Success in Life is a Long Game, Don't Rush It

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 do you ever realize how long life is? That we're actually playing the long game? That, you know, we— you, you think about all the things you need to get done, you need to— about, you think about all the things you want to succeed in But do you ever give yourself a break and say, damn, these things are going to take time? It never feels like that in the moment, does it? Gotta get this done, gotta succeed, gotta be successful, gotta make that money, gotta do well on this project. Everything has to be right now, here and now. But when you look back at success, how many things you've been successful with— I mean, real successful How many of them happen spontaneously? Not many of them. You know, there's that story about the, the, the tree that you plant in the ground and the bamboo tree. The bamboo tree, it grows something like 15 meters. In one year. But for the first 5 years after you plant it, nothing happens. But on the 6th year, it grows 15 meters. The question is, did it take one year to grow 15 meters, or did it take 6? Things take time. Yesterday was my wife and I's wedding anniversary, our 24th year wedding anniversary. And as you do on such momentous occasions, you reflect back. And I started to list all of the huge challenges, events, births, sicknesses, job losses, new job positions, moving to a different country, moving back, moving back to another country. Just these humongous things that happen in life. And we realize that after 24 years, we're finally at a place that we talked about when we were dating 24 years ago. Things take time. Today, with all the things that are going on— and I say today because you can hear— you're listening to this podcast any day and you feel like you just gotta do this, you gotta do that, you gotta do this— everything takes time. You need to have a plan, a strategy, of course. Now let's break that down. Number 1, you need to have a strategy, not a plan. A plan is I'm going to get this thing done. The strategy is how are you going to get it done? Who specifically are you going to talk to? What are the steps? And then with the strategy, where people fail at strategies, they write this list. Number 1, I'm going to do this. Number 2, I'm going to do this. That's cool. Number 3, I'm going to do this. Great, you have it in sequential order. But what you forgot to add was a timeline, a realistic timeline. Things take so long when you're dealing with people. You don't control their thoughts. You don't control control their decision-making capabilities, and you definitely don't control the spontaneity of being irrational. We human beings are irrational. You are irrational. I am irrational. Love is irrational. How many times have you been with someone or fallen in love with someone or liked someone that was absolutely wrong for you? That shit was not supposed to happen. It's irrational. But yet it happens. And those irrational things make life much more beautiful. So with all that, how can we expect— how can you expect to get things done now? You can't change people. You can't force anybody to change the same way nobody can force you to change or force you to make a decision, even at gunpoint. If you truly believe in what you believe in, it's worth the bullet. So you have to understand that life is a long game. Life and all the most wonderful things, and also the most painful things, they come and then they go. Sometimes they come back. I have a family friend and friend, and A player of mine, basketball player of mine, his father, beautiful man, he's suffering with cancer. And I, Christian, I send my blessings to you. I hope everyone listening sends their blessings to him and everybody who's sick and was suffering with cancer. We have friends, we have family member who I love very much, he also has cancer. People, it's everywhere, and we can't control these things. And these things happen, and these things take time. So you got your plan, you got your strategy, but you also have people you need to take care of. What's more important? So you put the plan, you put the strategy on the side, and you take care of the ones you love. And that's why you can't beat yourself up when things take time, because time is your friend, it's not your enemy. You just have to understand you're playing the long game. Life is the long game. These interruptions along the way to you completing your master plan, your plan of success, is life. They're not annoyances, they're not bumps in the road, they're not, um, hindrances. They're actually the essence of life. They're actually— during those moments, you'll never know who you're going to meet. You're never going to know who you meet inside of you when these things happen, because the endgame cannot be you being rich, financially rich. If that's it, that's boring and that's shallow. Along the way, you take care of people who are sick, you take care of people who are needy, you take care of yourself, and there is the beauty that you find within you and you find within other people, so that when you reach your endgame and you are financially wealthy— and congratulations— you have people to share it with. See the difference? It was life along the way telling you that life is about people and you together, not just you. Life is a long game and life is painful, but life is beautiful. It's just a long game. 24 years it took us to get here. 24 years. Oh man. So my reflection is that don't beat yourself up. And we all beat ourselves up. We all have crises that we got to get done now.

We gotta—

it's a long game. It's a long game. And along the way, promise yourself that you're going to engage with people, enjoy their company. You're not going to run away from them. You're not going to prioritize other people, other things, yourself. Prioritize life and all those challenges and all those ups. And there are a lot of great ups and a lot of great smiling and a lot of great people, a lot of great evenings that you probably supposed to do things you weren't supposed to do. And there's a lot of downs, and that's when it really kicks in, and that's when it's really hard, and that's when life just is all over. And that's good because it makes you alive. Play the long game. Take care of yourself. Be nice to yourself. Realize that it doesn't have to happen now. It doesn't have to happen now. God. That it not happening now is probably one of the biggest blessings for you, because then you have time to enjoy and experience life. Go forth and spread beauty and light, and remember, life is a long game. It's about meeting people losing friends, gaining new friends, falling in love, falling out of love, new jobs, old jobs, missed appointments, new appointments, injuries. This, you know, I can make the list forever. That's just life. And through it all, you meet people, you smile, you laugh. And you cry. And at the end of the day, at the end of the long game, you've lived an incredible life and you'll be forever remembered. The long game is awesome. I love you. Until the next time, this is Thomas Anglero in a reflective mode after 24 years of marriage And I'm good to go for another 24. Easy. It's not gonna be easy. Nothing's easy, but it sounds good. I love you. Take care until the next time. Bye-bye.

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.