Getting After It

067: "Remember Who You Are" | Crafting a Legacy of Authenticity and Excellence

• Brett Rossell • Season 3 • Episode 67

Share episode

Every morning, my mom would say, 'remember who you are,' a gentle reminder of the roots of my identity. This episode explores past experiences and the character they've forged, interlaced with stories from the 'Fat Brett' era to the profound influences of childhood aspirations.

I invite you into an open dialogue about using retrospection as a catalyst for advancement, extracting lessons from past missteps, and embracing the idiosyncrasies that shape us.

The steady rhythm of running during marathon training has imparted a critical lesson on the endurance required not just for the race but for life’s  journey.

This narrative is enriched by the insights from James Clear's 'Atomic Habits,' drawing connections between the small wins in running and the significant impact of consistent effort in all facets of life.

Reputation stems from our deeds, not just our thoughts. This episode explores the core of crafting a legacy rooted in genuineness and steadfastness.

Through stories and introspection, I explore the fine line between confidence and conceit while urging you to establish a path that embodies a reputation of kindness, dependability, and profound commitment.

Follow on Instagram: @bcrossell

–––––––––––––––––-

I hope you've enjoyed today's discussion and that it's ignited a fire within you to pursue your dreams and embrace your true potential. (If it was helpful, share it with someone you think could benefit.)

If you're hungry for motivation, personal development, and career insights, be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform. I try to have a diverse lineup of guests, each with their own unique stories and experiences to share.

Remember, this podcast is all about you—the dreamers and the doers. I'm here to provide a platform where your voice can be heard, where you can find inspiration, and where you can learn from the journeys of others who have dared to chase their dreams.

If you are interested in being a guest, reach out.

I appreciate your support, let's connect on social media. Follow us on Instagram (@gettingafterit_) to stay updated on new episodes and behind-the-scenes content.

Remember, your dreams are within reach. You just have to decide to Get After It.

Speaker 1:

And so that was the point of this podcast was to bring people on to tell their stories and talk about the things that make them who they are, because the fact that we are all different and we all have different strengths and weaknesses makes the world beautiful. As cheesy as it sounds and I know I'm going down this rabbit hole of cheese it's the truth of cheese. It's the truth. When I was a kid and growing up, all throughout high school, there was one message my mom used to tell me. Every single day when I would leave for school and I'm not kidding from when I was a kindergartner to when I was a senior in high school, before I would leave the door or get out of the car, my mom would always look at me and say remember who you are. And at the time, I have to say, I did not understand what she was talking about, but to hindsight, it's 2020. Now I can see that there was something that I didn't know that she did, and remember who you are is what we're talking about today Remembering who you are, being who you are and being proud of that, because I think this, honestly, could be a couple episodes, so I might do a few. There's a lot of things that go into being who you are. All the experiences that you've faced in your life have brought you to the person that you are today, and let me give you an example. So I talk all the time about Fat Brett. How many times on this podcast have I brought up Fat Brett? I wish I could use AI to make him a character and then buzz him in. I'm sure that'll be available in a couple of years, so we'll get him on when AI starts picking up. Chatgpt just launched a voice feature within their platform, so we're getting close.

Speaker 1:

But anyways, fat Brett, I always talk about Fat Brett and how I would go to QT every day. I would eat Cheetos. I would go to Taco Bell and indulge myself to the point to where I was like, hey, actually when I was a kid I didn't even care. I was like, wow, that was a lot of tacos I probably ate 12. It was delicious and so all these random things that Fat Brett would do go drink it, only soda. Don't drink that water, just drink soda.

Speaker 1:

You know that was me, and a lot of people can try and be embarrassed about that, right, like they could be someone who's like man. That was just a weird time in my past, like I just didn't know any better. I was just eating what I could, right. And in reality, for me it's like I I actually one enjoyed my time during that phase when I was just pounding food, didn't really care about what I was doing to my body, and I want to remember that because I don't want to ever go back to that, as weird as that sounds, because I know what both sides of the coin are like. I know what it's like to eat so much food to where you want to just puke because you feel sick, right, and I know the extreme of Starving yourself, basically, and losing weight because you know of aesthetics or whatever is going through your mind losing weight because of aesthetics or whatever is going through your mind.

Speaker 1:

But these are all things that, like lessons and experiences that I've been through that have made me into the person I am today, and remembering who you are, I think, starts with exactly that reflecting on your past, what experiences have you been through that have made you a stronger person today? What experiences have you been through that have made you a stronger person today, and what experiences have you gone through which you wish you could have changed your response to. Everyone has regrets and things like that, but I don't think that people should have regrets. I think that they should look at those times that they wish they would have done something better as a lesson learned so they never do it again. And you could say that's one of the reasons why I love history is because I study it. So I don't, you know, make the same mistakes that some of these other people did in their lives. But I think part of it, you know, is just trying to remember the lessons that are taught through them. And that same principle applies to your own life. Think about it Like what are you trying to accomplish? Well, have you done something difficult in the past? If you have, what got you through that? And can you take some of those principles and lessons that you learned during that difficult time and apply them to now? So remembering who you are, I think starts with what you were interested in as a kid and I heard this quote the other day that I think is interesting it's your younger self believed in you and your older self is counting on you. So if you take that into consideration like when you were a kid and you believed in yourself and you wanted to see what you were going to accomplish in your life, whether you wanted to be a teacher, you wanted to be a doctor, maybe you wanted to be a fireman, whatever it is Like. Take lessons from that, because I think that can teach you one things that you're interested in and two areas that you can really double down and reinforce. I'll give you an example of this.

Speaker 1:

When I was a kid, my biggest dream was to be an author. I wanted to write books. My dad was a publisher, and so I would just devour books that he would bring home, and it was amazing. It was like I lived in a library, because almost on a daily basis, my dad would receive new books that he either had to go through. I think he also would request samples of books pretty much just to keep me entertained, but it's almost a daily thing, and so that was a huge blessing the fact that we had all these books always coming to our door. I always read them, and I loved reading and I still do to this day and so when I was a kid, I was like, man, how cool would it be to be able to come up with these stories, write them in a book and have someone else sit on the couch devouring the words that you wrote and the story that you wrote, like I think that's such a cool thought.

Speaker 1:

And I've talked to Allie about you know some of the things that you know we've or I've talked about as a kid. Like, yeah, I used to want to be an author Not anymore, I'm in sales, right, and that's kind of the end of the story, until Allie was like, well, you kind of still are, like you are an author. And I was like, explain please. And so she's like well, you journal all the time. You write these pretty intricate letters. I send Allie a cheesy love note at least once a month. So, note to husbands out there send your wife a cheesy love note at least once a month. It's, it's, it's well received and, um, I do write a lot for work too and all these different things. And so she's like you are an author.

Speaker 1:

And she told me that probably four months ago, which is about when I started working on my book, and I was like you know what I actually am and it's because I used to read so much and I used to want to be an author and now I'm finding hobbies like journaling, like this podcast, where I can use that thing where I wanted to write and actually do it and write and use that trait and that strength and double down on it and continue to get better, because, in my opinion, if you can communicate very effectively with people, people will understand your goals and your vision. And the biggest lesson that I've taken from that idea is it doesn't take too much time. Like you can go listen to my old podcasts. My thoughts are all over the place, and it wasn't until I started really being like okay. Well, maybe I need to really focus on cutting out filler words, which is something I'm still working on, but I want to get better at it and I want to enunciate better, because I want people to understand the principles, the lessons that I'm talking about and be able to take from them things that they can apply to their own life, them, things that they can apply to their own life. And so how do I do that? I have to simplify these traits, these lessons, and the best way to do that is for me to write and get the ideas out on paper and then be like what's the common theme here? How can I make this as digestible as possible and go from there.

Speaker 1:

So, again, that's just another example of me thinking about what I used to want to do and figuring out that I could use some of those strengths to help me with my goals now and see where that goes, because I think you can learn a lot about yourself from your past. You can learn how resilient you are, how disciplined you are, how consistent you are, and if you're not happy with where you're at on any of those, well, guess what? Now's the time to change. And the best part is is we have this entire life where we can, and I think that's why it's super important to journal and to write down your thoughts, because then you get an idea of what you're thinking and it doesn't take too much time to be like okay, well, I've been writing in this journal for 30 days and what comes like? What is the common theme that I'm saying every night, like am I not happy with my goals? How's my family life looking? Am I working too much? Am I not working enough? Whatever it is, but journaling helps you identify areas of improvement, so that's why I love it so much.

Speaker 1:

I'm always about trying to find what's next, what can I refine, what can I reinforce, what can I get better at? Because all those things that make you better will make you a more effective human being. And my whole goal with trying to become a very effective human being, if you want to call it that, is just to be able to help people and to show them that, no matter what, you can accomplish more than you think you can, and your mind is only your limit. Because I fell victim to that many times I thought you know our history, our fate, whatever you want to call it, our future was all predetermined and we weren't able to change it. And if we messed up once, guess what? That's the end One strike, you're out. No, that's the beauty of life is you get as many times as you need to to retry. As long as you don't give up, as long as you look at failure as an opportunity to learn, then by all means you are getting better.

Speaker 1:

And I was talking to Ali about this quote about patience, which I really like, and I apologize for last week not being able to find my quotes, but I found this one. So this is from James Clear, who wrote Atomic Habits and is one of my favorite authors. He's very simple with how he writes, and I signed up for his newsletter and this is one of the quotes that he said in his newsletter. My personal rule is that it's a good idea to be patient as long as I'm in the mix. If I'm taking action action putting in my reps and trying things out then I should remain patient and see what opportunities arise. But if I'm not taking action consistently, then I'm not practicing patience, I'm just waiting, and I think I fall victim to that mentality all the time. If I am taking action, putting in my reps and trying things out, then I should remain patient and see what opportunities arise In my head. Though, when I'm taking action and I'm putting in the reps and I'm trying things out and things aren't going my way, then I get pretty mad and it's hard for me to remain patient until I learn the valuable lesson, which we'll go into in a second. But I also really relate to this last part of the quote where he says but if I'm not taking action consistently, then I'm not practicing patience, I am just waiting. So what? You're just waiting for things to happen to you. You're going to let the breeze blow you around. See where it takes you, right. That's what happens if you're not taking action consistently.

Speaker 1:

Now going back to the first part, you know, putting in action, taking action, putting in my reps and trying things out. The best metaphor for life is what guys? It's running right. And it's the biggest teacher to me for lessons on patience, because when I ran my marathon originally back in June 2023, that was my first marathon I trained for it. I didn't train seriously or consistently, I kind of just went in with a very lofty goal the goal. I finished that marathon at three hours and 49 minutes and had this idea in my head that for the next Team Tim race, I wanted to run a sub three marathon, and so I had a good amount of time to train for that. It was June and I really started training for it.

Speaker 1:

Around September is when I think I hired my coach and so I started getting pretty dedicated. I got driven beyond everything I had. I bought all the fitness gear. I went and bought a bunch of goos. I was getting all excited, right, and I was like I'm going to run a marathon, I'm going to go sub three, get new shoes, whatever, trying to get myself hyped up. And so I would do it. I would put in the action, I would put in the reps and I would try things out. Guess what? I saw Absolutely nothing for months and months. I'm not kidding by that. I would want my speed to increase, I'd want my average pace to go down, but it was just consistent and it was stagnant.

Speaker 1:

I remember talking to my coach one time and being like do you think this is possible? Like, do you think I can run a sub three? I have four months of training, three months of training left, whatever it was. Do you think I can do this? And I remember saying that and the results will come as long as you're patient. And I didn't want to believe her, and I think that's partly why you hire a coach is because you need to be told things sometimes that you don't want to hear. And I was like, no, there's no way I go off data. I'm a data guy. If there's numbers, if there's evidence, then I will believe it, but if there's not, then it's a little hard for me to believe it. And so I was taking her word for it and I was like, okay, well, I will just keep showing up, I will keep doing these workouts and pray that that fitness will come where I can finally run that sub three. So I'm trying out all these things and a couple of weeks go by. Not too much has changed. To get a little faster, maybe another couple of weeks. Well, my stamina is getting better, I can see that.

Speaker 1:

And then, you know, as we progress through the training the rest of the training block, I could see myself getting faster and it was at a point to where I was doing five mile repeats at my marathon pace. I was going fast and the results came and I just needed to be patient. I needed to realize that the work I was doing, I was trying out new things and I was putting in the reps on a daily basis, that did bring the results and it did allow me to run sub three in February for team Tim. But a lot of work went into that and it was a lot of work that I didn't really, you know, see the results for for the longest time. Um, but I just trusted that if I was showing up doing my best, something would happen and I was going to be able to do it. And, evidently enough, I trusted my coach. She knows what she's talking about. She's been doing this way longer than me and she's way faster than me. Shout out to Jackie she just ran Boston at two hours and 47 minutes, freaking insane. So that's amazing. But, on that same note, I can't beat my coach. But this next marathon I do in September at big cottonwood. I'm going for a two hour and 50 minute marathon, so trying to increase my odds to be able to get to Boston and, uh, run that race with my wife in 2025. So that'd be fun.

Speaker 1:

But getting back to the idea of being who you are and being proud of the person that you are, if you want to change things about yourself, you are, and being proud of the person that you are, if you want to change things about yourself, you have to be patient. And so if you went through that exercise where you're reflecting and you said, hey, I wish I could be a little bit more disciplined in my life, hey, I wish I was a little bit more consistent with my goals, and guess what? It's time to start taking action. It's time to start putting in those reps and it's time to start trying new things, because you can't get better by doing the same thing over and over again. I don't know if it's Einstein or someone, but the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Obviously, if you're not doing something different, you're not going to get any different result. That's why change is so difficult, because you have to identify what you want to change and you have to give up some old habits. That might be really difficult to do. So that's why books like Atomic Habits by James Clear, where he discusses reframing how you look at your habits, identifying triggers, changing your environment Like that book, is so valuable if you're looking to change habits or build upon existing habits. So I would say go read Atomic Habits. If you haven't Very powerful book, I like it. Can't say enough for it.

Speaker 1:

But I want to preface this next part. It actually comes from the same newsletter, different week though. But this next part of being who you are is about your reputation. You need to be who you are because the work that you do will build your reputation. Sorry, I can't say that word Ridiculous, I should have minored in English or something, but no, I decided to do business management. Anyways, your reputation is important and you need to be proud of the person that you are and for the legacy that you're leaving behind, and it doesn't necessarily have to be like a. You know you want to be a billionaire or whatever.

Speaker 1:

Like your legacy is, in my opinion, how you treat other people, how people would say, hey, brett was a good guy. Anytime he needed help, he'd call me. That's more important to me than having a billion dollars. Obviously, a billion dollars would be nice, but I'd rather be known as the guy that was there to help when someone needed it rather than the guy that has a billion dollars. So your reputation says a lot about you and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Speaker 1:

He's a very famous actor. I think he won a few Golden Globes. He might have won an Oscar, but he was asked a question about this on an interview at the 63rd Golden Globes, so January 2006. And someone was asking him about making the most of your opportunities and he said this this is something a teacher told me years ago, and he's right If you're auditioning for something that you know you're never going to get, or maybe you read the script and didn't even like it, but you still have to go If you get a chance to act in a room that somebody else has paid rent for, then you're given a chance to practice your craft, and in that moment, you should act as well as you can, because when you leave the room and you have acted as well as you can, there's no way the people who have watched you will forget it. Your, that's it. That's the end of the quote. So your reputation matters. People will remember the things, that's it. That's, that's the end of the quote. So your reputation matters. People will remember the things that you do.

Speaker 1:

And for me, the biggest motivating factor is thinking about my future kids. I want them to be proud of their dad. I want them to think hey, my dad shows me what it's like to work hard, he values God. He knows that his wife is the most perfect person. I want all my kids to know the things that I believe, and the only way that I can do that is through my actions. There's this other quote from Alex Hormozy that goes I became significantly less disappointed in myself when I started judging myself only on the actions I take and not my thoughts.

Speaker 1:

That's big. Let me re-say that. I became significantly less disappointed in myself when I started judging myself only on the actions I took, not my thoughts. What does that mean? Judge yourself by the actions you take? Obviously, we think. Thousands and thousands of thoughts a day. You can't judge who you are by your thoughts, right? Example is if you're in a very packed grocery line, you're trying to check out and everyone's going super slow. But you have a dinner appointment that you have to get to and you're like I'm going to kill everyone here. Obviously you're not going to kill everyone there, but maybe later. You're driving in the car You're like why did I say that? What the hell? I shouldn't have said I was going to kill everyone. Obviously I'm not going to. I'm a softie. But like thoughts like that, right. Like don't judge yourself. We're all going to have stupid thoughts here and there, bad thoughts here and there, but the important thing is judging yourself based on your actions. So you can have as many terrible thoughts as you want, but if you're going through the world, you're treating people right, you're helping out when you can, you're just being a good person, then by all means I think that's fine. But judge yourself based on your actions and not your thoughts, and that will build your reputation and that will build your reputation.

Speaker 1:

I, uh, I was asked in an interview, um yesterday actually, about one of the achievements I'm most proud of, and I had to think about it for a second because I've done not trying to toot my horn here, but I've done some pretty great things in my life. I, um, I ran sub three marathon Like that's the biggest physical feat I've ever done. I married my wife, who is the best person in the entire world, who makes me a better person. We have so much fun together. Our relationship is like the best. Um, that's a huge accomplishment for me is finding someone that I resonate with, that I love to the max degree and someone that I can share these life experiences with. So that's a huge accomplishment for me. I mean, I've gotten, I've generated $250 million of pipeline for one quarter at the company I work for.

Speaker 1:

And so when I was thinking about this question, I was like, well, what am I going to say? Like, what am I going to say? And I looked at the guy and I said, honestly, I think my biggest accomplishment I'm most proud of is how unbelievably consistent I am in everything I do my faith. I try my best to keep that number one in my day, and I usually listen to a talk from my church in the morning and then try and study at nighttime, but that is something I do consistently, I pray, I'm consistent in my physical feats, what I'm doing there, and I walked him through how you know, I started just by wanting to run a half marathon, right, and then I ran the half marathon with Allie for Team Tim in Carlsbad 2023. And then I ran my marathon and then that wasn't enough, so I wanted to go sub three and that wasn't enough. So now I'm doing an ultra that's signed up for next month.

Speaker 1:

But the only reason I know I can do all these things is because of my consistency, and so that's a big thing I can lean on, be like you know what. I know that's a crazy goal to go run 32 miles in the mountains, but I know I'm consistent as hell and if I just start, you know, using discipline as the catalyst to get that habit built, then I will be consistent and I know that that is something I can do. And same thing with work. I'm very consistent at work and that's my reputation is. I am leaving a reputation of being consistent. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here or like hype myself up of being consistent. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here or hype myself up, but I'm just trying to explain. This is what I think about when I try to figure out who I am.

Speaker 1:

Am I proud about the things I've done? Yes, of course I'm proud about them, but I'm more proud about the fact that I can stay consistent, the fact that I can remain consistent and be someone that people can count on. That means the most to me, because at work you know I'm in sales and sales is historically a fluctuating industry and sometimes you don't know if you're going to hit your number and it's a little sketchy. But the fact that I'm consistent, I know that my bosses and my manager, they don't have to worry about. Is Brett going to hit this number, like no, they don't have to worry about that because they've seen the results and that's part of my reputation. That's what I'm trying to get at here is think about your reputation.

Speaker 1:

What kind of legacy are you leaving for those people around you? Is it something that you can be proud of? And if so, then double down on it and keep going, because who you are, like I said a little bit ago, your younger self believed in you and your older self is counting on you. Your younger self expected you to be this huge. You know this great person right? If you wanted to be a fireman and you're not? Your younger self, are you letting them down? That was what I was going to ask there, but that probably isn't the case.

Speaker 1:

Obviously, things change, life changes and different situations come up to where sometimes you have to take different routes, and that happens in life. One thing in life is that it's unexpected, um. But I think that's why it's important to figure out who you are, because if you can figure out who you are, then when those unexpected times come, it won't phase you. It'll be a difficult situation to go through, but it won't change the way that you look at yourself. You'll know who you are.

Speaker 1:

And that's honestly one of the reasons why I talk about running as much as I do, because when you're in those races and you're just struggling, there's not a lot of fuel going through you. You're tapped out, you're at mile 24 of a marathon. In those moments, that's when you have to dig deep. You have to understand is the goal worth it? And if it is, what do I need to do to make it happen? How can I cross that finish line With all this work that I've put in? I need to get there. Those moments teach you so much about who you are. Are you a quitter? Are you going to keep going? And I obviously want to highlight the fact that I understand that a lot of people could have medical issues. Go on, not everyone's running a marathon for speed, but I think it's just when.

Speaker 1:

Those times when you don't have anything in your take, put running aside, maybe it's you spend a full day at work and you're exhausted and you need to go home to you, see your wife and your kids. Like you're going to have to dig down deep and when you open that door, have a big smile on your face, say hi to the kids, pretend like you have as much energy as they do and go play with them. On the floor, I had Drew on this podcast last week and I said this as many times, so I'll say it real quick. I am not a dad, so I can't obviously speak for that. I'm just trying to give different situations here. Maybe. Another situation is you know you are just kind of in the same boat at work. Like you know, you give it everything that you have. You're really, really tired and then your boss calls you and says hey, I need you to stay for an extra hour. Um, and you're like man. I don't know if I can ask yourself can you dig deep and stay, because I'll teach you a lot about who you are. Are you able just to to feel the fire when you need it?

Speaker 1:

I, um, I've talked so much about Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan recently on this podcast and to my wife, to the point to where she's like man. I feel like you have a crush on these guys and I'm like I sort of do, if I'm being completely honest, because their work ethic and everything. I have a crush on their work ethic and who they were, but something that both of them had in common is that they knew that all the work that they put in, they were the most consistent in, in working out right and like developing their craft, and they knew that. They knew their work would come forth and that they would win championships. There's this, uh, there's this video. I'm sure you've seen it, but Kobe is sitting in front of someone. The guy's about to pass the ball in and he throws it right in front of Kobe's face and Kobe doesn't even flinch. In my opinion, I'm like, how, how does he do that? Like, that's amazing, and I think it's because he knows who he is and he's not going to flinch, he's not going to get out of the game because he's put so much work in to get there and he knows who he is. And so you try and phase him with a little ball in the face, he'll just ignore it completely, and I think that's a huge trait. That's amazing to me, but they knew who they were.

Speaker 1:

Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant had so much confidence in themselves, and I want to distinguish between confidence and arrogance. Confidence, in my opinion, comes from seeing consistency in your life and seeing results from the work in achieving goals and doing difficult things Like that. That is what builds confidence. Do something hard, stay consistent, be true to who you are. And is what builds confidence. Do something hard, stay consistent, be true to who you are, and that's where confidence comes from. And arrogance, on the other hand, is all those things. But you're proud of that and you're going around saying, yeah, I'm the best, I just ran a sub three marathon. Hey, I'm the best basketball player. My name is Michael Jordan. He actually had the right to do that. So, um, um, that was a bad example. But, like you, don't go around and say I'm the best because I have x, y and z, or I just did x, y and z. No, that's not what you're supposed to be doing, but be confident in your abilities. That's a distinction. That everyone needs to make is arrogance and confidence.

Speaker 1:

What are you confident that you can do? For me, it's consistency and discipline. Like I know for a fact that no matter what those two things, I can do them. No matter what the situation is or how I'm feeling, I can be disciplined and consistent because it's taken so many reps. I cannot tell you how many years it's taken for me to get to where I am today. It's possible, but it takes a lot of time, and so I'm confident in myself with that. But it sounds like I'm flaunting it on this podcast a little bit. I do recognize that, so I apologize, but I'm not trying to. I'm just trying to illustrate examples.

Speaker 1:

One thing I want to talk about in the topic of who you are comes to actually from my wife, cause I asked her. I said what would you say about the topic of remember who you are or be who you are? She said that if you are honestly who you are and true to yourself, it will attract the people that you'd want to spend the most time with, and I fully agree with her because in my opinion, she's the best example. I was who I was intentionally. I would go and I would treat people as best as I could, I'd work as hard as I could and all those things. I can confidently say Allie would not have liked me if I didn't do those things Like. She probably would have thought I was a slob. She would have liked me, but we probably wouldn't have gotten married If she saw me pretending that I worked hard and then behind closed doors was just like a slob.

Speaker 1:

You know I'd be on the podcast saying like, yeah, don't eat Cheetos. And then podcast is over, go home, eat Cheetos, whatever. Like, no, I am who I am and Allie is who she is. Because of that, we got married, we dated and we knew, hey, this is something we want to, we want to see where it goes. And because of that, next step was marriage, and it's been the best. Like I can fully say she's my better half. She has all the same traits I do and it makes me want to be better. And so the same principle applies for you too, and I'm not saying you have to go get married. I'm not saying any of that. What I'm trying to tell you is that if you are who you are and you are who you want to be, it will attract the right people to you. As long as you are treating other people with respect, it'll attract the right people and you'll start spending time with them. And I think that is such an important thing is surrounding yourself by people who have similar goals, traits and attributes that you do.

Speaker 1:

I've talked about Paul Graham on this podcast, but he started a venture capital firm. He started AngelList, all this stuff, and he talks a lot about oh wait, no, he didn't start AngelList, that was Naval Ravikant. But Paul Graham talks about how an easy way for founders and startups to all die is by being in solitude, not being around other founders, not being around other CEOs or other ambitious people. People will die. That's what he says. Their ambition dies, which makes them die internally. Scary thought, but I feel like that's kind of true.

Speaker 1:

If you lose your ambition, you kind of lose who you are. You lose the things that you're excited about, and that's a dangerous route. I think you have to be careful about that. But think about who you are, who you want to be and the people you want to surround yourself by. And if you're not living up to the people that you want to live by, if you're not living up to the same standards as them, then maybe it's time to start changing some of your own standards so you can attract those people. If you want to start hanging out with more people who are driving you to be a better person, you're going to have to start driving yourself to be a better person, because if you go around them and all these people are just hungry go-getters and then here you come, showing up just kind of kicking the can, doing whatever you want, you won't last long in those groups, and so if you want to be affiliated with them, you're going to have to change a few things. But just be who you are and be proud of the person that you are.

Speaker 1:

No one else is like you, and when I first started getting after it that was the whole purpose of this podcast was I wanted to bring people on to tell their stories, because everyone has one. I don't care how small of a town you live in or where in the world you live, what country you live in. If you have the most boring job, it doesn't matter. Everyone has a story that they can be, that it can be told. There's just not a platform to do it. And so that was the point of this podcast was to bring people on to tell their stories and talk about the things that make them who they are. And talk about the things that make them who they are, because the fact that we are all different and we all have different strengths and weaknesses makes the world beautiful. As cheesy as it sounds and I know I'm going down this rabbit hole of cheese, it's the truth Like I find so much joy when I talk to people who just have crazy stories, crazy life stories, and I'm like and you're the person you are today, you're a great person, but you just told me about this huge ordeal you went through as a kid. That was traumatic and all this stuff, but you're still a great person, phenomenal, anyways. There's people like that all the time and I wanted to bring people on so they could tell that story and make people feel like you know, maybe there's a chance, no matter how far you've come.

Speaker 1:

And, um, for me, one way that I uh, I keep myself in check with who I am and trying to live up to my own personal standards is my faith. I rely a lot on my faith. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we're Christian, and in our church we live by certain values. We try to treat other people with respect, we try and serve uh, we don't drink smoke, um, any of that stuff. We don't swear, you know, we keep the 10 commandments, but it gives me a baseline to be like. You know what. Would God be proud of me for the person I am today? And if, if, I can confidently say yes, then I will go about my day and, you know, be stoked. But if the answer is no, then I probably have some repenting to do. And that's okay Because, like I said in the beginning, we all have opportunities to change. But my faith is a large portion of who I am.

Speaker 1:

I, uh, I take a lot of the lessons I've learned from my faith and apply them to endurance sports. You know, um, one of our attributes, or one of the key principles we live by as a church and um as followers of Christ, is endure to the end, and what that means is that we try to endure to the end with the best attitude possible and you know sometimes it's difficult, but in the world of ultra running that's a huge principle Endure to the end, can you. Can you dig down deep and endure to the end, because in my faith what that means is enduring all the trials of life until you get to finally meet your heavenly father again. So long story, long way of me just saying that all these things that you've done in your past, or all the lessons that you've learned, will all shape you into the person that you are. And once you know who you are, be so confident in that and take it and realize that you are unique and see if you can change the world a little bit. Let's all make the world a little bit of a better place and everyone has unique strengths that they can help do that. So what are yours as an action item?

Speaker 1:

I think it would be helpful to go through and kind of do that same reflection exercise for yourself. Think about the things that you wish you could be doing better at and that's a start. Think about the things that you're proud of, the accomplishments that you've done, the lessons that you thought were most valuable growing up as a kid, whatever it is like just do some time, or like take some time just to think about where you came from and where you are now, because it'll show you. So that's all I got for this episode. Like I said, I might do another one on this same topic, because I'm reading a book by Dr Phil and it's called We've Got Issues. But he talks about the main principle he lives his life by is be who you are on purpose, and there's a lot packed into that short little phrase.

Speaker 1:

So I might have to do another podcast episode, but the main takeaway I want you to go from with this is you need to have confidence in the person that you are, and if you're not confident in yourself, then start by making some small changes and be patient during that time, because it's going to take time, but just continue to show up, put in those reps and work hard and be patient. That's the last step and it will come. Just might be a little bit long. So I appreciate everyone for listening. As always, if there's a topic you'd like me to cover, if you have a suggestion for guests, please send them my way. But until that point, I appreciate everyone for listening and keep getting after it all, see ya.