Welcome back to The Daily Mastermind. My name is George Wright III. I am your host, and I'm looking forward to having some time with you this morning. I hope you had a great weekend. I've been thinking a lot this weekend about what I could do, what I could bring you, what I could provide you in order to help you to finish this year strong. And, you know, leading up to the end of the year, every year, we've been doing the podcast now for about five years, I have this similar thoughts and the thoughts are, what kind of structure can I bring to the podcast in order to help you to finish the year strong, but also create a blueprint going into next year. And so I've been thinking about that a lot. I've been talking to a lot of listeners and looking at what we can do. And I realized that a lot of people don't have access to the experts and resources and support structure that I have in my business and my personal life. So I'm going to make a greater effort over the next six weeks to give you some structure, give you some foundational ideas and principles that you can use not only to finish the year strong, but to start out the year with an incredible blueprint, one that can help you to build authority in your space and also to help you to reiterate and solidify those core values that I always talk about, the personal development, business mastery, and financial education. And so in addition to motivating, inspiring, and educating, because I truly believe that you have greatness inside you and that you can unleash, you know, strengths that you maybe don't even realize you have. I want to really take some time to become a staple in your day-to-day ritual over the next six weeks, especially, because I want to do things that will help you to really open up your mind. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to continue on Mondays to give you those core principles that you could use throughout the week. But Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I'd like to hyper-focus on business mastery and provide you some skills, some resources, and some strategies you can use to create massive authority in your life, but also to be able to take your business and your finances to the next level. Then on Fridays, I'm going to kind of drill into some more lifestyle topics, life hacks, things that you can use in order to create a more higher quality of life, because I think that ultimately we're all trying to create the life that we want to live, that we are destined to live. And I think that involves going back, especially as you go into the weekend, to ideas and thoughts and topics that help you to create your best life. So let's focus on authority marketing over the coming weeks. And I want to encourage you to make the Daily Mastermind a part of your morning or daily rituals and also engage with me. Let me know what you're working on so that I can incorporate that into what we're doing. Now, with that said, the topic I want to talk to you about today, and I'll revisit this topic, you know, every once in a while. It covers the principles of perspective, action, and determination. These are three core principles that Ryan Holiday talks about in his book, The Obstacle is the Way. And I want you to, you know, find some time this week to maybe pick up a copy of that book. I highly recommend it. Ryan's a multiple, you know, New York Times bestselling author, and he's got a very unique perspective on life and business. And it's behind, you know, the filter of stoicism, which you've probably heard about, talked about from Tim Ferriss or a lot of other entrepreneurs that are crushing it nowadays But let me explain the principles and thoughts and strategies that are in that obstacle is the way type of infrastructure so that you can use that going into the end of the year with a very unique perspective And I'm going to start with a couple of paragraphs from the book that I've talked about before. And these are thoughts and strategies you can use to really make a big difference. But I'm going to read this to you so it can get your mind wrapped up and sort of into this idea of what does it take to truly become great. So let me read you a couple of paragraphs here In the year 170 at night in his tent On the front lines of the war in Germania Marcus Aurelius, the emperor of the Roman Empire Sat down to write Or perhaps it was before dawn at the palace in Rome Or he stole a few seconds to himself during the games Ignoring the carnage on the floor of the Colosseum below The exact location is not important What matters is that this man, known today as the last of the five good emperors sat down to write. Not to an audience or for publication, but to himself, for himself. And what he wrote is undoubtedly one of history's most effective formulas for overcoming every negative situation we may encounter in life. A formula for thriving, not just in spite of whatever happens, but because of it. At that moment, he wrote only a paragraph. Only a little of it was original. Almost every thought could in some form or another be found in the writings of his mentors or his idols. But in a scant 85 words, Marcus Aurelius so clearly defined and articulated a timeless idea that he eclipses the great names of those who came before him. It's more than enough for us. So let me read this paragraph he wrote. It says, our actions may be impeded, but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes, the obstacle to our acting. And then he included with powerful words, destined for maxim. The impediment, I want you to listen to this very closely. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. This is Marcus's Aurelius words in basically saying, turn your obstacles upside down. Reverse the things that are holding you back. You know, whatever it is that you're dealing with right now, whatever it is that you're facing, because we're all facing obstacles in our lives right now. It might be a business challenge. It might be a loss of a job. It might be a relationship gone wrong. Whatever it is that's affecting you in your life, it might be even health concerns or communication problems, but it's challenges that really make you struggle. Whatever it is, even when you're crushing it in business, you're going to have these things come up, but whatever it is that's affecting you, it's affecting your mindset on a day-to-day basis and your perspective, your philosophy is going to be important because whatever the challenge, these are usually things that really impact our day-to-day lives. And they're usually big obstacles that keep us stuck inside our heads. Maybe it's paralyzing you from moving forward in areas that you really need to move forward in. Well, the thought that Marcus Aurelius has is talking about something that you should use as a blueprint And it not only overcoming these obstacles but it turning the obstacles into fuel for your growth Let me explain What if embedded inside the problem that we're facing or inherently dealing with were benefits? Benefits only for you. What would you do if you knew that? I mean, let's be honest, probably nothing because most of us are the same. We just get paralyzed or stuck or we get in this cycle in our heads. But for that reason, this stuff that blocks us is blocking us for a reason. It might be fear. It might be frustration, depression, anger, you know, but years and years of programming are keeping you trapped inside your head. And it's keeping you from acting, if you know what I'm talking about. And a lot of times the real obstacle is yourself. It's ourselves. So why is it that some people can push through their problems and others can't. Why do most of us get stuck and can't seem to get past the same challenges that come up over and over again, week after week, month after month? You know, there are men and women in life that have become famous because they've overcome their challenges and went on to, you know, become super amazing leaders like Abraham Lincoln, you know, Rockefeller, Margaret Thatcher, Amelia Earhart, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan. You know, there's so many people that have overcome their challenges. And it's always had me asking this question, why did these people overcome these massive obstacles? And trust me, they all had massive obstacles as well. They had to overcome what they appeared to be things that would keep them stuck. But bottom line, all great leaders and successful people that break through find a way to turn their weaknesses into strengths, their obstacles into the fuel that takes them to the next level. And the crazy thing is that this process is actually pretty simple. Ryan Holiday, you know, goes on in his book to say, you know, it's never easy, but it is a simple thing. It's not just changing the way you look at things. You know, I love that quote by Wayne Dyer, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. It also involves your thoughts, your actions, commitments to purpose, you know, philosophy in your life. And the most important thing to remember from the start is that most problems that are keeping us stuck in life, they're internal. They're not external problems. They're the way we are seeing the problems. And most things that happen to us are things that we wrestle with in our own minds. It's the perception that this is a massive obstacle we can't overcome. And the key to overcoming these obstacles lies in another message that Marcus Aurelius has written. And he says, objective judgment now at this time, unselfish action now at this moment, and willing acceptance now at this very moment of all external events. That's all you need. Overcoming obstacles as a discipline is these three ideas that I started this episode with. Your perception, your action, and your will. All three of these steps are important, but they're really, truly the key to overcoming your obstacles. You need to start first by analyzing how you look at your problems. It's your perception. Then you need to work on the energy, the creativity, the approach that you're using to breaking the problem down and actually taking action. And finally, that third piece is that you need to cultivate and maintain an inner will that going to help you to handle anything that you resolved to the fact that no matter what your will will continue to have you press forward Those are the three things that I really want you to think about And, you know, I encourage you to get the book, download The Obstacle is a Way. I think it's a great foundation and way for you to get thinking. But Ryan Holiday breaks those three areas down so that you can kind of understand and break them apart. you know with your perception for example you need to understand and recognize that you have power to deal with this um you know but you've got to learn to focus on the present moment and with your responses and your actions you'll need to understand and focus on moving forward being persistent channeling your energy maybe sizing up the moment to choose the direction but with your will and that's kind of part three of that process right you need to practice self-discipline you've got to find the ability to get peace of mind and get motivation outside of just yourself so that it's not dependent always on your ability to self-motivate. But I promise that if you'll learn and spend time thinking about these ideas, I feel like you'll make some progress in your life through the end of the year and into the beginning of the next year. So just to kind of recap, I feel like it's time that you sit and you recognize that your perspective is the key to changing your results in life. And that there are specific and proven strategies to be able to help you do this. And you've got to be able to take action despite your mood. But most importantly, you're not alone. And you can change your life on a dime if you just start creating the life that you are meant to live and doing the things that you know you need to do. The heavy lifting. You know, you've got to be willing to take action and accept the fact that the road's going to be difficult. And instead of struggling and sitting in it, you're going to learn that the struggle is intentional and it is for your benefit. In order to create more happiness and fulfillment, success in your life, you've got to accept it and move forward. That's the purpose behind why I do this podcast. That's why we're going to work together over the next six weeks to really help you to push through. Because I believe that you have greatness inside of you. You're not alone. Most entrepreneurs, high achievers, and individuals struggle. They struggle with the path. They struggle with their mind. They get stuck in their own head. That's just part of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. You're a high achiever. You're someone who has that happen because you are intentional. But you've got to learn to really recognize and take time to identify your perspective, push through and take action anyway, and just have that will and determination that no matter what, you're never going to give up. And I believe if you do these things, you're not only going to have a super strong end of the year, but you're going to be pushing through the first of the year in a bigger way than anybody around you. And so that's my hope, that's my wish, that's my desire. I hope that you'll hit me up and let me know what it is you're working on so that I can see what I can do to help you out, what resources, topics, things we can discuss. So feel free to hit me up on The Daily Mastermind on Instagram, Facebook. I always put my email address in the show notes. And so feel free to email me directly. I'd love to hear from you. And I hope you have an amazing week. I look forward to talking with you more tomorrow. Once again, this has been The Daily Mastermind. Have a great day. you
