Live life to the full

I wanted to write about how to live life to the full and then I received this email from Mark Attwood – totally on topic.  He is an SEO wizard and I highly recommend his book but this email was different and so I asked permission to pass it on.

The key thing in this message for me is the absolute commitment he has to live life to the full. And to know that he is creating his world – just as you are creating yours.

So have a read, be inspired by a fellow traveler, and if you realise on reading this that you need to change the game you are playing in your life then I’m here to help.

I did a very similar move to Spain over 16 years ago so I too know what it is like to risk all for the dream, to live life to the full  – and yes although there are challenges along the way it is worth it. Whatever change you know you could be making – whether a big outer change like moving country or job or relationship, or a more subtle (but equally big) inner change of who you are being in your life I can help. Just drop me a line if it is time to branch out.

And now – get inspired to live life to the full!….

“Whatever the world is throwing at you, however much it seems like a struggle, however hard things may be sometimes…

You are amazing.

You are a gift to the world.

You are beautiful.

(Go on, go to the mirror, look yourself in the eye and tell yourself that. It’s true)

You can achieve anything your heart desires or your imagination allows you.

(And who controls your imagination? Yes, you!)

Here’s a funny story for you – when I moved to Morocco, I had no idea if it would work (on any level). 

I had to rebuild my business and life from scratch, not knowing if it was even possible to do it in the mysterious city of Marrakech.

I was terrified about moving here. 

I didn’t know the languages, it was bloody hot, I had five little children to take care of, I didn’t understand the culture…

All I knew was that my wife was determined to move here and that I was done with England, which not only felt like an open-air prison to me but had done nothing but squander the £10m in taxes I had generated over 5 years on bombs that killed innocent children across the globe and lined the pockets of a class of people I detested on every level.

I felt the fear and did it anyway.

During the past three years I’ve been lied to, ripped off, slandered, screwed and, at some points, felt like the world was about to end.

All in a days work for an entrepreneur.

Throughout it all, I kept thinking “Nothing can ever be as hard as when I had to turn my Dad’s life support machine off when I was 17”

That tragic event gives me strength every day.

I’ve also met some amazing people and created opportunities in markets I truly care about that I could never have even dreamed of before.

Whatever shit you’re going through, whether it’s personal or business, just think back to your darkest day and remember – you survived.

You thrived.

You are incredible.

We all are.

You’re not in competition with anyone, it’s just you.

Instead of getting stressed about work or business, give yourself a break.

Go and meditate. Just plug yourself into YouTube with some headphones on in a quiet room and search for a guided meditation on whatever ails you.

Take a holiday.

Treat yourself.

Be spontaneous.

Live.

I just booked a 6-day adventure with my 13 year old son on a tall ship around the remote islands of Scotland.

I asked my wife if I could do it and she sighed, listing all the things I had to do.

Then I read her two lines from the biographies of the men that had created the adventure on their website…

“Stefan is of course a son, but he did not get to know his father as well as he would have liked.”

“His father died 25 years ago and he wishes he had spent more time with him.”

I had tears in my eyes as I read them out. 

She gave me permission, and we’re going!

Give yourself permission.

We’re not here just to make money.

Making money is easy (seriously, just read my book and follow the instructions. It works).

Find out who you really are. Look inside, find your real dreams (not the ones imposed on you by society, family or culture) and follow them.

Do it today.

Do it now.

When I was a young kid, about 10, I’d have to meet my Mum after school at the poshest house in the village because she was doing a cleaning job there. She couldn’t get away until 5.

In that house was an old dame known as Mrs Heygate.

Her family had owned the local mill for over 300 years. They were multi-millionaires.

Mrs Heygate took a shine to me, the bright kid from a council house up the road.

She taught me which knife and fork to use at the table and showed me pictures of her adventures in fast cars and Tiger Moths in the 1920s, when she was a dashing young woman.

She also gave me the greatest gift I ever got from someone outside my family.

It was a poem by Rudyard Kipling called “If”.

If..you’ve never read it, (it’s an instruction poem to live life to the full) here it is:

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Miracles do happen.

It all starts in the mind, your mind.

Once you believe it, it will come.

You just have to keep the faith. 

In yourself.

Try it.

It’s cool :-)”

Mark Attwood – Author The Best Digital Marketing Strategy in the Galaxy (probably)