Own it and Divorce it.. Says Kenneth Carter III
Once while I was simply scrolling my LinkedIn page, I came across a post where a man mentioned how he transformed his life. How successful he is now regardless of his past. Motivation is easy, but to self-motivate and make changes in your own life is what we find difficult. But this man has made it. So I contacted him and had a talk with him. That is what you can read below. I am speaking about Mr. Kenneth Carter III. Read our conversation to know more about him and how he managed to redirect his life positively.
To the people out there who don’t know Kenneth Carter III, we can start with an introduction about you and your company Ameriton Freight & Logistics.
Hello! I am Kenneth Carter III, and owner of Ameriton Freight and Logistics, based in Florida, USA. I have over 20 years of experience in the trucking, freight and logistics industry. After serving the US Army, I returned to civilian life, and made some bad decisions that landed me in prison. While in prison, I decided I needed to build my potential. And to be honest, what I have is a skill that I’ve learned in my life. I decided to create my business while I was in prison.
The first time I noticed you on my LinkedIn was through your post mentioning how you transformed your life from its lowest point to the current scenario. Will you please brief me?
It is not easy at all to make changes as we say, however I knew changes had to be made. Many people left my life when I was in prison; they either moved away or did not stay connected with me. That made it easy. I tried to keep that same mindset and to distance myself from such people who don’t add value or do anything positive. I tried avoiding people who gave me negative thoughts or not adding value, consequently making bad decisions.
Through my blogging platform I try to reach out with people from different parts of the world and try to discuss their expressions and opinions on life, business, economy, etc. From your experience what would you like to talk about and why?
Everyone has to realize that they have potential inside of them. You really have to go for it, no matter how negative the thoughts, or not having self-belief of the skill set to do so. Everyone has the power one needs to grasp onto and take action, allowing the new action to become a habit. When you start dreaming about achieving, you will start acting on your dreams, to then making them into a reality. You will start to notice that you have more potential than you believed. Once you believe in yourself, others will start believing in you and help you to achieve your dreams.
You have lived an ugly side of life, you have been an addict to drugs, and was aimless in your life once. What made you decide to change and how did you manage to live a normal life that eventually turned out to be successful?
All my support came from people who were positive and did not do drugs or alcohol. Even if you want to stop, the people around you are not supporting it, and it becomes difficult. People usually say “I wanted to stop but I didn’t”. So, you should remove every toxic person from your life. You have to really want to stop. Take a look into your future in advance and you continue to do that, live in your future, because when you see where you are going, that makes it a lot easier to get your mindset shifted. And your mind is stronger than any other substances.
How did you end up in a business of logistics and freight and why not any other business?
The reason is because it touches so many parts of the world. So, it gives me the opportunity to help a lot of people. I can be there for people and can communicate with my business. I can touch every part of the world.
Majority of your posts have motivation. With your story you are motivating many. Why do you do that?
I talk about my own experiences. When people see I have been this way and achieved. They believe that, if you can do it, then I can do it too. I am just a regular guy, everyone is a regular person who overcomes some obstacles in life. My job is to say, “listen I have been down this road so even you can do it”. When hope resonates with you, you can get back. Somebody can touch you somehow some way. A post or quote is something where I share my own personal talks so that different people can relate more.
What will be your word of advice to the people who feel they are lost?
I would say “Own it and divorce it”. Whatever you have been through, let it go and divorce it. Because when you say that over and over, you haven’t grown up from that event and you still stay in the past. You should own it, take responsibility, even if it is not directly connected with you and divorce it.”