There's a saying that what you

water is ultimately what grows

that where you place your attention
ends up guiding your feelings your
perception your actions and your
life
right focus becomes identity
and change comes from bringing
awareness
to what we're focusing on
I remember when this light bulb
went off for me
like so many epiphanies you know
what
happened during a difficult kind of
a trying time it wasn't where I
wanted to
be and I remember you know
sitting down and asking myself
you know dude are you on your
own team
here are you helping yourself
using the metaphor the question
 was am I
watering the weeds in my life or
the flowers
and by the weeds I mean am I
allocating
energy to thoughts that are
detrimental to what I want
am I keeping myself in places I
don't
want to be and in relationships that
are
counterproductive am I thinking
about
what can go wrong instead of all
that can go right
or am I watering the flowers the
positive highlighting the possibility
the things I'm appreciative for the
seeds the potential that can grow a
mile high
see I've always known the value in
choosing to see the possibility
but the million dollar question is
 how do you remain aware
because that's the thing about
weeds
they're sneaky they'll take control
of
your life without letting you know
they're doing it
so I'm thinking this through and it
dawns on me this is not complex
this is simple
it's one identifying where you want
to
be and two analyzing your actions
based on those priorities right that's
it and so for every pillar of my life
health relationships career finances
I made two dots
one for where I am
and one for where I want to be
everything in the middle is life the
ups
the downs the joys the sorrow
everything in between is the path
 the line
and it's simple you start on point a
knowing that you can always get to
point b
that what you want exists it's there
it's available
and your attention all of your
energy
should be allocated to the thoughts
that
reinforce that truth that's your path
that's what you believe that's what's
important and it's going to happen
anything beyond or outside that
line
anything that tells you you're not
good
enough anything that accepts not
achieving that priority suggests it
won't work out that is where the
weeds
live that is wasted space why
exhaust
 that energy
[Music]
right to think you know I'm not
good
enough to get this promotion how
does
that help you get to your point b
it doesn't eliminate that thought
right
point b always exists
just that notion pushes a lot of
things
to the side you have to be good
enough
you just need improvement maybe
it's
enhanced skills maybe it's more
effort
maybe it's changed approach but
tackling
these things will water the flowers
it
moves you along the path and
 progress is happiness
I for me uh health is a big thing I
run
all the time but I'd like to be more
fit
I'd like to eat healthier there's room
for improvement and I know it's
possible because that is my point b
I know that saying I don't have
time or
I don't have the right body type or
genes or trying to convince myself
that
fast food just this once will be okay
no
all of that stuff is watering weeds it
exists outside my path
my time should be spent realizing
how
incredible the human body is
taking care
of it pushing it being proud of it
taking accountability for it
 that's me I only get one of these
things
even if it's just a little at a time
that's the beauty simply existing on
a path and revolving around your
ideals
your vision your priorities brings
about joy
[Music]
negativity it truly is a learned thing
it's manufactured
all there are in life are
circumstances
circumstances that are neither
positive
nor negative just pieces and you
decide
what to do with them
do you focus on the negative you
can
but that won't put you in a position
to
change your circumstances or
 bring about happiness
when you decide to see the
opportunity
you free yourself from the shackles
of
fate because destiny never put you
in
the situation you did but guess
what you
can take yourself out of it
[Music]
a field of sunflowers grew one root
one
stem one petal at a time the same
fuel
that was at one point nothing more
than
dirt and weeds it was always
possible
and so is your ideal life
[Music]
you just need to water the things
that
 matter
[Music]
I saw an interview by one of my
favorite
authors today steven pressfield
where he highlighted what I
believe to
be a critical and often overlooked
point
he says a lot of people think life is
short but life is actually long
he goes on to explain that he didn't
even get his first book published
until
well into his adult life making the
point
that people at 24 34 54 64 they
think they've won or lost
and they've got a lot of game left to
play
and this message it does a few
things I
think first and most obviously it
 creates a kind of calm
like okay I can take some of the
pressure off myself life isn't a
sprint
it's a marathon I'm not doing so
bad
sometimes we lose that perspective
we forget that the best things in life
evolve over time
often not an avalanche but the
chipping
away of a stone until the statue
reveals itself
as frustrating as it may be clarity is
often an evolution
and the second thing is
it plays a role in defining what
success means
if games are won in the second half
as they frequently are
then we learn not to define
ourselves by
the outcome of the first quarter
 [Music]
but more importantly to put
ourselves in
position to win in the fourth
the score at half time is not
defining it's
a treasure trove of lessons and
information and data that can be
tapped
into to get the result
that we ultimately want
and I often think of
running in south Florida where you
know
I I joke that I don't sit at the beach
but if you run during the day
you know you kind of get the best
of
both worlds a little bit of sunshine
you get your workout in uh but the
obvious disadvantage
especially in the summer is that the
heat is taxing on the body it's more
 challenging to run uh under that
sun and
what I find is
that when I push my pace right out
of the gate
right from the start push my
physical
boundaries the second half of the
run is a nightmare
always I'm dragging
you know speed isn't even a factor
I'm
pleading with myself to simply not
stop
because I haven't positioned myself
well but on the other hand
when I'm disciplined
and when from the start i ease into
something comfortable and
progressively
increase my speed
my body somehow responds
exponentially
 better I get the most out of myself
that way
that's why I've said in the past I'm
proudest of my results when the
last few
miles are the fastest miles
it means I have the discipline in the
foresight to make that happen
and ultimately the big picture is
affected in a positive way
[Music]
and I know the same can be said
for
other aspects of life
I know the same can be said for the
moments of temptation
when my ego pleads with me to do
what someone else is doing
or things aren't evolving as quickly
as
I want so my pride says just walk
away from it all
why because the current moment
 doesn't
look how I wanted it to
so the mind says panic it says
change
things it says you're losing or not
good enough
it says you better pick up the pace
right now because you're losing
this current moment
but no the question isn't
is right now the goal
the question is
is right now moving me forward
consistently
so that when the time comes to
sprint so
that when I'm ready to go faster
than
I've ever gone be more than I've
ever been
I've positioned myself to do just
that
when things were challenging i
 kept
moving forward when the world
around me
seemed to be moving at a faster
pace
I ran my own race I stayed
consistent I
remembered what mattered to me
that's the question
and by the way this doesn't mean
ignoring today's results
means asking yourself whether
today's
results are meaningful in the big
picture
right using steven pressfield's
example
if you don't get published or your
work
is rejected again and again and
again
you have not lost
it's the beginning it's the first
 quarter
but what info can you gain from
this
what tweaks can you make to your
work so
that it's in some way more
captivating
how can you sell it a little better
what
can you do to connect with people
who
will believe in you and help push
you forward
remember you only lose
when you decide to stop
why because as long as you're
willing to
adjust and keep going there are no
stopping points
people don't realize limitations are
self-imposed losing or quitting just
means you stood up
and said I'm going to stop learning
 and
evolving with regard to this pursuit
I no longer want to adapt and move
on
no outside circumstances can
impose that a punk
it's truly an internal decision
I remember Jim Rohn saying
success is
easy doing the thing that's best for
you
in the long run is easy
doing the right things every day is
easy and people would say well
that doesn't make sense why isn't
everyone successful
well because
doing the wrong thing is easy too
it's easy to think right now is the
end-all be-all
to forget the big picture that life is
a journey that you are equipped
with
 everything you need
and when you don't see success to
your
left or right when your ideal world
hasn't been created to panic
to seek drastic change instead of
remembering one step in front of
the
other gets you to your finish line
instead of remembering the second
half
is where you make your move is
where you make your push
not every swing is a home run
not every swing needs to be a
home run
it's about on base percentage it's
about
setting yourself up for success
step by step
day by day allowing yourself to
evolve
because if you hang in there long
 enough
if you say yes and trust yourself
long
enough you will get your super
bowl you
will get your midday run when the
sun is
at its fullest you're exhausted
you're
tired and you don't want to keep
going
but because you invested in the big
picture because you played the
long game
you'll be one of the few who
understands
who has created the weapon the
answer
the key that will open the door
very few people get to open and
walk through
the best things in life take time
and time requires patience patience
 can be painful it can cause
suffering chaos
but from that chaos comes order
from
that suffering comes meaning
everything
we needed and wanted is on the
other side of that
evolution see that your short-term
losses are not crippling you
they are creating you
[Music]
there's a story about some frogs
and uh
you know these frogs as they're
sort of
making their way through the
woods
the ground breaks underneath them
and
two of them fall into this little pit
way way way down they tumble
and
 eventually they hit
the bottom they're looking up and
they're realizing how far they've
fallen
right moving around panicking
essentially coming to grips with the
situation that they're now in
they start frantically jumping
trying to to climb the walls
and as they're jumping
the frogs on top are looking down
and
they're basically yelling look we're
sorry this happened to you but this
is a
lost cause there's no way out for
you
guys there's no need to jump
around this is a futile situation
right but they continue to jump and
they're jumped not willing to come
to
terms with that possibility not yet
 and again
the frogs up top they yell down
you know there's no way
it's over you're going to die down
there
guys you need to ultimately face
that
and one of the two frogs in the pit
does
concede to the situation he hears
the
voices and you know he stops
jumping and
makes his way further down the pit
and he dies
but the second one the second one
keeps
jumping and jumping and adjusting
his approach
trying different things
ultimately he does get out he
climbs
over the ledge and when he gets to
 the
top he's confronted by the others
and they they come up to him they
ask
him hey didn't you hear us yelling
down
that the situation was impossible
didn't
you hear us say there was no way
out
and as it turns out he didn't hear
because this frog was deaf right so
he couldn't hear a single word
and this ultimately saved his life
[Music]
not because it helped him do the
miraculous or the impossible
but because it blocked out the
outside voices
attempting to tell him what
possible
look there will always be doubters
skeptics and cynics as aristotle said
 there is one way to avoid criticism
do nothing say nothing and be
nothing
but the beauty is that these voices
have
one thing in common and that's
their irrelevance
because there's one voice that
matters
in the writing of your story and that
voice belongs to
you
never forget how much control you
have
never forget who holds the pen
things are real when you make
them real
things stop when you stop things
change
when you change them so here's
the
following not orders or
expectations
 but that spark that guides you to
what
feels right so what means the most
here's to an everlasting self-belief
will lift you out
of any hole
carry you over any mountain
and most importantly turn blank
pages
into a story that is truly yours
when the water rises
it sink or swim
we pick up certain truths as we
make our
way through life
realizations little awakenings
patterns
that allow us to map the things
around
us so that we can navigate
this crazy place
and here's one such realization
for my own journey
 when you pursue your best
you live your best life
your best is a north star to guide
you a
bar line or benchmark that's always
moving a reminder that you can
always do more and be more
a reminder that life tomorrow
can always be different than life
today
to pursue your best in my opinion
is
synonymous with capturing all that
is good in this world
capitalizing on potential
is to utilize those resources in need
of an architect
that pen in need of a poet brush in
need
of a painter's story in need of a
writer
or populist in need of a leader
it's a pursuit that not only
 supplements
our existence here on earth
now I believe it is in and of itself
why we are here on earth
but like every ideal pragmatism
seems to get in the way
meaning
well life is more difficult in
execution
than it looks on paper
we can't be our quote unquote best
every
day we sometimes fall short of that
mark
our outcomes don't always align
with our expectations
the perpetual journey to one's best
is
neither straight nor without
discomfort
it's more like the navigating of a
new
world without a map or compass a
 world
that we're by default ill-equipped
to take on when we begin
and I believe that 99
of success
is reliant upon the willingness to
move
into that great unknown
and allowing adversity to shape us
but that remaining one percent is a
little bit different
that one percent
is when we see what we've never
seen do what we've never done
it's uncovering our best
in those moments we feel our
worst
climbing the highest when we're at
our
lowest when the water rises it's
finding a way to swim
see the majority of life calls for
tiny adjustments
 it's observing and learning and
moving on
but rarely do we talk about the
darkest
moments when we feel as though
we are up
to our neck in the trials and
tribulations of life
when the world doesn't relay
messages of
hope or prosperity no the only
incoming
message is despair
you're essentially David looking up
at goliath
perhaps a goliath of your making
perhaps not but a goliath
nonetheless so why here
why are these dark moments
different
than the 99 percent
why is a stage provided
at the very time when the limelight
 feels further out of reach than it
ever has
because this this moment is when
you
prove to yourself who you are
you think you've dug deep in the
past
you think you've given your all
back then
no you have no idea what you're
capable of
the world provides a stage in our
darkest moments
so that you can pull back the
curtains
and illuminate your strength
it floods your world with adversity
so that you can trust yourself to
navigate the waters
and if you can find a way here
when the walls are closing clock is
ticking and water is rising what
can't you do
have you ever asked yourself that
question
those moments show us what we
can be and
that is why the one percent is
everything
why is it that rock bottom becomes
a bridge to so many new
tomorrows
or the losses we dread most
become the
change we need most
the answer is simple
because in those moments we find
within ourselves the keys to
transformation
see you didn't know
that you can leap that far
and you didn't know
because you've never been pushed
so close to the edge
running it so fast a speed
but in those moments you learn
 that you
can take flight
you learn you have the power
to stand again
so while the vast majority of life is
saying yes when most would say
no
it's how we choose to act while
immersed in our lowest lows
that provides the framework and
the opportunity
I believe that the tears indicative of
despair streaming down your face
look a
lot like the tears that emerge during
our happiest moments they are the
same
one just precedes the other see
despair
gives you a chance to look at life
differently look at yourself
differently
to look in the mirror and
 understand
that the reflection looking back is
capable of leading a revolution in
your soul
and I get how hard that is
how detached from reality it might
seem
but isn't that what tomorrow is
a detachment from the reality the
parameters and the rules of today
[Music]
it's not until that seed is buried
beneath the earth that it plants
roots
that it takes aim at the sky and
when
you are stuck beneath the chaos of
life
you have to know that this is where
you too transform
so forget yesterday's shoreline this
is where you build tomorrow's
destination
 don't fixate on what is gone when
you
can dream of all that is to come
and
don't dwell on who you were when
you can celebrate all you will be
when the water
rises swim
[Music]
Hope that bridge
that connects the present to a more
ideal world
the idea that no obstacle is too big
to overcome
no situation to dire
to emerge victorious and
that you are never confined to how
things are
[Music]
fdr has said we have always held to
hope
the belief the conviction that there
is
 a better life
a better world beyond the horizon
[Music]
why does this matter well to put it
simply
before one can leave the situation
they are in
they have to believe there is
another path worth taking
it's not always seeing
but trusting
[Music]
it's a tale of two components
one
the belief that something better is
out there and two
the belief that you are strong
enough to
bridge that gap to create that world
so let's start with number one
there was a study done
by Kurt Richter
in the 1950s and he used rats
 and it was kind of a gruesome
experiment
but definitely worth talking about
because the takeaway is incredible
right and I kind of cherry-picked
the relevant parts
of the experiment basically he
wanted to
delve into the role
that hope plays in our lives
and what he would do is he would
drop
rats into a jar of water and observe
see how long
they'd swim before they drown and
for
the most part these rats would
swim for a minute or two
and then ultimately give up right
there
was this innate feeling of
hopelessness
but then he made a change and and
 when
they were close to drowning he'd
reach
in he'd pick them up he'd hold
them for
a little while
and then he'd place them back in
the
water and the results between the
two
groups were night and day
the the rats saw in the second
group that it wasn't over
and when they were placed back in
the
water they had a reason to continue
swimming and they did some of
them did
for hours
the only difference being that they
had
hope they saw there was more
and I don't think that's too different
 from us
the situation may be different but
the rules generally
apply right so much of conceding
or giving up in life
accepting an existence that falls
short of our ideals
it's when we don't believe in
something
more we stop swimming
we don't give ourselves a chance
right so instead of creating bridges
to
walk on we make walls that lock us
in hope
is knowing all pain all discomfort
is temporary
and the second component
is belief in yourself belief in
yourself
to traverse that space
between current and the ideal itself
empowerment
 you can be the difference maker
in your life and others
and it's funny the other day after
reading about the Richter
experiment
I was sitting in a friend's house
with
my laptop kind of trying to figure
out
what to make of it right because
the
idea of hope I knew was powerful
and I
wanted to share that story I wanted
to
write something that would
highlight its
value but it seemed kind of
unfinished
[Music]
or simply part of an explanation
I'm
sitting there thinking about it
 and I hear this loud bang over and
over
again and I get up and I run to the
back
of the house right to make sure
everything's fine see what's going
on
and my friend standing there with
goggles on this this grin on his face
and a sledgehammer
and a huge hole in the wall in front
of
him and I'm like dude what are you
doing
you just knocked your wall down
he goes yeah i wanted to make uh
another
closet
his family's growing he needs more
space
and he just took it upon himself to
make
that happen I just looked at him
 and walked back out
started walking the living room and
it
hit me this is a component of hope
seeing what's not there and doing
something about it
right if this swimming experiment
is
step one this has to be step two
in real time
step one believing seeing
something more
step two taking action to change it
now
buying into the fact that you have
the
power to change your own world
and it's
funny because any house or room
I've
ever ever lived in my thoughts
always
you know you look around and this
 is
this is it right this is the situation
this is what's being given to me
how do
I make the most of it
how do I play within these
parameters
not okay this is fine but it could be
better you know by smashing down
the
wall in the back over there creating
something new and
you know obviously the message
here
isn't about home maintenance right
this
is about taking a sledgehammer
to the places in your life
in which you are not content
so that you can build in its place
something that matters
you look around to your left your
right
 and you're unhappy that's not
the end of the story that's the
beginning of the story that's where
the wheels hit the road
[Music]
in other words it's looking at life
with the lens with the the freedom
of
knowing things don't have to be
what they are
they don't have to stay the same
until
the universe changes them no they
can be
what you make them
and what life teaches us again
and again
is that walls can be stepped over
nose can become yeses
impossibles can become
commonplace but first
there must be
hope
 [Music]
there must be an understanding that
your world
is a 10 000 foot view of all the
little
stories you tell yourself and the
narratives you
believe see every day when you
wake up
and take your first steps breathe
your
first breaths know that nothing
simply is
no it is simply chosen and can be
re-made that's what makes life
such a beautiful thing
it's flexibility it's promised to
provide what has been relentlessly
sought out
so remember it's when you can't
find
your answer when the odds look
grim when
 the rest of the world tells you no
that you most need hope
hope the power the strength to look
within yourself and remember that
one
life can change and two
you can change it
armed with this understanding
nothing is
impossible when others fail to see
the
answer the light in themselves in
the
situation you become the reminder
that
light is internally manufactured
we aren't given answers so that we
may believe them
we are given the opportunity to
believe
and thus we create that ending we
hope
to pursue
 and without this life is nothing
more
than a permanent status quo it's
holding
our hands to the sky and receiving
what
life chooses to provide
but that's not why you're here it's
not
why you woke up today not to
accept but
to create
to find hope
in the tragedy and the hardship and
to find within yourself
the strength to move forward
with whatever you decide
comes next you

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