Game Plans
Game Plans — where real estate agent Brooks Anderson and mortgage broker Steve Beskid break down what it actually takes to build a business, raise a family, and stay sane doing both. Every episode covers the real stuff: systems that save time, tech that actually works, deals that went sideways, and the unglamorous side of entrepreneurship nobody posts about. If you're building something while managing everything else, pull up a chair.
Game Plans
Mamba Mentality, Kobe's 10 Rules for Success
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Join us in this inspiring episode of the Game Plans Podcast as we delve into the legendary Kobe Bryant’s ten rules for success and how they can transform your entrepreneurial journey. Hosted by experienced entrepreneurs, we share personal stories, insights, and actionable advice on how to:
1. Have a Champion’s Mentality
2. Outwork Your Potential
3. Learn from Failures
4. Be a Long-Term Thinker
5. Find Your Passion
6. Challenge Yourself to Grow
7. Keep Going
8. Protect Your Dreams
9. Be Driven
10. Achieve Greatness
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Timestamps:
• 00:00 Introduction
• 03:45 Have a Champion’s Mentality
• 13:30 Outwork Your Potential
• 23:20 Learn from Failures
• 33:10 Be a Long-Term Thinker
• 42:50 Find Your Passion
• 52:40 Challenge Yourself to Grow
• 1:02:30 Keep Going
• 1:12:15 Protect Your Dreams
• 1:21:50 Be Driven
• 1:31:30 Achieve Greatness
• 1:40:00 Conclusion
Introduction
SPEAKER_03What's up? What's up, man? You ready for this one?
SPEAKER_02Game plans. We're gonna do Mamba Mentality episode. Oh yeah. Tribute to Kobe. Today we're doing Kobe's ten rules to success. Let's get straight into it.
SPEAKER_03What's up? What's up, man? We gotta get one today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm gonna start you start us off with a little speech from Kobe.
SPEAKER_01Let's dive right in. If I could work hard every day, um with uh being blessed with the physical tools that I have, um, what would my career be? And I made a promise to myself from that day that I was gonna work hard every single day so that when I do retire, I have no regrets. And that was the most important thing for me is to leave no stone unturned, get better every single day. And if I live that way, then over time, you know, I'd have something that was beautiful. But that was my philosophy. It seems like a pretty simple one, but you know, if you live your life to just get better every single day, you do that for 20 years, I mean, what do you have? That's the trick, isn't it? It's finding what you love to do. We talk about hard work all the time. It's like, you know, man, if you gotta get up every single morning and remind yourself how hard you need to work, you probably need to choose a different profession. You know, because that shouldn't be there. I wake up in the morning excited to get to it. You know, if I'm not training, I'm missing it. I'm not watching a game of basketball, I miss it. You know, there's no place I'd rather be. And if you have that feeling, then you're truly doing what God has put you on this earth to do. I think the best way to prove your value is to work, is to learn, is to absorb, uh, to be a sponge. But you always want to outwork your potential. You know, as hard as you believe you can work, you can work harder than that. And that's what I tried to do when I first came in the league. But you know, basketball is such a direct competition sport. And me coming in at 17, I hate it when my teammates would say, you know, I get hit with an elbow. So like I always had that extra chip on my shoulder. So like every day in practice for me was really trying to annihilate everybody that was that I was playing against. Because I wanted to prove you don't need to babysit me. Like, I I'm fine, you know? And uh, and so I was always um that competitive nature, the work ethic, and curiosity. Because I asked a lot of questions. You know, playing with Byron Scott, I asked him a lot of questions. Eddie Jones, who was great at chasing guards off the screens, and I didn't understand how to do that. I would sit with him before practice, after practice. Um Magic, James Worthy, Kurt Rambus, Kareem, all the Lakers greats. I would always sit down and just ask him questions about certain games that I studied growing up.
Have a Champion’s Mentality
SPEAKER_01What actually happened there? What did you feel there? Why? Phil introduced meditation to us when he came to our team in '99, 2000. And um it was something that I instantly gravitated to because I could see the effects. I used to watch, you know, studying the game to the Bulls' teams, and uh, you know, watching their demeanor, watching their composure, playing at a tough place like Utah during the finals of being down 17. You couldn't tell if they were down 17 or up 20 or a tie game, and never changed. I was wondering why the hell it is. And that's when I started doing more research. And when Phiddle came, I immediately gravitated to it and found myself accepting the challenge of finding what that space is. And for the 81-point game, and to be honest, I wasn't even thinking about the game. My knee was hurting so much. Um I didn't know then, but then I had a flap of joint, uh cartilage stuck in my joint line. And so my mind was really trying to go to a place where I don't feel that pain. And uh the game started, and because of that, I was just in a different space. I wasn't worried about what was to come, I wasn't worried about what just happened. I was just here. And when you're just there in the moment, playing plays right in front of you, your focus is heightened because nothing else matters. And that's the space I've tried to get to.
SPEAKER_00This would be 18 for 20 from the line and an 81-point game. 55 in the second.
SPEAKER_02So I came up with this idea to do this episode. Kobe's 10 rules of success. I knew something that would get you excited. Sure. You know, Kobe's uh inspiration to you for sure. I know we've talked about it a ton in the past, and um same to me as well. Uh there was a lot to take from that speech. Sure. A lot of things that go way beyond basketball, about consistency, about you know, making an improvement day after day, yeah, and about being really passionate about what you do. Being curious is another thing that that came out of that as well. So online we found Kobe's 10 rules of success, and we wanted to go through them, talk a little bit about them. We got a Kobe quote with each individual one. So I'll start.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_02First one, have a champion's mentality. And the Kobe quote is I can't relate to lazy people, we don't speak the same language. I don't understand you, I don't want to understand you. You know, I I think this is about having confidence in yourself, staying ahead of your competition, you know. I I think that confidence in your effort and knowing that you have the ability to succeed if you put the work in, that's a piece of champion's mentality. What do you think?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think when you look at the mentality of a champion, you you first you define what you know what is a champion. Obviously, that's like a winner at the highest level, right? And having a champ champion's mentality, I think, entails a few things. Number one is you know, those days when you know you don't want to, maybe you don't have the confidence, maybe something's not going your way, like you're not going to be pulled off of your you know, quest, or you know, let those things that are outside of your control impact your overall mindset or mentality, you know, and and what when we get into these, right, like a lot of people might think, like, well, what's this have to do with entrepreneurship or business or real estate or whatever? And there's so many parallels, you know, to the mentality of, you know, the mentality of being a champion, and then all the other rules that we're gonna go through and and and how implement the implementation of those can you know help you grow in in your business, in your you know, networking, in your relationships, you know, whatever that might be. But having a champion's mentality is I feel like the mentality of I've got a vision, I'm headed towards it, everything else is just noise.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I agree. I think a level of focus as well, understanding that you are in control of your own destiny. Yep. And if you're willing to put the work in, you can be a success.
SPEAKER_03Of course. Yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree.
SPEAKER_02Let's go on to number two.
SPEAKER_03You want to go number two? Rule number two, outwork your potential. Kobe says the moment you give up is the moment you let someone else win. You know, so what does outworking your potential mean? You know, when you potential is subjective, right? Like what what is your actual potential? I personally don't really, you know, believe in the theory of potential. I think your potential, you create your own potential, right? I mean to a certain extent, you know, obviously I'm never gonna be seven feet tall, so that potential's gone, potential's gone. But when it comes to effort and things of that nature, like your you set your potential, right? And and outworking your potential is whenever you hit what you think is the limit of what you can push yourself to is taking it another step step forward. Maybe that's just stepping out of your comfort zone, like, hey, I'm not, I don't do well with public speaking, or I don't do well presenting to a group, or you know, I don't do well in this setting or that setting or whatever it might be, putting yourself in those situations on purpose to then expand yourself. Because if you're not outworking those places of not being comfortable, you you're you can't you can't grow. There's no growth. You you have to do it, you have to fail, you have to fall on your face. And I feel like outworking your potential is all about that, right? And then in relating that to your business, like there's so many ways you could do that. I mean, we're doing a podcast, and when we started this, it was, you know, part of it was like, hey, do I really want to get on camera and do this? And it's like, hey, F it. I'm gonna do it. Whatever happens, I hope I sound ridiculous, you know. But that's that is, you know, in in in my mind, what outworking your potential means.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think the just the assumption that you can outwork your potential i is a huge mindset shift. I think that understanding that you have an opportunity to do something above and beyond is a really important thing to consider. You know, as you grow and learn and work to improve, you are going to raise your ceiling and have more potential and more potential and more potential, sure, and outwork your potential, just like he says. Yeah, it there's the ceiling, especially in entrepreneurship, is a large part of it, is just about the effort you put in. What you put in is what you're gonna get out, right? The more you put in, the more you get out.
SPEAKER_03So inputs equal outputs, man. And that goes for everything. That goes in the gym, that goes in your work, that goes in your relationship with your spouse, your kids. I it's it really is. You know, when you look at any of these successful people, I know we're doing Kobe or whatever, but you know, success leaves clues. Like there people rarely is someone just wakes up and like, oh, look at this. I'm you know, this ultra successful person, or I, you know, uh became this. Like that doesn't that doesn't happen, you know. And the the success leaving clues, the second piece of that is the the and thinking of potential. The first limiting factor is the people that you allow around you in your inner circle, and them influencing what you think your potential might be. And we all have those people, you know, whether and a lot of times it's family, friends, close people, and they're like, You're gonna do what? Why?
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_03Why do you want to do why do you want to do that? Well, don't why do you want to do a podcast? Right. Or why do you want to, you know, do you know, accomplish some physical feat, whether that's running a marathon or something like that. A lot of times that's just somebody projecting their you know what they feel their potential is on you. Well, I can't do it. So, you know, that's where the family
Outwork Your Potential
SPEAKER_03thing comes in a lot, right? So you start kind of breaking through, like maybe you come from a family that's like not physically healthy, and then all of a sudden you're gonna do something, and it's and you know, there's there that can come from a sense of jealousy or a sense of like, well, nobody's ever done this before. What makes you think you're gonna be able to do that? You know, and kind of opening your mind to you know what what you are truly capable of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think you know, let's just let's just bring it down to a small level. I you know, I think when people uh trying to understand why we're doing this podcast, it doesn't just because we think people are dying to listen to us. Uh sometimes I have friends that actually listen to this podcast and enjoy it, and I appreciate them for listening. Be sure to like and subscribe, right? But really, there's a a number of goals that I have in doing this, and while this is a small piece of my business, it's a building block, and it's a building block that I wanted to add because it's going to allow me to accomplish a number of different things and make me better.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_02One of the quotes I put in here, one of my favorite quotes of all time, I'm sure I've told you this before. But it's if a shortcut was easy, it would just be called the way.
SPEAKER_03Amen.
SPEAKER_02And that's one quote I take with me all the time because truly there's no shortcuts. If there were shortcuts, everyone would do it.
SPEAKER_05Sure.
SPEAKER_02People need to understand that that while some people are lucky enough to put themselves in positions where they may have gotten a fast a fast pass, that can't be the case for all of us, and most of the successful people didn't get a fast pass. So you ready to go on number three?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, it's kind of segmenting into that, and and like you said, you know, tying potential into number three, and then the quote that you just gave, it's like you can't allow what some like say you and I have the same goal, you accomplish it in six months, whatever. It takes me 16 months. You can't worry about those things, right? Because you know, at the end of the day, we're good, we're we're still at the same place, you know. That there is no shortcut. If there's a shortcut, like you said, it would be the way. Everybody's in a different spot, you're from a different starting point, you've got different attributes, we have different personalities, there, you know, all of that psychology plays into different stuff in our life, different. I mean, maybe you've got some sort of physical limitation, you you know, you had an injury or whatever. Like there could be a million things, right? You can't allow those things in the the comparison syndrome to then limit your you know mental space in terms of like, hey, what is my potential? Like, ah, you know what? So and so was right. This was a bad idea, and I think that's a good way to you know segment right into number three.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, number three, learn from your failures. The Kobe quote is everything negative, pressures and challenges, it's all an opportunity for me to rise. You know, I learned this honestly, I learned this through depression. I was someone who was really hard on myself, had high expectations, and and was really hard on myself when I didn't reach certain expectations that I had of myself. Other people had expectations of me as well, family and and whatever. And whenever I struggled at a young age, you know, I I took it upon myself really hard. And through therapy at the time, I learned that I had an opportunity to take those moments when I was most frustrated with myself and be introspective and look towards the past for opportunities to get better and say, okay, what did I do wrong? How can I change that move forward? How can I take something out of that and push myself to never let that happen again? Or to try to never let that happen again. I mean, you can't control some things, right? And when I think of failures now, I think of them not as failures, but I am really optimistic in my lowest moments, and I'm really grateful for for what I've been through because even when things are are really tough, I'm I'm thinking of gosh, this is an opportunity. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, man. With with failures, I don't I also don't believe in failures. Like I don't, and it's a hard thing. Like it, and it's not like not to say it like you're like I'm some kind of tough guy or anything, but everybody struggles with with that, with with failure. But at the end of the day, I don't there there fail, there's no finite point, right? Like, what is failure? There's no failure. The only failure is if you don't start or you stop trying. That's a failure. You quit. You know, just because you maybe messed something up, it's a learning opportunity, it's uh it's a it's a building block, you know.
SPEAKER_02I I think the failure really is not taking something from a hard moment, not getting a lesson out of the challenge.
SPEAKER_03100%. I I wholeheartedly agree. Yeah, you got you come up against something, maybe it's something in your business, and you hit a tough spot, and your business starts to suffer. You're not producing how you want, you know. Okay, why? Let me sit down, let me look at my my time, my prospecting, my marketing, my you know, whatever it is. Like, okay, let's let's learn from this. I had a bad quarter. What did what went well? What didn't go well? What am I gonna do about the things that didn't go well? Okay, I'm looking at, you know what? I didn't time block at all for two months. I didn't spend any time prospecting. I didn't spend it. Okay, well, the only way that that becomes a failure is you acknowledge those things and then don't do anything about it. Then it's not, you know, then you will and even at that, I would almost argue it's not a failure. You never wanted to do it to begin with, right? So kind of not bad enough, right? You know, and Kobe's talking about, you know, if you've got to convince yourself every morning to go do the work, then you need to find something else to do. So, you know, when you're evaluating, you know, just to relate it to business, you know, a shortcoming or a shortfall in your business, and you can acknowledge it, you can see it, and then you're not willing to go do it. Well, are you even doing like what are you doing? Like it should be a natural progression, like, okay, I see problem, address problem, problem solved. Not meh, I don't I don't want to do that. Well, do you even want to like what like that doesn't compute in my mind? Like, if I've got a problem in my business, maybe it's operationally or with communication or whatever, and I notice it, but I don't do anything about it, then I don't really care. I never cared about it to begin with. That's right. Um, but sorry, I kind of random there for a second.
SPEAKER_02You want to go to segment four?
SPEAKER_03You're uh let's get right into it. And uh be a long-term thinker, as far as a quote. Trust me, setting things up right from the beginning will avoid a ton of tears and heartache.
SPEAKER_02I'm glad you got this one. This is right up your alley.
SPEAKER_03Long term thinker, man. You that this is my this is this is up my alley, but you can't be stuck like I'm gonna fix this in five minutes, especially when it comes. The business, or maybe it's maybe it's like, hey, I need to lose some weight, you know, or you know, I want to date my spouse again. You hear people talk about that, right? Like, I'm gonna start dating my spouse. You don't like just wake up tomorrow and then everything is just better, right? Like there's a process, right? Like, okay, I have to consciously, I need to think ahead. What am I gonna do? I've got a plan. I'm gonna do this. I've got to do X, Y, Z. What does that look like? You know, and the same goes for your business. I'm looking ahead. I'm looking at market trends, I'm looking at, you know, technology, I'm looking at whatever. And, you know, same for your just your personal life. Like, what are my goals? Not what do I want to accomplish this month or this quarter? What do I want to accomplish in 10 years? And there's a quote, I'm gonna butcher it. You know, most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in 10 years. When's the last time you heard somebody be like, hey, I've got a 10-year goal? Most people look at it like, 10 years? What are you talking about? And you know, you have a long-term picture, and then what you do
Learn from Failures
SPEAKER_03is you work that backwards into daily bites, right? Like, this is my plan, this is my long-term plan, this is what I'm gonna do every day to get there. That's right, and then I'm just going to ignore all the noise, all the bullshit, and I'm just gonna stay the path. This is my plan. I'm going here, and then in the middle, you're gonna, you know, with the long-term vision in mind, you're going to reevaluate and adjust and adapt. Because if not, that's just dumb. But you're still looking forward, and it's just doing the things every day and being, and that's the being here in the moment. Like you can still have a long-term vision and be in the moment at the same time.
SPEAKER_02So I don't mean to put you on the spot. What do you do as far as planning your vision?
SPEAKER_03I guess that depends on what it is. I think vision, you know, whether it's whatever, you know, coveta, coveta, you've got to be intentional and you've got to sit down and think about it. Like, how many people, you know, have actually, I bet if you polled listeners and said, How many of you have thought about the next 10 years of your business? Where do you want to be? I would say some, maybe loosely, like, oh yeah, I'd like to retire. I'm talking, no, I'm talking very detailed, where do you want to be in 10 years? Not like, oh, in 10 years I'll be this old, and you know, maybe I'll retire, or maybe I'll do that. No, like very specifically, where do I want to be? So I think that's number one. You have to be very specific, right? So, like for me, when I look at COVIDA, you know, I've got a long-term vision in terms of staffing, I've got in terms of production, what my role is gonna look like, what you know that team structure is gonna look like. And obviously, over the course of time, that's gonna adjust with the industry and how things shift, but you still have that that image, right? Like, hey, this is what I want this to look like very specifically, you know, and and that's where I think with long, right? People are like, ah, that's 10 years down the road, like I'll get somewhere. They're like, no, be specific. Where do you want to to to go? Like, if you shoot at nothing, you're gonna hit nothing, right? You know, so you where are you aiming? And then that will influence your day-to-day action items. Because then you start to think you shape your mindset around where I want to be, and then that impacts what you're gonna do right now.
SPEAKER_02I think that's in line with trying to get better every day, like Kobe said at the beginning of that trying to get better every day. If you don't know what your goal is, what are you trying to get better at?
unknownRight?
SPEAKER_03Roll the dice every day. Like, what are we doing? Yeah, you know, I for me, I you know, we've talked about it. I get up early, but I've got a very you know specific set of goals for my myself. And when I when my alarm goes off, I don't look at it as like, I'm going back to bed. It's like, okay, it's time to go. Like every day, not to sound cliche, every day is an opportunity, right? Like, you only get we only live once. We're all here, we get whatever time amount of time we get, and then we're gone. And and so your existence is gone. Like, if you look at a lifespan, I'm getting way too deep. Like, over the like, say you take a string and you stretch it out all the way across the city of Columbus, that represents eternity, like from the beginning of time to the end of time. Your lifespan is like a speck of sand in the mid in the large scheme of things in the middle of that, like you just drop right in here. This is where you're alive, your time alive was this big, and then you were gone. So, like, well, what are you gonna do? You just gonna wake up aimlessly every day doing nothing, like just wait for the end, yeah. Just wait for the end. That's a miserable existence, you know. So when you you know, think about the the that long-term vision that gives you something, you've gotta have something to live for, you know. Whatever that is, that's gonna be different for everybody. But but that's that's the journey.
SPEAKER_02I mean, yeah, you gotta you the journey Kobe says, and you know show it, but Kobe says it it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, right?
SPEAKER_03100. There and here's the thing, like I I've had this conversation with a therapist. As far as destination is concerned, like I can't you think people will say, Well, I can't wait until I get there. And I'm having this, you know, we're having this conversation, and I'm like, there is no there. There is no there there. There is no there.
SPEAKER_02There's no there.
SPEAKER_03Because you don't know what like I could walk outside and get hit by a car and then it's over.
SPEAKER_02So there's no there, that's a good there is no there there.
SPEAKER_03That's a great there's no there. Now you're you're heading that direction, but you have no influence over whether you ever get there or not, wherever there is. That's why I say there is no there. There's just right here. I'm going this way, and I'm gonna operate here and now with a long-term outlook.
SPEAKER_02As far as you know, you're on a rocket ship headed into this into space, and God knows where it's aimed, right?
SPEAKER_03100%.
SPEAKER_02You know where you started, you know where you were looking out at, but where it ends, nobody knows.
SPEAKER_03I think it's also very important to have retrospect and kind of look back too. Because, you know, you when you are in the day-to-day every day, sometimes it's really hard to see on that long-term vision how far you've come. And I think it's very important to stop, reflect, and you know, it's easy to beat ourselves up. I'm harder on myself than probably anybody. My, you know, you hire people talk about self-talk. My self-talk is awful. Uh what I say to myself to the people I hate the most. But it's important because sometimes when you're stuck in the grind every day of things, you're like, oh, this isn't, you know, going how I think it should. And then you're you take a time out, you pause, and you kind of look back, and you're like, oh man, in the next in the last four years, well, this is where I was, and this is where I okay. Well, I'm not, you know, we're we're chunking away at this, just a little bit at a time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I've thought a lot about it this year, being this is my tenth year in the business, being the milestone that it is, more or less. You know, I've had a lot of opportunity to just sort of reflect on that and think about how it all started having a great opportunity and and really putting in the effort to get to where I am. And and you know, it's something I have looked back on a lot this year, and just unbelievable how far I've come, you know, moving back from Chicago to Columbus, moving back to Columbus, and and you know, in 10 years, built a career, strong business, met my wife, have a family, have an amazing house, have rental properties, just the two most amazing little boys. It's unbelievable. Things that I never would have projected possible in that amount of time, and and certainly if you asked me where I would be in 2024, I never could have predicted any of this or even maybe set any of this as the place that I you know thought I could be, right?
SPEAKER_04Sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, you you limit everyone does this, you limit yourself more than anybody anybody else ever will.
SPEAKER_02Damn right.
SPEAKER_03You want to hit number five?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a great segue. Find your passion. Passion is the fuel for success. If you fucking love what you do, and you are excited about doing it every day, that's your fuel. That's what gasses up the freight train to success. That's what gives you the racing fuel, the rocket fuel to where you want to go, being passionate. You know, I was talking to somebody mentor of mine, and you know, we were talking last week about goals and and business and and whatever, and and you know, they know that I love what I do, but of course technology is something that I'm really passionate as well about as well. And you know, I talk to them and other people and about my love for different technology and computers and all these things, and and you know, I was having a really frustrating, really, really frustrating weekend. A lot of different things are happening with my business, and and you know, she looks at me and she goes, Hey, are you you know, are you sure you're like shouldn't
Be a Long-Term Thinker
SPEAKER_02be doing something in in technology? I mean you're you're just so passionate about it. And I said, Fuck no, I love what I do. I said, I know there's gonna be really hard days, and I know that there's gonna be really challenging moments, but for the last however long I've been loving the opportunity to put in the work. I've shifted in the last year or so where I spend a lot of evenings during the week after I get the boys to bed putting in extra hours trying to find ways to improve. And you know, while I'm spending during the day doing some things that are like just general business stuff, like taking care of clients and doing showings and all that stuff, I've shifted and and instead of watching TV or whatever, take a moment to make sure that I'm using part of my day to make improvements. And that is easy for me to do every day because I love doing it. I love once I started treating this as a building a business for myself rather than just trying to be a real estate agent, trying to build everything around it, that's something that really unlocked even more passion for what I do.
SPEAKER_04Sure.
SPEAKER_02I know I know you're passionate. I know you had a goal about starting Covita and starting your own business, and I and I know that that's something that has really driven you above and beyond just being a good lender.
SPEAKER_03Sure. Yeah, I mean, you I you hit the nail on the head with everything, really. You're you know, I don't like to use the word motivation because motivation is fleeting, right? Like one day you're motivated, one day you feel like a pile of crap, one day you don't want to get out of bed. One morning somebody pissed in your Cheerios, and now you So like motivation that that to me is, you know, some days you're motivated, some days you're not. But when you have a true passion for something, whatever it is, that motivation is irrelevant. You know, you're you're showing up. Like, hey, I've got my I've got my hard hat and my lunch pail, and I'm you know, I'm here to work. So, you know, I think that is, you know, somebody might be like, well, how do I know if I found my passion? Right? Like, what am I passionate about? And again, that comes back to intentionality and sitting down and being like, you know, unabashedly worried about what someone else might think or say, you know, maybe you want to start a candy store. I don't know. Like what and and and for some reason you're like, man, this is a dumb. But if it's if it's something that's that that drives you, gets your gears, like, you gotta do it. Again, like going back to that span of life. So, like, you're just gonna live your whole life and then you're old and be like, man, I really had this thing I really wanted to do my whole life. I really wish I would have done it. That's not that now. That's failure. That's failure. You get old and you look back, and you're like, I had this thing, this this fire for whatever burning to do something, and I just never did it. I never tried.
SPEAKER_02The way I think about it is I think there's a lot of people, and there's a lot of mentality that people might look at something that they enjoy doing and want more time to go after it, and want the ability to go after it, and they feel like a dog on a leash, barking at something, trying to get to something. You gotta find a way to get that feeling where you're off the damn leash and you can chase that motherfucker down.
SPEAKER_03You know, a lot of times you put yourself on the leash. That's right. You know, of course, and that's exactly part of being successful at anything is you know, sometimes you're not you're gonna alienate somebody in your life, right? And that's where sitting down and having a set of priorities is is important, right? And you know, hey, this is you know, these are my my my values, my virtues, this is what I'm passionate about. And and as long as I'm making my decisions in alignment with that, the other stuff is just excuses, right? Where it's like, man, well, you know, my buddies are gonna be upset if I don't, you know, get out this weekend. What that's not in alignment with what your goals are. You're taking what somebody else might think of you and putting it above, you know, and here's what's gonna happen is you know, and I really wish I wouldn't have I should have just stayed, I should have, I should have, I should have, you know that you can't allow outside influences to curb whatever your passion is, and if that means you gotta cut, maybe there's a friend that is holding you back, and you know, does that suck? Yeah, it sucks a lot, but that's the that's just the nature of what it is, right? You know, when we left the old company and and started here, there were people that I considered friends that had to get cut out, right? Because, you know, the the separation went how it went, but you know, you got to trim the fat. It had to happen. Yeah, I yeah, I learned. Which is what a lot of people fall into the trap of where it's like, well, what about the uncertainty of this? It's like, no, I want to do this, I'll figure it out in the meantime, I'll figure it out.
SPEAKER_02That's one thing I really love about my job, and also my path, Steve, is having moved all over, you know, from Bexley to Denver to Chicago, back here, and then being in a business where I meet all kinds of new people all the time. One of the things that I value most about that is there are groups of people that I've made friends with that are not the type of people that drive me forward, or you know, there are people that have held me back in some way, shape, or form, whether it's my fault or their fault, whatever. There's a group of people that I recognize that aren't the most beneficial for me for me to reach my goals. And having moved from place to place, it was easy for me to cut people out, trim the fat, like you said, just remove people from this, not keep in touch, you know, just say you gotta move on. Exactly right, you can move on, you can move on, and and continue to improve your circle, continue to improve your the influencers in your life, and also have the ability to say, okay, these are people that I have just started to get to know that I think can be really great influences, and and you know, that can continue to evolve over time.
SPEAKER_03Sure.
SPEAKER_02No, I agree. Um, let's go on to number six.
SPEAKER_03This is a probably a good segment. Challenge yourself to grow. If you're afraid to fail, then you're probably going to fail. And you know, to relate that to a few things, just an analogy. So as you know, I'm very into golf. The first thing anybody will tell you is you can't think about negative outcomes, right? Like if you're about to hit a T. Don't think about the sand trap. I hit it right in the water. Yeah. But you put that in your head, yeah. Right. And that goes for everything. If you think you're going, you're afraid, if you are afraid to fail, then you're probably going to fail. Like, don't even again, that goes back to that initial rule in mindset of like there is no failure. I it's just I had an outcome, I move on, right? And it when you relate this to self-improvement in growth, you know, challenge yourself to grow. That means you're you're not going to grow if you're always putting yourself in situations that you're comfortable in. There's no growth that happens there. You know, we used to have at a house we lived in previously, we had rose bushes. And every year you got to go out and you got to cut them back, right? You got to cut them down, you cut it all the way down to nothing. And then next year it grows back even bigger. You've
Find Your Passion
SPEAKER_03got to look at your life and your improvement the the same way. Like that pruning process is painful, you know. Uh, but again, long-term vision, I've got to go through this to get to where I'm going. You know, maybe that's you know, your business isn't where you want it to be, your sales aren't where you want them to be. What do I need to do? I need to prospect. How do I need to prospect? I gotta get on the phones. Shit, I hate the phones. That makes me nervous. Well, you cannot get on the phones, and you'll just be right where you are, or you can muddle your way through it. And guess what? After probably a few weeks and some reps, you're gonna be you're like, okay, well, this wasn't that bad, and then eventually you become comfortable with it, and then that's just a part of your routine, and that's why that long term vision is important, that which fuels your passion and then influences your day to day activities where it's like, okay, well, this is where I want to go, I gotta do this, and it's Not even at that point, it doesn't even become a thought. It's just like, okay, this is just what I gotta do, and then you just do it. That's not to say you won't have hurdles or you won't have reservations or you know doubts in your mind, but you've that's where you challenge yourself to grow. Like you've got to also have some introspect and and look at yourself and be like, okay, where do I need to grow? Not just my business, but where does my business need me? Where do I have holes? And going back to you know, that circle of people around you, that's where you know that's very important as well. And I you know this. I've called you, you know, we've worked together, we've done lots of deals together between me, you, the team, everyone. And I don't care how good of a relationship I have with anybody, I have no problem calling you and being like, hey, any feedback? That's right, give it to me. And you have to want that, you have to seek that out. Otherwise, you know, you're gonna just be stuck, and half the time you just and it's not bad, like you just think, oh, I'm doing fine. Everybody thinks I'm doing fine, but it's not about being fine, it's about you know, what was rule number one? Or what having a champion's mentality? Well, how can I get a little better? How can I do this a little better?
SPEAKER_02Improving every day. I mean, I think that's that's a piece of it, is is okay, you gotta you have to think a step ahead and and say, okay, today's an opportunity to to get better. What are the things that I need to get better at? That is uh a consideration, like you said, of your flaws, of your the things that are challenging to you, the things that don't come easy, and diving straight at those things.
SPEAKER_03You gotta work on them. That's right. If I suck at the phones, you're not gonna just pick up the phone one day and make calls and just be good at it. You gotta do reps, you're gonna fumble through them, you're gonna sound you're gonna sound you're gonna hang up the phone sometime, you're like, I sounded like an idiot. That was so bad. But if you don't do that, you're not just gonna wake up one day and be like, all right, I got this. I said the best sales call of my life. Like, it doesn't, it that's unreasonable. That's an unreasonable expectation.
SPEAKER_02Steve, I I would have been 2021, maybe. You know, I recognize people doing videos, right? Online on Instagram, doing listing videos, doing talking to the camera videos on Instagram, and that is nothing I'm comfortable doing. My hands sweat when I'm in front of a crowd talking. I I hate it. So, what did I do? So, what did I do? I fought to our team did videos that were like, you get to decide, you get an hour to shoot, what do you want to talk about? And did a bunch of videos that I broke down to help share my business online and and and get in front of a camera and work on it. Then I started doing listing videos for every listing I can afford to do, a listing video on. Everyone that's you know, I think I should do a bit listing video. I do a listing video on. I put it, I started a YouTube channel. Step three, I started a podcast with you. You know, I started talking on camera, having a conversation with you, find a way to chop it up, post it on Instagram, post it on YouTube, talk about different topics, feel more comfortable, and just attack it head on. It's something that is going to benefit my business if I'm able to do it. And so, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna learn how to do it by little incremental improvements over time. Doing it repetitive, you know, the repetitive aspect of it, continuing to do it, staying consistent, you know, trying to make the time for it. Obviously, we had a little gap in in doing the the podcast, and and really it was me being my you know, my life being too hectic, and I need to be more consistent at it. So what have I done? You know, what am I doing? I'm being more consistent at it. I want to be more available to my family. So what is that what am I working on now? I'm working on setting up my do not disturb on my phone, making sure that that that aspect is silencing notifications that distract me when I'm hanging out with my kids, when I'm hanging out my hanging out with my wife, every single day. There's until uh it's really almost the entire the entirety of the of the day, but I have different versions of silencers on my phone where I still get notifications, but they're they don't show up. And I can go and scroll on my phone and see them, but the it's all some version of do not disturb. You know, I can get phone calls during certain times, text messages from clients almost all the time. You know, it'll come through. But other notifications from different apps, whatever, there's different stages. I have I have a work do not disturb, I have a family do not disturb that starts at like 4:30 till about 8 every day, and then after that, it's asleep where it silences all the stuff so that I can go to bed and not my phone doesn't ding one single time unless it's emergency and I can sleep comfortably so that I have arranged all that and engineered all that to make less distractions and be more present.
SPEAKER_05I love it.
SPEAKER_02All right, we're on to number seven. Yes sir. Keep going. If you want to be great at something, there's a choice you have to make. What I mean by that is there's inherent sacrifices that come along with that. Family time, hanging out with friends, being a great friend, being a great son, nephew, whatever the case may be. You know, I think that this the reason why I picked this was there are sacrifices that need to be made when you are just passionate about what you want to do and you have a goal to be successful long term. You have to embrace the sacrifices. You have to realize that every time you are choosing between something that you want to do and something that your business needs of you, or your goals need of you, that is an opportunity to reach your goals faster. And the more you can make the choice to sacrifice, the faster you're gonna reach what you want to, you know what the end goal is.
SPEAKER_03Sure. I think part of the process of you know keep going is also having a good relationship, you know, with that failure piece that we talked about earlier, and detaching yourself from outcomes. If you are so attached to the outcome of something that you're doing, you're putting yourself at a much higher probability of quitting. You have to, yeah, everybody knows that person that you've seen them that they just don't, they give zero, you know what, about what happens, right? And you have to approach
Challenge Yourself to Grow
SPEAKER_03your goals with that same type of mentality when it comes to to the outcomes, otherwise, it's gonna be very, very challenging to keep going. You're gonna want to stop because you're worried about like, I'm not gonna get there, I'm not gonna make it. I'm not gonna make it. And then you're and then you're gonna quit. So to keep going, you have to have a healthy relationship with failure and and and realize that there, again, there is no failure, there is no there, there, and you just keep going. Like, I'm just gonna this is what I'm passionate about. I'm gonna keep moving in this direction. Come hell or high water, that's where I'm going. I'm gonna stumble, I'm gonna fall, I'm gonna alienate some people. It is what it is, I'm gonna keep going. And that just has to be that has to be your mindset. Um, especially in your in your you know, it goes for everything, but you know, in relating it to business, you know, you're gonna have think of the market that we're in right now. Like I there was a statistic, I'm gonna butcher this, but you know, we're we're in one of the worst housing, you know, mortgage markets in the last like 30 years in terms of transactions, right? You if you allow that to consume you, you are gonna get stuck. You're gonna get stuck. It's just okay. I'm not really worried about all of this mess. I have a goal, I'm headed at it. Business is down, right? You know, you've talked to people like, oh, how's the market? You know, you guys slow. I'm up.
SPEAKER_02You're over your I'm ahead of my goals six months ahead of. I'm I'm ahead of my goals ahead of last year.
SPEAKER_03I had a team here, had their team meeting in our in in the office with me this week. And you know, we're of course discussing production and goals and numbers and all that kind of stuff. And you know, they asked me, like, how's you know how's your year going? And I said, you know, I'm up year over year. And I'm not saying that to to to to brag, but they're like, Oh, you're up? Like, how? Everything's down, and it's like that's that's all here. You know, like you to get to where you want to go, I think there's a Nick Saban quote, it takes what it takes, right? Like you don't get to pick. Like, there's no, you know, it just takes what it takes. So, you know, if you have a goal of X, you know, units sold, and in past years it took, you know, 20 calls a day. Well, now it might take 40 calls a day. But that's not to say you can't get there, it just takes more to get there. That's right. And you've got to be able to, okay, I did my 20, I've always done my 20. Okay, well, you've got to keep going. 20's not gonna get it. 20's not gonna get it right now. You gotta do 40. I don't want to do 40. Back to number six. Challenge yourself to grow. Okay, I'm gonna embrace the suck and I'm just gonna do it. And you know, that that when you when you're you're looking at your big picture long-term goals, like again, that just becomes a part of what who you are and what you do. It's not like you I'm gonna wrestle with it for you know 45 minutes to decide I'm gonna sit here and stare at my phone and decide whether or not I'm gonna pick it up and start calling people or you know, posting social media content or whatever that might be. You know, I I don't know. That's that's just my my take on it anyway.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think the more at bats that you give yourself, the more opportunities you can create, right? The more home runs, the more triples, the more doubles, the more everything.
SPEAKER_05Keep going.
SPEAKER_02So keeping going is about giving yourself more at bats. You know, there the path to success is only gonna get harder. You know, the higher you get towards the top of the mountain, the more tired you're gonna be, the more challenging the terrain's gonna be. Sometimes it gets steeper, sometimes it gets rockier, sometimes the footing is more challenging to overcome. The higher you get up that ladder, but or that mountain. But it's important to understand that keeping going is about giving yourself more opportunity. When I was in high school, I went to Alaska with National Outdoor Leadership School, and we did I think it was a 180 miles hike in the Tequita Mountain Range over 30 days. And because of not only my size, but a couple circumstances where there were people in our group that had challenges, one rolled an ankle and some other things. I was carrying about a 70-pound pack about nine miles a day over a really challenging terrain. And you know, I was 17 years old. At a certain point, it was such an unbelievable struggle, and something that I was doubting myself substantially, you know. Oh my gosh, I can't believe I have 18 more days of this. How the heck am I gonna continue? How the hell am I going to make it another day? I'm hungry. You know, we were eating dehydrated food, and we were on seven-day rations where at one point we ran out of food in five days because we were so hungry hungry from the previous ration, we ate everything too quickly, and we were out of food for two days. And then when we got that food, we ran out of food in three days, and we had to go like another three days without like real stuff to eat. We had a few little things to like nibble on, and then we caught a fish, ate a fish out in the wilderness, but went days like days without food hiking. No bullshit. But when when I was about halfway through, I had a day, and there's this just they call it the Alaska factor, where there's these expansive valleys, and you see this mountain, and you're like, oh yeah, that's just take me an hour to get to that other mountain. Well, that mountain is just so fucking big that it's a full day away, and you just can't re your body and your mind can't wrap its head around how far that is away just because it's that big, it's called the Alaska factor. And so you start walking, and it just seems like it's still trying to get far. You're not getting anywhere, right? And I had a moment where I realized that the best way to get from point A to point B was focusing on the little teeny pieces where I'm putting one foot in front of the other, and there was a whole day when I just focused on taking the next step, and that was easy. Taking the next step, one step at a time, it was a total mind-bending experience. It was something that was really challenging, and I just fought, and I wanted to give up, honestly. I wanted to give up. Two people gave up during our our trip and were put on plane, one on a helicopter and one on a pontoon plane that landed and were taken away because they couldn't make it. And something I I took with me moved forward. So keep going.
SPEAKER_03Keep going.
SPEAKER_02All right. You're up.
SPEAKER_03Protect your dreams. Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones, they hate the great ones. I think there's a few pieces to this. One, protect your dreams to me is a mentality, right? You you a lot of people tell you to be careful who you share your dreams with, right? I don't know that I necessarily subscribe to that line of thinking. You just gotta not care what somebody else thinks about them.
SPEAKER_02Sometimes I intentionally tell people what my plans are so that I'm more likely to do it, right?
SPEAKER_03Right. Yeah, there's a sense of accountability, like, oh, well, I told them now. Now I can't not do it.
SPEAKER_02They're expecting me to do it.
SPEAKER_03Right.
Keep Going
SPEAKER_03And, you know, the this well, we could go on for a whole nother hour about, you know, why people care what your dreams are, anyways. I don't understand why anybody would ever really even matter as long as it's not doing any physical, emotional harm to me. I don't I could care less what your dreams are. I mean, not that I don't care, but you get my point. So, you know, you have to get honest with yourself about your dreams first, and realize, you know, it's okay to to dream even as an adult. You know, I think sometimes there's a negative connotation like, do you're almost 40 years old? Why are you you got dreams? Yeah, yeah, I do. And you know, nobody questions your dreams, you know, when you're a seven-year-old and you want to be the president or you want to be a firefighter or policeman or whatever it is that you know you think you want to be when you're a kid. You know, that's all great. Like, hey, you can do, you know, everybody's heard it, you can do whatever you want to. You can be whatever you want to be, right? There's no like that that applies when you're an adult, too. That that that that childlike faith of you know whatever it is that you're passionate about, you can't lose that just because of an age parameter. That's right. Yeah, there's stories people out there that are 80 years old running marathons.
SPEAKER_02Like there's people that are you know school teachers and and become billionaires at age 65, 70 years old. You know, they they start a different business in their 50s or 60s and and become billionaires. I mean, it depends on what your goal is, but you can't limit yourself by your age, you can't limit yourself by where you're currently sitting.
SPEAKER_03No, long as long as yet.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's right. And as long as you're willing to be to put in the work and and have a passion for it, I think that that's what's gonna help you achieve those dreams. And and and being serious about your dreams, I think, is is another thing too. I think it's one thing to say I want to drive a Ferrari, right? But if you want to drive a Ferrari, you can't just say, I want to drive a Ferrari. You can't just say I hope one day I own a Ferrari. It's it's you gotta find a way to make that happen. It takes what it takes. It takes what it takes. And there's only one, you know, there's only one way to make that happen, and it's you striving to make that happen. And so I, you know, I I think you just it it's really about I think a lot of us have dreams, and I think just being intentional and and serious about your dreams is is something that's gonna help you be successful, and something that's gonna help you achieve those. I agree.
SPEAKER_03I think a lot of people don't necessarily purposefully try to talk. You out of your dreams. They just say things that inherently can knock you off of your vision, right?
SPEAKER_02Or doubt it. Yeah, I yeah, I think doubt it is as well.
SPEAKER_03It's like, oh, you're okay. Man, long way off. Not necessarily saying that you can't do it, but you know Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Do you know how much you know how expensive Ferrari's are? Or or you know, do you know how much it costs to retire or or you know, whatever whatever the the case is, I think keeping them to yourself in in such a way that allows you to remove yourself from those people that are are are gonna make you doubt it. Never let somebody else hold you back from from from what you want to do because they're not gonna help you get there, right?
SPEAKER_03No. No, no, they're not, not at all. I actually like it. I love when people I like take when I if I've you know some things that conversations I've been in, whether it be you know, friends, counterparts, whatever, if somebody says something, I screenshot them and I keep them.
SPEAKER_02Either Michael Jordan, Kobe Kobe chip on your shoulder.
SPEAKER_03I got bulletin board material. Yeah. Right? And because there are gonna be moments where you're down, things aren't going how you want them to go, whatever it might be, odds are stacked against you, whatever. If you can just find that little bit of something to draw from to give you the juice, right? It's like, okay, you find that moment, whatever it might be, you know, there's so many things like I like well, if I'm in a moment of of of weakness, or I'm tired, or you know, whatever it might be. I I've got memories from childhood when I'm in college trying to, you know, I play basketball, and you know, those the and you it happens in an instant. I don't know, I'm not smart enough to know all the neurology and how it works, but you you've all felt it. You just like you just lock in. There's like something, there's a memory, there's a a text somebody sent you, and it clicks in, and you go into a zone and you are focused. And there's no it and you're gonna need that. You're gonna need that because you're not gonna have that every day. So it's not gonna just naturally come. You gotta go go find it. And sometimes you gotta go crawl into the into a dark place to find it.
SPEAKER_02I listened to I listened to Tupac fuck all y'all.
SPEAKER_03You know that song? You know, maybe it is music. Maybe it there's a lot of things it could be. Maybe it's a quote, maybe it's a video, maybe it's you know what who cares what it is. It could you you on the topic of Kobe, Kobe used to listen to the Halloween theme music in his headphones on repeat before before. Like, I don't know if anybody's ever listened to the Halloween theme song. From start to finish all the way, you're like, this was listened to on what a psychopath, right? But you know, whatever it is, whatever gets you where you need to be, mentally speaking, you gotta go there.
SPEAKER_02I think that goes into number nine, which is be driven.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Go for it.
SPEAKER_02It this is the moment I accept the most challenging times will always be behind me and in front of me. You know, there's no in my eyes, on the road to success, you know, it's a staircase with no landing, right? There's stair after stair after stair after stair, and you gotta be willing to take step after step after step after step. You have to you have to be willing to and just appreciative of the fact that as as good as in retrospect, you know, you you've where you are, you you'll be grateful for where you are. You look back and you know that you put in a lot of work to get to that point. You went through a lot of hard times, you you sacrificed and and you're grateful for where you are, but but never for one time think that there's not gonna be tough times ahead. So mentally prepare yourself for that. I think good. Sorry. Yeah, I think I I just think you gotta be in that mamba mentality where you know that the game you're you know the opponent you're playing, in most cases is yourself, but the opponent you're you're playing is gonna be tough today, tomorrow, the next day, the next day, the next day. And the more challenging you make it for yourself, the stronger you're gonna be, the more mentally tough you're gonna be, the better prepared you are gonna be for the next challenge, and the next challenge, and the next challenge, and you're gonna be able to take on bigger and bigger opponents every time. You know, the more the more Shaqs you take on, the bigger, the bigger the shack you can overcome in the future, and and and don't be afraid to take on Shaq because you're allowed to lose. You gotta, you know, you're allowed to lose a game here and there,
Protect Your Dreams
SPEAKER_02but but it's about just attacking till you win, you know.
SPEAKER_03So it's also being confident in the work that you've put in, right? Like if you're doing the things that you need to do day to day, you should be able to go into a challenging situation. Being one, you've got to embrace the challenge, right? You got to know the challenging times are coming. You all you have to seek them out. You have to almost seek them out like, okay, I see I'm coming right at it because I've done the work that I need to do.
SPEAKER_02I want to interrupt you.
SPEAKER_03Go ahead.
SPEAKER_02I want to in I want to interrupt you for one second. I I think there's a million different times when you go into a situation and you're not gonna feel like you're fully prepared for the situation. I I think there's there's sure there's situations when you are not gonna feel like you, you know, you're gonna doubt yourself, right?
SPEAKER_05Sure.
SPEAKER_02But the confidence comes, I think, sure, from efforts that you've made in the past. But I think it's it's the not being afraid to fail and relinquishing yourself from that moment of yeah, the detachment outcomes. Yeah, this is just an at bat.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02People strike out all the time. It's not gonna be your last, it's not gonna be your last at bat.
SPEAKER_03If I screw it up, I'm gonna like this will this will I'm gonna seek out the obstacle, I'm gonna seek out the challenge. If I flub it, that's fine. I'll learn from it, I'll be better for it next time. Moving on. Like that's just the mentality you've got to have.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, while there's a level of confidence in what you've you know the building blocks that you've put in place to make that wall stronger, I think that really you're never gonna be sure if the wrecking ball can't come and knock that wall down until the wrecking ball hits it. And I think the the confidence comes from you know, knowing that you can build it back up again and knowing you can push yourself forward and knowing that I'm able to put in the work. And when you go into a situation where you doubt yourself, just saying I'm gonna do my best, and whatever happens, happens. I agree. You know, if it's you if I'm going into a listing appointment, do I want to get every listing? Hell yeah, I want to get every listing. Do it do I walk into listings after the fact and say maybe I don't need that listing, maybe it's not the right fit with the client. Maybe I didn't do the best job selling myself to that particular person. There's a million different outcomes that can happen. At the end of the day, I either get it or I don't.
SPEAKER_03You maybe you're just off your game that day. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't sleep well, woke up, I had a kink in my neck, feel like crap.
SPEAKER_02But if I can be introspective and say, okay, what did I do wrong? How can I make that better the next time?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_02That's that's what the hell it's about. Not about if you got it or not.
SPEAKER_04I agree.
SPEAKER_03Let's do it. Achieve greatness. Great things come from hard work and perseverance, no excuses. I think two things or a couple things. Greatness, you have to identify and define greatness for yourself. What is that? Right? And I think that comes from again that long-term vision, and you know, you traveling your your path. You know, I equate greatness and excellence are kind of synonymous are synonymous to me. Like, you know, I have standard. Greatness, excellence, standards. Those are all kind of parallel to me.
SPEAKER_02But you know what those are? Those are daily things.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Great greatness is a daily thing, not a there's no, yeah, there's no destination where it's like, nah, I've arrived. Greatness.
SPEAKER_02Right. It's not the end of it's not you sitting standing on the podium at the end of the race.
SPEAKER_03Because again, there's no there. There's no there. So if there is no there, what is greatness? Greatness is this path that I'm on. And there is no arriving, right? Unless you arrive and then you keel over dead, then I guess technically there.
SPEAKER_02But that's not gonna happen. All right. So you're okay. So you're a Formula One driver, just as an example. This is something I you know, I love Formula One, right? You're a Formula One driver. Greatness is not you standing on the podium with the trophy, greatness is you taking every single turn in the race, yeah, with excellence.
SPEAKER_03Greatness is excellent.
SPEAKER_02And greatness. Greatness is you focusing and and hitting the gas pedal faster than everyone at the start of the race. Greatness is you knowing what you gotta do to get to the end of the race, being prepared, and making every single moment count, every single turn, every single time you slam on the brake, every time you press on the gas, making that the best time you've done it. Right? And and you know, you equate that to us and and what we do every day. Greatness is is not about what we where we landed, right? When when we're there, right? When when we're 65. That's not the greatness. The greatness is about us in our moment, us when we wake up every day, just trying to make the best of every every day and the best of every phone call, and the best of every sure workout, and the best of every time we have with our family, and and the compilation of that is what allows you or makes you great in retrospect.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, greatness doesn't happen on accident. That you don't just wake up one day and you know, all things just the stars align and you achieve some sort of you know greatness, whether that's in your job, your whatever. That's like you said, a daily intentional focus, focus, action. It is action, you have to take action, right? Like if you want to achieve greatness, you have to do something. There's you know, an action item that follows that. I want to achieve, I want to sell a hundred houses this year. Well, guess what? You're not gonna wake up tomorrow and then it just starts happening because you put it into the atmosphere, right? Like there's action items that go with that. And those, if you're not following those action items, which is what the greatness is, then you're not gonna get to a hundred houses. It's just not gonna happen. You're not right.
SPEAKER_02And if you if you sold 20 houses last year, you're not gonna sell a hundred this year, in most cases, you know. It unless unless you put in the effort between the beginning of the year and the end of the year, there's no way you're gonna get to a hundred if you only sold twenty the year before. And it's unlikely you can you know you can get there, but can you get there the following year because you went from 20 to 50? Hell yeah. Sure. And then you and then you work from there.
SPEAKER_03You just keep going, you keep going, keep going, man. You just keep going, and you keep going, and then you do it again, and then you reevaluate, and you do it again. And that that's and that's why at the beginning, and I you know, this I this all relates, right? Like people take these topics and they're like, oh, well, that's just like he-man stuff, and I'm not a football player, I'm not an athlete, or whatever. This doesn't apply to me. 100% applies to you, and a hundred applies to every single thing. Everything you're gonna do, your relationship with your kids, your family, your whatever, it all is applicable. There's there's crossover with all of it. You know, it that's not to meant to be some kind of he-man heroic speech. These are just you know, these are basic things that you know will impact your life and the joy you get out of your life, you know.
SPEAKER_02And and I I think the reason why we did this episode is not because it's something that we just think we're the greatest at. It's something that we we think we try to keep in in our mind, and and not even just the ten commandments of code of Kobe.
SPEAKER_05Right.
SPEAKER_02It's something that that you and I as
Be Driven
SPEAKER_02entrepreneurs uh are considerate of and try to be intentional at and and recognize we're on the journey and and in turn and trying to improve. And and so having conversations about this and and and and being thoughtful about this on a daily basis is something we wanted to share and sure share our perspective on and also motivate each other with, right?
SPEAKER_03Sure. And you and I have lots of conversations. I do a lot of networking type activity, right? And you have conversations with people, especially now, and they're not happy with how things are going, right? Whether it be their business, their work life balance, whatever it is, there's some their home life, yeah. There's something that they're not, you know, getting joy from in their life, right? Well, what are you gonna do? What are you doing about it? I think you could take all 10 of these, and you know, you kind of start with almost like be, you know, be a long-term thinker, like what are my goals, and then you could, and then everything else just kind of falls in line with that. Like, okay, what are you doing about it? What are you any of anything in your life that you're not happy about unless you've just got like you were born without a leg, you know, what are you doing about it?
SPEAKER_02You know, if there's yeah, you have an opportunity to to change it, right? Yeah, you have you're give yourself the opportunity by change to change it by putting in the effort.
SPEAKER_03You have to, and and anything else, like you know, if you're not happy with your production, and someone tells you what you need to do to get to the production that you want, and you don't do that, that's on you. Like, there's no market, there's no nothing like you didn't do the work, don't expect to get results from work you didn't put in, you know, and and that that that goes for for everything, you know, and far as like takeaways from all of these, you know, it it's you know, finding your passion, being you know, thinking in in the big picture of things, and then just being locked in and just being focused. Like that's what this is this is what I'm after. I'm comfortable with the fact that I might not ever get there, but that's okay. It's not about getting there. There is no there. I'm just gonna focus on what I gotta do day to day to get closer and closer and closer. And then when my time's up, I gave it everything I had, and then that's the end. That's right. They throw you in the dirt. Like that's that's it. Because in the you got one shot at it, right? Used earlier. If you're just here, you know, chances are you're not gonna be Alexander the Great or somebody in the grand scheme of things. Like, nobody's gonna remember you. 500 years from now, nobody's gonna know who Kobe Bryant is. Nobody's gonna know who any of those people are. You know, they'll be in a book somewhere, and that will be the end.
SPEAKER_02And so what Kobe's are one in a billion, right? Yeah, yeah, and at the end of the day, those Kobe's of the world were are one in a billion. There's you know, there's say he's one of the top ten best players in the world. There's only ten best players out of thousands. Well, let's call it billions, right?
SPEAKER_03True, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because everybody put yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So you know you just have to think about it within yourself and within your opportunities and my growing within your within your at bats. I I think this is a great conversation. Obviously, I'm gonna uh I'm gonna drop the 10 Kobe success mama mentality uh commandments, so to speak, in I'll I'll drop it in the description on our YouTube channel. Be sure to like and subscribe. I'm gonna leave you with a another Kobe speech. It's a short one, but it it's a great one. So I want to share this with you real quick.
SPEAKER_00Those times when you get up early and you work hard, those times when you stay up late and you work hard, those times when you don't feel like working, you're too tired, you don't want to push yourself, but you do it anyway. That is actually the three.