Nate Auffort: I Gave Up My Dreams Because...

About 15 years ago, I was sitting in a conference like this with about a quarter of the amount of people, and he gave an exercise. He said, pull out a piece of paper and write down all your goals, all your dreams, all your ambitions, physical, mental, spiritual. So everything that you want to be, what kind of car you want to have, what kind of house you want to have, where do you want to live, what impact do you want to have on people? And I remember I was scribbling away with this huge smile on my face because I never did anything like that before. I always grew up being, be realistic. Get your head out of the clouds and put your feet on the ground. Money doesn't grow on trees. That looks too good to be true. That'll never work. Just because someone else can do it doesn't mean you can't. But for the first time, my life, I was dreaming again. And we were done. About an hour later, he said, flip that piece of paper over. And he said, write this down. I gave up my dreams because. And put a blank. He said, you go home, you take that piece of paper and you tape it to your bathroom mirror where you see it every morning, every day, and every night before you go to bed. And he said, when things get tough, when you're out of money, when everything you've tried so far hasn't worked, when there's people that you're watching having success at the very same thing that you're doing and you're not, when your friends and family are saying, go get a real job, or your spouse or loved ones are saying, hey, Nate, sometimes you got to know when to throw in the towel. When you're ready to give up, when you had enough and you just can't take it anymore. He said, flip that paper over. Rip that sucker down and fill in the blank. So I did. I take it to my bathroom mirror. And I remember about 10 years ago, I had two of my top salespeople quit another business. And I was depressed, and I was broke, and I was angry. I said, maybe they're right. And I ripped that piece of paper down. I gave up my dreams because I had two people quit. About a week later, I'm sitting in my office and I'm watching a tow truck literally take my car out of the parking lot because I didn't make the payments. We didn't have Uber back then. I had a bummer ride. Embarrassing to go home to. Apartment I was behind on rent on. And I sat there and I cried. I said, maybe I'm not cut out for this. I didn't do well in school. Maybe you got to do something special. And I took that piece of paper down. I ripped it down. I said, I gave up my dreams because my car got repoed. Two weeks later, I got kicked out of my apartment. I took that piece of paper down this time when I was moving out. And I wrote down, I gave up my dreams because I got kicked out of my apartment. No matter how hard it got, no matter how hard I tried, I could never find something that was good enough to fill in that blank, to give up my dreams. What's it gonna take for you to fill in that blank? What's gonna happen that's so awful that you're gonna give up on your dreams? Jimmy Spiel Danner got diagnosed with stage four cancer, and he never filled in the blank. Miranda Martin. Miranda Martin spent half, if not all of last year in an ambulance or in a hospital. And she's still here today, building a legacy for her two children. Sarah Bailey. Diagnosed with cancer, she never flipped the paper over and filled in the blank. The Miller brothers lost their father, their mom's baggling stage four cancer, and they're still a blank on their paper. Christy Woodbury, Melissa Wilson, both lost their husbands in a tragic accident, and they never filled it in. Successful people in this business realize that it's not just about you giving up on your dreams. Because in this business, when you fill in that blank and you give up on your dreams, you just might be costing someone else theirs. Because the only way you're going to live your dreams here is by never feeling that way and most importantly, helping other people achieve their dreams.