Mastering Change: Spinners vs. Sailors

Welcome to the Charged Life. This is Brandon Burchard. A reading from life's Golden Ticket. Squirt and I circled the platform of the pool and watched the kids spin and slam into one another in their bumper boats. There are two kinds of kids, squirt said. He rubbed his chin pensively, as if he had just occurred to him for the first time, there are spinners and the sailors. The sailors are the kids who hop into the bumper boat and head for open water. They're the explorers. They have a dream and they set out for it. Yeah, they're the dreamers, the doers. They know exactly where they want to go, and no matter what bumps into them, they get there because they keep steering in that direction. They're the ones you'll hear screaming, get out of my way. The sailors are vocal about what they want. Once they get to the other side, they'll come back and bump everybody. When I blow my whistle, letting everyone know it's time to stop, sailors always end up on the other side of the pool from where they started. They gladly hop out of their boats because they got what they wanted, they got their goal, and they got to have fun bumping other boats. Squirt stopped and scanned the pool. He pointed out a little boy spinning in a circle. Then you've got the spinners. The spinners, well, actually, they start just like the sailors. They also want to head for open water. But as soon as everyone gets going, the spinners quickly realize that there are a lot of other people in the pool. They realize how hard it is to steer. So the spinner does something unique. The spinner makes an assumption. It's hard to steer my boat without bumping into other people, so I won't make it to the other side. Spinners give up quickly. They say, well, I guess I can't make it to the other side, so I'll just have fun here by myself and spin. They might even bump into a few other people. They do something that is entirely unhelpful to their original goal and everyone else's goal. They spin in one place, bumping and blocking everyone from getting to the other side without even knowing it. Most of the time, spinners spin quietly. When I blow the whistle for everyone to stop, they're the last ones to dock, and they're almost always disappointed in their ride. This is page 124 of Life's Golden Ticket. I hope it's a book that you've picked up by now@lifesgolden ticket.com this continues our discussion about how to Master Change. Have you noticed at any point in your life that you were sort of just spinning in circles, that you felt like you weren't really progressing and you weren't really having all that much fun? What was happening then and how do you change? That's the topic of today's podcast. I want to thank you again for joining us here in this series about mastering change. All part of the launch of Life's Golden Ticket. If you haven't heard any of the other episodes, please download the previous episodes because we've been building up to conversations about how to master change better and better as part of the Life's Golden Ticket promotion. Here you all get lots of amazing bonuses. If you haven't seen them, go to Life's Golden Ticket dot com. You'll get all the information and all the updates if you missed it. But for now, let's talk about that question. Have you ever felt like you were spinning in place? You know, I like to talk about here in the charged life that there's really three kinds of life. There's the caged life, where you feel trapped, trapped in other people's expectations, trapped in your current circumstances, trapped in your current skill sets, unable to change, trapped without just knowing where to go. That's where I think a lot of spinners feel. They feel trapped and so they're scared and they don't know where to go. So they just stay in one place. But as you see, there's also these sailors, people who head for open waters. They're open to change. They're open to new experiences. They're excited for the opportunities for growth. Even as they enter uncertainty, they do so with positivity because they think, hey, maybe something good will come out of this. Maybe I'll learn something. Maybe I'll have a good time. Maybe I'll be able to contribute or make a difference or grow from this experience. And sometimes it's just that simple mindset that makes all the difference in the world. One says, I can't change things and I can't go where I want to go. The other one says, I'm excited to change things, even if I don't know exactly where I'm going to go. I'm not going to just sit here. I'm going to get in the game. I'm going to move. I'm going to begin. As Zig Ziglar taught us, you don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to become great. And so what areas of your life do you feel like maybe it's time for a change, not have to be a total complete life change. But are there a few areas where you feel like, you know what, Ah, this area has been frustrating me and I've been spinning on my wheels and not taking action toward it. Have you wanted to start a business, but you haven't even decided what to call the business? Don't even know what you're going to sell. Don't even know who you want to sell it to. Don't even what you're going to charge. Well, then you're just spinning. And don't fool yourself thinking, I just need a couple more years to figure it out. The only way you figure out business is you get in business and you start moving, start going, start trying, start putting yourself out there, start putting your things out there to sell. Until then, you're just never going to know. It's all going to be theory. At some point, we have to move our lives from just contemplation into conscious action, consistent steps forward to see where things go. Sometimes the next step doesn't reveal itself to us until we've taken the first step. And I'm afraid that a lot of people never progress in their life as fast as they deserve because they don't realize that, you know what I mean? They keep thinking, well, I'll figure it all out and then I'll start. That never works. You need to start. And then you start figuring things out, piece by ugly hot mess of a piece. When I started doing everything I'm doing now, I mean, it was just incremental learnings. I mean, I was always going for it, but I mean, I didn't know anything. Like, if you're gonna go start a YouTube show, how would you do that? Well, lots of people would just go study a bunch of YouTubers. They'd read all about how to start a YouTube show. They'd, you know, read a bunch of blogs about bloggers using YouTube. They'd read a bunch of help articles from YouTube itself. They just read, watch, read, watch, read, watch. Then they'd do all this research on which camera to buy. You know, then they go to the camera shop, they'd shop around, they'd ask lots of questions. They, they'd feel like, well, I don't know what camera to buy. And then, oh, you know what? I know what lights to get here. And so they do some more research on lights on, on camera, on bloggers, on YouTubers. They download and figure out who's the top 50 YouTubers. They'd subscribe to their stuff. They'd watch them for months and months and months and months and months. And then at the end of the year, all of this supposed analysis has led to nothing but the old paralysis of fear. And then somebody else will turn on their dang phone, turn it towards them, say, hey, this is my first episode I've ever done here on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it. I'm going to talk about my passion. Here we go. And by the end of the day, they've got it uploaded. It's ugly. It's not the greatest lighting, maybe not the greatest sound in the world, but it's up. They figured it out. They did it. They learned in action and they took one step closer. So who's going to win there? I'm going to tell you who's going to win. That person who shoots that video right away and gets it up. Because you know what? By the end of the year, they've done it maybe 50 times, maybe 100 times. And the person who's just going to start after doing all the research, they're just going to start, that person's still going to have to learn it all on the fly, doing it. The person who began has a whole year's experience on the other person. And the other person still needs that whole year of experience to get good on camera. Why do I share that? Because, hey, maybe YouTube isn't your dream. Maybe it's starting some other type of business. But you get the metaphor. At the end of the day, it's time to get in the game. You can't keep spinning in place. But people don't just do that in career. They do that in their relationships, too. You know, well, someone says, my relationship isn't as passionate as I wish it would be. But you know, things will change. One day she'll get it, One day he'll get it. And so you just keep going through the motions, doing the same thing in the relationship over and over and over and over again, never diligently trying to change every single day, try new things. Or you try new things and then you make the fatal mistake of telling me a high performance coach. Well, Brendon, I've tried everything. This is the one I hear all the time. Brendan, you don't understand. I've tried everything. A if you heard the phrase you don't understand and you've heard the previous two editions of the podcast, you know what a fatal and sad belief that is. It's not true. Everyone can understand you. And number two, if you tried everything here's my favorite response. Awesome. Good. Then show me the list. Well, what do you mean? Well, you said you tried everything, right? Yeah. Well, then to try everything, you must have a list, like an ongoing list of all the different things you tried, when you started trying them, when you stopped. So, you know, timelines of when you began and when you stopped with. Along with lessons learned about each of those. Because if, you know, if you tried everything, then there has to be a list just to ensure that, of course, that each thing was mutually exclusive. You'd have to keep a list to make sure you weren't trying the same thing over and over again so that you would know that you did try, quote, unquote, everything. So show me your list. Can you send me the expel spreadsheet? And people go, uh, most people say, I've tried everything, tried three or four tops, and were disappointed after one to two weeks of trying them, tops. Very rarely have I ever met someone who said, I tried everything. And I asked them, tell me about it. And they can name off dozens of things that they tried, when they tried it, what way they've tried it, what they tested, what worked, what didn't work, what lessons came from it. Because you know what? People love to give up and then make the excuse. You don't understand. I tried everything. It's hard for me. It was easy for you. As if talent was inborn, which we've learned. It's not as if luck was bestowed differently to one person over the other, which it's not. Blessings. Yes. They're all around opportunity, also all around to those who say, well, you don't understand the area I came out of, Brendan. I say, you're probably right. I didn't grow up there. But let me tell you about this guy named Nelson Mandela. Well, you don't understand, Brendan. I started from nothing. You know, I was broke. And I said, ah, that must be a real difficult challenge. Let me tell you about this guy, Richard Branson. Well, Brandon, you know, it's harder today to succeed because, you know, I've already succeeded this, and I want to start this new thing. But everyone said I'm stupid. You know, it's hard. It's a lot of peer pressure at the top when you're successful. I said, oh, yeah? Let me tell you about this guy, Elon Musk. To every excuse, there's an exception that makes you look like a fool. And when you realize that, wisdom enters and you go, you know what? My excuses to stop aren't that good. I like to tell people that, you know, there's a big difference between successful people and unsuccessful people in the way in which they simply think they're the same people. Right? Successful people can also be unsuccessful, and unsuccessful people can be successful. It's not a trait. It's just usually a way of thinking and doing things. And here's what I've learned. Successful people have a dream and unsuccessful people have a dream. It's just that when an unsuccessful person sees the idea, the opportunity of the dream and other people achieving it, they say, well, yeah, they could do it, but I'm not like that. So they disqualify themselves. Or they say, well, I don't have the resources necessary to do that, so they quit. Or I don't know how to do that, so they quit. Successful people have the same potential, dream, opportunity, goal they see other people achieving. They say, well, you know, maybe I'm not exactly like that person, but what strengths of mine I could summon to get on the road? They say, I don't know how to do it, so it's my job to learn it. They say, I don't have that, so it's my job to go acquire it or build it. They begin, If I parachuted into your life, let's say, six months ago, and I sat you down and we talked about your goals for the year and what you wanted to achieve in this six months upcoming, what would you have said and how far along are you now? You know, it's a good time of year to reflect and see how much we've really changed and progressed this year. Are we just spinning in the same old routines, the same old fears, or same old doubts? Or are we taking new actions every single day that move us forward? Such a simple question, but the thing that gets in the way of being able to answer that in a way we're proud of, is fear, is doubt, is uncertainty, is all the ready excuses for why we don't have the time to take the new actions. Well, you don't understand. I'm busy. You don't understand. I'm big business. You don't understand. I haven't had what you had. And that's what people say. This is why I think this time of year, I knew I wanted to release life's golden ticket. I wanted to have this conversation with people about this time of year, evaluate their life, how far they've come. Because, hey, at the beginning of the year, everybody's hot to trot, they're ready to change, they're excited about it, they join the gym, they Change their relationship, they change their career, they start taking more bold moves and then a couple months in, they fall back into routine and start spinning in the same place with the same emotions, the same life experience as they did a year ago. It's easy to fall into old conditioned patterns and the only way out of it is to wake up each day and consciously decide before reacting to the world, answering our email, looking at our attacks, playing on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram or whatever, is to sit down and say, what three new things could I try today to move forward a little faster? Could I test a new marketing page? Could I test a new marketing message? Could I try a new way to open the conversation with my spouse in an old. In an old conversation that wasn't working? Could I call three new people? Could I send out four new emails? Could I ask three new people for help that. See, progress comes from really two places. One, doing what is working with diligence, discipline and excellence. That's operational maintenance. That's if you got something going and it's working, stay on top of that thing, continue doing it with detail and excellence and discipline and know what those moves are. If you don't know what the moves are that move you forward, then you're going to spin forever. You should know what are the five critical steps, the moves I call them, that you're making that are working and you should stay on top of them, amplify them, scale them. And then the other component of progress is newness. Trying new strategies, new tactics and innovating, changing, updating, incremental shifts that get you ahead two to three times faster. Little things like that, constant experimentation, right? One way of progress is execution and the other way of progress is experimentation. Oh, I tried to go this route but you know, they blocked me in the pool over here. So let me spin around and try this other one and not give up and say, well, it doesn't work and spin in one place but to keep trying. See, most people give up on their dreams right before they're about to have that first breakthrough step, not before they're about to achieve it. That's the old, that's a great myth of people who haven't worked with a lot of high achievers. They say, well, you know, people tend to quit right before they're about to succeed. And I go, no, actually people are about to quit right before they have that first big step that worked. See, it's not that one day you're going to step into complete and total lottery winning super success. What's going to happen is you're going to be a hot mess and then you're going to do something that's going to be small, but it's going to be a little bit of a win. And then what? Most people say, well, either it didn't work or didn't work as big as I thought and they quit. But if we know anything about those who succeed in today's new parlance, they've got grit, they've got persistence, they're staying on top of it. They keep going. They simply outlast other people by continuing to try new things, by continually doing the things that work, by staying disciplined, focused, passionate, on the path. And that's a challenge for a lot of people. So let me ask two questions now. Where do you need to continue executing at even an even greater level of detail, discipline and excellence? Are you doing things in your relationship that are working? Keep doing them. Are you doing things that are working in your business? Keep doing it. Have you found that hobby that makes you just feel alive and joyous and flowing? Keep doing it. Are you doing a workout routine that you just absolutely love and it's working. Keep doing it. And then what new things are you trying? What have you tried new in your relationship recently to add some variety, pop, zest, passion, vibrancy? What have you done in your career to try to make that bold, move forward, to take a risk, to see if you can put yourself out there or that idea out there to try something new? What have you done in terms of your lifestyle to have a little bit more enjoyment? That's new. These are some fundamental, basic questions, I know, but I think it's an important time that we talk about these types of things as life's golden ticket is getting out there and more people are starting to read it. I'm enjoying the feedback that we're getting and how many people are relating with such a simple story. And it is a simple story. It's a story about second chances. It's a story about redemption. It's not complicated. I wrote it for a worldwide, global audience. I wrote it very simply that anybody can read it with high use of visual language and metaphors so that it could be something that worked around the world, not just for the literati here in the US it's probably my most simply written book I've ever done. People tell me that all the time, man. I could read this to my kids and they can have a breakthrough. And I say, great, that's what we wanted. We wanted to take on adult topics but do it in an entertaining fashion. And so I hope that you will read it. And if you like it, do me a favor, just put some quotes or hashtags out there. Goldenticket, secondchances. Tell me what you think about it. Leave a review on Amazon. Because what we're starting this month is every single day I'm going to go out and find people who are using the hashtags, talking about the book, and randomly just send them $100 just for fun, just to say thank you, just to do something weird and surprise people. Because I think that's part of my joy as a writer, that you know what being a writer can be a solitary thing where you're just alone and working on your stuff, and then at some point you think, gosh, you know, is this making the difference I wanted? Is it not? And one of my favorite things is just to surprise my readers, show up at their house, send them something free, drop them a quote, send them a shout out, send them a signed book, send them a hundred dollar bill. Just something silly, something goofy, something fun, because it makes the connection with the reader so much more. So do me a favor, make sure you go to life'sgoldenticket.com, get all of our bonuses, all the extra training you get there with the book, and take advantage of it, because that actually ends this week. So I'd love for you to take advantage of that. Also, talk about one more important thing today, and that is this concept of starting anew. You know, if you identify some areas of your life you've been spinning, you get a choice. Tomorrow morning, are you going to spin there again? Are you going to try something new? Are you going to spin there again in the same old energy, same old habits, same old conversations, same old peer group? Or are you going to switch something? I think it's important that we feel like each day is moving towards progress, that we're switching things up, that we're changing things, that we're purposefully putting new variety and fun and joy into each day. And a lot of people don't give themselves that gift. They're waiting for that gift to be bestowed upon them without realizing. Life's golden ticket is ultimately about conscious choice, isn't it? That every day we can wake up and breathe a little air into our lungs as if it's a fresh new day and say, let's appreciate this day. Let's bring a mindful joy to this day. Let's do something important today. Let's shake it up today, just for fun. You Know, usually I go out to lunch with these people. Today I'll go out to lunch with those people. You know, usually I work myself blind till I can't see. Today I'm going to quit early, take a long walk, look at the trees and the flowers and smell the air and kick the dog in the butt and smile. Whatever it is that you're going to do, you know, I think it's time for you to allow a little fun and joy back into life. This time of year is the summer is entering here in the US you see a vibrancy coming alive as spring is in full bloom and people are getting ready for the next couple months. There's a new energy. And I don't think that a lot of people realize that they don't have to wait for that. It's my. Still, my most powerful metaphor I've learned in my life. The power plant doesn't have energy. It generates energy. You don't have happiness, you generate it. You don't have enjoyment of life, you generate it. You consciously choose to allow yourself to create those moments or to feel those moments. And it's something that some folks need a reminder to because they think they're spinning in one place because of the other kids. They believe they're spinning in one place because of circumstance. They believe they're spinning in one place because their motor doesn't work right, the handles don't work right, the pool's not right. It's a bad day. Everything's unfair. But those who take control of their life realize, you know what? That's all bunk. This day will feel at the end of it, like I chose it to feel. Even if bad things happen over an enduring amount of time, our emotional hue of our life is a choice. We can all have bad life, we can all have bad struggle. We can all have bad things happen. But over a period of time, our attitude, that's the last of human freedoms. Viktor Frankl taught us that. I'm sure you remember that. So what's the energy you're bringing to the world? I keep emphasizing that in this series here because too many folks are missing out on the true joy and fun and pop of it all. And it's like, you got this day. Enjoy it. You got this moment, Sail. You got this time, rise. You've got this opportunity. Feel blessed and earn it. You are alive today. You can make a difference today. You can love today. This day can feel magical if you allow that energy to come from you, not hope that it comes to you to generate it to choose it to create the life that you've imagined for yourself. What a beautiful gift to others who now your children see you rise, you laugh, you enjoy life even amidst the stress, the chaos, the uncertainty. You feel your soul develop strength. Because even though all of society is running and hiding and avoiding and lying and playing games, you're authentic and alive and real and truthful. You're doing things that are important to you. You're giving things that you care about. You're engaging things you're passionate about. You are loving without compromise. The this is the time to reevaluate our lives and say, what energy am I bringing to the world? Because every day can be a story of redemption. Every day becomes that second chance. Every day becomes that blessed opportunity to show up and claim life's golden ticket. That choice to choose who we're going to be, how we're going to interact with people and what we're going to do with ourselves. So I just say my friends, take advantage of that. I also say thank you. There's been a lot of outpouring of support for Life, School and Ticket as we've been in pre launch here. I'm excited the book is finally available on Amazon. That's why we put up some bonuses for you@lifeschoolandticket.com I hope you take advantage of them because as you take advantage of those things, I'm able to continue self funding this entire endeavor. I don't do media tours because I've got you guys. We've got three back to back New York Times best selling books because of you. Without leaving my house or my video studio, I just shoot videos. We train people. Those gather enough interest that get people excited about the rest of our work. So if you're finding value here, I know you'll enjoy the free courses that come along with Life's golden ticket. Those courses about change and achievement as well. As for those of you who want to be an author and would love to know about my process, how I write books and and what I learned in promoting Life's golden ticket from the very outset 10 years ago to this relaunch of a special 10th anniversary edition. Yep. With the golden ticket right in back. It's been an honor to be with you here today and as part of this series, I'm gonna do one more for you tomorrow. And in that one I'll be announcing one big huge surprise. I hope you download the last couple episodes. Be sure to to do that please because we've spent a lot of time talking about change. If you'll enjoy this one, you'll love those ones. Don't forget to tune in again tomorrow. Download that episode as well. Thanks again for all of your support. I hope to see your comments out there as you get your books over these next couple weeks for life's golden ticket. Hashtagging it on goldenticket. Secondchances. Love to see your comments and hear your breakthroughs. Honored to serve you again. Go out there until tomorrow. Realize tonight. Tomorrow you got a second chance to be more of who you are. Take advantage of that and as always, live fully, my friend. Love openly and make your difference today.