Nate Auffort uses grapes and oranges to argue that struggle makes you stronger. Stressed vines produce smaller, flavorful grapes; comfortable ones produce big, watery ones. Pressure reveals what's inside you, and while nature and nurture shape you, you choose how to respond.
Chapters
I heard an interesting story the other day about how wine is made. See, a grapevine's natural environment is not a vineyard. Its natural environment is an open woodland area where it's got plenty of sunlight, plenty of water, nutrient rich soil where it can grow its vines endlessly. And see, when that plant is in that environment, in its comfort zone, it sends messages to the shoots and the vines. We're comfortable, we're getting plenty of what we need. Grow vines, grow, and they do. Shooting up neighboring trees, they literally cover the forest, but they produce very low quality, big and juicy and watery, but pretty much tasteless grapes. But when you rip that vine out of its comfort zone and you stick it next to hundreds of other vines in close proximity, and you start to prune it aggressively, literally cutting off the vines, cutting off the shoots, starving it of water, replacing its nutrient rich soil with gravel and sandy dirt. That vine goes, wait a minute, we're struggling, it's not like it used to be. And it sends the message to the vine, quit growing vines. We need to reproduce ourselves. And you know how it does that? By producing grapes. Those roots have to scavenge. And you dig dirt into the soil, dig deep into the soil, looking for nutrients and water, branching out. And because of that, it creates more surface area, root the soil, ultimately getting more nutrients to that grape, creating some of the most flavorful, mouth watering, most incredible tasting grapes that produce some of the finest wine in the world. So why is it that if we know struggle creates strength, we all want to run from it? First signs, right? We want to get away. I think it has a lot to do with how it makes us feel. Maybe what it makes us feel inside, right? And I'll give you an example. Let's say I take an orange and I squeeze it as hard as I can. What comes out?
I take an orange, I squeeze it.
What comes out? Juice. What kind of juice? Orange juice ever. Apple juice. What if I grab it with both hands, I jump up really, really hard, squeeze maybe mango juice once in a while.
So why is it, if I squeeze.
An orange as hard as I can, orange juice comes out? Because that's what's inside. See, on our planet, when you squeeze something, what comes out of it is what's inside. Now, does it matter what time of the day I squeeze the orange? 12 noon. Maybe 2 in the afternoon, maybe 4 in the morning? Does it make a difference? Does it matter if your mommy or daddy or spouse or the kids squeeze the orange? How about your upline squeezes it? Your kids? What if you had four no shows and two cancellations. Then you squeeze orange. Does it matter? No. Because when you squeeze an orange, what always comes out of it was what's inside. And see, that same principle applies to us. What comes out of us? What comes out of you? When you're squeezed, someone puts tension on you. Pressure. What comes out? Fear, anger, frustration, retaliation. Is it because of the way our upline squeezed us? Never. Is it because of the way our spouse or our kids squeeze us? No. Because what happens is we as human beings, when we're squeezed, what comes out of us naturally is what's inside. And see what happens. People go, how does what gets inside get inside? And Giant Worldwide has done a phenomenal job giving us a common language, haven't they? They tell us exactly what gets inside and how it gets there. Nature, nurture and choice. See, a lot of you might be like me. Your nature, nurture, wasn't the best. Maybe you're told, who do you think you are? And you're never going to amount to anything. Maybe you hung around the wrong crowd, had bad role models in your life. Maybe you're in bad relationships and you're emotionally or sexually or physically abused. Maybe you had someone die in your life that was close to you. A family, a friend, even a spouse or a child. Maybe you went through a horrific disease or a trauma. Or maybe some of you are going through some of that stuff right now. See, our nature and our nurture up to this point may have been less than ideal, but here's the greatest difference between us and an orange.
We have the power of choice. We get to choose what goes inside and what needs purged out. We get to choose what comes out.
Of us when we're squeezed.
And that's why events like this are so important. And being on the conference calls and leadership books and leadership training, the relentless.
Pursuit of personal growth, surrounding yourself with.
People who lift you up.
And don't tear you down. Every struggle has a lesson in it. And successful people have realized that the struggle always comes before the lesson. And we need to learn to embrace that struggle to get the lesson. And when you get to a point in your life, in your business, when that struggle comes, instead of running from it, you embrace it instead of cursing it. Or worse yet, blaming somebody else. Right?
You hear it all the time. He or she made me mad.
They hurt my feelings.
How is that possible?
How can anyone hurt your feelings? Our feelings come from our thoughts. And we get to control our thoughts.
See, no one can hurt your feelings without your consent.
No One can embarrass you without your consent.
No one can make a fool of you without your consent, you. No one can get in your way without your consent, no one can stop you from being the man or woman you were put on this place to be and on this earth without your consent. We have a choice. No one wants to hear about the man or woman who never struggled, who made it to the top with no obstacles, who got to the top of success mountain riding in a heated gondola, sipping hot cocoa.
No one wants to hear that story.
That'S about aspiring to watch the Super Bowl.
And the team wins 4:42 to nothing. Not because they played their heart out and left it on the field. Because the other team didn't show up.
They want to hear about the man or woman who got knocked down and got back up again. Who got knocked back down again and rose to their feet and they refused to quit. They want to hear about the person who, against all odds, made it happen. Your struggle is your life.
The story of your struggle is your gift to others. What impact do you want to make? What's your story going to be? Do you want to grow the biggest.
Vines.
Or do you want to produce the finest one? Because in the end, God's gift to us is life. What you do with that life. The story of your struggle will be your gift to others, which will ultimately determine the impact you have.
Wanna leave my old life behind? Not a yes, sir, not a follow up Hit the box with the moan have a seat in the foyer Take a number I was lightning before the thunder.
