George Wright III opened a recent episode of The Daily Mastermind with a simple but penetrating challenge: stop trying to control everything and start asking bigger questions. In this reflective solo episode titled "Thoughts to Inspire You," George shared two poems he keeps close and returns to often, alongside the empowering questions that help him think clearly and move forward.
The Power of Letting Go of Control
The episode opened with the Daily Mastermind quote of the day, attributed to Michael Neill: "Let go of controls." George found that idea immediately relatable. Most people grip tightly to outcomes because it feels safer. But real progress, he argued, requires a different posture: take focused action toward your goals and then allow space for things to unfold.
"Take action and allow space for attraction. Those two things together are really all you can do."
You can hustle, plan, and give everything you have to chasing your dreams. But you also have to trust that things unfold for a reason, and that the reason benefits you. That belief is not something you stumble into; it is a decision you make. When you make it, your filter changes. You start to see solutions and possibilities that were invisible while you were white-knuckling the controls.
A Poem That Demands Everything
George shared a poem he has returned to many times over the years: "Success," by Berton Braley. It is a poem often quoted by Les Brown in his closing remarks, and it speaks directly to the relentless pursuit of what you want most.
"If you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it, work day and night for it, give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it."
George encouraged you to look up the full poem and read it regularly. What you need in any difficult moment is something at your disposal that sparks your resolve. This poem does that. It does not require complicated strategy. It simply insists that if your desire is deep enough and your persistence strong enough, the result takes care of itself.
What Life Pays You
The second poem George shared was "I Bargained with Life for a Penny" by Jessie B. Rittenhouse. Its message is straightforward but cuts deep: life gives you what you ask for, no more and no less.
"I worked for a menial hire only to learn, dismayed, that any wage I had asked of life, life would have paid."
The implication is bracing. If you have been receiving less than you deserve, whether in income, in relationships, or in daily fulfillment, it may be because you have not yet asked for more. Life, as Rittenhouse wrote, is a just employer. The wages are yours to set.
What Questions Are You Asking Yourself?
George connected the Rittenhouse poem to a deeper principle: your thoughts are shaped by the questions you ask yourself. As his partner Robert Stubard often points out, disempowering questions pull you in the wrong direction. Asking "What will people think?" or "What if this goes wrong?" keeps you circling. But when you shift to questions that open possibility, things begin to change.
What drives you? What would peace of mind actually look like for you? What does the life you are meant to live feel like? These questions move you forward. They reorient your attention toward solutions and possibilities rather than fears and limitations.
Why Blissful Dissatisfaction Works
George pointed to what Ed Mylett calls "blissful dissatisfaction": be genuinely grateful and satisfied with where you are, and yet keep reaching for more. That combination, gratitude without complacency, is what keeps momentum alive without burning you out. You appreciate what you have built while staying hungry for what is still possible.
This is not a contradiction. It is a practice. And it starts with asking the right questions every single day.
Action Steps
- Find and read the full poem "Success" by Berton Braley. Keep it somewhere visible and return to it when motivation dips.
- Write down the questions you ask yourself most often. Are they empowering or disempowering? Rewrite each disempowering question into one that opens possibility.
- Practice taking action and then releasing control: give your full effort, then allow space for attraction rather than forcing a specific outcome.
- Ask yourself honestly this week: are you asking and expecting from life what you truly deserve and desire? If not, decide what you would ask for if you believed life would pay any wage you named.
- Choose to believe that everything in your life happens for a reason that benefits you. Make that decision consciously and notice how your filter shifts.
The life you are capable of living is waiting for you to claim it. It is never too late to start living the life you were meant to live.
