The Wolf of Wall Street - How The Story In Our Head Holds Us Back!

By Kris Deichler, Associate Partner, Lighthouse International

“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the b******t story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.”

- Jordan Belfort (The Wolf of Wall Street)

If you've seen the movie 'The Wolf of Wall Street', you'll know the author of the above quote. Jordan Belfort was a stockbroker in the 1980’s and 90’s, who, after achieving incredible levels of wealth, eventually fell foul to his greed and ambition. He went to prison in 1999, after pleading guilty for fraud, and stock market related crimes. While we don't condone Mr Belfort mistakes, we can still learn from them and very often some of our greatest breakthroughs do indeed come from major mistakes. Being very focused on his goals, he wasn’t someone who would let convention and what other people told him isn't possible get in his way. So we mustn’t discount how wise his words are, because we can apply them to ourselves and our own goals in life.

Just take a moment to think about what he is pointing towards. How much do you keep telling yourself things like;

"... I can’t do something I’d really like to do. My dream is too hard to achieve. Nothing goes my way. I never seem to meet the kind of partner I deserve. My problems are someone else’s fault, or that a situation outside of my control is to blame for the fact I'm not living the life I really want to have....etc."

How much of what you tell yourself on a daily basis is true, and how much of it... well... isn't?!

The reality is, if you’re not where you want to be right now, you very likely have some kind of story that’s getting in your way, and/or is excusing you from changing things.

How often are we telling ourselves, that our ability to change our lives is outside of our control, or that we don’t have what it takes!? Have we ever really questioned the reality of this self-talk and put it to the test?! Maybe you ARE good enough, attractive enough, capable enough. Maybe you are stronger than you thought you were. Maybe there’s a hell of a lot more to you than you give yourself credit for! Maybe the biggest thing getting in the way of your own success and happiness is… you!

It’s really only when we challenge these stories, and look into what is really possible for ourselves, that we can start to get an idea of what we really can do. The Legends Report is full of articles about people who are no different to you and I, however they have gone out there and done some amazing things. The one big theme, that runs across so many legends’ stories is that, at the end of the day, they didn’t give up believing that their dream was possible, and indeed that they would get there eventually.