Worse By Comparison

Hi, guys. My name is Donnie Rouse and you are listening to the podcast One Life Worse by Comparison. Are you doing something currently that you feel a little bit discontent with, but if you look back 10 years earlier, you're doing exactly what you would have dreamed of doing. If so, maybe you are worse by comparison. And what that means is that you started to take your eye off the prize. You started focusing on what everyone else was doing around you rather than what it is that brings you joy. Earlier today I was going through Instagram and I get happy when I see some of my friends that I met while traveling. One of my friends currently is in Japan. He's a scuba dive master and goes all around the world diving different sites. Having not seen his updates in a while, I decided to send him a message. One of the things that always brings joy into my life is kind of connecting with those people I've met along the way in my trips. So I sent him a voice memo via Instagram saying, hey, you know, it's so nice to see your pictures. I think it's awesome that you're doing what you're passionate about, because so few people actually do what they're passionate about and love their work. I was like, so, you know, hats off to you. I hope, you know, we hope we get to see each other again soon. Take care. He sent me a text shortly after saying, you know what I want to say. Thank you. I needed to hear that text. He didn't elaborate any further in that, but the way I took it, probably because this is the way I've applied it to my own life, was that he had lost sight of what was important. He had forgotten that he's actually living his purpose, his passion, doing what he loves. When I look back on my own life, I've had that many times with my own, with my coffee. There had been times where I tried to talk myself out of the fact that I love coffee. I used to say, well, I'm just not that passionate anymore. I don't like as much. But then I would go to a cafe or I'd get in a discussion about espresso. And then I couldn't stop talking. And I got very enthusiastic about it. So it was a lie. And what was happening in my world when I was looking around at what everyone else was doing now I was comparing where I was in my life, saying that I'm not far enough, I haven't accomplished enough, it's taking too long. But here's the. The mindset. I had gone to this mindset Retreat, actually. And while I was there, it kind of, in a way, kind of stripped away everything that. Everything that was on my mind, like what people would think or what people caring about, what people thought, what I felt like I had to do, achieve and be in order to be worthy of love and all these other things, all this baggage that we would hold, that we as people kind of tag, you know, hold onto it. And then there was a moment where all that released and when I got rid of all that, like the expectations and when, where I thought I should be, I realized that I was doing what I loved. I realized that I didn't care what the pace was that I was going at because I was happy doing it. And if I just focus on the process and focus on the little individual steps of providing value, seeing people enjoy the coffees that I make, enjoy the products that I put out there with regard to one life, now, that would make me happy. So I left this retreat feeling like an insane high because I knew that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. How do you think I felt about a week after that retreat, slowly it started to fade, right? Because now my focus started going. I went back into some of those habitual patterns and now my focus changed again. My focus was going, oh, where am I supposed to be? Why aren't I here? And I wasn't focusing on the fact that I just being joyful for what I was doing, bringing presence to that task. Until today. After seeing my friends post, I realized how lucky I am that I don't count my blessings. The fact that I get to do create my own schedule, that I get to travel for periods of time, that I get to work in coffee, something I'm very passionate and knowledgeable about, that I get to interact with people, that I get to do one life to inspire people to live their one life and their one moment, which is through my coffee. But I forgot all that until I was reminded by my friend. And it's funny how those things happen, how I reminded him, but at the same time he reminded me. There's this giant feedback loop and I'd mentioned it once before in a podcast how people like some of my listeners would comment like, oh my God, thank you so much. I needed to hear that. It means a lot to me. I'm like, no, no, thank you for commenting on it. It's because of you that it renews my purpose. It makes me remember why I'm doing what I'm doing. And it's this feedback loop. We just reinforce one Another. So to recap, let's bring it all home. Are you currently doing something that three, five, ten years earlier you had dreamed about? And if so, what is your excitement level about that on a scale from 1 to 10, why? If you scored lower than 8, 9, 10, why is that? And the last question is, if I were to strip everything away, all the expectations of others, everything you thought you had to be achieve the money aspect of it, would you continue doing what you were doing? One of the things I feel like so many people, including myself at times fail to put emphasis on or devalue is that we're doing something we love. And sometimes the financial side, I mean that's a science. The financial side can come, the rewards can come if you set it up in that way. But that's a skill. But the very fact that we're doing something we love, that's winning the game of life. I have so many friends who make an abundance of money, but they're unhappy. So then what is the money worth? So that is it, guys. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Again, this is, it's about 12 o' clock at night. Another time I'm recording at night because I just felt inspired and I wanted to put this out there because otherwise I probably would have forgotten this lesson that I learned from the conversation with my friend. But if you enjoy this, please give me a thumbs up, please give me a share. Subscribe to One Life podcast with Donny Rouse. And if you're interested, I'm going to be doing a workshop this coming January, January 9th. It's called the Live your One Life workshop where we're going to plan out your year and we're going to see where those pitfalls, where those gaps are in your life. So this way you can close them. And what makes this different than others. While we're going to be focusing on the different aspects of your life, I believe in doing the things that make you feel passionate, that make you feel alive now and not putting them off, not putting them off till when you think you'll have the money or when you have the perfect job. All those excuses. Because the truth is, is that this moment is all you have. Now is all you have. Things change in an instant. So make the things that are a priority to you a priority and you'll see your life transform. That is it. Guys, I hope you enjoyed this. If you have any kind of feedback messages you can do, you can send me a message via Instagram at Donny R A U S again. D O N N Y R A U s and check out my website@donnyrous.com d o n n Y R A U s for a third time, just in case you didn't hear it twice. God bless guys. I hope you enjoy and have a beautiful week and I will talk to you soon.