As I write to you, I am wrapping up the twelfth anniversary of Jamelle Sanders International. It has been humbling to hear the kind words and receive congratulatory messages from people all around the world. However, I can think back to the early days of JSI when nobody knew who I was and my business was struggling to stay afloat. I did not have the awards, the influence, or the global presence that I have today. All I had was a dream and a vision of the kind of brand that I wanted to build. I am saying all this to remind those of you with big dreams and grand visions that anything is possible. If you will believe, do the work, and refuse to give up you will collide with success. I think this is a fitting time to talk to you about the cost of change. Anything great in your life will come at a cost. Anything that offers you change without a cost is illegal. I hope these insights will resonate with you and set you on the course to change in your life.
You must have a desire to change. As I was thinking about the ingredients that go into changing your life, I thought it was important to start with desire. Many of you have heard me say that desire is not enough to manifest the life of your dreams. On the other hand, nothing in your life will change without desire. Many people reach the place that I call frustration. It is the place of intersection between the life that you have settled for and the life that you have been destined to live. Frustration alerts you that something is no longer working in your life and that something needs to change. Unfortunately, many people learn to live with frustration and they ultimately forfeit their potential. Others allow frustration to become the fuel to making major changes in their life. Right now I want to speak to the frustration in you. I want your frustration to be fueled into desire that ultimately propels your life in a different direction. Desire is an internal GPS system igniting your growth and development.
You must be willing to pursue change. As I just shared with you, desire is never enough when it comes to changing your life. I am recalling the early days of starting my business. If you have read my autobiography, then you know that my business almost collapsed on three different occasions. I was laughed at, mocked, and told by many that I would never succeed. However, twelve years later I am still standing and positioned as a global influencer making an impact around the world. What happened that caused me to succeed? I had to be willing to pursue change. We've all heard that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Most people understand that intellectually but they have never internalized that statement. Why do I say that? Most people live their entire lives on repeat and they never make the decision to hit the reset button. If you want to interrupt a pattern, then you must be intentional about choosing a different path. In other words, you will never propel change in your life without pursuing change. The caveat is that all change comes at a cost. You must determine what cost you are willing to pay to see change manifest in your life. What I can tell you from lived experience is that the cost of transformation is much more valuable than the cost of toleration. You will never know what is truly possible for your life until you are willing to pursue it. Therefore, all change begins with the courage to pursue. You have six months left in 2022. Why not pursue the things that set your soul on fire?
You must have the will to change. Years ago, I was doing a study on change. In my study, I discovered that we have focused so much on the role of the mind in change. Also, we have given a lot of attention to the attitude that is necessary to manifest change. Unfortunately, we have missed one very important key to manifesting change. Nobody has talked about the engagement of your will. While I am known around the world as a highly respected thought leader, what most people fail to understand is that my success was not overnight. The wisdom I share today comes from years of growth, development, and transformation. As I was confronted with cycles in my own life, I realized that I was powerless to break those cycles without the engagement of my will. Essentially, your volition will determine your victory or your defeat. If you can master engaging the will you can engineer wins in every area of your life. Your will ultimately determines your attitudes, shapes your behaviors, and decides your future. Before you set another goal or write down another intention, I want you to consider if your will is engaged in manifesting the results that you want to see. Change is the product of your will. An uncooperative will is the greatest barrier to an uncommon life. Your will must be conformed to cooperate with the change that you desire to see in your life. A resistant will creates a restricted world.
You must be ready to embrace change.As someone that has trained and developed leaders around the world, I always find it amusing when someone comes to me and says that they are ready to change their life. Within a few minutes of conversation, I can quickly determine whether or not a person is serious about changing their life. How can I say that? The moment I start to detail the process necessary for change to happen I lose most people. Most people want change but they have not made room for the change that they want to see manifest in their lives. In other words, change demands an expanded capacity. To want more without becoming more is a violation of universal laws and principles. You cannot expect what you have not expanded to accommodate in your life. Furthermore, you will never enjoy what you have not embraced. I want you to listen to me very carefully. You must welcome the change that you want to see in your life. In order to welcome change, you must accept that it will be uncomfortable, inconvenient, and very costly. You must be ready to embrace the uncertainty, the uneasiness, and the unknowns. If you want to experience the benefits of change, then you must also be willing to embrace the blindspots that accompany a change in your life.