Speaker 1: 0:00

Yo yo yo. Welcome back to the further your lifestyle podcast conversations on lifestyle passions and hustles. My name's Chris, i am your host And I'm super excited to be back here having the conversation with you. Episode 120 today And we're talking about the future starts now. Now, over the last well, probably the last three months I've really had a big focus on making progress, getting the results that you want And you know, kind of having some frank conversations, and I've started to say this a lot more as we get into the start of these episodes that a lot of the time these conversations I'm having are, you know, pure conversations that I'm having to myself, just as much as sharing with you, because the whole purpose of the further your lifestyle podcast is to help others further their life.

Speaker 1: 0:44

But I'm still furthering my own as well, and that's the beauty of it is. We're always growing, we're always learning And I'm sharing based on all the aspects that I've been able to achieve to date. Thus, i don't know any more than I don't know. However, i do know that I can help others that are yet to get to where I am or are still trying to get to certain areas, or need a fresh perspective or a needing help or they might be ahead of me, doesn't mean you still cannot learn from someone that is, you know, doing a different path or walking a different walk, or behind you in, you know, from a progression standpoint, we should be learning from people ahead of us, people around us and people behind us, because we all bring fresh perspective And that's the beauty of it. Now, for me, this episode it's really about how I've been reflecting over the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 1: 1:31

At the time of this episode, at the time of recording it, we're basically a week out from finishing my second full financial year since taking a chance on myself back at the start of 2021. And look, it's pretty crazy, we're in the middle of the year And it's also meaning that we're coming into the milestone point where we can check in and see how we actually progressing, for, you know, the calendar year of 2023. So, at the moment, we'll be finishing FY23 and about to start FY24, which starts in July here in Australia, and from a calendar year perspective, we're in 2023. Just in case you're listening to this, you know in 2025 or something who knows. But when I zoom out, when I actually take a moment to actually zoom out and understand how far I've come, if we actually go back to the early 2021, when I actually released two videos and I'm going to put them in the description below and you can go check them out if you're interested. If you're watching here on YouTube, you will be able to click on them quite easily. If you're here on Spotify or listening via Apple podcasts or any of those great places, you will have to go into the show notes to find these.

Speaker 1: 2:29

But essentially, there was two videos that I did. One was taking a chance on me, basically telling everyone, just as much as a message to myself, that this is what I'm doing. I'm taking a chance on myself, i'm stepping away from the nine to five and I'm going to pursue my passions, goals, dreams and make them a reality. And then I basically did a follow up video on that. It was almost a week later, i think. What does this actually mean? and explaining it in a bit more detail to help those that maybe didn't understand what I was doing And at the time I probably didn't necessarily know what I was going to be doing in detail.

Speaker 1: 3:01

I had an idea, but I didn't know what the results were going to look like. Now I was watching that video again the other night and, wow, it's great to reflect on how far we've come When you go back and have a look at some of your early things that you did, in whatever niche that you're doing whether it's on YouTube, whether it's with the podcast, whether it's in business and looking at how you present yourself, how you talk about things, what results you were getting as well, and it's great to be able to look back and then see how far you've come. That's the first thing that I got from that, but at the same time, i didn't really know what I wanted in detail, but I had an idea that I wanted to build a business, i wanted to start this podcast and I wanted to grow other areas of my life and community, which would have been YouTube and my running and other areas as well. However, the clear point was I knew why I was doing it and the purpose of doing it, and that's really what I want to talk about today the whole journey of finding happiness.

Speaker 1: 3:58

Now, happiness and finding happiness. I think there's a controversial conversation around it, because everyone has this different idea. Some people say happiness is success or you can't be successful if you're not happy, and then there's the whole drama or debate of, well, if you're chasing happiness, you'll never actually be happy, because there's always one more thing. And then there's a few other points that we can talk about where, if there's a level of diff's comfort that we're chasing, then that will enable us to be happy, because we only find happiness after we've conquered ourselves through the discomfort of whatever it is we needed to overcome. So there's a lot to unpack there, but that's what we're getting into.

Speaker 1: 4:33

Before I go any further, let's roll the intro. All right, so let's dive into this. Look, going back to when I was actually it's actually at the time of this video, at the time of me recording this episode of this podcast. It's literally three years ago when I had the conversation with my boss, when I'm saying, hey, look, i'm done, like and he kind of calmed me down a little bit It was around June, july in 2020. And then we would reconvene in around September 2020 to see if what I was saying was actually going to stick And if I was just having a bit of a bad day or if I was legit, you know, thinking that I was done and I wanted to go do other things And I wasn't 100% happy with how life was at that time.

Speaker 1: 5:16

Now I was looking at it, understanding that you know, look, i had a nine to five job. It was comfortable, it was secure. But I did a projection Forecast in my mind, knowing that there was all these things that I had ideas about, things that I wanted to explore, test, try, and I figured that, with the basic math, i was never going to see any of that become to a reality if I keep doing what I'm doing Now. Don't get me wrong. The nine to five, nothing wrong with the nine to five. Of course it was very demanding of time we were going through covered at the time, so That obviously had a lot to do with it.

Speaker 1: 5:48

But the job corporate, corporate job in professional services was amazing. There was amazing people, just incredible people, right, and I had some access to some pretty cool perks and, just you know, to an international, global organization as well. That came with a lot of opportunity. It was a high paying, six figure salary, which was really, really great, and I was working my way to be senior manager. But that was the catch I had to keep performing based on the expectations of someone else, based on the comparison of my peers, while being somewhat limited to my ability to grow.

Speaker 1: 6:22

You know there's a bit of red tape or there's a bit of process, or there's A lot of things that have to happen in order for you to get your ducks in a row, in order for you to get promoted. Now I was a solid worker, like Don't get me wrong, my whole, my whole thing that I said to my boss was like either I need to leave or I need to get fired. And that's not going to happen. And he's like no, it's not right. So You know there was, there was a bit of laughter, there is all. Because if you're doing a good job, you know, you know there's no excuse for you to escape Other than you having to make the hard decision yourself.

Speaker 1: 6:52

Coming back to the whole point around, you know for me to continue to go up the ladder, the corporate ladder, there was probably also a level of constraints that I put on myself. Right. There was these constraints of discomfort not allowing to the need required versus the ones I had. So In order for me to get to the next level, i needed to do X, y and Z right. It might have had to get more sales or bring in more clientele or Have a bigger team or whatever it may be like that. That's just high level on paper, but it's not necessarily what I wanted because it would demand more. It meant I had to look at, actually meant that I had to grow in a new way, but they weren't areas which I was necessarily interested in going deeper in.

Speaker 1: 7:30

As I progressed through my career, i realized that Some of the things that I thought I wanted weren't necessarily what I wanted, and that becomes clear and now in hindsight. But back then it was kind of like. Now I just I'm just sick of this, i'm just overwhelmed, i'm tired. Again, there was a lot of complexity with COVID, working from home and things like that as well, and I've always had a burning passion to work for myself and do something for myself. So there was the complexity of That in the back of my mind also.

Speaker 1: 7:57

Regardless of the above, i did always know, as I just said before at the time, i still want to be doing something on my own. I wanted to. I wanted to have a business, i wanted to build a business. I've had multiple businesses. I've spoken about this numerous times on the podcast. I've had a subscription sock business. I've I've, you know, i tried a few different things. I've tried a few online stores. I had done a little bit of flipping. I've done some card sales. I've run a few different little small businesses, little side hustles and things along the way.

Speaker 1: 8:27

At the same time, i also wanted a community. I've been using, doing my YouTube running primarily, for probably about three, four years. At that time Might even be less than that and I already had that sense of community, but I wanted to grow that community. I want to take it bigger and beyond me, which led to the third point. I wanted to create something which was greater than me. Now I knew all of this was possible, but at the same time, i also wanted to do this to see if it would help me, i guess, be happier. Right, it's not that I wasn't happy, i wasn't content with the things that were happening, not that I was taking it for granted, but I knew that there was more things for me and I knew that I would not be. I would not be satisfied if I just kept doing the same thing, just for money And this idea that I'll be going up for a corporate status. I wanted to create something different. I wanted to have no control of my own time and I wanted to see if I could build something, see, even if I had what it took right.

Speaker 1: 9:22

And that's what we're talking about today finding happiness, but also creating the happiness you want. Now we can choose to be happy. You know, i can say to you, smile, or if someone smiles that you, it can kind of be like a yawn, it's contagious. And when you do smile, if you're looking at the camera right now, if you're, if you're looking at me, looking at the camera here on the YouTube, you'll see that I'm smiling. It makes a big difference. It can lift your day up. But is that really happiness? that's just smiling, right, but in this manner of perspective.

Speaker 1: 9:52

But I guess what I really want to talk about today, in the manner of perspective of this whole, you know finding happiness and you know pursuing happiness and chasing happiness and all that is the around these two big questions one Are you happy with what you were doing today? and if you continued this is question to and if you continue to do what you're doing today, the same thing that you did today for another one year, two years or three years or five years or 10 years, answer this where would you be? Would you have grown? Would you be in a place that you would call happy, and would you actually be happy with the results and what they look like Now? these questions can be very crucial in hindsight, right? Because we get to two years, three years down the line and we realize we now know what it looks like because we didn't change anything and we're like I'm not happy.

Speaker 1: 10:45

So you need to use foresight and project forward and think well, okay, if I'm 50 and I'm still don't have the ability to take time off because I don't have an emergency fund, or I don't have disposable income or not making it all about money, but maybe not able to spend time with your family, or you haven't even been able to travel yet, or you've never done anything off your bucket list, right? That's when you can start to ask yourself well, if you wanna be able to do those things, what do you need to do to make them happy? What do you need to do to make them happen? And look, sometimes it might. I'm not saying that you need to be so intense and you need to start planning for the next five years and what you're gonna do every day for the next five years. No, that's not what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1: 11:30

I didn't know the exact things I wanted, i didn't know what they would look like, but I did have an understanding of this idea and possibility that I could create. I knew that things were possible based on what I had seen others do. I'd been inspired by other people and the potential that I can create, and I was also motivated enough to even go give it a go. And I think that's what's important is, if you see something that you want I'm not saying see what someone else has and want what they have If you can understand, identify and envision envision what it is that you want and you're motivated, then give it a go.

Speaker 1: 12:05

The reality is, working on something for the future takes time. It can't be just one to two hours a week, which is what I was going through. I was working 60 hour weeks and having one or two hours on a weekend to try and create this thing that was going to help me escape the nine to five. But we can't expect that life-changing result with such short amount of effort, right, and in a short period. Basic math it just doesn't work If I kept working on me and my dreams in the little time that I had on the weekend.

Speaker 1: 12:34

As I said earlier, it was going to take me like 40 years or something to be able to get to somewhere where I thought was going to make me happy And we'll talk about what I thought being happy in a minute. But the whole idea was I wanted to have this different lifestyle, i wanted to be able to have these options, i wanted it to be different and I want it to be better than what it was then. So the question still remains are you happy with what you are doing today? And if you continue to be doing what you do each day for the next one year, two years, five years, where would you be? Would you have grown? Would you be in a place that you would be happy with, and would you be happy with the results? So the only way to separate the now, happiness, or the contentness or satisfaction, or where we are to the new level of where you want to be or where you perceive to be wanting to be in the future, is the steps that you can take to create that level of life.

Speaker 1: 13:29

Now I have to be careful here, because we have to be very, very careful that we don't just throw around the word happiness, and this is what I'm trying to say. It's like if we're chasing happiness, i don't think you'll ever find it, because there's always something else, there's always something ahead of us. Like you know, i collect Pokemon cards. If you're watching, i've got some in front of me. You know, when I first started, there was always a new set coming out every three months And I just want it more, just want it more, want it more, and that would make me happy. But then once I got it, i'm like, well, that was pointless, and then all the excitement's over And then the happiness. To only get the happiness, i have to chase the next thing. But over time I learned that if I can understand what it is that I actually really, really want and then build towards that happiness And now I have a chase list of certain cards that I'm trying to collect, and there's other certain things that I do want to experiment, but experiment and play with in terms of, oh yeah, i want to open up that set and see what it's like, i might budget for it, but really my main focus is a set of types of cards, and that's what's going to make me happy, because once I have those cards, that's what I want Now. Once I finish that set, you're right, there's probably going to be something else that I'll chase, and that's the problem with happiness is there's always something else. So we've got to be very careful with that.

Speaker 1: 14:42

My interpretation that I believe and I was probably going to talk about this a bit later, but I'm going to bring it up now is the best option is actually to chase discomfort. Now, that probably thinks what. That doesn't make sense. It does, because for me, to get to where I am today, two and a half years later, it wasn't. Yes, i wanted to chase this idea of this dream, this passion, this goal and this lifestyle, but the reality was I had to go through discomfort, i had to take risk, i had to take some big, tough decisions, i had to throw other things to the side and sacrifice those, and I still am making sacrifices at the expense that I get to. Now do what I want to do, and through that discomfort we then find happiness. We're happy with the result.

Speaker 1: 15:27

When we are able to conquer ourselves and go over the mountain that we are, and we get over ourselves and we get to where we need to be or where we want to be, we will find happiness, we can reward and celebrate and rest and, i guess, soak in that newfound glory that we've found. Of course, there will come a time again when things will change, life will change. People come into our life. We get older, we get married, we have families, we have kids, we have life changes, you get new opportunities and then you're like, oh, i want to pursue this Again. When you go to pursue it, you're going to have to get uncomfortable. If we're not getting uncomfortable, we're comfortable. And if we're comfortable, we actually don't become happy, we actually become complacent and we start to just do the same thing Comes over and over again mundane. And then you'll start to find that you're not happy. The reason why is because you're not growing. It's the growth that we're looking for. So really what I'm looking for is growth. But when, if I go out to people and say and I think if I said it to you, it's like, oh, you need to be growing, go out and find your growth. People aren't wired that way. People want to attain it to happiness. But really what we are chasing is that ability to overcome ourselves.

Speaker 1: 16:37

Why do I run a half marathon every month? I ask myself every time I'm running it, it's because I want to be a better version of myself and it helps me deal with just whatever it is I need to deal with. Sometimes it's the doubt, Sometimes it's my ability to think that I'm capable of doing it. It's sometimes it's just because I want to see if I can lose weight or if it's going to help me lose weight. But I'm also doing it because I'm training for a 50k. Why am I doing the 50k? Because, again, i want to show it to myself that I'm capable of doing it. It makes me happy, it makes me excited and I'm motivated to do it. So we digress Now.

Speaker 1: 17:13

At this point in time, i'm not saying that I'm not happy, right, i'm more happy than ever And I was quite happy in my job, like I was getting some pretty good results. But I knew I did not want to be doing this for another one year, two years, five years, 10 years, if it meant that I was not going to get all these things that I want to test out. I also knew that if I went and did, you know, took a chance on myself to build a business, start a podcast, that it might not work, i might not even like it, but I wouldn't know that because I haven't given it enough reps to understand. Is this even something that I want to dabble in? And that's why it was so important that I did take that chance.

Speaker 1: 17:45

Now I think there is something else I need to say, which is when we are chasing whatever it is we're chasing, we need to understand where is the line, you know what's the expectation, when is enough, and you need to understand what that line looks like. That is easier said than done, because I haven't hit where I want to be. I've kind of given myself a baseline that I'm keen to just pursue my own stuff for eight years, because that's how long I worked in my previous career. So I don't really have a baseline to compare. Now things might change and adjust, because what I do for myself at the moment is obviously my reselling business, the podcast but we're only two and a half years in. Things might change in two years. I might get another opportunity, maybe I can do something else. I don't know what it looks like, but all I know is I want to be doing my own thing, chasing my own goals, building my own platform, my own empire, whatever it may be, with my family and things like that, and if I don't give it that time, well then I'm never going to know, and that's the kind of the expectation that I set. So I think, with that in mind, there's some level of understanding that we need to, we need to set for ourselves right. Just to put a caveat for yourself, so you're not thinking yeah, chris, i'm a bit confused When we go out to pursue something, sometimes it might just be about money.

Speaker 1: 18:54

We need to have a disposable income. Maybe you want to pursue a more comfortable income stream. That's okay. Maybe it's because you want a freedom of more time, or maybe you want a platform of influence. These are probably the three most primary things that we're chasing, and really it's because we want more money, more time. We want to be able to be an influence or leave a legacy.

Speaker 1: 19:15

Now, technically, i have all these already. Everything I do right now covers how I live my life, how it pays for all my bills. It pays for how I live my lifestyle. Obviously, i don't live a lavish lifestyle either, and I do have a little bit of a disposable income. I have more time than I've ever had before. I'm not working for someone else, i work for myself, so I get to choose, i get to make those decisions, but I choose to work a lot because I want to continue to grow. I also have a platform of influence this podcast. I have my YouTube, i have my socials And I have a whole platform of ecosystem around that, a sense of community, you guys listening to this But at the same time, there are limits, right, there are boundaries and restraints that we need to put in place, because when will enough be enough?

Speaker 1: 19:55

And that's a really strong conversation we need to have. And there's also sacrifices that come with trying to pursue these things And they also mean sometimes you can't do something else. If you want to do something else, if you're saying yes to something else, you're saying so. If you're saying yes to something, you're saying no to something else. That's the reality of it. I know to get to the next level of whatever milestone I'm pursuing, it requires effort, work, planning, learning and executing and so on, and over time, that's it. That's all it is.

Speaker 1: 20:27

For example, to create the separation of my current level of comfortable income with where I want it to be, i have to increase it. That's what I have to do. I have to create the systems, the processes and the machine to generate said income. If I'm earning $3,000 a month and I want to do $6,000 a month, i need to create something that is going to generate that $6,000 a month. Whether it's my time for money, whether it's building a business, whether it's building a workflow, whether it's building a process or however it may be, that's the reality of it. You can't just say, okay, i want to earn $6,000. Now, it doesn't work that way. You have to put in the input. That gets the output to get the $6,000. That's the. There's hundreds of ways to do it, but that's the reality of it.

Speaker 1: 21:08

The point here is, if you have an idea, a goal, an expectation or a lifestyle that you want to be living, and it doesn't just happen by you living it like meaning, okay, today I'm going to be earning $6,000. It doesn't work that way. You have to create it. You can live the life of a $6,000 earner, but The reality is you won't have the $6000 you need to. Yes, you need to live it, but you need to be creative it at the same time. So the mindset helps as well, but you know it's a false reality. If you want to go and do something, you need to be motivated to do it. I want to be this. Therefore, i'm going to do the things that require for me to be that.

Speaker 1: 21:44

So I left the nine to five to create something that will replace the income, to give me More time back into my pocket and enable myself to pursue my goals and my dreams and my passions. But it didn't happen the day I left the nine to five. I've been chipping away at this and creating it for the last two and a half years. That's the reality, and remember, when I was working the nine to five, there was a level of happiness of This is good, but it was all material. When I left to take a chance on myself, there was a happiness of Freedom and a chance to create something, and I now get to drive the vehicle.

Speaker 1: 22:18

So, in retrospective, now that I have been creating the lifestyle that I want, there is a new found level of happiness. I'm living the best life that I can't like. I'm still creating more to come, but at the moment, i'm living my best life because I've got everything. I've got my hands and everything that I want to be doing. Obviously, there's areas for improvement. There's things that I know I should be doing more if I want to make this podcast better, i know that I have to spend more time in you know, marketing it and putting it out there, but I can't do everything at the same time. It's all part of the growth journey but I'm enjoying it because I'm growing. I'm having to get uncomfortable, having to try new things, i'm having to learn new ways of operating in in the business, in the podcast, in the community, even in my own life, and how I interact with others. Regardless, happiness has been consistent across the board. That's. That's the point.

Speaker 1: 23:02

So something else we need to discuss is we need to manage When and how we settle, but also we can't become entrapped in this unstated need to keep doing more and that there's always more to be doing. Now I struggle with this. 100% honesty. I'm always working, spoke about this in an episode just the other week Where you know I know that I want something over here. Therefore, if I want that and I know the only way to get that is The reps to put in the work if I want to earn more, if I want to see something grow, if I want to put out a new video the video is not going to create itself If I want this podcast to come out on the day that it's due. I have to do the podcast, or I have to at least film it and have Someone else edit it. Right, that's the reality of it.

Speaker 1: 23:43

But you need to look at it and understand is like well, what does your ideal lifestyle look like in two to five years, 30 years, 50 years, however long? So you need to work towards that. If you're not doing steps that Enable you to get to that position, then that position won't even happen. Sometimes we don't know the steps we have to take. All we know is, like what I need to do today to move into that direction.

Speaker 1: 24:04

And, for instance, if you want to start a YouTube channel and A good man of mine, john the reseller really good, really good content. He come up to me when I met him about almost a year ago This is Chris. I want to do YouTube. I've got lots that I want to share. How do I start? and I said Just do it, like literally just film it and put it up on YouTube and then be consistent. That's it. It has hasn't even been on there for a year and he's doing amazing. He's even got more subscribers than myself and That's the beauty of it. We need to just start. We need to get the movement happening.

Speaker 1: 24:35

If you want to be a youtuber, how do you become a youtuber? You start creating YouTube videos and then from there you can start to figure out that the rest of the journey You might even have an understanding. You want to be a youtuber that only talks about Something? well then you only talk about that something. Right. You can start to build how that YouTube is going to look. You get my point. You work towards that.

Speaker 1: 24:56

Also, understand that things may change, and that is okay. Life will throw opportunities, challenges and everything in between at you. It's how you handle them and how you leverage them. You know I wasn't doing Pokemon stuff when I first started this journey. I didn't talk about it, not at all. I actually said that I wanted to do more with my drums. I haven't touched my drums. Things change. Our priorities change, our interest change. We need to do what we want to do and do it with conviction and do it knowing that that's what we want. We make the decision. If you make a mistake in a decision, you fix it, you change it, you change course. It's okay, that's okay. So you will adjust. You will. In some areas you'll move faster, some areas you'll go slower and sometimes you happen to take the scenic route. That's the reality of it. But if you do not yourself, but if you yourself do not create the life that you want, then you will become an additional route for someone else's tree. If you don't plant what it is that you want, then you will just be helping growing someone else's. That's the reality of it. That's what you want. That is okay as well. We can have careers that are very fulfilling, very rewarding and flourish working for someone else.

Speaker 1: 26:06

I'm not saying you need to leave your nine to five. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying if you want that job, if you want to be in that company, if you want to be working international, how are you getting there? What are you doing to be there? I've had people send him say I want to have my own business. It's like great when you starting second, i'll probably start in five years, like you, okay, why can't you start now? It's like, oh, i don't have time. It's like okay, but if you start doing things now, in five years time you'll be ready to launch. If you start in five years time, it's gonna take you time to even start again, like to launch. So what can you be doing to get you to where you wanna have your business in five years? That's what I'm talking about. So how do we actually do this? Well, here are 10 things over the last two and a half years that I feel have been key in enabling me to continue to build out this happiness, journey out this life of what I'm now very, very grateful for, and I will continue to create and change and build this lifestyle into what I want it to be.

Speaker 1: 27:06

The beauty is we can adapt and apply this to each of us individually in our own ways. And look, a lot of this is cliche. It's 10 things. I won't go into super detail of them. I've probably mentioned them all at some point on this podcast across the last 120 episodes, but I'll call them out because, even if it is like a record on repeat, it's because they work.

Speaker 1: 27:26

Number one setting clear goals. Number two building resilience. Number three taking incremental steps. Number four embracing adaptability. Number five cultivating like a supportive network. Number six celebrating milestones, and I've written all these down. Seven is overcoming, like, self doubt and fear. Eight is learning from others. Nine staying committed and consistent. And 10, encouraging reflection and adjustment. So, setting clear goals. Look, i think this is just very, very straightforward. You need to identify your personal and professional aspirations. Personal, you know, kind of like what do you want individually? and professional, what do you want to be doing that's going to generate you an income, whether that's working for yourself or working for someone else? You need to break down these big goals into smaller and achievable targets. Now I'm not going to go into how to set goals and things in this episode. I've got things about that multiple conversations we've had, but I'll also be talking about that next week in episode 121, how we're checking in how we're progressing for mid-year And it'll be relevant to how we're setting goals.

Speaker 1: 28:30

Number two building resilience. You know, developing a growth mindset. As I said at the start, when we go to grow, that's where we'll find happiness, because when we overcome ourselves, overcome the mountains that are before us, which is ourselves, we will be happy with the end result because we're a bigger and better version of ourselves. So we need to embrace those challenges. Having that mindset enable us to learn quicker, and we also need to learn from our setbacks. You will make mistakes and you need to learn to bounce back from these stronger, taking incremental steps. So when we break down tasks into manageable chunks, it makes it a lot easier to do So, focusing on progress rather than perfection.

Speaker 1: 29:08

You cannot make progress if you're not out to make progress. Progress doesn't happen passively. Progress happens over time, with you putting in the work. So focus on the progress rather than the perfection, embracing adaptability, being open to change and adjusting strategies as needed. As I said, things will change. Things will come your way. You'll have to adjust. You'll have to adapt As you grow. You might need more space to be able to do something. You might need to work from somewhere else. You might have to move. Things will come your way that require you to embrace adaptability.

Speaker 1: 29:41

So seeking new opportunities and being flexible with your approach will be key. That is 100% true. Seeking new opportunities and being flexible with your approach. Don't be scared of them. Look for them and see how you can make them work for you, cultivating a supportive network. Look, this is just a fancy way of saying. Basically, surround yourself with like-minded individuals that are gonna lift you up, encourage you and take you to where you need to go. Sorry, and when I say take you, they're not going to like take you, they're going to guide you, they're gonna be there with you, supporting you. But also seek mentorship and build meaningful connections with people. Celebrate milestones This is a big one for me Acknowledge what you've done and reward yourself for it. Reflect on the progress and find motivation in the small wins.

Speaker 1: 30:25

Seven was overcoming self-doubt and fear. We have to challenge our negative thoughts and get help on those things that you're not sure about, where you've got limited beliefs, ask for help, practice self-compassion and building self-confidence. I said last week if you want to be a better public speaker, the best way to become a better public speaker is to public speak more. Overcome that self-doubt and become more confident in yourself. Number eight was learning from others kind of like mentorship and whatnot, but everyone has something to share. As I said at the start, we can learn from people ahead of us, the people around us and the people behind us, because we all bring fresh perspective. We've all come from a different crop, we all have a different journey and we've all experienced something different. So seek advice, seek to learn from others, take on feedback, embrace the mindset for continuous learning.

Speaker 1: 31:13

Number nine was staying committed and consistent When we maintain focus and we have a disciplined approach in pursuing our goals, we will get better and quicker results over time. We also need to establish productive habits and routines. Those things make your life easier. When you get into a flow state and you can get things just working for you because it's just natural like when you drive a car and you get home you're like, oh, i don't remember driving because it's just flow state That's when things are gonna start working in your favor. And number 10 was encouraging reflection and adjustment, taking time to evaluate your progress and we're gonna talk about this next week on checking in mid-year and the financial year and middle of the year and things like that. So take the time to evaluate your progress How have you progressed? Do you need to make any adjustments? And then seeking feedback from other people and learning from your past experiences.

Speaker 1: 32:02

So, to wrap it up, i guess really we can sum this up with that beautiful quote I don't know who said it, but I'm probably butchering it as well, and I've used it a hundred times, but the best time to plan a tree was 20 years ago. The reality is it is important to take action and seize opportunities. That's as simple as it gets. We also need to focus on the present moment for our future possibilities. You can't get stuff in the future if you're not doing anything between now and then. Look, even if you want to build a really big stock portfolio, you have to invest money today to get the result tomorrow, 10 years, five years, two years down the line, it doesn't appear from nowhere. We also need to focus less in the past, and when we start to take action as we start to move forward, we tend to forget about the things that we have done in the past. Like if you've planted a tree and it's been five years, you'll start to see that incremental growth as it progresses. But we don't have to worry about that in the past anymore because we've done that. It's now.

Speaker 1: 33:02

How do we move forward and continue to help that tree grow? I'm just using the tree as the quote, as the analogy here. But at the same time as we do these things, it actually instills hope and empowerment. You're able to plant something, start something, create something that's going to be something big, beautiful and bold in the future. But you have to stick to it, you have to manage it, you have to support it, you have to help it And you have to have the mindset that it's going to work. We also need to be proactive. We also need to be forward thinking.

Speaker 1: 33:34

Planting a tree today, or working on something today that's going to enable us to be in a new position in five years, 10 years, 20 years, you know, that's a forward thinking mindset. It enables us to leap ahead. Obviously, it's going to still take time, but if you don't do that, you can't get that. And really the core message is we have to seize the present moment And I kind of said this before If we seize the present moment, we can start to make positive changes in our life. It starts today. You know, building habits, building a consistency, building a routine. As we do that, the snowballing momentum starts to come into effect and we will start seeing compounding results.

Speaker 1: 34:13

Really, what I wanna leave you with is this stop stopping. Start staying true to what you want and enjoy the journey as well. Right, stop necessarily pursuing just happiness, but start to pursue things that are going to help you grow, to overcome yourself. Right, if I want to grow my business by 10X, i need to do things that are gonna get me 10X results. I'm gonna have to, not operate the same way that I operate now. I'm going to have to get uncomfortable. I'm gonna have to take some really big risks. I'm really talking to myself right now because I had this conversation with somebody the other day. I have to put my money where my mouth is. I have to do things that I've never done before in order to grow. I'm not saying being sloppy and doing unthought out risks, like not taking up a calculated risk and just jumping in without any thought, but I have to do things that I've never done before, things that will make me uncomfortable. When I do them, i will get a result. That result will be a learning. That result will also be obviously a positive outcome of yes, i've done it, or it's not gonna be what I expected, but it's going to be very beneficial because when I go to do it the next time, i will know how to do it better. That's the reality of it.

Speaker 1: 35:23

If you've got any questions about this, more than happy to continue the conversation. I appreciate you being here. I do have SpeakPipe where you can jump over there and leave a voicemail and I can integrate into these conversations. That's at wwwspeakpipecom And look, i want to continue the conversation, so drop a comment down below.

Speaker 1: 35:39

What are you working on? Where do you struggle? What is happiness for you? Are you pursuing growth? Are you pursuing just things that make you happy on a day to day basis? And look, there's no right or wrong answer to this. Sometimes it's just let's just make sure we're smiling each day And we don't need a lot to be content. You don't need a lavish lifestyle, but you just need to be happy with what you're doing. And if you're gonna be happy with that for the next one year, to use five years, then that's great. That's what we want And I would love to hear it. Appreciate you being here. If you could share this episode, or even share this podcast with someone that you think this would resonate with, that would mean the absolute world to me. Appreciate that in advance and you have a wonderful day. Cheers, lex-out avanzantlandcom.