Pride stops men from seeing their own problems and keeps them stuck in isolation and failure. The speaker shares how his own pride through homelessness, addiction, and divorce blocked him from growing until he learned to ask for help. Real change comes from dropping the ego and finding men who will hold you accountable.
The journey of self-destruction begins with a heart of pride. When we have a heart of pride, we think that there's nothing to examine inside of ourselves. We think that we're not the problem, and we externalize, we deflect, we blame, which really makes us a victim of circumstances. That's allowing situations to choose feelings for you. But as we step into empowerment and as we step into our growth, What do we learn? That I have to take ownership of my life, that I have to step into a position inside my life where I recognize that I do need help, that there's guys in front of me on this journey that can help me. And just because I'm not an expert in this area does not mean that I'm incompetent, does not mean there's something wrong with me. It actually means I'm in the greatest position to learn and grow ever. And see, that's what I love about the Total Breakthrough Academy, is that it's men helping men. It's links of a chain, and men find purpose. They find a heart of service through their own pain and through their own transformation, that they become the conduit for that work in another man by reaching out their hand and by saying, hey brother, I've been there. There's power in proximity. There is power in proximity. Show your friends, I'll show you your future. See, the reality is a lot of time we have people in our life that are not on the same journey that we're on. We're in a state of isolation, which I know I used to do constantly, putting myself around people that are just going to validate my mind state, tell me that, yeah, you know, you should divorce your wife, or yeah, you have every reason to be upset, or— right? And being in a position in my life where I finally start to change requires me to do one thing, and it's to remove the mask. To remove, right, the pride, the ego that's made me successful in every area of my life except for my relationships, except for my relationship with myself. Pride will prevent you from connecting to your transformation. Pride will prevent you from seeing the other side of your pain. Pride will prevent you from developing relationships with people that can help you grow and evolve into the 10.0 version of you. Pride will keep you in the bottomless pit, empty, alone, and in a space where you just feel like your life has become hollow and meaningless. And see, pride, right, we don't recognize this. It's— we think a lot of times that, oh, pride and being humble, and I don't need to do that. And— but God is so close to those people. God is close to the brokenhearted. God is close to the men, right, who seek him and know that they need God in their life. They need brothers in their life. They need a process in their life. They need transformation in their life, and they're hungry for it. I can tell you, right, when I was homeless, when I was addicted to heroin, when I was going through a divorce, when I was in situations in my life where I felt like it was the end for me, The one thing that prevented me from my growth the entire time was a heart of pride, telling myself that I got it figured out, that I don't need the help that's being offered to me, that somehow I know the way out, right? And I'm not the problem. But the real problem was that I had put myself inside those positions. I had put myself inside those circumstances, and I tolerated dysfunction. I participated in it. I exacerbated it. I was in the dynamic. I was in the cycle. I was in the matrix. I was in the program, but I didn't want to admit it. I didn't want to admit it because I felt like admitting it means that I was weak or I lost or something was wrong with me. And that was all a part of a story I told myself. You got to break out of that story. You got to know there's something so much greater for you when you drop your ego, when you drop the pride. Don't let your pride take you down a path of self-destruction that only inhibits your growth. Remember this: pride came before the fall. Pride came before the fall. Look at what happened with the enemy. Look at what happened with Lucifer. He got a heart of pride. And see, that's the problem a lot of times, is the enemy's got you focusing on everything in your life that you can't have, stepping you out of a place of gratitude in your life to recognize the gifts and the blessings that God has bestowed upon you. Because in reality You're just borrowing it all anyways, right? You're not taking any of the stuff that you got with you, and people aren't going to remember, right, what you had and the money in your account. People aren't going to remember any of that. You know what they're going to remember? How you made them feel. That's what they're going to remember. Is there room for learning and growth? Always. Do I need help in that process sometimes? Absolutely. Is there anything wrong with that? No, because champions understand. High performers understand. Entrepreneurs understand. Men who are tapped into growth and finding their true potential understand one thing: that there's always room for improvement.
