Dean Graziosi lost his laptop mid-flight with five years of data and 100 hours of new work inside. Instead of spiraling, he shifted from asking why it happened to what he could do next: recover copies from family, recreate the work, fix his backup system. You can't change what's done, but you can control what you think about it.
July 20, 2016
Four weeks
100+ hours
About five years
deansfreebook.com
Hey, guys, it's Dean. Welcome to the Weekly Wisdom. It's a pleasure and an honor to have you here. Okay, I don't know if some of you saw the Facebook Live message I did on Monday afternoon, but I got to tell you what happened. I always share what happens in my personal life. Flew from California to Phoenix last night, and somehow I've never done this before. I left my laptop on the plane. I was a little on Dramamine. Maybe I was a little out of it, and maybe I stuck it in the front compartment. I don't know. I just got my backpack on, and I got home, and I realized my backpack was light. I'm like, oh, my God. Do you ever feel like you miss your phone or your computer? My computer is where I work every day. That's my office, and I lost my laptop. And I'm sharing this because there's a lot worse things in the world that can happen. Lose your laptop. But I want you to think about if it was 25 years ago and your office burned down with everything in it. My laptop had all the pictures of my kids since they were born on all my different phones. Every time I get a phone, I download it to my computer, and when I get a new computer, I just move them over. I. This summer, I was fortunate to spend four weeks in Del Mar with my family. And while they were having fun, I was writing 100 hours plus of a new creation. And I didn't back it up. And I didn't back up the pictures, just being so busy and not paying attention. I take full responsibility for that. Plus five years worth of everything. And my whole life was on that computer, and it's gone. They looked on the plane. Someone must have grabbed it. Unfortunately. And I have to tell you, it hurt so bad. I was sick. I was stressed over this. The work, missing my kids, and what I share comes so true for all of us in so many ways, with much bigger things than that. It's a laptop. I'm healthy. My family's healthy. You might be facing something a thousand times worse, but here's what I know. Our brains want to. They desire, they crave to find out why it happened. I couldn't stop thinking, well, why didn't I do that? Why didn't I look? Why didn't I check? How could I miss it? Why didn't I notice sooner? Why didn't I call quicker? Why didn't I back up my stuff? I'm the most responsible guy on the planet. Why didn't I back everything up? And Then I started thinking, oh my God, I'll never get those pictures back. I was emotional, I had tears in my eyes. I'm never going to get those pictures back. They, they're one offs, which are true. And I'll never be able to rewrite that hundred hours worth of content and training that I was doing for you guys. And I started telling myself these horrible stories and it wrecked me. I drove back to the airport 100 miles an hour. Not 100, but I was breaking the speed limit because I was in this wrong space. And it taught me such a lesson. It taught me the things that I share every single day. The moment I recognized it, the moment I realized where my head was going, the moment I was obsessing on why it happened and whose fault it was rather than obsessing on a solution. I noticed and I changed everything. I started thinking, hey, I could get my family has pictures, my wife has pictures of the kids that I could replicate. Yes, I'll miss them, but I still have my children. They're still alive, they're still with me. Yes, that hundred hours worth of work, can I replicate it exactly? Probably not. But what if it's going to come out better now because I have more practice. And I just started focusing on a future, a better future. I started focusing on what an outcome that was acceptable rather than looking backwards. And what I realized in that moment that I could live there is how many of us have that bad relationship, the bad parent, you know, something went wrong with parents, or someone was abusive to you, or you were molested, or had a business that failed. So many horrific things happened to us and our brain wants to go to why and how and all this energy is focused on and we're reliving it, we're feeling the pain and the people who break through. So funny. I just talked about this a couple weeks ago, but the people who break through go, you know what? It happened, it sucks. But I can't unloose my computer. I can't take that relationship back. I can't have that person untreat me. Bad it happened. The only place it lives now is in here. So the only thing that matters after the circumstance happens is our thoughts. Our thoughts are completely in control of all of it. When I started putting my focus on, I don't think I'm getting it back, but here's how I could fix it to the best I possible outcome. When I was focusing on a solution, not why it happened, I got my state back. I felt better again. It is what it is. I can't get it back. So where in your life have you got stuck? What has gone wrong with you? Were you focused on why, who and felt cheated? And you could have. All of that could have been true. But if you can't undo it, then you have to accept the circumstance and work on the best result. And here's the thing. I don't know exactly what it is, but I know something good will come of this. I'll be smarter with my family pictures. I'll be smarter with the things I write. You know one thing already. My daughter found out that I lost it. I just said, really simple. Daddy lost his laptop. I'm trying to figure it out. And she went to bed last night crying. She's still in California. And I got a call and she's like, daddy, I just want to let you know, I'm so sad you lost that. I saw how hard you work. I'm so sorry. She's like, I love you. What is that worth? What is it worth that my daughter could see it's only a little circumstance? I'm not saying poor me, but see this circumstance and be able to focus on solutions so she learns a lesson. So when it is something bigger, when there's a loss of a relationship, a loss of a life, a loss of a loved one or sickness comes, you focus on how to fix it. That is the quickest way to live a fulfilled life, to live an abundant life, to be wealthy. When it comes in your business, it just. Just one of the core success habits that can take you to that next level. I wanted to share that personal experience in my life with you guys this week. I appreciate you so much watching every single week. You can go to deansfreebook.com that's deansfreebook.com and get my New York Times best seller. Get my latest real estate book. If you don't like real estate, take the personal development book. Totally fulfilled. It's a pleasure and an honor to have you here. If you're in the real estate space, stay in the game. This is an incredible time. If you're just looking for that next level of your own life, use these same principles, the to go from where you are to where you want to be. You get to decide what we think about is who we become. Our thoughts become our habits, Our habits become our lives. Take your life to the next level. I'm Dean Graziosi. I'll talk to you next week.
