Your Past Does NOT Define You! Break Free In This Episode Now!

What if your past had zero control over your future—unless you let it? Too often, we let old mistakes, guilt, and doubt hold us back from becoming who we truly want to be. But here’s the truth: people change every day, and you have the power to rewrite your story.

In this episode of The MrMind Podcast, I dive deep into why your past does NOT define you, how to break free from limiting beliefs, and the exact steps to step into the best version of yourself. I’ll also share:
- A personal business mistake that cost me big
- The powerful comeback story of Robert Downey Jr.
- The 4 key steps to moving forward and designing your future

Plus, I’ve got a challenge for you—one small action you can take today that your past self would have thought was impossible. Let’s get to it!

Tune in, take action, and let’s grow together. Don’t forget to DM me @themrmindd on Instagram and let me know how this episode hit home for you! 

IG: @themrmindd

Transcript

Ryan Johnson (00:00):

So what if I told you that your past has zero power over your future unless you let it that you are not your worst moment, your biggest failure or the dumbest thing that you've ever did? Because let's be real, if mistakes were permanent, none of us would be here and I'd still be sitting in a cell instead of speaking into this mic. Today we are talking about something deep, why your past does not define you, why people can change, and how to step into the version of yourself that you actually want to be. Let's go.
(00:49)
Thank you so much for tuning into the Mr. Mind podcast. Your twice week dose of living well, even if you are stuck in the past and feel that you'll never get better, that you will never change, we all screw up. The real mistake is letting those moments define us. I mean, think about it. You ever wake up in the middle of the night thinking about something embarrassing you did 10 years ago? I have. I can definitely admit that I have, and that's because our brains are wired told on the mistakes like some kind of greatest hits album. But let's be clear, messing up is not a life sentence. It's just proof that we are human. I make mistakes in the business all the time. Does it mean that it doesn't grow? No, absolutely not. One of the most recent mistakes I did in business was I purchased a vehicle specifically for private tours, betting, counting on this contract that I was supposed to have with a very prominent hotel here on Oahu. And guess what?
(02:00)
It turned out to be a fluff contract. I should have waited, but there really was no way that I could have realized that it was a fluff contract. Well, I mean, I could have outsourced it before I purchased the Anyways. You get it right? People make freaking mistakes. I mean, if you really think about it, even the most successful people have a past. Steve Jobs got fired from his own company, right? Robert Downey Jr. Went from Hollywood exile to Iron Man. He got DUIs, even Oprah. She got fired from a first TV job, right? The difference is they didn't let their past dictate their future. So if you're out here holding on to guilt, holding onto shame, or that one thing you wish you could take back, breathe. You're not alone. You're just in the middle of your journey, not the end of it. Here's something to think about.
(02:57)
The only people who don't change are the ones who refuse to. You ever hear someone say, people don't change? Well, I'm here to tell you that that is a straight up lie. People change every day. They grow, they evolve, they make new choices. And if you need proof, look at yourself. Are you the same person that you were five years ago? I didn't think so. The problem is we let other people's opinions lock us into what we used to be and the who we used to be. We let shame, we let doubt tell us that because we messed up before. We can't win now, and that is bullshit. I really like to talk about the Robert Downey Jr story because it's not just a story of someone that started from the bottom and then went to the top. It's someone that started from the bottom, went to the top, fell back to the bottom, and then redeemed himself.
(03:59)
And that is just so powerful because a lot of us, we start from the bottom and then start coming up, but then we get knocked down and not too often we hear people, we hear stories about people that go from the bottom, go to the top, get knocked back down, and then drag themselves back up. And it's just amazing because think about it, Robert Duney Jr. He was pretty much Hollywood's most promising un actors, young actors, right? But he struggled, man. He has struggled with addiction, repeated reins with the law. I mean, it was bad. I think it was late nineties. Yeah, late nineties and early two thousands. I mean, his drug use was at an all time high. I mean, it led to multiple arrests, time in jail, waking up in stranger's home, completely unaware of how he got there. Just imagine that, right?
(04:50)
And as you can imagine, people just wrote this dude off just as another Hollywood tragedy, just nothing, just believing that he would never turn his life around. But Downey made a choice. He sought help. He got clean, and slowly he rebuilt his career one step at a time. We all know that his big break, a second, I should say big break. It came when Marvel took a chance on him, casted him as the main role. You might know. You might heard of Iron Man and that role redefined his legacy. Really think about it though. If you don't believe you can change, you never will. That's the power of mindset. I know people that say, no, I can't do this and I won't do this. You did that, so I won't forgive. I know people that say he did that. She did that. I will never forgive. And guess what? They won't. They're minting their own fate. And it's amazing that we can't see that the people who grow the most aren't special. They just decided to stop being a prisoner to the past. They decided to start designing their own future. Let me ask you, who do you really want to be? So how do we move forward?
(06:13)
I'll tell you what action is. What separates people who change from people who stay stuck. It's very simple action. But let's break this down to something practical. If you're tired of feeling like your past is holding you back, here is how you start moving forward. I'm going to give you some steps, really actionable steps do step number one. What you're going to do is you're going to accept the past, but don't live there because we can't change what happened. I'll tell you what we can change. We can change what we do next. We can decide on what we want to do next. Instead of carrying guilt around a backpack full of bricks and bullshit, ask yourself, what's the lesson here? I'm going to go back to my example when I purchased a vehicle, okay, well hell, Ryan, what's the lesson here? Well rent the damn vehicle first.
(07:05)
Don't just go get a contractor, then buy vehicles. Maybe just sublease from different people. I know some other tour operators and I could have asked, Hey, can I borrow your van, I mean your vehicle for this project and make sure it does hold true? And then if it does, I'll purchase something. That is a huge lesson, right? It's over 12, $13,000, I guess 14, around $14,000 a year lesson I'll be going over. Yeah, I mean it happens, right? We just have to change the perspective. It's not like, oh gosh, I failed. It's like, well, damn. Well, that's a lesson that I learned. Step number two, rewrite your identity. If you keep calling yourself a failure or someone who always messes up, well, guess what? You'll keep proving yourself, right? You're going to find ways to prove yourself, right? You'll find it. Your brain will find us, say, oh yeah, that's right.
(08:06)
That's what we are. We are a failure. We are going to fuck up. So let's figure out a way to prove me. Right? So change the story you tell yourself instead of, I always screw up, say I'm learning, I'm growing. I'm someone who overcomes things. I can figure it out. And you'll feel something in your body start to shift. You'll feel okay, now I can. You're not going to have that sinking feeling when you mess up and you're just like, you know what? That's it. I messed up. And that's it. It's a real deep, dark sinking feeling when you have that. But if you say, Hey, it's just a mess up. It's not the ending of my story. It's the middle. It's chapter two out of 30 or however many chapters you want, you're going to feel that light feeling. And guess what? That light feeling that you get, it's, and where do we go if we don't have hope?
(09:00)
Try this for a week. Pay attention to how you talk about yourself. Just pay attention. Write a log down on your notes and see what changes. Number three, take small actions that align with your future because you don't have to flip your life upside down overnight. Just take small steps. You want to be a better person? Start today. Hold a door open. Send that text, right? Apply for that job. If you want to change your job, the little things stack up, and that's very important. And here's your fourth step. Surround yourself with the right people, because guess what guys? Misery loves company. However, so does success. Get around people who remind you of where you're going, not just where you've been. Where do you want to go around that person? So here's the deal. The past only wins if you stop fighting for your future, but you, you're still in the ring, you're still fighting.
(10:05)
So I want to challenge you, what's one thing you can do today that your past self would've thought was impossible? Just one thing. Maybe it's forgiving yourself. Maybe it's making that call. Maybe it's just waking up tomorrow and saying, I get a fresh start. Whatever it is, do it because you owe it to yourself. And just a quick recap of those steps. I just want to make sure that you guys have these steps down, how to move forward. Step number one, accept the past, but don't live there. Number two, rewrite your identity. Number three, take small actions that align with your future. And number four, surround yourself with the right people. And if this episode hit home for you, I want to hear about it. DM me. You know where to find me at the Mr Mind. That's two Ds that's on Instagram. Leave a comment here, share it because someone may need to hear it. The more people we remind that they are not their past, the better this world gets. Thank you so much for listening to the Mr. Mind Podcast. Can you please do me a favor? That very last person that you sent a text message to, can you send them another text? Can you let 'em know? Hey, hope your morning is going great. I hope your afternoon is wonderful and I hope your night is amazing because guys, you never know, they just might need it.