"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

The door slammed behind me, sealing my torment. The guards escorted me through the dimly lit halls to a small space, not even wide enough to lie down. There was a cold hard floor, a metal chair, a can, and a small metal desk. I slumped down onto the dirty chair, pondering how I got here. Only a month ago I was on the outside, free. Now I was chained up, locked up, forced to follow a regimented schedule of duties that no man should have to do. The other inmates' sized me up with their hardened stares. How the hell did I let this happen again? After getting out only 5 months ago, I thought I would never be back. What is it that brings a man to a place like this? Belief that he can't do better? Maybe, at one time I actually believed this was my fate. But not anymore. I knew I could do better. This was no accident. I chose to come here this time. It was all part of "the deal". A deal I never should have made. After starting my own business and going through the initial phase where expenses exceed income, my wife panicked. The fear of losing money, of ending up like her parents, took control of her. But that didn't shake me. I was solid, secure. I was committed; I was whipped. Finally I broke down and said, "What will make you happy?" The answer that followed was not a surprise at all, yet it still felt like a huge iron door had just shut me off from my dreams, from life. "Go get a job." Was her request. The condemnation of that sentence seemed to take all hope from my success as an entrepreneur. And so was born "the deal". I would go back to prison, willingly be locked up again, but when I made $50,000 in my business I could go free. What a deal! And so as the hunt for the perfect prison ensued I frantically began doing everything in my power to make $50,000 with my business. I made nothing. For a month my income depleted until I was unable to afford any business expenses and was still looking for a prison to get into. But was I one to give up and submit my destiny to someone else's idea of security? Absolutely not! Then it happened. Slowly at first, I began to understand how to make money, how to build my business, and with little or no expense at all. About the same time the prison guards found me. In the interrogation room I tried to make it perfectly clear that I was not the man they wanted. The more I downplayed myself the more they wanted me in their prison. They practically paid me to come be an inmate for them. And so because of the deal, I am here. There's a funny thing about being in prison. The other inmates talk about freedom, they talk about getting out. But none of them have any plans on escaping. They have no direction, no goals, just dreams. I have this saying about that, it goes like this: When you find someone who's really good at making excuses, you find someone who's rarely good at doing anything else. I don't talk about getting out to many of the others. I have devised a plan, however. It's already working, the route is has been set, and I'm almost free. Despite having to work 8 hours a day, do the daily chores at home, and be a good father and husband, I am making 3 times the money that this prison pays me. I'm getting out, but what about the others. What about the talkers. Do they really want a better lifestyle enough to take a chance? Why do they submit to the torture? I realize now that this torture is self-inflicted. There is no one that can force anyone to live as a slave to their job. It's a choice. If only more people knew that. If only more people understood how to make the choice! The only reason they stay in prison is because they actually believe there's no other way. It has become a society in itself. A whole culture is behind these walls. It is a culture that thinks entrepreneur=risk=failure. They think you have to work for someone else to get benefits and be successful. And a retirement fund, ooooh, now that's something worth working for! Wake up people. It's almost like these people are being programmed somewhere to think this way. If I could find out where this programming and conditioning is going on, I would beat the hell out of those losers who are teaching our children this crap. Oh, wait, is it our parents, our family, those closest to us? Well I guess I won't beat the hell out of them, so for now I work to inspire the prisoners. My purpose is to create hope, to show them that they can remove this negative programming make their desires a reality. When I get out of this joint I'm going to teach my kids that it doesn't pay to have a job. I'm going to teach them about personal responsibility. About making positive, powerful choices and being in control of their destiny. I never want my kids to feel the chains on their ankles and wrists. No matter what you've been told, or programmed to think, the fact is you can have whatever you desire. If you learn how to think differently, to focus on your desires, to achieve your goals, then they are as good as yours. It starts with the mind, understanding how to attract that desire. Then you need to have a plan of action. That plan falls into place very easily when your mindset is right. So what is your excuse? What negative beliefs are holding you back? Don't you want a better lifestyle? Are you so pathetic that you're just going to accept things the way they are now? Things are not the way they are just because. They're that way because you made them that way. Whether you want to admit it or not, you chose the life you are now living. Go ahead, argue. But you know it's true. You, are the only captain of your destiny. You, are the only one who can call the shots. Unless of course you surrender that right up, but even then that's your call. So stop creating such a crappy life for yourself! Take action NOW to change your thinking, which will create positive actions, which will change your life. I'm getting out, are you coming with me? J.W. LifeEmpowered.com