How To Get What You Want In Your Life
Classified Info About Getting What You Want In Your Life
I know a secret about how you can get what you want in your life. You might be shocked to learn that I’ve possessed this HIGHLY classified information since I was a goofy teenager. Unfortunately for me, up until 7 or 8 years ago, the only thing I used this knowledge for was to get myself a new outfit or two when I needed a wardrobe refresher.
Do you want to know how to get what you want in your life?
Well, here’s the key, my friend:
Clean out your closets.
You heard me.
Clean. Out. Your. Closets.
As a child, my mother often repeated a mantra: “If you want to get new clothes, clean out your closets.” (Tweet this!) For the longest time, I thought she was literally talking about clothes. She was. And she wasn’t.
Why Junk Gets In the Way
What I believe mom was really trying to say was if I wanted a change (something new) in my life, I needed to create the space in my life for that thing (or person) first.
The same goes for you. If your life is crammed full of junky things or junky people, it makes it impossible to see when a person or opportunity (that is not junky) comes along. And, even if you are able to see past all the junk to recognize that thing (or relationship) you want, the fact your closet is throwing up belts and shoes and purses will certainly get in the way of you having a place that is deserving of the nice, new thing (or relationship) you want.
Clean out your closets. Get rid of those things that no longer serve you:
Clothes.
Tools.
Relationships.
Emotional baggage.
A Case Study to Show How You Can Get What You Want
Seven or eight years ago, I was feeling stuck in my relationships and career. I wasn’t moving forward, backward or ANYWHERE. I desperately wanted to go somewhere, but I was high-centered on a rut, spinning my wheels.
I was miserable.
A chance encounter at a business luncheon lead me to a person who would help me transform my life. This man would become my life and business coach. Once a week, every week, for almost three years, he gave me assignments designed to challenge and expand my personal evolution. Fortunately for me, he was relentless about holding me accountable.
The hardest exercise Steven ever gave me was the first. Can you guess what it was?
To clean out my closets.
For several weeks, I tracked down people from every relationship that had ever gone wrong in my life. The list was one loooooong one. It included my once-friend who had beaten the daylights out of me in the eighth grade. My high school sweetheart. The law school boyfriend. The jerky first boss I had out of law school.
And once I tracked these people down, guess what I had to do?
Call them. And clear the air. And ask for forgiveness for my role in the failed relationship.
Talk about a hard pill to swallow. It was terrifying. What I learned though, was that my fear about making those calls was worse than the calls themselves.
Not one person cursed at me. Or hung up on me. Or blamed me. In fact, every single person wanted to heal the relationship as much as I did.
What Cleaning Your Closets Can Really Do For You
By cleaning out my closets, I was able to release the anger and pain I had been holding for years. By confronting the heartbreak of those relationships, my negative emotion towards those people dissipated. In all cases, I discovered a new, more spacious place of love in which I could hold each person. Because I was able to liberate myself from the past, I created space in my heart for…
New clothes.
And new relationships.
And a new life.
What Can You Let Go Of to Get What You Want?
What is the thing you most fancy? What can you let go of to get what you want in your life? (And…in case you are wondering…No. You don’t necessarily have to call your high school girlfriend and ask for her forgiveness. You only need to “clean your closets” in a way that is significant TO YOU.)
This week, I challenge you to pick one thing to “clear” from your life. Just one thing will create space for that which you want…and deserve.
Sending you my wishes for a week in which you find the strength to finally let go of those stone-washed Calvin Kleins from 1984.
All my best,
-w