Many of us are still living by conclusions we reached when we were 12.

Here's one of mine...

Growing up in Albany, MN, my dad owned a car dealership: Welle, Inc.

It was a Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth dealership located right on main street. You had to drive by it.

Especially in a small town, when your family name has a business, with a sign, that people see, everyone assumes one thing:

You're rich.

That's what all the kids thought. I was teased and made fun of for years for being "rich."

They had no idea.

What the kids didn't know was that money was one of the biggest sources of stress in our home.

Yeah, we had a business with our name on a sign, but we never had much. My dad filed for bankruptcy when I was in high school.

Without realizing it, I wasn't just experiencing an event.

I was forming a belief.

Someone embarrassed in gym class decides, "I'm just not athletic."

Someone gets rejected in middle school and concludes, "I'm awkward around people."

Someone is criticized after speaking up in class and learns, "It's safer if I stay quiet."

I was teased for being "the rich kid." So I told myself, "I don't care about money anyway."

The event isn't the problem.
The meaning we attach to the event is.

I carried this financial belief with me for a good chunk of my life.

Eventually, the story stopped serving me. It doesn't work when you have bills to pay and a family to provide for.

Looking back, I wasn't rejecting money. I was rejecting the feelings I associated with it.

I was protecting myself.

It took years to realize that wasn't a belief I consciously chose—it was a story I'd been carrying since junior high.

We ALL have stories.

Some were given to us.

Some were imprinted on us.

Some we created to protect ourselves.

The question isn't whether you have them.

The question is whether they're still serving you.

Keep Outperforming,