How to Transform Your Pain Into PROFIT

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If you've been through something harder, if you're going through something hard, you've earned the right to do something so powerful with it. You get to help someone. You get to build something stronger. You get to tell your story and say, here's how I took that pain and turned it into purpose. Here's how I took that pain and actually turned it into profit and the thing that helps support my family and help support other people. So what if your setback isn't meant to stop you at all, but it's actually meant to show you exactly where you're meant to be? Hey everyone, welcome back to the Earn your Happy podcast. It's time for another quickie because there's always time to fit in. Inspiration. I'm actually currently in Park City right now for a mastermind that we are doing. It's actually the Mastermind Renewal Alumni trip, so anyone who signed up for the second year or more gets to go on a third kind of experience with us. So we took them to Park City today. We just did an amazing hike yesterday. We played pickleball. We're hanging out, having incredible dinners, bonfires, we actually call it bonfires and bonding. Tonight is a bonfire and some s' mores by the campfire to top off our few days that we've had here with everyone and it's been so much fun. And I think that sometimes when you get out of your everyday element and you get to just really drop in and that could even like take a while, right? Like, especially when you're with people you're not with all the time. It can take a day or two to really start getting into those really meaty conversations. And yesterday we had the most beautiful dinner. It was all of us together in a room, but we had obviously separate Tables so we could all fit in the room. And Chris and I were at a table with two other couples. We were with a couple named Vanessa and Xander Marin, and then Brennan and Julie Huffman. And we just started talking about how truly, when you're in the hard points, it's so challenging to see how it's gonna be so good for you. But we were all talking about how now, on our journeys, that even.

Or in our.

In our lives, that even in some of the most difficult parts of our lives or the biggest challenges that we're able to now, even while we're in them, able to kind of say, okay, where's the lesson? I know this is gonna be good for me. What is this doing for me? Like, why is this here? How could this be making me better? And not waiting until afterward or, you know, the reflection of, oh, that was really good for me. And so what ended up coming up at the table was just all of us kind of talking about that particular lesson and how we learned it. And somebody brought up Paul Stoltz, and I'd heard his name before, but I wasn't super familiar with his work, and it kind of sent me down this rabbit hole today of researching and looking him up. And also, I definitely want to dive into the book, but Paul Stoltz has a concept called the adversity quotient. And so we started talking about how he had brought up the question. He was. You know, when. Whenever he speaks in different rooms or he does this. I guess he does these, like, workshops or speaks in front of large groups, he has everybody ask this question or write down all of the challenges that they've ever had in their life. So that's how it begins. You write down every big challenge that you've ever had in your life, like, the really big ones, Whether it's a traumatic experience, something that felt really hard, something that, in the moment, you wanted to wish away just every single challenge. And. And then he says, okay, if you could take a pill and erase all of the bad things that ever happened to you, would you take it? And really, really seriously think about that? Would you take it? Because here's the thing. Most of us really, really hate that pain or that trauma that we went through, and we feel like it's still holding us back. We feel like we maybe got the short end of the stick or were held back by something or that people have it so much easier than usual, and we may sit and just wish they would never have it happen to us. Like, what would life be like if I didn't have this thing that happened. But it's really hard to figure out who you would be if you did not have them happen. And you're who you are literally right now in this moment, because it happened. So here's the catch, though, with taking that pill. If you take it, you lose all of the lessons, you lose all of the grit, you lose all of the perspective that came with those. You also lose the thing that built your resilience, your strength, and your character. Because if you think about it, pain is the tuition you pay for wisdom. And if you erase that pain, you guys, you really erase the wisdom. You erase being able to stand in someone else's shoes. I would argue that you erase a lot of your compassion as well. So when Paul Stoltz developed the adversity quotient, he calls it aq. It's basically your ability to face challenges, bounce back, and keep going. So just like IQ or eq, it determines how far you're going to go in life. And he argues that high AQ people, they don't just survive adversity, but they learn from it. They really grow from it, and they climb through it, they adapt, and they use it to help others. So one of the biggest things that we were talking about at the table is to never let your pain go to waste. Like, you are not going through something because you're just meant to go through it, right? Or. Or this thing isn't just happening to you. It's something that you can take and you can make one of the most powerful things in your life. So if you've been through something hard or if you're going through something hard, you've earned the right to do something so powerful with it. You get to help someone. You get to build something stronger. You get to tell your story and say, here's how I took that pain.

And turned it into purpose.

Here's how I took that pain and actually turned it into profit in the thing that helps support my family and help support other people and shows people how they can turn their pain into not only their purpose, but also what they live off of. You guys, that is so powerful. So what if your setback isn't meant to stop you at all, but it's actually meant to show you exactly where you're meant to be? So I've met so many people, whether it's in masterminds, whether it's at events, whether it's through my podcast, where they've taken the most painful part of their story and they've Turned it into their most powerful message. So if you're in it right now, I want to share with you three ways to start raising your AQ so that you can transform your adversity. And number one is to own the climb. Paul Stoltz talks about being a climber, not a camper or a quitter. So he says, quitters give up, campers.

Settle, and climbers rise.

So it's about learning how to choose that rise faster, even if it's slow in the beginning or even if it's super messy. But instead of looking at this as, oh, my gosh, this is such a setback, why did I get these cards handed to me? It's really going, how can I take this and make this something really powerful? And how can I help people with it? And that's the rise portion of it. It's not just settling and saying, yeah, this happened. So I guess this is the life I live, because, you know, I didn't graduate high school or my parents never pushed me to do anything or be anything. So I guess I'm just going to never be anything. So number two is to ask better questions. Instead of, why is this happening to me? Ask, how is this happening for me, Chris? And I swear by this, we do not ever sit in the stuck. We don't sit in the. I can't believe this is happening. This is awful. Taking it personal, feeling like we're alone in this journey of, like, wow, bad things are happening to us. No, these things are happening everywhere. And I view them as the dumbbells at the gym. Dumbbells are heavy, and if they're chucked at you and you don't duck or you don't grab one and learn how to actually curl it for your biceps, right? What's going to happen is a weight can hurt you. It can crush you. If I took those weights and piled them all on top of you and didn't accurately use them how they were intended, they're going to crush you. You're not going to be able to breathe or can knock you out. But if you go pick up a heavy weight and use it how it was intended, to get stronger, to tear the muscle down, to learn from somebody who's done it before, good form, to learn how to lift, to learn how to do out, then those weights are going to be your most valuable asset. If you don't have the weights, you're like, wait a minute. Please don't take these weights away from me, because this is the only way I'm getting to my Goal. This is the only way I'm getting stronger. So instead of why is this happening to me? It's how is this happening for me? And number three, make meaning fast. I'm probably the fastest meaning maker. Like, to a fault, like, to the point where some people might be like, oh my gosh, you're rushing that. Are you spiritually bypassing or whatever. People say, like, look, I am just. My brain is so trained at this point to be like, this has got to be happening for me. This has got to be happening for me. Where's the silver lining that it's almost like I need to say it silently to myself. And when I. Even when other people tell me about what's happening, I, like, have to hold back for a hot second on telling them, you know, this is good or this is good for you, or here's why this could be good for you. Because I get it. You have to process through it. But, man, I am, like, training my brain so hardcore that it just like flips right away to, how could this be happening for us? So he says AQ climbers don't wait 10 years to realize their pain had a purpose. So the point is to look for meaning right now while you're in it. What can I learn from this? Who can I help with this? Because turning pain into purpose is the ultimate choice, you guys. So if you're in this right now, you can either let the. The pain or whatever's happening to you define you, or you can say, oh, look, this is happening. Here's how my life is going to roll out, or here's how it's going to turn out. Or you can decide to truly, truly take this and run with it and know that it is happening for you and you can turn it into your biggest platform.

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Guys don't waste the pain, use it, speak it, share it, heal it for yourself and help heal others. You guys, those things that have happened to you are the things that are making you interesting. They're also the things that are turning you into a magnet for the people who need you. Like someone who needs your help, your future customers, the people who want to do big things in life, they're not going to learn from someone who hasn't been through any shit. I don't want to learn from someone who's had a perfect life. I want to learn from the person who has been through it and they transformed it and still made it out on top. So you guys, truly, I hope that if you're in this right now, you can find some meaning, you can make some vast meaning and that's going to help you get through it. I'm sending you guys so much love reminder because I'm losing my voice right now in the mountains. I'm going to go pour a bottle of glossy because truly, it's like the most hydrating thing that I can possibly do. And I'm traveling, so I have a back to back trip right now. I'm traveling to Kelowna, which is British Columbia in Canada right after this to speak at an event and then we're doing a mastermind after that. So it is a full week for me on the road and you better believe I'm taking my two to three glossies every single day so that I feel good, I stay regular, I stay hydrated and I just maintain feeling, you know, some sort of normalcy. And truly, that is helping me so much in the mountains right now because I really can struggle in the mountains with elevation and dehydration, sleep. So you can go to getglosy.com and use code happy for 25% off. I hope you use it. I hope you love it, I hope you swear by it, just like me. And you know why I can't stop talking about it? Because I'm going to preach it from the mountaintops because it is life changing. All right, you guys, until next time, earn your happy.

Bye, everyone.