Tony Suriano recounts flying to the Philippines in 2016 against his father's advice, a nine-month trip that led to meeting his future wife and building a beach house lifestyle. He argues that where you focus your attention shapes your story, and if you don't direct your life deliberately, someone else's agenda will.
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All right, this is episode 40, and I'm your host, Tony Suriano. I'm excited. If you're new here, thank you for being here. This podcast is all about helping you stop drifting towards meaningless activities and start focusing on the things that matter, that light you up like a Christmas tree. All right, today's episode is a special one because I'm including my full short 5-minute speech I gave recently to a terrific audience that I believe will not only motivate you to get you going and focus on the things that matter to you, but also will help you declare— to make a declaration, a line in the sand— so you will stop drifting and start directing. Also, if you can do me one little favor, if you enjoy this podcast, I would really appreciate if you could rate And review the show, specifically on Apple, because it really helps get this show out there and spread it around so everyone can start directing their lives. And with that said, please enjoy the rest of this episode, and thank you for tuning in. Direct your life, or someone else will. You're either drifting or you're directing. You're either growing. Or you're shrinking. Now, here's the truth you might not want to hear, but I'm here to tell you the truth. Where you are right now in your life is a result of what you're putting up with. What are you tolerating? Is it the stress you were tolerating? The doubts? Are you tolerating the negative comments? It's what is responsible for your joy or your pain. And I want you to not just nod your head and go, that makes sense. I want you to feel it here. Feel that because you're responsible with what you put up with, and you got to stop tolerating certain things. Stop tolerating the distractions of the world that don't serve who you want to be. Let that sink in. I was focusing, which is the most important part, in 2016 December. I was focusing on adventure, new glory, new possibilities when I was flying to the Philippines. And focus is everything. So I was just in this bliss flight. I always think back of the conversation that could have kept me on the ground, and that was with my dad. So I told him, I said, hey, Dad, I'm going to Asia for 9 months. I'm starting with the Philippines. My Italian father was like, the Philippines? What? Don't you watch the news? That's dangerous. Have you been there? Well, no, but don't you have a career here? Don't you want to do something with that? You know, maybe 10 years down the line. 10 years? Yeah, no thanks. I was focused on adventure. He was focused on protecting me. But based off of what? His fears, the other people, the news directing him and not serving him. So I went to the Philippines. I went on adventure. I experienced gratefulness because I stayed in a third world country. There was poverty. I lived with them as the locals for a little while. Then a long while, I transferred into the millionaire lifestyle. I was on the beach, on a house. Basically, my front yard was a beautiful ocean, clear, bright, starfish everywhere. It was so gorgeous. Sure, I stuck my hand in my bag. I got, you know, zapped or stung by a black scorpion. That happened. But I made it, Dad. So I want you to understand something. Your focus is key. Tony Robbins, the best results coach in the world to me, he says it like this: where your focus goes, your story flows. Where your focus goes, your story flows. And it's so true because your brain is a camera, and what you focus on, you zoom into, magnifies. You magnify in garbage, you magnify in a bad Tuesday, Boom, it blows up. But if you magnify on beauty and adventure and glory, that's what you get. So today I want you to stop the negative distractions. Stop letting others direct your life. Stop focusing on things that don't serve you. And today it has to stop. One important thing you cannot do is compare yourself to others, because if you're trying to go here and you're looking over here comparing, it's cutting you down. You need to kill the comparison. That makes sense? Say yes. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. You need to stop the comparison, and the reason is because it shifts your focus away from progress into the perfection desire. And perfection is an illusion. You're never going to get there. And that is the problem, because when you're comparing, you actually are taking away from your gold, and you can't You can't do what's best for you when you compare. It pulls you in other directions, and and again, from progress to perfection. Think about it, and it cuts you down. It makes you feel less than. It makes you feel like I I don't deserve it, or that's for them. I can't. I won't. No, you have to step forward and just pull your focus in. If I would have listened to my dad. With his focus on fear, I may have stayed in LA, my hometown, Los Angeles, could have still been single, and I could have not met the love of my life in the Philippines, which I married and brought over to America, starting a family. It's all about what you focus on. And if, if you don't focus on your life, if you don't direct your life, someone else will. I promise you that. Someone else will. So I'll leave you with this: someone else's movie is not going to be as fulfilling or fun or glorious as your own. So get out there and direct your life. Thank you. Hey, if you listened this far, thank you for being there for yourself. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope it sparked some inside turmoil that you need to work on. I hope it gives you a little bit of a jolt so you start focusing on your life, because freaking time is finite and you deserve more. And if you give more to yourself, you can give more to others. So that's it for this episode. If you loved it, don't forget Please rate and review the show, leave a comment, and share this episode. Thank you once again for tuning in. Now get out there and do what you know you need to do. Direct your life.
