This YouTube conversation (hosts Matt Belair and Josh Trent) explores how people discover and pursue vocation, purpose, and personal potential. Matt emphasizes asking bold reflective questions (e.g., "what would you do if you had a million dollars a day forever?"), leaving default social currents, and cultivating a "soul compass"—a directional, not destination-focused, sense of vocation. He references real-world examples (Wim Hof, Burning Man, martial arts), describes creating a course called "Soul Compass," and offers a view of consciousness as the capacity to intend.
Chapters
Who are the leaders in consciousness, spirituality, personal development, health and wellness, and human potential? What are we capable of? Because, like Wim Hof, I love him for a great example because he's like, hey, you can do this. So he did all these things that were supposed to be impossible and amazing. He's like, now you can do this, too. And now this whole entire community has a new set of beliefs of what they believe are capable of doing. And with martial arts, that's what it was for me, was it pushes you beyond what you think you're capable of. So then you are less afraid of other things. And you say, you know what? I could take that same skill, determination and grit, essentially, and apply all those principles to something positive I want to create in this world. And the more of us that get closer to a vocation, that thing, that livelihood that inspires us, because money is basically the modern form of slavery. If you're lucky to be in a western country or a developed country, you have an opportunity to make money, have a little bit of freedom, and then build, you know, a vocation or build something you're inspired to do, which is which, What I've seen is almost always of service to other people. When you're just making money for money, you really don't care what the impact is or, you know, what you're doing. So if we can get all towards right livelihood or thinking about a vocation, it's always of service to other people. And that's a lot of what I try to help people with on the podcast. Say, you know, who are you? What do you want to do? What would you do if you had a million dollars deposited in your bank every single day for the rest of your life? What would you do if you only had one year to live? Well, what makes you think you're going to have more than one year to live? You know what I mean? And so asking these questions, you know, if you were to just give yourself right now a dream, passion, purpose, mission, you know, what would that be? And in helping a lot of people do this, I created a course called Soul Compass. And the idea is just like the heading, going to Burning man, which I don't know if they'll ever have again, I hope so. Is a lot of fun, but you kind of like get a sense of who people are really quick. And you say you want to jump in. You look like you want to have.
I haven't been there.
I was just.
You were feeling what I was gonna say. I haven't been there yet, and I'M like, I hope they have it, because I'd love to go.
Yes. Tons of. It's tons of fun. I've also, you know, because I go down all the rabbit holes. Some of them say it's like a dark thing by the CIA. Could be, too. You know, I had a. I say it could be like, you know, even on the left, like, with climate change, because people, they'll say, climate change is this. I'm like, yeah. I was like, climate change could be real, and you could still hijack the movement to do bad things. You know what I mean? Like, they can. There could. There could be simultaneous truths. You know what I mean? And so that's a side note. So for the Burning man example, you just kind of figure out how people are. And. And most people, like, when I ask those questions, what would you do if you had a million dollars a day forever? They have no idea. They never even thought about it. And that's all I ever thought about is, like, who I am, how do I want to express, and how do I want to give back? And so if you're thinking about your vocation or your life purpose, most people don't know if they're going north, east, south, or west. And it's not about a final destination. It's about a current. And so if you're not creating your life on purpose, it's getting created for you by default by, you know, other people's wishes for you, maybe your parents, maybe your culture.
Thought current we were talking about, you're.
Getting caught in someone else's current, the mainstream thought current. Yeah, it could be right, Safety, security, right. Whatever the case is. And then you're in that stream, like a stream of fish. Well, all you really need to do is start thinking for yourself, do some reflection. Then you're like, oh, you know what? I'm gonna go north. And you don't know. Exactly. And so then you start paddling north. You get out of that current, it's a little bit wobbly. Then all of a sudden, after a while, you get into a new current and you start to getting all these new experiences that show up in your life. And then you're going, like, northeast. And you refine it and refine it and refine it. So you're, like, really dialed in on the 360 degrees, but it's not a final destination. It's a way, right? And so you're gonna, like, I didn't know I was gonna do the podcast. I didn't know I was gonna write a book. I didn't know I was gonna interview David Martin, you know what I mean? And, like, for me, I was like, I wanna be around amazing people who are providing solutions. And then, you know, part of that is traveling the planet. And I, you know, I went to Egypt. I got to do a lot of cool things now. Things are obviously shifting, but it's a direction and an intention and the universe kinds of kind of brings it to me. But the way that I kind of share it with people so they understand is from my experience, it's like the forest. If you go into the forest and you see a beaver pretending to be an eagle, it's going to be a terrible eagle. And he's not going to have a good experience. He's going to hate everything. He's like, why am I even doing this? And then, you know, you've got a fish trying to be a duck, and then he's obviously not. That's not working out. So whenever we get centered on who we are, what our own passions and interests are, what our curiosities are, and we merge that with practicing it, taking the time to refine it, and then figuring out a way to share that with others and saying, universe, please show me a way that I can continue to move and evolve and experience the things that I'm passionate about, but also share that with others in a way that I can provide for my family, make a positive impact, and do something positive for others. It's always of service to everything else. It's always cohesive and coherent and cooperative with the environment. So now the beaver is doing beaver things, chopping down the trees and making his little dams, and somehow it's always cooperative for the environment. So I feel like that's. That's the message that I'd like to share with people, is just connect to your own. Your own purpose, your own vocation, your own empowerment, your own connection with spirit. Live in the best way you can in kindness, compassion and happiness and contentment. And just set your intention constantly with prayer and reminder to, you know, kind of make your life a living prayer. Because none of us really have any idea what is going on here, right? If you think about it, right, like life, we really only know a tiny bit of a tiny bit. We really have no idea what's going on. And so. But we do know what we can intend. And having a good discussion with one of my friends, I felt like, oh, maybe that's what consciousness is. It's just the ability to intend. Like, he goes, what is mind? You know, I was like, thinking about it's the consciousness and mind is the only piece that I can intend because it just is doing all these crazy, random things all the time that I'm not controlling the thought current. But when I connect with the presence, I can then intend. Then I can try to be peaceful and present, but then I intend again. Or I am a slave to all of these external forces. And I make reasons why I need to make these choices. I need to make a reason why I show up at this job I hate. I make a reason why I make this choice that. That I know will harm someone else. I make up a reason why I need to go do this thing and enforce my views on someone else. Right. With your work and my work, it's an invitation. These are views that you can take or leave. And I hope that they will empower you to live a more fulfilled, whole, purposeful life so you can spread that energy with others.
I love the picture you're painting because people have traded convenience for their freedom for so long. Like, I think we all feel it. Like, we've seen our potentially fathers, mothers, grandparents, like, trade the toaster for sovereignty, Trade the car, the things, the objects for, like, this potential carrot that's somehow going to bring us happiness. And I love this, man. This is like, one of the most practical, real grounded conversations we've had on the podcast about what it means to be a human. You know, we can't fulfill our human potential if we're distracted by convenience. Because convenience, I feel like, is the opposite. It's like the dark contrast of freedom. Freedom is something that we're all born with. We're all born free. But I feel like it's our life path. And I love how you have this compass course, which we'll definitely link in this podcast. I love this compass analogy because, like, man, we all get our ass kicked. Let's be real. Like, many people get beat to the ground, and it's on your knees when you might ask God for where's the compass?
