March 2009

I had just bought my dream car, was making loads of cash and chicks thought the fact I was a DJ and Music Producer was cool. My ego was big, I’d never given to a charity or volunteered for anything and I loved to talk my mouth off at anyone who questioned me.

At this point, I had no idea who I was. I honestly believed I could end up discovering drugs and losing myself.

June 2011

Nothing had changed except the business I had spent five years creating died.

Along with the death of what I thought was going to be my entire life, and my one big success. Rock bottom came quickly. I couldn’t face the world. I thought I was a failure that would never recover and would work some $15 an hour job for the rest of my life.

At this point, I was even further away from finding myself. The money had gone to my head.

April 2013

I’d spent the last two years reading every self-help book and watching lots of Ted Talks. I was more self-aware but still had no idea what I was doing. The fear I had in my life combined with the anxiety was crippling. My health started to fall off a cliff.

Through all of this self-help content, somehow, I discovered Tony Robbins. I went to his seminar by flying 45 minutes to another state of Australia. Flying was a massive fear and I thought I was going to die mid-air.

I got to the seminar and within minutes felt stupid. It seemed like some sort of cult where you drank the cool-aid and then gave your life (literally) at the end.

By that night, I was walking on fire and had a major breakthrough.

At this point, I still had not found myself, but I’d discovered a catalyst for the discovery to begin.

June 2014 (roughly I forget what month)

A mate shares a link to a blog called Addicted2Success. The name of the website gets my attention. On the bottom of the site is a phone number which I ring. I talk to the founder’s girlfriend, get the correct mobile number, fly to Perth with no meeting booked, and call him.

He meets me for coffee. There’s no agenda and no topic of conversation. I offer him something for free that he wants and then he asks me to write for his blog. I’ve never written anything professionally and the word ‘writer’ appears lame.

At this point, I had an opportunity but still had no idea who I was.

March 2015

My first blog post goes viral and I experience some success. It feels good. The success becomes the validation that I can be a blogger and inspire the world through personal development and entrepreneurship.

I believed in myself before this moment through the self-improvement work but this success compounded the results and my own belief.

At this point, a glimpse of who I was started to shine through. It was satisfying.

April 2015

I go to the doctor for a routine check after a few stomach aches, and he sends me to the hospital. While asleep for a few hours, the surgeon finds a lump the size of a golf ball in my guts which was months away from being cancerous.

My whole life changes. Nothing else matters. I begin feeling the following:

– What is my purpose in life?
– Will I be single forever?
– What will be my legacy once I’m gone?
– How can I give back and create more joy?
– Could I inspire millions of people?

These five questions changed everything. These questions were how I began to discover my true self.

January 2016

More publications wanted me to write for them. I did and as a result, had more viral blog posts. The daily emails of thank you’s was overwhelming. Inspiring others through my two passions of entrepreneurship and personal development became the pillar of everything I did.

At the same time, I also started crushing my fear of public speaking. This gave me the confidence boost I needed to believe in myself and to continue to discover who I wanted to be.

2018 and beyond

I learned the following:

– You’ll never know what will be the catalyst that will change your life
– The things you think you’ll never do, you will
– Once you understand the power of time and legacy through a near-death experience, you’ll never live life the same way again
– Whatever you find your true to self to be, you’ll end up giving back in some way

Finding yourself is a lifelong journey.

That’s right! You never arrive. You’re always going to evolve.

What I’ve learned is that once you know who you are and it’s tied to some meaningful purpose – like inspiring millions of people online – the rest will take care of itself.

“It’s the discovery process and being prepared to try new things that will help you uncover that purpose”

Nothing is static. Suffering is guaranteed. In the end, finding yourself is fun when you look back. Thinking about all my ridiculous fears and mistakes makes me laugh. Without them, though, I’d never be who I am today.

And I now know that tomorrow’s potential is created by what you do today.

If you want to increase your productivity and learn some more valuable life hacks, then join my private mailing list on timdenning.net

Source: Success