Finale - How to Outrun Your History

The obvious, but often hard part...

In today’s final installment of “How to Outrun Your History”, I want to discuss the final step to moving forward.

It’s the obvious one, yet for some reason it needs to be repeated again and again. For some people, it’s not so obvious and many still get caught on the throngs of their past as they attempt to implement this step.

3) Move toward your destiny and don’t let your mind distract you. There will never be a moment where you’re trying to move forward that something from your past doesn’t try to pull you back. Fearful thoughts that remind you of all the things you failed at in the past; doubtful thoughts that make you question your every move; and the destructive voice that yells the loudest, telling you to stop because it won’t matter.

Moving forward is how you outrun your history. You have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going, even when your thoughts and your feelings tell you not to.

My pastor, Toure Roberts (@toureroberts), posted a video on instagram earlier this week and it blessed me. I know it will bless you too:

He talked about how he wasn’t feeling so well Monday morning and he could feel that he was coming down with something. But he didn’t skip out on going to the gym, which was what he felt like doing. He continued on about his day. He talked about motivation and how if you wait for it, you will probably never move forward. You may get a spark of motivation here and there, but for the most part, you have to tell your feelings that you don’t care and move forward.

I’ve always said this, but sometimes hearing it again really reminds me of how proud I should be that most days, I get more done than I expected and on those days, I didn’t feel like doing anything. It all boils down to your mind and making sure you control it and that it doesn’t control you.

Your mind is the internal switchboard that you control with your thoughts and your words.

In the midst of you working on your first book or your first business, the thing that helps you focus (your mind) will be the same thing that tries to distract you. It’s not because you’re confused; that’s just the way the mind works. We spend years filling it with junk and expect it to serve us when we’re pursuing something great, but you have to be patient.

Our minds require us to detox, cleanse and keep moving forward while all that is going on - then, we have to rinse and repeat. But don’t give up on what you’re working on. Keep going. The only way to outrun your history is to keep moving forward into destiny, even when your mind is the obstacle in front of you.

I hope you enjoyed this mini-series on “How to Outrun Your History”. This final installment means a lot to me because the mind is certainly a battlefield that we have to conquer; but it’s an ongoing process, not something you do all at once, waiting until it’s complete to move forward. Keep going! The mental and physical work go hand-in-hand.