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I never get tired of hearing the sound of the MGB GT starting up, and I thought it might be appropriate to record this final episode of the season in the very object that this season has been about. So I hope you don’t mind the sounds of my car. I thought we’d take it for a little drive today. Every time I get in this car, it’s a satisfying and joyful feeling. I can’t help but get a smile on my face. I just love this car. I mean, I love the car, I love the look of the car, and all that stuff. That’s why I got the car. But this car is so much more than that. This car brings satisfaction every time I drive it because of what it represents. It represents a goal achieved, and that’s just incredibly satisfying. When I get in it and I think about what it represents and having set a goal and then achieved that goal, it reminds me that there are more goals out there to achieve. I think, of the struggle that it took to get to this point, it and it invigorates me and inspires me. It gives me excitement and belief that I can face other challenges that come my way. There’s a lot of satisfaction in that, but even if I hadn’t gone through all of the ordeals that I went through to get to this point, even if I hadn’t had to rewire the car, there would still be a tremendous amount of satisfaction with the car simply because of what it represents. And that is, it represents a goal being set and achieved.

There’s a great book that I encourage you to get by, an author named Rabbi Daniel Lapin, and it’s called Thou Shall Prosper. I read it a few years ago and it’s really good. One of the things that he talks about in that book, and it’s a big, thick book is he refers to money in a way that really changed the way that I look at money, the way that I see money in my own life. And that is what he calls money- certificates of appreciation. That is when someone gives you money, whether that is for the job that you work in, your employer pays you a regular paycheck, or if you’re an entrepreneur like me and somebody pays you for services that you’ve done for them or work that you’ve done for them, a project, buy a course from you or whatever it is. It doesn’t matter. When someone gives you money, he says money is like certificates of appreciation. That is, someone has taken this money that they have in their life that has a value to it, and they are giving it to you as a way of showing appreciation for what you’ve done for them. The job that you’ve done, the service that you’ve provided, the coaching that you’ve given them, or whatever it is, is of such value to them that they now want to give you something to show that appreciation. And therefore money is certificates of appreciation. So when I think about this car and even if I hadn’t had to rewire it or anything like that, what if I had bought it and it was perfect, just like I thought it was when I first bought it, it would still bring me tremendous satisfaction because of the certificates of appreciation that I would have exchanged for this car and the certificates of appreciation that I have that come from clients that I work with who appreciate the work that my team and I do. In showing that appreciation, they pay us for it. So there’s a tremendous amount of satisfaction in knowing that I saved enough certificates of appreciation or I earned enough certificates of appreciation to be able to fulfill that goal by buying this car. And that’s really, really satisfying when you when you think of it that way.

So I want to kind of step back through this season that we’ve talked about and pinpoint or bring to focus again some of the lessons learned and things that we talked about We started out by talking about limiting beliefs and those four limiting beliefs in the Gay Hendricks book, The Big Leap. Another book I want to recommend, in addition to Thou Shall Prosper is The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. Definitely go check that out and he’ll talk through limiting beliefs. And there’s a whole lot more information in there about what the limiting beliefs are and how you can identify them and replace them with a with a belief that is true. And so be mindful of what limiting beliefs are in your life and how they are present, how they are manifesting themselves in your life so that you can then make adjustments to get them out of your life and replace them with something that is true.

I asked you to write down where you want to be in five to 10 years, and that was really important. I remember I talked about how I hadn’t really initially thought about five to 10 years. I was more of a one to three year person. And when I first started thinking about five to 10 year goals, I really struggled with that because that was a new exercise for me, taking that many steps in the future. It was very beneficial for me to do that. And the more I did it, the easier it became. So take time to think about where you want to be in five to 10 years. And I would also say, make sure you’re also making goals and thinking about where you want to be in one to three years.

We talked about 10 steps to achieve any goal. And I want to recap what those 10 steps are right now.

Number one, know what you want. Number two, know why you want it. Number three, believe it’s possible. This will really hit you in those limiting beliefs, so you have to believe that it’s possible. Number four, decide right now that you must achieve this goal. Remember we talked about what decide means when thinking about a decision versus an incision. So decide right now that you must achieve this goal. Number five is write it down. Write it down, and then place your goals where you can see them. For me, that was the little toy MGB GT car that I bought and I put it in front of me so that it was always reminding me. Now, initially, I put that as a physical object in front of me to help motivate me to achieve other things that I had in line ahead of the MGB GT. So that might work for you, too. You know, maybe you have to pay down debt and maybe you have to, I don’t know, raise your revenue by a certain amount so that your third or fourth goal down the line might be a new house or a cruise or I don’t know, I’m just trying to spitball here. So let’s say it’s a cruise. Get yourself a cruise ship, put it down in front of you and use that as a as a motivator to get priority number one down, priority number two done. And now that cruise is priority number three. So think long term like that. What can you put down in front of you? Make it where you can see it. It may just be writing it down, writing it on your bathroom mirror, or putting it as a sticky note on your monitor or putting it in your car or something like that. But whatever it is, make sure it’s in front of you so that you can always have that goal in front of you. You can see what it is and and use that to keep you motivated.

Number six, tell others. Now, as I wrapped up the previous season talking about the dream, I did that feedback episode right before we launched this season. And in that feedback episode, I told you and everyone else listening about my goal to launch a web comic in 2022. And that’s why I did that. I had to tell others because keeping it to myself wasn’t getting it done. I had told my family, but I was keeping that very, very close to the vest. Very few people knew about that and it wasn’t motivating me. So I told all of you to help keep me motivated. So tell others. I’m not saying you have to tell everybody, but tell others so that they can help keep you accountable and help push you through those tough moments. Make sure that they’re aware of the goals, especially if it’s something that’s going to affect your spouse or something like that. Obviously, they need to be aware of it and be on board with you in agreement that the goal is a priority, working with you to achieve it. That’s certainly something that’s very important if you find yourself in a marital situation or something like that where you need to make those decisions together.

Number seven, take massive action now. This is also when I bought the MGB GT car. It was the best action I coule take at the time. Whatever that massive action is that you can take at this time, take that first step and to make it make you uncomfortable. That’s where the massive part comes in. Whatever the biggest action is that you can take right now, do it. These last two, honestly, when I wrote them down at Free the Dream that year, I didn’t give them a second thought. But did they ever become very important as I started working through this goal.

Number nine is evaluate your results. I got the MGB GT and started evaluating it, and it was not living up to my dream. So the final step is change your approach if needed. And I had to do that. I had to change my approach. What was my approach going to be now that I was at a position where my goal wasn’t what I thought it was going to be? And that can manifest itself in different ways, right? You may not even have your object in hand like I did with the MGB GT, but you’re not getting the results you are looking for. Always be evaluating your results and then changing your approach as you’re making those evaluations. Don’t forget that evaluating your results and changing your approach as needed are all part of the plan. So when you’re at that point where you have to pivot, or adjust, or take action, or go in a direction that you didn’t initially see coming, don’t let that get you discouraged because they’re part of the plan.

Those are steps nine and ten. Those are part of the plan. So embrace that, recognize it as progress. Now you’re at a point where you’ve identified a different approach that’s going to help you make even more progress. Look at it as a benefit and the positive thing that it is. It may not be easy. Rewiring this car was not easy, but it got me closer and got me to being able to achieve my ultimate goal. Embrace those challenges and use them as opportunities to make yourself stronger. Embrace the fear of taking big steps. When you’re out of your comfort zone, that’s when you know that you are in a prime spot to grow, learn, and become something better and bigger than you are today. It’s scary because it’s uncomfortable, it’s unknown. But you can also be excited because you can know that you’re on the cusp of growth. That’s always something to celebrate and get excited about.

I remember when I did all that work to rewire the car, then when to test all the stuff, and almost nothing worked. It was a gut punch. It was so disheartening. How did I respond? I stepped away from the project. I took time to clear my head and refocus. And then once I did that, I come back at it more objectively, with a calm head, and then started evaluating, step by step, all of the broken things. As a result, I was able to fix most of them the same day. And, of course, some of them took a few more weeks to sort out. But taking the time, when you’re in that gut punch moment, to walk away, clear your head, get refreshed, maybe even sleep on it overnight, is important. Remember to take time, clear your head, refocus, and then get back at it and fight some more. And then once you’ve done all that, you’ll find yourself in the same position that I’m in right now, and that is enjoying the spoils of my success.That’s why I wanted to record this final episode in the car. I wanted you to be able to hear and experience the spoils of my success along with me.

I love this car. Obviously, I’ve love the MGB GT before I ever owned one. After all, that’s why I wanted to own one. But as I said at the beginning of the episode, every time I look at this car or I go out into the garage, I smile. Every time I get it and I start it up, I recognized that it’s starting and it’s running because I did that, I rewired the car. I made it into what I expected it to be when I first bought it. It represents a goal set, worked for, and achieved. It represents unexpected challenges overcome. When you set your goal, imagine setting a five to 10 year goal and then five years down the road, achieving that goal- that is some satisfaction. There’s so much energy that comes out of that, confidence that comes out of that. And you get to enjoy the spoils of your success, of a goal worked for and achieved, and all the obstacles that you overcame along the way to earn it. At the end of it all, enjoy the spoils of your success.

And so that’s it. We’ve come to the end of this season of Stuff I Learned Yesterday entitled, “The Car.” It’s been a joy for me to share this story with you. I know this season has been a little bit different, and I hope that you found this season of Stuff I Learned Yesterday to be inspiring and motivating. Hopefully it encourages you to get out there, set some goals, and achieve those goals. I’d love to hear your feedback for this season or if you still have feedback for last season about the dream. I’d love to hear that as well. You can send in your feedback. The deadline is October 18th. Stuff I Learned Yesterday will be taking a break until October 20th, and that’s when I’ll be returning with a feedback episode, sharing your stories about this season called, “The Car.” Then I’ll be back on October 27th with a new season of Stuff I Learned Yesterday called, “The Legacy.” I look forward to hearing from you.

Stuff I Learned Yesterday is part of the Golden Spiral Media podcast network. Join me on Twitter at GSMPodcasts, Facebook, or our feedback page.

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