Getting After It

087: Dreams Don’t Work Unless You Do

• Brett Rossell • Season 4 • Episode 87

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Life doesn’t always go your way. Circumstances shift, challenges arise, and some things are beyond your control. But there’s one thing you can always control—your thoughts. What you focus on shapes your reality. Want a better life? Start by imagining it.

Dreams don’t happen because you wish for them. They happen because you work for them. Want to be a musician? Practice every day. Can’t find the time? Make it. The only thing standing in your way is you. If it matters, you’ll prioritize it. If you don’t, be honest—you just don’t want it enough.

Discipline is self-respect in action. Respect yourself enough to do the work—not half-heartedly, but fully committed.

Intentionality is nothing without consistency. Showing up every day—even when it’s hard, even when you don’t feel like it—is the foundation of success. But consistency isn’t just about repetition. It’s about reflection. Where are you succeeding? Where can you improve?

Key Takeaways:

  1. Your thoughts are your foundation. Focus on the good, and you’ll find it. Focus on the bad, and it will consume you.
  2. Dedication requires discipline. Respect yourself enough to show up and do the work every day, even when it’s hard.
  3. Consistency is the bridge between dreams and reality. Keep going. Adjust when needed. Don’t stop until you’ve built the life you’ve imagined.

Call to Action:

This week, choose one area of your life to attack with intention. Whether it’s fitness, career, or relationships, show up consistently, reflect honestly, and commit fully. Let me know how it goes—I want to hear about your wins, your struggles, and the lessons you’re learning along the way.

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I hope today’s episode sparked something within you to pursue your dreams and unlock your true potential. If you found value in it, consider sharing it with someone who might need that same push.

This podcast is built for you—the dreamers and the doers. My goal is to provide a space where you can find inspiration, learn from others, and feel empowered to chase what matters most to you.

Your dreams are within your grasp. All you need is the commitment to Get After It.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to Get In. After everyone, we got this nice little video and we're gonna be jumping into a nice conversation about dreams, how to make them a reality, what you can do today to start. So, without further ado, let's jump in, smiling for the camera, as I always am. I am pumped. Let's talk about what we're gonna go into today. I've been thinking about this and I want to be a little bit more forward with my own thoughts and tell you guys exactly what's going on with what I think, because I think one thing that I've done with this podcast is I do regurgitate a lot of what other people say, and which is fine, like I think it's important to learn from other people, but it's also important to say what I believe, and the reason why people listen to this is because, oddly enough, they want to hear what I have to say, and I'm not sure why, but it's a thing. And because of that, I want to be a little bit more say, and I'm not sure why, but it's a thing. And because of that, I want to be a little bit more intentional with the content that I make. I want to make it relevant for you all, but I want it to be from my thoughts Influenced by others, yes, but what do I think about each thing? So this topic is going to kind of start that little avalanche we got going on. By the way, welcome back to another episode as a video podcast. It's kind of fun trying new things, which we're going to get into this a little bit as we talk about the episode. But doing new things, like putting yourself out there, trying new things this video podcast is very new to me, but I might look like a clown, that's fine, I don't care, I just like to try new stuff and I want to make the content a little bit more relevant for everyone. So, anyways, getting into the thing that we're talking about today, I read this quote from Henry David Thoreau that I really liked and it sparked an entire episode.

Speaker 1:

It's go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. I'm going to say it again because I think it's an important quote Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. In the direction of your dreams, live the life you have imagined. And I started thinking about what that means. To me, at least, it's pretty simple. It's you control your own destiny.

Speaker 1:

I talked about this a couple episodes ago, that your life is pretty much what you focus on, and a lot of people say, like things come up in their lives they were never set up to achieve what they want. They're, you know, maybe born into a difficult family, a difficult place, whatever the circumstance might be and that might be the case Life does not always go your way. That's one realization you're going to have to understand, as life will not be exactly how you pictured it. That's the point of life is you're supposed to adapt, you're supposed to change. Your circumstances might shift, challenges will arise, and some things are going to be out of your control. They're going to be way beyond what you can control. You can't control what other countries do. You can't control what other people's actions are. You can't control what other countries do. You can't control what other people's actions are. You can only control yourself. And that's the first thing I want to get across to you all Is, if you want to start living the life of your dreams, it needs to start by your own thoughts. You need to focus on the things that are important to you, the things that that you want to progress and do better at, because what you focus on shapes your entire reality. If you want a better life, start by simply imagining it. Imagine how you can make your situation better and then take steps to make it happen.

Speaker 1:

When things go sideways, you need to force yourself to find the upside, find the joy in whatever, and that's one reason why I love running, I love talking about running. It's a huge part of my life, but the reason why is because things always go sideways on a run, whether that be the elements. So it could be cold, it could be super hot, whatever. You might be super sore, you might have a little ankle injury. That's bothering you. But, no matter what, force yourself to see the upside. And running's an easy one for me, because anytime I am running, I think well, there's people out there who can't run either physically. They, they don't have legs. Um, they could be sick, they might be incredibly overweight to where they can't run and at least I can and so that's the upside I always see. And it's not easy to focus on that. It's not easy to always see the beauty in your difficulty. I understand that, but it is powerful Once you make that distinction.

Speaker 1:

Um, I talked about Tony Robbins a few times on this podcast, but he's coming back into it. He has this quote that I really like about how we think of our lives and the impact that it can have for us. He says we don't experience life, we experienced the life we focus on. He says we don't experience life, we experience the life we focus on. And that ties hand in hand with the quote that I spoke of the other day, that from Russell M Nelson, that the happiness in your life, the joy in your life, comes completely from what you focus on. If you choose to see the darkness, guess what? You're going to live in a bleak and cruel world, because that's the reality of the world we live in. On the contrary to that, if you choose to see the beauty, if you see the trees, if you look at the sky, and you find the joy in small moments, then your life will be filled with peace. It will be filled with love and abundance.

Speaker 1:

Now, the mind is a weapon, but what you focus on is what you become, and excellence isn't a gift, it's a habit. We learn that from Aristotle, but we learn it from so many other greats that have paved the way before us. Right, michael Jordan with basketball, easy one to look at. The only reason he's in the NBA Hall of Fame as arguably the best basketball player of all time is because everything he did was excellent. His practicing was excellent, his gameplay was excellent, his nutrition was excellent and that habit influenced every aspect of his life. And now he's the goat. Michael Jordan's the goat. Kobe Bryant close second. Love the guy. Rest in peace. Job's not finished, but that was his habit. Kobe Bryant always said the job's not finished and he always wanted to be excellent in everything he did.

Speaker 1:

Think about your own life. Where can you be more excellent? How can you find, hone in and tune your skills to be in your favor, whether that be at work, whether that be in your relationships, in your hobbies, in your goals, it doesn't matter. But make sure that you understand where you can improve. And it leads us into the second thing. So the first point is control your thoughts. There's a lot of power in that. The second one is you need to be dedicated to your dreams. Live your dreams. If you want to make it a reality, you have to first start. That's the most important part, and one of my dreams is to have a podcast, which I have one. It's step number one, but it's because I started and there's a lot of refining that I need to do to make it where I want it to go, but the first step was I just needed to start, and that goes for you too. So, whatever you're thinking, whatever goal you want to achieve, think where you can start, as small as it can be, it doesn't matter, get in the reps.

Speaker 1:

My wife I hope she doesn't get mad at me for this, but she has this goal to speak Spanish, and we live in Arizona, part-time Utah mainly there's not a lot of Spanish speaking going on, at least as the first language, right, and so she's like well, I want to learn Spanish still. So she's going and she's doing Rosetta Stone classes. She's trying to lay down the foundation of developing this new habit. So, like, when she goes to Cancun next with us or the next time we go, she'll be able to speak Like. That's her goal. But it only starts with being dedicated and pursuing them. So, because dreams they don't happen because you wish for them as much as as I would like to believe that they happen because you work for them.

Speaker 1:

Make that distinction. If you want to be a musician, you need to practice every single day. You can't find the time, then make it. If it matters to you, you will make time. The only thing standing in your way at this point is yourself, because if it matters, you'll prioritize it. You'll make sure that it is a part of your day. If you don't be honest with yourself, you probably don't want it bad enough. If you're not willing to wake up, put in extra time on your fitness or, for me, the podcast, if you're not willing to incorporate it into your everyday life, then do you honestly want it? Like? Ask yourself this question. It's a hard one to swallow, but it's important for you to understand. Here's the catch, though Dedication does not mean neglect.

Speaker 1:

So when you start on a new goal, when you decide to pursue something new, it, your dreams, cannot come at the expense of other things that matter most. So your relationships that's number one your own health and your faith like. Do not neglect other areas of your life because you want to be more dedicated in in other certain aspects from like. Let's go back to the podcast example. If I want to have a successful podcast, I'm willing to put in the time. I'm spending 30 plus hours a week on this.

Speaker 1:

But because I'm spending so much time on that, I'm neglecting areas of my life that are more important, that will last longer, like if I was a bad husband and I was neglecting my wife, then I think that's more of an issue than not starting on your goals, and that's what I'm trying to say with like, if you can't find the time, you you need to make it, but don't neglect other areas of your life. You need to build your dreams alongside of your life and not at the cost of it. Otherwise, when you reach the finish line, you might find yourself celebrating it alone, and I think that's why a lot of billionaires are miserable because they worked so hard their entire lives to get to a certain point, to where now they achieved it and now they have no one to celebrate it with. And you've heard the stories of billionaires whose kids hate them because one they were either neglected to, they were given everything, or vice versa, whatever. But make sure that you're building yourself up, building others up while you're trying to achieve these goals.

Speaker 1:

And dedication also means being disciplined, which is why I love discipline, and I was thinking about this the other day and I think discipline, honestly, is one of the highest forms of self-respect that you can have in this life. Discipline is self-respect in action, in my own opinion. But you need to respect yourself enough to do the work, not half-heartedly, but fully committed, and shout out to Ron Swanson for this one. But there's this episode where Ron Swanson and Leslie Knope this is from Parks and Rec, just in case you have no idea what I'm talking about but Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson are sitting by the lake and Leslie's deciding oh man, I don't know if I can be in the parks department, but I also want to be a politician in my town. And she's trying to make this decision on how she can spend more time at the park because she loves her job there and then still make time to do like political things for her town, like run these councils, run these meetings. And she's like I want to do them both, I really want to do them both. And Ron Swanson looks at her and says don't half ass two things, whole ass one thing.

Speaker 1:

And as silly as that might be, I think there's a lot of truth behind that. Like don't half-ass something, don't go half into it. Like put yourself out there, push yourself and put all your time into that one thing, All your extra time, not all your time, but put all the time that you're dedicating to your goals, to yourself, into whatever you're trying to achieve, and focus solely on that. Because if you want your dreams to become a reality, focus on one at a time. Don't try and do two things at once, because that never leads to good things. It always leads to burnout or, um, not as quality of of of work as you could be doing like.

Speaker 1:

Be disciplined enough to focus on one thing at a time and ask yourself do I want to live a life with the regret of giving up? Because most of the time when you're going after two things or multiple things, you'll probably want to give up on one of them, and it's important to understand where most of your priorities lay at the moment and what you're focused on and how you can get better at that, at that. But don't let the feeling of regret, especially when it comes to giving up, fall into your life. If you full-ass one thing, if you go all in on one thing and you fail, that's a different story than if you were going after two things and you realized it was too hard to go after both of them at the same time, so you give up on one with that feeling of regret deep inside you. It's the worst feeling. I hate it, and I talked about this with the Vegas marathon. I had some health things come up but ended up couldn't finish the race. I dropped out of mile 10 and not saying that I was giving up, because I think if I would have ran it I would have ran into some serious medical issues. But even that feeling of I pushed myself as hard as I could but I'm dropping out of this race hurt me so bad, and that's what I'm trying to help you avoid is don't do that Like. Make the time stay dedicated, be disciplined enough to work towards it and don't give up.

Speaker 1:

Be consistent, which is the next part that we're going to talk about. Consistency is the secret sauce. How many times have I said this? But I think one distinction I want to make with consistency today is one that I haven't necessarily talked about on this podcast. So intentionality is nothing without consistency. Showing up every day, even when it's hard, even when you don't feel like it, is the foundation of success. But consistency isn't just about those repetitions. It's not about, okay, I'm going to go to the gym every day. Do the same thing and be super consistent in that, which that's fine. But if you're looking to build strength, if you're looking to build endurance, but you're doing the same thing every day, it's not going to do much for you. If your goal is to do a podcast and you don't necessarily work on the content you're not very intentional about what you're talking about then you're just getting the reps in. No one's going to want to listen to it. And a key part of consistency is reflection when are you succeeding and where can you improve? And you need to be consistent so you can identify these areas in your life.

Speaker 1:

Take running I want to be a better runner. I talk about it all the time. I am the running reaper. I am trying to build myself back so I can collect the debt that I know is out there for me. And if I want to be a better runner, that means I'm going to have to do things that I typically don't.

Speaker 1:

First and foremost, I love running on the treadmill because it's easy, it's predictable, I don't necessarily have to worry about the elements, I don't have to think, I can just zone out which is so. It's nice sometimes to be honest, and I think that's why I'm drawn to the treadmill. A lot of people hate it, but it's a time where I can literally just shut off my brain and not think about anything except what I'm listening to, or if I'm prepping for a podcast, like, just think about that and it's easier for me. But I know the treadmill won't make me stronger and running outside will like if I want to be the best at running, I need to run where it matters, and that's outside. So I understood this and I adapted.

Speaker 1:

I started layering up to go outside because it's a little bit colder now and I've always had a hesitancy to go out and run in the cold because my body gets cold very quickly, um, and it's uncomfortable for me. But it's necessary to get out there and do it because I know the benefits that will come from that will be far greater than running on a treadmill just doing it, just to do it. And so the same applies to life. Growth doesn't come from staying comfortable. Sometimes you got to layer up and go out and run when it's 40 degrees, when you're cold or when it's 20 degrees, depending on where you're at but get uncomfortable, and this podcast is no different.

Speaker 1:

I've been asking myself how can I create content that matters is no different. I've been asking myself how can I create content that matters and how can I keep everyone engaged? How can I light a spark in you that sets off a chain reaction towards your own goals? That's my challenge and I'm facing it head on, just like you should face whatever challenges in front of you head on. And I'm adding things like video podcasts, I'm adding more guests, I'm trying to make it sound better I hope you like this microphone and I'm doing all these things so hopefully I can reach a wider audience and maybe one day influence one person's life to make one decision that, like I said, sparks a chain reaction and sets them off to pursue their goals in a way that they never thought was possible for themselves. And I just had Drew on this podcast.

Speaker 1:

But shout out to Drew, because he is the epitome of what it means to get after it. A year ago he was telling me he would never run again. He would make every excuse not to do it. He'd tell me how bad his knees hurt, how his shoes sucked, how he'd get blisters, how it was super hard for him. He'd only run three miles and get frustrated, whatever the story was. But he realized in himself that he wanted to make a change and he did it. And he was was consistent and he would do the same thing that I'm talking about now, with understanding where he needs to improve, what he needs to get better at. And now he is pretty much like he's my training partner and it's just unreal seeing him have this 180-degree shift just because he made one decision a year ago that he was going to train and run for Team Tim, which led to him training and running for the Orange County Half Marathon, which led to him putting in the work to run his first marathon, which he just did on November 3rd, in the work to run his first marathon, which he just did on November 3rd. And he's not stopping because he knows the benefit that comes from pushing himself, being the one that's doing the hard thing when others aren't. And that's what I'm trying to do with getting after.

Speaker 1:

It is to prove to yourself that you have it in you to to reach your goals, to hit your dreams, to live to yourself, that you have it in you to reach your goals, to hit your dreams, to live the life that you've always imagined for yourself. It starts with your thoughts. Your thoughts are the foundation. Focus on the good, and you'll find it. Focus on the bad, and it will consume you. Two dedication requires an immense amount of discipline and respect yourself enough to show up and do the work every single day, even when it's hard, and if it matters to you, make the damn time. It's important. And three consistency is the bridge between your dreams and reality. You need to keep going, adjust when you need to and don't stop until you've finally built that life that you've always imagined.

Speaker 1:

And my call to action to everyone this week is choose one area in your life that you will attack with intention, whether it's fitness, your career, your relationships. Show up consistently, reflect honestly with yourself and commit fully. And I'd love to know how it goes whether you DM me or whatever, but share it with someone, if not me, share it with somebody. Tell them the progress that you've made and the benefit it's done for your life, because I promise you your struggles, the lessons you learn along the way, will benefit you far more than you can ever have imagined. And it all starts from having the bravery, having the courage to take that first step. Let the spark ignite a flame inside of you and throw as much wood, throw as much fuel as you can on the fire. Let it burn, because that's the only way that you can achieve the dreams that you've always set out for yourself is let the fire burn, feel it, pursue it and don't stop until. Don't stop till you get enough. Shout out to Michael Jackson Don't stop till you get enough.

Speaker 1:

Anyways, everyone, I appreciate you listening to this episode. It's a little bit of a quicker one, but I wanted to just let you know some thoughts that are on my mind. And the podcast is making a shift. We are tackling harder topics, we are bringing on more guests, we're trying to make it more beneficial for everyone. So thanks for tuning in, share it with someone if it's helped you, and relentlessly pursue your goals. And until next, everyone, keep getting after it.