“I don’t even really want to be alive! I’ve lost everything that really matters to me, and I cannot imagine things getting worse!“ When I said that to my mentor and coach, wasn’t she supposed to say, “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry this is happening to you?“
Instead, she looked at me with compassion and leaned across her desk and took my hand. I thought those words would be next. But instead, she said, “Oh I hope I can change your faith because it will all happen as you believe…“
She was the first World Changer I had a very close relationship with. I had watched her as the best professor in my graduate program, as a mentor, as my major advisor. Dr. Pat Love was indeed amazing.
Had anyone else said that to me, I likely would have been angry and offended. But I knew if she said it, she was not speaking lightly, but with great purpose and intention.
It began a journey for me of looking at the faith levels of World Changers. Every single one of them that I was learning from and being mentored by at the time had great faith. Dr. John Bradshaw, Pia Melody, Dr. Harville Hendrix, Larry Lea, Tony Robbins, and of course Dr. Pat Love.
So I started asking them about their faith, and I realized fairly quickly that every single one of them had some things in common regarding their faith.
Since I wanted so badly to be a World Changer, I began trying on what I learned about their faith.
My hope is that it will be helpful to you too!
1. World Changers believe they can move mountains. I didn’t believe I could move my mood from despair and depression to happiness, much less move a mountain! Or maybe that seemed like a mountain to me.
But I began to believe that somehow I could move mountains. I decided that before I began to try to move mountains in anyone else’s life, I should first try to move a mountain in my own!
I didn’t have the luxury of being a professional student, like many of my classmates did. Some were trust fund babies; some had spouses supporting them generously; some had parents who allowed them to pursue degree after degree.
I had none of those and did not have time to waste. So I decided I would move the mountain of my master’s degree and do my coursework, my internship, and my thesis all within nine months.
When I tried to register for 21 hours in my first semester, my registrar told me that that was simply impossible. Pretty sheepishly, I said with very little confidence, “If Dr. Pat Love can move mountains, so can I!“ I must not have been very convincing because he rolled his eyes at me but then took my schedule and stamped an approval on it.
I didn’t tell another soul what I was doing because I was hedging my bets just in case I could not move the mountain.
But I moved the mountain, and then I decided to move another one. I applied to the graduate school doctoral program and decided that I would do my doctoral degree, my dissertation, my comps, and my residency in less than three years. That mountain almost conquered me, but I got it done!
After that, I printed my first business card that had my specialty included. Since that time, my business card has my proclamation printed on it: “Specializing in moving mountains!”
2. World Changers believe it is important to have a mission, vision, and purpose. They write them down and read them regularly until they become a part of the very fiber of their being.
There is a story about a prophet named Habakkuk, who was revered by the Jews, by Christians, and by Muslims. When things were at their worst, he cried out to God and wrote these words:
Write down the vision. And inscribe it clearly on tablets,
For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hurries toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it delays, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay long.
In every training I do with World Changers, I challenge them to write down their vision. Write down their purpose, their mission.
Years ago, in one of my Coach Certification Training sessions, I was having students do this exercise. It was interesting because there was a young girl in her 20s there, and she sat beside a man getting ready to retire after a long career in the world of finance.
Her statement to me was: “I’m just too young, so I don’t have a purpose, a mission or a vision.” His statement to me was from the opposite end of the spectrum: “I’m retiring, so I guess I don’t have a purpose, mission, or vision.” After much work, both left the training with a mission, vision and purpose!
The young woman is now helping young women struggling with no direction or who have gotten off the path. The older man just completed an amazing book to help families get their finances in order so that they can create a compelling future.
Both eventually wrote their vision. Both are in the process of fulfilling those visions.
I want you to realize that you are not too young or too old; too educated or undereducated; too poor or too rich; too shy or too bold. You are you. And YOU have a vision, mission, and purpose. You are a World Changer. Write it down!
3. World Changers see things that have not transpired as if they already had! It took me a while to be able to do this. But I knew the models and mentors I was working with ALL had this ability.
I heard Tony Robbins say: “The reason most people get stuck is that they do not have a compelling vision of the outcome they want. Without a compelling future, we settle in comfortably to where we are and to what is.”
Then I watched as he worked with a couple who was on the brink of divorce. He interviewed each of them, and they were so focused on what was wrong that when asked about what “could be,”… they both dodged the question. He helped them develop a vision of a compelling future for their marriage. Then told them to see it and believe it. And that when challenges arose, to speak of how to get past the challenge in order to move to the compelling future.
I was fascinated. Clearly, their marriage was a mess, but he was helping them see their vision as if it was already a reality.
Five years later, he did a follow-up interview with them, and it was remarkable to see how their marriage was exactly what they “saw” during that seminar five years previously. They had held it in their hearts and minds as if it had already become their reality … and sure enough, it did.
I now have learned not to allow circumstances to become my focus but to see things as if they were already accomplished. It sets our neuropsychology to searching for solutions and answers rather than getting stuck. It pushes us forward through challenges like a snowplow throws snow off the road, making a great path forward!
4. World Changers set their face like flint. There is a great proverb that says: “I have set my face like flint, and I will not be ashamed.” To set one’s face like a flint means to be disciplined and refuse to be distracted.
World Changers focus on the outcome and never keep their focus on the challenges. They handle challenges as quickly as they arise, so their focus can remain on the outcome.
Professional Nascar drivers are trained rigorously in the concept. At top speeds on the track, they are trained to NEVER look at the wall even when they spin out. Because at such speeds, just one glance at the wall will throw their focus to the wall, and the crash is inevitable. But if they focus on the track, everything in their brain will respond to keep them on the track.
All too often, we spend so much time focusing on challenges that we throw ourselves into a crash. I call that self-sabotage. I lived in that pattern for the early parts of my life, thinking that if I just kept my focus on my challenges, I could somehow do something about them.
Recently, I had the privilege of working with a great organization. They had a great financial need for their amazing project. They had a one-inch stack of documents they had prepared analyzing the financial problem. I was impressed with their work. But when I asked about their research on solutions and how the financial need would serve their vision … they looked at me as if I had asked for a slice of the moon on a silver platter.
I think they thought I would help them with a fundraising project, and I told them I would … but only after they researched solutions that would get them to their vision. In the process of setting their vision and a brief look at solutions, they resolved the challenges. They were able to move forward with their worthy vision of serving the nutritional needs of orphans around the globe.
World Changers keep their focus on the right things! The vision! The outcome!
5. World Changers believe that the best is yet to come! I always know I’m in the presence of a World Changer when they say things that indicate they know that the best is yet to come!
They do not rest on their laurels. They believe they don’t have time for that, because they would miss the best that is just around the corner!
I have an amazing friend who is one of my models of World Changing. He actually developed the first system to complete medical visits virtually. He sold the company for millions of dollars. I was congratulating him a few months after the sale of his company, and he said, “Oh, thank you! I moved on to another project that is even more exciting, So I guess I kind of forgot about that one!”
He wasn’t resting on his laurels. He had begun a project to help make travel to the moon a possibility for students interested in space travel. After many years of preparation, his son will be one of the first to do space travel. He believes that the best is yet to come!
I love the faith of World Changers! I continue to model my life after them. Dr. Pat Love was right. I needed to change my faith. I needed to believe what was possible. I dared to believe.
I had never dreamed that I would have the opportunity to walk alongside such amazing people. Over the past 20 years, I have been able to help others step into the faith of a World Changer.
Deep and strong faith has a major impact on all of us. Would you be bold enough and courageous enough to step out and have faith for greater things? A greater life? Greater moments? Greater influence?
It’s in you! I promise you it is! Because you were created for MORE!
PS. I have a mini-course titled “Created for More!” If you are starting on this journey, you might find it helpful. Click here for more information: https://dr-neecie.mykajabi.com/created-for-more-info-page
