In this episode of the Love Life podcast, host Stephen Hussey explores why daily to‑do lists can feel hollow and lead to an existential slump. He introduces the idea that each task should be paired with its underlying purpose—the "why"—drawing on Simon Sinek’s concept of purpose and Nietzsche’s "he who has a why can bear any how." Hussey explains a practical method: write the master goal next to every item on the list to transform resentment into gratitude and boost motivation. He illustrates how even disliked tasks (e.g., a hated job or a gym session) can be reframed as stepping stones toward larger aspirations. The conversation segues into a promotion for an upcoming virtual retreat (March 2021) that promises daily practices to overhaul confidence, mindset, and life planning, referencing the success of a prior virtual event. Interspersed are two sponsor spots—Amica Insurance emphasizing empathy and Regain Couples Therapy offering affordable online couples counseling. The episode blends motivational advice, actionable techniques, philosophical references, and promotional content in a conversational, upbeat tone.
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Hello, ye cheeky old listeners. It is Stephen Hussey here, back with another episode of the Love Life podcast. And today We're talking about all the things you're trying to get done. You write out your little to-do list every day and you think, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna knock that task off, I'm gonna clean my bathroom, I'm gonna get that piece of work done, I'm gonna make a little headway on that project. I'm gonna call that family member. You kind of have all these things and you start ticking them off and you maybe get a bit of momentum and that's good. You're going to go through another day of doing that, another day, and then you wonder, well, I'm doing all these things, but I still feel kind of empty. It kind of isn't exciting me. It's not moving me. Yes, I'm taking all these things off, but what am I actually doing? What does my life mean? Why am I here? And you start spiraling into existential crisis. Well, if you have been through that before, hold your horses, because my brother Matthew is going to talk to you all about finding meaning and purpose in what you're doing. Because as our old philosopher friend Friedrich Nietzsche once said, he who has a why can bear almost any how. So before I jump over to Matthew, one note he does mention at the end of this clip, our upcoming live virtual retreat, which of course we will not do in person for obvious pandemic related reasons, but it is in March. It is an incredible event. Our last one, our last debut event was a smash hit. People had a blast. Many people are coming back for more because they had such a good time on the first one. If you want to revamp your life in 2021, hey, we're at the start of the year now. This is the first retreat we'll do this year. Come and join us. The link is mhvirtualretreat.com That's mhvirtualretreat.com, I will put it in the show notes so that you can click the link if you wanna do that as well. All right, that is it from me over to the Maddy Man.
Do you ever feel like every day is just a to-do list that is never ending? You go to bed having not accomplished everything on your to-do list, wake up the next day, it rolls over and now you start again. And it becomes daunting because now it's like, what is life all about? Is this my life? I just wake up and have this long to-do list of things that I just need to tick off. Life is just one big ticking off exercise. There must be more to it than this. It's kind of like step one in life is to have a list, right? Some people don't have a list. Some people wake up, their day is aimless. They don't know what direction they're going in. They don't know what to do today. And they don't have any structure. So of course, the first step in having a better life is to have some structure, is to have a sense of what I want to accomplish today, to have some kind of a list. But I think that that doesn't get to a more advanced level, which is for every to-do on our list to recognize and to be very clear about what master this to-do is serving. I'll have my to-do, and let's say there's 20 to-dos for the day or 10 or five, depending on how big they are. For each to-do, no matter how big or small, next to it, I write why this to-do even matters. What master is this serving? What goal is it taking me towards? Because if we don't do that, then the to-do list is hollow. It is devoid of emotion, of significance, of meaning, as Simon Sinek would say. It is devoid of the why. And when we We don't know our why, it becomes very difficult to get ourselves to do things because we're not moved by emotion, we're simply moved by willpower. So try this, for your to-do list today, look at every single thing on that list and next to it write down what master that to-do is serving. Because remember this, your to-do list is there to serve you. You're the master, the to-do list is working for you. You're not working for the to-do list. It exists to serve my goals, my dreams, my hopes, what I'm trying to achieve in life, how I want to feel in life, what I want to get better at in life, what skills I want to develop in life, what relationships I want to make deeper in life. The list is my slave. I'm not a slave to the list. And when we understand that, we realize, ah, there's this next thing on my list that I was just groaning about, I'm actually excited about it. Or maybe I'm not even excited about it. Maybe I still don't like it, but I see the value in it. And now what was resentment turns into gratitude. Some of you will say, but on my list is going to work today and a job I hate. Okay, but how do you link that to your goal? You better be able to. Maybe doing the job you hate is leading you to somewhere you want to go. Maybe it's buying you the time to work on the project you really want to work on. Maybe it's a stepping stone to a position you really want to be in. Maybe if you prove yourself here and show people how able you are in this job you don't want to do, you'll end up doing a job you do want to do because people will offer you more opportunities, more responsibility, more power. So there you see, ah, there's a connection, there's a through line, there's a thread between this thing I don't want to do and the thing that I do want to do. So in a sense, this is a thing I do want to do. Do you see that? It doesn't make it enjoyable. Plenty of days I go to the gym, I don't find it enjoyable, but when I connect to what I'm doing it for, I see that it's valuable. And when I see that it's valuable, I go from resentment to gratitude. And that is a huge shift. I go from seeing it as something I have to do, as something that's for me. This is a very valuable part of your daily process. Do not just have a to-do list. Have a connection list where for each to do you make the connection between that to do and the goal, the master that it's serving. In March of this year, I have my virtual retreat that is happening again for the second time. We ran the first one. It was the first ever time that we had taken my live retreat and run it as a virtual event, which was still live, but of course, accessible through people's homes. I was in my home delivering it with an entire crew and a production, but everyone was in their homes or wherever they were in the world being able to take the retreat for the first time without having to fly to the United States to do it. And we changed hundreds of lives in the first virtual retreat that we never would have been able to change were it not virtual. And it's going to be the same again this time. If you missed it that time, Do not miss it this time because I'm going to be breaking down the exact daily practices that are going to transform your life, get you connected, but will also transform your confidence, the way you think about your life and create an incredible plan. To find out more about the program or to ask one of my team a question, if you have a question about the program, go to this link, find out more. And as always, I will see you in next week's video.
