You know how some people always find great parking? We can almost say they are blessed with “good parking karma”. Either you are one of those people, or you hate them.
For as long as I can remember, I have considered myself to have bad parking karma. I just cannot seem to find a good parking spot when I need one. This was confirmed yet again when I recently began driving my daughter Emma to ballet class on one of the busiest streets in town. The first few times I tried to find parking right there on that street, and of course I failed, so I ended up resorting to the back streets. After a while I simply gave in to my bad parking karma, skipping the main street and driving straight to the back streets where I knew there was a better chance of finding parking.
This was frustrating. The odds of finding good parking should be identical for all of us, just like playing slot machines. But some of the other parents always seemed to find parking on that busy street, even right in front of the building! They would breeze in fresh and smug with time to spare. We would show up late, and frazzled.
Whether you believe in parking karma or not, something is at work here. And if you haven’t already guessed, it goes way beyond parking.
Why do some people succeed where others fail?
Are some people more deserving of success than others?
Are we born to be successful? Or can success be learned?
The Law of Attraction At Work?
My training as a transformational coach taught me that you get what you expect in life. This is also called the “law of attraction”. Like attracts like. In the movie The Secret, the law of attraction is explained in detail and broken down into a three-part formula: ask, believe, receive.
Ask – You have to be very specific about what you want.
Believe – You have to believe with every fiber of your being that it’s possible to get it, and that you will get it.
Receive – You will be given what you asked for and believed in
I know what you’re thinking. Ask, ok. Believe, ok. But receive? Receive from who, a higher power? The parking angel? Is the universe in all its infinite complexity really going to send me good parking? Come on.
The Big Day
It was ballet day again, time to reclaim my parking place in this world. I made a game of it and told my daughter, “Today we’re going to find a luscious parking spot right in front of your class!”. This time I drove straight to the main street, ignoring the back streets. Our eyes scanned the area for parking spots. I drove slowly, on the lookout for any car backing out of a possible spot. I analyzed the movement of cars and people, looking for any hint of a parking place freeing up. I even opened the windows so I could hear the clink of keys in case someone was approaching their car. And…
Success! We found a spot right in front of the building!!! (of course we walked into the class looking totally smug).
Wait. Had I developed good parking karma? Or was this just a one off?
The following week I repeated the same thing… and found great parking again! And again. And Again. And again.
Top 4 Takeaways
Okay, so finding parking is not the achievement of the century (actually in my city it is). But this experiment helped me better understand some core principles for achieving one’s goals:
TAKE ACTION
I was so convinced I had bad parking karma that I didn’t even attempt to look for parking on the main street. Of course I wasn’t going to find parking on that street if I didn’t even drive on it! It’s so obvious, right? But isn’t that what we do in life with our most important goals? You want a better job, but you don’t apply for it. You want to get your seat upgraded to business class, but you don’t ask. You want to ask a particular person out, but you don’t.
The number one key trait of successful people is that they take action.
ACT FROM A PLACE OF 100% EXPECTANCY
Action by itself is good but often not enough. Remember how I tried to find parking in the beginning and failed? The problem is that I expected to fail. I drove too fast. I skipped possible spots thinking they were probably too small. I kept thinking “What’s the point?” But once I acted with certainty that I would find parking, my attitude shifted, my strategy changed, and I was successful.
Take action from a place of 100% expectancy that you will succeed.
ASK → BELIEVE → ACT → RECEIVE!
Ask – You have to be very specific about what you want.
Believe – You have to believe with every fiber of your being that it is possible to get it, and that you will get it.
Act! – You have to take action with 100% expectancy that you will succeed.
Receive – You will be given what you asked for, believed in, and acted upon
YOU ARE LIMITED BY YOUR BELIEFS
My belief that I had poor parking karma was based on years of experience. I basically convinced myself out of looking for parking like a winner.
We all have beliefs about what is possible and what isn’t. What we can achieve and what we can’t. What we deserve and what we don’t. Some of these beliefs we are aware of and can easily articulate. But most limiting beliefs are hidden in our subconscious , the result of past experience that we often don’t even remember. We are not even aware of them.
Limiting beliefs are self-made. Challenge them by taking action!