again. Even though I’m a professionally trained life and startup coach, I wondered if I had what it takes to encourage, inspire and empower others to let their full potential out. Letting go of my limiting beliefs has allowed me to attract more clients with a newfound confidence and ease.
At the same time I started listening to my intuition more and more. I used to be a very heady person, analysing and wanting to understand everything. Now, not so much. Through running, yoga,
meditation and asking myself certain questions, I’m learning to make decisions based on what my gut is telling me, even when rationally it makes no sense at all. In fact, when I feel like doing something that I can’t explain from a rational point of view, I take it as a hunch and follow it. This has been my pivotal moment!
Deep down inside, we all have the answers. We all know perfectly well what we want, yet we must listen to our gut, intuition, the whispering voice, or whatever you want to call it.
Ever since I started navigating on my inner guidance system, things just seem to have fallen in place. People started to reach out to me with requests to collaborate, instead of having to do it the other way around constantly. Others started to support me in my mission to encourage, empower and inspire people around the world to start a business that sets their heart and soul on fire, instead of consistently having to shout out about it myself. There is no need to force things anymore, because everything just seems to work out, one way or another. I honestly feel like I have a secret fairy godmother who makes all my dreams come true.
It’s kind of weird and scary, but extremely exciting and empowering at the same time.
So here’s the million dollar question: What do you want to believe in? Do you believe my story or are you skeptical? Do you want to believe hard work is the cornerstone to creating something that matters to you? Or do believe there’s another way to success, a way that is all about getting rid of your limiting beliefs and listening to your intuition?
I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.
Iris Louwerens, founder of Dig Mondays, is on a mission to help people start exciting, fulfilling and thriving businesses that allow them to let their full potential out and live life on their own terms. Through her one-on-one coaching, mentoring, blog and live events, she encourages, empowers and inspires others to let their inner genius out and create the career and life of their dreams.
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