Laying Your Beyond Your Default Foundation with the Superhuman Framework

Being human in the superhuman framework is all about. And again, I asked you to jot words down so that you would see patterns. And when you see patterns, you'll realize what I meant by their bricks that layer on top of each other. But being human in the superhuman framework is about authenticity. It's about vulnerability, and it's about embracing our true selves. You've heard us talk about being a whole ass human previously on this podcast. It's about honesty, interesting. Showing our strengths and our weaknesses and connecting deeply with other humans who they realize they may have strengths and weaknesses either same or different than us as well. Authenticity and vulnerability by the way of being human help us build deep, meaningful connections and they foster supportive communities. That community could be your family. That community could be broader than that. That community could be that you have 500,000 followers or a million followers. But being human, your whole ass self, authentic and vulnerable with your strengths and weaknesses is what unlocks that superpower.

Welcome back to Beyond. You'd default. I'm your host, Liz Morehead. As always, I am joined by the one, the only, the man, the myth, the legend, George B. Thomas, who is already jamming out on the mic to some invisible music.

Yeah, I'm super excited. The fact that we're going to give birth to something that I pseudo tried to create but has been behind locked doors for multiple years. And now we're bringing it to light. We're going to talk about it. I know this is the beginning of something for this and so I'm super excited to have this conversation. And also the other side of this is I've wanted to create this and get it out because I think it's a thing that will help the humans on this journey of a life beyond their default in like micro milestones. I don't even know if those two words are supposed to go together, but I'm going to call them micro milestones in one's life.

I love that. Well, before we dig into it first, what was your lowlight and highlight from the weekend?

Let's just say the low light is I didn't get much work done. Although the highlight is I didn't get much work done because. Yeah, because the highlight was it's Father's Day. I mean, come on, it's funny what happened in this situation because I kept getting asked, what do you want to do? What do you want to do? What do you want to do? And I kept saying, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. And so when the Rubber had to meet the road. I got asked, what do you want to do? To which I asked myself, well, self, what would the family want to do? And so I said, hey, why don't we go to Dave and Buster's and play games and eat some food? And so for Father's Day, we went to Dave and Buster's and we ate some food and we played some games. Yeah. Other than that, during the weekend, I also spent a copious amount of times in the pool. Not my pool, my friend's pool. I don't have a pool. I'm not that guy yet, but I will someday probably. And I love to swim. So there was like a lot of fish moments, was a lot of playing video games. So all in all, the highlight was just spending time with family and friends and enjoying life. And again, which led to the low light of I didn't get much work done on the weekend.

I'm not going to call that a low light. I think you're allowed to have a weekend every once in a while.

And it's just every now and then.

Just every now and then. Every now and then I'll start with my low light. So you know that old saying, there's no such thing as bad pizza.

Incorrect until it's moldy.

Well, okay, so it wasn't rotten. It was pizza that could not decide what kind of pizza it was. It was neither thin crust or normal crust. I was offended. I had bad pizza this weekend. I was morally offended.

It's kind of hard to do.

I know. You know, and the worst part was it was in New Haven, which is a town known for its pizza. So maybe I just caught the chef on a bad day. Maybe this pizza pie maker had just gotten dumped and he was taking all of his aggression and sadness out on a poor pile of dough. All I have to say is I'm not going to name names. I'm not going to name where it happened, but it. It hurt my soul.

So if there, if anybody's listening in New Haven, just be careful.

Be careful out there, man. It's wild. It's wild. So the highlight. You and I talked last week about how the newsletter that I write for, beyond your default beyond your default.com newsletter has undergone some radical shifts. I'm getting more clear about my writing. I'm getting more aggressive about the message. And I've also started publishing it as videos on TikTok. And I'm doing a lot of different things. And within an hour yesterday, as I was driving back to Maryland from New Haven, I got three different messages. First from a friend of mine via text that said, every email you send is a personal attack. Please don't stop. Then somebody wrote to me. This felt like watching a movie to me. Exactly what I needed to hear. And you are an extremely talented writer, and I hope to hear more of your writings in the future. And then another one. I came here to find out what the obscure movie trivia was. I also do obscure movie trivia.

Trivia, yeah.

And instead got a message from the universe that it has been begging me to hear. Thank you.

Oh, that's good.

So it's one of those things where as a writer and you know this, George is a content creator. When you're actually in the act of creating something that is really flowing out of you, it feels amazing.

Yeah.

Then when you actually send it out and you go back and either reread what you wrote or re watch what you made, you're like, do I just sound like a crazy person or makes.

You want to vomit? You're like, all of that. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. So it was just really nice. And I've been continuing to get, like, text messages from people. I woke up to an email this morning from someone that just said, ouch. That's a compliment. Love it. I'm going to take that as my highlight because it has been an immensely rewarding thing to be able to write that newsletter each week, sometimes multiple times a week, if I'm feeling extra spicy. But I would like to put that out there as a testament to. You have to do things that are raw and completely scare you in order to make an impact.

So here's what I love about that, Liz, is that for years and years and years, I've always had this saying that I've talked to people. I said, listen, listen. God is going to shape you with hammers and chisels and saws, not tissue paper and toilet paper. And the fact that you and I can be one of the hammers, the chisels, or the saws that God is using to, like, impact these people's lives. It, like, this is the purpose or one of the purposes that I was like, I want to put this into the world. I want to make sure that we're doing this thing. So people do have those, like, ouch, that's a compliment moment in their lives, because that's when growth happens. Like, that's when the seed gets germinated. And now it just needs water and sunshine and a little bit of life's manure to give it. Just like manure yeah, listen, think about that, right? If you think about how you garden, you needed to have sunshine, you needed to have rain, and you, you gotta add a little compost to it. Life will give you the compost, trust me. But it's what you can grow out of that that is the magic part of what we're doing. So I'm super excited to hear all of those things.

Yes, I am excited, but you know what I'm mostly excited about? To get to this framework that you've been teasing. But I want to set the stage a little bit for our listeners because over the past, if you can believe it, 41 episodes, George. This is our 42nd episode.

I love it.

I know. We've excavated deeply personal topics that make up what it means to have the human experience. Relationships, fear, forgiveness, anger, morning routines, self care, which I know is now your favorite. It is still. Yeah, I know you're here. Welcome, welcome.

I'm here.

Self care club, stillness, our perception of time. I could go on, but this week we're going to zoom out because I want our listeners right now to think about your life that you're building. Like you're building a home. And you have the ability and privilege to build and design this home in a way that is perfectly suited for you. Which is much of the thesis behind the conversations we have. Right. Whether we're talking about forgiveness or relationships, how those show up in our lives are completely unique to us right now. How I would design my house, George, is I would love to put in rich textures, exposed brick. I love cozy nooks and deep dark colors and kind of intense, eclectic artwork. But you might prefer. Well, actually maybe you might not specifically, but. A girlfriend.

Yeah, Like I can, I can tell you that it's going to be Babe. Do you like that? Sweet. That's how it's decorated. Mine is real easy, just babe, if that's what you like and I have a place to sit down, we're good.

That's so fun. My friend, she would be totally different from mine as well. Although very specific. She wants her home to look like it fell out of a Nancy Myers 1990s rom com movie. Maybe if you're listening to this, you're more modern, you're more minimalist. It doesn't really matter. The reality is, is that we all work to define what our beyond, your default home, home looks like for ourselves through our unique approaches to relationships, our dreams, how we navigate our emotions, all that good stuff. But we need to remember that all strong houses, no matter how different they are all possess many of the same foundational elements and attributes that make them safe, structural and functional. A roof, strong walls, floors, all of those really important elements. AC plumbing, all of the things that. That take it from a slab of bricks and concrete and drywall to a functional place to live. So today, we're going to take a look at your superhuman framework. The blueprints, the foundational elements, if you will, that will help all of us build our beyond. Your default house within life. So, George, this framework is not new. I had such a blast digging through this document that you shared with me, but then I saw the date. Yeah, you thought I wasn't. I was surprised you didn't delete this before it got to.

I was like, crap.

Yeah. Did you see the first question, sir? You wrote this on May 26, 2020. Not only four years ago, but during the height of the pandemic.

Yeah.

Where did this come from?

Well, I mean, let's be honest. The state of the world at that time and the mindset of humans was definitely like a precipice of, like, oh, like, humans need love and how can I deliver this to them? The other thing, too, if I rewind a little bit, like, for all the years that I've been doing, I think 2014 is when I, like, put the flag in the ground, that I started creating HubSpot specific tutorials. And at the end of each of my videos, or because I did more than just tutorial videos, but at the end of the videos, I would end with, and don't forget to be a happy, helpful, humble human. And I was reminding the community how I wanted them to show up. But a little hidden secret is, and maybe more importantly is that on a daily, if not multiple times a day, when I was releasing these videos, I was reminding myself how I wanted to show up. I wanted to show up as a happy, helpful, humble human. And here's the thing. Every one of those words comes from something that historically happened to me, right? So, like, when we think about humble, you can go back and listen to the episode where I talk about my motorcycle accident because I allowed ego to get in the way. When you talk about being human, you can go back to the thing that I was, like, immediately drawn into HubSpot because of being a recovering youth pastor, because of working at a bar, because of this life that I've had and understanding humans at different levels and layers of life. Financially, spiritually, emotionally, Just seeing the broad spectrum and realizing, man, it is really about being human and showing up as our authentic self. And then helpful. I mean, in my core, it's like, it's about servanthood, happy. Like, I'm a happy go, lucky guy. Like, I've been blessed with that in my life. So then I realized in 2020 and watching everything that was going around me, that there was probably ways that I could impact how I showed up past happy, helpful, humble, human. And so during the pandemic, by the way, Liz, is When I lost 79 pounds, everybody else was talking about gaining, like, the freshman 15 again. When this was happening, I lost 79 pounds because I was also focused on the healthy word. So it came into play, and I was eating healthy. I was walking three times a day. Like, I just was in this mode. And so all of a sudden, it was happy, helpful, humble, human, but healthy, human, human. And I didn't change the outros to my videos, by the way. I didn't add that word in there. It was still happy, helpful, humble, human. But I personally was focused on healthy. And then I started to think about how this was becoming, like, wow, this is basically like a holistic way of thinking or living. And I'm like, well, shoot, I should probably add that word in because we should be looking at, like, everything across the board and having a holistic view. View of what's going on in our life. And. And so I started to think about, okay, well, what other ways could I make my life better if I had these levers or buttons or things that I could start to pay attention to? And what historically has been in my life that I can either tweak for the better or pay attention to when it's like, noise or nonsense and actually use it for good versus evil. And that's when hungry. And by the way, I'm not talking about, like, eat some food. Hungry. Like, hungry. Like, you gotta have a fire in your belly. Like, let's hustle. Let's have some work ethic that kind of hungry. But hustle in obviously a balanced way, which we've talked about that on this podcast as well. But, you know, I've always had this, like, I want to do something. I want to be something I'm not. Like, let's go. And so hungry. And then humorous, because, I mean, listen, I was a class clown, and that's why my math teacher told me I never amount to anything. And that's been the fire in my belly to actually give me that hustle. And then honest. You know, I've always been taught it's like, hey, you show up as an honest human, and then I Would say the last one, which we touch here and there on this podcast, but we're trying not to make it overly too abundant. So it's like a light spread of butter or peanut butter, whichever you like best is the holiness. Right. Or the spiritual or religious side of these conversations. So literally, it became this, like, level up for who I am and who I want to show up as. And again, we've kind of. We've talked about this. Different elements of this, which, by the way, as we were digging in this superhuman framework, I'm like, ooh, ooh, ooh. We need to do episodes on this, this, and this. Like, just listeners know that there's some future episodes coming out of this, but all these ages put together from my past and who I and how I wanted to show up and things that I knew I wanted to get better at. We. We basically came up with 10 elements, all starting with H, to be this super human framework that we can pay attention to and roll with as we move forward in life.

Wow.

That's the background story, right?

So when I was in the pandemic, I just spent a lot of time watching the Godfather on repeat. I didn't make a superhuman framework, but that's fine. It's fine.

Well, but the thing, I made it, but it never got launched, so.

But, well, it's getting launched today. That's why we're here. So, George, before we go into each one, I do want to ask you a quick question at a high level. How did you choose each of these to be the pillars of the superhuman framework and what is a result of them and how they all work together?

Yeah. And again, kind of going back to my, like, intro answer, I picked them in the fact that they were probably one of three things. One, something that historically I had in me but knew that I wanted to grow to be better, by the way, based off of something that I heard on the Internet that I pseudo didn't agree with. I don't think I've ever shared this, by the way, but I heard Gary V. Talking about, like, doubling down on what you're good at and forgetting about what you're not good at. Like, ignoring it almost. And I think he's even changed his tune on this over the past last, like, years. But I was like, nah, I don't necessarily agree with that. So, like, I actually want to get better at what I'm good at, and I want to get better at my weak points, too. I don't want to have, like, a right arm that has, like, you know, A massive bicep. And then my left arm looks like it's like a stick. Like, why would I do that? So I want to grow everything. And so there are things that were in me that I knew I wanted to grow, or there were things that I wanted to input into, into me that weren't there but I wanted to have along the way. And then there were just some other things that I knew fundamentally it was like, and this would just make you a better human. And you, like, you can literally correlate those to, like, the honesty, the holiness, the healthy. Like those three. I don't care who you are, those three could just be a layer. But here's the thing, they all do kind of stack on each other. So think about, like, you're building a wall. I mean, obviously it's called a framework, but you're building this wall of, like, if you think about them, right, one begets the other. So, like, if you're hungry and you've got some hustle, you're going to be able to build something. And while you're building something, you're going to be helping others. And when you're helping others, that's going to make you happy, and that's going to make them happy. You're going to reach a place in life where you realize, like, man, I'm humbled by where I'm at. And maybe I just should show up as a hu. Humble person because I'm a blessing bomber, because I've had this hustle that created this thing that helped people, that I'm happy. It's gonna make life easier. You're gonna be in a different place. You're actually going to be able to spend time on your health. You're probably going to be somewhat humorous or understand how to use humor, because as you've built this thing that was helping people because you had that hustle, now all of a sudden you've built a community in relationships and you've been doing communication. And now all of a sudden we've got enough of these where it's like this holistic view. By the way, you've probably been showing up as a human the whole entire time. Otherwise you haven't gotten this far. I don't need to go the rest of the way. But you see how they kind of just build on each other to become this, like, really firm framework. And by the way, this is going to impact the later question that I know because I peaked that you're going to ask me, like, when you grow in one, it's Hard not to have grown in another. Like, that's how these work together. For instance, if I do something that I'm like, I'm going to grow my spirituality or religion side, most likely it's going to impact one or two of the other things that are inside of this framework. And so you don't have to get discouraged. Like, oh, crap, Now I've got 10 things that. No, no, no. It's like, when you pull one lever, you're like bringing two or three things up to the next level with it. So that's why this was kind of picked and how they work together. So hopefully people find value in that.

Well, let's dig in. Let's start with happiness. Talk to me about it.

So, and again, these are all kind of based on the framework. So when we think about happiness, pertaining to the superhuman framework, it's about finding joy. And by the way, get your notepad, your pen, your iPad out, because again, I want you to mark these words down that impact your brain. But superhuman framework around happiness is about finding joy, gratitude, and a positive outlook on life. And it means approaching both the micro and macro moments. So again, the color of the leaves, the feel of the breeze, you know, watching your dog run and play in the park, or the macro moments of life where it's bought a new car, bought a new house, your daughter got married, what, whatever it is for you. But then sharing the positivity of those moments with others, the way. And when you can focus on happiness, it helps create a positive mindset that drives personal and professional growth along the way. And by embracing things like joy, we can better handle stress, which, by the way, many of us can use something that helps against stress. That's the joy in one's life. Overcome challenges, which I don't care how hard you try, there's always going to be new challenges that are going to come your way and truly enjoy the achievements in our life and feel good about them and give them time to marinate and be there as these celebratory moments. So that's what I think about when it comes to happiness inside the framework.

How hard do you struggle with that, George?

This one's relatively easy for me. Like, I just feel like I find great joy in life itself. Like, here's how micro I've gotten about this. I woke up today. All right? That's my immediate thinking, right? Or, like, I have running water.

All right?

I have money to, like, pay rent this month.

All right?

You know, I employ my children, I employ my wife. I have several Businesses I get to do multiple content creators. Like, I have so many things to be happy about, but trust me, I have moments where I get in my own head and I start to worry and I start to fret, and then usually I circle back around and be like, dude, you dumb. Why? Why did you do that? If I had to give this, like, a hundred percent, I'd say 75%. I'm good with, like, just being happy, showing up as happy, understanding, Joy. And maybe 25% of the time, I battle with the demons in my own brain being my, like, worst enemy, but I try to keep them at bay.

All right, let's head into Hungry Hustle. And this, this felt like a way back machine one for me, because this is one of our first episodes. We talked about Hustle, but take us through it again.

All of this is kind of in the framework, right? So being hungry or embodying this hustle, that hungry, that fire in your belly, and the Superhuman framework, it's all about maintaining what I'll call a relentless yet balanced. There's a key there, pursuit of growth and improvement in one's life, personal and professional. It involves what I would say, by the way, when I think of Hustle, I literally go to the words strong work ethic, like, that's what I'm talking about, and a continuous desire to learn more, and out of that, achieve more. This element of the Superhuman framework, it highlights the importance of ambition, maybe a word that you might want to jot down. And perseverance, which, by the way, perseverance is such a core piece of trying to get from here to there. Perseverance is such a core piece, like Liz was talking about designing a room. If you're trying to design your life, you've got to persevere, because sometimes when you're constructing things, the electrician wires the house wrong, the drain gets put in the wrong place. So you have to have that perseverance in reaching what will eventually be our full potential. And I think this Hungry Slash Hustle, it encourages ongoing learning and resilience. Perseverance, resilience, ambition, which are key traits for facing life's challenges and moving past what this entire podcast is about. And that is beyond your default state. So that the hungry, the fire is probably why you actually ended up listening to this podcast anyway and why you're on the journey before you knew it was a journey beyond your default.

Quick question for you, though. Just again, this is something where hit the archives. We did an incredible conversation about Hustle, but I would love George for you to give our listeners at home a quick reminder of what hustle isn't. Because sometimes this definition can get really corrupted.

Yeah, it's not working your face off not to steal somebody else's statement. It's not like grinding yourself into the ground. It's not, you know, this, like, toxic culture. It's like it's almost anything that you would search on the Internet around entrepreneurial hustle mindset. Just go read that and be like, oh, that's not what we're talking about. Like, we literally lean more into the aggressive work ethic with a balanced life. Lean into that. So that's. That's what I'll say as far as that goes.

All right, George, what do we have next?

Helpful. Yeah. So helpfulness in the superhuman framework. It's characterized by having. And if you've listened to this podcast for any length of time, you've heard these words. But it's a servant's heart, a willingness to go the extra mile, and a focus on assisting others over yourself. It means being approachable, it means being vulnerable, and it means being generally interested in the other's well being. Like the humans around you, literally caring how they are and where they're at. Being helpful fosters community. Which, by the way, I've had people just say to me, like, your default state is community. Like, you don't even know you're building community, but you're building community. That literally ties back to the helpful and to the servant's heart. And so it fosters community and supports and strengthens relationships. Again, why do people say, man, it always feels like you're working with your friends, not your clients? Because it's. It's relational, not transactional. Why? Because it's about being helpful and having a servant's heart. Right. See how all of this kind of ties together? But the best part about being helpful is it positively impacts others. Hashtag the ripples, by the way. And it aligns with the value of serving and uplifting. I just need a hand up. I don't need a hand out. You've heard that on this podcast before. But it aligns with the value of serving and uplifting those around us.

What's the difference between helpfulness and destructive self sacrifice?

Oh, well, I mean, what. It's in the title, I think, when you ask it destructive, like. Right.

But we don't always realize in the moment that that's what we're doing.

Yeah, I think that. Again, not to sound like a broken record, but in all of these, I think there might Even be a little bit of a balance, right? There might be two sides of the coin or a yin to the yang. And so when I think about helpfulness, when I think of a servant's heart, it's coming from a place where you know that it's good for them, but you also know by doing good for them, it's good for you. Like, it's gonna fill your cup as well. And I will say, to kind of answer your question, there should be a layer of, like, paying attention to or. Well, I'm struggling with this one, to be honest with you, because I'm thinking of me, right? I'm looking into my heart and for some reason my brain's going to like, the first time that I got in a situation, it wouldn't matter. I would just help no matter what. But I would have this thing in the back of my head. If the same type of thing from the same human happened again, then there'd be a buffer, there'd be a difference. So some sort of paying attention to that you're not getting taken advantage of or that it hasn't become destructive to you, or you haven't completely depleted your cup by giving like, again, it should be a. You're giving and serving because it's helping them and filling your cup at the same time. But again, I don't want to give a hard and fast rule of like, because to me, servant's heart, I'll use the word, it flows freely.

Let's stick into humble and humility.

Yep, God had to break me for me to learn this one. But humility in the superhuman framework involves recognizing and valuing others, their contributions. It's the recognition of staying grounded. I battle with this because sometimes you can ground yourself too much and actually suppress the awesome person that God created you to be. In keeping, though, I think a big one for this is an open mind. When I think of being humble as well. It's about putting others before ourselves and it's definitely about avoiding arrogance. It's a healthy understanding of ego. And we've talked about good ego, bad ego, historically on the podcast. You can go into the archives on that. But humility, I believe, is essential for if you're going for personal growth, true personal growth, there's a level of humility that is essential to be in there versus growth for egotistical or narcissistic reasons, especially if you're going to build strong, respectful relationships with humans based on the fact of your humility. And I think it helps us acknowledge our own limitations. And because when we can acknowledge our own limitations and see, see our own weaknesses, that helps us understand where we can focus our continuous improvement as we kind of journey down this road of personal growth.

How do you keep yourself in this mindset? Because you and I have both shared on previous episodes how life, circumstance, God has done that lovely thing that he does to so many of us, which is like, okay, so just hold on, you're at a 15, we're going to need to bring you back down to a six. But you know, this is one of those things where I feel like it's a kind of a constant practice.

Yeah.

How do you keep that?

So for me, I think it might be easier than the normal human out there unless they have something that they can tie to. And again, for me, it was literally I let my head get too big. I was very much ego. I had a motorcycle accident. I broke my wrist. I couldn't pull up my own, dislocated my shoulder. I couldn't pull up my own pants at 23, 24 years old. Anyway, I just never forget that day. I'll never forget the day when I couldn't pull up my own pants. I'll never forget the day that God had to break me to get my attention. And so whenever I feel myself getting close to the point that I once was of like the big head and the egotistical, like I transport myself back to that 24 year old kid and I immediately deflate and like, nope. And. And I used to have some things, Liz and I still kind of do this. Although no names to be named. I get yelled at when I do this. Actually there's multiple humans that do this to me. But I used to have this trigger where I'd be like, well, I'm just a guy. And I'm just a guy. Was my reset or my let the air out. Right? Like, because usually people would be like, ah, you're awesome at da da da.

Or I wonder who could have challenged you on that.

Yeah, you did this. And I'm like, I'm just a guy, you know? And like literally when you did the intro today, like the man, the myth, the legend, like you always do, I viscerally wanted to be like, I'm just a guy.

That's because I'm here forever to be your hype man. Do you do realize that, right? Like God realized you did not have a hype man. You would never do it for yourself. So that is my job.

Yeah. So. So that. And see that kind of goes like with the question you had it's like I've learned to maybe not hype myself up to keep myself humble. And then because it really is truly about what they say, not what I say. So, like, if somebody feels like they want to stand up and say that thing. Now, the hard part about this is I have had to teach myself along the way to just accept it. I am good at that versus always like, and this is what I said kind of in the beginning of like pushing myself down too far by trying to stay humble to where I'm like degrading the awesomeness that God has created in me as kind of, I've been through this journey of life.

Well, that's how I always kind of try to remind myself of that. Right. Like when I start putting myself down too much. Like, you and I talked about this last week and I shared it as part of my highlight. You know, I really had to take my goals seriously and just start running with this gift that I have with writing. But first I had to acknowledge it was indeed a gift. And yeah, and I had this image of God just hanging up in a cloud upstairs. Being like this bleep down there is being like, I get being humble, but I gave you this for a reason. Will you get to work? Can we get over this now, please?

I've never wondered, I've never wondered until this point if God has a sensor button up there.

I would like to. Do you think he needs one?

I don't know.

Do you think he's the boss who's like, do what I say, not what I do? Set a bush on fire.

Probably not. Probably not.

I can set a bush on fire. Yeah, you cannot. That's a fire code violation.

Yeah.

Anyway, continuing. So speaking. Well, this is kind of perfect.

The next one is humor. It really is funny because. Because it's humorous. Which, and I'm just telling you, that was so great. Like if you just pause for a minute and just embrace what the frick happened and I'm embracing it.

That was beautiful. That's what we in the business call synergy.

Yeah, it's amazing. So humor in the superhuman framework adds this ability to have light heartedness, adds fun to your life. Humor definitely helps build connections, relieve stress, helps you maintain a positive outlook. Humor can enhance social interactions that you have. It can provide relief during stressful times, which again, we know in life that that's just going to happen. And it definitely fosters. And again, this word keeps coming up, this resilience and creates for sure a positive atmosphere in both personal settings and professional settings. If it's used correctly. And again, we've done a whole podcast episode on humor and the power of it and sword and shield and all of that. Good. So you could definitely go listen to it. But it really is this idea of really closely connected to joy, like humor, light heartedness, positive outlook, relief, like with those things in a positive nature. It really leans into the joy of life because there's some humor and there's growth and definitely a key piece.

You know, humor was something that we talked about extensively.

Yeah.

Last week, extensively. That's the hyena energy episode. I would strongly urge everybody go listen to it. George, very similar to a question I asked earlier specifically about humility. I'd be curious to know how you keep yourself in check. How do you make sure you're bringing up humor as a tool of connection rather than a weapon of derision or defense?

My immediate gut reaction that question is like, I don't know, or I'm not sure if I do. But then I immediately like, yeah, I do. But I think it's, yeah, I do. Because years ago I put a safeguard in of like, I refuse to do any type of humor that is deprecating to others. So usually the humor is around me, something I did stupid, or it's something that could be said that somebody wouldn't get offense to. Now, are there times that maybe I slip. Yes. Do I immediately feel that deep in my gut, do I try to, like, make sure I'm like, oh, sorry, that probably wasn't funny. Maybe not in the moment, but I'll definitely circle back around and do that. But for the most part, I've got a humor that is clean 95% of the time, not hurtful 95% of the time. And again, most times it's very much like in the moment, not over manufactured. And. And so I think part of this, why it's hard for me to answer this question too, is humor is just one of my default states. I don't know if it's listed in the Bible as a gift. I give you the gift of humor, but it could literally be one of my gifts. Because some of the dumb stuff I've said from stages that were not in the original, like, scripting of what I wanted to talk about, I have no clue where they came from, but audiences freaking lose it. And so I'm like, I just feel like this is a gift.

I relate to that deeply. One of the biggest laughs I ever got on a stage, it was at a conference. It was in front of about like 800 people. I don't know what possessed me to say, George, I walked out on stage and everybody's like, yes. I'm like, oh, this is so nice, people. It's quite a difference from just sitting here in workshopping material with my cat. And I don't know why, everybody just started laughing. And then I just went, I'm not kidding. Because.

Yeah, because that's usually what I do.

It's. It's amazing. But that's what makes those moments so special. That's what makes those moments. Like, humor could be such a beautiful thing when you are using it as a mechanism by which to bring sincere joy to others just for the sake of it.

Well, and I think too, another thing you just hit on, which is funny. And again, very interesting into the next one that we're going into. But it was funny because it was honest. Yeah, you literally usually workshop content with your cat because you work remote. And so, like, it was just funny because we're not alone. Other people do the same weird stuff we do. And so when you say something about yourself that comes from a place of honesty, like, they find it humorous because all of a sudden they put your shoes and their shoes are in the same spot.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. That's what I always coach people. Like, don't be funny. Just be yourself. People will start laughing naturally. So, yes, it does lead nicely, though, into the next one, which is honesty. Tell us about it, George.

Honesty in the Superhuman framework is about being truthful, transparent and authentic in all or as many as you can, because perfection is. But in all interactions, if you're honest, it builds trust, it builds integrity, and it builds trust and integrity in our relationships, which is the foundation, by the way, those relationships of trust and credibility. On a macro stage or standpoint, honesty makes sure clear communication happens. And it also promotes a culture, again, of transparency and accountability. And again, I want people to hopefully be jotting down words that hit or resonate with them from a standpoint of I've got that, or I need more of that in my life. And so, like, for honest things like truthful, transparent, authentic accountability, credibility, communication, relationships, like those should be things that we're jotting down and thinking of inputs and outputs from, from this H of the superhuman framework.

You know, as I was reflecting on the honesty piece, reading through the Superhuman framework, one of the things that struck me the most is that I think sometimes there are the very binary moments, right? It's like you're either being honest or you're being dishonest. And you look in the mirror and, you know. But I think some of the times that this has been the most important lesson for me to learn, and the one that has been the most challenging for me to learn effectively is the moments where I don't necessarily realizing I'm lying to myself. Does that make sense? Like, there's a different type of honesty, I think, because there's the stuff we're talking about, like honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, but sometimes dishonesty will occur because you're not willing to be honest with yourself about the facts. And I'd be curious to get your thoughts on that.

Oh, wow. Nothing like the deep end of the pool.

You're welcome.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

You're just a guy. I should have played it easy.

Yeah. I mean, that probably is the hardest human to be honest with is ourselves. Because we have a skewed perspective of who we are one and what we can achieve too. We are much greater than we think we are, and we are much better than we believe ourselves to be. And in this one, Liz, what I will say is I've talked about this historically on the podcast where it's like God eyes, or it could even just be like father eyes or mother eyes or best friend eyes, but. But a outside perspective to who you are and like trying to interact as that person. Almost like, not like an out of body experience, but like out of mind experience, where like you're almost like interviewing yourself. Because if we're just willing to run the one narrative that happens in. In an instant in our brain and not second guess it or not interview it or not, try to rip it apart three different ways and then make a decision off of it, we very easily could have lied to ourself. So I guess what I'm saying in this one is like, take time to diagnose what narratives you're having in your brain. Try to look at it from an outside perspective, which, by the way, may be actually getting an outside perspective or you trying to look at it from an outside perspective.

I love it. Healthy. Something I know you've had a recent dance with.

Yeah, it was funny. I was this weekend, I was sitting in the pool with a buddy. He said this to me. He said, yeah, so all the plans that I had, like the master plan to do this out the window because something happened at his job and I started laughing and he's like, why are you laughing? I go, dude, I know you probably don't listen to my podcast because we're friends and stuff, but like two episodes ago, the title was George had a plan until he didn't. And he started laughing because it was just so aligned as this. And that is the episode where we talk about health and me being in the hospital for three and a half days. Which by the way, Liz, I have had time to reflect and think. Six years ago when I had my like scoot down the stairs and EMS took me off and I was like, I don't have time for this. I got a meeting in 10 minutes. I was in hospital for three and a half days. This time. I was in the hospital for three and a half days. I sit here and I go, coincidence? I think not.

That's always my favorite thing where it's like you didn't learn the lesson the first time. So we're going to come back here and we're going to do it again.

Yep. And I literally, I'm like, oh crap. Like we've been here. So you have to pay attention to your health. So health in the superhuman framework. This includes physical, mental and emotional well being. So we're talking across the board. I would even, maybe even add in spiritual healthiness, but it means caring for your body, your mind, your spirit so that you can live a balanced life. This one literally helps, by the way, on all the conversations that we've had previous and we'll have after this around like the yin and the yang, the good and the bad, the like. Did it go too far or was it enough? If you're focused on healthy inside of physical, mental, spiritual, emotional and that balance, it's almost like healthy is the great equalizer to like the other framework elements in the superhuman framework. And so a healthy lifestyle is obviously very crucial for sustained energy. By the way, has anybody heard the word resilience on this episode yet? But it's resilience and your well being as a human. It supports your are everybody's ability to pursue our goals and handle challenges effectively. Listen, if you're not focused on healthy, you gonna burn out. And you can either burn out and get the opportunity, rejuvenate and start again or you can burn out burnout, which means you done, race is over. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. This honestly for me has been one that unfortunately I have put in the back seat or in the trunk or in the U haul of somebody else going to a different destination than I am. But it is something that I would definitely beg, plead, pray that myself and anybody listening to beyond your default podcast would be like, health is like one of the top main pillar pieces to help drive the rest of these talk.

To me about holistic, because this one, I looked at the other ones, I'm like, I get this and this word. I was like, so I'm a writer, of course I know what holistic means. But sir, illuminate.

Yeah, well, we almost like one of the things we may end up doing in the future is we may layer these. Because I don't know if these right now are layered in the level of importance or the level in which one should think of them. Again, I would maybe put healthy at the top, right? As we're going through this, holistic might be the one that would be at the end. Because when I think of holistic approach in it, just like I talked about healthy being a great equalizer, I think healthy and then holistic is maybe they're both part of the same compass, if you will, to help us navigate in the right direction. But a holistic approach in the superhuman framework considers all aspects of well being again, including physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. It's about balance and harmony in all areas of life. Or it could be better stated in the other nine elements of the superhuman framework. And so holistic well being makes sure that all parts of our lives are aligned and balanced, leading to greater fulfillment. And healthy, I said, was the great equalizer. Holistic is the great stabilizer because it creates stability in your life when you're, when you're firing on all eight cylinders. Holistic, instead of only firing on six out of eight, you can get down the road in a more optimized way, faster way. And so, yeah, healthy equalizer, holistic stabilizer of kind of the rest of these framework pieces.

You know what I really love about that one, because the reason why I struggled with it at first, I'll admit I had an initial self care reaction. I initially had a self care reaction because I think holistic is a word that gets thrown out a lot. It's kind of like placeholder language to basically say look at a bunch of stuff and make sure you look at all of it. And that's just like a few things, you know what I mean?

Right.

And so I think what's happened though is that it's kind of like how marketers have ruined the idea of authenticity here. Authenticity. You're just like, I don't want to, I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to hear about it. Even though that is what I preach specifically in my job. Holistic has become somewhat similar in that.

Everything'S holistic in our ecosystem. But hopefully not in life in general.

I hope so.

Yeah.

All right, we're coming down the home stretch. Second to last one.

Yeah.

It's gonna be weird to hear you say this word without the usual effect that we have on the other podcast that we do.

Yeah. On Hub Heroes, it is weird. Not gonna be doing something like human. Yeah.

I was really hoping you'd do that. Okay.

Yeah.

Take us through human.

Yeah. So being human in the superhuman framework is all about. And again, I asked you to jot words down so that you would see patterns. And when you see patterns, you'll realize what I meant by their bricks that layer on top of each other. But being human in the superhuman framework is about authenticity, it's about vulnerability, and it's about embracing our true selves. You've heard us talk about being a whole ass human. Previously on this podcast. It's about honesty, interesting. Showing up or showing our strengths and our weaknesses and connecting deeply with other humans who they realize they may have strengths and weaknesses either same or different than us as well. Authenticity and vulnerability, by the way of being human, help us build deep, meaningful connections, and they foster supportive communities. That community could be your family. That community could be broader than that. That community could be that you have 500,000 followers or a million followers. But being human, your whole self, authentic and vulnerable, with your strengths and weaknesses, is what unlocks that superpower, authenticity and vulnerability encourage. By the way, this is so crucial. Self acceptance and genuine relationships with you as a human and other humans that you journey through life with.

Why do you think it's so easy to forget our humanity?

Because many times we hide from who we are. Many times we maybe are even ashamed of who we are. Many times we feel like we weren't created right. Why do I have a big nose? Why do I have big ears? Why am I Balding at 24? We're so focused on the exterior, or we're so focused on, but you don't see me at my worst. Or we're so focused on, like, you know, when I'm alone, this is how I think. Again, we don't have those God eyes. We don't have the perspective of others. And so we get into this, like, downward spiral and we forget to tell ourselves how awesome we are. I mean, Liz, literally, on my whiteboard behind me, it literally says, because I think it's important that I read a couple of these. The top line of my whiteboard says, God created me to be awesome. Exclamation mark. Be awesome. Then it says, build the life. You Want to live. By the way, when you were talking about, like decorating your home, I was thinking like, you got to build the life that you want first. The fourth line, it literally says, it's yours to design. So build the life you want to live. It's yours to design. God created me to be awesome. Be awesome. And then the third line in there says, I've come a long way since 2013. This is another answer, by the way, to your question is many humans don't take the time to stop on the journey up the mountain, to turn around, to look back on how far they came. Because they are so focused on the last line that is on my whiteboard, which says in big all capital letters, and if that's not enough, an exclamation mark, get to the top. And so this idea of reflection, this idea of building, this idea of becoming or journeying, in our case, creating a life beyond your default, we lose that because we don't focus on who we truly are, who we can become, how far we've gotten. Because we're just in that moment at 2 o' clock looking at tick tock or in our own brain going, I.

Have to be honest, the only follow up I have to that one is that when you said be awesome and you kept saying over and over again, it reminded me of that quote, be yourself. Except when you could be Batman, then be Batman.

I love it. I am Batman.

We got one more. Yeah, we've got one more. Talk to me about it because this was a late edition, so I want you to explain what it is. But you know I'm coming for you about why this wasn't originally on the list and how it finally ended up on there. Because I was flummoxed.

Yeah.

Aghast that it wasn't there.

Yeah. Okay, I'll say what it is first, Even though I really want to just go in and answer. I know I want to answer it, but. Okay, so the last one is holiness. And so holiness in the superhuman framework involves seeking spiritual growth. Notice I didn't say religious growth. I said involves seeking spiritual growth and a deeper connection to our beliefs. It's about striving for a higher purpose and living a life aligned with our spiritual values. Again, I asked you to have a notepad out. Right. So seeking striving purpose values like spiritual growth provides a sense of purpose and deeper meaning in life. For me, this goes right up there with helpfulness because the servant's heart and the idea of purpose and purpose driven and meaning and helping, like they're almost hand in hand. But. But this piece right here also aligns with when you ask me about humor, because holiness guides our ethical behavior. It doesn't allow us or it helps us not cross a line, and it supports inner peace. So it also ties to happiness and joy that we talked about earlier and fulfillment, which, when I think about fulfillment, it is literally the fuel for the journey that I'm actually on. That's my thought on how holiness and why holiness made it here.

So you know what? I'm going to ask you, George, because you know what?

It is one, I don't want to ever offend anybody. And so I've been real careful with this podcast to have it be about personal growth, but not hitting people over the forehead with a 2x4 of my own spiritual or religious beliefs. However, this has always silently been in who I am. I mean, I'm a recovering youth pastor. I went to college for three years to actually know how to be a pastor, and. And have preached from the pulpit, have buried humans, have married humans. Like people think of me as the HubSpot guy. I had a life before HubSpot, but it's not about me, it's about them. And here's the thing. I started thinking about this framework and the fact that we are going to actually give birth to it. And how dare I not have this be in there when it has been such a crucial part of me believing in myself, me building a framework around how I wanted to show up, who I wanted to be, the belief in who I could become, the eyes in which I were being looked at, the love in which I was given. So while I don't want to offend anybody, I also don't want to leave out the seed that could be planted by simply having this be part of a framework that they can choose to plug in or not, but at least for who I am, it's going to be there.

I also think to some degree, and I say this as someone who, you know, we literally schedule human time because even though we talk to each other constantly, we still have to go. So this is the time we only talk as human beings and not as work people, Right?

Yep.

But, you know, you and I have talked privately about, you know, I spent many years wrestling with my faith. I have since reconnected to it in a very big way, which has been really fruitful and illuminating. But I think when we talk about spirituality, when we talk about this concept of holiness, I think sometimes people forget, like, you define that for you.

Yep.

And in many ways, spirituality can be quite secular. Depending on what your belief structure is, you may simply somewhat be someone who believes in a balance, whether or not that's spiritual karma or just a more secular version of doing good to get good. Doing bad begets bad. Right?

You can.

When you think about how quote unquote holiness applies to you, you could be guided by your internal instinct, your gut, your set of values, your set of morals and principles. You are the great determinant of where those come from. For some of us, it is a more defined faith. For some people, it is not a defined faith, but it is spiritual. And for some, it's neither of those things. And I think that is something we have definitely stepped away from in this podcast. But it made me glad to see it because I think there is that nurturing of the soul component that is wrapped up in this.

Yes.

That I think people forget and people are afraid to talk about because they worry that if they open their mouths about it, they think, oh, someone's trying to preach to me and turn me Christian or whatever it is. Right. And it's, it's not about that. It's about how you define your soul, how you nourish it, how you guide it. What is that internal guidance system that you have?

Yes, absolutely. And Liz, here's the thing too. Because I've always had this mind, not always. Earlier in life, I had this mindset that I formulated. I had a journey in my life where I didn't grow up speaking spiritual or religious. I kind of knew about, you know, 10, 11, 12 by going and visiting my grandparents, what church was and what that meant. And then when we moved when I was about 14, I got really deep into, like going to church because some of our neighbors, like, he was a deacon and they were just awesome. And they would take me and like, and then I fell away because I joined the Navy and kind of like, you know, did that thing. And at one point in my life, I thought Christians were the most hypocritical people that I ever met in my life. And another part of my life, I'm actually a youth pastor, associate pastor at a church. So I've just had this like, hills and valleys relationship with it. And one of the things that I formulated out of that was this mindset of I don't want to be the Christian that walks around with a two by four. I'd rather be the type of Christian that walks around like Johnny Appleseed. And so Johnny Appleseed just that he puts these opportunities out into the world and if they grow, they grow. And if they don't, they don't. And so holiness in this framework is my Johnny Appleseed moment. It's like I'm going to plant the seed, and if it grows, and whatever it grows into is based on the human that's listening to it and the superhuman they're trying to become through the framework.

We did it. We got through all of them.

We got through 10.

I'm going to admit, though, I'm sitting here feeling two things at the exact same time.

Okay.

I am feeling freaking excited. I am elated. I am inspired. This all makes sense to me. And I am also overwhelmed. Oh, my gosh, where do I even begin? I have to build windows and doors and plumbing for my house all at the same time. And it's so much to keep track of and measure myself against every day. And I doubt I'm alone in listening to this. Like, I could imagine. Our listeners at home are like, this is great for people who have time. So I want to hear from you. What advice do you have for folks who want to take a first step today?

Yeah.

Toward embracing your superhuman beyond your default framework.

Yeah. So. So, first of all, Liz, feeling inspired? Awesome. Overwhelmed. Not. Not surprised. Honestly, like, both of those are completely understandable around a conversation like we just had. I mean, like, a little framework. Like, it's not four steps to being like a good human. Like, this is a pretty comprehensive framework. 10 things. It's a lot. It's a lot. The superhuman beyond your default framework is a lot. But I think there's some key things to progress or will help the progression of the humans who are going through this. First, let me be real honest here. Real honest, ladies and gentlemen. I'm still working on all of these myself. I didn't list these out because I've arrived, so know that there might not ever even be an arrival. It's just destinations, which, by the way, all of these 10 destinations are going to the same place. It's called beyond your default. That's where you're headed with any one of these 10 destinations. Number two. Usually I'm working on one or two, maybe at most three of these at a time. I'm not working on all 10. Like, that's almost an impossibility. But here's one thing that I do understand, and I mentioned this earlier in the podcast. When I'm working on one, I'm probably elevating two, if not three. So if I'm working on one or two, I'm probably elevating three, if not five or six. Because some of these are so tightly tied together in what they do in your brain and the output of who you are as a human. Human. So focus on one or two. That's. That's. I'm literally telling you what I usually do. Third thing that I will say about me, I'm not measuring myself daily, by the way, because what I don't want people to think about is like, oh my God, I got this 10 step framework and every day I gotta do like, no, no. On many of these it's not daily, but more like weekly or more like monthly. But for some of these it might be even like be quarterly or yearly. I ask myself this question, am I better at this insert, by the way, one of the superhuman framework elements this year than I was last year? By the way, if you want to line all of these 10 pieces up with next year's New Year's resolution or New Year's revelation or revolution that you're deciding to have, there's a whole article about it. You can go read it, we'll put it in the show notes. Not even for beyond your default. It was something else we did then. These might align with like looking at that for like the next year or the previous year. But now that I've talked about myself and what I do and think, Liz, I want to give some other advice to help you and the listeners to get started. So, one, Start with self reflection. This needs to be your superhuman framework, not mine, your superhuman framework. So you need to start with self reflection and figure out, out of these 10, what are the ones that matter to you most? Take some time to reflect on which framework elements resonate most with you. Which areas do you feel that you need to work on first? And then when you figure that out, choose one or two elements to focus on initially. For example, you might start with happy and healthy. If you feel that those are the most immediate areas for improvement, then boom, it's those two and you roll with it. And when you feel like you've exhausted all efforts on those two for the moment, go pick another one or another two, and just again, you don't have to be working all of them at the same time. Key tip to this though, build a support system. Now, I don't talk about this a lot, Liz. I don't even know if we've ever brought it up during a podcast, but having a support system around this framework and around the heavy conversations we've had historically with this podcast is literally why we started to build out community.Beyond your default com I mean, it's on the website, but we just never really talk about it. And you can learn more by going to beyondyourdefault.com forward/community. And it's where we want to have these deeper conversations or have accountability partners. And by the way, that doesn't mean it would be Liz and I, but as people join the community, it would be other communities keeping each other accountable about the actual superhuman framework elements that they're working on. Anyway, build a support system again, engage with some type of community. This could be your church community. This could be your family community. Whoever you surround yourself with that is willing to encourage your growth, share your goals with them, get them to help you focus on your personal development and the growth that you're trying to make here. Because this really comes down to like what you're seeking is accountability. With this whole community piece. You need an accountability partner who can check in with you or you can check in with them regularly because this will help you stay motivated on the one or two that you're actually trying to achieve. The last thing I'll say here as far as like getting started, please buy all that is holy. Practice some self compassion. Remember that this is a journey beyond your default. The podcast is not called Sprint. We've never talked about it as a sprint. It's not a sprint beyond your default. It's a journey beyond your default. So just love yourself a little bit. Like be kind to yourself. Remember that growth is a journey, not a destination. It's okay to have setbacks. Be kind and patient with yourself as you work towards your goals. If you're kind and patient, you're more likely to get up, dust yourself off, and keep on going. But most of all, give yourself the compassion to celebrate even the smallest of wins. Acknowledge and celebrate the progress. Remember when I talked about on my whiteboard, you've come a long way since 2013. Celebrate your progress and your wins. No matter how small, each step forward on one or several of these framework elements is a victory. And you have to have a victory mindset. If you have issues with that, go check out the episode where we did Victor versus Victim mindset. If you have an issue with that. But it's about not necessarily creating a daily habit. It might be daily for some, but think of more of this like a daily, weekly, monthly, and potentially yearly check in place each element of the framework where it needs to be for you. Have some time to measure it. Have habits, have routines. Schedule time for growth. Here's the one that I love about this. Listen if you dedicated a specific time in your day to activities related to your chosen element or elements. For instance, if you're working on happiness and you set aside 15 minutes each morning, super easy, by the way, 15 minutes isn't anything. You realize that that's an hour and 45 minutes a week. You realize what that multiplies into depending on the month and the days and how many weeks are in a month. Do you realize what that turns into in a year? The amount of time that you would be spending on actually being happy or a happier human. That is huge. Listen, at the end of the day, like I asked myself, ask yourself the question, am I better at this or these? Again, insert your own superhuman elements than I was last week, last month, last year. And guess what? If you say yes to any of them, well, ladies and gentlemen, you're well on your way to becoming superhuman using the superhuman framework. And rest assured, you're crushing it in so many ways in life. While traveling down the road of a life on this journey for what we're all trying to gain, where we're all trying to go, the 10 roads this framework heads to that big old city, A life beyond your default.