Don't Settle for Ok

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 love saying that.

This is Thomas Anglero, and accepting something, accepting life as being okay, accepting being with someone who's just okay Going through a day, and at the end of the day you think about your day and saying, 'It's okay.' That's not good enough. That is ridiculous. I'm meeting so many people, and I continue to meet so many people. I actually thought this was a local phenomenon, but I went to New York over the holidays, and it's been, been over 2 and a half years since I've been back home in New York City. And there I saw people working. I've sort of met friends. I saw people on the street, talk to people in restaurants, play stupid with some people just to hear the thoughts and words. And he listened to the energy.

And everybody—

I'm not 100% of the people, but most people are just, okay, what the hell's wrong with you?

What happened to society that we've accepted okay as being okay. Doesn't this sound ridiculous? How are you today?

Okay.

How are the kids doing? How's it going at home?

Okay.

It sounds insane, doesn't it? Is life— is your life meant to be okay? Think about it.

How often do you sit alone and you're like, man, I wish I could do this. Oh, I want to do that.

Oh, I got all this energy. Hmm.

Hmm.

Mm.

And at the end of your day, before you go to bed every night, you go, my day was okay. Life is not meant to be okay. Life is meant to have massive ups of enjoyment, of fantastic moments.

And then life's gonna hit you on the blind side and you have horrible days, horrible moments. Emotions are torn apart. Your heart is broken. You're massively devastated. And then over time, boom, boom, something happens and you're elated again. And then you go up and down, up and down. And so many of us fight that. So many of us say, no, no, no, no, my life is supposed to be like this, like this low heartbeat, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, just this little thing and never really going up, never really going down. Is that okay? Is it playing safe? At the end of your days, before you die, you have 30 seconds left in your life, you're gonna look up, or you're gonna think to yourself, "How did I do?" Okay. That's sad! Don't you get it? You hear my voice right now. Don't you see yourself right now? Don't you get it? That is not the life you're meant to have. What the hell are you doing to yourself? So many people I meet, or I've met recently, Everything's okay. Life ain't meant to be okay. You got this one chance to be on this planet with everyone here. I think we're around 6 to 7 billion people who all want to be excited and stimulated by you, and you have the opportunity to be stimulated by them, and you're ending up with just okay.

The person you're with in your life Are they from your local town, the same building, neighborhood you grew up in? Do they have the same humor? Yes. Okay. Yeah, she does, or he does. Yep. They like sort of the same food you do? Yeah.

Yep. Check, check. Yep, yep, they do.

Yep.

Um, they go to the same school as you, maybe?

Yeah.

Check.

Maybe the parents know each other. Mm-hmm.

Sort of like checkboxing everything. The person you're going to spend the rest of your life with.

So you think to yourself, well, I guess I might as well just marry them.

You have a couple of kids and everything's still okay. Check. Did the marry thing now. Check. Did the kid thing now. Check. Oh, we got to go on vacation now. Check. What the hell are you checking? You're not checking off the moments of your life that you have left in life till you're dead. That's what you're checking. Do you understand what you're doing? Do you understand what you've done? You settled. You settled for less than you deserve because you're trying to play it safe. What the hell are you trying to play safe from? What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of smiling too much? Are you afraid of intimacy with someone that's so mind-boggling you never want to leave the bed? Are you afraid of laughing so much that you need to go see a surgeon because you got new wrinkles on the side of both your cheeks that are permanent because you can't stop laughing from this person makes you laugh so much?

Are you afraid of crying so much because the person moves you so much that he moves you— he moves you or she moves you to tears? That's how much they mean to you. Have you ever experienced any of those things? And if you haven't, you still got time. But don't accept life as being okay. You're not meant to be okay. You're meant to be recognizing your breathing. You're meant to be fulfilling every thought you have, of every vision you have, of seeing yourself doing something, feeling something. That is what you're meant to be doing and feeling at this very moment right now.

You're not supposed to just settle with okay. I'm traveling to New York.

I'm going to old restaurants I used to go to. The waitresses and waiters don't have the energy anymore. They don't have the smile anymore, and absolutely no eye contact anymore.

Don't see me, don't talk to me. I'mma drop off your food, I'll take your order, I'll pick up your place, and I will make eye contact ever. No, don't come into my life.

What happened? Why don't we want to be seen? Don't you want to be seen? Does the thought of being seen scare you? Don't you want to be loved? To be loved, you have to be seen. Don't you want to get a hug? For me to hug you, for anyone to hug you, they have to see you. And for them to want to hug you, they have to feel you first. Don't settle with okay. Settle with Amazing. Think about love. Have any of you fallen in love? Or the person you're in love with now, did you get hit by the lightning bolt? Did you? Walking up the steps of a library, and as you go up the steps of the library, you turn your head, do you see this person in the distance? And bam, you know they're the one.

That's it.

You're now—

your leg's still in the air because you're walking up the steps. You stop mid-stride, knees still up in the air.

You see this person 100 meters away, um, 300 feet away, and you're going, they're the one. Did you get hit with that lightning bolt? Do you know what I'm talking about? Love makes no sense. Love is not rational. Love is this incredible force that brings people together who don't share the same background, who don't share the same religion, who don't have the same skin color, who don't have anything in common, but they cannot live without each other.

Wow, how powerful is that?

That's Love.

That's the exact opposite of the life of settling and okay.

Go for love.

Go for those moments of complete embarrassment. Go for those moments where you go, you know what, I cannot live without being with this person. This person has to be in my life.

I have got to do this.

I don't care if this is embarrassing.

I cannot breathe without this person. I have got to tell them. I have got to I have got to kiss them. I have got to be with them. That intensity is how you should be living your life. That's who you should be with. That's how you should go to work. That's how you should wake up with this intensity and love for life. Love, love, love, love, love. Not okay. Do you see the ridiculousness of that? As amazing as you are, don't settle for okay. Settle for the ridiculousness, the amazingness, the vibration, the vitality, the excitement, the emotions of love for you, for everyone around you.

That's your baseline. That's where I want you to begin. That's where you exist.

And if you ask yourself, how do I find that love? How do I find that person? How I get myself there?

Really simple.

Be you.

Get rid of all your bullshit. Stop hiding from your insecurities and all these things that you have. Are there things that you do that you don't want anybody to see? Doesn't want anybody to see you? Don't want anybody to get to know you?

Get rid of all that crap. The clock is ticking. Who are you? Let people see who you are. For every moment that you're not truly you when you're outside and when you're a group of people, that amazing person is supposed to be in your life or that amazing moment that's supposed to happen in your life is being pushed away. You're not attracting it. But when you're 100% you, all insecurity's gone, you don't care. Say you're a little bit overweight, say you got to be hitting the gym more. I know I got to be hitting the gym more. I know I haven't seen my six-pack in a while. I want to go for it. But hell, tell the world I'm working on it. That's who I am. But I still love you. How do you have that attitude? Have that attitude. I'm a little overweight. Hey, here I am. I'm going bald. Here I am. Whatever, whatever issues you have, throw it out there. So what?

And as soon as those issues don't hold you back, now you're walking around in a state of love, and all these amazing things that are meant to happen in your life Amazing people that you haven't had in your life, or more amazing people that you deserve to have in your life.

Amazing places you're supposed to be. Serendipity, where you do something or go someplace and something magically happens right after that, that was meant to happen because you did the first thing. And then the second thing happens, and then another thing happens, and serendipity becomes every moment of your life. It's all for you, but just let go and be you. Get rid of the insecurities, get rid of all this crap, and just be you.

This is a long rant, but I want people to be happy and not settle with okay. I don't want you to sell at all. I want everybody to be the extreme version of themselves. Imagine how much fun would be to everybody to be extreme version of themselves. Things would not be normal, and I think that's a lot of fun versus us all being safe. And that is what we got today. And things are getting quite boring. The laws, the politicians— I'm not gonna go off on a rant on that one, but everything's meant to make sure we're safe and okay. You know what? Sorry, innovation, soul of innovation, is based on love and going for it, not on being okay. So don't be okay. Be the ultimate version of you, and love will follow. Go forth and spread beauty and light. I love you like always, and I don't want you to settle. I want you to be crazy. I want you to be the ultimate musician. I want you to be the ultimate singer. I want you to be the ultimate librarian. I want you to be the ultimate father. I want you to be the ultimate coach. Just be the ultimate version of whoever you are in the moment that you're in. So moments when you're in the kitchen cooking, you are the ultimate chef. The hell with Chef Ramsay. Nothing but respect for the guy. But you're better than him in that moment. You're at work, you're the ultimate project manager, you're the ultimate file clerk. You're at home, you're the ultimate husband, you're the ultimate papa or mama or mother or grandmother or grandfather. Every moment, be the ultimate version of you. I love you. 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.