In his book, "The Power of One More", Ed Mylett compares our mindset to a thermostat. How does this play out in real life? Body weight is an easy example. Our body has a relatively stable thermostat set for our average body weight. Just like our homes, it fluctuates a bit but more or less stays where it's set unless something out of the ordinary is done to shift the thermostat of our weight.

Our mind works in very similar ways when it comes to goal setting and achieving those goals in any area of our life. More accurately, our identity is the force that governs life's thermostat. Just like the thermostat in your home, it matters not what the external environmental conditions are. When you enter a room and you are uncomfortable, you simply change the thermostat setting to regulate the environment.

Your life works the same way. If you're a "73 degree" person, regardless of what's happening in your life, you will either warm up or cool down your life to rest at 73 degrees. Think about times when the results in your life began to exceed your identity (thermostat) and what you thought you were worth. You unconsciously turned on the AC in your life to cool it back to 73 degrees where you feel is what you deserve. 

Here's the problem with most of us. We have the perception that the external events in life are what determine our identity. So wrong! It's not getting married, getting a promotion, a new boat or the cool vacation. It's not things or achievements. If your identity (thermostat) hasn't been set at a point at or above these life events, you will instinctively kick on the AC in your life to cool things back to your set point. This either leaves you disappointed with lack of fulfillment by the next thing or achievement or feeling like you keep falling short of where you want to be.

Until you learn to reset your identity to a new level of expectation, you will continue to fall short of the goals you've set in your life. This is why the barriers to you creating the life you want are 100% inside of you and have little to nothing to do with the external environment around you right now or from your past. 

Simply put, it is a law as strong as gravity. You cannot and will not achieve a 100 degree level of success, wealth, spiritual/mental/physical health or relationships with a thermostat set at 73 degrees. When you put the work in to reset your identity, you'll view life's external events as speed bumps that ultimately help you reach your set point.

So the obvious question remains. How do I reset my thermostat to create a new identity and new reality in my life?

Mylett explains 3 critical components: Faith, Intensions and Associations.

Faith is understanding God didn't create you to live at a 73 degree life. He created you to maximize your life and live a full, faith-based life. The problem many people have is that their faith isn't present in all parts of their life and does not affect many of their actions. Unfortunately, it only shows up in the easy areas of life.

Intensions: Many people beat themselves up for where they are in life or where they've fallen short in life instead of giving themselves credit for taking actions to move to a new and better identity. Again, they let the outside circumstances of life become their excuse to not taking their life to where they want it to be. Applying intention to all areas of life will result in your life following your new thermostat set point. Remember, what you see in your life is simply the reflection of what you're telling yourself most often.

Associations are critical in creating a full and successful life. Further more, the people we choose to surround ourselves with affect our thermostat setting in very real ways. Their knowledge, ideas, mindsets and ways of life naturally become part of who we are, for better or worse. You've probably heard we become the average of the 5 people with whom we spend the most time. As you think of these 5 people, do you see their average raising your thermostat or turning the AC on to lower it? If you're serious about raising your thermostat, you'll need to commit to changing some of the people you surround yourself with. This is never easy and in some cases this group includes family or close friends. If you can't replace this person, then you need to commit to rejecting 50 degree behavior and mindset thereby raising other people's thermostat. Either way, it's your choice. These choices and actions are part of committing to raising your personal thermostat.

The point to the analogy of the thermostat is this: You are and always will be in control of your future even when your past and present feel otherwise. You were made to live a full life with intention surrounded by people that raise you to new levels with the effect being you raising others to new levels in their life. Life is deceivingly short. It's time we choose a new temperature setting!