#51: Most “Facts” Aren’t Even Yours

Most “Facts” Are Someone Else’s Recycled Beliefs
Create Your Own

As I often say, 20 years of formal education and family programming wires the subconscious. When we’re young, the conscious mind doesn’t filter much. We absorb what we’re told without question. That’s how belief systems are built. School, parents, and culture shape a version of life we never chose but came to accept as “normal.”

It usually takes a crisis, a rude awakening, or an unexpected moment of clarity to realize something is off. Eventually, people just like me and you start to see it for what it really is: someone else’s definition of life or success.

The good news is you have both the ability and the responsibility to reprogram. But that only happens once you become aware of the default settings you’ve been living under. Most people aren’t. They’re just repeating what they were taught and calling it truth.

That’s why I write these newsletters. Not to preach, but to build awareness. To show you that you’re not stuck. You’re just out of practice when it comes to redefining your own facts.

Try This

1. Question one “fact” you’ve accepted
For example: “I have to work 40 years before I can retire.” Is that universally true, or just something repeated until it felt real?

2. Replace it with an empowering belief
Try: “I can design financial freedom on my terms, starting now.” Write it. Speak it. Feel it. Begin to act from it, even if it doesn’t feel real yet.

3. Back it with new inputs and actions
Beliefs don’t shift through hope. They shift through exposure and repetition. Read new books. Spend time with people who live that belief. Take one aligned step a day, even if it’s small.

4. Repeat until it becomes your default
The old belief had years of reinforcement. Give the new one a chance to take root. Repetition rewires the mind.

5. Curate your environment
The people, media, and content around you shape your reality. Choose what reflects where you want to go, not what keeps you where you are. Turn off the news. It is built to keep you in fear, not freedom.

Personal Evidence

My life today doesn’t align with any of the “facts” I was raised on.

Held four careers, same time, for over 20 years. I became financially free before 40. Built a real estate portfolio that funds lifestyle, not one that owns me. I travel internationally every month, often for free, because I’ve mastered travel hacking. My kids are right alongside me for those who say that's not possible. And the Mediterranean Sea is my place of peace (note: Peace should be the baseline, not a 2-week a year reward).

None of this happens if I stayed loyal to old beliefs. It became real once I challenged them, replaced them, and practiced the new ones long enough for them to take hold.

Stop Saying It’s Too Late

From my perspective, two things work hardest against you:

1. How you speak to yourself and others

2. Who and what you surround yourself with

The language you use, both internally and externally, shapes identity, behavior, and ultimately, your future. Becoming aware of how you speak to yourself and others is one of the most powerful steps in designing a different life. In simple terms: change your language, change your life.

Listen to Podcast Episode 120: Rewire Your Words, Redesign Your Life with NLP Practitioner Edgard Aziz. The science is clear. Your words are likely the very thing holding you back.

And the most common blocker I see? Sharing too much too soon.

Coworkers, neighbors, even family and friends have been killing dreams since the beginning of time. As you start to reprogram and share new ideas or goals, they reflect back to you every reason it won’t work. They project their fears onto you.

They don’t understand the deeper truth: 

There is no time limit on life.
You can be one thing, then become another.
You can follow the standard path or build your own.
As you grow, your desires change. And that’s okay.

It’s okay to climb one mountain, come back down, choose another.

My Own "Too Late" Path Looked Like This

Police Officer at 33

Financial freedom through real estate at 38

Retired from corporate consulting at 41

Founded a private equity firm at 42

Acted in an HBO series at 44

Became a Mediterranean property developer at 45

Moved to another country at 47

Launched the Try Life On podcast at 48

Turned 50 on Sunday. Writing this from Switzerland.
 

According to how I was raised and what I was taught, none of this makes any sense. Along the way I rarely talked about what I was doing until it was done. Outside of my inner circle, most people don’t find out until the mountain has already been climbed.

Final Thought

You’re not stuck. You’re just over-practiced in a way of thinking that no longer serves you. You didn’t choose the belief system you were given. But now you get to choose what stays. Start with one belief. Replace it. Back it up. Repeat it until it becomes your new reality. Then keep practicing.

Life is not a destination. It’s something you get better at by repetition. It worked for me. It can work for you too.

Try Life On.