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To help you find your unique edge.

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Feature: Open Up Space for Your Dreams

TL;DR: If you have one big obstacle that’s holding you back, you may not need to overcome it. Instead, simply build your resilience until the obstacle becomes irrelevant.

Every now and then, you reach a turning point in your life.

A point where new possibilities open up for love, wealth, fitness, travel, or some other incredible thing that brings your happiness to a higher level.

I say possibilities “open up” because the turning point usually happens right after you overcome something that was blocking you.

You pass through a bottleneck and literally open up new space to manifest your dreams.

There's a reliable pathway to such a breakthrough. I call it the Beneventum Moment. Let me explain.

The Land of the Evil Wind

 Back in the days of the ancient Roman Republic, there was a place called Maleventum. A common translation for this word is “evil wind.”

(I rode a bike through there once, and yes, the wind felt distinctively evil.)

In 275 BCE, a conqueror named Pyrrhus gathered a formidable army to beat Rome into submission and turn the Italian Peninsula into his private empire. He almost succeeded.

It took a moving speech from Appius Claudius, who said “Every one of you is the architect of your own fate,” to convince the Romans to fight back.

This wasn't the decadent Roman Empire, best known for a long period of collapse.

This was the young republic, guided by farmers and artisans with ideals of justice and democracy, where even women and slaves had rights and the potential for social mobility.

This was the flower of freedom and justice in the western world, and Pyrrhus was about to trample it to the ground with his war elephants.

The soldiers of the Republic, mostly farmers defending their land and families, made their last stand at Maleventum.

Obviously, the battle went well, or the world today would be very different.

Pyrrhus wasn't defeated, but he was convinced that his plans for Italy were too expensive to carry out. He set sail for greener pastures, and the name Maleventum was changed to Beneventum, which means a “good wind.”

A few key points to this story are relevant to your life.

First, Pyrrhus was the only enemy that could stop the Romans from building aqueducts, discussing philosophy, writing poems and doing other Roman-ish things.

Second, Rome didn't have to beat Pyrrhus, she just had to be resilient. And with Pyrrhus gone, Rome could put her efforts into growth and expansion.

Maleventum didn't change, only its meaning changed.

Now check this out. The obstacle that stops you from being your best self is your Pyrrhus.

Something is holding you back. It could be a tangible obstacle, or it could be a limiting belief. But for all practical purposes, this obstacle is as powerful as Pyrrhus with his armies and elephants.

Maybe you can't get rid of this challenge. But you don't have to.

While the Romans fought Pyrrhus, they continued farming, building aqueducts, debating philosophy and writing poems. They cultivated all their best qualities, and this made them resilient.

When Pyrrhus won a battle, it didn't change the day-to-day life in Rome for most people. Their resilience made Pyrrhus largely irrelevant.

That's the secret I want you to learn. Be so good at whatever you do that your strongest enemy becomes irrelevant.

Cultivate your best qualities, skills, and talents.

Eventually the biggest obstacle won't matter anymore. You've outgrown your limitations. You are free to expand and grow in every facet of your life. you've reached the breakthrough.

I call this breakthrough your Beneventum moment because it's the turning point where the evil wind becomes the good wind.

This is one of the reasons my signature course on personal growth is called Changing the WIND.

 Ultimately you don't really defeat the enemy, break the limitation, or change the environment. The transformation happens to you.

Tool of the Week: Creating a Beneventum Moment

1. Think of your Pyrrhus, the biggest threat or obstacle that keeps you from the amazing life you're meant to have.

2.  Ask yourself, “Why hasn't this terrible enemy destroyed you already?”

3. Think of all the qualities and assets you have that are helping you, holding you up, bringing you victory and success despite the obstacles you face. Make a list of these.

4. Pick one of these qualities you’re going to actively cultivate. Give yourself a specific daily or weekly practice. Switch qualities every 2 months until you’ve extended all of them.

5. Practice visualizing in detail the lifestyle you will have once you've outgrown your biggest obstacle. What will your daily life look like? How will you be dressed? What new habits and skills will you acquire?

6. Be intentional about adding some of these changes to your life right now.  

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob