Imagine you decide to run a road race. On the morning of the event, you arrive, register, and work your way to the starting line to find out that 7,000,000,000 people had the same thought and are massed at the start line. This would not be a fun event. In fact, it would likely be full of difficulty, challenging, and probably dangerous. Welcome to life.

Every day you roll out of bed to begin a new day. Some of us hit the ground running, excited to conquer what lay ahead. Others move forward more cautiously, but still happy to be in the game. Still more of us begin the day with dread, waiting for the first of a series of issues to appear. And others begin the day with no hope, no spirit, and no opportunity.

Today we are going to look at why this happens and what you can do to change things. Immediately.

You are a product of your environment. This is true. But it need not be your story line. Change your environment.

This article will track one of our affiliates. A small business owner. In business for over 10 years.  Some good years, some bad years, but profitable along the way. The true story of a small business owner in America. So, this owner made the tragic mistake of putting business expenses on personal credit cards. A big no-no, which was like a bomb on his credit score. Long story short, no bank will touch him. In a market with ZIRP all around him, no banker will loan him money. Yet, no money down homes are again the rage as another credit bubble inflates. Banker after banker deny him credit to expand his business. Even his own bank says no way.

This is where we focus the point of the story. Most of us would throw our hands up and say ‘it is what it is’ and settle for our lot in life. Our environment made us settle. The system made us settle. Others made us settle. NO! We make ourselves settle. We give up. We tire. We resign ourselves that perhaps we aren’t good enough, or deserving enough, and just give up. This isn’t a self-entitlement article (I hate those) where you should believe you deserve it all, because you don’t. What I am pointing out is that the big brick wall that is blocking you from achieving your dreams has a top. It has ends. It is defined. You are not.

If you can’t get through the wall, then change the environment.

Back to our affiliate. 10 bankers, 10 ‘no’ replies. The day after he gets another no from his own bank of 10 years, he goes out of state and meets yet another banker. Something is different this time. This banker is focused on small business relationships. Straight away, this banker talks business line of credit, in an amount that is less than he needs, but way more than he expected. The banker opens a new account for funding and makes plans for closing the loan in one week. Just like that, the environment has changed, because he made the decision to change it. Just like that his life has improved. His business is back on the fast track. It turns out the bank is the most profitable bank in America right now and they got that way by empowering small business owners. By saying yes when everyone else said no.

Do not give up. Tomorrow brings a new day and another chance to change your environment. No does not mean never. It means not now. By willing to hear ‘no’ 100 times until you find the one ‘yes’ you need.

Back to the race. So the starting gun goes off. 7 Billion people jockey for position, looking to not be crushed by the competition. You bump along in the pack. Along the way, competitors start dropping out of the race. Soon the pack thins out a bit. You keep running through the pain. The pack thins more. You are determined to run the race on your terms. You start to focus on your own environment. More runners drop away. Each step, step by step, brings you closer to your goal. The question is, do you have what it takes to finish the race? Keep running.