What I Believe About Personal Development And Performance

I believe that you are more capable than you give yourself credit to. And why do I believe this? I think we all have this incredible ability to make different choices in any moment of our life. Meaning you could choose to switch your job tomorrow, you could switch, you could choose to move, you could choose to end that relationship, you could choose to start another relationship, you could choose to try and improve your health in a different way tomorrow, today, next, you know, in the next five minutes. So we have this incredible gift of choice and I believe that we can wield it more effectively and with more intent and in a way that helps us realize our true meaning, our true purpose and gets our voice and message and missions out in the world. And when we realize we have this choice, right, we realize anything's possible. That's when we can make a dent in the universe, as coined by Steve Jobs. That's when the impossible becomes a fun challenge that we get to see and test if it's true. And more often than not, I believe we are not living the life that we've chosen for ourselves, that we, you know, have all these different messages, all these different influences, all these different hopes and dreams that are put upon us. And part of the work, I think in personal development and high performance is analyzing those inputs and being like, is this what I really want? You know, because if we don't have this awareness of our ability to make choices, of our ability to go out there and do something different and new right now, in this moment or in the near future, that's when you get stuck, that's when you get frustrated, that's when you feel like you're not in control of your life, right? So you're in that job that you're not progressing and so you feel stuck and you're, you're wondering, what do I do? What do I do next? See, I can't even talk. You know, you are in that relationship that lost that spark and that, that excitement and that buzz because you don't feel like you can impact it, right? And isn't that true that a lot of times when we think that our effort or our dreams or our intentions won't change anything, we settle, we give up, we give in to that frustration and it degrades our quality of life. And I really am fighting against that. And with my clients, I'm looking for that in their lives so I can be their advocate to make sure that they are realizing the amount of choice, the mind boggling amount of choice that they have in their lives and helping them narrow it down because choice sometimes can paralyze you, but that's a whole other thing. But my story so far, and on this earth as recording this video has been one of constantly reinventing myself, right? It's going from a shy kind of introverted kid in high school to being a still introverted kid, but able to speak publicly, able to perform music in front of people. So I wasn't defined in being that, like socially awkward kids, like, oh, no, I can figure this out and step into that. It's gone. Going into business school, wanting to work at a tech company, and then after college, getting hired to be a software engineer, right? So you didn't do the stereotypical computer science, go into tech thing. Came at it from a different angle. And all that was fueled was an interest in computing, right? I love software. I would do it, you know, every now and then. I had a couple of semesters in college in my master's program and then got hired as a software engineer. And off I went, you know, and then in that job, I went from being a software engineer and being really stressed out by that to being someone that was a liaison in that talking to business and engineers and making sure everyone was playing well together, which was really rewarding. Started businesses. I eventually ended up working at Apple as a software engineer and quality assurance software, doing testing and testing systems and all that stuff, which is hugely rewarding. And each of those phases of my life, it was redefining who I was, right? But it was also a realization that, oh, I don't have to be that introverted kid. I can choose to be someone that is a little bit more gregarious and can go out and make friends because I'll need that in college or just because I'm in business school doesn't mean I can't apply for a software engineering job. And lo and behold, it happened, right? I was able to pursue that for a long while before saying, like, you know what? Maybe this wasn't a great idea. Maybe I can, you know, take what I've known in engineering and with my education experience before and change it into a different job. Right? And so on and so forth. And so that's really what I believe in. It's that opportunity to remake yourself, to redefine yourself, to find your place in the world that's unique to your experience and is really, you know, will help you put your mark on the world. Right? And ultimately, you know, and that story, each time I reinvented myself too, it was being curious about who I was and, you know, the world and how I might be able to not care about the limits, right? And just see if I could do stuff. It's running experiments, like, could this happen? Could I run a marathon? I was just talking about that. And the answer is yes, I can. Having had asthma growing up and you know, being able to defy that idea of myself that I wasn't a runner, and then you run a marathon, you can't say that anymore, you know, and then, you know, having fun and being playful around it, right? Each time I've needed a change in my career or in my life, it's because I've lost that line of fun, right? Things weren't fun anymore. There wasn't a levity to it. Things were being taken too seriously. So it's time to shake it up, right? Time to find out where that sense of play is. Because a lot of times too, that next breakthrough you have is in that sense of I'm just goofing off here, you know, I'm just brainstorming and just checking this thing out with no stakes. Inevitably you're like, oh, I want to get better at this. And then you end up having a 14 year career in software, you know, which is nuts. But that happened for me. So as I'm talking about that, right? So be curious, run experiments in your life, have fun and play. Because as you reinvent yourself, as you realize you're more capable than you, you think again, you'll be able to see more of those choices out there for you. So before we get into how can you really go into and know if changing, you know, into something else to reinventing yourself, to chasing those multiple possibilities are worth it, I want to say that I do this all the time as a certified high performance coach. So if you are interested in like, oh, I really want to reinvent my career, I want to reinvent how I show up for my health in my relationships. I want to build better relationships. I'm going to lead better and work on my personal or people skills, interpersonal skills, that's what I was trying to land there. Or I just want to feel different. I would transform how I feel every day. Then you really need to check out a high performance strategy session. So there's a link below this video. You click on that, do a quick 15 minute application and you'll be taken to a page where you can either opt in for a free strategy session, which I'll record it, chop it up for a new series on YouTube I'm going to be doing this year. So I'd Love to share and have you inspire other people. But if you're like, hey, I really don't want that out in the world. There's also an option for you to explore where you pay for a private session, right? So just hit that link below, apply. You'll get your choices, choose what best works for you. We get scheduled, we do a one hour call where I walk you through, build you a high performance plan, but really get you thinking about those possibilities for change, the possibilities for transformation. I love doing these calls. So hit that link below. Don't you know, wait, if you're on the fence, there's no risk, there's the free option and like I said, it's impactful, it will change your life. That's my guarantee. And yeah, it's spectacular. So click on that link. Now. This video is titled what I Believe, right? I told you what I believe about people in general, right? Is they have this amazing ability and capacity for change and for opportunity and for making decisions, right? And I believe that if you're curious, if you run experiments, and if you have fun and play along the way, that that will be a good kind of guiding stick. But in my coaching business, it's. I have three words that I really think sum up, you know, what I'm looking for in life, but what I think people generally are looking for in life and that's joy, growth and impact, right? So I think most of the time, when we want transformation, we want change, when we want to redefine ourselves, we're looking to have more fun, we're looking to feel better about ourselves, we're looking to feel better about our finances, we're looking to feel optimistic about the future and have that like feeling that the world's your oyster or that you're living your life fully, you're excited for what you're doing. And while joy can be fleeting and bad things happen all the time, you know, it doesn't have, doesn't mean the pursuit of finding fun, leaning into optimism, leaning into what's good in the world isn't a worthy pursuit. And I think everyone, if you had a choice between something that would just completely and utterly be terrible or something that would be objectively awesome, if you had the choice, and we're talking about choices in this video, you would choose the awesome thing over the terrible thing, right? That's basic human nature. We do all sorts of things to try to trick ourselves into. That's not what we do. But ultimately I do believe that, that we're chasing those good feelings Those good vibes, even. And that's also not to say that you can't find good vibes in terrible situations. You know, my. In 2014, we lost my mom. And, you know, she had a heart condition, some complications. She had breast cancer when I was really young. I think the chemotherapy really messed up some of her, like, kidneys and stuff. Getting her liver, all of it was failing. She had a heart procedure and then just kind of kept running into complications from that chemotherapy, I believe. And so, yeah, I remember sitting in the hospital with her while we're doing it, and I'm chuckling because she was the first one to make jokes. She was the first one. You know, she kept saying, like, one day we're going to look back and laugh at the absurdity of this situation, right? Like, you know, it should be great for a week and then have, like, a mini stroke. Like, it was objectively terrible. But in that moment, she chose to try to find what was funny. And every time our family encountered hardship, she was the one to try to find the absurdity in it, the dark, dark joke in it, the, you know, the way to make it funny or the way to make it fun, you know, and that was just the. The person she was. And so this. This pursuit of joy, even in those tough situations, I think is really important. And it's why I. I hold that so dear to my heart. You know, I learned that from her and my dad. You know, they were both the same in that regard. So, yeah, we're all seeking joy in certain ways, and we can use joy as a way to kind of buttress those dark moments. I have a ton of different stories about. About how she handled kind of intense situations with humor. So, yeah, you know, thanks, mom, and we'll move on. So second thing I think people are really striving for in their life is growth, right? That sense of progress, that sense that we're going somewhere, that sense that our efforts are leading to change out in the world. So the number one reason why somebody will quit on something that they want to change, quit on a new running regimen or diet or job or relationship, I believe, is because they feel like there's no progress? And isn't that true that if you are stuck in a career where you don't think you're going to get promoted or there's no opportunity to grow your pay through promotions or raises or any of that stuff, that you get kind of discontented? Right. It can be really stale. But when you have that sense of progress, when you have that that new relationship, that new friendship or romantic relationship where you're finding all the weird connections you have with each other. You're finding out that, oh, like, we like hanging out and we're gonna continue to hang out and all that kind of stuff. There's a magic to that, that feeling, or that you're getting better at your job, right? As a software engineer who did not go to, you know, computer science school and just kind of learned on my own and then learned on the job kind of frantically, quite honestly. But there's a sense of pride in seeing things that, at least for me, that I had written when I was early in my career and then even like three months later being like, oh, I am so much better at this thing, right? I'm so much better at guitar, I'm so much better at coding, so much better at cooking or whatever, you know, that seeing that progress, there's a sense, there's a dopamine hit. And I don't know if that's a scientific thing or not, but it's there. I know that it's there. And I feel like if you're not continually learning, if you're not continually progressing, if you're not continually realizing that vision you have for your life, you know, that forward momentum and movement that it's nearly impossible to. To be happy. One and two, like, you will do crazy things to try to get back on track and try to get that feeling, you know, so where in your life do you need to feel that sense of progression and growth again? What's coming up for you? You know, if you would put those in the comments below this video, I'd love to hear what you guys would love to get some momentum out again, you know, and maybe that'll inform some of the future videos here. Because sometimes it sounds like I'm just a crazy person on the Internet, shouting out into the void. And it has probably been like that for quite a while. But, you know, it is what it is. You know, I'm just here to help people and thank you. I've gotten a lot better at this, as admitted, introvert. Especially when I was talking about earlier in this video, getting consistent in front of the camera to do content and to share these ideas that I have in hopes of helping people transform, level up their lives, make different choices that are good for them and their families. You know, that's been a really good sense of joy. Like, I don't dread turning on the camera, turning on the lights, right? I dread doing the notes sometimes before in the prep because it's just so much stuff to try to organize in a coherent way. But you know, I, I feel like I've grown here. So growth, everyone is seeking growth in one area of their life or another in some way, in my personal belief. And I think finally, people want impact. You want to know that your actions matter, that you matter, that you've left an impression on people again. Like Steve Jobs said, you dented the universe with how good you are at your craft, how good of a person you are, how well you take care of your friends and family, how you earn your reputation, all these types of things. And people want to be good, right? Everyone's the hero of their own story, if you've ever heard that quote or phrase. But you know, you really, in order to be the hero of your own story, you have to be authentic to yourself. And you know, that's a whole other thing that we could talk about. But who are you authentically? More importantly, how are you impacting your team, your family, your friends, your community, society, everything around you? And are you the role model you would hope to see out in the world? And I love this question because you're making an impact. When you yell at the barista because their coffee is 2 degrees colder than you'd like it, you're making an impact in the world when you're seeing, you know, high fiving a runner who's running by you on the street, giving them a little good energy boost because running's hard. You know, both ways are impacting, you know, you are impacting people when you don't speak up when you see something horrific or you are impacting people when you speak up and say, hey, that is not right behavior. Or when you speak up and say, hey, I appreciate you, you do this thankless thing in this organization and I see you, you know, it's just normal human humanity, like recognition of people. But there's so many different ways we do impact people or our lack of action creates an impact. And that's the idea I wanted to land. There is, are you role modeling good behavior in all areas of your life? Are you role modeling health for your children? I talk about this all the time. Are you role modeling how to be a professional in your career? Are you role modeling how to be the best spouse or the best friend or the best person you can be with the people in your life? And are you role modeling how to take care of yourself and your general well being and intention out there? And so those questions I really hope you're asking yourself, I really hope you're writing those down to think about in journal, because that's the work. And I believe that when you are making choices aligned with your sense of fun and joy, with your sense of progression and growth, with your sense of impact in the world on the people around you, everyone else, that's when you're in your meaningful revolution, right? That's when you feel the most fulfilled, like you are contributing to something greater, that you are shaping the world to be better. And we need more of that in the world. That's my final belief. I believe we need more people pursuing joy, growth and impact to put goodness out in the world. Because, oh man, we have a lot of collective problems that we all need to work together to solve. And I think we're up for it. I think we can do it. We just need to make some better choices. So with that, guys, hope you loved this video. Again, linked below is a way for you to apply for a strategy session, free or paid. Just go through the application. You'll get your choice after you submit. Takes about 15 minutes. All that said, guys, this is Sean Butner signing off. See you guys next week. If you love this video, check out this video over here for more amazing videos on high performance on the Meaningful Revolution or with my podcast, Meaningful Revolution Populous. Yeah, see you guys then. Take care of.