Chapter: Rewrite The Code

 Chapter: Rewrite The Code

Part One: The Pattern Is Getting Old

Today I want to share a pattern that, frankly, is getting old.

At 51 years old, I can see it more clearly than ever.

For most of my life, I have been the guy who sees the glass half full. I have always believed there is an opportunity hidden inside every problem. I have always looked for the lesson, the blessing, the next step forward. Even when things went wrong, I found myself asking, "Okay, what can we learn from this?"

Maybe you are wired the same way.

Maybe you are the person who encourages others when they are down. Maybe you are the one who believes there is a solution when everyone else sees a dead end. Maybe you are the one who still dares to dream when common sense says you should stop.

If that's you, welcome to the club.

The challenge is that life has a way of trying to beat that optimism out of you.

If you are my age, you know exactly what I mean.

If you are younger, enjoy your Santa Claus stage of life while it lasts.

Eventually life shows up.

It shows up through disappointments.

It shows up through betrayals.

It shows up through people you trusted.

It shows up through false accusations.

It shows up through broken promises.

It shows up through people who say they will be there and then disappear when you need them most.

Sometimes it is not even intentional.

Sometimes people are simply so busy with their own lives that they lose sight of you altogether.

You become an afterthought.

A forgotten text.

A delayed response.

A relationship that slowly drifts away.

None of these things happen overnight.

They happen one experience at a time.

One disappointment at a time.

One wound at a time.

And if we are not careful, those experiences begin to write code into our lives.

The code starts simple.

People can't be trusted.

Things never work out.

Don't get your hopes up.

Protect yourself.

Expect disappointment.

Stay small.

Play it safe.

The dangerous thing is that after enough repetitions, we stop questioning the code.

We simply start living by it.

I have met people who were once dreamers who now spend their days explaining why dreams don't work.

I have met people who once believed anything was possible who now spend their time explaining why everything is impossible.

Somewhere along the journey, life convinced them that disappointment was wisdom.

It isn't.

Wisdom learns from experience.

Cynicism surrenders to it.

There is a difference.

The older I get, the more I realize there is a battle taking place every day.

Not a battle for money.

Not a battle for success.

Not a battle for recognition.

A battle for perspective.

Because whatever perspective wins eventually determines the life we experience.

And that leads me to a pattern I see everywhere.

A pattern that is getting old.

Whenever someone tries something new, the critics arrive.

Whenever someone starts a business, the critics arrive.

Whenever someone writes a book, launches a company, creates a new idea, follows a dream, changes direction, or attempts something meaningful, the critics appear almost instantly.

They show up with statistics.

They show up with reasons.

They show up with explanations.

They show up with certainty.

And almost all of them are experts in what can go wrong.

Part Two: The Career of Criticism

Have you ever noticed that some people have literally built careers around being negative?

Turn on the television.

Open social media.

Read the comments section.

Listen to the so-called experts.

Many have become professional predictors of failure.

To be clear, I am not against critical thinking.

Critical thinking is healthy.

Critical thinking asks questions.

Critical thinking evaluates risks.

Critical thinking improves ideas.

But there is a difference between challenge and destruction.

There is a difference between helping someone improve and secretly hoping they fail.

And if we are being honest, some people have a deep internal drive to see others stumble.

Not because it helps them.

Not because it benefits society.

But because it somehow validates their own decisions to remain where they are.

I know that sounds harsh.

But think about it.

Why do we sometimes smile when the arrogant neighbour forgets to put out the garbage?

Why do we sometimes feel a strange satisfaction when the person who annoys us has a setback?

Why does someone else's failure occasionally make us feel better about our own situation?

Because something is broken in human nature.

We are strange creatures.

We want encouragement.

We want support.

We want recognition.

We want people to believe in us.

But sometimes we struggle to offer those same gifts to others.

We want our dreams celebrated.

Yet we quietly criticize the dreams of someone else.

We want people to cheer when we succeed.

Yet we secretly compare ourselves when others win.

We long for positive support while often withholding it ourselves.

That contradiction exists in every one of us.

Including me.

Including you.

The first step is recognizing it.

The second step is deciding to become different.

Imagine what the world would look like if more people chose encouragement over criticism.

Imagine what would happen if we became known for helping others rise instead of explaining why they cannot.

Imagine if we spent as much energy building as we do criticizing.

Imagine the businesses.

The inventions.

The relationships.

The ministries.

The ideas.

The dreams.

Imagine how many lives would be different.

Instead, many people become trapped in what I call the economics of limitation.

They operate from scarcity.

They believe success is limited.

They believe opportunities are rare.

They believe someone else's win somehow reduces their own chances.

But abundance works differently.

Someone else's success doesn't take away your opportunity.

Someone else's promotion doesn't reduce your potential.

Someone else's breakthrough doesn't limit your future.

There is more than enough opportunity available.

The problem is that most people spend their time studying failure instead of creating success.

Which brings me to one of the greatest examples of our time.

Elon Musk.

Love him or hate him.

Agree with him or disagree with him.

You cannot ignore him.

Before almost every major venture he launched, experts explained why it would fail.

They said electric vehicles wouldn't work.

They said private rockets wouldn't work.

They said reusable rockets wouldn't work.

They said the valuations were insane.

They said investors were crazy.

They said the timelines were impossible.

Yet he continued.

Not because he was certain of success.

But because he was willing to challenge assumptions.

That is where greatness often begins.

Not with certainty.

With courage.

The courage to believe something different is possible.

Part Three: Rewrite The Code

Now I want to challenge your thinking.

Because I have had to challenge my own.

For years, I viewed the future through the lens of the past.

Most people do.

It feels logical.

It feels safe.

It feels intelligent.

After all, history teaches us lessons.

And it does.

But history can also become a prison.

Because sometimes we assume tomorrow must look like yesterday.

We assume the future must operate under the same rules.

We assume what was impossible before must remain impossible forever.

Consider this.

A hundred years ago, if you wanted to create wealth, you needed infrastructure.

You needed factories.

You needed ships.

You needed equipment.

You needed land.

You needed enormous amounts of capital.

Imagine you were building a cruise ship.

The process could take years.

Millions of dollars.

Thousands of workers.

Countless hours.

Then the ship finally enters the water.

Then come operating costs.

Fuel.

Maintenance.

Insurance.

Staff.

Marketing.

Eventually, customers arrive.

Years later, maybe profits begin to appear.

That was the economic model.

Now compare that to today.

Someone sits down with a laptop.

An idea appears.

A few lines of code are written.

A solution is created.

A product launches.

Within hours, days, or months, enormous value is generated.

The rules changed.

The equation changed.

The speed changed.

The opportunity changed.

Yet many people still think using yesterday's model.

They look at the future using outdated assumptions.

Then they wonder why they feel stuck.

The greatest asset in today's economy isn't land.

It isn't equipment.

It isn't machinery.

It is thought.

It is creativity.

It is innovation.

It is perspective.

It is vision.

It is your ability to solve problems.

And all of those begin with one thing.

Your internal code.

Every person reading this has a code running beneath the surface.

Some people are running code written by fear.

Some are running code written by rejection.

Some are running code written by failure.

Some are running code written by childhood experiences.

Some are running code written by someone else's opinions.

The question is simple.

Who wrote your code?

And if it is no longer serving you, why are you still running it?

The beautiful thing about being human is that we can rewrite it.

We can choose new beliefs.

We can choose new habits.

We can choose new expectations.

We can choose new possibilities.

We can choose growth.

The world is constantly trying to write code for you.

The media.

The critics.

The experts.

The fearful.

The angry.

The disappointed.

The bitter.

If you do not intentionally write your own code, someone else will gladly do it for you.

And I promise you this.

Their code will benefit them more than it benefits you.

So, start today.

Replace "What could go wrong?" with "What could go right?"

Replace "I can't" with "How can I?"

Replace "That's impossible" with "What if it were possible?"

Replace limitation with curiosity.

Replace fear with action.

Replace doubt with movement.

Your manual is already inside you.

The blueprint is already there.

The design already exists.

You do not need to become someone else.

You simply need to uncover who you already are.

As Elon Musk looks toward Mars, many people still laugh.

Many still say it cannot happen.

Many still explain why it will fail.

History is filled with people who laughed at impossible ideas.

Until they became reality.

My challenge for you is simple.

Stop looking at your future through the limitations of your past.

Stop allowing old experiences to write new outcomes.

Stop letting disappointment define possibility.

Look at the thing you believe is impossible.

The dream.

The business.

The ministry.

The relationship.

The calling.

The purpose.

Then ask yourself one question.

What if the only thing standing between me and that future is the code I am running today?

Because if code can be rewritten, so can a life.

And if a life can be rewritten, then perhaps the future waiting for you is far greater than anything you have imagined.

The impossible has a funny habit of becoming possible.

Someone simply must believe it first.