Brendan argues most people know what to do but don't act because they lack a vivid, embodied vision of their goal. He recommends daily visualization, embracing discomfort, and consistent practice to turn dreams into gradual progress, using examples from public speaking, health, and writing.
How many of you in this room actually know already how to improve your life? You already know where to focus on your life, and you probably know what to do, but you haven't done it yet. Be honest. Raise your hands. Okay, about half the room of truth tellers and half the room. I'll just pretend you didn't hear the questions. Because who knows exactly what you need to do to change already, right? People say, oh, I want to lose weight, Brendan. I don't know why I haven't lost weight. I'll say, do you know how? Yes. Have you gone to the gym? So people know what to do. It's that they fail to do it. That essence is called common sense. We know what to do, but the failure in the practice comes from a failure. Sometimes of will, sometimes of circumstance, sometimes of something. But here's what I'd love you to do. If you're failing to implement something you know you should already do, please tune in. If you are failing to implement something you already know you can do, you. Your vision for your life is stuck to today. Your vision is stuck to yesterday. Because if you have a different vision for your life and you know what to do, and that vision is compelling, that vision is something that is real and important and exciting for you, guess what? You do it. If it's a fake vision, a half vision, a mimicry vision, a follow the leader vision, not your vision. That's why you're not doing the basics right. If you haven't lost the weight, you don't have a vision for your life healthfully yet. You want to lose pounds, but you haven't envisioned a healthy life. So even the commonsensical things, you don't do it right? Who has eaten a frigging bag of chips in the last 30 days? A whole bag of chips. Who ate that bag of chips at one sitting? Who ate the bag of chips in one sitting and had to fight not to open the second bag? Okay, who opened the second bag? Anybody? Okay. Okay. I'm just making sure you're all being real here, but let's go. It's not just health. Think about that dream you have. You know, you wanted to write like, my dream was to be a writer and a coach, right? I want to be a writer and I want to be a life coach or business coach. Okay, cool. That's what I wanted to do. Common sense says, Brendan, sit down and write every day. But I didn't see it yet. I didn't visualize that vision and own that dream yet. It was an idea. But it wasn't a vision in my heart. I didn't see it, feel it, walk through it. I remember I said, one day I'm going to be comfortable talking to people, because this is not how I came out of the womb. I know for a very long time, I talking to people and speaking on a stage, especially one that big, no thank you, ma'. Am. Not of an interest. And then I said, well, you know what? If I really want to make a difference in the world, I have to communicate better. I really have to get better at that. And so I would lay in bed every morning and I would lay there and I would visualize myself, see a vision of my future on a stage. And I would see myself walking to one side and saying something amazing. And they would stand on their feet because I said something amazing. And then I went to the other side and I said something equally amazing. And all the amazing just kept coming out. And people would stand and they would shout and they would scream, and I would see it. And as I was visualizing that vision of myself, guess what? I would be sitting in bed in complete anxiety. I'd be sweating out the armpits. You ever dream of your vision of your future and it makes you sweat? Oh, I am weird. Okay, are you all here? Say I'm here. You've never seen a vision of your future and it kind of freaked you out. If you haven't, you're not dreaming big enough yet, babe. If something in the future doesn't scare the out of you. Forgive my language. You haven't even started dreaming. If something in the future doesn't scare you, like, ooh, that. Like, see, if I want to be a public speaker and I don't think of a stage that big and I don't sweat, I better think of a bigger stage until I start sweating, right? To allow that discomfort, that vision, that's bigger because that's sometimes. Look, we'll talk about willpower, we'll talk about confidence, we'll talk about discipline. But I'm here to tell you a lot of the reason people don't take daily, real, practical, common sense efforts towards their dreams is they don't see the dream yet. They haven't laid awake and thought about it long enough. They thought, wouldn't that be nice? There's a difference between wouldn't that be nice? And I own this dream. It is in my heart, it is in my legs, it is in my body. I feel it, I sense it. That's mine. Let's go. You don't Luck into that. You decide what you want, and you see it and you visualize it, and you step into it mentally, day after day after day. And people say, oh, well, Brendan, what if it doesn't come true? I'm like, oh, babe, it's highly likely it won't. But who taught you it was about the destination? Didn't we all learn it's about the journey? Turn to the person, say, it's about the journey. It's about the journey. One of the reasons common practice isn't common practice is because it is so common. It's mundane efforts every day, common practice. It's just same thing. It doesn't look like a lot, doesn't feel like a lot. It's little inches, steps forward, incremental advancement. It's not sexy. We want the destination. And in the day, when we don't feel the destination, we're like, ugh. You know, I dream of the big stage, but then my first stage is that little room you all saw. And some people go, ah, well, that's not it. I say, oh, of course. Gonna start small. Keep trying, keep getting better. Learn to talk to people. Get out of my weird shell, like, you know, not be so awkward and just try to, you know, get many words out in a row. It wasn't like, oh, one day I'm gonna speak in front of, you know, this and that and arenas. That happened, and I could see it, and I forced myself to see it. But I would take the common everyday practices because the visions were mine. They were my dreams. Don't think one day you'll have a vision and become so strong. See a little bit of the vision and keep visualizing it. Keep visualizing it, keep seeing it. Keep visualizing. Every morning for, like, three years, I would lay there and imagine myself talking better. Imagine myself on stage, working the stage, getting away from the podium, right? You don't see a podium. There's nothing up here. There's not a chair up here at all. I got 38ft to work here, and then I got another mile to lap the room. I'm gonna work it. I'm. Oh, I had to see myself walking. That's weird. Okay. Yeah, walk. Brendan, move. Get. You know, G, you have to see this stuff. Y' all with me so far. Don't think. The vision has to be complete. The vision has to be tapped every day. Tap into it, see it, think about it, see it, think about it, see it, think about it. And it comes into more formation. Everyone wants their vision, their dream delivered as a complete Netflix package. I'm like, that's not how it goes. You see a little piece of it, and you observe it and play it out. See another piece, observe it, think it out. Observe it, think it out. Observe it, think it out, Sam.
