sad. Second-guessing your judgment leaves you feeling desperate and aimless. And worse still, everyone who wished you well is saddened, and you feel guilty about it. It feels like it’s your fault. It’s as if another little crack in the world appears, just more proof that life goes wrong. It’s impossible to make it better for everyone involved. And when you want the people around you to be impressed and happy with you but you feel like you’re letting them down instead, well, that just feels miserable.
Do you know that sinking feeling of having to let people down? Worrying about what they’ll all think? Sick to let them see you fail at something? The failure can be anything — a marriage, a business, a health goal. It happens to us all.
But here’s the truth: we don’t have to be strong or perfect all the time. We’re allowed to be scared, we’re allowed to fail, and yes, we’re allowed to let people down. And we don’t need their constant approval. If you’re being honest with yourself, you know that some bad things have already happened in your life, and they will continue to happen. If you’re alive on this earth for any amount of time, there will be suffering. You’ll feel sad. You’ll feel scared. Life is full of uncertainty and change, and at times, pain, depression, and darkness.
The good news is, we can comfort ourselves — and this book is full of strategies that lead to contentment, even when things don’t go the way you want them to. But ultimately, the only way to lasting happiness is to live your life as an imperfect but first-rate version of yourself. It’s far too easy to forget that. To make allowances for others or to be influenced by their approval. Losing the real you is the least conspicuous yet easiest thing to do in the world. Because the world makes it so easy.
The Lunacy of Likes
Just so ya know up front, this isn’t really a book about social media, so why am I talking about “likes,” friend?
Because they’ve become the current measurement (and public representation) of external approval. Of fitting in. Of how good we’re allowed to feel. And frankly, this is proof that the world’s gone mad.
We spend way too much time looking for the thumbs-up or red heart that’s become the modern measurement of how accepted, wanted, or valued we are. It’s absurd. Like, if aliens were watching human beings from another planet and saw them constantly checking a small screen in their hands for an emoji to quantify their self-worth, they’d write us off as lunatics. And they’d be right.
Seeking external approval has become so natural that we don’t even realize we’re doing it — but the cost is huge. The cost is the life you could have if you stepped away for a second and let your inner wisdom (not your smartphone software) be your guide.
But there’s also good news: you have an undeletable permission slip within you to be, do, and have whatever you want. No one goes through life without hardship, but you don’t need others’ approval to know yourself and to make the right choices for you. In fact, learning to wean yourself off that approval is the key to freedom. True success means choosing freedom — freedom from needing others’ approval, freedom to pursue who you are and want to become. And it’s almost always an option. That’s what this book will help you see. All the beautiful options before you.
Let me let you in on a little secret as we begin. The person you are today? It’s old news. It’s a result of decisions and actions made in the past. If you’re happy with it — great! If you’re not — also great! Did you know that when you look at the stars at night, it’s old light? The light that reaches your vision has traveled over thousands of years.
It’s the same when you look in the mirror. The reflection you see is a result of what’s already been in your life, of what’s led you to today. You’re here to direct what’s next to come on your terms, to find out who you are and to hold on to it. And to do it without always worrying about what “they” will say.
This isn’t a self-help book. It’s a sanity book that’ll help you find your way back to yourself if, like most of us, you’ve forgotten the power you have within. Robin Sharma, author of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, said, “One of the saddest things in life is to get to the end and look back in regret, knowing that you could have been, done, and had so much more.”
The Approval Trap
What more is missing for you? In what ways are you letting yourself get mired in what I like to call the “approval trap,” the need for external acceptance of your internal needs and desires? Whatever your “more” is, there’s a good chance that the need for approval is keeping you stuck in some way. Maybe you:
Care for someone but your parents won’t like his career or religion? Approval trap.
Want a career in the arts but everyone in your family is in law, so you’re in law school? Approval trap.
Want to increase your income but think you need higher education to do so? Approval trap.
Desire to wear leg warmers to lunch but are concerned that trendy Tiffany will laugh her face off? Approval trap.
Realize you don’t actually want kids but decide you’ll probably have two anyway in order “not to be weird.” And your mom wants grandkids. Approval trap, squared!
Have wanted to get divorced for the past decade but you’re worried about what the neighbors/church/in-laws will think? Approval trap, trap, trap.
And if we’ve gotten even this far together, I know you’re ready to spring loose from those traps. And I’ll be here to support you. Everyone can use support, especially in making empowering shifts like the ones you’re about to make. Because everyone is allowed to be, do, and have whatever they want. It’s our birthright. We all just get a little confused along the way.
Declaration of Intent
So can we get into an agreement together?
Let’s sign a declaration right here, right now. (Grab a pen — I’ll wait!)
Our mutual declaration of intent is this:
I’m going to give it all I’ve got, and you’re going to give me all you’ve got.
Here are the ways I’m giving it all I’ve got:
In writing this book, I’ll speak the absolute, unvarnished truth and won’t hold back at all (even though I’ll admit it: reliving some of these memories that I’ve revisited over the course of writing this book was painful, and they still make me want to run and hide).
I’ll share with you the real tools and techniques that I use to achieve success and that I have successfully introduced to countless life-coaching clients. I’ve tried a ton of different variations on a ton of different themes over the course of my career, and I can tell you in all honesty that these are the ones that work.
But I can only do so much, dear reader.
And here’s how you need to give it all you’ve got. Your intent in reading this can be one thing: to take complete responsibility for your daily freedom, joy, and success.
To open yourself to becoming more self-directed and more self-approving — and to remain constantly curious about the process.
Are you with me? I hope so. Because the longer we hesitate, the longer it takes for those gorgeous desires we have for our lives to show up. So if you’re in this
