Motivating Yourself

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero. And have you heard the expression just do it? I think that's the Nike slogan or something, but it's not. That is actually the mantra for your entire life. It's the mantra to get you through hard times. It's the mantra to get you out of bed. It's the mantra to get you to stop thinking so much and have you buried inside of all the thoughts that you have. It's the mantra that's going to make you money. It's the mantra that's going to get you the success that you've always dreamt of. Let me tell you a story. I was talking to a whole bunch of people recently, and I think, you know, there is no coincidence in when the same topic or the same conclusion keeps popping up in conversations and people you're talking to, random people, not the same people. They have no overlap in your life, and yet the answer to their troubles or the path that they need to take most recently, it's always been just do it. And I started thinking our minds, our thoughts, our questioning everything, thinking, overthinking everything.

Do you overthink everything?

Do you think a lot about things? It's like thinking your thing.

Why isn't doing your thing Think about it.

Pono words. At the end of the day, if you actually kept track of all the different things you thought about, at the end of the day, what would you have? About 10 things you thought about? Individually different things? Probably some people like, I think about 10 things in a minute, or maybe in about 30 seconds. No, probably be about 100 things. Some people would be 500 things. Some people could be in the thousands. Other people like, I couldn't even possibly write down all the individual things that I thought about during the day, or even just like a little Roman numerals or checkmarks to keep track of it. My point is, is that we think so much, but if we did, if we completed task, if we started task, forget about completing a task, start a task, start an idea. From the second you get the idea and you start thinking about it, you stop thinking about it and you go, 'Cause I'm thinking about it, I'm going to do it.' At the end of the day, what would that piece of paper that you kept track of, what would it look like? It would be a list of projects, it would be a list of accomplishments, it would be a picture of your new life because you now have experience, you now have action, and you've— because you have action, you actually did something, You either completed it and are proud, completed it— didn't complete it and learned something, but you are further down the road. You are either more mature, more intellectual, you are— the minimum, you're wiser. If you just think about something, think and think, same thought, of like a record playing the same song over and over. Or if you don't know what a record is, the CD. If you don't know what CD is, God help me. The same song on your Spotify playlist going over and over and over and over, driving you out of your mind when you hear the same song over and over. That's the same thing you're doing to yourself when you have the same thought over and over, but you're not doing anything. So I told these people, just do. We had long conversations about life, challenges, hindrances, stuck in a place you can't get out of.

And I said, just do.

So what the difference was is I told them, look, I'm not going to stop right now until you actually start something. Just start. Just start something. And I was on the phone with these people. I wasn't face to face, unfortunately. And I said, I'm not putting down the phone until you right now put me on speakerphone and just start. They go, oh, it's awkward. Ah, just start. And they just started to do it. And as they started to do it, I coached them, pushed them. Come on, Chad, keep on.

Come on.

What's the next thing? Do it. What's the next thing you think you should do? Do it. Okay, good. What was the result of that? All right, then what's the logical next step? Oh, that's it. Just, just, just do it. And in the course of 5 to 10 minutes, I'm not even talking about like I did that for half an hour, which is kind of annoying to just have that conversation with anybody. But in the time of, in 5 to 10 minutes, they made more progress physically than they had probably in months. But the biggest change was that elephant that, that was sitting on their shoulder or inside or on top of their head that was driving me crazy with that thought— not only was it gone, but they were embarrassed at themselves, even wondering why did they let this thing build up.

And that's the problem.

We have thoughts playing over and over and over, and it builds up, and it's just like an empty balloon. But the balloon is so big and it's stuck in a small room that this balloon that's full of nothing— you know, have a picture of like a balloon in a box. Now the box, and there's a closed box, the balloon, you're putting more and more air into that balloon in the closed box. That balloon is putting more and more pressure on the inside of that closed box, right? And that balloon is full of what?

Nothing, just air.

But it's like the balloon— the metaphor is the balloon is a thought. This thought is inside your head and it's growing, it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger, taking up more and more pressure inside your precious little mind. And then, but what's inside that thought, or that metaphor of a balloon?

Nothing.

And so when you do something, when these two people actually acted on it, they realized that all the air came out of the balloon, that there was no pressure. The pressure was gone, but there should have never been any pressure there. This is the power of just doing.

Just doing.

People make to-do lists. Some people can't make a to-do list because it's too, too long or too painful, but that's okay. What I want you to do right now is you can pause this podcast, or you do whatever the hell you want, actually.

But I want you to do— what is it that's eating you right now? What is it that's bothering you right now? Just do it. Is it calling someone? Is, is it paying a bill? Is it, um, not eating something? Is it you miss someone? Call them. Go for a walk instead of eating something. Pay that bill, contact someone. The action of just doing, it actually is not just the completion of the task, but it's sort of the first step or the second step. You're never going to experience more of the life you have now unless you just do something, because then you're going through the— into the next room. Think of it that way.

The reason why you're spinning around and around, or like the gerbil or hamster in the wheel, right?

It's going nowhere, but it's using huge amounts of effort. You're going nowhere, but using huge amount of effort thinking about the same thing because you're just thinking about it. You have to just do.

The other person that I helped out with, they actually did quite well.

They're a day trader. I told them, stop thinking about it, just do it.

Come on, put me on speakerphone, let's go.

And they did real well in the course of 4 hours. They made, for an average person's income, about half a year of a person's income. They made that much money in 4 hours. They just had to do. Stop thinking. What amazing things that you have not allowed into your life because you have just have it stuck in think mode. Wanna be happier? Just do something. Go for a walk, play the piano, go to the store and take your time at the store, contact someone, do what you know you're supposed to be doing. I can't come up with all the possible scenarios, You're the one with all the scenarios in your head. Just do it.

What's—

there's nothing to be scared of. What you should be really scared of is the examples I gave you, people who actually did what they knew they were supposed to do that was sitting inside their head.

They made so much progress in minutes.

In minutes. What you should be scared of is that You're holding yourself back, and you've been holding yourself back. And that progress is right on the other side, is literally minutes away from your life.

And then once that progress is there, it's permanently be a part of your life.

That person you always wanted, the job you always wanted, the income you always wanted, the success you always wanted, the popularity, the new idea to finish that project. The energy to do something is all there. You have to do. And where that comes from is believing in yourself. A lot of us can't do something because we just lack that energy or belief in self. My motivation is if I do this, when I'm done with the task, or even if I don't finish the task, along the way, I'm going to like myself more. So I'm just going to do. Go forth and spread beauty and light in your life by just doing something for you, and even better, for someone else. I had someone call me the other day, and the guy is looking for a job, and he was really awkward because we've never met before.

We were put in contact by a mutual friend. She said, can you help this guy out?

I said, sure, of course.

We get on the call, and he didn't know how to start the call. He didn't know how to— you know, he was embarrassed. And the first thing I said is, let me help you out.

And I instantly started sharing with him websites, everything I knew, contacts that I had, and overwhelmed him.

When we were all done, he said, "Thank you." I said, "You're welcome." And I said, "I gotta run," even though I didn't have to.

I didn't want to make it awkward. I just want him to feel the love and appreciation and someone not wanting anything back. So when I say go forth and spread beauty and light, you can spread that beauty and light to others without any expectation to get anything back. What you get from that is that you know you helped someone and you just did something quite significant. So if you can't help yourself Help others, and by doing that, you help yourself.

I'm Thomas Anglero.

Hacks for the mind. Hacks to unleash your soul so that you have the life you deserve. And the love that you cherish. 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.