The world has shifted. Things will never go back to the way they were before 2020, and it’s up to us to choose how we live going forward. We can get scared and let uncertainty and fear keep us playing small. We can sit on our hands and wait for the world to go back to the way it was. Or we can do what Dean Graziosi urged listeners to do in a recent episode of The Dean Graziosi Show – choose to show up as the best versions of ourselves.
The first step is committing to action. It doesn’t matter how many self-improvement courses or self-help classes you take if you don’t take action. In this article, Graziosi goes deep on how to improve habits and show up as the best version of yourself.
Are You Living Up to Your Potential?
First, what does it mean to show up as the best version of yourself? Isn’t it enough to just show up? Sometimes in the thick of a crisis or struggle, showing up IS the best you can do, and that’s okay. Just showing up is not a long-term fix though.
Graziosi believes there’s another level of potential and a deeper well of courage and confidence that lives inside each of us, and it’s time to tap into it. The world needs role models and leaders right now. Don’t be left behind as the world shifts. In this article, Graziosi breaks down six ways every person can show up as the best version of themselves, no matter what situation or circumstance they’re facing.
Invest in Self Education
The way people are learning today is changing. The popularity of traditional education is waning, and there’s a massive influx in the self-education space. The last time you wanted to learn something, think about where you immediately went for information. The internet, right? Instead of going back to college or taking a traditional course, you can pull up Google and learn from someone who’s already done what you want to do. That’s self education.
Dean Graziosi has been in the self education industry for more than 20 years. He’s been able to take the lessons he’s learned and challenges he’s faced and turn them from his mess into his message. Despite – or perhaps because of – the obstacles he faced as a man with dyslexia, he sought out the information he needed to start his first business as a collision repair center owner.
He didn’t stop there. One night, he stumbled across an infomercial for one of Tony Robbins’ programs, and it changed his life. He bought every book and course Robbins had, and as he learned, he realized that just like Robbins, he had experience others would pay to learn. His knowledge and experience was his inventory.
Your knowledge is your inventory too, and one way you can show up as the best version of yourself is by growing and expanding it with self-education, then sharing that knowledge with others.
“Self-education is an industry that’s exponentially growing in spite of the shifts in the world,” said Graziosi. “How could you impact other people’s lives, change their lives, by selling what you already know?”
Banish Negative Voices
Have you ever felt like you’re waging a battle between two sides of yourself? Dean Graziosi has. Before he could step into his full potential and achieve his dream of teaching others how to make money, he had to learn to banish the negative voices that threatened to hold him back.
Graziosi built a course teaching people how to make money selling cars, something he had learned to do even before he graduated from high school. With much excitement (and before the days of social media and online advertising), he maxxed out his credit cards to pay to have infomercials made.
“I got so freakin’ jacked up,” Graziosi said. “I was like, ‘I’m doing an infomercial. I’m gonna be like Tony Robbins.’ Then all of the sudden, that negative voice said, ‘Wait a minute. You’re not Tony Robbins. You’re not that smart. He’s big. He’s dynamic. He’s got friends in high places. I started questioning myself.”
He wasn’t the only one with questions. Friends and family members also tried to talk him out of it, worried that he was going to lose everything. His sister even staged an “intervention” to convince him to stop, and it almost worked.
“When my sister left, I was like, ‘You idiot. Who are you to think you can create a course and be on TV and be like Tony Robbins,’” Graziosi said. The voice of inner self doubt seemed to mock him. “I remember thinking ‘I’m done. I’m going back. I should be happy with what I have.’”
Thankfully, he didn’t let the internal negative voice stop him, and you shouldn’t either.
“Be the man you are supposed to be,” said Graziosi. “Be the woman God designed you to be – whoever you believe your maker is. And when that internal self-doubt starts telling you, you’re not good enough, it’s not the right time, you’re an imposter, you’re not smart enough … you can’t listen to that voice. It’s already cost you too much. The world has already cost you too much.”
Start Where You’re At
The turning point for Dean Graziosi came on a simple walk around his neighborhood where his inner-hero did battle with his inner villain.
“My inner-hero was going, ‘We can do anything! Don’t listen to other people. I know your sister loves you, but she’s wrong,’” said Graziosi. “And the inner villain was like, ‘Yeah, whatever, fool. We’re not that smart. Can you even spell success? If you can’t spell it, you can’t have it. Go back to what you were doing.’”
Then Graziosi had an epiphany. He had been telling himself he had to be the smartest guy with big car dealerships and millions of dollars before he could teach others how to sell cars, but that wasn’t true. All he had to do was start where he was and teach people what he already knew.
“When I started to make it smaller, my confidence went back up through the roof,” he said. “You see, all I wanted to do was teach people how to sell one or two cars a month like I did. That got me out of poverty. I wasn’t going to teach anybody to get rich overnight. I wasn’t going to teach people how to open up multiple new car dealerships or grow to $100 million a year with car dealerships. But I could surely help people that would like to supplement their income with cars.”
By deciding to start right where he was, he was able to banish his inner villain, stop listening to the negative voices, and create his first course, Motor Millions. It went on to be a big hit. Today, Graziosi has had more success than he ever imagined possible, and it all began because he was willing to start where he was at.
Take Ownership of Your Actions
Dean Graziosi fell in love with self-education and wanted to share it with everyone. He bought his family and friends all of Tony Robbins’ courses … and not one of them listened to it start to finish. He wanted them to experience the breakthroughs he had, but he couldn’t do it for them. We all have to take ownership of our own actions.
The truth is, no one’s coming to save us. There’s nobody coming to wave a magic wand and make everything perfect. That means if we want something to change, it’s up to us, and we can start by taking ownership of what we have control over.
“We fix the economy in our homes,” said Graziosi. “We fix the conversations going on in our house. We are the ones who will change this world. We are the ones who will fix this world. We can choose to be role models, or we can choose to play small.”
Maybe COVID was a turning point for you. Your job changed or was eliminated. You experienced a different way of life and realized you’re meant for more. Lean into that. Take ownership of your actions, and get ready to move.
Choose to Move
We have two choices when faced with change. You can stay where you are and wait for things to resume normalcy, or you can strike out and discover a new way of life.
The book Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson tells the tale of two mice. Each day, cheese is brought to them. Their life is easy – all they have to do is wait and the cheese comes like clockwork. Then one day the cheese stops coming. One mouse decides to wait where he is until the cheese comes back. The other mouse goes out into the world to find a new source of cheese.
You have that same choice. You can sit back and wait for someone else to come fix it, but there are no guarantees. When progress and change comes, you’ll be left behind. Choosing to move and find a new path can be scary, but it leads to progress. The adventurous are the ones who find the next level.
Dean Graziosi grew up in poverty, and he made a decision early on that he was going to be the one to change things. He cut firewood in high school to help support his family. Then he started buying wrecked cars and fixing them up, eventually co-owning a collision shop right out of high school with his dad.
Eventually, Graziosi got into real estate, then self-education. He worked night and day to change the path his family was on, and even though it was hard, he put himself in the driver’s seat of his future and chose to move.
Give Back
When Dean Graziosi started sharing what he knew before he thought he had anything people would want to hear, his businesses not only grew financially but so did his impact.
“I’ve been blessed to give back in a huge way,” Graziosi said. “I donated more in the last couple of years than I ever have, and it’s all because of self-education. My life changed because of it.”
People want to learn from people who’ve already been there and have done it, and if you’re even just one chapter ahead of someone else, you have the valuable knowledge they need. Don’t keep it to yourself. If you’re a chapter ahead, you could save somebody a year or five years of their life.
Look around at your life. Where are the places you could choose to move today? Take ownership of your actions, start where you are, and take the first step. Part of showing up as your best self is sharing the impact of your knowledge. Then you’ll be able to give back, and the cycle of change and growth will continue.
More with Dean Graziosi
Listen to the entire episode on “7 Ways To Show Up as the Best Version of Yourself” now on The Dean Graziosi Show in the iTunes store, or on PodBean, Spotify, or Stitcher. For more inspirational stories and messages like this, check out Dean’s website at deangraziosi.com or watch his videos on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/deangraziosi.
