How has my life story been so far?

Since I remember, I have been a dreamer. I have always been inspired by ideas on how to change the world and make it a better place.

However, there comes a moment when every dreamer gets hit by "the real world."

Although we have many ambitions, dreams, and desires to do something of an impact, we are faced with factors that want to bring us down and limit us. They can be outside factors, or more often than not, they are inside factors - what we think about ourselves and the world around us.

I am a big believer that "our lives are created by our thoughts". And not only because science proves that but also because I have seen that in my own life.

My Limiting Beliefs

"Not feeling good enough," "not smart enough," "not talented enough" are some of the limiting beliefs we pick up growing up. Negative money beliefs are another type of beliefs that block any great effort we pursue to start. Negative money beliefs can be, for example, "there is never enough," "extraordinary skills are needed to really succeed financially," "money comes hard," etc.

There are also limiting beliefs about our environment, such as, "I am just not born in the right family or right city," "I don't have the right people around me," etc.

I have had a little bit of everything.

I would like to say the cliche phrase: "I always thought I would be somebody special," but the reality is that I have not always thought that. There have been many setbacks and times when I simply don't think I have what it takes to reach my goals and impact the world in a way I'd like to.

However, I have always kept on breaking through these beliefs!

Since we are not really aware of how we perceive the world in childhood or early teenage years, we become the product of our environment. Often several things have affected our belief in ourselves and our abilities. For example, we have been misunderstood in school, had very demanding parents, heard negative teachers' remarks, experienced childhood trauma, toxic relationships, or simply lacked a supportive environment.

I must admit that the most significant investor in building my limiting beliefs was that I was considered the shyest person in my class - a loner and a geek. I felt different and misunderstood.

I did not enjoy big parties or hanging out with my classmates after school. Instead, I spent time quietly keeping myself busy with reading, music, and playing with my cat.

Yet, I always longed for adventures, stepping over my own perceived limitations and impacting others positively!

Selling Books Door-To-Door

It took a lot of courage to apply for one of the most challenging summer work programs for students during my first year at the University.

The shyest and most introverted person in Highschool was set to sell educational books during the summer, going door-to-door in the USA. I experienced rejection, failure and a lot of unexpected challenges!

And it was tough and broke me a lot. However, that was precisely what I needed.

Eventually, I worked with the bookselling company for more than ten years. During these years, I worked on my self-confidence, self-awareness, and self-esteem. I broke a lot of negative beliefs. I gained practical skills: direct sales, coaching, and leadership. It has been one of the most valuable experiences in my life. And without this experience my life would have been completely different.

However, these years were not free from limiting beliefs. My limiting beliefs about me did not change overnight or even in the length of one summer selling books door-to-door.

In fact, it was only when I was 24 or 25 when I started to be aware of the negative self-talk, limiting beliefs, and distorted world-view I had. It as when I also realized that I have low self-esteem.

The negative beliefs also mixed with indecisiveness about what I should do with my life and what I should work.

Starting And Quitting 9-5

The traditional paradigm which takes time to change is: go to University, work in your field well-paid job with social guarantees, do 9-5 job until you are retired. And then, hopefully, you get a decent break and some money for traveling.

After graduating with a Master's degree in Theology, what else would I do? Go and search for a job.

And where would I work?

To get a decent paying job, I applied to work in a bank. I mean, a job in a bank has always been very well-revered.

Contrary to my expectations, as I started to work in the bank, I realized that was the moment when I really understood what I don't want to do! There was nothing wrong with working in the bank, but I understood that I can't work office jobs 9-5 in the corporate environment.

There was no creativity involved, almost no growth possible, and I truly felt like I was trading my time for the sake of making a living. My heart was screaming - "I was made for more."

So, after just six months, I quitted the bank job and continued selling books door-to-door in the USA during the summers and coaching other students about sales, attitude, positive mindset, and importance of consistent schedule during the rest of the year.

I continued to work a job that most people around me did not understand because it involved so much uncertainty, traveling, and an unordinary way to make a living. I was work hard three months in the summer selling books door-to-door on a straight commission. And I was recruiting and coaching new team leaders for several months during the rest of the year with a possible compensation if they sell well.

However, those were terrific years - I traveled a lot. I was selling books in different states and provinces all across the USA and Canada. For two years, I was a sales leader for a sales organization producing more than 200,000 USD revenue during a single summer. That allowed me to participate in personal growth seminars in different places: Cyprus, Spain, Turkey, and travel to Dubai, Egypt, and Tenerife.

I loved the challenge of uncertainty and the need to work on my intrapersonal and interpersonal skills to make better sales and coaching results.

Is It Okey To Not Know What You Want To Do Being 30 Years Old?

That's how, through traveling and throwing myself out of my comfort zone every summer, I slowly had approached my 30s. My goal had been to stay in the bookselling program until I figure out what exactly I want to do in my life. However, I still had not figured it out.

30 years old and not knowing what to do. Many people would consider that a catastrophe. But who actually came up with standards that we must figure out that one exact job/career we will do for the rest of our lives when we reach a certain age?

Since during my 20s, I was not sure about what I wanted to do, I did what is the best thing to do in that situation: I invested in my own personal growth. I read, learned, participated in different seminars, training, exchange programs.

I believe the knowledge and experiences I gained helped me advance to where I was supposed to be eventually.

It is ok to not know yet what you want to do after you graduate from University. It is ok not even to see what you want to do when you are 30 or 40. Or 50 etc.

Life's about growth and serving the world with what you are good at. Everything else will come along the way.

Coach And Writer

During the pandemic, my life changed tremendously. I realized that even being in the most personal-growth-oriented environment, you can get stuck. We should investigate our lives more often to identify where we have started to not live true to our authentic selves.

Sometimes, mostly when we haven't figured out our life vision, we can start living according to other people's expectations. And sometimes, we are just afraid to let go of the familiar because we don't know yet what the future holds.

That is what had happened to me before the pandemic - I had gotten so used to certainty. I had stopped figuring out my life purpose, vision, and how I can use my unique gifts and talents to make true my dreams.

Cancellation of big, important plans and the new "sitting-with-laptop all-day regime" made me explore the vast number of opportunities for building an online business. And there was the one I always wanted but did not know how it would work - being a life coach.

The pandemic time has been a rough experience, yet full of stretching my beliefs and limits. Using this time wisely has been one of my main goals. Here is one of my favourite quotes, which I love to read aloud every morning:

This is my day! I can’t wait for tomorrow, tomorrow is not promised, but I have a chance today. To reclaim my dream, ignite my passion, and live out my purpose. Cause that’s a choice, it’s a choice that I get to make every single day.

In the morning, when my alarm clock goes off, I have a chance to wake up and say — this is my day; I am going after it!

Or I can have the mindset of just getting by. But I was not built to just get by. Cause I serve a big God. And He loves me and has a purpose for my life. Every day to thrive!

There’s a purpose for my life; there’s a purpose for my being here! What is it?

How can I make the most out of it? And how can I help the most people and change as many lives in the process as possible?

Reclaim your dream!

Ignite Your Passion!

Live out your purpose!

Go, and do it now!

This is my day!

-Tim Tebow

Besides being a life coach, I also write articles on Medium, study Psychology, and work part-time. You can read my articles on Medium about goals and vision, self-esteem, confidence, favorite books, life lessons, business mindset, and habits. And you can visit my blog "Fearless Growth with Laine" for some more inspirational and practical advice!

In Conclusion

It took time for me to discover my real talents and tear down the layers of what everyone else (society, relatives, friends) expect me to be and do.

Now, more than ever, I am confident that each of us possesses the power to build a life on our terms. We can lead a life where we serve with our gifts, talents, and what we are passionate about. We are not meant to be slaves for money, spending 40 h of our week in a job we don't enjoy.

But, most of the time, we need to fight for our self-chosen life. We need to fight for freedom to do what we enjoy, and we need to fight for freedom from old ways of thinking that hold us back.

And that is what I enjoy helping others the most with - to break free from old, limiting beliefs that hold them back from realizing and living out their full potential. Whether it is low self-esteem, lack of self-belief, negative and toxic thinking, scarcity blueprint inherited from parents and the environment they grew up in, or fear of the unknown.

My mission is to help empower young people to see themselves as worthy and develop a healthy self-image to live a life of abundance in every sphere: finances, business, career, relationships, etc. I believe that each one of us has a unique purpose in life that only we can fulfill. The question is, do we believe it?

Let’s have a chat about what your purpose might be! Book a free consultation call.