I want to be an astronaut: Break the schemes, follow your dreams and reach your goals

By Mauro Barbarito

What you know is that you have a dream in the drawer, an unexpressed desire, the will to change your life. What you do not know yet, is that you already have all the tools you need to reach your goal, you just have to learn how to use them!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mauro Barbarito
• Release date: Jan 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9788829587438

Book preview

BIOGRAPHY

1 – INTRODUCTION

This is probably the most complex part. But also the most important. In the first few lines of this book, I have to convince you that it is worthwhile to continue reading, I must show you that you can benefit from the concepts I intend to convey to you. I must instill in you the conviction that, by continuing reading, you will find reflections, indications, methods and, why not, inspiration. Tools that will allow you to incrementally change the routines into which your life has crystallized.

Yes, because, as you will see, the cornerstone of any turning point you want to imprint onto your path, is based on the identification and systematic demolition of those repetitive patterns that trap us and do not allow us to release our real potential. It is essential to be able to understand a basic concept: the greatest influence on the results of our actions originates exclusively from our choices. Our decision to act or to remain passive, to be proactive or to wallow in self-pity, determine the future path, as they have determined the one walked up to this point.

There are no magic formulas, empirical methods, mathematical schemes or miraculous potions. All the tools necessary to change are already in our possession, relegated to a corner of our being, forgotten.

So, the purpose that I set for myself with this short work, is to guide you to their rediscovery, helping you to regain control and use them to achieve your goals.

A beautiful perspective, don’t you think? However, returning to the initial part of the introduction, it is essential that I obtain your trust or at least stimulate your curiosity. The initial skepticism towards the new, is a very normal reaction. Especially since, in reading my biography, you will not find references to titles, courses or other activities related to personal coaching. This is because, despite having participated, for work and for pleasure, in some sessions of this discipline, I am passionate about reading books about NLP, and I even tried (successfully) to put those teachings into practice, but I have never gone beyond that point. The reason for this is that I have chosen a path that does not contemplate a deepening of those subjects.

So, what's the point of this book? And above all, why should you trust me? Why should you listen to the words of a Mr. Nobody? Quite legitimate questions, to which I will immediately give an answer.

The meaning of this book. As I anticipated you, except for a little smattering of general concepts, I do not have a specific preparation for personal coaching and its related subjects.

However, at a certain point in my life I found myself, like everyone else, in a situation that was so tight to me that it weighed heavily on my mood, on my relationships with others, on my work. And the more I looked for the way to get out of it, the more I sank, because I kept shifting the focus from myself to others, attributing to people and circumstances the fault of my non-realization. I gave the others a power that, after all, they never had.

The work was bad because there was a crisis, I did not grow because others did not appreciate me and, if they did not appreciate me, it was because my integrity prevented me from compromising. And this frustrated me, and my frustration was affecting my relationships with colleagues and, once at home, it continued to poison the relationship with my family. And it was all other people’s fault.

At a certain point, when I was at risk of exploding with rancor and frustration, I decided to put my thoughts on paper. I wanted to write a diary, an intimate and personal vent, nothing else. But soon the feeling of well-being that writing gave me, helped transform that diary into a story, then into a novel. Without realizing it, I found a book in my hands.

And now? I asked myself. Like a game, without any expectations, I read it to a couple of colleagues. And they appreciated it! Timidly, something was awakening inside me. I remembered that many years before, at school, I was really good at writing. And at drawing. At which point in my life had I lost that awareness?

I decided to further test myself, I gathered the contacts of a dozen publishers and sent them my work. I had never written an introduction letter, I didn’t know how to relate to a publisher, but I freed myself of my fears and waited for the feedback. Eight publishers responded positively, two did not answer at all.

I was incredulous. Something had been set in motion, and it was me, with my own strength, to start that process. A process that, from that day, has not stopped, leading me to publish another book, then another, then to translate and accept the challenge of a vastly wider multicultural audience.

With the passing of the months, the rancor had given way to satisfaction, the nervousness was gone and I had almost regained that harmony in the family that I missed so much. Of course, I had created my writer alter ego, I was having satisfactions, but the problem of work remained.

The responsibilities of a family, of a wife and a son, made me walk on eggshells when I speculated to change company. A misstep, and two other people would pay for my mistakes.

But, after all, weren’t they paying for them already? What memory would my son have, of moments spent with a sullen and perpetually worried father? I wondered how much it was worth to continue to swallow poison, I tried to free my mind as much as possible and analyze my situation. Was the company I was in solid? Could the relationships be recovered? What growth prospects did I have? In short, everything became clear to me. And as soon as I found the right opportunity, I made the choice, without regrets and without fear. I knew how much I was worth, I knew what challenges I would have to face, and it did not make me nervous, on the contrary, it excited me. I changed my company, and my life improved again. My and that of those around me.

But I have been far too verbose. However, I had to give you a reference, an example, a proof that would convince you to continue reading. And what better proof of what I felt on my own skin?

So, why should you read this book, why should you trust me?

At this point, I