3 Keys To UNLOCK Your Breakthrough | Life-Mastery Q&A

Hey guys, welcome back to Questions and Answers. I am here to hopefully give you some my own thoughts, my own opinions. As a result, some of these questions I can tell you right now that you guys submitted are pretty difficult questions, ones that I'm not entirely sure that I'm in, I'm truly capable of answering from a very profound and thought provoking way. So with that in mind, I'm going to share a lot of my heart and a lot of my own personal opinions and hopes that it'll help you on your own journey. So as we jump in, just keep that in mind, please, because this is. You guys really set the questions in this go round. All right, question number one. When faced with a life changing decision, how do I know I'm making the right choice? How do I know I'm making the right choice? All right, so here's the thing about life choices in general. You're going to have somewhere between 14 and probably 20 ultimate major life decisions in your lifetime. What I like to refer as cornerstone moments. In other words, you're bumping along, living your life, going this direction, and then you got to make a decision here and it'll either determine if you're going up or you're going down in your life or, you know, just like a sidestep. Right. Here's the funny thing about that is sometimes we look at some of the bad choices we make and we look at the mistakes that come with them and all the outcomes that come with them when we totally use that to actually beat ourselves up over time. So as we're looking at this, I want you to keep in mind that if you already made some bad choices and some bad mistakes, don't let that become your identity. Like, there's no reason for that to become your identity. Like, absolutely no reason. We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect. Despite all the pretty pictures you see on social media of everybody living their best life, you got to understand that that's always a highlight reel. You and I are both guilty of it. Let's just be honest. Okay, now back to the original question. How do I make the decisions? The bigger the question or the bigger the decision? There are really two main components. First of all is what we would refer to in the business world as a risk and opportunity evaluation, which is nothing more in layman's terms as a pros and cons list. Now, many of the personality styles that are out in the world, there's four specific ones that we teach on specifically, but one of them is very opportunistic. Alright, so there's one side of the two that's very opportunistic. They're always looking at the opportunity. They're always looking like what could be and it's exciting and it's on fire. The other side is the polar opposite where they're really focused on risk. So what I'm about to say, it's important that you understand which personality style you have. Alright? So the easiest way to do that is to go to JourneyPrinciples.com resources, download the free ebook called Understanding what drives you. Grab that you can take a pre personality assessment in there to help you understand that so you know how you personally make decisions. Because what I'm about to say will make more sense. All right, now that we've set the tone, set the stage, when it comes down to using a pros and cons list or in the business world, an opportunity and threat assessment, what we are going to do is we are going to basically draw a line down the middle of the page and we are going to spend time looking at all eight areas of life or all eight pillars of life that we talk about here on this channel. All right? Now if you don't know what I'm talking about, there are eight specific areas of life that you've got to look at on a regular basis and make improvements on, on, on a regular basis to actually achieve something we like to refer to as life mastery. That's where you actually feel like you're unstoppable. All right, now several videos here. Just look up eight pillars of life. You'll find it real quick. All right, back to the original question again. Okay, we want to look at how these decisions are going to affect each of these areas from a opportunity standpoint and from a threat standpoint. Okay? Now a great decision will not lean all the way opportunity, nor will it lean all the way to the risk category. There's always going to be an even balance of risk versus opportunity on a regular basis. All right, so you're going to spend time jotting down, okay, how will this affect me financially? How will this affect me relationally? How will this affect me emotionally? How will this affect me in my physical life, my spiritual life, my contribution, so on and so forth. By doing that, you are trying to get as much perspective as possible. All right, we talk a lot about gaining perspective here on this channel. This is precisely what I'm talking about. You are asking great questions. Make sure you're asking questions that are helping you understand what's at the core right Rather than making prejudgments from, you know, past hurts or some garbage like that, right? Make sure you're objectively looking at the questions. Okay? In short, very simple. You go down the pros list, you go down the cons list, all right? I want you to do one more step. Once you've got that list built, I want you to go someone in whom you admire and respect, and I want you to tell them about the decision you're trying to make. Even one of our strategists will be just fine. Whatever's easier. Go through that process. All right? As you get ready to ask that question, show your pros and cons list and say, here's where I've got my stuff at. What do you see that I'm missing?

Again, because your personality style is going to be predisposed to either opportunities or threats. No one smack dab right down the middle. Or in fact, if that's the case, and that's you, you're rare and you deserve a high five on a regular basis. Okay? So that's the major step one. All right? Next step two is the bigger the decision. I learned this from Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Dave Ramsey. The bigger the decision, the more time you take to make the decision. If you're at the store and you want to buy a pack of gum, you don't need to stand in front of the aisle for the next hour looking at all the different varieties. However, if you're about to buy a house, buy a car, get married, especially if you're getting married, right? Take the time needed to understand who that person really is and whether or not you bring value to one another. All right? Take the time again, the bigger the decision, the more time you take and the more thought you put into it. Now, to take it one step further, after you've looked at the opportunities and threats, after you've looked at the time frame, you need to put a deadline on when you need to make the ultimate decision. Otherwise, you'll be like several of our past clients who were stuck when they got to us, and you'll be stuck in analysis paralysis. Why? Because you're overthinking it. Right? So what I like to do is I like to pick out, okay, I got a big decision. For example, my wife and I are getting ready to build a brand new home. Okay? It's our dream home, right? I've already run through the mathematical equations. I've already run through how it would affect us financially, all that good stuff. We're using equity from one house to pay for the next house. So it's a, it's a wash. Okay. However, before I pull the trigger on whether or not to buy the land that went with it, I needed to spend about 30 to 45 days on doing what's called due diligence. That's all you're doing. Due diligence is nothing more than digging into the facts to determine if it's a good decision for you. That's it. All right. After you do that, essentially what I just told myself is, okay, by December 12th, I'm going to make the decision on whether or not we are going to build this house. Now granted, this particular decision was my wife and I both, right? Because you know, she needs, probably needs to be on board, right? So that's an example of when you pull, you pull the trigger and basically by that time you've got all the information you possibly have or can have to make a great decision. And as a result, you, you stand a higher likelihood because you've looked at the opportunities and threats, you've got outside opinions and stuff like that from people you respect, you've taken the time needed and you've now chosen a date on the calendar to make sure you're actually getting the decision done correctly. If you'll do those things, I'm very, very confident that in fact, you will in fact make much, much, much, much, much, much better decisions in your future. And that will hopefully allow you to start on the, continue on the upward trajectory. Okay. Again, if you make a mistake, it's okay. It's not the end of the world. You can survive a mistake. You may have to put a little extra work, learn something a little new, but you can do this. Either way, you're not going to go wrong. Nothing gets wasted. So no matter what you do, your life will continue moving forward as long as you want to move forward. Hope that helps. Alright, question number two. I'm going to tell you what, I'm going to do my best, my absolute best to answer honestly with a lot of hopefully, hope and inspiration, because I think that's what's missing right now. Question number two is an important one and it's one we've all been facing, especially in the year 2020. Okay. What I refer to as the year of I can't breathe. Alright, why is that important? It's because we are having to learn a different methodology and different modality in order to connect and stay connected. Why? Because there's lots of different influences trying to tear us apart. So here comes the question. There's so much division in our nation right now. I feel overwhelmed by it all. How do I rise above the heaviness?

I think the first thing that you have to understand is we look at things within the Journey Principals Institute as what's known as subliminal influences. Okay? Most people if left to their own will, their own devices and their own connections, even if they have differing opinions, if they're not influenced by outside people, they can normally carry on civil conversations even as it relates to differences of opinion. Perfect example. I have my own values and standards and things that I believe in. Okay? My wife parents share some of those values, but also differ in a lot of those values. Which means as we go into year after year of various elections and stuff like that, there could be an explosion. Well, what we've had to do is put kindness and love above everything else. Okay? I love my wife's parents, they love me back. I love my wife. Right? I think love covers a multitude of problems. That's just a reality, unfortunately, with the subliminal side of things, with the overall media consumption. One of the things that I've seen creating more anxiety and depression and fear and all the kinds of has actually been the constant progress of digesting media consumption. One of the best ways I know to illustrate this is actually by a documentary that you can find on Netflix. Okay. The documentary I believe is called the Social Dissolution. I believe it's called. I may have it quite wrong, but it's my wife and I definitely check that out. What you need to understand is the way the world works nowadays is there's ways to intensify your overall feeling. So if you believe one direction or another direction, or in this direction or this direction, there's a way in which you are shown and or absorb media through subliminal influences that inspires you to feel that at a higher level, a peak level. Why is that important? Okay, let's say you're passionate about one major cause. Alright? Well, if you're passionate about that one major cause, then you may be actually shown data media, if you will, that inspires you to feel more anxious about it, more angry about it, or more frustrated about it. Okay? This is so strong that my wife herself decided to completely go off of social media about a month ago. Why is that important? It's because since she's been off of social media and since she's been off of media consumption as a whole, right, she has actually had an overall decrease in her overall anxiety level because of the things that she was seeing. Why? Because there's things all over the world that break all of our hearts, okay? There are things all over the world that make us, all of us angry. You know, for some it's. For some it could be religions. For some it could be politics. For some it could be race. For some it could be world environment, you know, the overall, like global warmth, the potential for global warming, stuff like that. We all have our passionate causes, okay? And what I've learned about information, specifically, no matter what information you're consuming, is that information, right, when best consume is always straight down the middle, right? You've got an influence here, you got an influence here. And really both of these influences may not be telling you the whole truth because they're trying to influence a specific decision and or behavior out of you, okay? Which is why the truth is oftentimes in the middle, which is why what I would recommend is if you're having a hard time getting your anxiety level down and you're trying to deal with the overall heaviness and the brokenness and the sadness and the things that you're witnessing on various sources of media or stuff like that, things that you're consuming, what I like to refer to as your eye gate and your ear gate, okay? The things you're listening to and the things you specifically see, okay? Understand that maybe what you need is to take a step back. Maybe what you need is to take a step. A step back, reassess, maybe pause. Social media. I don't think social media is all bad, per se, but I do think at times it can get pretty confusing, let's put it that way. As a result, take a step back, you know, jot down what you really feel, all right? Maybe actually go and spend time with someone that maybe doesn't share your overall opinion. And rather than talk about the subject matter that tears you apart, rather actually do what Houston Craft does, which I love this book, by the way, okay? Deep Kindness by Houston Craft. Check this out, by the way. Do what he recommends, which is always show empathy. Let empathy build kindness and let kindness build connection, okay? Because at the end of every election cycle, at the end of every media cycle, okay, there's always pieces to pick up, but there's only pieces to pick up if you choose to participate in the overall distraction and tearing apart. However, if you will sit in your space and rather than try to tear things apart and actually try to build bridges, which is what I'm hoping to do even now, right, I've got friends and family who think very differently about various subjects than I do that's okay. I love them. They're great people. We just think differently. We have different perspectives, we have different upbringings, we had different influences. By understanding that no one is inherently bad or evil because they don't think a certain way or don't believe a certain way or whatever, you're able to build bridges and connections. And maybe over time, the fact that you have chose empathy and kindness over everything else and shown to take a step out of love, maybe what will happen is you'll actually have a normal, civil conversations where you can actually hear someone else's perspective and point of view. And because you'll do that, maybe, just maybe. Okay. My experience has been that when I listen well, people also hear me well. So I believe that's probably the first step. Again, I don't claim to be a guru in this area. I can only tell you what works for me. I can only tell you about how we're trying to build this particular organization in the direction we're trying to build it. And we are not trying to participate in any form of dissension and distraction and like tearing apart. We're just not wired that way. So when you come to any of our events, you hop onto our online school or you come in here for a two day immersive event where it's just me and you, okay? No matter what those things are, okay. I'm not going to prejudge you based on your belief patterns if it's different from mine. Instead, I'm going to spend a lot of time leaning into you to get to know you. Why? Because getting to know you, there's a whole lot more to you. We call it the self awareness axis. There's so much more to you than your belief in one direction or the other. Right? That's how you build unity. Right? And it all stems from one particular comment that I read in the Bible a long time ago. I'm a paraphrase it here, which is this. Simply treat people how you want to be treated.

If you don't want to be yelled at, don't yell at other people. If you don't want to get into a physical altercation, don't get into a physical altercation yourself. Those that are inspiring dissension, distraction and hate, okay? Can be overcome with people who simply will, for lack of a better word, and I know this will sound crazy, but turn the other cheek. I got people on social media even now that disagree with my perspectives. They want me to back one agenda or the other. And I'm not going to I'm not going to, regardless if one agenda or the other makes more sense for me and my belief system. Why? Because I realize now that it's tearing the world apart. And I don't want to get to heaven one day and be part of the problem. I want to get to heaven one day and just be a small part of the solution. And I believe if you'll take the time to do those things, follow that perspective, follow that hunch, I think you'll experience what I do. And that is, I'm not overwhelmed by the overall agenda. I'm not lost in fear. I'm not lost in anxiety. In fact, I refuse to participate in it. So if I feel like I'm getting anxious or whatever because I'm watching a specific thing, I will very quickly just reset the app, get out of the app for a while. I'll throw on some nice music. I'll connect with some friends and family. I'll journal a little bit. I'll write something. You know, the new books will be coming out mid next year. All of that comes out of what I've learned, not only this year, but all the years prior, and why it's so important to build bridges and not dig ditches. If you were digging yourself into a hole because you have one perspective and one point of view and you're refusing to build a bridge, unfortunately, you are going to get wrapped up in the fear and anxiety and separation that this world has been really kind of, like, messed up. I want you to actually look back. Go back not six months ago. Go back to the end of 2019. Okay? Realize that the end of 2019, while there was differences of opinion, nobody was actually walking around in fear and anxiety and all kinds of stuff. Or if they were, it was at a much more moderate level and highly influenced by other things in their life, not because of a specific direction or an agenda. Okay? Understand that there are powers at play in this day and age that try to influence behavioral change. What you need to do is become awake and wise enough to understand that those things are in place and they're happening all around you. They're not on one side or the other. Right? They're happening all around you. What you need to do is identify what your value systems are, what you believe in, what you can hold true, and what you can hold, like, basically locked in and use that to make those great decisions for your life. Okay, here's the thing. I have been in business for almost 22 years. From the first time I slapped on a tool belt and Dug the trash piles out and built my scaffolding. In 22 years, I have watched administrations and politics and world agendas and all these different states come and go. Okay. I still had to find a way to win. I didn't rely on any one person, any one entity or anything else to own my own life. I took ownership of my life. Okay. Yes. Can they change some of the influences of how you have to operate? Yes. Will it teach you to become creative, a creative problem solver? Absolutely. Right. It doesn't matter who's necessarily. Who's necessarily 100% in an office or a community or an agenda or whatever. What's more important is are you willing to give up on yourself because of someone else's decisions, or are you willing to take ownership of your own decisions and keep moving forward? There's the trick. You've got to keep moving forward. And my experience has been, as Houston would teach us, deep kindness is the way there. Empathy is the root, kindness is the flower. And if you use it together, we'll all be smelling good flowers. Hope that helps.

Okay, question number three. All right. I am 25 years old, married with two children. I have a stable career. Awesome. Congratulations. I got started pretty early in life. I did, too. I have noticed that the generation above me tends to look down at my age as incompetent. Why does this happen? How can I encourage them to see differently? I would actually tell you that most generations actually face that. And here's what I mean by that. In my grandfather's generation, which was a war generation, he survived Pearl Harbor. Okay. A lot of the economy was built on men going to war and then women going into manufacturing and things of that nature. Okay. It changed things. It changed things in such a way that work ethic was prized above everything else. Right? Work ethic, loyalty, integrity, character, values. They were high value values. That sounds correct. Yeah. High value values. Okay. Meanwhile, the. The generation that my father came up in was a little more free loving. Right. There was still a war going on, but there was a. Began to be a division between the right way, should we be in this war, should we not be in this war? And then make love, not war kind of mentality. There was this kind of thing going up. Right. Moving in the 60s and the 70s. By the time I came around, I still had the benefit of having my grandfather in and his age group around that were heavily involved in. Right. High levels of work ethic. Right. So I got that from my father. I got that from my grandfather. However, unfortunately, during their generation, there was a major race divide. Major race divide, okay? Now, by the time I got into school, there wasn't as much of one, meaning I went to a school with people from all walks of life, from all types of countries, from all different places, and I loved it. I loved it. As we've continued to go on and on and on, each generation has had its own strengths, and each generation has had its own weaknesses, okay? One of the things that the generation that's currently employing the vast majority of the lower generation is looking for is high levels of commitment and work ethic, okay? However, one of the major values of the generation that's coming behind them, some would call them millennials, some would call them Generation X that's coming behind them is a certain level of freedom, okay? A certain level of freedom of travel, freedom to go and experience things, okay? The freedom to travel, experience things and have your own life kind of stuff like that is not a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with that. The disconnect seems to be when folks, unfortunately, are working through the process of understanding what it takes, if you will, to actually acquire some of the things that they want. Because, unfortunately, there has been teachings and things of that nature that have happened over the last decade. Specifically, that has told people, hey, look, you can be anything you want, which is true. And you may not have to work for it, which is not true, okay? It comes down to where we're at. It comes down to what sacrifices you're willing to pay. I have not seen a single person who obtained wealth or prosperity or moving forward. I haven't seen a single person, not one person, right, who got there overnight that kept it. I've seen lots of people shoot up and then disappear almost overnight, okay? If you truly want to gain traction in your life, I think it's going to come down to you bringing the most value you can bring to whatever organization, to whatever family, to whatever relationship you can possibly bring day in and day out. In other words, you set the tone for your value.

Now, I've discovered that when you set high standards and you set high values for yourself and you try to obtain those high standards and values on a regular basis, that it tends to show the world that you're serious, right? Those that are maybe around you that maybe are in a place of position, of authority and things of that nature, that maybe can have the position to propel you or hold you back, they're all looking for the top level performers. So become the top performer in your industry, become the top performer in your life. And I don't mean striving to be something you're not. I mean just being the best you you can be. Because I find if you're being the best you you can be, then everything else comes into play. It all falls into place. It doesn't. And here's the other falsity, okay? It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen overnight. A lot of the young folks that I've been training and teaching and strategizing with for the last little bit that are in their mid-20s, early 30s. One of the things that I've been trying to help them understand more than anything else is the fact they've got to get to a place, okay, where they understand it's not going to happen overnight. It will happen with consistent work, consistent progress. I think that that's probably the key you're looking for. Put it to work and maybe ask me another question if that doesn't work for you. Thanks. All right. I hope you enjoyed the question and answer session for today. If you want your question answered on a future episode or here or on Instagram, go ahead and email me at questionsourneyprinciples.com and I'll be happy to take the time to answer it the best way possible so you can begin to win in your life. Thanks again for watching.