3 Epiphanies That Will Change Your Entire Perspective About How To Live Your Life

I recently had three epiphanies after taking my daughter to the dentist. Yes, epiphanies can happen anywhere. Well, two from the dentist and one on my own from waking up this morning.

Let’s start with my recent experience at the dentist.

To my friends from my generation and older, I’m sure you remember what it was like to go to the dentist when you were a kid. It was horrible and traumatizing. The machines were so loud and who could forget the hypodermic needle to the jaw before the fillings for our cavities.

Well, dentistry has really changed. It seems like they now truly have the technology to streamline all of their processes. As in every one of them.

In my recent visit with Miki, I was getting a cleaning while she was in the other room getting a couple of fillings.

Her procedure happened in a matter of moments. She went in, had her cavities filled, and came out all before I could finish my appointment; quick and easy.

Epiphany #1: I’m so grateful that we live in a time where we’re seeing life evolve at such an extraordinary pace that technology has brought us through four industrial revolutions in the last century, with the most advanced of them happening right now.

If you think about how far we’ve come in 100 years, and to be able to live in a time with this much technology, I’m almost jealous of my kids. They’re going to see a self-driving car as the norm.

As a side note, I was watching Bloomberg News that morning, and Delphi and a Car Manufacturer partnered to get into the self-driving car space. They did so knowing that Google has already clocked 1.8M miles.

This technological revolution that we’re living through is all happening so quickly, and I’m so excited that we get to witness it.

I recently heard someone say that society and technology have evolved more in this century than the past 20K years combined. Now, I don’t know if that’s true but it sure sounds about right.

Just think, Google didn’t really exist 15 years ago. I mean, it did, but not like it does now. They were just getting started.

So, while this epiphany came from state of the art dental equipment, it represents so much more. It represents possibility, opportunity, simplicity, work efficiency, you name it.

In essence, we get to live and make a living in an era where for the very first time, we are the pioneers for this thing that will be known as a digital lifestyle. That is, we will have been able to scale our lives, our businesses and our impact from using technology and the Internet.

Which brings me to Epiphany #2.

Epiphany #2: With the technologically advanced society we’re living through, there are literally no more excuses to not be living life on your terms. None.

You can run your business from your tablet, laptop or smartphone from your home, on the beach, an airplane, the subway and everywhere in between.

Let’s be honest, there’s nowhere left to go where there’s no wifi. So I can’t even make an excuse that I didn’t have access to wifi. That is where we are today.

That makes it more exciting, and it almost comes with the prerogative that if you don’t wake up and take advantage of this time we’re living in, then I don’t know what you are doing.

You don’t have to live the life that you think you have to live anymore.

The days of having to be married to a person that is not right for you is over.

Having to live in a place that no longer suits you is over.

Having to work the job that is robbing your life blood and energy is over.

Those days are gone.

Funny enough, I was recently reading an article by James Altucher. He created a list of the top 20 reasons you should quit your job this week versus next week.

His bottom line and my epiphany are that there are no real excuses left for a lot of people so get going. Wake up.

Which leads me to my final epiphany for the time being.

Epiphany #3: Knowing we have more advantages than ever before has made me realize we don’t “have to” do anything. We “get to” do everything.

What do I mean by “have to” versus “get to”?

Well, we live in a time where we have more control over our lives and in the creation of our outcomes than in any other previous generation.

As I dragged my ass around this morning for about an hour and a half, not doing what I was supposed to do, procrastinating and making up excuses in my head, I realized that it all began because I woke up thinking about all the things I “have to” do today.

I “have to” do my 10K run.

I “have to” have my meetup session at noon.

I “have to” do the orientation workshop.

And then all my personal stuff to worry about.

I “have to” worry about my car being shipped out, which I no longer have to thanks to my good friend Rich.

I “have to” worry about the water heater down in the basement, which exploded yesterday after it rusted out.

So there’re all these things I “have to” do, and I’m going through all of them in my head.

So I finally start to run on this beautiful day. There’s not a cloud in the sky, nor a touch of humidity, and a mile in I had another epiphany.

I don’t “have to” anything. I “get to”.

You need to turn your have’s into gets.

I get to order a new washer or dryer today. I get to pick out the paint for my house. I get to have a new water boiler installed. Thank God. At least I have hot water. For goodness sakes, there’re a billion people who don’t even have hot water.

If I swap out “have to” with “get to”, how does my life look.

From the moment I shifted my mindset during my run, I immediately set a new record for averaging 8.5 minutes per mile. Probably because of making that paradigm shift.

I was in a funk up until I consciously chose how am I going to view my day. I thought to myself, “Wow, we actually do have control.”

Almost everything is within our control because we now have more access to influences and people than ever before; we get to surround ourselves with individuals who bring out the best in us and not the worst in us.

For my most recent wake-up call, I want you to take a look at the “man in the mirror”.

Be really careful what thoughts you let dwell ’cause that little thought of “I have to do this, or I have to do that, or I have to attend this webinar next, or I have to learn how to do this as well,” can be drastically changed.

Reframe it as quickly as you possibly can or as quickly as you catch yourself.

So, with that, let’s remember to be grateful and count the things that we “get to do” and not ever put ourselves in a place where we are comparing ourselves with those that “have to do”; especially those who “have to” deal with extreme circumstances such as war, famine, disease and things out of their control . . .

. . .  May these three epiphanies serve you as well as they recently did for me.

All my best,