How To Break Generational Curses And Overcome Inherited Limiting Beliefs For Massive Success in Life

Inky Johnson joined Ryan for the tenth episode of the Growth Minded Contractor podcast to talk about breaking generational curses and overcoming inherited limiting beliefs for success in life. 

As a contractor you might have to deal with this if you come from a disadvantaged neighborhood or no one in your family has ever started a business before…

Because when you grow up in the wrong type of environment it can be much harder to believe that you can go out and achieve massive success in life.

And as someone who grew up in a poor family, this is something that Inky Johnson had to deal with when trying to create a better life for himself.

Inky’s mother had to work double shifts at Wendy’s to keep food on the table and his father wasn’t emotionally around at that time, all while he was growing up surrounded by drugs and violence in his community. 

In addition to this difficult environment, no one in Inky’s family had ever graduated from high school or gone to college.

So there was an expectation that this achievement (or anything beyond it) wasn’t possible for him or his cousins.

However, despite growing up around people who were doing the wrong things in life, Inky was fortunate to have people come into his life that were doing things the right way…

Then through sports he got exposure to a different kind of life beyond what he was seeing at home.

And there was something Inky was told at a young age that really impacted him, which was:

“Always challenge and reevaluate what you think you know to be true” 

And this lesson became incredibly helpful when trying to break free from those limiting beliefs he grew up with and the negative patterns he was seeing all around him as a child…

Like how most homes in his neighborhood had fourteen people living in a two bedroom house with most people needing to work double shifts to survive and not being able to graduate high school as a result.

Because instead of Inky simply accepting that this was how life would have to be for him too…

He was able to challenge this thinking and believe that the better life he was exposed to through sports would be possible for him too.  

And when he became the first one in his family to graduate high school and then go to college, this completely changed the belief system for his family, and it empowered his younger cousins to go out and do the same thing.

Ryan also adds that even after you break through to a new level of success, those old limiting beliefs can follow you and try to drag you back to that unwanted lifestyle or future.

And this is something that Inky can definitely attest to…

Because even when he said he would go play in the NFL for the first time, his family thought that this would simply be short-lived success and he’d end back where they were in a few years time.

The New Generational Challenge
That Comes With Breakthrough Success

Ryan also experienced a less than ideal childhood growing up in a broken home where his father was dating strippers and asking him for relationship advice…

With his father eventually dying at age 48 because of an addiction to painkillers. 

So, it wasn’t until the age of 24 before Ryan had a true father figure and because of the financial impact of growing up in a broken home, Ryan would have to finish baseball practice and then go and work a job in a restaurant afterwards.

So in a similar way to Inky, this pain and adversity forced Ryan to have to work hard to create a better life.

And while the transformation they’ve both experienced in their life situation is obviously a very positive thing…

It presents a challenge for both Inky and Ryan as parents…

Because now that they have achieved success their kids won’t have to grow up with the same kind of adversity in life which could mean that they also grow up without this drive to get ahead in life.

And if you’ve started your contracting business from scratch and had to work hard for every small bit of success you’ve achieved, you might have this concern for your own children as well.

So, how can you avoid this issue?

For Inky, he believes that the solution to this is taking a balanced approach.

That you can still give your kids that great life and things you worked so hard for… 

If you are also putting them in situations that will make them pull out that level of mental fortitude needed to get ahead in life. 

As Ryan says, this means having the love needed to put them in an environment where you’re not going to rescue them. 

He believes that sports are key because they present a tough physical challenge and if you want to get your spot on the team, it’s something that has to be earned.