If You Don’t Like Your Address, Change It- You’re Not A Tree!

When I took this picture, at Halnaker,  West Sussex, November 2015, I had a Jim Rohn quote spring to mind, so thought it worth taking a closer look at it…

I like Jim Rohn. As one of the big ‘names’ in the personal development field, I’m quite surprised it took me as long as it did to take a closer look at his content, but when I did, I found that I like it.

Because there are so many people in the field (which is a good thing), that allows us to find the people that connect with us, for whatever reason. It might be their back story, or it might be something pragmatic like their presenting style, or maybe a bit more abstract like how their voice makes you feel.

For example, I find Tony Robbins has a style that’s a bit too ‘in your face’ for me, but when I (eventually) got round to taking a look at Jim Rohn, I found I liked his voice, and I found myself smiling at his expressions and the way he put his ideas across.

In fact it was watching a presentation of his from the very early 80s that drew my attention to the quote in the image. When he said it, the audience started laughing, and that brought out my own smile which had been brewing at his phrasing.

He was talking about the simple concept that if you don’t like something, you can just change it! After giving a few examples, he came out with “if you don’t like your address, change it – you’re not a tree!”

I love it!

The naysayers, and I can hear them now, will be quick to pipe up “oh come on, that’s just a philosophy, and a childish one at that! It’s not valid in real life, it‘s not like that!”

Well, yes it is a philosophical point, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Well, it could be described as childish in its simplicity, yes, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
It’s not valid in real life? Nonsense! Life *is* like that!

Real life is based on action – the actions of others, and the actions of us.
Our actions are based on our beliefs, our attitudes – in other words, our philosophies!

We can look all around us, and see the real life results of our philosophies everywhere. If we don’t like those results, we’ll need different actions, which will need a change in philosophy in order to bring change into the real world.

So yes, philosophy is not to be dismissed here, it’s the foundation of self improvement and personal development. In order to change your address if you don’t like it, it will boil down to a change in philosophy, and if that’s a concept that needs some work before it sinks in then fine, put in the work, because it’s an essential component!

Once you accept the concept that if you don’t like something in your life you can change it, then the questions that follow might be ‘who can change it?’ and ‘how can it be changed?’

Well, when it comes to who is responsible for the change, then it could be down to waiting for circumstances to change, or waiting for others to make the change, but in fact it’s down to *you* to do the changing!

I’m going to stick with the Jim Rohn theme here, because he said that the general circumstances around you probably aren’t going to change that much, so it’s down to you, and he also said that you can’t pay someone else to do your push ups for you!

It’s down to you.

As for the question of how to make the changes, of course that depends to a huge extent on the circumstances to be changed – that’s an individual thing. However, what can be assumed, is that for your circumstances to change, YOU have to change.

This is the only option, and it’s an option available to anyone. As soon as you make the decision to change, and take ownership of that decision, you have already changed something, and it’s then a case of applying and increasing the change.

The tools are out there. The education is out there. Once you seek out the tools, understand them and learn to use them, the changes in your life will be bigger. In a final nod to Jim Rohn, he also said that your level of success depends on the value you bring to the market.

So, here’s how it works: if you don’t like your address, change it – you’re not a tree!
Decide to change, accept it’s down to you to change, learn how to change, increase the value you bring, and not only will things change, (including your address if you so wish!) the changes can be astonishing, amazing, transformational!

Do let me know what you think, I love the feedback!

‘Til Next Time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you’d like ot do something about making those changes happen, don’t forget to grab my free 8 step goal achievement formula