The Most Dangerous Lie Entrepreneurs Tell Themselves

I don't think success is supposed to have a dopamine hit associated with it. Success is simple. It can be scheduled, but we don't follow the schedule because we're chasing the high. The difference between your prison and your power is your perspective. And business doesn't change. If I grabbed your business and I took Stephen, or I took my client Jacob, or I took XYZ and I dropped them into your exact business right now, they would see opportunity where you see obstacle. And the only difference is their perspective.

If you can feel successful in general, it doesn't matter if you've made a million dollars or $1,000 or $500 or whatever. If you can feel successful in the moment, you're almost guaranteed to be successful externally. Later.

Guys. Help me welcome the one and only George Bryant. Dude, what's going on, man?

Man, I am stoked to be here. I love your energy, too, by the way. It's infectious, bro.

I appreciate that, man. Well, look, I wanna. It's funny. I don't get the chance to meet a lot of fellow entrepreneurs that have built and scaled some businesses from the inside out. I don't get a chance to meet a lot of entrepreneurs that have built and scale business from the inside out and actually saw alignment as part of that journey. Like, I feel like I'm out here being an evangelist. Like, hey, dude. Well, I say, dude, people. Hey, guys. You know, we need to make sure that we are building our businesses from the inside out, not the outside in. I'm always talking. I was like, look, the biggest mistake ever made in building my own businesses was not building myself along the way. And almost every dumb decision I ever made in business came out of dysregulation. So I want to, like, jam on that for a few minutes if you got the time, man. Because, you know, again, I get so excited because I don't get to do it very often. Normally, it's like we're either focused on business or we're focused on life, and they're all integrated, whether we like it or not.

I think that's 100%. And I got nothing but time. I will spend the entire afternoon with you doing this. I literally recorded a solo podcast today on emotional dysregulation. And so that is such a profound concept and topic that I actually want to break it down into a couple of buckets. Right? So the first thing is, like, the word alignment gets thrown around, and I almost, like, don't like how much it's misused. But truthfully, it's that when you place your head on the pillow every night that, like, you're proud of the way that you showed up, that you have integrity and alignment with your actions, that you're like, you know what? That felt good. But also, the way that I ran my business or that I'm showing up in my business, even if it's not something I want to do right now, brings me to something that I want in the future or a life that I want to live sometime in the future. Right. So I would summarize it like this. Your actions are who you are. Your words are who you want to be.

Ooh. Yeah.

And the results that we get in our life come from our actions. So, like, that's alignment for me at the core. And you said something so profound and. And take it from the guy who has built it and lost it more than anybody I know. And I don't know.

I'm up there with you, dude.

Yes. And I'm not even talking just business. Like, I gained and lost £100 four times. Oh, wow. I had to, like, beat addiction because I never truly beat it. Like, just for the third or fourth time, because I was like, I guess I didn't complete it the first time. And you said something so profound that I think is gated. And I say this to clients all the time. We all are born with only two innate fears. The fear of falling in, the fear of loud noises, which means everything else is a trained behavior. I've also never heard that any of us are born with the skill sets and perspective to build and scale companies. Also trained behaviors.

Yeah.

And so the easiest way to think about building and scaling a business, and nobody likes this, myself included, is I just genuinely don't have the business or life I want right now because I haven't become the person to run it.

Yeah, yeah.

It's nothing more than that. And so what ends up happening, myself included, just like you, is, oh, look, I have it. I have the houses, I have the cars. I have the cash flow. But there's a deep part of me missing that isn't fulfilled. And then no matter how much I chase that dopamine, it doesn't scratch the itch. So then I unconsciously start seeing self sabotaging all of it away. And to your point, it's about emotional dysregulation. And the way that I summarize this with people. And I had an A monk on my podcast. You'll love this one. He spent seven years in silence, and this is how he summarized life. And if you'd be successful or not. And he said, if you can't take a poop without your phone, you've never lived a day in your life.

Oh, wow.

He's like. Because in one of the most intimate moments with yourself, you can't even be in your own thoughts. And I say this to people about business all the time. Most of us, myself included, use the business as a way to avoid the one relationship we're guaranteed to spend the rest of our life with, which is ourselves. There's always a meeting, there's always a phone call, there's always a task, there's always a new idea. But when did we just say, put the phone down, I'm going to go sit outside, I'm going to be. And regulation starts by being willing to be in relationship with yourself. And most of the time, it doesn't feel good in the beginning.

It sucks in the beginning. Let's be honest, you have years of success. It doesn't feel great at all.

No, not at all. Not at all. But I also think too, I think people make things like rest or meditation or all these things, like there's a right or a wrong way. And I think what we're really talking about is like, we understand as entrepreneurs, we're the commodity.

Yeah, Right.

Attention is the number one commodity. So it's not like we live in a world that like, wants you to be peaceful. Yeah. Like, it's not like Bhutan, the country of Bhutan measures their GDP based on the gross happiness of the population. They don't have billboards, they don't put advertisements in buses and cars or overly.

Medicate their people or anything.

Or overly medicate their people. And so, like, we have to at start to realize that we're the product. Yeah, right. Like I always joke with people, if you're using a platform for free, you're the product. That's true. Oh, and I'm like, cool.

And so hopefully you like being that product for that particular platform.

So, yeah, a hundred percent. So then in that, what we have to recognize is that we can't change the field, but we can change how we operate on that field. And I think for all of us, there's to alignment being an earlier point. There's a why that we do this every day. If you're an entrepreneur, you didn't set out, and maybe you did set out just to make money, but you'll realize when you get your kick, your teeth kicked in once or twice, the lack of money is not enough to keep going. There's a deep desire Right, there's. Whether it's to prove something, achieve something, have something, but there's some innate value in it for you in the process. But in that you also are a human being who has a bucket that needs to be full. You have to have needs that have to be met. Right? Like unpopular conversation. If you don't sleep as an entrepreneur, you make horrendous decisions and somebody who.

Sleeps and with being hungry, by the.

Way, the same way it's gonna drive right past you. And so I think, I think I just see this, in doing this for 20 years, and I'm probably being a byproduct of it myself, is just we constantly negotiate with ourselves, but we're the only ones that we sacrifice in the process. And we never take the time to just like close the world off for a minute or like drive in silence or like just get in the car with no destination, be like, you know what? I'm just gonna go, baby, I'm going to go sit in the grass or.

Stare at a. I do it every morning. Every morning I, I, I hop up, first thing I do is I do my. I have a mantra that I do every morning three times. I'm healthy, I'm wealthy, I'm wise, I'm a steward of the most high. I love you, Stephen. Every, every morning I will just, I'll literally, you know, go in, have my morning poo, you know, take care of the business. And I, now I won't be taking my phone in there with me. Thanks for that.

You're welcome. I'm here. Just changing the world, brand. Just changing the world.

And then I'll, you know, then I'll head out. I'll, you know, I'm, I just, I'm under contract on Safe Haven, which I'm super excited about. I briefly mentioned that.

But it's got lots of grass, by the way, so. It's good grass and lake. Beautiful lake.

Oh, heaven.

Yeah. But you know, I go out and I'll sit there and I also have a beginning about the mid part of this year.

My girlfriend challenged me because she, she challenged me. This is actually really important actually, because you and I both coach nine and 10 figure earners from time to time. And most of the time I'm not coaching them on business. It might be a strategy here or there, like a little sprinkle, but nine times out of 10, it's about being present and like being fulfilled. Because, because you've already, I've got all the stuff and I'm, I'm empty. Right And I, and I've experienced that myself. But one of the things she challenged me to do, she asked me, she said, I'm curious, what did you celebrate? Or how did you celebrate when you sold your company? Because only 2, 10 of a percent of entrepreneurs ever do something like that. And I, I was like.

I think I said, what's next? Uhhuh. I didn't sit in it. I wasn't grateful. I mean, I was grateful for it, but I wasn't grateful in the way that I wanted, I needed to embody it. Right. And that caused me to go backwards. Right. And like really think through. Okay. Of all these different various major milestones, whether it's overcoming extreme adversity, like, you know, going through an embezzlement scenario, or whether it's, you know, getting to 80, 100 million, like all the million, like a top line revenue, like these things are very rare. And I wasn't treating them. They were like, they were rare because they were my day to day life. Yeah. And I began to sit in that a little bit. I'm like, holy cap. So then I was like, okay, well how am I going to celebrate it now? So now I'm, now I'm. Now I start every single day with the mantra, with the prayer, with the meditation, with being on the grass, with the gym. And I don't let nothing disrupt that. And what I've discovered is, is out of radical alignment comes radical clarity.

Yes.

Right. So I'm not chasing the balls. I'm not, I'm not bouncing off the walls. I'm not. And this is all new for me, dude. Like this, this, this, this alignment. That's why I actually did this new quiz. We call it the Integrated alignment method. It's a tool assessment to help entrepreneurs actually figure out where they are on the journey.

Yep.

Right. So they know. Okay, I need to start here, I need to lean in here, or hey, I'm doing really good. Let me amplify this by doing some sabbaticals or something. Right. Anyway, I say all that to say that one of the things that I've discovered is, and I've been sharing this on a podcast tour of my own recently, that, you know, they say that businesses fail because of lack of funding and lack of sales and not poor leadership and market fit. And all that stuff is tactically true.

But it's not intuitively true in that I've discovered that there's five constraints they have to do with the, the entrepreneur, and it's the ones that have bit me in the Butt were arrogance, ignorance, impatience, fear and insecurity.

Those are them.

Right. And if I couldn't lean into presentness and become to and get present and actually learn to be okay in my own body, whether or not I ever achieved another thing or not.

Yes.

Like, I had to finally ask myself. And I want to, I want, this is what I want to have you lean into. Next is like one of the things I've discovered that entrepreneurs are really, really.

I say, focused on doing is we're all focused on chasing.

Yes.

But none of us ask ourselves, why are we chasing that thing? Right. So I chased the brass ring. First of all, it was, I thought I told myself it was to. To feed myself and get necessities, get shelter, get food, get all those things. Right. Well, then I was like, okay, well, I got all those things. Well, now what? Oh, now I now want to get my home. I want to, you know, homeowner's dream. I want to buy a house. Okay, great. I got the house. Right. Like, okay, what's next? Like, it was the constant what's next? Right. And now it's all about service. It's like, how can I help entrepreneurs avoid this lie, step into a truth and then actually build a business that is alignment with who they are. So when they wake up every day, they're like, hell, yeah, I'm ready to go.

Yes.

You know, that kind of thing. So talk to me about why entrepreneurs from your. Obviously you, you, you've coached highly successful folks too. Why, why are we lost in this chase? Why don't we get lost in repeat?

I love it. And I'm going to just go kind of straight for the jugular because I am one. And I think a lot of us don't realize, like, I've yet to meet somebody without a challenging history, become an entrepreneur.

Yeah.

Whether it be mom, dad, school, true. Drugs, alcohol, drug dealer, arrest, overcoming. There is some semblance of a speed bump quite frequently in the road.

Yeah.

That leads to or has this underpinning of what I found in everyone I've ever coached. And maybe that's just because that's who I call in. But I mean, in hundreds and hundreds of people, some semblance of a history. And I think what really ends up happening is that we all, you and I, share the same sentiment. I couldn't celebrate. I couldn't sit still. Right. It was never enough. Is because my fuel was a limited fuel. It was, let me show what I can prove. Right. The kid who was bullied had his front teeth knocked out. Nose broken, was the only white kid in my class, told, I'll never make it. And I was like, I'm going to go in the Marine Corps. And then I come out, my favorite.

Quote used to be, you tell me I can't do something. I was like, watch me.

Yeah, 100%. And now I'm like, you're probably right. Good luck. Because I'm not responding.

Right.

Like, that's your opinion. That has nothing to do with me. Right. Like your opinion of me does not matter to me. Yeah, it's mine and God's. Right. And so I think when we really, really get to the core of it is that we have fuel sources. But there is nothing wrong with having that fuel source. It's that that fuel source lasts forever because, you know, you're familiar. But if you understand human learning, there's four stages of competence. And the words are really big, so I'm not going to use them. But it's basically unaware, aware, learning and mastery. And we're having this conversation. In hindsight, I was like. But when I was in that moment driven by the fact of like, I'm going to build a business in alignment because I'm not going to be bullied again and I'm not going to do blank. I don't have an awareness of anything else. So I'm operating to the best of my ability with what I know. But the moment you become aware of it is when we really, really start to either win or lose the game. Because now we are no longer reacting to the world around us. We're actively choosing. And I found with many successful people at about exits, I'm always trying to help them because they have an exit and then they lose their identity. They have an exit and they're the most depress been on paper. They've achieved everything they've ever dreamed of. And then they call me and everything.

Every other entrepreneur behind them is trying to achieve 100%.

And then they call me and they're like, I am the most miserable I've ever been. And so there's this just understanding I. I've learned for me, even biblically, I love man, I love Jesus with all my heart. But you know, even biblically, I've yet to find in my Bible where he asks why or anybody ever asks why. It's always, what an obedience, what an obedience. And I think when we think about this, I think the growth of an entrepreneur, we have to understand that there's levels like martial arts, right? We got to get our white belt, we got Our blue belt, purple belt, brown belt, black belt. And when you start to understand that game, you said this earlier. The game is not an external game. The game is 100% an internal game. So even in asking this question of, like, why, I think what's more important is to say, am I. Am I driven by something that has a limited fuel source? Am I out to get that bully? Because here's the thing, the bully's not thinking about you. The bully doesn't care. But then when we lose that motivating force, we lose the desire and the drive to keep going, which is why alignment is so powerful. And you said this earlier, you talk about that stillness practice in your morning routine, which, by the way, as much as nobody wants to hear it, there's a reason successful people spend time alone.

Yeah. And it's including Jesus, by the way.

Including Jesus. Sometimes 40 days, which we see. Here's the funniest thing. Scott. Stephen, Every single, every single book I've ever read, I've now found in my Bible, right? Like, I could have just saved myself, like 2000 entrepreneurial books and realized they're all in my Bible. But to your, to your point earlier, which I love, how bullish you are in your morning routine, what you're really doing is you're waking up and dictating to the world how you're going to show up. You're not letting the world dictate how you show up, right? I joke with people like, we play a professional sport, and it's a hard professional sport, but yet we show up in our pajamas in the super bowl and wondering why it hurts when we get sacked. And that morning routine of yours, what it's doing is it's shifting our perspective. It's actually giving ourselves time and space to be in connection with creativity, with discernment, with ideas, with, for me, the voice of God, not allowing the entire world to be like, here's who you are today. Here's how you're going to act today. Here's how you're going to feel today, because you nailed one of those five is scarcity, right? And basically, like, I can't or lack. And where that comes from is us not really tuning into ourselves and realizing that the value that we create in the world is not because of our results. It's because of the intentionality and integrity of our input.

Right?

I don't have a lot of control over what happens in the world. Like, even having a heart of service. I can go out right now and spend two hours donating my Time. And hopefully when I'm done, it'll do something massively. But I can't be attached to that result. Just like I wish that I could have abbed myself at the gym if I thought about having abs, I'd magically get abs.

That's manifestation. What are you talking about?

Didn't work that way. Didn't work that way.

Yeah.

But then the moment I realized that if I did these consistent inputs every day, that they would add up over time. And it wasn't about intensity. It's about consistency. And even to your morning routine, I think for so many entrepreneurs is we end up becoming robots. We end up, like, almost like disconnected in the business. It's like we're a soldier or an employee of our own, except we're being driven by the business instead of realizing the whole point of a business is to support our life. Yeah. And so that's how I think about that.

Dude, I love that. You know, it has me thinking my. My brain's going down like nine rabbit trails at once. So I'll start with this. And one of the things that I discovered is.

Self acceptance. So if you're listening or watching this right now and you realize that you too have done what we've done, which is get on the rat reel and just go, go, go.

And you're ready to change the game. You're ready to kind of change how you proceed in life. The first thing I think is to give yourself grace. Right? Hey, this is part of my journey. This is what's going to create the wisdom. This is the experience that creates the wisdom that generates the lesson. The lessons now can be shared. Right? And one of those for me. And this is something interesting. So I sold my company in late 2023. Yeah, I did well. I was allowed to do pretty much what I want to do with the remainder of my life. And on the surface, to your point, I should have. I should have had it licked. Right. And lo and behold, I didn't. I don't know if I went through as much of an identity crisis as much as a passion crisis. Yep. Right. For me, because I had already knew. I had already spent like, I think about nine months knowing the exit was probably going to happen that year. And I was like, okay, what is my neck? I know what I want to do next. I want to go out and serve people. I want to teach, I want to mentor, I want to do these things. I'm. I'm a really good speaker. I want to get be on stages. I want to write books. And all this, like I had that laid up, but then I got to there and I was like waking up was, why don't I feel motivated to write when a week ago I was like, once this is off my shoulders, I'm going to write more.

Right.

And this kind of stuff. And I, and I've discovered this.

I think the early stage entrepreneurship game is all about force. You are forcing things to happen. And at some point in time. And I had a, I do a journaling practice that I call what I hear you say is from time to time, I did it relentlessly for six months. I get up was one of the first things I did. I grab a notepad, a pen or journal, you know, an actual like leather bound journal. I'd open it, I'd say right at the top, what I hear you say is. And I wouldn't get up until I heard something. And then sometimes I would write the first word and the next word would appear and then the next word would appear and that would go back and it would be like pages of stuff that can only be described as coming from the divine. And you know, so those types of things in, in one of those notes there was, there's a couple things that were said. So first of all was do not despise small beginnings and painful transitions.

That's a life principle that I took away from that. On top of that is the first half of your life was all about force. The last half of your life is all about flow.

Yep.

You're not gonna have, in other words, you're not gonna have to chase a thing. I'm gonna bring it to you. And what I discovered was, is the more I would sit in stillness and being present and I would do these things.

I think there's a magnetic field. I, I, I can, you can see it now scientifically. If you're in shame and depression, it's a lower magnetic field. If you're a happy, joyful, authentic, authentic love based approach, which is why Jesus probably gravitated and was so magnetic to people. He operated 100% from authenticity and love, you know, but if you take all that and you roll up into one, the more I become like that, the more I do tend to push other folks out that are on a different journey or, or, or just not. They're not supposed to come that next leg. And that's okay. Reason, season, lifetime. But then you also have like people like yourself who pop on a zoom call. We've never met before, but yet we vibe, you know what I'm saying? So, and then you're like. And then your brain's like, okay, well, what should we do together? We should do something together. This would be fun, right? This kind of stuff. And that magnetic field allows you to build better teams, which build better process systems, which allows you to scale quicker. Instead, we're like, no, I got this. I'm going to force it through. I'm going to control the processes and systems. I know exactly what I need to do, which is the arrogance piece or the ignorance piece. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, so I don't do anything. Like, you have all these different parts that are. That kind of come up all at once until you surrender. So help me understand how you surrendered. Because I feel like literally 9 out of 10 entrepreneurs that I still meet today, I would not refer.

To that, to the quality of their life as awakened just yet. It's like they're on the verge, and once they click, their businesses will thrive, their relationships will thrive, and they will thrive.

Oh, man, I. I love this. This is such a good question. I have so many thoughts on it. But before I give them, you know, your question of, like, what I'm hearing you say, there's. There's two other ones for anybody who has this journaling practice of, like, wanting to get those out. Yeah. Number one for me was, what am I pretending not to know?

Ooh.

And then number two was, what am I pretending not to see?

Ooh, God. And ouch.

I can't hide from those questions. And they lead to your point to massive, massive clarity.

Yeah.

Now, on the question of surrender. Oh, boy, oh, boy. If you asked me this five years ago, I would have been like, I fully surrendered. I did this.

I've surrendered 10 different times and 10 different levels. I'm sure there's another one around the corner.

So I've realized, I think how I would define surrender is active pursuit of eradication of self as many times as possible, over and over, possible in every conversation. I mean, I even had it today.

Is it eradication or alignment of self?

I think it so for me, has.

To die a little bit or has.

To die a lot. I. I use the word crucify because that's what my Bible tells me to do. But truthfully, there's this, like, crucifixion of, for me, self every day. And it's not like I don't love myself. The way that I would describe it is like, God, is this burning, burning fire of love and power and majesty and some fear in there, but the closer and closer I get to him, the more he burns off the parts of me that are not Jesus. Like.

Yeah.

And I have to be willing to expose those parts of myself every single day.

So that's the difference in stepping a step into the fire versus taking a step back from it.

A hundred percent. And I think as a, as a Christian, unapologetically now, which, by the way, for everybody, I've been saved for like 18 months. I feel so unqualified to talk about the Bible and Jesus. And then I'm humbled by ministers and pastors in my life, and they're like, not there. But I just. I want to throw that out there because I love Jesus with all my heart. But I. I look at this, and I said this to somebody the other day in a coaching intensive, and I realized that to your previous point, surrender is radical self acceptance with radical honesty and authenticity. Like, fully open, like, here's who I am. Yeah. Here's how I am. Oh, and there's something that could be corrected. Thank you. Tell me.

Thank you. What if. But what if I'm scared I'm gonna get hurt one of somebody tries to hurt me?

Yeah. That's the beautiful, beautiful part is you are, because you can't have. I love how Carl Jung used to say it. So before I was a Christian, I was accused of being New Age my whole life because I was trying to find God.

Well, I would say if you look at Jesus, the Bible, and you hear him describe the kingdom of heaven, it sounds an awful. Like what we would call in the scientific world is the quantum.

A hundred percent. So 100%.

The overlaps are ridiculous. I think for sure Jesus for me, just showed up with absolute clarity where. Where the source of all that comes from.

100%. Yeah, 100%. And. And to my point, you know, Carl Young has this quote, and he says the tips of your trees can only touch up to heaven to the depths of your root, have experienced hell.

Ooh.

And it's such a profoundly powerful quote. And, you know, I think to people wondering or having that question, if that's running through your head of like, well, what if I get hurt? I would submit that you're getting hurt right now because you're never fully authentically expressed.

Yeah.

And so we have to get radically honest with ourselves. And, you know, I love in my Bible and says, like, pick up your cross and follow me daily. But I mean, I was at the coffee shop this morning and I was ordering coffee, but then I was on the phone with my. My Girlfriend. And then I hung up. And then I was like, hey, I'm sorry I wasn't present with you, and I really care about what you have to say. Clara, can you say it again? And she's like, oh, my God, totally fine, you're busy. You're. I'm like, no, no, no, not what I said. I would like to hear it. Right? So for me, surrender is humility. But humility for me is this active pursuit of. I don't want to say less than, but I don't know how else to phrase it, even though I get paid to speak for a living, is. Is. Is making myself less than the things or the situations. Like, I'm never too old to learn. I'm never too smart to pick something up. And one of my favorite quotes ever is, a student says, I already know, but a master says, thanks for the reminder. And I live by that. And even with what you've shared so far in your morning practice in your perspective, and some of those things I'm sitting over here receiving, and I was like, wow, God, thank you for this today. Yeah, like, I never have a finish line in mind. I get to go pursue it. And so I think surrender is different for everybody. But at my core, and somebody who spent 13 years of my life in the Marine Corps and witnessed things that no human being should ever have to witness.

Yeah.

I got to learn through firsthand experience how little control or no control we actually have. And the gift of that is when you can really, really surrender to that and understand that in any moment or any situation, the only thing you can control is your view of the moment and then what actions you choose to take.

Yeah.

Surrender becomes the only path to actually live and be happy. Because the illusion of control just destroys you.

Hey, guys. I hope you're enjoying the show. Steven Scoggins here. I've got something that I think is actually going to blow your mind. Imagine taking your life and your business to the whole nother level. I'm talking about an eight figure level. And beyond. You see, you've been working your butt off to build your business to where it is now. But what if you could work smarter, free up more time, make more money and impact along the way? How much would that be worth to you? You see, I can prove that basic steps, basic mindset shifts, and subtle changes can make the biggest difference. I want to introduce you to the eight figure mindset Makeover. It's absolutely free and it's here for you. It's a powerful summary of my top strategies that Help propel me from the streets, if you will, to upwards of nine figures in quote unquote success as we like to chase it. This is more than just tips, though. It's a complete mindset overhaul with simple hacks that you can apply today to begin working on your unprecedented heights in your own business. I would like the honor to share these types of things with you that turn my dreams into reality so you can experience the same type of joy and freedom that I now get to live out in my own day. In other words, it's time for you to build your own unstoppable enterprise. And if you're really ready to take it to the next level and elevate your life and your business, this is an absolute game changer for you. So if you want to take advantage of this free resource, simply go to the show. Notes can click the link or you can go to stevenscoggins.com backslash8 figure that's Steven scoggins.com backslash 8 figure. Until then, much love. God bless. Let's get back to the show. Take care again. I keep coming back the word present. Being present, like just being present in the moment, not being living in the past, not living in the future. But being present and not living in the future is hard for me sometimes because I'm a visionary by nature. So it's like I get to vision cast. I get to kind of like not project. I guess it is projection, but like kind of say, hey, look, this is what I would like to accomplish. I'll give you an example. Safe Haven. The house I told you I just wanted to contact on closing July 3, 2025. It's a very nice property, Lakefront. It's design. I'm buying it with the purpose of bringing entrepreneurs who are basically running on E. I love it, right? They might be making money, but their relationships are probably a hot mess or, or ended.

They have maybe have some accolades, maybe have some stuff, but they're. They're realizing that, that that's not true. That's not authentic. But when I was going doing the house shopping, I was, I came here on a nudge from God. Like I literally left Utah, came back to North Carolina because it's like, okay, you're. You're done. You're done with your lesson over here. Go back to North Carolina, you know, not being Raleigh, be in the Charlotte area. And so I started a house search. I thought, I think I looked at 15 houses. Okay. Got excited about one or two of them. Was not in a position to make an offer at the time, because my property in Utah hadn't sold and all these different. These different nuances, right? And about a month ago, I'm sitting down with my girlfriend, and I was talking to her, you know, and she's. She actually, she's super successful owner, right? She owns a real estate brokerage, you know, has. Has agents, working for all this kind of stuff. Super successful in her own right. So, like, real estate's her game.

Yeah, right.

And I was like, hey, look, I think I'm gonna make an offer. Here's my. I think I'm doing a creative offer, see, I'm gonna see what they think about this on this property. And she's like, I. I don't know. I don't think the time's right. I'm like, what do you mean? Like, I don't get it. She's like, I. I just don't think the time's right. I'm like. She goes.

I.

She goes, if I'm being honest with you. And we gave each other permission to be honest with each other early on just because we were adults and we have learned a lot along the way. Yeah, right.

She goes. She makes a comment. She's. I just think. I said, okay, I hear you. All right, I'll put the pin down. I trust. I trust what you're telling me. So, sure enough, two or three weeks go by, I get a phone call from my agent. My. My buyer's agent. My buyer's agent says, hey, they got an agent. They got an offer on the house that you liked. I'm like, great. That's like the third one in a row, right? This is like the other two actually got sold and whatever.

Yeah.

And I said, I'll tell you what. I said. I can't. I'm really not in a position just yet to make it. Make a formal offer, but we'll go to it, and I'll just. I'll walk in energetically, see how it feels, and see if it feels aligned. And this time, I actually walk up the front door. Notice there's Mizzou's on the front door, which is interesting, right? So, like, okay, that's different. So walk inside. Feels great. The seller's agent sitting on the chair. And she goes. She goes, I got. I guess I'm gonna be honest with you about something. I probably shouldn't share this with you, but I'm going to. I said, okay. She says, there's an offer on the table. It's about what the seller wants. And quite frankly, we just like you. We feel like you're a better fit for the house long term. So if you're interested in this home, we would really like you to make an offer. Wink, wink, wink. And I said, hey, I understand my Utah home still hasn't sold yet because, you know, market's a little shaky at the higher end homes at the moment. I said, but it will. And she says, we can get creative. I'm like, what? And so over the next 48 hours, we created a custom deal. I go back to my girlfriend, say, okay, well, here's what just happened. Here's. And she goes. She goes, okay, great. Sounds awesome. I'm like, wait a minute. Three weeks ago, you told me I was forcing it now. And she says. She goes, yeah, but it's. It's coming to you. You're not going to it now. And I was like, such a good story. And here's the crazy part. Me not going after it with the offer that I originally had in mind and getting and coming in at this later stage, when they. When it came to. Came to me, it saved me, get this, $300,000.

So I say that as a point of reference of.

Patience and presentness does change the field.

That's also an embodied example of surrender.

Like, just because you asked me that, I have to on the other side.

Yeah.

Number one kudos to you and your girlfriend. I have one with mine. We have a shared notes document in our phone called Bumpers. There are ground rules.

Love it.

Rule number one is, if you think it, feel it, say it immediately. And so we have full car. So I'm like, totally in. But to that point, as men and successful men. And she's like, hey, doesn't feel right. And you and I are like, yeah, but we could get it right. Like, I could get creative. And you're like, nope, you know what? I'm just gonna step back.

Every time I went against the voice like that, it cost me 50, 100 grand.

So just a hundred percent. And so I just think for anybody listening or watching this, like, that story was so profoundly powerful. In the same vein of, like, what surrender looks like. And you even said it earlier, because I want to tie it back. When you were talking about, you know, when you would sit with your journal or when you were in, like, your morning routine, what you're really doing is. I think a lot of people think that they're, like, trying to tune out the world, but what you're really doing is you're tuning in to the frequency that's here. The whole time, I believe the voice of God and God's presence is around 100% of the time. But he waits for us. Yeah, he will come get us if we're really far away. Like, he'll leave the 99 to get the 1. But once we're in, there's this obedience of, like, you get to tune into me. Like, you get to pierce the veil up. And I think it's so profoundly powerful because I joke with people all the time. Like, you had these moments where you're like, oh, I'm just gonna feel into this. And I'm like, how many of you have ever been driving in your car and then in the middle of nowhere, been like, I'm thinking about Steven. And then you're just like, oh, maybe I should text him. And then you do or you don't. But I'm like, do you think the night before when you were doing your prayers or your intention, like, hey, tomorrow, 1:30pm I want you to remind me, unconscious brain, to think about Stephen.

Yeah.

No. And I joke with people. I've learned my lesson. To your point where you say you ignore. Anytime you've ignored that voice, it's costed you. Same thing where I've obsessed my life now around. Any time I hear that voice of God driving car, boom. A text comes in. It's immediate.

Yeah.

That I handle it. Like, I might even literally be driving in a month and a half and think about this conversation. I'm like, well, there's a reason I thought, I'm going to test Goggins 100%. And I think to my previous point earlier, even on taking the surrender answer and taking the relationship with our self answer and becoming the person who can scale our business or scale our life answer is that what we really need is we need space and a container to explore that relationship. Yeah, you need the space to feel the feelings, to hear the voice, and then to look at all of it, maybe with a pen to paper or maybe with some creativeness and like, allow yourself to be creative and apply most of what we do in business to ourselves instead of doing it in the business to avoid ourselves. It's profound.

You know what's really interesting is that I could. I can just see and. And kind of fill into those that are listening and watching at this right now. They're like, all right, let me get this straight. I'm hanging out with two guys who have built, bought and sold companies did. Did pretty well. They tend to coach people making seven, eight, nine figures. And sometimes some cases 10 figures. And they haven't given me a single business strategy the entire. The entire episode.

I want to tie it together because I feel like, to me, that's a. That's an indication of where your mind would be at as an entrepreneur. Yeah. Or a business owner is like, this is. What I think was so important, is we're. I think, to. Collectively, we are trying to help reframe.

Yes.

The entire conversation, much like you would reframe a limiting belief. Like, it's like you think success is this way, but success is actually what you feel from the inside out, not. Not what you get from the outside in. So if you can feel successful in general, it doesn't matter if you've made a million dollars or $1,000 or $500 or whatever. If you can feel successful in the moment, you're almost guaranteed to be successful externally later. Like, it's.

Yes.

And it's funny, when I started getting into some of the embodiment practices, which Jesus would say, believe. If you believe that mountain will move. Yes, it'll move.

Yes.

Right. And I used to say, okay, love you, Jesus. But that just sounds a little extreme.

Yeah.

I don't know how that mountain over there is going to move. And, you know, whether he was talking about an emotional mountain, a physical mountain, or whatever, I know that when I start the embodiment process in general, I don't. I don't call it manifestation. I call it faith. And focus. Yes. Equals a reality or equals reality field. Like, it takes about four to six months. And whatever I was embodying over here manifests itself over here in this real time. The beautiful relationship I'm now in after going through a bunch of dysfunctional ones. Right.

Yep.

Stepping into this property, same thing. Brand. My personal brand stuff, I would. I would call it on the rise from a perspective of service. Like, I'm not trying to sell you anything. Like, I've got stuff that. That can benefit you. If you. If you want to take advantage of this stuff, fantastic. But I'm not. You know, I'm saying, like, it's. It's reframe.

Yes.

Right. So let's talk to the entrepreneur who's like, all right. I wanted business tactics. I thought with two guys that have done this, this, and this, I felt like I was going to get a strategy.

Yeah. God, I'm so glad. I also love your ability to kind of feel into what people are thinking and feeling, because you're spot on and.

To even adjust that to. To address that for everybody listening. If I took you out of your current world and I put you in my world, you'd realize this whole conversation was the best strategy and tactic that you could ever have. Yep. Because the difference between your prison and your power is your perspective. And business doesn't change. If I grabbed your business and I took Stephen or I took my client Jacob, or I took XYZ and I dropped them into your exact business right now, they would see opportunity where you see obstacle. And the only difference is their perspective.

Yeah.

It has nothing to do with the ingredients on the field. Leads, conversions, sales calls, products delivered, cogs overhead.

It will determine the type of client you bring in.

100%. 100%. But what they're really looking at is they have a different set of experience or a different perspective based on the reps and amount of licks that they've taken. Truthfully. And I even joke with people too. You remember, you've been around same time I have. But it was like five years ago pre Covid, where everybody was so obsessed with people's morning routines. They're like, oh, I'm going to be successful.

Here's the 3:30 in the morning.

Yeah. 6am Club, 5am Club, 4am Club. And I was like, I was like, hey guys, I was a marine. Like we had to be there at 6am which meant I got there at 2:30 because the boss of the boss of the boss, like, it trickled down. I was like, but you're missing the whole point. If you actually looked deeper at the data of those morning routines, you'd find some correlations that the higher level of success that somebody had, the more time they spent alone. It didn't matter what time it was, what the activity was, but there was all these little parts and pieces that allowed them to tune into that voice or to change their perspective. And if I had to give everybody, and as hard as this is for me, because I love giving strategies and tactics, I'll give you Customer Journey to scale your business all day. Except here's the beautiful part about Customer Journey. When it's applied inconsistently, it's because it has nothing to do with the customer. It has everything to do with us. Yeah. If you don't believe on the inside that you're worth having a million dollar business or a $10 million business, as Woo woo as that may sound.

Yeah.

Our unconscious mind will push our behaviors to keep that thing away from us. Until to your point, you embody these practices. And so it's so profoundly powerful. And it's not the popular conversation because you Just said something that I think everybody should get to hear where just because we decide in this moment right now that I want a $10 million business, it doesn't magically show up. That revenue comes after an equal sign, which means there is a clarity piece that's needed and a behavior piece that's needed to put them into practice consistently to get closer to that result. And that's what you talk about with embodiment. And so we have to also have patience. And so for everybody who's listening to this, if you took some time and you gave yourself an outside perspective of your business, meaning you took some of the journaling that Steven was talking about, which is like, what are you pretending or what are you hearing me say? And then what are you pretending not to know? And what are you pretending not to see? And you give yourself the space to think about it. But then the other thing that everybody needs to hear is you need sound counsel. And you need counsel that will be honest to you about your potential and not believe your story about your current state. And you have to be willing to hear it. You have to be willing like, hey, I love it. But, like, truthfully, I watch you on Netflix all the time, or I see you drinking too much on the weekend, or I know you were up till 4am and you need that loving counsel and that support who can hold you to your potential. But then at the deepest part of it, you need to trust yourself.

Yeah.

Because you said it earlier. Go ahead.

I was gonna say that behavior follows outcome or 100%. If you want a different outcome, you gotta change the behavior. If you're not sure why you're continue doing the same behavior, you need to change the thought process that leads to.

The behavior a hundred percent. I taught this in a keynote to all the World Series of Poker players last week, where we think we can think our way to a new behavior. But truthfully, your inputs dictate your identity, and your identity dictates your outputs, and your outputs dictate your result.

Yep.

But people like, oh, but tell me who to be. I'm like, your words are who you want to be. Your actions are who you are. So even if you're listening to this, you can go think of two things if you. And this is going to sound cheesy, but Benjamin Hardy nails it. If you want a timeline in this personality is impermanent. 10x is better than 2x. Benjamin Hardy's books are incredible.

Yeah.

But if you just asked yourself one simple question, which you did, and you're like, hey, in a year I see my business at this. What are two to three behaviors that that person is doing every day to maintain and grow that business.

And bring those three behaviors to today and do them religiously with no attachment to the outcome of them.

That's such a hard time detaching from the outcome early on.

Such a hard time, huh?

But I was like, but you don't understand. If I know that if I do this, this and this and this and I can build a business to scale it. And my, my life coach, Paul at the time was like, I, I understand what you're saying, but I'm. What I'm saying is, is like you're not heading that direction. You're heading a different direction. The different direction is, is like if you're called to be X, Y and Z and you're not X, Y and Z yet X, Y and Z is doing it differently than how you're doing it right now.

Yes.

You have to put them, put in the reps. I had this one guy, a good friend of mine, almost like a son to me, and he used to say, hey. This became a running joke. He said, because we were driving to Nashville one time, he said, hey, I'm just, I'm curious, you know, I really want to, I really want to. You work out all this. I'm gonna make. I wanna get a bigger chest. I'm like, okay, cool. Because what should I do? I said, do a lot of push ups. Hour goes by on the car, head to Nashville, right? From Raleigh. It's an eight hour drive. He says, well, what if I just, if I really want to cut up the lower side right here, right? It's like, dude, do the push ups.

Yeah.

Like literally we had a conversation off and on for five hours.

Yep.

We finally get to Nashville. He's like, he's. I was gonna ask you another question, but I realized now I just have to do the push ups.

Just have to do the push ups.

It's the reps that makes the chest bigger. So it's the reps of doing these new behavior systems that make them stick. And now they become part of your new identity.

Yes. Oh, God. I could, I could literally talk to you all day. Oh, my goodness, yes.

Because it tells me we're gonna be doing stuff together.

So 100. And I want to. I love a few of the things that you said because I think this is the important part. And earlier I said, nowhere in the Bible did I ever say or find where it says ask why in those five hours he could have done 5,000 pushups. But instead I think that the enemy, the devil for me, operates in distraction because distraction is stagnation. So if I can get you to question, if I can get you to doubt, if I can get you distracted, then you're not operating obediently in your heart. Which means, like, in those moments, I'm like, any. Okay, so I have like really big calves. I know this because I almost lost my legs in Somali, but I have giant caps. So I get hit on at the gym by dudes all the time. And it's so funny because it took me about a decade to realize how to be a smart aleck. Respectfully. So they all come up and like, dude, you're. I'm like, let me guess. My calves are like, yeah. I'm like, how'd you get him? I'm like, by not asking dudes at the gym how. And while I was doing my reps and they're like, oh. And I was like, I train my every day, seven days a week. And they're like, oh, got it. Right. So to your point.

Yeah.

I also think that we have to understand is that we change not instantaneously, we change gradually as our neuroplasticity rebuilds and our neural pathways build and we go through the unaware, aware, learning, mastery, and we create these unconscious behaviors. Yeah, we win with consistency and not intensity. But we have to be willing to put those reps in. And I also think it's important to acknowledge, and you can speak to this, the longer and longer you are in the game or the closer and closer you are to your ideal state, the harder and harder you have to control the inputs to get a smaller and smaller return. It's the law of diminishing returns.

Yeah.

And we forget about those things. And so I'm like, if you're early on right now and you're like, I've never even taken the time to look in the mirror. Well, get ready because you're about to have a rocket ship of growth. You're going to have a massive perspective shift. You're going to have a massive business shift. But then you have to fight to keep it. You have to earn it every single day. And so we have to remember these things. And the way that you explained it about, like, if I just did the push ups. Yes, just do the push ups. I don't think success is supposed to have a dopamine hit associated with it. Yeah, success is simple. It can be scheduled, but we don't follow the schedule because we're chasing the high.

Yeah. And I. I mean, if. If success was supposed to have a dopamine hit, then. Then everybody that became, quote, unquote successful financially, et cetera, would be happy and fulfilled and a hundred percent. The only thing that really has spoken to me about ultimate fulfillment is a high quality relationship with the person I care about and my God. And more importantly is how can I give back now?

Yes.

So when I. I had a conversation, I was in, I was doing a pod, a live podcast down in Dallas, and podcast is over. Meet the videographer after the fact that owns his own company. Apparently, he was like, no, this. This podcast is too important for me to let my team deal with. So I came out here to. To make sure everything was basically perfect. And it was phenomenal. Phenomenal. And so I get to the end, he goes, he goes, well, what do you do? I said, well, a lot of times I help entrepreneurs break through this, have bigger ceiling, because it's very rare. And I said, you know, and I said, a lot of entrepreneurs get stuck at, you know, five, six, seven.

For years on end. He goes, dude, I've been stuck at $650,000 for five years straight. 643, 648, 647, 649. And it was like. He goes, what am I doing wrong? I said, well, look, tell me about your business. And it didn't take long to realize that the solution and the impediment were all the same, because it was the same that was with me, with my business, which was me.

Like, I was the bottleneck. I was either relinquishing too much control in areas or controlling too much in other areas, not being into the delegation piece and doing these types of things. And I think that goes kind of what you're talking about. It's like, how do you. You gotta show up for yourself.

Yes, you do, you do, you do. And I was the same. It's actually so funny. I had the same thing over and over and over again. And earlier, when you asked about surrender, what I had to surrender was my identity. I had built this chapter of a book that got me to $700,000 a year. Amazing. What I had failed to recognize for a couple of years is that we wouldn't keep reading the book if the chapter was the same as the previous chapter. And Tucker Max explained this to me. I was at his house, we drank way too much wine one night, and we were talking about success. And we would have some heated discussions, lots of F bombs. I don't cuss anymore. But they were. They were great. And we were back and forth on this topic of success. And he broke my brain with this Steven. So simply, he grabbed a whiteboard and he drew a mountain. And he's like, see you. This is you, like, running up this mountain, right? And I was like, yeah. And he's like, you're fighting so hard to get to the top. I'm like, 100%. And then I'm like, I stand at the top. And he's like, then you realize you made it. But then there's another mountain, there's another chapter. And I was like, 100%. He's like, did you forget the part where you have to fall back down the backside before you can start climbing again? And I was like.

Oh, I don't know why. That spaghetti drawing of visual just, like, broke my brain. But I think to that point is that I describe it as a Christmas tree. To entrepreneurs, success looks like a Christmas tree. In the very beginning, you have the trunk, which is just who I am, who I help and how I help. Because you don't have the logistics, the cash flow, the capital to do anything else except your needle movers. But then you get to a point where something starts working, so you're like, oh, I want to scale. So you go wide, and you're like, oh, I'll hire a person. I'll do more marketing, I'll do more advertising. But eventually, you hit a ceiling. The ceiling is typically, to your point, the first one is six figures, the second one is half a mil, the third one is a mil, the next is 2.5, the next is 5. It's pretty predictable at this point. Yeah, you hit this ceiling and you're like, oh, my God, I'm stuck. What do I do? I'm going to keep spending more money or more things. And I was like, when was the last time you saw a rectangle Christmas tree? Like, I never have? I was like, no. Because when you hit the ceiling, it has to become your next floor. But in order for that to happen, you have to trim back to the trunk, and you have to keep and ask yourself some questions. What have we been doing that's worked? And the core functions of our business, our marketing, sales, delivery, what have we been doing that's worked? Okay, cool. What have we been doing that's not working that we can trim? And then what are the three things that we can do differently? And then what it brings you back to is back to the core of that tree, which is where our success comes from. And I think and I've seen this with hundreds of clients. The reason they hit ceilings or they struggle to scale is because in that process, they stopped doing the things that were working in the first place. Oh, you know, I've scaled a bit. I have a team. I don't need to do connection calls anymore. And I was like, what if those connection calls were tied to seven figures in revenue and they're like, oh. And I was like, maybe you shouldn't be in your inbox and you should be on those calls. And then we add them back in and they're like, oh, that was the secret sauce.

It's also called discipleship, by the way, where you do it well and all the other people's watch.

Yeah, 100%. And so I think that there's just so much wisdom in, in even the stories that you shared and the way that you've asked questions and, and even to close the loop on that previous question. I think success leads clues, but we always try to change the meaning of the clue because it avoids us having to do the push ups.

Yeah, I also. Yeah, I also think you. I want to go back to distraction. I know we're, we're already over time a little bit, but this is too good. So give me if I can get a couple more minutes.

Yeah, please.

To me.

Sometimes we'll create distractions because we're fearful of the work that needs to be done. Because the work that needs to be done is so often inside of us. Yes. Like, so we'll. So I, I was working with a young entrepreneur, and this is where this is coming from. This is like, coming up. And I did the same things. That's why it's like, okay to talk about. He made a comment. He's like, well, I, I really want to do X, Y and Z. My girlfriend is like, she won't. Or my. I think that's actually his wife. My wife doesn't. Is not buying in. I said, dude, I've known you for a long time. It's because you told her you're gonna do this, this, this, and this. And she's. She believed in you at first. And progressively she's like, gotten less because she's not actually, actually seeing you take the action. Like, and you're. Because you're getting distracted by this and getting distracted by that. Getting distracted goes well. I'm just, I think I'm just a little scared. I'm. Dude, we're all scared. Right? What makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur is they by definition create something from nothing and by definition have to face their fears continually on a regular basis. And the collapsing of the identity. And as the identity collapses, the opportunities begin to transform. So we'll just close up with this. And we obviously want everybody to know how to find you and all the good stuff because you're awesome. Like, how do we deal with distraction as it relates to fear? Because I feel like there's a lot of steps that entrepreneurs could take, know they should take, aren't taking because they're scared of.

What if I. I love this because. And I love talking to you. You pull out a whole different side of me, and in the best way possible. The solution to distraction and fear has the same antidote. And it's evidence.

Evidence is the only antidote to distraction and fear. And what it starts with, and to your client's point, is it starts with radical honesty, but radical self acceptance. Right. And I'll give the short version of this. I teach customer journey, but I also teach high level performance. And I was just speaking to all the world series of professional Poker players and I. They understand. And the premise of my talk was, the most important game that you're playing is the one off the table.

Yeah.

Because it dictates what happens on the table. Like, most of us can't imagine going all in with $5 million cash. Right.

No, I'm not.

And I'm friends with these people. And I'm like, I'm not allowed to bet with any of you. I don't have any money on.

You want to bet? Just bet on an operating company. Come bet on one of mine.

You know, they, they, they bet. But I, I told them, I said, what happens as a human being is that we end up getting stagnant. Stagnant is distraction. Right. There's this false illusion that if we're thinking or ruminating that we're not failing. But truth is, life is an uphill road.

Yeah.

So every moment we're not taking an intentional action, we're actually rolling backwards, and we're making it harder and harder and harder to face that fear, to take that action. And it happens for one of three reasons. Number one is what I call the zone of doubt. We get this spark of clarity, and instead of acting on it in the moment, we keep delaying it and delaying it and delaying it.

Yeah.

Number two, I call the inverse journey, where we literally are like, oh, my God, this is the thing. I'm afraid of it, but I can do it. And instead of speaking into ourselves, we self deprecate, which is the equivalent of paying a quarterback and I know Tom Brady and Drew Bled, so they actually live up the street from me, but I grew up with them in Foxborough and so I always use them as a reference. But I'm like, can you imagine paying Tom Brady $150 million then being in that Super bowl where they're down 28 points? And then before he goes on the field saying, you're a failure, you'll never make it, you're not going to come back from this game, there's no way possible. And then magically expecting him to do it. Never. Or if you're listening to this as an entrepreneur and you're a parent, if you speak to your child like that, I'll find you. But if you don't, we know we never would. Right. We have to speak into them, which means we have to speak into ourselves. So the inverse journey is when we get that part of clarity, instead of speaking into possibility, we actually self deprecate. And then we wonder why we never take the action.

Yeah.

And then the third one is what I call the fire hose where most people over complicate clarity. You said this earlier. When we get a piece of clarity, your job is only to know the first bite, not to obsess about the next 10 or 20 or 30, because that first bite is the only thing that will unlock the actual second, third and fourth bite. And the deeper you get into those bites, typically the larger purview you're given because you're getting narrower and narrower towards that goal. But it has to be bite by bite, by bite. And so what I have found is that for anybody listening and you can Mel Robbins this. 3, 2, 1, go. But it's not actually just getting into action. The first thing is to like fully acknowledge your experience. Like in this moment, I'm afraid because of why. Amazing. So then you prepare yourself, like, what's the one thing I'm going to do to give myself evidence that's different?

Yeah.

Then you project out what that will look like. You're like, well, on the other side of this, I've given myself evidence that I went for a 10 minute walk, that I did 10 push ups that I can post on social media. Cool. Yeah. What are the reasons I'm not allowing myself to do this? What are my backdoors? And I'm like, oh, because I told somebody X or I said I would do Y or I was distracting myself and getting really honest with ourselves. And then once we've done those, the only goal is to then go do that action. And it's to protect and practice this consistency over and over and over and over time. And I'll lead the horse for everybody listening. It will become second nature until the new level unlocks. And even if you're familiar with Joseph Campbell and the hero's journey, the last step is not when he slays the dragon. There's one more step that everybody misses where it says they return to the village to teach the lesson. And then the next dragon appears.

Yeah.

And so it's this process piece. And you said it earlier when you were like in your reflection, like, I just looked for that first piece and then like, once I have that one, the next one unlocks. And so it's such a valid question, but I've realized, and this is what I'll close with, you and I are surrounded by high achieving entrepreneurs and by entrepreneurs that want to be high achievers. I think the biggest critical mistake that we all make is we self isolate and think we're the only ones who feel this way.

Ain't that the truth?

You are a better entrepreneur to me. By telling me that you're struggling or by telling me that you have doubts? Because I'll tell you right now, as I'm navigating a divorce of five years and rebuilding everything again, I have more doubt and fears than I've ever had. But they don't allow me to get in the way. But I also realize that those things don't own me anymore. And I can talk about them and I can share them. And when we isolate, we create a shame machine. And I'll leave it with this quote. The darkness inside of you are the lanes that you create for the devil to traffic.

Wow.

And by just bringing them to light, by just speaking to them, by just acknowledging them, you take the entire foothold away.

Yeah.

Because once it's out in the light, no lies. Live in the light, man.

Let's freaking go, dude. We can do this all day.

I know we could. We could have like an eight hour podcast like, Bye Bye Joe Rogan.

Like, yeah, right. We got this. We'll have to do it live and in person next go round for sure.

Oh, please tell the audience where they.

Can find out more about you. Bro, they got to.

I'm going to be honest. You either think I belong in a straight jacket in a padded room, and either way, you're right, I do. But you want more. You don't. My favorite color is pink. I'll own that all day. So my website is the pinkest website you'll ever see. It's mindofgeorge.com and there's where you'll have my podcast, which is the Mind of George show, which I'm going to have you on as well. We talk about mindset, we talk about relationships, and I actually share strategies and tactics every Monday for all of you that want your. You know, it's scratched on, like, how to do this and build and scale it. And then my Instagram is. It's George Bryant. But the. The thing that I'll say to everybody listening, if you were even listening to any of this, and you're like, I have a question, the silliest thing you could do is not reach out and ask that question on any platform that you can find me on, because I spend my time, like Stephen, in as many conversations and serving as many people as I can, and it brings joy to my life and joy to my world, and so please give me the opportunity. But at minimum, don't let anything in this episode become shelf help today. Don't file it away, and don't worry about all of it. Like, whatever the first thing was that resonated, whether Steven said it or I said it, you deserve, and you've earned the right to take action on that because you're worth it. And then this episode's gonna be here. So earn the right to come back and listen again, but only when you've implemented that thing that you found.

Love it, dude.

Dude.

Love you, brother. Man. Thanks for.

Love you, man. Thank you. This is an honor, man.

We're gonna do it again, man.

We are. We are. I'm in.

See you, buddy. I hope you liked that video. And if you did, make sure you check out this next video right here. I call it the Mask. Right? Like, masks are meant for parties. They're not meant for life. But if you keep holding on to that, it's really heavy, man. And it spends so much time and energy trying to be something that you're not.