Seamus Fox, The Mindset Junkie: Arrested again!

It’s the question I was asked as I was being held after being arrested once again. It was about two days before Christmas. It was a wet, damp, dull winter day standing in a market in Northern Ireland

As I stood there selling counterfeit goods I felt a big, heavy hand on my shoulder and, as I did, I felt a heavy feeling run through me. I knew exactly who it was and why. We had met before this sergeant and I. By this stage quite a few times.

Our first meeting was actually my first day on the job. I was arrested with a car boot full of illegal goods that I apparently didn’t know were in there - anything to get away on my first day. One of the last times we met was after I was arrested on driving offences.

The police had radioed my name only for it to flash up that I was wanted for skipping court where I’d been arrested that Christmas a year before. The same sergeant travelled to Derry to meet me with a smile and arrest and charge me. For that offence I would end up in court for a full year!

As I was sitting in the police station again I was asking myself, what are you doing? Driving bans, court appearances, hiding and ducking and diving trying to make a few quid here and there. Surely there’s something better to be doing than this shit? And there was, but I couldn’t see it. Why? Because I didn’t believe in it, or me. I didn’t believe I could really do something better. That I could really be someone better.

I didn’t believe success was common. It wasn’t what I’d seen. I had different ideas of what it was and how to get it. Here’s what I’ve found.

What we believe in sooner or later will clothe itself in our reality, good or bad, so I needed to believe in something different. Do you? To begin with it was in exercise and reshaping how I looked outside, then came the inside remodelling and that was certainly harder and took a whole lot longer. It’s still an ongoing process.

I started to eat better, read better books, and focus on training hard. I then had a goal: I wanted to compete as a bodybuilder. I set my sights on that bodybuilding stage and on winning, and that happened, gaining first place. I gained new confidence and set new standards for myself and how I wanted to live. After years of tossing around I felt I had a purpose and something more to give and to receive. Receiving is key!

The world will value you exactly how you value yourself. Here’s what I want to ask you. Can you quit the bullshit story and excuses of why you can’t change? Or why do you want to wait to change?

American entrepreneur and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn said 'change happens through inspiration or desperation.' You don’t need to be desperate, you've just got to get inspired, and that for now might mean wanting something more than what you are doing. To feel excited again. Maybe this year it’s finally time to step up. Prove the doubters wrong, and prove yourself right!

Those early years taught me many lessons and they moulded me into being the coach and business man I am today. I made commitments to myself over the years that those times are gone and it’s always about growth from now on in my life.

Maybe now it’s your time? To stop figuring it out for yourself? To have accountability? To have someone believe in you more than maybe you do right now? Those who get what they want from life make decisions based on their future, not on where they are right now. Are you ready for change?