#01 What Is the Point of It All? BigDeal Podcast with Codie Sanchez

I wanna tell you the story about two fish. There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way who nods at them and says, "Morning boys, how's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?" David Foster Wallace, one of my favorite tortured authors, gave a commencement speech at a college that started with this story. It's called "What is Water?" About how the obvious things around us are in fact not that obvious at all. He talks about how universities are supposed to not teach you what to think, but teach you how to think and how if you're like me And as a student, you've never liked hearing this, and you tend to feel a bit insulted by the claim that you need anybody to teach you how to think. Now, I agree. But he talks to them about how it's not really about your ability to think, but your total freedom of choice about what to think. An obvious-seeming thing that is in fact not so obvious. You and I live in a world full of the obvious that's not obvious. The world is simultaneously better than it's ever been and on absolute fire. There's too much information, too many problems, and increasingly the few aren't talking truth. And they aren't also building. If we want to change this country and you want to change your life, You can't just get mad when the building is on fire. You need to know how to put out the flames, maybe how to build a fire department, and better constructed houses in the first damn place. Here we are going to do a very dangerous thing. We are going to talk about culture, cash, business, and how to become the type of humans who live lives worth living. We can't live in a vacuum anymore. We can't silo into political corners, into the rich versus the poor. We can't just get upset. We have to change things. How do we change? Money. We understand what is happening in the world, and then we get money because money is the language of the powerful. So we are going to do a thing that has, to my knowledge, never been done before. We're going to talk about what is going on, what to do about it, and then how to become so sovereign no one ever gets to tell you what to do again. We do not show up in the world as perfect versions of ourselves. We are not all we need to be. You standing there breathing is actually not enough. And I'm sorry to tell you, the fake cries of the many gurus are false. It feels lovely to think that just existing is sufficient, but feel that deep down in your core, truly sink in. Does it feel like enough when you have a day sitting, doing nothing, creating nothing, discovering nothing? Are those the moments you feel truly alive? No, because man is to be overcome. He was not created to arrive in the world shiny and perfect. He comes with an inadequate blank slate that has to be formed and molded into the future version of himself, like clay to a pot, beaten, molded, hardened in the fire. You're not here on this earth to be liked, but to create that thing inside you no other can. You're not here to make others comfortable, but to make the world a better place. So stand in the truth truth of what your two hands have toiled for. Actions scream, words whimper, and here we scream. Not the actions of tearing down—any coward can do that—actions of actually building something. While those who have known you as quiet try to push your voice back inside, remember: you playing small serves no man. There's a planet of people all hoping if they stay quiet, all will pass like a thief in the night. But some thieves want more than your things. Who cares if they hate you? Grow and build anyway. I'm Codie Sanchez, and this is the Big Deal Podcast. For those who don't just want to be rich, but free and do what it actually takes to get there. May We pray like it's up to God and work like it's up to us.