Carrie
Green: Programming Your Mind for Success
Larson's
Cultural Myth: Possibility of Success implies that if you work hard enough and
are honest you can and will be successful. This particular speech
focuses on being honest with yourself.
I think all
of us go through life and feel at times that we don’t measure up. Maybe it’s
our job, or perhaps our wayward children? Maybe we want to lose weight or just
have confidence in presenting a memorized speech in our Communications class.
Whatever it is, isn’t there a way to just get over it? Can’t we just work hard
enough and smart enough to be successful and reach our goals? According to
Larson’s Possibility of Success, definitely. Who doesn’t want success? There
are so many books, tapes, shows, programs and retreats out there telling us
that if we just do what they tell us to do, we will be successful. The question
is, are we all successful even if we work our guts out trying to accomplish
something that we really want? I found this speech by Carrie Green on YouTube
that talks of her success, struggle and redirect toward greater success.
Green talks
of her successful completion of her law degree coupled with the successful
launch of her global online mobile phone unlocking business. Success, right?
Wrong. After all was said and done she decided that she was unhappy and
miserable with what she had decided to do with her life and wanted to make some
changes. She speaks of traveling abroad to find herself, reading books and
searching everywhere for the answer to her problem. As she tells her story of
success and failure and rebounding and rediscovery it causes an affective
consequence within the listener. At least it did for me. I believe that every
one of us feels inadequate at some point in our lives. Some more often than
others. Her story of redefining her goals and her desires in her life and
conquering her negative thoughts and behaviors to go onto a successful and
productive life are motivating and inspiring to anyone trying to do the same. She
says, “Yes, I wanted to be successful. Doesn’t every single person in this room
want to be successful?”
As Green
tells of her struggles, she defines the process premise of need very well. She
says that she had the need to change what she was doing. She was isolated and
lonely. She says she finally “crumbled and started to question everything and started
to think questions like “what am I doing? What is the point of all this?” She
had a need to get back to her “positive, optimistic and go get it person” that
she used to be. She then goes onto suggest that Michael Gerber’s book The
E-Myth had an answer for her. In essence, “what kind of things do you want
people to be saying about you and the life you lived” at your funeral. She says
that she finally realized that she “had to figure out what it was that I wanted
to achieve, why I wanted to achieve it, why it actually meant something to me,
I had to figure out the kind of person I needed to become in order to make it happen.”
Green also
talks about the premise of her attitudes and of being self-defeating and
negative toward everything. She would come up with ideas to change or improve her
situation and immediately shoot them down as pointless and out of reach. She
realized however that if she wanted to be successful and live an incredible
life that she needed “to get my mind to be on the same wave length as me.”
Thirdly,
Green talks about her emotions towards the realization that she was responsible
for her choices and where they had led her to that point in her life where she
was feeling unsuccessful. She was waking up daily and focusing on the negative
instead of making necessary changes. It was consuming her thoughts, actions and
emotions. In order to make positive changes Green says, “I had to program my mind
to make it happen. I had to program my mind for success.”
As I was
listening to this, I was trying to apply the things that were being said to my
personal life. Carrie makes some good points about how if our mind is in the
right place we can be more successful. If we can be consciously aware of all of
the things we are thinking and when we catch ourselves being negative we can
make a choice to steer our thoughts in a more positive direction. She says it’s
possible to control our thoughts and not let them control us. If we can vividly
picture our success, then we can accomplish it, “just like all the top athletes
do.” She suggests that if we make a wish list of what we wanted, have a goal
board and add to it, visualize what it would be like to have those things
happen then it will be reality. Green states that she realized, “if I could get
my mind to be certain that I could make something happen, that somehow I would
figure out a way.” She also claims that, “success is no accident. Living an incredible
life is no accident. You have to do it on purpose and it starts by knowing exactly
what it is you want to achieve, knowing why you want to achieve it, knowing the
kind of person you need to become in order to make it happen, and programming your
mind to make it happen because you only have one life to achieve everything.” These
things I think point towards being consistently striving to achieve and make
change in an effort to be successful. This is the fourth process premise.
No pressure
at all. I feel that Carrie is very successful in outlining the process premises
and makes her point quite succinctly. I feel though that for anyone seeking
success, who has not experienced it, would not take what she says in the way it
is intended. She speaks mostly of mind over matter, or mind over thoughts,
attitudes, and emotions which for some is a lot easier said than done. Her
entire speech is centered on the thought process and not the actions required,
although she does say, “If I could get my mind to be certain that I could make
something happen, that somehow I would figure out a way.” This does imply that
there is a matter of work, and hard work, involved in making dreams a reality.
This type of speech is great at motivating some, but can be un-motivational for
others. Especially those that have tried so hard to accomplish something and
have ended up failing.
I agree that this is a great speech on the possibility of success. The process premises she used are also very clear. He definition of success is spot on. She had met goals that she had established for herself, but in the end she still was not happy and had to choose a different course of action to find herself. Great analysis of Larsen's Cultural Myths.
ReplyDeleteWow... Green does attempt to simplify the mind shift required to find or learn how to be happy/successful. She seems quite young and her process seems to me the normal phase of life all of us go through if we are willing to truly mature to a level of self-awareness that is essential for a fulfilling life. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to say that in my early thirties. I don't think she actually simplifies something that isn't a simple process. Your analysis is accurate in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteSo, would you have jumped up and volunteered?
ReplyDeleteYour analysis is "spot on". I like how she shared her perspective on this topic. She led her audience through all of the necessary aspects for a person to take control of their minds and ultimately their own success. I like how she said that success is no accident and that life is done on purpose. These portrayed the "possibility of success" that we all seem to be desiring.
Thanks for sharing this great video.
Jo Deann, I really enjoyed this speech and your analysis. This selection makes us think not only about Larsen's myth of Possibility of Success, but to go deeper and consider what the definition of success is to us individually. The ideas presented here are inspiring, at the same time frightening as we face the realization that we are ultimately responsible for the experience we choose to have during our lives. I feel like taking a break from this homework and getting clear on what real success means to me.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this speech. The important things that I learned from this was the walking into a room looking at my box. I have spoken with my kids about this in the past and Im not sure if I pulled down the walls of pride enough to say what she did. Thank you for sharing this with us.
ReplyDelete