I can’t stop thinking about something my powerhouse friend Dave McLurg said…

(Dave has a brilliant business mind and is exceptional when it comes to strategizing so as to best leverage a business, offer, or a service.)

He said that people move in and out of three states-of-mind: survival, functional, and transformational.

He also said that while a person can move up the ladder, he or she can’t skip steps. So you can move from survival to functional, but you cannot move from survival to transformational.

If your state of mind is focused on surviving, you are thinking about basic needs, like putting food on the table. If you are in functional mode, you are thinking about getting the laundry done

so you have something clean to wear to work.

These two phases aren’t

very exciting, are they? In fact, “survivor-land” is downright depressing…

But the third area is… well, it’s transformational.

If you are in the third phase, you are considering where you want to go and how you can transform your life into something bigger and better.

This is where I want to spend most of my life.

Of course, we all live in “survivor-land” here and there, but if you are always focused on “just surviving,” you won’t be capable of focusing on transforming your life.

So if you want to limit the amount of time you spend in “survivor-land” and spend more time thinking about how to transform your life, you must find a way to quickly move up the ladder.

In other words, you must develop a method for getting out of “survivor-land” and into functional mode.

When I find myself focusing on the scarcity and “just trying to get by,” I ask myself a question…

What do I have to do next?

This way, I start taking action on things that need to get done. By taking action, I allow myself to stop being paralyzed by the fear of “getting by.”  For me, jumping into “action-mode” puts me in a state of mind that allows me to then shift gears and focus on my future.

For instance, if I’m going through the actions of getting my kids dressed (a functional activity), I can try to turn this function into a transformational moment. I can ask my kids: “What are you going to do today to make the day a great day?”

And then I can tell my kids what I’m going to do to make sure my own day is great.

How about you? How do you shift your focus from scarcity and surviving into transformation and thriving? Share your ideas below.

- Philip Tirone

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