Adversity is How You Grow

Hello and welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am the host, Thomas Anglero, and my mission for this podcast is to share with you those private thoughts and reflections that I have being one of the top keynote speakers around the world on technology, motivation, and innovation. I hope you truly enjoy all the lessons I share, all the dots I connect that sometimes are just really difficult to get out but it's all for you. I truly hope you enjoy this episode.

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, and I want to share with you a revelation, a revelation I had yesterday, that sports specifically cycling, is life. Let me tell you a story. Yesterday I competed in a cycling race, an indoor cycling race, and that really doesn't matter, but the journey of life that I went through during this bicycle race was actually exactly the same ups and downs, the same emotions of being happy, of being sad, being depressed, of giving up. Everything was the same during this bike race. At the very beginning of the race, as the race started, just like in life, you start on a new project, you start on a new adventure, you start on a new relationship, you start on a new marriage, you start on something new. You are excited and you give it your all. And that's how this bike race started. There were 600 people competing in this bike race, and the gun went off. 3, 2, 1, go! As your project starts, you get dressed that morning for that first day of work, that first day at that new team, the first day at the swim club, the first day at the dance hall. You're nervous, everything. But at that moment when everything begins, You give it your all. And I took off, giving it everything I got. 2-3 minutes into the bike race, I realized I couldn't continue at 100%. I couldn't give it absolutely my all. I had to back off. So there I was in the top 50 and had to back off, and I, and I quickly dropped People were passing me all the time. People were being better than me. Just like in life, you give everything you got to something that you're starting off with, but after a while you realize you can't give it everything you got. You have to back off a little bit, or the relationship itself backs off, or the job becomes not as perfect as it once was. So therefore, your love for the job is still there, but it backs off. Exactly the same like in life. And then as the race continued to go on, I found a group of people that I could, I could cycle with and be with, and we got into a rhythm. Just like in real life, we're working on a project, you end up— you're in a project with a group of people, you find a rhythm, everything goes really well, you're doing things together. Sometimes you take the lead, somebody else takes lead. Sometimes somebody has a good idea, the other person has a good idea. This is the same thing in life and relationships, it's the same thing. And I remember there were times during the race I wanted to give up. Things were too hard. This— it just was too hard. I said, I can't do this anymore. My legs hurt. I don't think this is much fun. And again, just like in life, in a project, in a relationship, in a job, you want to give up sometimes. You're like, this is not for me. This is not who I am. I don't want to go through this pain. I cannot keep going. This is just going to take too long. I came doing this day after day after day, getting up and going to work day after day after day. This is no fun. Same exact experience I experienced during this race. At points I was in so much freaking pain, I was like, why am I doing this? This is, this is just painful. And then all the times in the race where I'm biking with people I was biking by myself. I found myself completely alone. There was nobody there. I knew there were 600 people racing, but I was all by myself. There was no one in front of me, there was no one behind me, and I had to find self-motivation. I had to keep on pushing and pushing hard. I knew I could have just stopped or pedaled really lightly like I'm going out for a Sunday ride, but I kept going really hard and really strong all by myself. Self-motivation. I found it within me to keep on pushing. Just like in life, there are times when you're completely alone. There's no one there to self-motivate you. You don't have to get out of bed. You don't have to do anything, and no one's going to criticize you because there's no one there. But what do you do? You keep on going. You get out of bed. You self-motivate yourself. You push yourself because you know It may not be tomorrow, it may not be next week or next month, but you know the future. If you keep on pushing, tremendous and most beautiful, incredible things will happen to you. Meet the most amazing people, you meet the most amazing person that will change your life, that will put happiness in your heart. You keep on pedaling, you keep on going, you keep on pushing, you do not stop. And then towards the end of the race And I couldn't believe we were towards the end. I could not believe I was getting towards the finish line. Now all of a sudden, putting down maximum power wasn't as painful. All of a sudden, with only a couple hundred meters to go to the finish line, it didn't hurt anymore. And all of a sudden, I didn't mind. And I don't remember any pain. I don't remember that I've been biking for an hour. I don't remember all the sweat. I don't remember all the depression. Just like in life when you're about to finish a project, you're about to celebrate something, you don't remember all the horrible years, all the difficult times, all the financials. You're just in that moment of celebration. The past is the past, and you're enjoying that moment of celebration. And the race is over. My race was over. I felt great. I looked up at the screen, and out of 600 people, I celebrated because you know where I finished? I finished 350th out of 600. 100 people. This was fantastic for me. I have never finished so well. But then it's about perspective, because when you heard me say that, you probably said to yourself, well, it's not great, this is right in the middle. I thought you'd have won. Isn't that just like life? You finish something, finish making something, finish doing something, you give something everything you got, and there's always someone around who doesn't appreciate all the effort that you gave. And it's only you who are proud of you because other people weren't there to see all the sweat, All the heartache, all the up, all the down, all the negativity, all the moments of epiphanies that, oh, I could do this. Oh, wait a minute, but what about that? This is gonna be great. This is gonna be good. Let me get up early. Let me train harder. Let me read this book. Let me research some more. All these things. And then finally, when it's over, people judge you. You didn't come in first place. You didn't do great. You didn't win the prize. We didn't get the deal. The client didn't sign the contract. You weren't chosen to win a scholarship. You didn't win the prize. But you did win the prize. 350th out of 600 people is insanely great because I say it's great. Because I know the effort that I gave was insane. Just like the effort you give to everything that you do is insane. You are the only one who could judge you. You're the only one that you should allow— that is allowed to even permeate your thoughts. About who you are and what your worth is. No one's been down that journey with you. No one has worked as hard as you. No one was with you when you were mentally depressed, when you were mentally down, when you were alone. That's all you. So when you get to that finish line, when you get to the end of that project, when you get to the end of that journey, when you get to the end of that recital, when you get to the end of that competition, whatever It's only you who could judge whether being in first, whether being in 350th, or whether being in last, it's the greatest moment you felt in a long time. And 3 in 350 out of 600, that's freaking awesome. In my book. I'm proud, and you should be proud of you. It's not about anybody else, it's all about you. I'm Thomas Anglero. Everything we do is connected. All of us, we're connected. Love other people. Try to compliment other people. There was something I picked up recently, and I think it was quite— it is not— is it— is extremely powerful. And it said that there is no reward for good karma. And I thought that was— wow, what does that mean? There is no reward. For good karma. You know what that means? That means that in bad karma, when you do something bad to someone, that creates bad karma, bad energy, and you're gonna have to pay a price somewhere down the road. If you believe in the mystics and Buddhist, uh, religion and how they see the world. It is interesting, interesting to look into it. Bad karma you pay for. Bad karma is something you have to pay off. But good karma, when you do something good, there is no reward. What that means is it is expected of you to do good. There is no reward for being good. Doing something good does not bring you good karma. Doing something good is what is expected of you. Do something good for yourself and do something good for others. When you begin a project, when you begin a competition, a race. Be good to you. Be good to those others who are with you. And at the end, be good to them again, which is good to you. But do not expect anything back for it. For the greatest moments in life are sometimes moments when you are alone. And as long as you are happy in those moments, as long as you define that this is a wonderful moment, then that's the greatest good karma you can ever get. Go forth and spread beauty and light. And I truly, truly believe that you will spread good karma to yourself. Don't beat yourself up. You did great. You finished the race. And sometimes you do end up being number one. And that's wonderful. But sometimes being 350 out of 600, I actually take that better than being number one. It feels good. I love you. Take care of yourself. Until next time.

Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.