Transcription
Well, I'm really pleased to welcome you to lesson number one of the next 30 days to get you to a world-class life, and specifically, everyday heroism.
Well, today's lesson is obviously our starting point of the 10-10-10 heroic transformation accelerator. These next four weeks that are really going to help you upgrade your positivity, your productivity, and your service to the world. And today's lesson is really about remembering your forgotten self.
Today's lesson is very much about you building intimacy with the primal hero that lives at your core. I really do believe that under all of the negative messaging we've picked up as we've gone through life, underneath all the hurts that we've endured from stumbles, whether it's broken relationships, work difficulties, financial difficulties, health difficulties, just living life. I believe that under all the suffering, all the negativity in the world, all the media influences that we pick up, especially in the world of social media where it's a cult, it's now a culture of comparison where we forget that a lot of what we see isn't really true, it's just manufactured. What happens is we forget who we are. And it's really this process from the moment we're born. The sociologists call it enculturation, but I, I call it brainwashing and heart washing because it's not only mindset, it's heart set, and it's spirit washing. We forget who we truly are through this process of receiving all of the stimuli and all of these influences and all of this information. We, we start to think in a way that is not really who, how we are meant to think. We start to feel in ways that don't represent our truest selves. And even physically, we become people that we're not meant to be because I think we're meant to be super healthy and vital and strong. And even spiritually, we behave in ways that are misaligned with who we truly are.
There's a key concept that I generally only teach to my most advanced mentoring clients, and it's the integrity gap. The in-te-grity gap. And essentially, the greater the gap between your heroic self, this is your true self, that word is true, and your social self, the less, less energy you'll have, the less creativity you'll have, less productivity because the less productivity you'll have because there's such an energy drain because you're misaligned, you're not being true to yourself. Your heroic self sees your self-betrayal. Your heroic self sees your self-betrayal. So you'll have less energy, you'll have less creativity, you'll have less productivity. You will have less magic in terms of the work you do, and you'll have less serenity. And so in so many ways, becoming an everyday hero is making the journey from your social self, the person that you now are, that you become through the process of enculturation, just living in the world, and making the journey back to your heroic self so that you close the integrity gap, so you close the integrity gap, and you become your true self.
This is a, the process of a lifetime. Over the next 30 days, you're going to get major gains. Over the year we work together, you're going to be fundamentally different in terms of your focus, your energy, your overall health, your productivity, your performance, your prosperity, your lifestyle, and your impact on the world. But I must share with you because I always want to be honest with you, the journey to your heroic and ideal self and truest self is the journey of a lifetime. I'm no, no one's special. I've been working on myself and doing what I'm teaching to you for my entire adult lifetime, and there's still so much for me to learn. What I've realized in my life is when I get to the top of a mountain, what do I see? I look around and I see more mountains to climb. And so this is, it's like a never-ending process where you get to know more of who you truly are. And what I find is just when I think I've mastered something, I'll then, I'll experience a hard patch or a difficulty, and that's my next level of growth. And then I'll think I mastered that, and then I go along a plateau for a little while, and then I get some more growth to experience. That looks like mess. Write this down, please. Discomfort is growth in wolf's clothing. Discomfort is growth in wolf's clothing.
So in the everyday hero manifesto, there is a story that really is important for this first lesson, and it's the golden Buddha story. So many years ago, in Thailand, they had this golden Buddha that was revered by the people of the area, of the nation, and it was an absolutely priceless treasure. And they would pray to this idol, they would revere the golden Buddha, they would walk by it, and it would uplift them and give them an ideal to aspire towards in terms of noble values. It was just, it was just one of the most important things to the people of this nation. Then it became clear that there was going to be a war, and that there would be conquering, that there, there would be invaders. And so the monks whose to pray to the golden Buddha hatched a plan and they said, "Why don't we cover this golden Buddha with layers of mud and layers of clay so that the invaders, when they come, will not steal this priceless treasure that is so important to us?" So they did it. They put layer on layer, one layer of mud and clay over this massive golden Buddha until it just became a mountain of mud. And sure enough, the invaders came into the country, and they didn't see it, and they couldn't spot it, and it was protected, and they didn't touch it, they didn't steal it.
Now, hundreds of years later, someone was walking by this mountain of mud, and what did they see? They saw a glimmer of gold. So they went and got their friends, and they started digging away layer, like they just started chipping away at the clay in the mud, and they saw more gold. And they started moving through the layers, they saw more gold. Moving through the layers, more gold appeared. They got more excited. They started chipping through more layers, more. The monks came and started chipping. They were all a bunch of chipping away monks, working together, laughing, cheerful, and enthusiastic and energetic, moving layer and layer and layer, and more gold showed up. And then eventually, they saw this incredible golden Buddha, and they were awestruck. And if you look in the everyday hero manifesto, you'll see a picture where I was blessed and privileged to have. I was in Bangkok to do a leadership presentation, and I made the time to go see the golden Buddha. There's a picture in the book where I was standing in front of him.
That's a great metaphor for us to start this journey together for everyday heroism. Here in lesson number one, at your core is gold. At your core is treasure. I mean, at your core, before the world taught you to be afraid, before the world taught you not to be a possibilitarian, before the world taught you not to create and think outside the box, before the world taught you not to do your dreams, before the world taught you not to be the most loving person. I'm not saying you don't protect yourself, I'm saying be loved too. We've been taught all these things intellectually by the dominant beliefs of society, and we've also picked up emotional scarring and spiritual inflammation. And most of us don't even know. And we think, "Oh, I don't know why I can't be productive. I don't know why I can't build a financial fortune. I don't know why I can't start my startup. I don't know why I never can follow through on my habits. I don't know why I'm always complaining. I don't know why I'm always negative. Don't know why I always have no energy. I don't know why I can't attract love. I don't know why I can't change the world." It's because of the layers that have been placed over the golden Buddha. It's because of all of what I've mentioned, the mindsets, the heart sets, the emotional scarring, the loss of physical vitality, and the spiritual wounding that we've picked up that most people don't even know it's there because it's hidden and invisible. And then they don't, not only do they not have the awareness, which would allow them to make better choices, remember the three-step success formula: better awareness makes better choices, better choices gives you better results. Most people don't even have, and I'm not judging, I'm just reporting, but most people don't have the awareness, so they can't make the choices and see the results. But then they don't have the tools, which you are getting over the next 30 days and then the remaining weeks over the year that I mentor you.
So the golden Buddha metaphor will remind you that under the layers of everything you've picked up, all the fear, all the doubt, all the disbelief, all the disappointment, all the negative messaging, underneath all those layers is gold. And here's another key point from the metaphor: a little bit of work has a payoff. One meditation takes a little bit of the layer off. One 5 AM 202020 session takes more of the mud off, and a bit more gold shines. Reading one book of value brings a bit more light and a little less layer. Going to a seminar, working with an acupuncturist, or a, maybe it's a cognitive therapist, or maybe it's a spiritual healer, maybe it's a bio, a biohacker. I'm a big fan of biohacking. And you know, every month, I will make sure I get my glutathione push, and I'll make sure I get my Myers bag and my vitamin B12 injection. And you know, I, I, I'm not giving you any medical advice, but I have a dream team of people I work with every month to make sure I'm at my best. And so every piece of work you do on yourself, every piece of work you do to upgrade your skills, everything you do to upgrade your prosperity, everything, it takes some of the layers over the gold, and that more of the gold starts to shine.
Please allow me to wrap up this first lesson talking about the PENAM acronym. P E N A M. I shared the concept of the integrity gap. We are born into genius, and then we are schooled, often into mediocrity. Right at our core is that primal everyday hero. Every day hero. This is true you, who you truly are. It's the gold before the layers got put on, right? And then we commit this crime of self-betrayal through enculturation. We forget who we are. We pick up beliefs that really don't serve us. We get hurt emotionally, spiritually, physically. We degrade ourselves. We even degrade the planet. And we start this process of journey of layer upon layer upon layer upon layer over the gold, and we forget our primal heroism and our true state. I think I'm suggesting this, but her true state is, is genius-level thinking and possibility. Our true state is Michelangelo-level creativity. When we were little kids, before we were taught to disbelieve, we were incredibly creative. I think our true state is extraordinary productivity, just so much energy, so much ability to produce masterwork. I think our natural state is world-class health. I mean, underneath the layers of disbelief and negative thinking and shame, guilt, anger, those things create inflammation that creates disease. So underneath all of that is, is radiant vitality. I mean, there are some people, I think the longest-living person so far was a woman in France, and I think she got to around 120. And they're saying over the next relatively short period of time, people will regularly be able to live 220 and beyond. I think our natural state is bravery. You know, the way that something, if we have a bad day, or the world goes through a tragedy, so many people get freaked out, so many people get knocked off their power, so many people start to play victim. And that's because their power is drawn from a source outside of them. Extremely important point. They're getting their power from their identity in the world. They're getting their power from external things. You want to get your power from within. You want to draw all your power from the inner source, your inner heroism. I think our natural state is to be brave and strong and to be anti-fragile, so you get stronger in difficult times. I think our natural state is serenity, just peacefulness. Even if you were in a world war, I know that sounds impossible, but the great spiritual masters, even if there was a world war, they were zen, they were peaceful, they were serene. I think our natural state is definitely tranquility. I think our natural state, but if you're in the world all the time with your phone, meeting after meeting, never take any time to meditate or rest or be in nature, then obviously you're going to be very, very spiritually activated. And I think our natural state is love and service. I think our natural state is we're all brothers and sisters on a very small planet in a galaxy with trillions of stars, and our natural state is to be loving and of service and respectful and and caring and generous. And a lot of us have forgotten that through this process.
So as we get to the end of the lesson, PENAM explains the factors where we create, where we get to this place of the integrity gap. And these are, this is our social self. P is our parents. Parents. Our parents did the best they could do based on what they knew, but often we pick up these beliefs from our parents, like "money doesn't grow on trees." I had one client, a very super high net worth person, he said, "My father said to me when I was growing up, 'All people are liars, cheats, and thieves.'" I've heard another one of my top clients say to me, "My father used to say, 'Oh, those superstars in business, they, those people are just not like us. Those people are just not like us.'" And so let me ask you right now, what are the beliefs your parents told you that are now restricting your performance, your prosperity, your life, and your impact? With better awareness, you can make better choices. With better choices, you can see better results. The three-step success formula. With better awareness of, "Oh, that was Mom's belief. Oh, that was Dad's belief," you can start to say, "I am not those beliefs. Those beliefs don't serve me. I picked those up." Here's, here's a key point: those are just beliefs. But beliefs are not necessarily truths. We see the world not as it is, we see the world as we are. We see the world not as it is, we see the world through a filter or a perceptual bias made up of all these beliefs and messaging. You are seeing, you are seeing the world through a filter. The people who are doing amazing things in the world, the people who are incredibly happy, incredibly healthy, incredibly prosperous, those people are seeing a different reality. It's like you're seeing, some people are seeing the world through insecurity or fear goggles. So you want to first of all, PENAM, you want to realize PENAM is what creates that filter. It first of all, it comes, the P stands for parents. They give us these limiting beliefs. We think they're truths. A belief is not a belief is not a truth unless it's actually true.
Number two, our ecosystem. What's our ecosystem? Well, our ecosystem is our home, our, our habits. Our ecosystem is the book, books we read. Our ecosystem is our family members. Our ecosystem is where we work and what we do. Our ecosystem is everything outside of us and around us. You could call it your environment. Your environment shapes your performance. Your environment shapes the way you feel. Your environment shapes your lifestyle. Dramatically improving your ecosystem dramatically improves your heroism. Dramatically improving your ecosystem dramatically improves your heroism. So please start thinking about, is my ecosystem toxic, or is my ecosystem excellent? Your, the car you drive, or the book do you read, negative magazines on gossip, or do you read valuable books when you're commuting? Are you listening to, let's say, audiobooks on productivity and leadership and positive psychology and gratitude and building a financial fortune, building a world-class company, making an impact in the world, being a better human being, accessing, you know, your nobility, or are you just zoning out? Your whole ecosystem is shaping your way of being, which shapes your performance. You don't have to live like that if it doesn't serve you. But the E will remind you, your ecosystem is profoundly influencing the way you are in the world right now. You want to clean that up as well.
The N is your nation. Nations have energy. You can be in a certain nation, and the people around you, that could be at a low level, suffering from low-grade anxiety because it's a nation where there's been a lot of wars, or there's terror. Or you could be in a nation where things are much more peaceful. But please know that your nation shapes the way you think, feel, produce, and live.
A is your associations. You become a lot like the people you spend most of your time with. Nicholas Christakis is at Harvard University, and he has done some fascinating research on the concept of emotional contagion. And emotional contagion simply speaks to the phenomenon that we pick up the emotions of the people we spend most of our time with. If you are around depressed people, or you be, you will over time become depressed. If you're around negative people, you will eventually be negative. You're, if you're around people who are always complaining and operating like victims, you will operate like a victim. Even if you can become a world-class performer. And what he has found, and I think this is incredibly fascinating, he has found that we become a lot like our friends. But he's also found we are not only dramatically influenced by our friends, we are dramatically influenced by the friends of our friends, and the friends of our friends's friends. I'm going to repeat that again because the first time I, it took me a while to understand it. Nicholas Christakis at Harvard has found that we are influenced dramatically by our friends. We are also influenced by the friends of our friends, and the friends of the friends of our friends. You want to surround yourself with people whose lives you've been living.
PENAM, the A will remind you that where you are right now in your life is really very much a function of your associations. I mean, all it takes is one conversation with an amazing person to give you an insight that will 10x your fortune, or 5x your physicality, or 3x your creativity. So pick your friends and your associations well.
M is media. Me. So let me fill this in for you. N is your nation. The PENAM acronym. A is associations, and M is media. On a daily basis, especially with the internet, we are absolutely overwhelmed with messaging designed by media companies to allow us to buy certain things. When we get into the section on prosperity, you'll notice all billionaires see themselves as creators, and they create things for consumers too. Many people are consumers, not creators. What I'm really suggesting to you is we are dramatically influenced by media. We're dramatically influenced by the news. There are so many people there, they have notifications, a constant barrage of news, and that is affecting the way they see the world. There's been research done, people who watch the news actually see the world less realistically than people who don't watch the news. Because the people who are watching the news all day, they develop this incredible negativity bias that is not, that is much stronger than people who don't watch the news. So the media that have had that you have consumed or been around since you've been a little kid has also dramatically affected this perceptual filter that allows you to forget that golden treasure and that primal hero that lives at your core.
So I wanted to introduce first of all, the golden Buddha metaphor, the idea, the different layers, the idea of remembering who you truly are. The idea, the next 30 days, it'll be a journey back to your greatness, back to your highness, back to your finest self, and that journey continues for the rest of your life. And also offer you the PENAM acronym to really help you understand how have I developed this way of seeing the world and operating the world. I'll see you in the next lesson.