#101 - High School Graduation (ONE YEAR AGO)

Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original series. The world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th.

This place.

It's not ours. Believe me, the most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh my God. Go. Go, Go.

Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV. Plus.

Hold music. You want to avoid it and so do your customers. So say goodbye to holdmusic and hello to faster, smarter support with Salesforce. Make service more personal and agents more productive using built in trusted AI. Then watch costs and wait times drop and satisfaction soar. Support customers in a whole new way with Service GPT. Learn how@salesforce.com ServiceGPT welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. My name is Casey Adams and on today's episode I am very excited about what we're going to be talking about because it has officially been one year since I graduated high school and for those of that have been following me for a while. I know that you have seen my journey from someone that posts Instagram stories while in high school to then taking a flight that same day, to then speaking at a business conference later that evening in Los Angeles, California. And I'm overall going to be giving you my journey and my stories through what I've like to call my gap year. Because when I was a sophomore in high school and got into this entrepreneur I would say circuit, I always told myself I'm going to graduate high school and take a gap year and see where it takes me. So I'm going to be giving you what I've learned in throughout this past year, the takeaways, the experiences and overall give you my advice stories of everything I've learned throughout my year in the real world, quote unquote. So it is officially June 6, 2019. I graduated high school June 6, 2018. And just to think about that real quick, time is moving fast. And it's funny because I'm 18 years old right now and I always hear all the time that, oh, when you graduate high school, time speeds up and it keeps speeding up and I totally get that. But for me, a year, if I think from today until next year seems like a long time. But when I think back to a year ago, the day I graduated high school, it seems like yesterday. But overall, here's what has happened throughout this past year. It's just, it's crazy because I remember sitting down at my graduation, waking up that morning, getting my cap and gown out of my closet and heading towards vcu. That is a school in Virginia that I. I would say graduated from. And that's where the high school graduation went down. But I remember the whole day so vividly because my entire family was in town. And it's one of those days that you don't forget, whether that's graduating high school or graduating college or whatever it is selling your company. We all have moments in our life that we cannot forget, moments that you work so hard towards. And the day that it comes, you're just overwhelmed with joy and excitement. And I'm gonna have you think on that during this podcast today because I believe we don't take enough time to truly reflect. And I'm a strong believer in living in the moment and just focusing on the now. But I've had great things happen to me from deep reflection. And today is one of those days that I'm going to be reflecting on not only the day I graduated, but what it was like for me in high school as an entrepreneur traveling the country and what I've learned from not having that this past year. Meaning I have full control of my time. I have full time freedom. I don't have to be anywhere. I'm running a company, I'm doing my own thing. So therefore I have a lot of skills to learn and I'm gonna be giving you my insight about it. So here's what has happened. I'm gonna give you the quick rundown and then we'll get into the details. So over the last year, I graduated high school in June on the 6th, and then I moved to Arizona on September 25th, 2018. I've had three massive events with my team at Build you'd Empire, shout out to John Malott, Joshua Denny. We've had three big events. Two at the Build you'd Empire house and one in Los Angeles, California with young and reckless drama and that whole entire team. And let me tell you one thing, I have met so many amazing people throughout that process of just being in Arizona. Being in Scottsdale, it's hilarious because I remember my two best friends, Kieran o' Brien and JR Garage Shout out to Jeff. We traveled the country when I was a junior and senior in high school. And my whole intent moving past high school was to move to California. My goal was to move to la and it still is, but I'm gonna kinda push it back until I'm 21. I wanna be in Scottsdale and in Arizona until then, but it's crazy to think that I've lived in Arizona for almost nine months now and I'm A little Virginia boy that just lives in the desert now. Right. And it's just crazy to me because looking back throughout this journey, and I want you to do the same today. I want you to reflect not only in the last nine months of your life, but if you have had a massive environment change. For me, moving from a small town in Richmond, Virginia, living in a house with my mom and my dad and my two brothers every single day for 18 years, and then picking up everything I own, moving across the country by myself to Arizona at 18 years old, I have learned so much in terms of about myself, about my habits, about my routines, and I have so many takeaways that I want to give you today just for you to take away from. So back to the quick rundown. I went to Germany with John and Josh and Najula, and we had an event with over 400 people in Germany, which was insane. And I've had the opportunity to speak at over 20 events over this past year in terms of sharing my knowledge about personal branding, social media marketing to people all over the United States of America as well as Germany. And it's super cool because it's hilarious. I'm gonna tell this story real quick. When I was a 10th grader, sophomore in high school, I was in English, English class. And I remember, this is hilarious. My teacher, we were doing this, I would say, exercise, where we would all sit in a circle and we had to read out loud, read chapter and page by page. And it was the most dull, boring exercise. And my teacher literally told the class, guys and girls, be realistic. Be realistic with your goals. Be realistic with your life. Because the truth is, it's hard. And I remember sitting there in that classroom as a sophomore in high school when I just started learning and diving into just content on social media and social media marketing. I remember I blurted out, I didn't even raise my hand according to the rules of school. I was like, that is a lie. Do not spread that information in this classroom, please. And I said it very. I would say nicely. I was like, don't tell us that you're literally shutting down goals and ambitions of a classroom of 30 kids who may want to do more. And excuse me, but you have given up on your goals. That's what I told her. I was like, you have given up on your goals.

What?

Why are you going to tell us to give up on ours? And we ended up having this debate for like 30 minutes. So the class loved it. We didn't have to read anymore. She was just trying to roast Me and vice versa. And I said this in a very nice way. And my conclusion of that is I told her, I was like, no, I'm gonna graduate high school and I'm gonna not go to college and I'm gonna move across the country. And she literally told me, no, you won't be realistic. And I'm just putting this into the world today through this microphone, through this podcast. And I want you to truly think about this because maybe you've had someone say this or say something like that in your life. I'm sure we've all had it. We've been told by someone else, you can't do that. We've been told that is stupid. We have been told the things that we are doing today are not the right things to do. And here's the catch. A lot of the people, and I would say most of the people that tell us these things, tend to have already A, given up on their goals or B, they envy you for striving for more. And there's one catch though. If you have mentors in your life like me, I have people that I can truly ask questions to. I have a support system and sometimes the advice from them, it's great to follow it. And yes, you may want to do things your way, but seek counsel from trusted people. For me, being a 10th grader and hearing that advice from my English teacher was not counsel that I wanted. I did not want to emulate her life, I did not want to follow her footsteps. So I had no reason to to take that advice to heart, which was be realistic. And here's my advice and what I want to tell you today is be the opposite of realistic. Be an optimistic person that truly not only sets goals but follows through. Because me moving across the country three months after graduating high school, what we like to call it in Virginia is a full send. I completely sent it. I dropped everything. I had no, I would say, mental awareness of where I was in Virginia. And I wanted to get out, meaning a change my surroundings. I wanted to change not only my environment but my day to day routine. I believe you listening Today you are in a routine, whether that's you live in Virginia, New York, Miami, Los Angeles or Germany or wherever you are in the world, chances are you are living in a routine. You get up and you think about the same things. You wake up and you look at the same things. You go to the store and you may see the same people or maybe you have a job. You get up and go to the same cubicle and you're in this mental routine. And what I believe that really drives me is new experiences, new things I remember. And I'm sure we can all remember Christmas morning, waking up and just going downstairs and literally being the most excited and individual and just getting ready to open up gifts. Whether that's one gift or a million gifts. I don't know everyone's background, but I'm saying this. Think about a moment in your life where you were convinced and very excited about the day. For me, that was graduating high school. I was hyped to walk across that stage and bounce out of Virginia. Three months later. I was ecstatic because I've been setting that goal for so long. And back to my main point though, think about a time, a new experience, a new place you went to, a new meal you've tried, that you were just so excited about. Because I believe what holds a lot of us back is not experiencing new things, whether that's new people, new places, new just experiences. I remember I went to Costa Rica this past summer and I went zip lining, I went whitewater rafting and I did all these new things that I just stated. And Costa Rica was a place I've never been to before. And I remember it so vividly because it was new. See, if I had told you to remember the last 12 days of your life, what you ate for breakfast, what you ate for dinner, what you WORE throughout those 12 days, chances are you cannot tell me what you ate, what you wore and. Because everything's sort of mashed together and you're in this routine. But if you tell me what were the 12 days like in Costa Rica, I could give you so many quality points and things. I remember because it was new to me, because I was excited. And I want you to think about something that got you excited in your past. For me, like I just said, it was graduating high school that day I will remember so very vividly. It's hilarious because I remember I wanted to get content on the day of my graduation and I had my family there with their iPhones. But I was like, no, I wanna get a full photographer so that when I walk out of the graduation ceremony, when everyone's taking pictures and saying their goodbyes or whatever it is, I wanted to have a photographer capturing and documenting that experience. So I remember shout out to Mike Metzger if he's listening. I texted Mike the morning, it was like 8 o' clock or something like that, or 9 o' clock in the morning. I was like, dude, I'm trying to get a photographer today. I Graduated high school today. Do you have any available in, like, three hours? He was like, oh, my gosh. Let me see. Long story short, he's like, yo, I got one. He's 200 bucks for the hour or two hours. I was like, done. Boom. Sent him the money. I'm coordinating. His name was Casey. Actually, shout out to Casey. And he's like, yo, I'll be there at this time. Let me know when you walk out. I'll be documenting and capturing the pictures, and therefore, I have hundreds of quality pictures of me walking out of the venue, me with my friends from high school, me with my family, and the documentation of that day. I knew that it would be valuable to me long term. The fact that I'm talking about that today makes it concrete to me that that was worth it. Because those pictures that I run through of graduation, everything I talk about from graduation, I was able to document that. But back to the main point, I want you to think on what has been a moment in your life where, like I just said, you're truly excited. Because the last year of my life, being out of high school, I've learned that what truly keeps me fired up is new things, new opportunities, new goals, new events, new people. Everything new, because I believe that. And I made a post about this on Instagram. The journey is everything. Think about a moment in your life where you were looking forward to that one day. For me recently, it was having an event in Los Angeles, California, with drama from young and Reckless. I was so fired up because I've been watching drama on TV since I was, like, 10 years old. And everything leading up to that day, the venue, getting set up, getting the speakers, getting the graphics, promotion, we actually sold out this event. Over 500 people were there and selling the tickets, doing the promotion. Like, everything leading up to the day was the best part. And the day of the event was phenomenal. But then a day later, two days later, the event came to an end. People went home. I go back to Arizona. Like, I was like, wow. Like, I was on such a high from that event because I was excited about it. It was new, it was different. It was a new opportunity, new people. I met Robert Greene. I met P Rod. All these amazing people that drama brought to the table. I was just fired up. And I've learned that. And I want you to test this out. Get excited. What are you excited about? What are you doing today that gets you excited? So, like, right after I record this podcast, my buddy Carson, we're about to have a meeting. He's the podcast Genius. And I'm excited about this meeting. And I wanna just tell you, find one thing. If I could give you one thing today, put one thing into your schedule every single day that you are excited about, whether that's making a cup of coffee, going to your local smoothie place, whatever it is, get excited. Because I can tell you, over the last year, I've been excited about going to Germany and having that event with Drama, moving from Virginia to Arizona. Like, all these points that I'm gonna continue to bring up in my life as examples of me getting excited for new opportunities. I want you to do the same thing. Because I remember sitting down at graduation and it's been a year already, and that timeframe in between. If you told me to recite every single day what I wore, what I drank, what I ate, I could not tell you the last 365 days of my life. But I can tell you the things that I remember and the things that I were excited about. That's what I've been telling you this whole time. But back to my key takeaways. Number one, don't rush. Enjoy the process. And this is very cliche, and I'm gonna send it to you straight up. You've probably heard that a million times, but it's the truth. Some of my best memories are not only just from high school, but as an entrepreneur. I remember waking up at 7 in the morning or 6 in the morning, getting ready for school, going to school and just wandering throughout the day, walking through the hallways, being on my phone, coordinating with clients, trying to hop on a phone call. From going from math class to science class and shit. I skipped 50 days of school. Senior year, I only had three classes. So, like, I completely went focus mode into my business and my personal brand and everything I was doing. I missed 50 days traveling across the country, speaking at different events. And I'm telling you this not because I believe high school is bad, but I just had a different focus. I had not only a career path, but momentum. And if you can find and produce momentum in your life, like, for example, this podcast, I'm on a winning streak. This is momentum. This is episode 101. I dropped episode 100. I'm gonna be posting three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This is momentum. And when I started the podcast, I had momentum. I was posting like five times a week, literally, like, every single day for the first four months. I was posting so much on my podcast, and then I lost that momentum. Honestly, I lost the momentum. I was on But. But now it feels so good to be back on this. I would say wave of momentum for the podcast. If you haven't already checked out the new Instagram page, RiseOfTheYoung, it's dope. Literally. I've been working on this aesthetic look for the past eight months of my life. Since, like, I wouldn't say eight months. Like, six months. Since, like, October. Oh, dang. That has been like, eight months. Pardon me, but my boy Sabian, if you go to Rise of the Young on Instagram and you go to the page, it has like, 11,000 followers. You can see that there is a theme to it. You can scroll down and if you see the page, it'll make more sense. But you can read through my journey. You can read through my journey of the podcast. And the page is meant to be a staple. It's meant to be a process that I can walk people through my journey. And I am excited about that. But that being said, the momentum of the podcast that I'm on feels so good. So I want you to write to me on Instagram. What momentum do you have in your life? Maybe you've already had momentum for the past 20 years or the past six months or the past week. Let me know what that is. What are you building in your life that you have momentum on? Because the things that you have momentum on are the things that you are excited about. And like I said earlier, start integrating things that you are excited about, because that's how you're going to crush it. And the main point of this podcast today was me graduating high school one year ago. I was so excited about this gap year. I was so excited to travel across the country, officially move out of my house at 18 years old. And the time has flown by over the last year. And there's so many things that I've done and accomplished and things that I've gotten depressed over and sad about. And I wasn't on a winning streak. But you learn to roll with the punches, I believe. You can't live every single day on a high. And I don't mean high like you're gonna go smoke weed. I mean, like the day that you have an event, the day that you have something you've been looking forward to, that's a high. But then the days and months and years building up to that, it wouldn't. It's not the lows. Every day should have some sort of just high to it, something you're excited about. But you have wins and losses, right? Yin and yang, all these different Concepts. You have to go through the motions. You have to understand that every single day is not going to be the best day ever, because then it wouldn't bring context and enjoyment to that best day. Like, I remember the first time I ever went to Los Angeles, California, I got flown out by Tai Lopez. He flew me and my mom out, and I was in a bunch of his online training programs. He brought me to his mansion in Beverly Hills, put me in a hotel. And that first time in Los Angeles, California, was the best time because it was new, it was fresh. I was looking forward to going to Los Angeles since I was, like, 7 years old. And I didn't get to go until I was 16, until I built up this brand online that Tai Lopez noticed, and he flew me out there because I didn't fly on a plane once until I could pay for it myself. And it was one of those things where going to Los Angeles for the first time was the best time. So don't rush. Enjoy the process. That is the number one takeaway. I want you to understand. Do not rush this last year of this gap year. I haven't rushed it. Literally, it was two days ago. I was like, oh, wow. Like, I graduated high school a year ago. Like, wow. And it just came up to me. I was getting these little memories or whatever, and I was like, that's insane. A year already went by. And then I started to reflect. And I want you to do this today. Reflect back and realize how much you've grown. And this is number two when it comes to key takeaways of today. And I'm gonna say it again. Reflect back and realize how much you've grown. Because me thinking back to a year ago, I was walking back and forth from my car to high school, the parking lot of my high school, walking into school, walking out of school, driving to my house, which was two minutes away, and doing that every single day. That was my routine. That was my identity. A high school that has a business, that has a podcast that is in high school. The perception of me has changed. The reality of me has changed. Who I am has changed. And it takes deep reflection for you to notice that, because if you don't reflect on who you were, it's hard to recognize who you are. And I want you to do this literally, maybe pause this podcast or wait till the end, whatever you decide to do, here's what I want you to do. Take a moment throughout the last year or throughout your life that you know that you've changed from. Think about that moment where if you're looking back, you might be like, wow, I used to be this type of person. I am not that type of person anymore. But it takes you recognizing that for that to cement into your mind. Think about the person you were, think about the person you've become, and reflect on the decisions you've made that have gotten you to where you are today. Because reflection is, I would say, a major key to recognizing, recognizing where you are now, because that's all that truly matters. You listening to this podcast right now, you cannot, I would say you can't not live in the now all the time. You think about the past, you think about the future. How many times? And if you're listening to this podcast, chances are you do spend time living in the now and being present. But you're listening right now with true conviction. You're listening. Maybe you're driving to work, maybe you're cooking right now. Maybe you're walking your dog, maybe you're playing basketball. Whatever it is, you are listening to this podcast with your attention dialed in. And that is a great thing, because so many times, for example, I get distracted on my phone every single day. You have so much going on. You have to respond back to texts and emails. And one of my major goals is, is to not be on my phone in the morning and not be on my phone in the evening and maximize when I'm on my phone. But I want you to do the same, not only on your phone, but in your life. Because think about your life and think about the day in your life that you cherish. Think about it. And this is how I want to end the podcast today. Because me graduating high school a year ago, me remembering walking across that stage, getting my diploma, sitting back down in that chair and watching my entire class walk across that stage, I can remember that so vividly and the energy that I had on that day. I was so happy. I was so excited. My family was in town. I was done with high school. I could now pursue my business ventures that I wanted to pursue on a daily basis without having a schedule to follow, which was school for five days of the week and over the last year, without having school, without having a place to be. As an entrepreneur, you have to dictate your schedule. You have to align what you have to do, and you have to do it. You have to handle everything. You have to truly set your own objectives. And the key takeaway, there's three of them. I already spoke about two of them. Number one, don't rush. Enjoy the process. Number two, reflect back and realize how much you've grown. Number three, think about a day in your life that you cherish. For me, it was that moment of graduation. It was that day. And the energy that I had throughout that day was amazing. And here's what I want you to do. Live in that energy. Live with that mindset. Whatever day you think about right now in your life, I want you to truly embrace that energy that you had throughout that day. Try to inject it back into you. Think about, like, today. The energy that I have right now with this podcast is the same energy that I had the day I graduated high school. But now I have a year of my gap year fully into my brain, the experiences, the people. I've learned so much throughout this last year. But. But I'm living in the energy of someone that's graduating high school today because that's the energy I want to carry throughout this next year, throughout this day, throughout this week, throughout this month. And I am just so convinced that if you do that, if you truly live the energy that you had on the day that you're reflecting on, you will have a phenomenal day, a phenomenal week, a phenomenal month, and you will just embrace it. So to wrap this podcast up, here's what I want you to do. And I already told you what I want you to do. And I'm not saying I want you to do this. Like, hey, say what I do what I say. I want you to test. I want you to let me know what you think about this. Let me know and send me a DM on Instagram and screenshot this podcast, post it on your Instagram story and tag me. Because I want you to let me know what's going through your mind when you're listening to this podcast. What are you reflecting on? The reason that I have a small little emoji on the COVID of my podcast, they call that the mailbox emoji. And I call it the DM slide emoji. So slide in my DMs. DM me. Your biggest takeaway from today. Let me know the day that you thought about. The day that you're reflecting on what. What is that one day of pure accomplishment and excitement that you are thinking about right now? Let me know, because I want you to not only think about it, but tell me, because you talking about it as well brings more conviction to you as a day in your life that you will remember that you are truly excited about. So send me a DM screenshot this podcast, put it on your story, tag Me. I will be reposting every single one of you on number one, my new page, Rise of the Young, but also my personal brand, Casey Adams. So, that being said, I just want to say thank you for tuning in to the Rise of the Young podcast. New episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Let me know, what do you want me to talk about? What do you want me to speak on? Ask me questions in the DMs. If you want me to go on a rant about a topic, let me know, because I will for sure. And that being said, if there's one thing I want you to do is check out the new Rise of the Young Instagram page. We already have 11,000 followers and the page is special to me because it tells a story and I talked about it earlier, but I don't want to give you too much away. Go look at the page. Rise of the Young. You don't even have to follow it. I would appreciate it if you did. But. But check it out and scroll through it, because it's a puzzle piece, what I like to call it. It's a puzzle that I will be building on. And that's all I'm gonna tell you. Check it out. Rise of the Young. I will definitely be linking it down below in the description, so make sure you go check that out. And last but not least, make sure you subscribe to the Rise of the Young podcast. Leave a rating. We're trying to get to 500 ratings right now. We just hit 400. So if you could take the time to let me know what you thought about this podcast as an episode, as a show. Leave a five star review, please, and let me know what you think about the show. Leave a rating. Share it with a friend. Because this is just the beginning of Rise of the Young. I'll talk to you guys soon. Thank you so much.

Legacy of Monsters An Apple original series. The world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th. This place, it's not ours. Believe me, the most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh, my God. Go, go, go.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters. Streaming November 17th only on Apple TV.

Plus.