Yo yo yo. Welcome back to the Fill 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 225 today, which blows my mind. We're making some great progress here and a topic that I've it's kind of been something that's been coming up and down across all my different content streams over the last probably six weeks, and I've dropped it a few times and I've had a few conversations with some of the people I've been working with. Yeah, I'm happy but not satisfied, or we should be happy but not satisfied, and this is a really, really important thing, and it's something I actually learned back when I was working in consulting simply because we need to be happy with the work we're doing, and consulting simply because we need to be happy with the work we're doing, but we can't be satisfied until we've got the result we want right.

Simply because when we become happy hear me out, this might get controversial when we become happy, we become sometimes, sometimes we become lazy and complacent, and that becomes dangerous, simply because you might be happy, but if you haven't reached your destination, if you haven't reached where you're trying to go. Well, then that's when things can get a little bit, you know, slippy, slopey. Now there is nothing wrong with being happy and then saying this is enough and becoming satisfied. Let's make that very clear. But in this context, what I'm talking about is you're proud, you're thankful, life is good, but there's still something more that itches inside and there's that desire for more, for better and for growth. Now, this is not a message to say you need to be doing more, you need to be doing growth, you need to be doing all these different things. What it is to say is like when you know what you want again, key theme that I've been trying to talk about over the last few weeks when you know what you want, make sure that you stick to your guns in terms of building that out. But you do need to have the regular pulse checks. You need to have the regular check-ins with yourself to understand is this still what I want? Right? Making sure that we're not just here to promote. You know, hustle, hustle, grind, grind and go, go, go. But I guarantee you if, if you start to think, oh, this is good, it's all, it's all good, we've got this figured out, and you become happy about that and then don't focus on continuously, you know, leveling up or continuously keeping things in check. Or we get sloppy or we get comfortable. That's when things will slide off the off the top and we get complacent. That's when things will slide off the top and we get complacent and that's when we miss out on actually seeing the growth that we actually really desire. So a bit of a loop-de-de-loop kind of style, but that's okay. If this is something you're interested in, please make sure you stick around like subscribe. We drop these every week at 9am on Sundays and if you do enjoy it, you can leave the comment. But most of all, please share it with someone else that you think needs to hear this.

So we're going to dive into this one. This is just going to be a few talking points that I want to take you through more like a kind of like, just a conversation. You know I'll keep you honest. You keep me honest, let's get into it. Let's roll the intro.

So there is this paradox around, I guess fulfillment versus ambition or fulfillment plus ambition and a lot of people, I think, get confused around. You know you can love what you have but still want more, and I think in the past I have been called out that. Why am I telling people to go live a nine to five and hustle and go do all these things? That's not my intention. My intention is really to help people further their lifestyle, and that is different and independent and individualized to everyone in their own definition and what they want in life. But what I'm saying is you can do that. I mean, that's the path I took, but it's not for everyone. But that's why you know you can love what you do Like.

I loved my job when I left it, but there was more. There was more that I wanted and there was this dream and this ambition and this goal that I had. And even though I was getting fulfillment from working for someone else, it wasn't ticking all the boxes. It wasn't getting me to where I wanted to be and I realized that if I wanted to get to where I wanted to be, this isn't the path to get there. So you have to be looking at it from that perspective. And it's not about being unsatisfied means you're being ungrateful. It's a sign that you actually still care about what you want. Right In society, everyone's always talking about them, them, them, them.

Here I am. I share a lot of my journey. My journey is literally about my progress and I'm sharing that. But at the end of the day, you should be focusing on your journey, you should be focusing on your growth, you should be focusing on what you want. I'm here to just motivate, encourage, inspire and hopefully give you that, you know, a little kick up the butt to go out there and chase those dreams and ambitions and, for me, fulfillment and ambition and all those different things. We really need to have a better understanding of how that's going to enable us to thrive when it comes to actually getting what we want. So there is this, you know, whole thing around.

Gratitude means we should not settle. Gratitude keeps us grounded. We need to, on a regular basis, be grateful. We need to spend some time, take some gratitude, see what we've achieved, see what we've conquered, see how far we've come. But it's the ambition that will keep us going.

Gratitude so sidestep when we're working, consulting, when it came to performance management time, when we were providing people either salary increases or bonuses. So the bonus if someone was getting, let's say they were getting a 20% bonus for the year and that might've been for their salary package or whatever that is for the work they have done in the last year. That's the reward. Right, you've worked all year, you've done a really good job, you've hit the KPIs. Therefore, we're going to give you a 20% bonus on your you know pay, and then, when it came to a pay increase, that is actually one because you're deserving it. But it's also to make sure that now that, as you go forward for the next year, this is to make sure you stay motivated and to give you what you need to have that mindset that is like no, no, I'm worth this, I'm getting what I deserve. So we have to look at it. Gratitude is where you've come from, looking back and thinking, yeah, this is I've deserved this, this is good, and actually soaking in the benefits and the rewards that you've achieved, whereas the ambition is then, okay, that's good. Now we're going to move forward and as I move forward, I'm going to get different results. I'm going to get a different outcome. I'm going to get different benefits from doing that, and you need both. You need both to be able to be successfully, always growing and thriving.

But there is this level of discomfort that comes in between. Right, it's always this juggle, and for me it is. It's always this juggle between you know, I'm happy, but I'm still not there, and we have to ask ourselves at some point, well, when is enough? And it becomes a bit of a slippery slope, and we will talk about that. You know when it becomes a bit toxic. But we've got to understand that as we grow, as we level up, as we further ourselves to a better version of ourselves, we need to have that self-awareness to understand that.

Okay, I'm happy with how things are going now. Things are great. I've built up this level of consistency. I'm starting to feel comfortable. Therefore, things are working. I'm happy. There will be a small window where that's okay. And then, naturally, you'll think, okay, this is now just normal. How do I now take it to the next level? And that's. I'm not saying that that's the way it should be, but that's the way we're wired. That's just the way we tend to do things. And again, it's this is not I'm generalizing, I really am.

But you find that as you do something, it becomes easy and you're like oh, okay, I'll do a little bit more, right? Oh, I can do this. I have one dog. Oh, having one dog was easy. Let's have two dogs, right? It applies across so many different things For me.

I remember when I did my first 5K, my first 10K run that was. I couldn't believe it. And then I remember, even when I was leveling up to do my first 10K run, I Googled can I run two 5Ks in one day? Right? Because I thought like, oh, I think actually I think it was when I was training for my first half marathon, sorry and I'm like can I do two 5Ks in one day? And I'm thinking this is of course you can. If you can do 10K in one day, why can't you do two 5Ks in one day? Because I was worried that I was going to cause injury or something. But the reality is that 10K became normal. And then I moved on to half marathons and they became normal. And then I wanted to do a marathon and that became normal. And then I wanted to do ultra marathons and that's become normal.

I haven't ran for a good year because I've been injured, but as you progress, you honor yourself with that progress by being able to uplift your ability to do something with more confidence. So getting to that space, to that next version of yourself, is there's going to be a little bit of a tippy-tap kind of moment where you have to figure it out, a little bit of discomfort, but that's the part of the journey, that's how you grow. So how do we honor our progress without killing our momentum? Right, and I kind of said it before, we need to be celebrating our wins. We need to be taking some time and letting them become small finish lines, milestones, things where we kick back and we're like we've done it every quarter. That's what I aim to do. Carla and I go away, we spend some time, we revisit our goals, we refresh, we reset, but I'm working always to grow every single quarter, personally with the business in all aspects, because it just naturally fits on a quarter basis right, there's four quarters in a year and it keeps me honest, it gives me something to work towards. But you have to celebrate those wins.

And then the other thing is progress is not the enemy of peace. Stagnation is when we slow down, when we stop, when we become complacent. You need to be willing to accept the consequences of being stagnant because Because when you are, things will slow down. I see a lot of people say I don't understand why things aren't changing, I don't know things, why I'm not growing, I don't understand why my business isn't doing better. Well, what have you been? Oh, I haven't really been doing anything. It's like, well, what do you expect to happen? Right, if you're not doing it? It's like saying it's like, oh, still haven't won the lottery. It's like, well, did you put a ticket in the lottery? No, I didn't. I'm not saying go buy a lottery ticket, but you get my point. It's like people want these results, but they're not doing the action to get the results that the action gives them.

So, anyway, we have to also just be mindful and be very, very careful about how being not satisfied can become a little bit toxic for our lifestyles, about how being not satisfied can become a little bit toxic for our lifestyles. And what we have to be careful here is that we do not blur the line between chasing growth and chasing validation. Chasing growth needs to be personal. It needs to be what you want. Chasing validation is trying to prove to other people that you're better than them or that I'm on the right path and this is good. Right, stuff everyone else. You should be doing this, regardless if other people are involved or not. It's about what you want. Right, be selfish. It's about what you want, what do you want, and if that's what you want, it doesn't matter what other people think or care or want about it. Right, the other thing is are you building forward or are you actually just running from yourself?

I have found and seen so many people do something because someone else has told them to do it and they're running from their true potential because they're too scared to embrace their the fear of if they go do the thing that they like and it fails, they're not going to be good enough. This, I've done this before, and it's such a horrible thing to do to yourself. Why would you do that? Why don't you just trust your gut, stick to your guns and see it through and follow these points around the gratitude and leveling up and embracing the discomfort and learning to work through them and how to honor that progress without ruining your momentum. I mean, it just makes sense to my head, but I understand that it's a sensitive area and it happens, so you've got to work through that.

I've got a couple of little questions for you. What parts of your life are truly bringing you joy right now? Write them down, understand, take a moment, reflect, pause the podcast, have a think. What parts in your life are truly bringing you joy right now. Now that aside, what desire are you scared to admit because it might make you look ungrateful?

This one, you know me, I've spoken about. It's like I just want more, or I know we can do more, even though that I've been doing my best months or something, and I've had a few people say it's like, oh geez, like when is enough enough? And it's like, well, I know where I want to be in 10 years. And look, in 10 years it will probably be more again. But the reality is it's like they're all things that I'm trying to level up. I mean and I'm going to talk about a bit later it's just like a video game. So just wait a little bit and I'll give you the analogy the right. We spoke about this already.

If you become complacent, things will slow down. Things will just be as they are Now. If you can get rinse and repeat and you're comfortable with what's happening in just automation, zombie mode, routine basis, that is fine. But you have to be happy with it and you have to be satisfied with it. If you're not, the only person you can blame is yourself. So a couple of things that I'll just remind a few people about is you can be content and still want more. It's okay. And you're allowed to be proud of your growth and still crave more room to grow. Yeah, like that's fine, like there's nothing wrong with that. And then gratitude doesn't mean you stop evolving, okay.

So the analogy that I wanted to share was think of your life kind of like a video game. Right, you beat level 10, right, and then you're pumped, you're excited, you feel great, you feel like this is amazing. Right, it took you so long to get there. But you know level 11 is waiting, the next level is there. And it doesn't mean level 10 sucked. It means you've built yourself ready for that next level.

You get into level 11, it's going to be a tough one, it's going to be challenging, it's going to be hard. You're going to go back and forth, back and forth. You'll probably fail a few times, but eventually you'll get past it. And then you'll be strong and you're like oh, that was tough, you're just going to take a break for a bit. All right, now we move on to level 12. That's what I'm talking about. You feel so good in the moment, you're so happy, but then you're like all right, let's do it again Right, and you're seeking that next next thing, to be a better version of yourself, to help you further your lifestyle.

Now, this can apply to anything. It doesn't have to be business. It can be physical, it can be fitness, it can be mental, it can be with your partners, it can be emotional, it can be with your relationships. It can be with so many different things and so many elements within your life. You get to pick and choose, right. This is more just kind of like a blueprint, a discussion of what you can do and now go apply it in the element or the perspective, whether it's your whole life, you know, end to end, holistically, or is it, you know, really niched down into a very particular area, but being a business, or your health, or whatever? So that's it for me.

If you want to continue the conversation, feel free to jump down into the comments and we can continue the conversation. I would challenge you think about all this stuff, right, like, because when we know what we want and you can stand by it confidently and, you know, not really think about what other people are worried about. I mean like not, not really, sorry, not really worried about what other people are thinking about you. Then you're going to be able to move forward, and you'll be. You should be happy, you should be grateful and you should apply gratitude at the different points in time and then look at okay, what's next, what's the next logical step right and be, you know, willing to challenge yourself, to grow and to level up and become the best version of yourself again and again and again. Appreciate you being here. You have a wonderful day. Cheers.