Make Big Moves

Now is the time to act, to accelerate, to push, because this is the time to really make a difference and win. And why is that? You know, it's action is the fruition of inspiration. And I hope you've all been feeling inspired as we've been talking about the Meaningful Revolution. Welcome to the Meaningful Revolution podcast where we talk about people's passions and hope to inspire you to your own. We, we also answer the question, what if you could just add 1% more meaning to your life every day for the next year? So join us on this meaningful Revolution. I'm your host, Sean Butner, certified high performance coach. And we have a really great episode for you today. So let's get into it. Hey, everyone, this is Sean. And welcome back to the A Meaningful Revolution. Or welcome to if this is your first time. Today we're going to be talking about growing our ambitions, to be thinking about our futures in a different way, in a way that's a little bit more exciting. And, and to take a look at this conversation that we've been having here in the podcast on how are we going to win in the next three years, right? Because after a lot of people feeling constricted, after a lot of people feeling like they've been held back, the people that are making the big moves right now, the people that are able to really live into their greater ambitions are the ones that are going to pick up steam, are going to pick up momentum, and are going to win in the future. So let's talk about first, though, why are people holding themselves back? And maybe you feel this way or fall into one of these categories, or maybe not, but it's a good thing to understand, either for yourself or for those around you, why people have not been really pushing their performance edge, pushing their goodness out into the world or the things that they really believe in and find meaning in, which is part of what we're talking about here on the podcast here. So why are people being held back? First, it's a feeling of not being safe, right? So first it was physical safety with the COVID things. Now it's economic safety with the inflation stuff going on. And, you know, the way the world seems a lot more uncertain. So people are, you know, hunkered down. People are not, you know, wanting to spend money. You know, that's when you get this, like, hoarding mentality where, you know, we need to buy all the toilet paper. And, you know, because that's weird when you say it out loud, but, like, people really do feel that, that sense that I need to protect, I need to hunker down, I need to shell up, I need to play defense, I need to hold back and wait for things to be a little bit more certain before I act right. Or maybe you're burnt out. Like you have been going through all this change at the work in your communities and the world at large and you've been adapting as best as you can and you're just tired, right? There's, there's only so much change you can take. And if you're not handling it in a way where you can rejuvenate, when you're not handling it in a way where you can manage the stress, manage anxiety, manage some of the fear, that's when you get burnt out and you're just exhausted all the time. So, so many people now I think are holding back because they're just tired. And that is something I work with a lot and with my coaching clients. But, and that's how I know that this is happening. I've seen this firsthand also. You know, people are feeling risk adverse, right? Like it's not the time to start that new job. It's not that time to start a new business. It's not that time to shift your career for chance. Or maybe I was going to say per chance. That doesn't. I never say that, so why would I say that now Anyways, you know, so it's. People are not willing to try something new and that prevents progress, that prevents momentum, that prevents meaning from happening in your life because, you know, when you are playing it safe, it's really hard to advance the things that are important and your life. It's really hard to have that big win that's going to help, you know, your family out, you know, financially. It's going to help out your health, it's going to help your relationships, going to help improve your community. Whether that's through, you know, participating in government. Right. There's a lot of risk that goes into that right now. Why would you participate in so many other things when you're, you're feeling that and if you're not feeling that right, if you are more like, hey, like I've moved past this, like, I think I've learned what I needed to do on rejuvenating so that I can really, you know, I can manage the, the stress and anxiety right now and I'm just not feeling myself right? I'm not feeling like I'm really advancing it. It's because, you know, yeah, you've learned how to just manage and survive Right, but you haven't really gotten into the thrive mode. Right. And I, I think we are entering in this mode of where people can thrive. And let me kind of go into that here in a second. So first though, I want, you know, I've been throwing around this word inspiration in the podcast and I wanted to define it right, and, and talk more about this as we go forward. But what is inspiration? And inspiration to me is really just clarity and a motivation to create an act. Right. And inspiration is so key to the things that we find meaning in because a lot of times, you know, we need that, the rubber to hit the road, right? We talked about that in the last podcast. We were talking about doing meaningful stuff, dms and you know, part of it is being inspired to do meaningful stuff. So if we take a look out in the world, like maybe you've heard of this four minute mile story where for a long time scientists thought that you could not go quicker than a four minute mile. And then, you know, depending on who you talk to in history. But Roger Bannister had a lot of press on it. Prefontaine broke a lot of running records. But these are the types of folks that were able to do it and inspired people after that to get it done. So it was something like, you know, for however long it was, you know, there was, you know, tens of years where people thought that you couldn't do better than a four minute mile. Roger Bannister does it. And then person after person after person's like, oh, if he can do it, so can I. And people figure it out, right? Because there's clarity in where you can go in running a mile, right? Or you could take something as big as the moon landing. So, you know, that took some, you know, feeling, you know, could we do this? And was it a worthy pursuit? And there's that famous speech by JFK talking about, you know, it's going to take a lot of time, but we will do this. And it's inspiring because it happened, right? You know, and now that we know that we can land a person on the moon, you know, that opened up a whole lot of space technology, a whole lot of like just tech melon in general with computers and all the innovation that came to support that inspiring pursuit, right? And some other times when it comes to inspiration, you know, it's just stoking your desire to change, right? So maybe you have, you go to the doctor like, hey, you really need to change something, or you have like a family history of heart disease or both happen, you're like, okay, time to figure out my health, you know, time to really dial in how I'm working out. Or maybe you decide to your desire to change is just bragging rights to say that, hey, I ran a marathon. And if you've ever known anyone to run a marathon, you know, they talk about it all the time. I ran a marathon. I talk about it probably more than I need to. I've done a couple of them. And so, but the main, at least for me with the marathon, the main driving force is like, not a lot of people run 26.2 miles, right? Not a lot of people put in, you know, 30 miles in a week or whatever it is when you're training. So the bragging rights, oh, I'm part of the special group that has done this great hard thing can also be very inspiring. So all that to say inspiration is clarity, plus the motivation to create, to act, to, to do something great. So if we take a look around right now, like, who's our, like, what are the big moves being made as I'm recording this podcast? Right. Well, let's, you know, almost more than halfway done in 2022, and you take a look at Warren Buffett and he's invested $50 billion already for Berkshire Hathaway. He's generally considered one of the best investors. And so why is that important? It's an example of someone betting big in a time when a lot of people are hunkering down or are holding back. And so I think, you know, the question, like, why would Warren Buffett do this amount of investment with the inflationary economy and every, all the prices going up and stuff. And it's because it's the big players now that are going to win like he's going to in the next 10 years because that's, you know, he's a long term investor. Next 20 years, next 30 years is going to, he knows that he's going to reap a lot of benefits from that investment. So, you know, there's that you have people like Elon Musk and say what you will about the guy, but the audacity of saying, I'm going to go to Mars and we're going to land somebody there, and I build the pipeline of rockets and electric cars and, you know, which are kind of similar to rovers, you know, so. And then, you know, the solar panel stuff, which is kind of how you're going to power stuff in space. So it's really interesting to see how all his businesses have really aligned towards that goal. And you'll see a lot more of that, I think, going forward. And another thing that is in the news recently is the Inflation Reduction Act. So no matter how you feel about the politics of it, it is a big, bold bet on the future of the US on green technology, on helping us move the economy forward in this time when the whole world seems to be burning, literally like Europe just had a whole set of fires, you know, I'm talking from California and we've had yearly fires for the last five years now. It's kind of insane. So lots of big backs, government, private enterprise, individuals acting boldly in this time to set up and win in the future. So now we know, like, who the big players are. Like, again, like what? Why are people not feeling inspired or getting ahead? Right? It's playing it small, right? So they don't see a bigger future for themselves. They don't see a better way to live a better life, balance a future where they are giving it their all and getting the benefits of that effort, you know, or people are not getting ahead because they haven't built the relationships and the environment around them to really help them accelerate, to help them, you know, get that, that extra push when they doubt themselves or they doubt the things that they're doing. Like, so maybe you've started a business and you're like, yeah, and anyone that started a business will tell you it's a roller coaster. There will be times when you're like, what have I done? You know, am I going to be able to pay all the bills, pay all the people, do all the things that I need to do to, to just be a responsible business owner? You know, am I going to be able to pay enough to, to support my family, like all that kind of stuff. And there's times where like, I am, you know, just rocking it. I'm making a big difference. I'm doing what I want to do. I have that, that freedom and control that were sold as entrepreneurs, which sometimes might not always be 100% the case because of, you know, if you're a responsible person, really making sure that, that, you know, you're taking care of all those things. So, you know, you're maybe not supported in your environment or maybe, you know, you're stuck still and not having the skill to handle the stress, handle anxiety, or figure out how you add value in your organization and your business in the things that you do, right? So it could be like, you know, you stopped trying to figure out how to public speak, you stopped trying to upgrade your skills as a programmer. You Stopped paying attention to new medical reports. If you're a doctor, you know, you know, I think a lot of people, because things are so overwhelming, especially with knowledge workers or people that use their brain for their job, in the last three years, we kind of stopped trying so much. We stopped trying to push ourselves into higher levels of capability and skill, which would then translate into doing our jobs better or doing our contributions with more service and more impact. I think that's really important. And then finally, I think kind of related to not having the skill to handle stress, people just not believing in themselves or believing that they can handle extra challenge or handle more change. And if that's you, I have to say this as a high performance coach, but you are way more capable than you believe yourself. Your peers around you are a lot more capable than maybe you're letting on. And, you know, people and society is a lot more resilient than we tend to realize. And that's not to say that there's not struggles. It's not to say that, you know, that it's not going to be tough because it will be. And that's okay. And tough can be worked through. Right. You can rise up to the challenge. You can see other people and challenge them to rise to the challenge. And I think we will be better for it if we can help you or help people around us feel more capable to handle and be more resilient. Right. Essentially. So what can people do about it? Well, glad you asked. So I got four ideas for you, and I'll go and break it down here. But like, you know, the very first thing about, you know, how can we get into inspiration? How can we get into that, that active creative space? And, and I mentioned it a little bit early, but let's make it clear here. It's to tap into your ambition again. Right. We live in a world where a lot of people, again, held back. A lot of people have been saying, and maybe you're saying this or maybe you're not, but like people that are saying, I'm gonna wait and see what happens. And then, and then, you know, it's such a psychological thing that everyone has at certain times of their life. And a lot, I think a lot of people, if you look around, have it. So we need to get you into, you know, feeling inspired about the world, feeling wonder, feeling engaging, that, that learning mindset, you know, that. That mindset that says like, yes, I can try and I can learn and mistakes are going to be made. And that's part of the process. And let's honor that. Let's honor the struggle, let's honor the feelings that come up from it. But that's focus on how we are learning. And so the question I have for you is what are you inspired to create right now? And if you're like, I'm not really inspired, the question is then what could you turn to for inspiration? Is it going on YouTube to research, you know, how to do a rose garden in your backyard? Is it finding the inspiration to do woodworking or how to write a song or how to do a poem? Or is it how to volunteer for a cause that you really love? What is that inspiration moment for you? Because sometimes again, you have to get clarity on what is possible. And you do that by engaging in communities and learning and being creative and just wondering, right? Second thing to do to really help you feel and connect to your inspiration is to level up your communities. Right. You know, where do you go for support and encouragement? And I wanted to let you know that I do have a community called Inspired and you can go to community.seanbauer.com the link will be in the notes of this podcast. But really like whether it's there, whether it's community organizations physically, whether it's another online community that you have, like where are you going to feel connected, supported and encouraged? And it's such a great thing. Like over the pandemic for me, I like I said, I'm a high performance coach. So I've had my coaching community online. We've been doing a lot of zooms. I have people that I do marketing masterminds with just trying to figure out how to run a coaching business in today's world. And you know, that engagement helped make this last set of few years not so bad and has also kind of helped me in that engage in learning and engage in, you know, and get the support that I need when I've felt bad about, oh, I'm not in spite of this, you know, world circumstance, I'm not where I thought I would be with my business. And it's like, hey, you're doing the right things or hey, did you try this? Or hey, I'm thinking about, you know, it's that connection and excitement that can really help us rekindle our inspiration. Right. So third thing is to level up your competency. So what do you need to learn? What skills competencies you need to learn to thrive. Right? Again, does it go back to do you need to know how to speak to people? Do you know, need to know how to lead people? Do you need to figure out how to do artificial intelligence or data mining or something relevant to your career or something relevant to your life. You know, is it. Is it something that just gives you joy? Do you need to learn how to play the bass? You know, I always go back to these types of examples, but I think they're very clear. And, you know, the more, you know, I think Brendon Burchard taught us, the more that you are competent in, the more confident you feel. And the more confident you feel, the more competent you feel. It's this competence, confidence loop. And, you know, it's very true. So if you're not feeling super inspired, super motivated to go and create, maybe it's how. What skills would you need to learn in order to start a podcast, right, just like this one. So level up your competency. And the fourth thing is to face your fears, right? Since we've. The world, I think, has had this kind of, like, fearful energy, you know, how in your life have you been addressing the different things that you're feeling or fearing out there? And in my personal opinion, a lot of people have not been super successful with this. And it's me, too. It's not that I had it figured out and everyone else didn't. You know, that's kind of crazy. But how are we addressing the fear that we had? You know, what are we afraid to lose as we change how we work? You know, what are we afraid to lose as we move to different technologies, as we move to the future, as we move to starting a business, as we move to changing jobs, as we move to, you know, really, you know, getting promoted in our current role and leading a bit more? And are you focusing on how it's helping out your family? Are you focusing how it's going to help you learn and help you feel engaged in your job and feel a little bit more alive? Is it going to help you feel more connected to your communities? Because that's really how you're going to get over that fear is to focus on what do you gain, number one. Number two, like, process fears, right? This is what we know from high performance. But, you know, is the journey is going to be hard no matter what, right? And like Dale Carnegie said, like, we can't control what happens to us, but we can control how we approach things. It's a paraphrase, but how is the learning journey going to be fun? Is it going to, you know, maybe create wonder or, you know, you know, solve something you're curious about and teach you about something you're Curious about. So how can we get excited about the actual process of doing or what needs to happen to make it fun? Right? So maybe, you know, I had a client here last year, now, I think it was two years maybe, who was working on trying to get back into health habits. And the process of doing that was really painful. And so how he made it fun was he had a kid in kindergarten that had a sticker chart for good behavior. And so he got his kid on board. He's like, I'm going to do, you know, I'm going to run every day. And every day I run, I get to put a sticker on it and we can celebrate it together. And so that little fun connection, kind of really silly moment he had with the son helped him get consistency back in his health, which helped him, you know, know, with his health outcomes. So, you know, how can you make the process fun or look forward to it? And then outcome pain, like, do I really want this change? And I, I think, you know, very shortly, like, like, how can you overcome outcome pain? It's again, engaging that learning mindset, engaging that, hey, like, maybe if I switch jobs, the other job is going to suck, but at least I know it's going to be bad. I don't have to live in regret. I can, I'm not missing out on anything. I am fully exploring my life, right? And I think there's a lot of excitement and aliveness that can come from facing that type of like outcome fear or outcome pain. So, you know, what is that to you? You know, what are you going to learn, what are you going to check off and not have any regrets with are a great place to start and figuring that out. So, all right, I hope you enjoyed these four ideas on how to feel inspired to engage in your ambitions again. And the four points again are to tap into your ambitions, feel inspired by the world and for the possible future for yourself and your family. 2. Level up your communities. Figure out where you can get support and encouragement regularly or the kind that you need to progress, to advance, to really perform at your best. You know, what level of confidence or level up your level of competency. You know, what skills and capabilities do you need to thrive, to feel alive and then face your fears? You know, what is worth, what is greater than the loss, fear, process fear or outcome fear and pain that we all have at different parts of our lives. So hope you enjoyed this podcast. Please do me a favor and subscribe and rate me on Apple podcasts and share this with three friends you think might like it helps me get the word out. Really love that. Again, there's a link below this podcast on the inspired community. Please join us. We'd love to to hear about what you're doing and cheer you on and you can ask me any questions or if you have any feedback for the podcast, you can leave it there too. It's free and open to folks. So I hope you do join me there. And remember, action is the fruition of inspiration. So ultimately we want to be inspired so that we do. We create, we put our good out in the world and and that's where we're going to leave it today. Thanks guys. See you next episode where we are going to talk a little bit more about how we can manage our environments. Okay, see you then. This is Sean Butner signing off. Thank you for listening to the Meaningful Revolution podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode and if you could please share share this episode with three people that you think might enjoy it and like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Leave a comment Please rate us because that helps us get the word out. So until next time, listen to the next episode right after this. I know you'll love it and we'll see you then. Take care.