Do you ever look in the mirror and wonder, why am I not further ahead? Or maybe you think, I thought I'd be closer to my goals. You know, you may have suffered some setbacks lately, or maybe you're just not happy or satisfied with your progress in your career, your business, your relationships. Or maybe you just continue to want more. Well, you're not alone. Most high achievers feel this way, and it's one of the things I'd like to talk about today, because why do we continue to question our progress? Welcome back to The Daily Mastermind. My name is George Wright III. I'm your host. And today on the podcast, I want to look at this topic of expectations. And I want to suggest some specific solutions for you in order to help you to overcome any doubts and frustrations and things you have. But let's go ahead and start with the quote of the day. The quote of the day is from Les Brown. Live full and die empty. live full and die empty. Les is definitely a great example of this. That guy is still continuing to go. In fact, I remember one time he was out visiting my company in Utah, and we were at lunch. And well, this happened a lot. But you know, he had just story after story after story. And who can forget his laugh? Have you ever heard of his laugh? I mean, it's just amazing, right? So anyway, Les Brown is a great example of live full and die empty. He is just still giving and giving, and I highly recommend anything that you can get from him online because it's a great motivation and inspiration for your day. Anyway, let's talk about your feelings that arise every time, you know, and this is for most entrepreneurs and high achievers, right? There's always a certain level of doubt or regret or frustration. These situations where you may be making progress, you may not, but you'll look in the mirror and you'll ask yourself, why am I not further along or I thought I'd be a lot closer to my goals by now. And we talk all the time about enjoying and focusing on the journey, but we fail to see the journey sometimes as it truly is. What do I mean by that? Let me kind of explain. When you question your progress, because we talk about enjoy the journey, the journey is the true way to live your destiny, but we sometimes just accept the journey. We don't really actually see the journey as it is and we don't see the progress that we're making. So when I would question my progress, my mentor Robert Stubberg would always come to me and say things like, look at all the progress that you have made. You've got to acknowledge and recognize that. And he'd point out this and that and this win and that success. And I would slowly and reluctantly acknowledge the truth that he was telling me but I'd almost do it reluctantly. I don't know if you've ever felt that way. Is it tough for you to acknowledge the wins because you're so busy looking for the future wins or the future success? You know, you hear those statements like, you know, live today like most won't so you can live tomorrow like most can't. And so it constantly keeps you focusing on the future. Why is this? And why is there always a sense of dissatisfaction with our current progress that we make? Many of you, if you were to look back, you have all kinds of progress that you made in your family or relationships or business or career or even your income level And if you went back five years ten years or whatever it is you would easily have seen the success that you have right now And I don't know if that sounds familiar to you or not, but so many times we begin to question where we are in life or where we're going because of a setback or because of some type of regret or situation. And I believe this happens for a couple of different reasons. Number one, most high achievers, entrepreneurs, business owners, people that are really pursuing their best life, they have these unrelenting standards that we place on ourselves. And these standards, these unrelenting bars that we set so high, they many times come from things like lack of confidence or self-esteem or setting too many lofty goals that we don't hit. So we're constantly moving the bar, moving the cheese, so to speak, right before we get it. And even though we're making progress, we're constantly moving the bar. So we have these unrelenting standards. Second, we constantly focus on the future. How many times during the day are you thinking about where you want to be, or should be, or need to be, or want to have for your goals? Versus acknowledging and recognizing the present, right? And the third reason, I think, is our inability to recognize the little wins. So we have these unrelenting standards and we have so much focus on the future and our inability to really acknowledge and be grateful for the little wins. And these three things cause a lot of frustration in a typical entrepreneur. And I'm talking about individuals not that are underperforming. I'm talking about individuals like yourself that are probably crushing your goals. People that are making progress, that are really moving along, but they're still dissatisfied. So let's talk a little bit about this. The first thing I talked about, these unrelenting standards. We spend most of our days striving, achieving, stretching so that we can grow, right? So we can create our best version of ourselves, our best life. And this is good to a point. We have to learn to temper that success mindset with realistic standards. So let's talk about that a little bit because I've always hated the idea of realistic goals. Set realistic goals because I always felt like what the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve, right? You can't set realistic goals or that's saying you don't believe you can do more. but there's a real catch-22 in that scenario. When you set goals that are so far, that are so stretched, that are so far out there, number one, it's going to be hard for you to stack up those wins. And number two, there is this sense that we have to constantly up the ante or move the bar. And that's really, really important that we acknowledge and recognize when we do that. And that stretching and achieving and growing doesn't mean constantly moving the bar. it means recognizing those wins and things as well. And ultimately, we have to lead ourselves to a place where we can become, as Ed Milet would say, blissfully dissatisfied. We always talk about this dissatisfaction of wanting more, or creating our best life, or growing into our best version. But just simply saying that sometimes will imply that we not our best version or that we not where we could be or that we not in a place of growth to where we should be And so it very important to add that whole gratitude blissful grateful sense of appreciation to what we have. And that's one of the ways we're going to overcome these unrelenting standards. Second, we need to realize that our constant focus on the future sometimes robs us of the joy of the present. And that's why you've heard me say over and over and over. Don't let the vision that you have of the future rob you from the joy of the present. And the real big key to this is awareness. Because the minute you're aware of your focus being primarily and almost always on the future vision you have for your life, the minute you're aware is the minute you'll become more aware of the present. And you'll become aware of missing the present, and that will allow you to become more present yourself. So you can create daily and weekly rituals like meditation or journaling and things that will help you to become mindful and focused and clear and present. Because that presence, let's be honest, it's the only place that you're truly ever going to create. Because you can't create in the future and the past is over, right? So you've got to be present to actually execute on your goals. And then finally, we've got to find ways to not only enjoy and focus on the journey, but we also have to see the journey as it truly is. So much of what we start, let me put it this way, what we have to do is we have to start to identify the wins, the experience, the brilliance, and the emotions in the present moment, because the present moment really is, as I mentioned a minute ago, the only reality that we really have. So if you don't stop to acknowledge the wins and acknowledge the points and acknowledge the greatness and the appreciation for what you have right now, then what are you even moving for? What are you even pushing towards the future for, right? Because the journey is truly it. So another way to kind of put this, Ryan Holiday, one of my favorite authors, wrote a book called The Obstacle is the Way. And in this book, he talks about how the obstacles in our life truly are the solutions to our problems. And what he means by that is it's not just our ability to say, oh, you know, I can be okay with the problems because they're helping me get better. It's truly the ability to see through that. And I think this principle holds true for our inability to see the present in its true form as a success. You know, he says, no one's talking about a glass is half full type of platitudes here. He says, this is a complete flip. seeing the negative past its underside and into a corollary the positive meaning not just seeing the negative as it is and accepting it but seeing through it to where you actually see the positive he goes on to say it's one thing not to be overwhelmed by obstacles or discouraged or upset by them this is something that few are able to do but after you've controlled your emotions and you can see objectively and stand steadily, the next step becomes possible. And that's a mental flip. So that you're looking at the obstacle, but as the opportunity within it So you not just looking at the obstacle but as the opportunity within it This is what I think we need to do with our present situation a lot of times We not only need to see the present journey as being important, but we've truly got to recognize the wins. I think that when we start seeing the present moment progress that we're making, it really becomes the gateway to even greater success, ironically, because think about it. Your sense of gratitude, your self-confidence, your appreciation, your standards are being met rather than constantly moved, and you have an enjoyment of this journey, and it also will motivate us to do even more. It'll motivate you to do even more. So let me give you just one simple strategy I've used, and I picked up from that same book with Ryan Holiday, and it's the strategy he has of amor fati. That's the Stoic philosophy known as love of fate. Love of fate, amor fati. I think I'm pronouncing that right. Anyway, the great German philosopher Friedrich Nisch would describe his formula, this amor fati, as a formula for human greatness, and it's this idea of loving your fate, that no one, that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it, but love it. Love it. Love what you have and love the progress you're making. Ryan Holiday goes on to say in his book, he says, love whatever life throws your way. When life punches you in the face, smile back. When struck by misfortune, don't resist or ignore your frustration. Instead, accept it, feel it, flip it on its head and learn to love your situation. You'll only spot opportunity in an obstacle if you adopt the amorphity attitude. When a setback occurs, he says, you know, the first thought should not be, I'm okay with this, or I think I feel good about this, but I feel great about this, because if it happened, then it was meant to happen, and I'm glad that it did when it did, and I'm meant to make the best of it. And I believe that when we not only learn to accept our situations, progress, and little wins, our current situation, but we learn to love our fate, our awareness takes on a whole new perspective. And ironically, we're also going to see, like I said before, more success. So learn to recognize these wins. Learn to recognize the wins that we have rather than wonder why we're not further along. That's my hope for you. And that's the message that I wanted to share with you today. So with that said, please share this episode with at least one person you feel is going to benefit. It would really mean a lot to me. And go ahead, if you haven't already, and like and subscribe this podcast, whether it's inside Facebook or on Google or Apple. And if you haven't already, go pick up a copy of Robert Stubberg's new book, Creating Your Ultimate Destiny. You can go to jointheevolution.com. That's jointheevolution.com. I paid for the books. We only have a few of them. There's probably about a hundred, but you just pay for the shipping and I'll ship the book out to you. It's a 130-page book, just jam-packed with strategies. And I hope it's something that'll help you. I look forward to talking with you more tomorrow. I hope you have an amazing day. This is George Wright III, and this has been The Daily Mastermind. Talk with you soon. .
