Episode 186: Going Through Mental Walls

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 ask you a question. Do you ever feel that you are stuck? You are stuck in a place in life, in a moment in time in life, and no matter what you do, you can't get out of it. You have a job that doesn't make enough money, and no matter what you try, you cannot make more money. You can't, you just don't, can't figure out how to create a new career, get a new job. There's not enough time. There's not enough this, not enough that. You're just stuck. You see that in your work, at work, you could do more, but you just somehow, it just cannot get yourself to do it. You're in a relationship and you know you can give more, but you for some reason don't give it. On and on and on with all the examples. Do you ever feel that you're stuck and something's holding you back, that life itself is holding you back? I'm here to tell you there are two things that are causing that.

Two things.

And reason why this is important is because I spent a lot of time recently stuck in this, and I'm slowly getting out of it. And I've been reflecting on this for a long time. I want to help you out, make you feel better about the two things that are holding you back. Here they go. First one, you. Are you really putting in the effort? Are you putting in the token effort? Are you really pushing yourself and going all in? Are you maximizing your time? Are you maximizing your potential, your skills, your capabilities? Are you doing everything? Are you getting up earlier in the day to get those extra 3 minutes to do what you need to do to send that email? Are you maximizing yourself and are calling your own bull? Oh, I'm trying hard. You know you're not trying hard. How hard have you really tried? You know you could try harder. Are you getting to the gym? I go to the weight room quite often now, and I see so many people lifting weights. They're not putting on much weight, but they're lifting weights. And then they're on their damn mobile phone too damn long, and they spend 2 hours And they go home and they go, I lift the weights today. And I go, they didn't try hard enough. Just because you lift the weight doesn't mean you're trying, doesn't mean you're actually lifting weights. You lift weights to put a resistance in your body so the muscle grows and gets stronger.

But a lot of people lift weights just to say they lift weights.

A lot of people say they try hard just to say they try hard.

Are you full of bull?

And do that the way you do things. If you're to do something to benefit you, then you go all in.

You don't do a token effort because you get token effort back. The effect is nothing. How hard are you trying? How hard are you pushing yourself? How much weights are you lifting? How many miles are you running? How much effort are you giving to that project at work? How much effort are you giving into the relationship you're in? Could you have made that person that meal? Could you have picked up their glass? Could you have picked up something on the way home for them?

Could you have given them a hug when they walked the door instead of ignoring them? Effort.

How much effort are you giving into your life to make you a better person, to make another person a better person, to make your situation a better situation? Call your bull. How much are you all in on you? Because you're all in on your complaining. How much are you all in on you? Again, how much weight are you lifting?

And that's not a literal question. It's a figurative question.

How much weight are you lifting in your life? Because if you're just lifting a token amount of weight when you know you can lift hell of a lot more, it's time to start pumping. So when you feel stuck and life can't go on, it's because you haven't lifted enough weights.

That's one perspective. I said there would be two.

The second perspective: why are you stuck?

Why can't things progress? Why, when you try to walk, it feels like the road is greased? When you try to move ahead in life, you're surrounded by a transparent wall. You can see through it, you see the outcome, but you can't move. And for the second group of people— and be very careful about moving between groups because it makes you comfortable to mentally say, "I'm in this group, not that group." They're two very different groups. For the second group of people who are stuck and cannot move, you are stuck in that place in life because you are not meant to move. You're meant to be there and to grow. You're meant to be there, to be protected and to be loved and to heal. There are times in your life where you are dealing with something that is so horrific, so horrible, that you— that life, the best thing life can do for you is to love you by leaving you and keeping you in one place, someplace safe. It's like a parent with this child. They do whatever they can to protect that child, to keep that child safe, to keep that child in an environment, in a home that is loving, that is warm, that is full of food, that is safe. Now, the child should be outside and playing with friends, but sometimes those friends aren't good. Sometimes they know that their child crosses that street, they're gonna get hit by a car because road signs aren't up yet. So you protect that child by keeping that child home, even though that child is screaming and yelling, "I want to go out! I want to do this! I want that! All my friends are doing this!" And you're taking the beating and you're keeping that child at home. Well, now that you're an adult, life is your parent. And you might be in a place in life where no matter what you try, nothing's working. You're now that child, and it's for the betterment of you that you're at home, that you don't progress, that you are in that place where you are to protect you. And while you're in that place, you have to let go. You have to give in to the fact that here I am, and I can use mass amounts of effort and frustrate the living hell out of myself, and I'm not gonna progress. So let me stop beating myself up. Let me stop causing myself mental anguish. And let me embrace the love, a very different type of love, a love that's frustrating you like hell, but let me embrace this because it's probably for the betterment of me and my future tomorrow. Who are you with the two examples that I've given. Are you the person who fakes how much effort they give to life? You give to yourself, you give to your job, you give to the person you love, you give to your piano teacher, you give to your dance instructor, you give to your neighbors, you give to your friends, to your husband, to your wife, to your wife, partner, to the meals that you cook? How much effort are you really giving everything? To your children? Let's touch on that one. Or are you the other person who's tried everything and is still trying everything and you just cannot get ahead? Who are you? Who are you? I want you to go forth and spread beauty and light. And now take a moment. I want you to dwell on this question. Dwell on the question of how much energy and force do I give into my life for me to have an incredible life? And if you do give incredible amount of energy and still things aren't changing, then I want you to sit back and see it all, all that resistance, see all that frustration, see all these hindrances that are stopping you from being where you see you should be, as a form of a parent's love, that the universe, that life itself is taking care of you, protecting you, because it's not your time yet. But when it is your time, you go out there with all the energy you have, with all the excitement you have, and all the will, and with all the vision. I want you to tear through life. I want you to eat it alive. I want you to accomplish all the things there is and do it with as much love and the biggest smile possible, because that is what life is, and that's what you deserve. And that's what everybody around you deserves, to see you and your shining star emitting and glowing, bringing the night sky into the day. You are that person. Be ready. Your moment's coming. Your moment is coming, but it's only coming because you put in the work. So that when it comes, you are ready. I'm Thomas Anglero, reflecting hard as hell, ready to break out of the gates like as if I'm a horse at a horse race, as if I'm a pit bull on a leash, and my master's throwing a steak in front of me and I want to tear that thing at all costs. That's how I see life. That's how I see every freaking moment of every damn day. That's how I see when I see a friend. That's how I see when I see a child crying in the street. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you one last story and how freaking ready I am to explode again. Years ago, I have one big regret, and we all have regrets. I walked into a bicycle store. These kids were ahead of me.

This kid needed $5—

no, no, sorry, $1.50. He came up $1.50 short to fix his bike. He had a flat tire at the bike shop. I had $1.50 in my pocket, but I didn't tie the dots together that I could just pay for the damn thing. The kid would have been happy, the store would have got to finish their business, they already got their money.

The line would have moved.

We all would have been happy.

To this day, I regret it. Years later, I regret the stupidity of that moment, that I just didn't do that, that I didn't take a handle of life and said, let me make everybody happy, let me accomplish this damn thing, move on. Everybody, love everywhere, we're done. I made up for that. Yesterday I was in the store, these little girls were buying candy. They were 14 kronor short— $2-something cents short. I walked into store. The guy was trying to tell them multiple different languages you need 14 kronor.

They didn't understand.

They were counting their money like what we're gonna do for it? Without hesitation, I told the guy I will pay for it. The guys' eyes popped out of their head. The little girl's like th-th-th-th-thank you! I said done, I'll pay for it. Pay for it immediately, and I put the item down that I wanted.

Pay for it, done.

That's the way life is. You just take care of it. You give love, you don't hesitate, and you just freaking attack the damn thing, and you make everybody happy. And you don't think anything about it. The guy at the store won't think about it, he got paid. Little girls won't think anything about it, they got their candy. I'm not thinking about it because I can afford freaking $2.10. And you attack life and you make everybody happy. You give love everywhere, and it doesn't mean a goddamn thing, and you keep on going. That's the way you wake up and that's the way you live life. You don't feel sorry for yourself, you lift more weights than you possibly can, and you accomplish everything, and you go to bed feeling damn good because you know the world is a happier place because you exist. That's life.

This is Thomas Anglero. I love you with all my heart. Love yourself with all your heart. 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.