In this solo motivational podcast, Tony Suriano opens by admitting his own tendency toward burnout and his habit of injecting fun into his work to stay energized. He introduces the central theme – the "G word," giving up – recounting a recent night when he felt the urge to quit his big dreams. Rather than surrender, he uses self‑talk to postpone the decision, treating the impulse as a temporary feeling to be examined later. He expands the discussion to a five‑year perspective, warning that giving up now can lead to lifelong regret, and urges listeners to live without regrets by committing fully to their aspirations. A core part of his strategy is deliberately scheduling fun and using a daily checklist that includes items such as smiling, listening intently, being supportive, networking, sharing the magic, being patient, decisive, and assertive. He explains how each habit reinforces presence, gratitude, and personal growth, and stresses that consistency beats short‑term bursts. Throughout, he reframes negative self‑talk, promotes resourcefulness over needing external resources, and highlights that difficulty is a catalyst for greatness. The episode ends with a call to action: share the episode, rate the podcast, and apply the checklist to become one's best self.
Chapters
I know that I get obsessed with things, and I often bring the fun into those things, or else I'd be burned out. And yes, I have been burned out, and usually it's— my thought is, oh, I didn't take a fun break. I didn't bring fun in the work. My wife says this intro sounds like a conspiracy mystery, so I'll stop that voice and tell you this show is for you, to get you on the track you want for your life. I'm going to share encouraging educational content Hopefully entertaining, that will help you direct your life. Direct our minds to choices and commitments that will serve us. This is a quote from Brendon Burchard from his book, The Motivation Manifesto. I'm finishing up, really great book if you haven't read it. I'm Tony Suriano. Welcome into the episode. Today I want to just talk a little bit about the G word. Giving up. Last night I laid my head down to sleep and I truly wanted to give up. There's a lot going on, a lot of dreams I have, big dreams, hard goals, creative endeavors, and I'm narrowing in, but it seems far away and I kind of wanted to give up. So I'm laying my head on the pillow. I, I don't have a pit in my stomach, but my stomach feels empty. Now, if I gave up, I'd probably have the deep pit. And my stomach's empty, I'm in bed, and I'm thinking, this G word, damn, I don't feel it that often anymore, but it does hit me sometimes. What do I do about it? I'm not going to go to sleep on that note, that note of giving up. So I just told myself, I directed and committed to myself, let's not give up tonight or tomorrow. Let's procrastinate on giving up. Let's see what happens. Let's be curious and let's just push that G word To another time zone. Because if I didn't say that, if I didn't self-talk myself out of that, it could be detrimental. Have you ever been in that situation where you talked yourself out of something good? You talked yourself out of going for the dream or walking up to that stranger that just— dang, they attract you. You just want to say hello, and before you know it, you talked so much to yourself, they're gone, and you're like, where'd they go? That happened to me a lot more than I like to admit growing up. So don't do that. Do not submit to the G word. Change it. Change it to something that empowers you. And if you don't, think about the 5 years that will pass no matter what. And then you look back and you say, wow, 5 years passed. I gave up on this dream that would have taken 1 year to fully commit, go all in, and at least know what could have happened, what I could have been. You don't want to get to the end of the 5 years— even worse, you don't want to get to the end of your life and think those negative thoughts. You want to get to the end of your life, just like me I'm sure, where you look back and say, dang, I did everything. I pushed as hard as I could. I had as much fun as possible. I didn't give up. Those dreams were meant to come to fruition because they meant something for me. And I got to know what would have happened if I committed, which I did. So no regrets. That's what you want. It's cliché, live life with no regrets. But are you? Are you living life without regrets? If you die today, are you going to be complaining about that? Or are you going to say, you know, I'm dying today, I lived, so it's okay. I'm dying today. I live, so it's okay. And if it's not okay and you haven't lived and you are fearing death, which sure, there's a little bit of uncertainty there, we don't know exactly what happens, but it's the unexplainable that's interesting and curious. So let's just allow that to sit over there in the unexplained bin and live today. So when we get there, we know we did all we could. We know that we pushed and we had fun. And I keep using that word fun because— are you having fun? Are you having enough fun? Are you scheduling fun? I know that I get obsessed with things, and I often bring the fun into those things, or else I'd be burned out. And yes, I have been burned out, and usually it's— my thought is, oh, I didn't take A fun break. I didn't bring fun in the work. I didn't get together with people. It's been 4 months and I've been locked in writing this book. I need to see someone. I need to hang out with someone. I need to have deeper conversations and they have to be fun. I need to smile more. I need to trigger that smile. You're gonna like this or you're gonna hate it, but recently I started adding in my Daily checkbox. I have an app and it has daily repeatable checklists. I'll actually read you what they are right now if you're interested. The one of the first ones is a checkbox, and next to that checkbox says smile exclamation mark. I know that sounds funny and silly, and if you're on YouTube you might be able to see it, but I do it because We need to be reminded to be empowered. It's not just an automatic thing. Yes, eventually it becomes this ritual that you do, you snap into, and most of your days become great, even in times that are tough. Even when things are going bad, you're still present and you're still bringing the gratitude to the situation. That is the goal. Yet you have to keep working out the mind and the body and the soul to stay in shape. You can't just go to the gym for 2, 3 months and then never go again and keep those muscles. That's not how it works. There's no shortcuts. So what I have on this checklist is also a checkbox that says listen intently. I know listening has been the hardest thing to master And it's something you never truly master, but really mastering something is ongoing. So I decided to have a checkbox that I look at at the end of each day, and I said, do I listen intently? Did I listen intently? Yeah, that was— I was present today. I remember recapping what someone said to me so I wasn't waiting to speak. And this has been A work in progress for 20+ years, and I have been getting incrementally better. The next thing I have is be supportive. We're jumping right into these checklists, but they're actually tools, so use them as a tool. If you can, write these down as reminders to set up your own daily tools. You can borrow some of mine, but I know you have some of yours that you're dying to write down. So be supportive. Was I supportive when I talked to that person, or was it all about me? Network. That's another one I'm working on. Smile. I told you. I also have one that says share the magic. Now, I'm a magician, so I actually do share magic with cards and coins and rings and, and stuff in person. But also, we all have magic in our hearts, and that's the magic I'm really talking about. But I get double points if I do real magic and magician magic. I also have one called Be Patient. By the way, I have funny little emojis next to each of them that give me a little smirk when I'm looking at my silly checklist. So make it fun and you'll do it. So I have Be Patient with a silly little smiley face next to it. Then I have Be Decisive. Isn't it true we all could use some more decisiveness when it comes to the things daily that go on in our lives? Yes, it is. And I remember way back growing up, I was so indecisive. And I, I would tell people, I'm like, I can't decide. I don't know. I'm not good at deciding. And guess what? I would say I'm not good. I'm not good. I'm not good. And I became worse. Stop negative self-talk. This is not based on me, not based on you. It is based on science and all of the world. We know this for so many years now that it is true. When you have negative self-talk, it is detrimental to your being. So be good to yourself, even in times that are tough. That's when it counts the most. Then I have my last one here is be assertive. Make sure you're going after what you care about, what matters to you, what truly matters to you. Because if you're not, what are you doing? What's the alternative? Just dabbling around and waiting for life to bestow greatness upon you? That's not how it works. That did just remind me of a Shakespeare quote. Some men are born great, some men achieve greatness, and some men have greatness thrust upon them. I do believe there's some truth to that, because you can be born in a family that just pushes you to become your greatest self. You might have lucked out with the right parents. You could have this new opportunity that comes into your life That you must own to step into greatness though. You have to own it. So back to this checklist idea. I'm checking myself every day with this checklist. Are you checking yourself? There's an old song, check yourself before you wreck yourself. There's probably several, but I'm thinking of the rap one. I forgot what it's called. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Because when you do not have a checklist on what you want to be written down, it's so easy to forget. It's so easy to let it get lost in the ether. And it's the same for your dreams and your goals and your friends and your family and your career. If you don't write down your goals, your dreams, how you want your relationships to develop All that good stuff, you won't get them. You will forget it. By the way, there's a train track over here making a little bit of noise. If you're on YouTube, you could see it right here. If you're on the audio platform, you can't, but you can envision it. And I'm watching this— it's not even a train, it's actually a truck. A truck on the train tracks with train wheels. That's weird. Really weird. I digress. I think this episode is really about being your best self, but actually every episode is about that, because when you're your best self, those around you benefit, and you start liking yourself more. Because guess what? You're thriving, you're striving. to be something you believe in. So get out there and be yourself every single day. Remember, it's hard, but the best things come out of difficulties, not easiness. Do not think you deserve an easy life. Do not think you deserve an easy way. It takes the oomph, the push, the press, and you will triumph. So in times of doubt, when you want to give up, when you want that G word to to embrace you so you could just feel, quote, better. Yeah, I gave up because it was too hard. I gave up because no one believed in me. No one helped me. I didn't have the resources. Get that out of your brain. The best of the best say you don't need resources, you need to be resourceful. That's what I tell you now. That's what I tell me. In this moment, because when I'm talking to you about this, I'm talking to me as well, because I am human and I have my difficulties. And the other night, I wanted to give up. I decided not to. I committed to being my best self and just going into practice mode so I get some progress, so I have a little more happiness. And I feel a little better. I don't know why, uh, sometimes I, I turn into a little kid when I, when I talk about these things, because I'd be boring if I wasn't like this. So I hope this episode served you. Please share this with someone you know needs to hear it. And if you haven't rated the show, it takes a minute. Please check it out. Apple Podcasts, rate it there, review it. Let me know what you If you're on YouTube, please subscribe. This helps the channel. This helps me more than you know. Thank you again, and get out there, direct your life, be committed, and stay fun. Thank you.
