(these are auto generated, so may be 80% accurate)

[00:00:00] Chris Furlong: Yo, yo yo, welcome back to the further, your lifestyle podcast, conversations on lifestyle passions and hustles. My name's Chris Furlong and I am your host and I'm super excited to be back here having the conversation with you. And today is episode 52, and actually we have now past the one year mark of doing this podcast and it's been an adventure actually just starting this and, and, and actually making it happen.

[00:00:23] Chris Furlong: And here I am just thinking back on that last year of actually starting it and getting started and it. It's just been an amazing, amazing journey. And a lot of it all comes back to you. So a big, big, thank you. And I've been talking about this over the last couple of weeks, um, but this would not be possible without you because you are the listener.

[00:00:41] Chris Furlong: You are the person that I am making this for. So I really do appreciate it. And if you find that these episodes are resonating with you and maybe the. Um, might resonate from it to then please share it. That would mean the absolute world for me. And if you're listen to this at the time of release, there is still time to get your hands on a $50 Amazon gift card voucher as a giveaway that I'm doing to celebrate hitting one year on the podcast of further your lifestyle.

[00:01:08] Chris Furlong: So all those details are over in my Instagram, of course, that's only for this period of time up until the 13th of March. So it really is amazing to see what you can do and what you are capable. Of achieving and what you can actually do when you put your, I guess, your intent and action at hand. Right. And I can, I've, I've done this firsthand experience for the last year, building out this podcast and a few other things from taking a chance on myself and look, I think if we reflect on it and if we think about it, you know, when we put our minds to things, our passion and action to work, when we combine all those.

[00:01:43] Chris Furlong: You can do so much and you can become so much more than what you are now, and it's not about being the best or being bigger and better, but I know we all have goals and we all have these things that we want to achieve, and you can do so much if you just let yourself do that. And in this episode, that's really, what I want to talk about is just help you understand.

[00:02:04] Chris Furlong: The power of taking action and the potential it leads to. And I've touched on this quite a few times in a few different ways. And today I want to really break it down in a few different examples, but I will say this. I cannot guarantee you will be successful overnight. Right? And I, I can't say that if you do this, that that's what will happen, but what I can promise is through consistency, your results, um, they, they will speak loud enough for you to make you smile, to make you feel.

[00:02:34] Chris Furlong: And for you to see the potential that you have inside of you. And that's really all you need. You need to find that spark, find that potential and ignite it, and then you can get the ball rolling and that's called the snowball effect. Cause once you start moving, getting that momentum, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

[00:02:48] Chris Furlong: And then it's well, In the last year and even to this day and every everyday going forward. One thing that I'm constantly challenged with is action. Right? And action is what's going to enable us to move forward. And ironically, there is a threshold, um, I guess of belief in comfort and risk, we are all willing to tolerate at a certain point in time when we get to the edge of growth, you know, and actually.

[00:03:13] Chris Furlong: Living up, you're on the boundary of your comfort zone. And we tend to sit on the fence a lot. I do this, I'm putting my hand up first person to admit that I do this and we start debating. Should we proceed? Are we willing to jump over that fence? Are we willing to stretch ourselves, get uncomfortable and take that next step?

[00:03:29] Chris Furlong: And you know, we might come up with a lot of excuses or doubt, and we struggled with imposter syndrome compared perfectionism. Um, overthinking questioning or delaying, and you just get stuck in your head. And I know this because there's stuff that I'm working on at the moment, and I'm feeling this right now, but I want to share some stories with you today.

[00:03:47] Chris Furlong: Once again, it's a bit more story time and which might help give you some perspective of why it is important to step out of that comfort zone a little bit, and I'll give them to you in a few different ways or perspectives, cause they will resonate with each of us differently. And some of you might have done this in some of you might not have, but I think they're very, very relevant.

[00:04:05] Chris Furlong: It's something which I would challenge you to try it more of it. Right. And the first one of that is, have you ever been to a shop and, well, of course you've been to a shop, you know, you go shopping and when you do, you're about to make a purchase. And you know, there's usually that thought and think about this, think about this.

[00:04:22] Chris Furlong: You're curious. And you're debating in your mind about asking for a discount. Now, usually you either do or you don't, and usually you don't ask for a discount, but let's say, let's say you're better spend $80, $50 or a hundred. And what if you were to ask, is this the best price that you can do? Of course, there's certain domains and retail environments where this would not apply, but there's certain places where it could apply.

[00:04:45] Chris Furlong: And you know, is this the best price that you can do? Or is there any discounts that you can do on this one now? What are the two possibilities that can come from this? Either you will save some dollars or nothing will change and nothing's changed. You might feel like you get rejected. Nothing's changed.

[00:05:02] Chris Furlong: You're still paying what you're expecting to pay. So take a moment and think about how many times you have thought about doing this. Cause I know you've thought about doing it cause I do it all the time. And think about the amount of times that you thought about doing it. And you did not now imagine for a moment all those times, if you had asked and on average, you saved five to $10.

[00:05:23] Chris Furlong: Do a quick calculation in your. What's the number that you potentially could have soaked. Is it a hundred dollars, $50, $500? Is it more? And it surprises me of how easy this is, because just the other day I did it myself. I I've been going in there for a long time, and this is part of my reselling journey and thrifting.

[00:05:40] Chris Furlong: And I go into the op shops and pick up goodies and I was about to spend $150. I was prepared to pay $150 for these items. And I said, Hey, look, you know, before. Two questions. One, do you guys have any more of this Outback? They said no. And then second I said, um, any possible chance of a discount. I just figured I'm about to buy quite a lot here.

[00:06:00] Chris Furlong: Is there any discount? And the lady first said, well, actually, yeah, you're in here all the time. You're always buying things. So let me see what I can do. And then she asked me, you know, how much of a discount do you want? And I said, well, look, to be honest, that's entirely up to you. So they wiped off a good, good amount.

[00:06:14] Chris Furlong: It was about 20% actually. Um, but if I didn't ask, I wouldn't have had that opportunity. This, this is so important because it just goes to show that when you do ask things happen and I had to take the action for that to even happen. But I got stuck in my head and sometimes we get so stuck that we don't ask because we think that's not going to happen.

[00:06:37] Chris Furlong: That's the first point I wanted to share with you has this resonated with you. Are you, is this, is this something that you struggle with because it's, it's a small example of that bigger picture that I'm talking about of taking action over a long period of time and making a difference in your life. The next example that I want to share with you on number two.

[00:06:56] Chris Furlong: The debate between luck and action. People look at others and think, wow, how lucky are they? Um, and this is very generalized, but go with me, go with me. They, they have this, they wear that. They do this, they drive that car, blah, blah, blah. You've heard it all before. And we probably are, you know, um, we're probably doing this ourselves and comparing and seeing what other people are doing.

[00:07:19] Chris Furlong: The thing is there comes a lot of compare and there's always jealous judgment. And as I said, I am generalizing, but just to get this point across, but what really is luck? And I did a quick little Google search on the dictionary and it is defined as success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions.

[00:07:40] Chris Furlong: And it says apparent. Apparently being the keyword here. So it doesn't actually mean that it is brought by chance, but apparently brought by chance. Now you say, if, if we don't take action to put ourselves in an opportunity or in the place for something to occur, then we can never be lucky. I can sit in my room all day and do nothing.

[00:08:01] Chris Furlong: I'm not going to win a million dollars. I mean, I could enter a lottery ticket and maybe then I'll win sitting in my. But my point isn't, don't go out and buy a lottery ticket. What I'm trying to say is I had to take action in order for that possibility to even occur. Of course, there's still a very low chance of that occurring, but the point here.

[00:08:19] Chris Furlong: If you want change, if you want luck that you think other people have, you need to go out and make it come to you, you need to bring it into your environment, or you need to be in the environment where that could occur. But at this way, if let's say you want to have a cash cow business cash cow business means you have a lot of cash flow.

[00:08:36] Chris Furlong: You have a lot of cash and money's coming in really, really. So my question is then, well, okay, that's what you want. So what are you doing today? Which presents an opportunity for that to continue or to grow that way, right? What are you doing to make that happen? If you want to be fit, if you want to have a fit body, if you want to feel lean, if you want to feel good about yourself, what are you doing today?

[00:08:55] Chris Furlong: Once again, which presents the opportunity to enable you to have your body start to grow that. You see it isn't about people being given a silver spoon or given something on a, on a platter. It's about people standing up taking action and accepting the opportunity to make the progress habit. Sometimes people will catch a break.

[00:09:14] Chris Furlong: You know, people will be connected with someone though that we introduced to someone. Come into some money though, get a new door open for them. But once again, they are out there stepping forward and being available to have that opportunity, you know, like it's, it's like they might've been introduced to someone, but if you didn't go to that conference, if you didn't go out there to meet new people, if you didn't go out to network, then how can you be introduced to a new person?

[00:09:39] Chris Furlong: So it's a bit of back and forth, right? And like I said, it is a debate and I would love to hear what your thoughts on this, but hopefully this gives you some idea that something. We are our own worst enemies in. Move forward because we get so stuck on now, that's not going to happen or there, they're just getting lucky, but what are you doing to enable your self to grow and to then look like you are getting it all together, or you do have it altogether because it might look like that on the surface.

[00:10:06] Chris Furlong: But I tell you deep down, there's a lot of things happening to enable that person to grow and, and to come up with those numbers or to produce those numbers or to actually get those results. Now the third point. I guess the third story that I kind of want to talk about is a combo of the previous two.

[00:10:22] Chris Furlong: Now this is, this is a bit more personal, but I want to grow this podcast, right? I want to, I want to get it big and I want to be bold with it. And I want to get it to 10,000 downloads this year. And one way to do this is to connect and have guests on the podcast, which are broader enlarger than my current audience.

[00:10:39] Chris Furlong: Of course, they have to be relevant to what I'm trying to have this podcast speak about. It enables new ears to get in front of the podcast because I have a broader audience. My current audience is, you know, I'm having on average 30 downloads a week and I've probably got about 79, 80, maybe a hundred even unique listeners.

[00:10:59] Chris Furlong: But you know, if I want to have an additional 200 unique listeners, I need to have an audience that is going to be introduced that isn't already in my world. And the quickest way to do that is to connect with people with a larger audience that is relevant to the brand. Now, once again, coming back to this, the quickest way to then actually, or I guess the way to hack it, this of getting that those people on the podcast is to do 10 emails out of 10 people that meet the criteria of this, um, what I want to be able to do and have them on the podcast and see if anyone bites now let's see one or two.

[00:11:33] Chris Furlong: That means I'm one or two ahead. Now, if I didn't reach out to those 10 at all, then I wouldn't be anywhere ahead, but I'm now one or two ahead. Similar to this. I was delaying and reaching out to a guest who has about a 30 X times following than my current audience. Um, and I finally did. I'd been delaying this for months.

[00:11:50] Chris Furlong: I kid you not. And I thought maybe they wouldn't have the time for me. They, they wouldn't respond or they wouldn't think it's worth it. And I delayed this for months and. I finally reached out. And when I did, they replied within 15 minutes saying they would love to be on the podcast. I would love to be a guest.

[00:12:06] Chris Furlong: However, they're actually booked out till the end of the year and they can't do anything. So let's touch base later and see if we can book something in. And I was like, This is crazy because the only reason why I haven't been able to get them on earlier is because I failed to reach out. If I had just connected and reached out to them earlier, as I had intended and not delayed and got so stuck up in my head, maybe I would have already had them on the podcast.

[00:12:32] Chris Furlong: They're not to say that that would have made me blow up or anything like that. But the whole point here is that taking the first step forwards into progression. AKA action. It is really, really hard. It's not easy. Right. And then following through is just as hard. And it's just as potentially not as easy either, but if you give yourself a chance, if you give yourself some room to wriggle, learn and grow and give yourself a break, right.

[00:12:57] Chris Furlong: You know, you'll be able to take some small steps of progress daily over a period of time. And soon it will be a week, a month, a year, and you'll be a new place of reality. You'll reality would have changed and it might be more or less than the expectation that you had in the first place, but it will be further than you are now.

[00:13:15] Chris Furlong: And when you look back, you'll see how incredible it is. And it might just be as simple as reaching out to some new leads or connecting with some people, starting to do something on a daily basis consistently. Maybe it's drawing, writing, journaling, running, reselling, whatever, right. Starting a podcast. But what we, you, anyone can create if they just learned.

[00:13:37] Chris Furlong: Wait forward or step forward, or be willing to learn, try and have an open mind. Th th the, the potential is unlimited, right? And the world is your, and our oyster. It's, it's not like, right. It's, it's showing up and taking action and in willing to take on opportunity. I know it as I've been doing this for the last year, right.

[00:13:57] Chris Furlong: And I'm not saying that I have all the answers and I've got it figured out. But over the last year, you know, I've, I've done 52 episodes. Over 1800 listens, nearly 3000 listens. And that's averaging, you know, between five and six per day. It just blows my mind. And it's not about the numbers. It's not about having the biggest following.

[00:14:14] Chris Furlong: It's about knowing what you're doing. Is it making you happy? Is it empowering you? Is it an inspiring you, but is it what you love? Is it your passion? Is it your purpose? But most of all, is it helping others? Is it making a difference? Is it making a change and it's bigger and better than. What I'm trying to achieve because it's actually making a difference for other people.

[00:14:34] Chris Furlong: And that's really what it comes down to passion and purpose. And you know, the question for, I have the question I have for you before we finish is do you have that? Have you found that if no, what action will you take today to become one step closer to finding that passion, that purpose and all that we've discussed today?

[00:14:52] Chris Furlong: And it might be just stepping over that fence out of your comfort zone to explore it a little more, you will be surprised of what you can do. Daily over a year or over 30 days or over a period of time, what have you got to lose? Seriously? What have you got to lose? Give it a, go. See what you can do. Go for it.

[00:15:09] Chris Furlong: And don't be shy like seriously, I'm here to cheerlead for ya. Um, I'm excited. I'm excited for you. And that's, that's what I wanted to chat about today. I really just wanted to kind of share those different perspectives and help you realize that sometimes. We do. We get so stuck up in our heads that we we've failed to move forward.

[00:15:26] Chris Furlong: And I've been struggling with this a lot because I'm about to try some new things that I haven't done before. And that's, you know, expanding the podcast in the realms of what it's wanting to do. And there'll be more information on this soon and even on my personal channel and things like that. And it's important that we are growing and adapting.

[00:15:42] Chris Furlong: And it's important that you understand. You are dealing with, you know, the doubt and the fear and the worry, but working through that, working with someone else, having the conversation is what's super important. If you want to connect, if you want to have a conversation, then by all means, please jump on over to our Instagram at further your lifestyle.

[00:16:01] Chris Furlong: You can hit us up on Twitter at furtheryourlife, or drop us an email. Um, hello@furtheryourlifestyle.com and let's continue the conversation. If you're on YouTube and drop a comment, can have a conversation, continue the conversation and look, you know, you're not alone in this. I think it can be quite overwhelming.

[00:16:19] Chris Furlong: It can be a little airy-fairy and you know, oh yeah, you make it sound so easy, but it's not, it's not easy. Like I get that. So if it's not easy, you're struggling. Let's, let's see what we can do to help it, make it a little bit easier for you. Really do appreciate being here. As I mentioned at the start, there is still a chance to get into the giveaway for being on the pod for awhile.

[00:16:39] Chris Furlong: Um, chance to give back to you guys, jump over to the Instagram. You can see all the details there and how to, how to be part of that really appreciate you being here. It's been an absolute honor to have the conversation with you and you have a wonderful day. Cheers. Now, if you didn't know, we do have the podcast merge and this is with a key focus.

[00:16:57] Chris Furlong: Enamel pins. Now, if you haven't checked these out, make sure you do because the intent of these are really just to be a small token and reminder for you to charge on, to push on and to further your lifestyle, whether it is a gift for someone else to encourage them or maybe to inspire them, or maybe it's a way to motivate.

[00:17:14] Chris Furlong: Or you can simply just make a purchase to simply support the podcast, which would be greatly appreciated. We do also have some sweaters and some long days, so make sure you check it out, link in the description and in the show notes, really to appreciate it. Cheers.