Who Is Steering Your Ship?

I want to talk about who is steering your ship. Who are you listening to? Who are you modeling? With all the opportunities that exist today, why haven't you reached your next level of income, life, and wealth? In most cases, we've been lied to. We've been told that if you find the right opportunity and you work hard, you can be successful. And that's simply not true. Millionaires, billionaires, and successful people have realized you need the foundation for wealth, the habits. And that's exactly what you'll be learning on the Millionaire Success Habits podcast. All success starts here. You guys live in a world where social media shows everyone. But are you really getting the true person? Just be careful who you're attaching your rope to, who you're modeling, what values your acquiring. I have to tell you a story about my grandmother and drugs. Yes. I never told you this story before. So when I was really young, I don't know, 14 years old, a kid in school. Now it sounds like a story. I tried pot a few times. Never liked it. I tried it. Got a headache so bad, my head pounded so bad I hated it. Maybe it was the greatest lesson. Maybe it was God. But I did a hit. I was at a friend's house. Always be careful of the buddy with the older friend. That's like, crazy. I had a buddy that was great. Great grades, good kid. His brother was insane. His brother got us to do, literally, a bong hit. And I'm just telling it like it is. And I was scared, and I was trying to fake it, but you can't. Like, if he handed me, like, a joint or a cigarette, I would be like. But it was like a bong. There was, like, smoke in this tube. I'd never even seen one before I did it. Oh, my God. I got the worst headache of my life. Like, I was laying on the grass like, I want to die. So it was perfect because I never wanted to do that, because I never wanted that headache ever again. I. I'd fake it. I'd tell people I was sick, I had asthma. I figured a way around it. So why am I telling you? Same kid takes some pot from his older brother, and he gives it to me. And I had it in my inside pocket of one of my jackets in my closet. Okay, this story's gonna make sense to everybody, but especially you guys. And so I come home from school or work. I don't know if I'm 15 or 16 or 14, but I come home and I'm living with my grandmother, who was my favorite human being. On the planet. I respected her so much. She was the wisest woman. Guys, you know how I feel about my grandmother. I wore her ring around my neck for 20 years. After, 10 years after she passed away, just one of the greatest people in my life. I still miss her terribly. But you remember, I always try to teach you that simple wisdom. And her simple wisdom was this. I come home and that marijuana, she found it. It was on the kitchen table, and she's cooking. My grandmother was Italian. She loved to cook. She fed me so good, like my kids. I taught you the recipes my grandmother taught me. Anyway, I'm digressing. So I come home like, oh, crap, oh, crap, oh, crap, oh, crap. And I'm thinking, do I tell her I didn't really smoke it? I tried it. I hate it. Do I tell her it's not mine? Do I. Like, she thinks I'm a drug addict now, and the worst thing could ever be, and I hope you guys feel this way with me is I didn't want to let her down. She raised. She helped raise me. She was there as much as my parents were, if not more by that age. And I didn't want her to think I screwed up. I didn't want to have her think I was a druggie and doing that kind of stuff. So I didn't know what to do. My grandmother, in her simple wisdom, she pointed to it, she goes, is that yours? And I was just like, well, of course it was in my thing. I don't know what I said. I'm like, probably. I said, yeah. She goes, hey, I just wanted to tell you, I don't know anybody. So my grandma said, I don't know anybody that does drugs and has a really good life. Because I'm just telling you now, this was pot. I know pot's completely different now than it was back then. It's legal in most of the country. But she was just talking about drugs in general. So you can replace it with any drug, a prescription drug that wasn't popular back then, and now it's killing so many people, right? My grandmother back to her, she said, I just want to tell you, I don't know anybody that does drugs that has a really successful life. Like, you don't see drugs and happy relationship drugs, and, you know, the company's booming. She's like, so if you know anybody that does a lot of drugs and they're having a great life, then you should do them. She pushed them towards me. She goes, in my opinion, in my years of experience, drugs lead to really bad places and people don't have a successful life. But I'll let you make that decision for me. Drugs equal, not so happy. And if you find something different, then you go for it. And she handed it to me and she said, hey, go get dressed for dinner. And I sat there like, I'm not going to get yelled at. I'm not going to get in trouble. But her simple logic has stuck with me to this day. Guys, to this day, I don't know anybody who's, you know, on drugs, like, not using marijuana in a safe way. And maybe I don't understand that, but I know from medical use, and there's so many great uses for that. So that's different. That's a different. So I'm talking about people who are doing. Doing drugs that take their mind off life to ease the pain, from heroin to prescription drugs to oxycodone and all those things. I don't know anybody at this age, now that I'm 50, that does drugs and has a happy life. So who's steering your ship? Who's giving you advice? Who are you modeling? Who are you looking up to? I just want to say, be careful. Because what happens is you get somebody in your life. Listen, I don't know what age you are right now, watching this, whether that's my children or anyone. I don't know what age you are. But is there someone in your life telling you to play it safer, to follow what they think is best? To be a Republican, to be a Democrat, to be a Catholic, to be Jewish, to vote a certain way, to run a company this way, to play it safe, to save your money, don't invest? I don't know. But is there someone in your life that's giving you advice that doesn't align with your values, your soul, your desires, what you felt growing up, who you want to become? Are you holding yourself back? Are you not being the best version of yourself? Are you playing even a little bit small? Because when people tell you you can't, you're allowing them to steer your ship, but they don't take control. They don't. They don't, like, grab the handle and start steering your ship. When I say your ship, I mean your life. It's cumulative, meaning it adds up. So if they tell you one day you're risky, like your dad, Your dad was a crazy entrepreneur, but he got lucky. You should play it safe. You go, maybe I should. No, no, I'm not gonna. But just that moment that you said maybe I should, it stacks Up. And then you watch the news and it says something negative, and it stacks on top of that. And then you run into an old friend and says, yeah, my husband tried this business and he went bankrupt. And you go, oh. And it stacks on top. And all of a sudden, you're living someone else's life because you let these little influences come in and they pile up. And then all of a sudden, it's just enough to have you play small, to not go for what you want. And here's what I know. Being this age and the experience I had and the failures that I've had. Guys, I'm talking to my kids now. When you were born, Bree, I lost almost everything. I had a lot of assets, but I lost all the cash. I made some bad business decisions. I brought in a wrong partner. I had to sell the house I was in. I had to take that cash to fund my company. I was writing be a real estate millionaire. You know that that was my biggest book. I was writing that in, like, a little, like, shed in a little, tiny $1,400 a month rented apartment. When you were born, Bri, because of dumb decisions. And everybody told me, listen, you have a kid now. You have a kid on the way. You need to go work for somebody. I know you had your own businesses since you were 17. Never worked for anybody. But I had people telling me, stop being a dreamer. You had a good run. Time to settle. They didn't say settle. That's why I looked at time. To play it safe. What if I did that? I wouldn't have gone on to be a multiple New York Times best selling author and impact millions of lives and be where I'm at today and be the dad I am and have the life I have because I almost let other people steer my ship. And so many of you watching right now, you're allowing someone to influence you who's not qualified. My grandmother's story matches this mostly. But really, it's just who's influencing you? Who are you modeling? Who are you looking up to? Who are you listening to? Who's giving you advice? And is it really aligned with who you are at the deepest part of you? Maybe today, right now? What if you just stop and pretended that nobody else mattered? Not one person's opinion, not one bit of advice, and you just wrote down who you are pretending that it wouldn't matter to anyone, that everyone would be happy, that you'd be successful no matter what. Then who are you and what do you want? And then when you're done with that. Look what advice you're getting that may be holding you back or steering you down a bad path because you know what's right. You know what your soul wants, you know what your future should be. And you also know your potential. Don't let anybody steer you your ship. Ever. If you liked this podcast, make sure you rate it and also make sure to click subscribe so you never miss out. You can always follow us on Instagram and if you don't already have millionaire success habits, you can grab it for free@deansfreebook.com Remember, all success starts here.