Win The Habit Achieve The Goal 184

If you were like me, something in your life has you against the ropes. Maybe you started the year off committed to change. Most Americans have already given up on those goals, those hopes, those dreams, those aspirations that they made on January 1st. So in effort to be part of the 6% of our population still chasing our goals. Today, I am going to share a simple message that, when put into action, will have a major result. Let me tell you something Everybody struggles. The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it. The choice is completely yours. Which one you choose will have a very profound effect on the way you live your life. If you find strength in the struggle, then this podcast is for you. You have a relationship that is comfortable with uncomfortable conversations. Uncomfortable conversations challenge you, humble you and they build you. When you sprinkle a little time and distance on it, it all makes sense, but most disagreements they stem from our own insecurities. You are right where you need to be Back on time. We can fight for this. Come, take the whole day gone running behind Too fast. Can I stand on this? Ooh, ooh, ooh. What a do, what a do. Welcome back, baby boo. Hey, am I excited to be back with you and I wish to you a beautiful, blessed, sweet little day, all that you could possibly imagine. That's what I'm hoping for for you today. I'm coming to you from Snow Globe Studios, apparently, because today I'm actually recording in the kitchen and I'm standing up here at the old stand up microphone stand. That's the dumbest way of describing a microphone stand, isn't it? The old stand up microphone stand. I'm an idiot. I have all my blinds open a little bit so that I can see the world and all that it is meant to be, because today it be snowing y'all. I am recording from the Snow Globe Studio. I feel like I'm trapped in a snow globe. This is me, oh hey, trapped in a snow globe. That joke, anyways, definitely feels like Snow Globe Studios. Don't mind if you can hear the dog snoring. My French bulldog has legitimate couch to herself, blankets, pillows made of fortresses over there, snoring her ebola, and mind out, the English bulldog has commandeered the small side of the kennel and you might hear him blow the door off of that sucker at some point. But all that aside, all those pleasantries aside, I'm excited to be here with you. Thank you to each and every one of you, all of you. If you are a day one, get your ones up. If you've been here since episode one, since the story begun, put your ones up, whether you're driving, you're rocking at the gym, you're Kevin on the treadmill, you're Jen driving to work, whoever it might be, get your ones up. Okay, if you're new today, then I like to say welcome today to episode 1804. That's 184 consecutive weeks of the Loud, proud American podcast, properly, beautifully, precisely named. Share the struggle, where we share all of our struggles because we know there is strength and they are lessons to be learned in everybody's struggle. So, speaking of struggles, y'all, I opened the show, the opening credit, the bead roll, whatever you want to call it, the little teaser saying that life has me against the ropes. That's true, y'all. Things just keep coming hard and fast and it seems like so many of these episodes we come on here, we always have that underlying silver lining, that hope to be, that promise for me that there's a bigger and brighter and beautiful out there in the world and that things are going to happen, that things are going to come true for me and for you. And that theme spoiler alert shall continue. It always shall continue because this too shall pass. But it's tough when we run into that rough patch in life where things just keep coming at you. Right, and we're not going to compare and contrast the levels of shit that we're measuring here old shit mountain, but the stretch that we've been on it's just been tough and I'm not going to get into all the things that have me kind of against the ropes. But you know that we've had some depressing episodes Again. I always try to sneak in and uplifting silver lining to all those episodes and we're going to do that again here today. Boys and girls, don't you worry, okay, you just hush your pretty little face. You're beautiful, just the way your mama made you. What I'm trying to say is shit's tough. I'm definitely continuing to just get punched in the face. It feels like, and I'm not here as a woe is me attitude. I just want to paint the picture, to pave the road so we can understand the story that's about to be told and the things that need to be done. So, as you all know, the difficult things that have been happening and just the random things between the tragic things and then the random stubborn, difficult things, like losing a loved one to losing a propane boiler. Right, there's varying degrees of difficulty there. Let's be obvious, let's be honest here. But they all stack up, they all weigh you down. And we've talked many times, many ways, about that snowball effect that oftentimes, whether it's good or bad, when you get that ball of momentum rolling downhill, it just all starts to get bigger. Right, that snowball rolling downhill is going to gain some speed. It's going to gain some traction, some size, some momentum. So if things seem to be going downhill in a bad way, then they tend to grow in a bad way. If they are going downhill in a positive way, we all know what that feels like, right, when you get on that wind streak. But when things are going in the difficult direction and that snowball effect is ramping up and you're dealing with these major things in your life, and then the little things start to add up, eventually you get to a point in life where every little simple thing that doesn't go your way, you just check it off, right, you're just like shit. There's another one, but that's just one little speckle, that's nothing that's going to bring my life down, it's not going to put the brakes on and get this train to stop at a screeching halt here, but those little things just weigh on your personality and on your perspective when everything else is going wrong, when you think about dealing with loss and all the little things that start to happen and change in your life. And then you sprinkle in medical things and certain things, and then you sprinkle in debt and things. Right, you sprinkle in some fundage, some income, you sprinkle in mechanical issues, you sprinkle in all these random things. Right, you have this recipe of you, this beaker. Okay, you're this empty beaker and at this point we're just filling you up with disappointment and failure, right. So when you continue to do that, but here you are, trying to be that beacon of light, that ever loving, lasting, shining hope. Right, that's you and me out there. Okay, we're bright little candles. We have bright little candles with our little flames. Okay, it might be a little windy and it's snowing, but don't let your flame go out. Okay, I feel like I was Bob Ross right there, as if Bob Ross was a motivational speaker, not a painter, but I just kind of a weird vibe I had there. But the point I'm trying to make here is you have lit the torch and you want that torch to be bright and you want all these good, positive things to just gravitate to the flame of the torch like a fricking bug to a zapper. Okay, here you are. You don't want that flame to go out, you don't want that light to go out. You know that as much as that negative ball of energy, that negative snowball rolling downhill, can get momentum, the opposite can also be said, that when you get that positive ball rolling, that positive ball can to create momentum and before you know it you have that ball rolling in a positive direction and you forget all about the nonsense that's been going on behind you. I also feel like there's a lot of analogies and quotes and sayings and proverbs and things that could be placed here to the fact that in life you are only given what you can handle and if you are facing difficult times, then you are built for difficult times and you are built and equipped for bigger victories than others. You understand what I'm saying. You're only going to be given the things that you can handle. The streaks of difficulty you get stuck in. These ruts, what you feel like. You just keep getting punched in the every loving face, that beautiful face of yours just keeps getting your nose pushed in. Sometimes that happens right. But here's the thing, here's that silver lining for me, and I know you're going to say, well, here's the positive one again. Thanks for crapping out a nice positive momentum there. The point is I always feel that on the other side of difficulties is great triumph. On the other side of difficulties is amazing victories. I always feel that if I can just get through the struggle, then my success is near. I always feel that the greater the struggle, the bigger the success. The greater the difficulty, the bigger the reward. So for me, who's been living through some of the most difficult times, darkest days and roughest patch of my life, I can only imagine how beautiful it's going to be on the other side. I can only imagine all the things that are going to come to me on the other side. So it's all about getting through these obstacles. It's all about overcoming these challenges, these struggles, getting myself out of this disappointing road that I'm in and onto that successful, productive, overachieving lane, the super highway that I want to be in. But I find straight encouragement and the fact that I know there's bigger and better and beautiful things on the other side of this struggle. I know that to be true. It has always been true. It's been true for me, it's been true for you. I'm sure if you go back and you start counting through the things in your life, you will find your greatest successes often come after your biggest, most challenging difficulties. Just a little random factoids, if I think about this so I can throw out some factual information for you. I'm just going to channel up my life and my life story and some of the difficulties and things that happened to me. I think about the most challenging relationship I was ever in someone, that the two of us obviously entered a relationship in love and that's not how we left it. It was a very dark, difficult time. It changed me, it changed her and it was an unhealthy relationship and a difficult situation to be in. Being in a relationship dealing with somebody that has bipolar disorder and you know these multiple personalities, situations and just all these random things that they're trying to deal with and you're trying to find yourself. You can imagine that recipe for disaster and if you're a day one, if you had your number one up earlier, you know that story for me. But what's amazing is the fact that that seven year relationship I think it was the last few years, some of the most challenging times in my life, going through the most difficult breakup I had ever been through. Just a few short months later, I would be promoted from sales consultant to sales manager. I would find myself with an amazing financial difference. There and above and beyond, finance is the most important thing was just a few months after leaving that relationship, I met my wife and my entire life changed. When you're going through something, when you're growing through something as difficult as it might be and as hard as it might be for you to see beautiful things that are out there for you and me they are out there for you and me you just need to do everything in your power to get yourself out of that rut, to get yourself out of that difficult situation that you are in, because on the other side of suffering is great success, and oftentimes that success is far greater than we could have ever imagined for ourselves or we ever envisioned for ourselves. There is bigger, beautiful, bolder things than you can imagine just outside of your struggles. So for me, as difficult as these struggles are for me, they're encouraging for me because I know how glorious it's going to be for me. I know how much success is just waiting there for me to go and get it. Just knowing that I will be rewarded for my efforts once I remove myself from the difficult tasks, the difficult times, once I can get through those struggles, when I can grow through them, just knowing that I will be rewarded, just knowing that the greater the struggle, the greater the reward. That's part of the battle, right? Just knowing from previous experience that great things are going to happen, that is enough fuel to carry on the fight. Now one of the next things that I try to do to carry on that fight is to find the benefit in the struggle, to find the benefit in the difficulty, and this might sound super crazy, but step one is knowing that once I get through this, I'll be rewarded for this. Number two is to find the benefit in what happened to you. This does sound completely crazy and it's one of those things where some people might look at it and think about it and say, man, that's wild. You're going to tell me there's a benefit for you in your dad dying. There's a benefit there. Well, what I want you to understand is obviously, I didn't want my dad to die. You don't go into those situations. Look at the benefit yourself, but there needs to be something there for you, something needed to happen that benefited you, and then you can focus on that positive, because we can all agree a benefit should be a positive right. We can focus on that positive to help us to get over that negative. So if I think about the biggest challenge in my entire life recently losing my dad there is a benefit there for me, and there's actually multiple benefits and let me just throw a couple of them out there so you can understand what I'm saying. One of the biggest benefits that I can think of and I know this sounds silly, but I was able to honor my dad in a way that most people will never be able to honor their father the fact that I planned and pulled off his ceremony, his celebration of life. I conducted his service. How many sons can do that for their dad? Not a lot. There's a benefit to me knowing that I was able to give him something that most sons could never give. That's a tremendous benefit for me Just knowing I did something so special for him and I was able to educate so many people on the life and times, the story and the history of my dad. That's a benefit, because stories shared or stories multiplied, right, and if I share a story with you about my dad and it has an impact on you, you might share it with somebody else, sharing that story about my dad and the greatest lesson I ever learned, and then you taking that lesson and using it in your life or sharing it with somebody in your life. That's a tremendous benefit to me, you understand. Also, there's some of those things that happen where in life we just take everything for granted, not having my dad here anymore. Realize, number one, all the things he was doing for you and, number two, you realize all the things that you should appreciate that he was doing for you. There was things that are happening or that had happened that you just took for granted, but that's not the case. It was actually a lot of time and effort on behalf of your father for those things to actually happen. Just little things. If we're talking about some of the random things in my life that I've been going on, let's just say I mentioned it as an example earlier the boiler situation in my garage where I didn't have heat and water for a week and a half. My dad would have reminded me of that situation. The situation never would have happened. So those are some of the things that you stop and think about and you're like man, all these little things that he did for me. It's crazy now to look at them and then you might be asking yourself how is that a benefit? Well, it benefited you your whole life, but now they're gone, so now you have to do them yourselves. Well, it puts a higher level of appreciation and respect on the love that I have for my dad, knowing all the things that he did for me that I'm now realizing he did for me. All those little things make me realize that if I'm ever a dad, then there's certain things that I need to do that I never knew I needed to do Because my dad's no longer here. I understand those things. That's a benefit for me to now know those things, to prepare myself for those things. You understand what I'm saying. It's not the easiest thing to find benefit. It's not the easiest thing to find benefit in the biggest tragedies in your life. It's very difficult to find a benefit and the biggest losses in your life, but they're there. They are there and you owe it to yourself to find those benefits, to hold on to those benefits. You understand what I'm saying the smallest things to the biggest, most major things in your life. Whatever happened to you, there is a hidden benefit there for you. Just think about that. Think about what is it that I'm going through, that I'm growing through? What is it that I've been through? That hurt, that was difficult? Did I find myself feeling believing and achieving things bigger and better for myself after going through those things? Was that the benefit Was going through those things and then what you achieved later on? Are they all connected? Because you know that battle tested you, that changed you, that better equipped you to succeed? It's crazy how these things happen to us in life and often times things feel senseless and meaningless. That happen to you, but the more you stop and think about it and look at it, you sprinkle time and distance on it, you might realize they happen for you because they made a difference in you, because they, they changed you. You might be listening to this and saying, hey, man, that's some really good advice and I'm gonna try to remember that the next time I find myself down on the dumps or life's got me against the ropes where I'm feeling, you know, pushed and abused. But what's that got to do with me chasing my hopes, my dreams, my goals, starting new years resolutions and just trying something new. Well, I'm gonna tell you Number one change is hard. Change is hard, motherfucker. The more meaningful the change is, the more difficult it gets. You understand what I'm saying. Change is hard and if it's a major change, then your difficulty level coincides with that change. So the greater the change, the greater the difficulty. So if you're chasing your hopes and your dreams, if your New Year's resolution is to do something major for yourself, those things are going to require great sacrifice, great risk, great effort, because anything that you set your mind to your heart, to something major for you that is truly worth achieving it, is going to take every ounce of you. Any major task and accomplishment is gonna come with it far greater amounts of loss and pain and difficulty. So the things that we use in life to cope and to handle the difficulties that get directed to us, whether it's going through a loss, whether it's losing a job, whether it's a breakup, whatever you're facing, those same principles, those fundamentals, those two fundamentals that I shared with you, they work in all of these situations. You understand, you need to first realize that, whatever that great challenge is. Whatever that adversity is that you are facing, once you accomplish it, once you get through it, you grow through it. On the other side of that adversity is triumph. On the other side of that suffering is success. First, realize that. So, when you're trying to make these changes, whether there's a new habit you're trying to create, there's a new ritual you're trying to do, you're trying to go to the gym, you're trying to eat better, whatever those resolutions might be for you, or those goals, those hopes, those dreams that you have for yourself as you're working towards that new business or that new addition, that new promotion, all those things I'm just throwing all these generalities out there and hopes that one of them lands on you, that one of them applies to you and what you're trying to do right now. I just want something that you can relate to and you can apply these concepts to. So, whatever that is that you're trying to do, I am certain there have been obstacles. Even if you're just starting that routine of going to the gym, I'm sure there's days when you don't want to go to the gym, or you've given up on a day at the gym, or you're starting that new diet and you went for the sandwich, you opted for the pasta. Whatever that is, whatever that struggle is for you, there's some things that are holding you back. There's some things that you haven't overcome. Or you're starting that business, or you're trying to take your business to the next step and you're like I am right now, where all accounts are maxed out and an opportunities don't seem to be coming your way, but you just keep pushing. All of those situations. That common ground is to realize once I get through this, this too shall pass. When I overcome the urge for the pasta, when I overcome the craving to choose the couch over the treadmill, when I go out and seek the business, when I put myself out there, when you get through all those uncomfortable moments, when you push through those difficult times, on the other side of that difficulty is the success that you're looking for. So, whatever it is that you're trying to change, whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish, when you are faced with those difficulties, you must tell yourself, on the other side of the difficulty is what I want for myself. Number two, as we've been discussing, is finding that benefit. What is the benefit for me? And if you're using these same examples we just talked about. Right, because the two biggest, easiest things to look at each year. We all talk about losing weight, we talk about going to the gym, we talk about eating better. So if those things are out there for you and you're saying, well, what's that freaking benefit for me in this struggle? Number one it builds character and it proves to you what you're capable of. So the first time that you say no to your fucking couch, the first time that you say no to that pizza on the drive home, you realize that you have the character to say no. You realize that you allowed yourself to not be comfortable, because there's a hell of a lot of comfort in buying that pizza and sitting on that couch and watching TV and my fucking snuggie trying to keep the cheese and the pizza sauce that's a pizza sauce out of my damn beard. That's comfortable. It takes character to not choose those things. It takes character to not choose comfort. I'll tell you there's another big C that comes with character and that's confidence. Because the moment that you realize you have enough character in you to say, no, I'm gonna leave this comfort at home and I'm gonna go to the gym, the moment you realize you have that character and then you go ahead and then you do it, eventually, doing so. The moment that you complete that task, you build confidence. I'm gonna tell you right now I did not want to go to the gym today and I'm not gonna be all high and mighty and tell you I go to the gym five times a week because that's not the case. I'm trying to get back into it. I'm trying to force myself to do it twice a week just to get things wrong. And again, to tell you that I didn't want to go to the gym would be an absolute understatement. To tell you that I didn't want to be up at 5.30 in the morning and go to the gym would be an absolute understatement. But when I forced myself to get there and I put myself through an actual workout, I realized I had the character to do this. I had the character to get away from comfort. And by doing those two things getting away from comfort and actually going through what I've committed myself to do the moment I walked out of that gym I was filled with confidence for knowing that I did it. There's a benefit there in making the right choice. So these struggles in chasing our resolutions, these struggles in chasing change in ourselves, our bodies, our minds, the willingness and the ability to say yes when your body wants to say no, but build character and confidence, and the more you do so, the more it changes who you are. Does that make sense to you, guys? You got to think about one thing that I like to try to put in my mind, and that is that our struggles, our suffering, is ourselves shedding our old selves. I hate snakes okay, I absolutely hate snakes, but if I want to think about this and that snake analogy, I'm molting, motherfucker. I am shedding my old self. Your suffering is you shedding your old self Like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Your suffering is shedding your old self. Man, I'm getting fired up, y'all. I'm getting fired up, and one of the reasons why I'm getting fired up is because I'm about to drop some new connollyge on you. That's knowledge with a K. That's how they pronounce it in Nebraska, connollyge. I'm gonna drop some connollyge on you because I started a new book Craig Groeschel which I've listened to a few of his books and when I say started books, primarily for new listeners out there, I'm an audible guy. It's a lot easier for me to work out, to do things, to listen to things than it is to dedicate the time to sit down and read. So just putting that out there. But there's a new book that I'm listening to, craig Groeschel, and the book is called the Power to Change Mastering the Habits that Matter Most. So it's pretty common that whatever we're talking about on the show, I begin to get curious about those conversations Little, curious little conversations. Yeah, I just have these curious little conversations with you and then it really provokes a lot of thinking on my part and it inspires me to go out and research and do things. So, basically, if we're having a conversation and we're having topics and these things come up, I find myself downloading a new book or doing some research and stuff. So, as I'm out here trying to chase my dreams and try to do things and try to do a little slump, busting right when you want to get out of that rut, you want to bust the slump that you're in, I'm looking for things and I'm trying to put positive in, to get positive out. So I stumbled on this book from Craig. Like I said, I've listened to one or two of his other books and I found some genuine knowledge that I truly feel changes the way I look at things, think about things, and I'm excited to put it into actual practice because I feel like it's going to help me achieve greater things. So I'm excited y'all. Oh boy, am I excited. Are you excited? Hot, fucking damn, I'm excited. I'm so excited that I should probably take a break. Got ya Alright, alright, alright, welcome back y'all. Sorry about the little suspense interlude right there, little intermission, but I wanted to just pull up a few things from this book to get into. I've got a lot of awesome talking points and just quotes and little particles of information. You know what I mean Just little tidbits, tidbits of awesome. Yeah, we can make an ice cream. Y'all called tidbits of awesome. I don't know, that's how my brain works. I have a lot of cool things let's just say technically speaking from this book, but I want to focus on a couple of them and just let that be the focus for the day, let that swirl around in our minds today, because there's a few things that connect to what I've always thought and done. But then I think there's a really awesome, just philosophical change we can make on how we look at our goals, how we look at our habits and if we implement this one change. I truly feel it could make a major difference in attaining, achieving and staying committed to our goals. So that's going to be our focus. But, as I just kind of ended that last segment, I said positive in, positive out, and that's one of the things that I've always thought of, that's one of the things that I've always been drawn to, that I'm going to fill myself up with positive information. I find if I'm stuck down that road of feeling negative, I often realize that I've strayed from my habits. I have these positive habits that I do no pun intended, it's a lot of positivity but I have these positive habits, these little traditions that I try to do every day, and I find that oftentimes, when I'm stuck in this streak that I'm in or I'm struggling to find positive energy, I realize that I've let some of those positive habits go. So, in this rut that I've been in and the things that I've been experiencing, I realized you stopped eating well, you came off of the diet scenario because you were reaching for comfort. You stopped the habit of going to the gym, you stopped training for a better you and, number three, you stopped your positive habit. And that positive habit is to constantly take in positive information, whether it's motivational videos, inspirational quotes, books, audibles, speeches, whatever that is. So as you start to pick those pieces up and get back to those things, you start to almost recenter yourself and to figure things out. So when I say positive in, positive out, I heard a very awesome quote in this book from Craig and he said you do what you do because of what you think of you. You do what you do because of what you think of you. Man, do I love that freaking line. I absolutely love that line because it really has a lot of play on the positive and positive out that I try to just preach to everybody. Because if I'm putting positive information in my mind, I'm having those positive conversations, I'm going to speak positively of others and I'm going to look upon the life I live in a positive way. But if I look at it from Craig's point of view and the way he spells it out, is you do what you do because of what you think of you. So even if you're putting all these positive thoughts in, if you don't think positively about yourself, you're not going to act positive. And I feel like there's some easy ways to explain this, and one of them I'm guilty of. So here's my first admission of this little course we're going to have here. I've always told myself I'm not a morning person. I love to sleep. I love to sleep too fucking much. I can't say I always get sleep, but when I do get sleep I never feel like I got enough sleep. I always want more sleep. I feel useless and lazy if I sleep too much. But I always want sleep. You understand what I'm saying. So I've classified myself in my brain, in my mind, as saying you, sir, are not a morning person, when in fact I haven't really always attempted to be a morning person. If you're a day one listener and you go back and listen to the episodes I had on 444, shock the system. I felt absolutely amazing when I got in the routine of getting up at 444 in the morning and starting my day. I loved every bit of it. Once I got on the road, that schedule wasn't practical, so it kind of went away. But the point I'm trying to make here is I always classified myself as not a morning person. So because I think of myself as not a morning person, I've never been a morning person. You understand, you do what you do because of what you think of you. So if what I think of me is I'm not a morning person, then I'm going to sleep in, I'm going to hit snooze and I'm not going to get up. If you think of yourself as somebody that doesn't go to the gym, you will always be somebody that doesn't go to the gym, one of the greatest little analogies, stories, scenarios that I could give to really put this in perspective. I don't remember I think Craig says it in this book as well, but I've heard it somewhere else, in other speeches or books or something and it's about somebody that's trying to quit smoking. So imagine you being a smoker. So I'm just going to project this on you. I'm going to profile you as a smoker. So, and I'm going to be a smoker too, we're all going to be smokers. Okay, let's, let's pick your favorite pack America. What are you? Are you a? You have parliament, parliament in the Funkadelics. Are you a pack of camels? Or you some marble reds? Let's be some marble reds. We're going to be an old pack of cowboy killers. So we're ripping cowboy killers two packs a day. Now you make the decision that you want to quit smoking. Right, you decide I'm going to quit smoking. My new year's resolution is I'm going to quit smoking. So here's the thing let's use today for you know, for just for for storytelling purposes. So we're roughly at the middle of the month in January, so we're a couple of weeks into the new year. So imagine us, a couple of cowboy killers out there deciding that we're going to quit smoking this year. We've been smoking, we've been crushing two packs a day for for 20 years and this is the year that we're not going to do it. 2024 is our year. We'll have the packs outside the door. We're two weeks in. You're on a lunch break or, let's make it even cooler You're at the bar and super sweet rock and bands playing Okay, country band, because we're cowboy killers and one of your buddies you just twist off the top on a nice cold, voluptuous, fantastically lovely golden Godwater Miller, highlife and you take a first tug off that sucker and your buddy pulls out a pack of pack of reds, a pack of cowboy killers freaking, flips the top off of it, taps the bottom, slides out a nice brand new fresh stick and glows the hand to you and says you want to smoke. And you say no, man, I'm trying to quit. Okay, option one. Analyze this scenario I'm trying to quit. You do what you do because of what you think of you. If I'm saying I'm trying to quit, then what does that apply to myself? That applies that I am a smoker. I am a smoker trying to quit. If I'm trying to quit, I may go back on that newfound habit of trying to quit. But if old said Fred over here pulls out that sweet looking cancer stick and hands it over to me and says you want to smoke, and my response to freaking, what do I call him Something, fred, I don't know my response to Fred is no thanks, I don't smoke. Ooh boy, you understand the difference there. No thanks, I'm trying to quit. No thanks, or better yet, go fuck yourself. I don't smoke, trying to quit. Or I don't smoke, positive in, positive out. You do what you do because of what you think of you. So if you tell yourself I don't smoke and you get offered a pack of butts, you say I don't smoke, you won't smoke because you think of yourself as not a smoker. You're not thinking of yourself as a smoker trying to quit. That's a fucking mindset y'all man do. I love that. Craig furthers this, backs this up a little bit by saying we try to change what we do but not what we think of ourselves. So, like we just said, you're trying to quit, but if you're saying you're trying to quit mentally, you've made the assumption, you've accepted the reality, that you are a smoker. I've been smoker for 20 years. I'm always a smoker, but here I am trying to quit. We try to change what we do, the act of smoking, but not what we think of ourselves. The moment we think of ourselves as not a smoker, we will change the fact that we smoke. Man, you're who will change your do. So who you think you are will change what you do. You're who will change your do. If you think of yourself as a morning person, you will begin to get up in the damn morning. I love that man. I love that. He also says doing today what you can do today, so you can do tomorrow what you can't do today. I've had a few goal inspired conversations with a few of you this so far this year and I don't wanna keep bringing you up, big Scott, but one of our messages you had told me hey, I did this many miles on the bike today. This is the only time I did today because tomorrow I want to do this amount of time. So that's real world experience for you guys Do what you do today so that you can do tomorrow what you can't do today. Man, I just think it's so practical and it's so true, because we don't often celebrate what it is we actually did today because we're so fixated on what we wanna do six months from now. Right, so if what I wanna do in six months, if I wanna run a fucking marathon in six months, I might get discouraged by the fact that today I only did a mile on the treadmill walking when I'm trying to run a marathon. But in actuality, if I did a mile today, I might be able to do a mile and a half tomorrow. So pretty awesome way to kinda think about things. But another philosophy that Craig put out there is trying is momentary action. When training is an ongoing action, the moment that we start to make that mental shift in our mind that we are training for something, we're preparing for something, there's a big difference in you and who you are and how you do. As we just mentioned, when you think of yourself training for something, you're training for that marathon. Training and trying are two total different things and there's a mental shift that happens for you when they go with the difference. There I'm trying to quit, or I don't smoke and I'm trying to run a marathon in six months, or I'm training to run a marathon in six months. Trying leads to quitting, so quit trying. Damn you, craig, you beautiful son of a bitch. I love this. Trying leads to quitting, so quit trying, man. I'm just gonna keep using the analogy of you and me crushing a pack of butts. If I'm trying to quit, that is eventually gonna lead to me quitting trying and I would be back to two packs a day. Maybe this time I might go to three. Who the hell knows? I love it, man, do I love it? But what I absolutely love more? The piece of Viva de resistance here, the meet and parades of today's episode, the creme de la creme of Craig Grechel's book so far, I don't know, I don't wanna be getting ahead of myself, but, all kidding aside, this is what I want you to prepare. To listen, if you've been tuning me out, you've just been doing your thing. You're on the fucking treadmill, you're dodging and weaving through traffic. You're ticking an app, farting on the couch with me and your headphones. Whatever it is you're doing, if you've tuned me out, this is me giving you the opportunity to start to focus, because I wanna hit you with something that I think is beautiful and fantastic. It's simple and practical, but when put into practice, it will achieve results. So here is it. The first part of this little key recipe and ingredient is we must identify what habit will have the greatest impact on our goal. So when we were making goals a little while ago, we talked about that Pareto principle, the 80-20 rule that 20% of your goals will yield 80% of your results, that little fun scenario. Craig's backing us up on this. He's saying what habit will have the most impact? So, whatever it is that you're trying to achieve, what habit's gonna have the greatest impact? So I think we've beaten the smoking analogy into submission already and we just started going about running. So I think this is gonna be just an easy, simple way to compare this philosophy to some real life action, and then you can use this and envision this in whatever it is that you're shooting for, that you're striving for. So a few minutes ago, we were talking about the treadmill saying, hey, if I wanna run a marathon in six months, but I've never run one, then I need to identify what habit it is that will make the most impact. So, if we're gonna go from, let's say, a couch to 5K type of scenario you're coming fresh off the Frito-loving couch and working towards running a marathon, doing whatever you need to identify the number one habit that's gonna have the most impact In this scenario. I think it's easy to say the biggest habit that you need to have is going to the gym. Can we agree on that? If you're gonna fucking run, you're gonna need to actually get off the couch and go to the gym. So the biggest impact that you will have is by creating a positive habit of going to the gym. You need to go to the gym. That's the habit Understood. Here's the goal. It's running this 5K marathon. I don't even know how many Ks are in a marathon. Okay, let's, is it five or are those separate? See, I'm not a runner. This is maybe this is a bad example. I'm not a runner, but I mean it's gonna be our example because this is the easiest one. You are going to run. Pressure's on, I gotta pick one. Damn it. You're gonna run a 5K, no marathon. You're gonna run a marathon. Ha ha, ha, ha ha, you're gonna run a marathon in. Let's give it a year. Okay, you're gonna run a marathon in a year. You need to create positive habits. The habit that's gonna have the greatest impact when you're running a marathon in a year is going to the fucking gym. You understand Going to the gym. So here's our goal. It's running a marathon in a year. Here's our habit going to the gym. And at the gym it's gonna involve some treadmill time and stuff like that. Right, but that's our running commitment. So we identify the habit with the most impact and this might sound silly, but I think it's earth shattering. Craig's advice you win when you make focusing on your habit. You win. Did you get that? You win when you make focusing on your habit. You're a win. All right, if I focus on running a marathon in a year on my way to that marathon, there's gonna be a lot of losses before I experience my first win. Now, I've always said celebrate small victories. But this is a different philosophy for me, because I say if you have enough victories, eventually you'll win the war. Celebrate small victories. So when you achieve something small, celebrate it. But even in my philosophy, the achievements can be fewer in farther between compared to celebrating the habit. So for me, I might have these milestones in there that are small victories and achievements that when I reach those, I celebrate them on my way to the major goal. So for me, it might be running that 1k, being able to handle 1k I'm gonna go ahead and celebrate that. But in Craig's philosophy, he wants you to win every day. That's a much more fulfilling feeling, considering that you know we are all dopamine addicts looking for that instant gratification. We're freaking social media addicts over here. We love likes and hearts and thumbs up. That when we spread things out in small victory format, like I've been doing, you're gonna set yourself up for a lot of letdown. What Craig is saying here is I want you to win every day. So every day you check off your habit, that's a win. You can celebrate that habit every day. You can get that dopamine every freaking day. So instead of celebrating a milestone on your way to a marathon, instead of waiting all the way to the marathon, I'm gonna celebrate the fact that today I got on the treadmill and I just ran for 10 minutes. I won. I won because I completed my habit. And if tomorrow I go there and I can run for 15 minutes, then guess what? I won tomorrow too. And the great thing about this is, you might have a couple of days where you're just not feeling it and that couch is calling you. But if you convince yourself to go to the gym and maybe you only ran for 8 minutes after you've been running for 30 minutes, you could still celebrate the win because you completed the habit, you gave yourself the actual ability to achieve the habit, you stuck with your habit, with your routine. And here's the thing I understand that our habit, if we want to win every day, can't necessarily be the gym, because I'm not gonna expect us that are couch creatures, not just constant gym goers. I'm not gonna expect us couch creatures to go to the gym 7 days a week. But there's some positive things that can align with that habit, that we can set up and demand in command of ourselves to do, that are part of that habit. So if the biggest impact is going to the gym, what can you do at home on the days you don't need to go to the gym, right? Is it a walk? Is it some push-ups? Is it some set-ups? Is it healthy? You're eating choices. What is it that properly align with that habit that has the greatest impact that you can achieve today, that can allow you to celebrate that habit today. When we can attain the habit every day, when we make our habit our win, we can win every day and when you win the habit you will achieve the goal. You will run the marathon in one year when you've been winning the habit every damn day. Do you understand that it makes so much more sense to me to find something I can celebrate today because I can lose sight of tomorrow if I don't have an opportunity to celebrate for six months. Do you understand what I'm getting at? If I can find peace today, if I can get victory today, I can build confidence today, I can build character today. If I don't have the opportunity to celebrate who I am and what I'm trying to change and what I'm trying to accomplish for six months because I haven't hit that milestone moment, I might lose sight of the moment, I might be defeated by the weight of the moment. But if I can celebrate the fact that my fat ass didn't want to go to the gym this morning but it did, that's a win. That's a win and whatever that goal is for you, if you can identify the habit that makes the goal you can win, identify the habit that makes the goal easy to accomplish, and then accomplish the habit and win that habit every damn day. And when you win the habit, you achieve the goal. I don't know if this sounds silly to you, I don't know if this sounds simple to you, but this sounds oh so sweet to me, because it's true. I love that shot of dopamine, I love that instant gratification, I love that surefire satisfaction. And if I can get gratification and satisfaction every damn day because I did something today, that's the way I want to live, baby, because if I can stack up those wins, I can get those small victories. I know I will win the war. So, whatever it is that you have in your mind, whatever it is that you have in your heart, find the habit that'll help you attain that dream, that goal, that change, find that habit and then win that habit every damn day. The challenge in this is identifying what can that habit be Like the gym exercise. That's a very easy, easy one to break down and identify right. A lot of us live in debt. I'm one of those creatures right now that's creating some debt. So if you're trying to eliminate debt, then think about certain things that you could do on a daily basis to better your debt to income. Some of those things might be simple if you want to attain them every day. I'm a guilty connoisseur of coffee. I need to have Dunkin' Donuts coffee every day. So for me, if I'm trying to tackle this, maybe I force myself to make coffee at home and not spend that money at Dunkin' Donuts every day. What does that bring back to me today? Also, that's a trickle down effect, because if I'm not driving to Dunkin' Donuts, maybe I'm also saving on gas. If you're somebody that you're trying to relieve some debt but you look forward to a dinner on the weekend when you go out, maybe instead of going out to dinner with your friends, you have friends over and you start a rotation of one couple cooks a meal and then you get like a monthly rotation there, because I'm sure you're cooking a meal once a month is going to be a lot cheaper than you paying your own way to go out once a week, right? Or you don't pack a lunch for work, so you order out lunch every day at work, or you don't cook meals at home, so you and me significant other just pick up to go orders, whatever it might be. If you start to have the habit of I'm going to pack my lunch, or the habit of I'm not going to order coffee, the habit of I'm not going out to dinner, that allows you to achieve that habit every day. And if you are creating this, this healthy, successful habit, that has a major impact and you're staying true to that habit every day, you're winning every day. And if you continue to win every day and you stack up all those wins, in the end, what's the advantage? You actually accomplish the goal. So the challenge for you if I take off the velvet glove and throw down a challenge for you is to think about it. What is in your heart and in your mind that you want to achieve Now identify the habit that will have the most impact on that goal and then implement the challenge of attaining that habit every single day. So for me, this is so new, like this, this lying, this message. I just got this this morning at the gym. So I'm truly trying to put into perspective like there's, there's things for me on a physical level, on a health level, that it's easy, it's practical to figure out, but there's some goals for the business and some things I need to do to prove to myself that I should remain in business, that the business can sustain for my family. So there's these things that I need to do and, as I said, when we start to show off, this is the most difficult time for me really that I've had in my life. If I look at you know, losing my dad and all these random challenges that are going on between health challenges, physical challenges, mental challenges, spiritual challenges, all those things it's the most challenging time of my life. So I need to really spend time with myself, identifying what habit will have the greatest impact and then implementing the actual course of action to win that habit every single day. What habits going to have the greatest impact on me? And that's really what I'm doing to challenge myself. So I'm going to challenge it to you as well to find that habit. And one of the things that he kind of mentioned and this kind of just gets crossed over, but now that I'm having the conversation with you, it kind of makes some sense he actually started a habit just to prove to himself he was capable of these habits. He was just trying to floss. I'm going to floss every day, and I know that's not going to have a greatest impact on your life and your health. But sometimes we need to pick a simple habit that we can implement into our daily routine, just to prove to ourselves that we are capable of change, because change is hard, change is hard. So if there's something that you want to do but you don't want to do, like flossing we're always told that you know it's great to floss, but you don't want to floss. That was his example. So is there something that you want to do but you don't really want to do? If you can commit yourself to that habit, you're going to allow yourself the opportunity to prove to yourself exactly what you're capable of. Then you can advance your habits to something more difficult. So I'm going to start, if I'm going to pick a small habit to get started. But I feel like I need to pick a small habit and an impactful habit just to show myself. Number one, I'm capable of it. And number two, I'm already going to get started on that habit. That's going to make the biggest, most impact on my life. So that's where I'm headed. Y'all, that's my challenge to each and every one of you. What is it for you that you want to believe, you want to achieve, you want to attain. Identify the habit that's going to have the greatest impact on that goal and then focus on that habit and make that habit your win. When you focus on that habit and you make it your win, you can win every day. And when you win the habit, you too will achieve the goal. Together, we will achieve the goal. Until then, I want to say I love you, I appreciate you. Don't forget to find all things podcast related at wwwsharetheshruglopodcastcom. If you found value in today's message, I beg of you to share the show with someone you know. Maybe they could find value too. Don't forget it's always cool to leave a review Five stars. Anything else would be uncivilized, right. So get out there, listen to the podcast, spread some love, find a fucking habit, touch yourself, express yourself, celebrate yourself. I love you. Thank you for supporting my American dream. You're gonna wash your fucking hands. You're a filthy savage. That's it and that's all. Biggie Smalls. If you're a loud, proud American and you find yourself just wanting more, find me on YouTube and Facebook at Loud, proud American. Put the face page, as my mama calls it. If you're a fan of the Graham Cracker, you want to find me on Instagram, or all the kids by tickety-talking on the tick-tock. You can find me on both of those at Loud underscore, proud underscore, American. Thank you, a big old thank you to the boys from the Gut Truckers for the background beats and the theme song to this year's podcast. If you are enjoying what you're hearing, you can track down the Gut Truckers on Facebook Just search Gut Truckers. Give them motherfuckers. I like to. I truly thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your fucking hands, you filthy savage.