In this interview, productivity expert David Allen and creator Evan Carmichael discuss how to gain clarity about what truly matters in life. Allen emphasizes the importance of identifying the inner experiences—freedom, service, confidence—that one seeks, rather than focusing on external symbols like a red Porsche or a high salary. He describes an exercise that shifts attention from the desired object to the experience it is meant to provide, encouraging people to map those experiences as a guide for decision‑making. Carmichael expands on this by critiquing the habit of tying self‑worth to status symbols, sharing his own journey from modest living to building a custom home, and stressing that self‑value should not depend on others’ opinions. Both agree that goals are useful only when they are aligned with personal values and the impact one wants to have, not when they serve merely to impress. The conversation concludes with a call for viewers to reflect on what they are truly chasing and to share their thoughts, alongside a brief thank‑you to a supporter.
Good morning, Believe Nation. Today's message is clarify what you want from life. Over to you, David Allen.
I think people need to get— sit down and clarify what experiences are you really looking for in your life. And that doesn't necessarily mean— it can include lots of money, But it can also include what do you want to experience with that money? A sense of freedom? A sense of service? A sense of providing value to the world? A sense of self-confidence and self-efficacy? What is it that you're after? So there's, you know, in my own explorations in the whole personal growth and self-awareness game for years, I've been involved in that pretty seriously. You know, there's an exercise that says, well, what do you want? I want a red Porsche. Great. What experience do you think that's going to give you? Freedom and a sense of fun, whatever. And then the people get the red Porsche and they're worried about somebody going to dent it and they can't afford the payments on it. They didn't really get the experience they were looking for. What happened? They got the symbol, but they didn't get the inner experience. But if you want the experience of freedom and fun, you can have that this afternoon. It doesn't mean you shouldn't have the red Porsche, but it just means that if you start to focus on the inner experience, What would climbing the corporate ladder give you as an inner experience? Why do you want that? What's important to you about that? And it could be, I want to provide, you know, for my family for, you know, for after I'm gone. So there's a sense of building wealth or building net worth or building assets, you know, for the people around you that matter to you. There's no right or wrong about any of your answers to this. But I think getting clear about whether you want to do that or whether you want to get there because you want to be able to impact a much larger segment of the world. For doing good or taking it over. I don't know, whatever you want. But I think that's the key, is being able to externalize and start to become objective about, well, what is it that you're after? And so just crafting your own ideal scene, not only of the things you want, which is fine, don't stop that. Matter of fact, don't feel embarrassed that you want a red Porsche. So there's nothing wrong with any of that material stuff that you might want, but it's also true that it's a real good idea to just sit down and say, let me just lay that all out. And then use that as a map just to then guide you in terms of your intuitive decision-making. I don't think you have to work at it that hard, but I think you do need to be conscious about it and validate it in some part of yourself.
I think people focus on the wrong things, just in general, just in life. People focus on the wrong things. You're attached to, like David said, the Porsche, right? You want the Porsche. Why do you want the Porsche? Maybe because you want the excitement. Maybe you just want it as a status symbol. So many people have these goals that I want to make X amount of dollars, or I want to go on that vacation, or I want to buy that car or get that house because it's a status symbol, because that's the sign. Getting that Porsche is a sign that I've made it. I've made it now because I got that car. And the fact that you have so much of your self-worth tied up into objects is ridiculous. You're a valuable human being, whether you have that car or not. I've gone from living in a basement apartment to living with my parents to building a 5,000 square foot custom home from scratch to living in a condo, renting, buying, doesn't matter. Where I am doesn't matter, doesn't impact my self-worth. And because somebody else might look at me and say, oh, you're living with your parents versus, oh, you have this 5,000 square foot modern custom home, their impact, their thoughts on me has nothing to do with how I think about myself and the value that I add to myself. And I think that's an important distinction because a lot of the things that you're doing in life, in your business and in life, are just trying to impress other people because the fact that they think highly of you now makes you feel better about yourself. Stop caring so much about what other people think about you. There's a great line, I think from Quincy Jones, who said, not one ounce of my self-worth comes from what you think about me. And I think it's incredibly powerful if you can really embrace that and let that go and stop getting things and stop chasing dreams and goals because you're worried about or you're trying to impress somebody else. You know, I look at some of the goals that I have. You know, I want to have a million subscribers on this channel, right? I want to reach a billion entrepreneurs. The goals themselves don't matter. Much more important than how many subscribers I get is how I get my subscribers. Much more important than how much money you make is how you make your money. It makes a big difference. Because yes, I'd love to have a million subscribers. Yeah, I'd get a new— I'd get a new plaque here that I could put here, this little gold YouTube Play Button. That's awesome. But does that mean that I made it now? Does that mean that suddenly I'm a good YouTuber and before I wasn't? I love the stuff I'm making. I'm really proud of the videos that I'm making. I was proud of the videos I was making a month ago and 6 months ago and 3 years ago and 5 years ago. I might be better now. I might have more practice. I might be turning it up a little bit more now. I might feel like my impact, because of the skill and work and effort that I put in, my impact is greater now. But the number itself, the vanity symbol, doesn't mean anything. Now, I still want to have that goal. It's great to have goals. I think the goals are important measures to go after. It's awesome. But my self-worth is not tied up to whether I hit 1 million subscribers or not. And I think that's a problem for a lot of people. I think people make the wrong decisions, do the wrong things, and focus on the things that are not important. Me having a million subscribers is nowhere close, nowhere near as important as the impact that I feel like I'm having on you guys. Touching your life, getting in here for you, that's important for me. I want you to go off and do amazing things with your life and with your business. That's why I make these videos. I hope that something in here inspires you to want to go off and have a positive impact on the world. That fuels me every single day, and it doesn't matter if I have a million subscribers or not. I think just asking yourself why— why is this important to me? Why is that thing that you're chasing so important to you? And at the end of the day, it's because it's to impress somebody else, or because your self-worth is tied up into something else. That's the wrong reason to do it, and you'll never really have success doing it because it's always going to be something else. There's always going to be some new person to impress. Or the impressed feeling lasts for 5 minutes and then they're not impressed anymore, so you got to go off and do something else. Or that status symbol that you got, great, great for where you are, but now there's always going to be somebody else who has more than you, and that's just chasing a hollow existence. We're doing meaningful work that you're proud of. That's what you want to focus on. So I think it's super important to understand why you're chasing the things you are and get that clarity on your life. And when you do, has a big it has a big impact and sets a direction for you to be able to go off and do something meaningful and powerful. So the question of the day today is, are you chasing the right things in life? What are you chasing? Leave it in the comments below. I'm going to join in the discussion. I also want to give a quick shout out to Roger Pierce from piercewords.com. Roger bought 2 copies of my audiobook. Thank you, Roger. Really means a lot to me. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself. And whatever your one word is. Much love, I'll see you soon.
