EP. 140 - Aphorisms from 'The Alchemist' | Further Your Lifestyle Podcast

Speaker 1: 0:00

Yo yo yo. Welcome back to the Furrier 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 140, which is so cool to hear that we're so close to 150, big milestone number and today I was reflecting on the Alchemist, the book the Alchemist.

Speaker 1: 0:21

If you have not read the Alchemist, it's probably one of my favorite books over reading. You know a lot of books over the last couple of years and I was actually reading a different article. I'll put the article up in the show notes and you can go over there and there's 100 powerful quotes from the book the Alchemist. And today I want to take you through 10 powerful quotes that resonated the most with me out of the book the Alchemist. Now, you do not have to have read the Alchemist. I highly encourage you to go read the Alchemist. But these are just 10 quotes that I think are relevant to furthering your lifestyle and I want to challenge you with them. I want to talk about them with you and that's what we're going to get into today.

Speaker 1: 0:54

So let's roll the intro and dive in. So number one diving straight into it is it's the possibility of having a dream come true. That makes life interesting. You know, it's always there's this conversation that I always go back to that I love to have a little giggle about. I've got some friends and I was talking to them and they said that it's like oh, you know, if I was to win the million dollar, you know, if I was to win the lottery this weekend, you know, maybe it was a $55 million jackpot or something. Now, this is what I'll do, I'll do this, I'll do this, and we have a good conversation about it. It's always fun to dream about it and think about it. And then I said, oh, so did you buy tickets? And they said, no, right. But it's what makes life interesting. All these possibilities of having the dream come true, right. And the difference is, we can think about it, we can think about this possibility, but we can also bring in probability as well, and when we make probability a bit more on our side by doing action, that possibility becomes even more possible because we've given ourselves the advantage to actually make it happen.

Speaker 1: 1:58

And you know, having a dream, yes, does make life interesting, but getting the dream makes life fulfilling, and that's number one that I wanted to really share with you all, because I've always been a big dreamer. I've always been someone that's always had aspirations or bigger things in life, and I still do, like I'm always thinking ahead. But ever since I was a young kid, like I remember in primary school I wanted to have a business called Insect World and each level of the tower, like it was going to be like a 10 story building of the tower was going to be just for a certain type of bug or insect, and you know that was a dream and I was thinking that it was going to be cool, it was going to be amazing. Of course, things changed, but if you don't have those dreams and aspirations, then you're not really having any bigger part of your life to think about. You're just really doing it for the sake of doing it. So make your life interesting, but make your life fulfilling by actually making these things happen.

Speaker 1: 2:55

The next one was a shepherd always takes his chances with wolves and with drought, and that's what makes a shepherd's life exciting. So similar, similar things. Here he's saying that he takes his chances with wolves and drought, meaning he's willing to do risk versus reward. He's willing to have a little bit of grit, have a bit of hustle, take on the challenges, get out of his comfort zone and embrace a little bit of growth. You know, when you're a shepherd you could go to better pastures.

Speaker 1: 3:19

You previously in the you know, generations ago, shepherds would roam with their sheep. They would travel the land because there wasn't anywhere else around and they could go to all these places. But it might mean they would be confronted with wolves, with drought, with other challenges, big beasts who knows right Bears, whatever. And it did. It made their life exciting. But if they just stayed in the same place, one the sheep would probably not be able to flourish because they wouldn't have the right needs that they needed in terms of food. But at the same time they could go from one place to the next to only find drought, and maybe the grass wasn't greener on the other side. But again, it's part of the journey. It gives the chance to experience, it gives the chance for adventure, it gives the chance to try new things, it gives the chance to grow and it gives the chance for the shepherd to not just sit around looking at the sheep in the distance, but to travel to new places and keep life exciting. So I think that's relevant to us because if you keep doing the same thing, you always get the same result. When we get out of our comfort zones and embrace a little bit of risk, take on the big challenges, be willing to face the fears, then we will be surprised. We might be surprised with, maybe, something we didn't expect, for the positive or the negative, but we will grow, we will learn and become a better version of ourselves.

Speaker 1: 4:37

Number three it's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary. Only wise men are able to understand them. Yeah, I think the further you go through life of course I'm not saying I'm a wise man, but I have acquired wisdom over the years of doing 32 years of life the things that, as you get older, you start to appreciate differently. I just seeing, I walked into the video games store the other day and I saw a couple of kids and they rushed in there and they picked up a video game off the shelf and they were just thinking about all the stories oh, this looks so cool, imagine if we could be this one. Oh that, can we get that one? And then someone else saw a Sonic game, and then someone saw a Pokémon game and they were sharing all the excitement and I reflected on that as me being in the same situation.

Speaker 1: 5:23

You know, back when I was a young kid, and how it was simpler times. You didn't have such worries of the world, you weren't adulting, all these different things, and it was simple. And it's those little things in life that are extraordinary, those little moments that you remember. I enjoy spring now because when I go through spring I reflect on my childhood and I reflect on when I used to play some of my favorite video games RuneScape with my friends, my best mate, and they were some of my favorite highlights. Now, when I go running and I just see, you know, animals or a magpie or a bunny or a horse, those things just light up my life because they're just, they're precious, they're simple and as you go through life you will appreciate the little things more. And I think we can only get that appreciation as we grow wiser or grow older, and both.

Speaker 1: 6:12

Number number four everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own. Now I take this one very seriously because here I am sharing all these things, saying you should do this or have you thought about doing that and I need to make sure I'm keeping myself honest and accountable and not here being a hypocrite, saying one thing but doing the complete opposite. And I get it. It's a journey right. It's what all humans and I like to talk about these things because usually they're relevant to my life. They're relevant to the things that I'm working through and dealing through to get me to where I want to be. If you go back over the last 140 episodes, you will see the progression of the things I've spoken about that are relevant to my mindset, relevant to my life, relevant to where I was in my business, in my running, in building this podcast, and you will see the change, you will see the adjustment, and the things that I'm speaking about are different, but they might also be the same, but I'm now talking about them at a different level and that's because I've made progress. So it's almost like a documentation of the changes of progress across the last couple of years.

Speaker 1: 7:18

When people do give you advice, when do people do give you constructive criticism or feedback? Make sure they're people that are taking it upon themselves to do themselves a favour and actually making their own lives better and not just trying to project onto other people's lives, like yourself, to make them feel better about themselves, because now you're going to go make yourself feel better. The funny thing is people that do make their lives better, like if someone was to tell you go do this, you do it and you have a better outcome and you turn your life around and those people did nothing. They are now going to be likely jealous of you. So there's two parts of this. You can either take it upon you and live with it and walk through it, but also make sure you be mindful of who are the people that are speaking into your lives, because if they're not doing anything to actually grow, to actually take it upon themselves to take the same advice and leverage that, or have taken the same advice in the past to actually get some to where they are today to be able to tell you what it is that they're telling you to go do, then it's probably not worth taking that advice.

Speaker 1: 8:20

The next one is people are capable at any time in their lives of doing what they dream of. This is literally the same thing I spoke about in a whole episode, episode 139, about the quote from George Lucas. We are all living in cages with the door wide open. We all have the opportunity right in front of us. It's just more about are we willing to take the steps to get outside of our comfort zones and to walk through the wide, open cage gate right in front of us? We are more than capable of doing it. We just have to be willing to get uncomfortable before we're comfortable again. I won't say any more on that. You can listen to the whole episode on it but you are more than capable of getting what you want.

Speaker 1: 9:00

The next one is every blessing ignored becomes a curse. I think this is really important because not not to say that you know the balance of life or anything like that, or karma, but I think when we don't appreciate the blessings that come into our lives, it means we will become bitter, and gratitude is absolutely key for these kind of things. And when we're nice to people, people are nice to you and it's not about doing it for that reason, but that's the way it works. If you're not nice to people, or if people are nice to you but you continue to not be nice to other people, well then you will not get that benefit back. It's respect and what it's referring to as a curse. The way I read this is when we ignore the blessings we have, when we take things for granted, it becomes a curse because we become broken, we become bitter and we do not appreciate the things that other people don't even have or even understand or you can even have in their lifetimes. Simple things such as running tap water. Turn on a tap and there's water there and it's drinkable water, like that is a blessing. But when we ignore that, we can become bitter when we go to somewhere else and say, oh well, where I'm come from, this is always here. Don't take it that way. You need to appreciate the things that we have with gratitude. Now there's probably a different way we can interpret this statement, but that's how I'm taking it. Don't ignore your blessings. Count your blessings before you start, you know, complaining about how bad you have it.

Speaker 1: 10:31

The next one is it's only those who are persistent and willing to study things deeply who achieve the masterwork. Look, I think this is like one plus one equals two. When you are persistent, plus when you study things deeply, equals. You will get the masterwork result, meaning we will master our skill, we become masteries of ourselves, and you have to be persistent, you have to be willing to learn. If you're not learning and you're not constantly doing that, being persistent, then how can you expect to achieve a master level? Ten thousand hour rule you can't become ten thousand hours of experienced work in two hours. It just doesn't add up right. So find something that you can do repetitively, consistently, every day, each in and out, and you will find that there comes a tipping point where, all of a sudden, things just start to happen. But until that tipping point, you have to be willing to be persistent, you have to be willing to study, you have to be willing to learn, you have to be willing to continue to achieve, and then that tipping point occurs and it's just normal. It's just a normal part of your life.

Speaker 1: 11:40

The next one is life is the moment. We're living right now. This is a good point. I think this is something that we tend to brush over, because right now you have opportunity to do whatever you want. You want to listen to this podcast. You're spending your time doing it, thank you. You're living life right now.

Speaker 1: 11:59

So are you doing things today that is going to get you to where you want to be? You might not know where you want to be, but you might know where you don't want to be. Therefore, doing the opposite or doing something away from that is going to get you closer to where you potentially want to be, and you are responsible for that. You are accountable for that. No one else is going to take you to where you want to be. I can give you insight, I can give you direction of where I've been, where I'm at now, where I'm going, and if that's relevant to you, maybe you can apply that. But most of the time it's my journey. It's not going to be relevant to you. These points my perspective understanding have come from my own experience of how I've lived my life and how I live my life in this moment. So you can leverage that. But at the end of the day, it comes back to you of what do you want? So, if you want to play video games, if you want to go for a run, if you want to go down to the beach all day, read a book, you can do that. That's on. You Live the life you want.

Speaker 1: 12:58

Basically what I'm trying to say Got two more. The next one is rest well tonight, as if you were a warrior preparing for combat. The simple sense that I take from this is like a good night's sleep is what's going to enable you to continue to be consistent, be able to show up, to get results, to be healthy, to stay on track of things, to enjoy the journey even more. Because when you're well prepped and your body is in a state where it's ready to be able to fight, take on the new day. Modern day combat or modern day fight might be just taking on the routines of adulthood and life. You're able to just function better. Get that right, rest well and you can take on the new day bright and easy. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but it will be easier. So rest well, and when I say rest, it could be sleep, it could be downtime, it could be enabling yourself to detox from the things that have stressed you out, the things that have overwhelmed you, the things that have drained you. Refresh yourself, because there's no point going into battle already wounded, already weak, because you will not win. It's that simple.

Speaker 1: 14:11

The last one we're finishing on today is usually the threat of death makes people a lot more aware of their lives. I mean we can resonate with this one. Over the last few years, with the pandemic, obviously it forced a lot of people into some sticky situations and challenged a lot of people to rethink their lives. I know for me it was one of the things that helped me push to make the decision to leave the nine to five and to pursue taking a chance on myself to create this podcast, to embrace building a business for myself, because it just made me realize that if I'm not doing what I want, then what's the point? But also, no one else is going to do it and I can keep doing this, I can get a good paycheck, I can have the comfort of that security, but it's not really going to be something that is of a purposeful life, a fulfilling life, and it's not what I want. I realize it's not what I want.

Speaker 1: 15:09

So when we're hit with those things in life that obviously revolve around death whether it's a family member close to home or just seeing it in the world one do not take it for granted, because things can change just like that. And I was talking to Carla the other day that, whether it's true or not, I don't know, but there's this statistic statistic that you're more likely to die going to buy a lottery ticket to win a lottery than to actually win the lottery itself. So if you won the lottery, you've basically cheated death, which, when you think about that, that's insanity because of the odds. So keep that in mind. You know things can change very quickly and when you do experience that because we all experience it's something that makes you click, something that gives you a wake up call and realize what am I doing with my life. Make sure from that moment, that you you take it upon yourself to document your journey for yourself. The reason why is because, in the long run, there will be a level of legacy that you can leave to other people that can help them understand sooner than later and which is one of the reasons why I do this podcast right is it took me a long time to get to making that decision to go on this, and I don't have this all figured out, like to go on this journey, but I know that where I want to be, where I want to go, it's going to take a long time, but I want to share that with other people, and if other people can realize that they can make the change, their life that they want Doesn't have to be out leaving their job. It can just be about, you know, getting the results that they want, then if I can help people see that earlier than later, then my job is done. So don't let it be the threat of death that gets you to that point. Try and embrace that earlier, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 17:03

Really good book that I'll come as. 100% stand by it, definitely one of my favorites. I originally listened to it when I did my first marathon. Really really powerful book and there's another 90 powerful quotes from this book that someone has shared, so I'm going to put that link in the description in the show notes below. Go check it out, but just go read the book, go listen to the book. If you are on Spotify, you can actually, if you've got Spotify premium, they do have 150,000 audio books on there now. Otherwise, audiblecom is pretty good with audio books. Otherwise, you can just purchase off Amazon all those great places where they sell books, and Alchemist is definitely a big one to put into your shelf and read.

Speaker 1: 17:42

Appreciate you being here If you do have any questions. If you've read the Alchemist, then you've got a favorite quote or anything that you want to continue the conversation about. Hit me up, you know. Drop a message below in the YouTube comments if you're here on the YouTube. Otherwise, reach out to me directly on Instagram and we can continue the conversation. If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone. If you've been challenged by it, share it. If you think someone else can be challenged by it or to resonate with it, share it with them. It would mean the world to me. It helps the podcast grow, but it would also. If we can help people further their lives a lot quicker, then we are doing something better today than we have done yesterday. So please help with that mission. Really do appreciate you being here. You have a wonderful day, cheers.