My son Ethan, who is 13 years old, wanted to watch The Matrix with me before I left to teach NLP Practitioner in San Jose this weekend.
[For those of you that did not watch the movie, shame on you… And, I forgive you. Morpheus (a character in the movie) is a teacher to another character named Neo (a.k.a. Ted Logan or Keanu Reeves as many know him). In the beginning of the movie, Morpheus and Neo were having a few fun discussions. So…]
We were watching and having fun, and then we hit the point in the movie when Morpheus said something very interesting to Neo. He said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “Some people are so inert and so hopelessly dependent on the matrix that they are not ready to be unplugged.” I saw Ethan looking at me, and I knew a question was coming.
Ethan turned and looked at me and said something to the effect of, “What does he mean by that?” Of course my daughter Skylar was in the room too and asked, “Yeah Daddy, what does that mean?”
Here is an overview of my response:
First, it’s interesting that Morpheus would point something out that is absolutely so prevalent in our society today. However, because he was talking about “the matrix,” many people may have overlooked this simple statement.
I would like to relate this to the concept of cause-and-effect that I wrote about earlier. A simple definition of cause-and-effect is that either you are responsible for the results you create in life, or you accept your own excuses. (By the way, successful people do not accept excuses. In fact, successful people in every area of their lives focus on getting results and absolutely give up any excuse.)
The more successful, the less excuses they tend to have.
Some people immediately equate this to career and finance. However, this applies in all areas of life, including health and fitness, family, relationships and more. For example, the person who is healthy doesn’t make an excuse, rather he or she makes it into the gym and eats right. The successful parent makes time for his or her child, and makes sure that he or she is doing their best in every situation. Being successful in a relationship means being there for your partner. It means allowing your partner to be who they want to be in the relationship. And, at the same time it means focusing on the relationship as an entity that needs attention too.
I think you get my point.
The issue that we have in society that Morpheus was pointing out is that we are allowing ourselves to become more accepting of excuses.
Blame vs Responsibility
I see more and more articles and news reports stating that things are not our fault. “It’s genetics… it’s the environment… it’s the government!” In other words, “It’s everyone else but you! You’re not to blame!”
But cause-and-effect is not about blame. It’s about responsibility for getting results. Who cares whose fault it is? I just want to be happy in my life. So what makes you happy? Getting your results! That is what makes you happy.
Have you ever seen someone much older who held back in life and never took the path of following his/her heart? I have, and they don’t seem happy…
“Some people are so inert and so hopelessly dependent on the matrix…”
“Inert” means that they are not taking any action. They are not doing anything. I take that to mean that Morpheus was implying that we sit on our collective butts too much and make excuses for not taking action toward our results. I can continue to write blog after blog after blog… but at some point you and I have to get up and go do something to get the results that we want.
“… that they are not ready to be unplugged.”
“Plugged into the system” means that you are plugging into the system that perpetuates accepting excuses. Are there people that need help? Of course there are. I have met so many people along my journey that refuse to accept their excuses and they in turn empowered themselves to get the results that so many others crave. I have also met people that were down on their luck (so to speak) and because of that they needed assistance from someone or something.
I remember when I got out of school I asked my mom for help because I needed some assistance in establishing my foundation. That is fine!
However, at some point I had to move out and be on my own and accept my experiences. I had to learn from the experience. And then gain even more empowerment through the good times and bad times.
So when you sit around and do nothing, don’t expect results. When you take actions that help you to continuously perpetuate your excuses, don’t complain about not getting results.
Instead, ask yourself:
- Are you willing to unplug yourself from this system?
- Are you willing to get off your butt and take action?
- Are you willing to get your results and give up any and all excuses?
You see the choice is yours, and it always has been. Huna, NLP and Psychology has taught me that people have choices in their life. I can use any context or any area of your life. However let’s look at finance for this example.
- Do people make money in a down economy?
- Do people lose money in a down economy?
- Do people lose money in an up economy?
- Do people make money and it up economy?
I know, I know, the answer is yes to all of them.
Pulling the Cord
So have you ever asked yourself what is the difference between those people?
Well it should be obvious by now, the difference is exactly what we’re talking about here. Finding and going for your results regardless of what’s going on internally and externally.
So unplug yourself. Become dedicated to your results. And give up your excuses. Erase the word “excuse” from your vocabulary today!
Mahalo,
Matt
