Motivation Manifesto: Defeat Our Demons (Declaration 3of9)

Hey friends, it's Brandon. And this episode is part of a special 10 part series that I'm doing right here on the podcast exclusively where I'm going to release the major parts of my audiobook of my book, the Motivation Manifesto. Yes, I'm releasing 10 full chapters of the audiobook right here on the podcast.

So.

So make sure that you're subscribed to the podcast and you download these episodes. You'll see these episodes designated as Motivation Manifesto and then the chapter name. And here's the deal. These are only going to be posted until June 3rd. So I'm giving you 10 days to go through the entire Motivation Manifesto audiobook of the major declarations of the book. Anyway, I don't, I won't include like the introduction or forward or stuff like that. So just jumping right into the declarations that made the Motivation Manifesto so famous. The book spent 36 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list when it came out a decade ago. Why am I releasing such a huge.

Part of the audiobook right now?

Well, it literally was a decade ago. So this is the 10 year anniversary and I just wanted to say thank you and celebrate it with. Celebrate all your support. Frankly, you guys have been amazing to me in this last decade and that book kicked off such a magnificent part of my life. And I'll never forget the support you gave me. Not only making it a major New York Times bestselling book, but just the love of that book around the world. It led to, you know, an interview with Oprah and doing courses with Oprah Winfrey Network. It led to some coaching, some of the best, best teams in the world. It was an extraordinary experience of my own and many. You know the story that initially the publisher turned down the book. I'd go find another publisher. And that journey alone was a reason to always fight for your art. With no further ado, we'll play this audiobook section of the Motivation Manifesto. If you'd like to get the book, you can still find it on Amazon and I encourage you to go there and get it as well. Because nothing like reading that book. But you'll hear me and my voice from 10 years ago reading this book. Please enjoy.

Declaration 3. We shall defeat our demons. A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. Alexandre Dumas as we gain greater presence and purpose in life, we become more attuned to our vitality and strength. We also become more aware of the profound ways in which we limit ourselves. We come to realize that our thoughts, more so than our circumstances, sabotage our freedom and success. We are the ones who allow our insecurities and fears to grow into the tidal waves of worry that wash our dreams away. We are the ones who constantly delay our our own progress, quitting just as the hour demands courageous action. We are the ones separating ourselves from others so that we needn't risk real connection or so that we can feel better than them. None of us wants to look in the mirror and realize that the person looking back is the cause of such frustration. We would rather smile at the reflection and be proud of its courage. We want to see ourselves as free and motivated masters of our own lives. And yet a quick glance into our own tired eyes often reveals a knowledge that we are standing in our own way. Too often we find ourselves muttering at the mirror. You again. Why can't you get your act together and go for what you truly desire? Why aren't you taking more risks, speaking up more, being more consistent, connecting better with people? These are difficult days when we realize our internal demons are beating us. Those days must come to an end now. Greatness belongs to those who have mastered their internal world. We are all plagued by doubt, but the great nevertheless find faith and begin. We all feel like delaying action, but the great march on. We all want to avoid vulnerability or act superior over others from time to time. But the great consistently demonstrate openness, humility and love. These few are not lucky. They are simply more intentional and more practiced at defeating their internal demons. That is why they have such vitality, motivation and confidence. Enlightenment comes to those who free themselves from self oppression. Let us choose to make that our aim and once and for all root out that which holds us back in life. We deserve to be free from all those stirrings within us that compromise our magnificence. For this let us declare we shall defeat our demons, the enemy within. It is impossible to fight an unknown enemy. So let us first give our challenger a name as it stands in the way of our own will to advance in life. We shall name it Defiance to dramatize its effect and our battle against it. We will also give it a shape, a form that we can visualize and seek to destroy. Imagine Defiance as an ugly three headed serpent that stirs deep in our gut whenever we want to take a risk. When this brute squirms, we feel anxiety in our stomach. That awful sense that we are not enough or things might turn out terribly. Its movements make us worry ourselves sick. It makes us feel so weak and distrustful that we stop taking action or connecting with others. It is the organism within that acts from our lowest impulses for self protection. No one escapes life without fighting this beast. The woman who never starts her own business because of constant terror is in its grasp. The poor fellow who starts and stops action all his life, never gaining real momentum toward his goals, is wrecked by it. The egotistical business person who sees his teammates as idiots or competitors, is being seduced by it. Anytime we set a higher ambition for ourselves, this nasty beast gnaws at us from within, tearing at our confidence and consuming us from the inside out, leaving us fearful and gutless. Where did defiance come from and how did it gain its power? It grew from the seeds of fear fed to us by the tyrants of the world. The cautioners who taught us to favor doubt over faith, the apathetic followers who showed us how to favor delay over action, the cruel who fooled us into choosing artificiality and social withdrawal over authenticity and the desire to approach. In the end, they were one and the same. Fear mongers, all tyrants who sowed the seeds of dread deep within us. At an early stage, the negative thoughts they planted in our heads fed the beast within. And now it grows in power whenever we hear ourselves think, I'm not good enough. I better stop doing what I love because I'm scared. I'm not worthy of trust and respect, and neither are others. The bullies of the world may have given us these thoughts, but it is our own failure to discontinue them that birthed the internal struggle we face today. With our own weakness and inattention, we have given defiance its power. As we become more aware, we learn to sense this beast as separate from our own nature. We can detect when it stirs within us, noticing a sudden wave of tension and stress in our body. And we can hear its whines and its roars rise from our gut into fear sharpened thoughts. I'm not sure. The timing might not be right. They won't understand me or let me win. We can realize that these feelings in our body and these sounds in our head are not of our highest character, but those of an internal voice of defiance whom we need not feed anymore. Defiance can roar all it wants, but we can choose to ignore it. And as we might a pesky, yapping dog, it can shift and cause pangs of worry or hatred. But we can calm ourselves by taking control of our own thoughts and actions. With practice, we can exercise total command and silence this internal demon once and for all. Should we succeed, we shall begin to reach our full personal power. Transform doubt with faith. Defiance is a fierce foe. In order to confront it, let us get to know this foul serpent by understanding the defining character of each of its nasty heads. Let us imagine the first head of Defiance to resemble that of a pale, sickly eel. We sense it as an unsure feeling in the pit of our stomach that rises until we hear an indecisive chain of thoughts in our head. Its sound in our mind is a high, familiar whine, like the voice of an old, tolerated friend who has our ear and uses it only to share her worries and insecurities. Although it may look and sound pathetic, we should not underestimate it. Its sole insidious function is to make us worry ourselves sick so that we might avoid the very risk or effort that would destroy it. For these reasons, we shall name it Doubt. Doubt wakes up when we strive for anything new or better. It recognizes that in those moments when our ambition rises, its very existence is in peril. For should we rise to accomplish our goals with confidence again and again, then it might be destroyed. The only thing doubt can do to survive is avert our strength by whining and singing its pessimistic song. I'm not so sure I. I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure. Inevitably, its plaintive tones unsteady most people. They can't handle the incessant worries of doubt, and soon they are trapped in recurring negative thoughts. I'm not so sure it is time to quit my job. Maybe it's not the right time to move somewhere. I would love. She'll probably say no if I ask her on a date. I don't think it's a good idea to follow my passions or do to strike out on my own. The precise moments when doubt begins to prevail in our lives are predictable. They happen when our doubting thoughts turn to real words. The moment we begin asking what if? And then follow the phrase with a negative statement. What if it doesn't work out? What if I can't handle it? What if I'm not good enough? What if they don't like me? What if I lose? What if I can't turn back? What if they take advantage of me? These are the questions of a mind poisoned by doubt, not our highest self. It is in the allowance and repetition of doubtful questions that stall most people from living free and fulfilling lives. There can be no real progress if we incessantly question our own course and capabilities. Yet the greatest damage from doubt isn't just what we fail to do it is who we fail to become. We develop character only through effort, struggle and learning, none of which we ever choose to endure when doubt has our ear. Doubt produces only small men and small women, scared of their own shadows. A world of timid worriers who never leap or serve. So what are we to do? How does one slay doubt? The great sages have taught us that when doubt has a hold on us, only faith can tear us from its grasp. Faith is a deep conviction, a global trust and confidence in our beliefs about what is true. The conviction comes from choice. We choose to believe something and hold onto that belief tightly, even in the face of so many unknowns. We have faith when we can endure sadness or suffering or loss and keep our wits about us, knowing that eventually these things shall pass and good things will return. We have faith when we believe in our capabilities to succeed. This belief needn't be overestimations of our current skill or strength. Instead, the most powerful faith in the world is the humble variety that says, I believe in my ability to learn and figure things out. With enough focus, time, effort and dedication, I believe I can learn to do what must be done and become who I must become to achieve my dreams. If we carry on with this kind of faith to learn and live into our potential, then doubt lies sweating on its deathbed. So tonight, in the stillness and magic of the last hours, let us grab our journals and write all the reasons we have to believe in ourselves and this world once more. What have we already done in life that we didn't know we could? What reasons can we find to believe that tomorrow will be better and the world will open up to us? Why will we continue to believe in ourselves and our dreams even amid difficult days? Yes, let us right these things. Let us force ourselves to do this seemingly simple activity now. For in writing our beliefs, faith itself is strengthened. Then, the next time doubt rears its ugly head, remember what was written. Remember what we believe. Replace its negative whining with more positive and empowering thoughts. This is the way of those who have mastered their mind. As we choose faith again and again throughout our lives, we develop a mental toughness for beating away doubt. It's as if each firing of conviction we forge an increasingly powerful, steeled weapon capable of piercing all negative thought. When we practice such power, it becomes something we can firmly grasp and wield in times of need and anxiety. Soon, faith is our favored weapon, and we become invincible against the darkness. We become the warriors of light who have an unshakable sense of self and serenity, who rarely question themselves or fate, who draw luck and abundance in all they do because they believe the universe favors those with a committed heart and all things are unfolding exactly as it should.

Hey, it's Brendan. Sorry to interrupt the audiobook here for you, but a quick reminder. Make sure you subscribe to the show and you download the this episode or all the episodes in this 10 part series. Or frankly, just set it so that all of my episodes always download to your phone because this series goes away on June 3rd.

Okay.

Other than that, in this little mid roll spot, I'd love to tell you about our Ultra group. I'd love to see if maybe this is the time for you to become.

More ultra successful in your own life.

In every area of your life. And I always believe that to do that you've got to have a new level of performance edge. You've got to optimize your health, you've got to adopt some wealthy habits, and you've got to get around a higher caliber of network people who are striving and working really hard to achieve great things. If that sounds like something you're interested in, I'd love to invite you into Ultra. Just go to Ultra vip. That's literally the website. Just Ultra Vip. There's no other part of that website. Just go to Ultra VIP for the invitation to see if you're right for my private networking group, Ultra vip.

Hey guys, it's Brandon.

I'm jumping in here real quick. First I want to make sure you've gone to progressmode.com to join the newsletter because I have a resource for you related to this episode and and I have an upcoming meetup with my private group, Ultra. If you've ever liked to be in a private group with me where I help you get more progress towards your passion projects or to build your business or your brand in a bigger way. Just go to progressmo.com, click on Private Group to apply to See you can get into Ultra and we can take.

It to the next level by getting.

In person and meeting up virtually once a month online as well.

Just go to progressmode.com transform delay with action There is so much at stake for faith to win in our lives. For if we don't tame the crippling thoughts hatched by doubt, we awaken an ever greater evil. The second Serpent, Head of Defiance, whose aim is to stop our advance by poisoning us with apathetic and resigned thought, is named after its sole miserable mission, Delay. We can imagine Delay's physical shape as that of a burnt orange eel with a severe face and a thunderous voice that can shake us from head to toe. If its brother doubt breeds uncertainty. With its whiny song of concern, delay engenders real terror. When it strikes us, it feels as if something is ramming its head into our chest. Delay thumps us and screams at us, its calls resonating throughout our very sails. Wait. It booms. Stop. It shouts. Don't. Please stop. You'll be hurt. You are not ready. Listen to my brother Doubt. The path is unsure. Do no more. Take no action. You will be hurt, I say. Saddened, embarrassed, destroyed. Sit. Wait it out or you are doomed. This is not the time. Delay's voice gets louder as we get closer to action. Delay makes no effort to woo or seduce us. It is a dictator of stop or be hurt. Wait or risk ruin. Presented with such dire choices, our mind rarely argues with internal fears that we may be hurt, rejected, or ruined, or why wouldn't we stop? Suddenly moving forward sounds like suicide. And so our minds start crafting masterful arguments for justifying inaction. We become severely confident in our negativity in order to protect ourselves, saying things to ourselves and others like, well, the conditions aren't perfect yet for me to begin. You can't just rush into things, you know. And so if life is not progressing fast enough for us, delay is there. If we have been waiting and waiting for the right time to strike out on our own, to approach a potential lover, to seek a higher position, to start a new project, to actually fight for what we truly want, delay is there. It is delay that turns people of action into people of apathy and insignificance. Nothing has done more than delay to make potentially great men and women miss their moment, knowing that we haven't spoken up for when we should have worked, when we should have fought, when we should have loved, when we should have lived, when we should have. This is the misery of mankind's inaction, of delay celebrating a win over our soul. So it can be said that delay is the worst of the two evils. It has destroyed more dreams than doubt ever could. For even with doubt awakened and worrying our soul, we can at least act with valor and swiftness when at our best. But we cannot and will not act if delay is running our conscience. But there is hope. There always is. Like doubt has its antidote, so too does delay. The poisons of fear, apathy, and indolence spread by delay can be wiped out with the antidote of decisive action. When we Take the initiative, despite the trumped up desires, to wait it out in fear when we pick up the phone to make that important call, walk over the table to talk to that cute stranger, enroll in that new course. Take that risk. These things set off an internal tidal wave of power that subjugates our meeker impulses. Taking decisive action is freeing ourselves from from delay. Destiny turns its favor toward those who act, awarding them with success and a heroic recognition in life. Is it not true that we would have no heroes if in the moment they were called to action, they decided to wait? All greatness teeters on whether a hero overcomes the terror within and advances regardless. The Olympian who trips to during the race but gets up and catches up. The bystander who is afraid of the rushing waters but jumps in to save the drowning girl. The whistleblower who knows he'll be fired for calling out a wrong, but speaks up anyway. Heroism is taking action to do important things, even when we are afraid. Cowardice is acting in accordance to our fears when our heart wishes to see us behave more nobly and and courageously. The hope of humanity rests on whether or not action overrides fear and apathy. So let all this waiting for everything to be perfect, all this creating excuses for why we must delay our own dreams, all this nonsense about why we don't deserve it right now, fall to the wayside. Let action plow through our hesitancies. We must do the things we have put off and most fear doing, and we must do them now. Let us sit this very night and compose a list of things we have been delaying in our lives. What have we yet to begin? Where did we stall our next move because of delay? And what must be done to pick up the torch of progress once more? Being keen to these types of questions makes us stronger men and women. Having a plan and acting on it to advance our lives regardless of the terror within, makes us legend transform division with love. If worry and waiting were not misery enough, the third serpent head of Defiance acts to ensure we suffer alone. This one poisons us with the venom of separation, making our blood and our behavior run cold. It makes us distant, intolerant or hateful toward others. It inflates our ego to feel different than others, more special, stronger or weaker than they. This demon is more self assured and sinister than its brethren. Let us imagine it as an eyeless, jet black serpent head. Its goal is to shred our humanity by making us go blind to the good in others. We'll name it Division. Division attacks our hearts and is the reason for a sickened society. Whenever we refuse to feel vulnerable or loving toward another, this is division at work. And whenever we feel that everyone around us is an idiot, insufficient or unworthy of trust or respect, this is division once more. All of our social angst and intolerances stem from division. That loneliness, disconnection, fear or anger toward others is a result of its poisons, corrupting our mind and humanity. As division is devoid of empathy or sympathy for others, its ultimate victory is the moment when we no longer see one another's humanity, when we objectify, dismiss or disregard another individual's value and rights. Its ugliest form is to blame for the wars, the rapes, the brutality, the darkest stains on humankind's history. In everyday life, this demon is most noticeable when it sparks our impatience, contempt and withdrawal. Its toxins make us feel high minded and pretentious, as if we should live above and insulated from others, as if we were somehow more special than our brothers, sisters, friends and associates. Criticism, nitpicking, disparagement and wrath become our tools for relating to those stronger or weaker than we perceive ourselves. We can also sense it easily when we become judgmental or cannot safely feel love for another, nor sense oneness with them. This is the mother with an extraordinary daughter who sees only her flaws. The impatient boss who thinks everyone is stupid and slow. The man who never loves because he thinks he's too weird or different from the norm. Division's poison, then, is antisocial venom that courses through us and clouds the innate emotional, social and spiritual intelligence that would otherwise lead us universally to connection with others and to love. Division, then, is the great destroyer of our relationships, the breeder of all social ills, the cause for our indifference and aloofness toward others. Even if we should find the inner strength and resolve to banish doubt and delay from our lives, our destiny will still fail if we let division have its way. Without social care and connection, even faith and action can become corrupt or inadequate. This is the confident, successful man who ends up alone and regretful, triumphant in achievement, but trailing the wreckage of failed marriages and friendships. We see it in the tale of the woman who, instead of finding sisterhood, finds jealousy and bitterness among her peers. It's the child who shuts down, becomes violent and ends up in prison because he couldn't find connection and compassion for others. What can be done? We must inject into our lives the strongest anti venom known to humankind, the cure of all evils and pains, the divine course that speeds all recovery and and fuels all of humanity's hope and strength and joy. Love. Love is the antidote to division. Its warm intent flows through our veins and floods the chasms between us, sweeping away the detritus of judgment, anger and hatred. The more we open the floodgates, the more power we have in our opening to love, all the chemicals of evil and discord are washed away, and the inner serpent of solitude along with them. Who have we been avoiding or mistreating because of division? What parts of ourselves have we shut down out of fear that we would be deemed too different, unworthy or unlovable? We must be aware enough to answer such questions and mature enough to seek resolution. Fortunately, love is in our nature and the most abundant resource in the universe. For for it created and lives in all things. All we must do now is allow it back into our lives and direct it toward others. Unlike faith and action, ingredients willed to life by our choice, love lives both within and beyond us. Love is everywhere, the Divine's cosmic thread woven through all that we see and sense. As we learn to follow and pull from this common thread, we recognize the oneness of which we are all part. We see that we are all made of the same purity, fighting the same demons, marching in our own ways to our own freedoms, all journeying back to love. Love completes our healing, for we can have all the faith and action in the world. But without love, there is no strength. It is love that gives faith its raw and divine powers, love that causes us to be courageous, to take actions that we would never take for ourselves. When love springs unfiltered from our hearts, then the last impulse of defiance is vanquished. Love is always the final and most complete cure to our inner demons, the sword of courage we now know. Defiance and its three serpent heads. Doubt questions our worth and course of action. Delay breeds indolence. Division closes the mind and heart. In one creature we find the cause of most human misery. For it is the lack of certainty, activity and humanity that derails our destiny. It would be naive to believe that we can ever vanquish defiance once and for all. Even if we defeat it in the moments that matter most in our lives, and this we must do, it will still return. Defiance is a noxious weed planted in us by society in constant dis ease, often germinating from our own insecurity and neglect. It grows fast and keeps returning, sending out its brambles and runners throughout our lives. The only sure method of eradication is our constant persistence in pulling it out by its roots. This is an Effort we must commit to and then recommit to. Daily, happily, we know we are able to beat Defiance back with faith, action and love. Just as we have given Defiance form, we can do the same for our weapon against it. Let us imagine our one needed weapon against our internal terrors as the sword of courage. It is a sword of unbending steel forged from that remarkable triumvirate. A strong hilt formed of faith and an indestructible blade of action on one edge and love on the other. Let us remember this image of courage the next time Defiance resists our progress and use it to overpower the enemy. The moments we are able to wield courage are the moments that become the most defining in our lives. All great people of history, all. All the heroes and leaders and innovators who lit humanity's way out of darkness and ignorance, forged within themselves the courage to overcome their internal conflicts when it mattered most. In many ways, they're just like us. They worried. They procrastinated. They sometimes had lower opinions of their fellow human beings. But what made them celebrated, what pushed society forward, what gave birth to their legend, was their sheer will to overcome such impulses and to faithfully, actively and lovingly fight for a better life for themselves and others. Let us learn from them. Let us master ourselves. And let us now add our own chapter of courage to the good book of humanity.

Okay, it's Brendan, the modern day Brendan here, jumping back in. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of the Motivation Manifesto. If you did, yes, you can still find the book for sale on Amazon and I would encourage you to.

If you're not yet a member of.

Growth Day, maybe this is the day that you join. There's actually a 12 week advanced motivation course based on the Motivation Manifesto in Growth Day. It's unlocked for any of our Mastery members. How do you know if you're a Mastery member? Well, just go to growthday.com and get yourself signed up. If you're already in Growth Day, just go to the search bar and type in Motivation Manifesto and bam. That 12 week course will pop up for you free just from being a Mastery member in Growth Day. Again, you can go to growthday.com and you'll find an entire course. 12 week online motivational course unlocked for all Growth Day Mastery members. We'd love to have you in Growth Day if you're not already. Again, you can just go to growthday.com I want to thank everyone for listening to this episode of the Motivation Manifesto audiobook.

Again.

Make sure you download this episode and all the episodes. Otherwise, you will lose these on June 3rd. This is a 10 day preview of 10 chapters of the Motivation Manifesto. My thanks for the 10th anniversary of the release of the Motivation Manifesto.