Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 390 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast
Are you doing the best you can? In times when things around us seem chaotic, and by the way, things have always been chaotic, we are just seeing it in real time 24/7 now so it freaks everyone out. Honestly, there have always been scary things happening so let’s remember that when we think the world is ending. There’s a lot of good happening too, it just never gets elevated because fear sells. And look, it gets to me too. That’s why Im saying this is because think about what this country has been through…World Wars, civil war, depressions, terrorist attacks, people survived even thrived through all of that. We can too. So you Gotta keep doing what is best for you and for your family and know that things are going to be ok, it may be a little bumpy but then it will be smooth again. It’s cyclical. So do the best you can while you still can. With that I have a question.
Or are you doing the best you can or are you doing the best that the people around you are doing?
I saw a post this last week and it was a side by side picture of two 84 year old men. On the left side the 84 year old was fit and muscular standing proud looking still vibrant. and the one on the right was feeble in a wheelchair and looked like he had only a couple days left. Which one surprises you? The really fit 84 year old or the feeble one? If you’re being honest and you live in America you would say the 84 year old. Why is it so surprising that someone that’s 84 is really fit and healthy? In other countries it isn’t surprising at all. Is it because it has become the norm to be on tons of medication and feeble if you’re 84? Another video went viral because a 91 year old lady was still able to squat down and easily get back up and she was running all over the place. The reason it went viral because it’s not the norm, not even close. What we see around us as the norm is usually where we are headed, if we aren’t careful that is. If we aren’t setting our own standards and keeping them. When we people thriving, it makes us want to thrive too. It makes it feel possible.
But simply the fact that one person can do it, gives hope that others can too. Even you and me. We get to choose how we are. Lifestyle is a choice.
It got me thinking. How did the 84 year old guy on the left picture do it? What was his lifestyle? Was everyone around him fit or is he an outlier in his family?
How did he do it? My guess is he didn’t allow excuses and he did what he told himself he would do. He had standards for his health and he stuck to them.
How do we maintain a standard for ourselves? Where does it start?
Is it simply our peer group? Is it our environment?
Sometimes the hard questions are the ones that move the needle. This is a hard question I’m about to ask. Are you doing the best YOU can do or are you doing the best your peer group does?
Are you the average of the people you surround yourself with? Or are you setting the standards and raising the average of the people you surround yourself with? Or are you possibly lowering the average? That’s a tough one. But it’s one we need to ask if we are really wanting to make a change in our life.
Every choice we make is making us better or making us weaker. Every single one. And who we surround ourselves with is huge. What we listen to and read is huge.
Studies have proven the people you surround yourself with usually determine your outcomes.
What we eat
How much money we make
How we dress or wear our hair
How happy we are.
But the internet has made it where proximity isn’t an excuse anymore.
I noticed recently I was really struggling with what to wear I know that is superficial but we all have that reality don’t we?
and I thought I just don’t live somewhere where it matters, but then I thought wait that really is just an excuse. Yes it may be true that memphis isn’t the fashion capitol but with the internet I can see outfits I love all day long if I wanted. So I go on Pinterest and I search chic outfits for fall and up pops all of these great looking outfits and I saw one and I thought I have every piece of that. She was wearing a vest over a white T-shirt with jeans and great shoes. So for the next couple days I wore vests over T-shirts and loved it. I’ve started making that a daily practice because it trains my eye to outfits I already have but hadn’t thought of putting them together.
We are only limited if we think we are. Just because no one around you dresses up it doesn’t mean you can’t. You just have to decide to make a change.
And maybe you want to change and you’ve wanted to change for a while but when the time comes to change you don’t feel like it because it really is easier to just stay the same. change by definition means to cause to be different to transform. So you have to do something differently. You have to step out of your comfort zone a little bit in order for things to change. So many times we want things to change but we don’t want to change.
Ghandi said be the change you wish to see in the world.
Andrew Tate posted the other day that you don’t get to go through life and only do the things you feel like doing. You can’t thrive that way. You know how many times a week I don’t feel like exercising? A lot. But I do it anyway. You know how often I drive by Dunkin’ Donuts and want a cream filled donut? A lot but I choose not to because I know that’s a habit not worth picking up. When I turned 50 I decided I needed a new habit to thrive as I get older so I added walking almost every day to my schedule. This is in addition to my normal exercise. I don’t get enough steps in otherwise and the podcasts I listen to say walking is crucial to longevity not only for your physical health but your mental health too. You know why I did this though? One reason is my friend Lena does cardio and weight lifting almost daily so I have her influence on me. But the other reason is I heard on Andrew Huberman’s podcast that you should be doing at least 4 days of Zone 2 training to teach your body how to burn fat and to make you more efficient in your hard workouts. My husband loves Jocko Willink and his message which is sometimes brutal but he loves to show pictures of his morning workout sweat being all over the floor and how he doesn’t miss a workout when he doesn’t feel like it because of his discipline. It makes Eric think whenever he doesn’t feel like exercising, he does it anyway because he’s like Jock Willink says Not a little bitch.
We may be the sum of the 5 people we are around but are we raising the standard or lowering it? Someone recently said you’re now the sum of the 5 podcasts you consume. Are you listening to things that make you better? That uplift? That raise your standards? Do you listen to anything that raises your standards?
If you think you are meant for more or you wish you had better style or you wish you could lose weight or make more money or be happier or even learn a new skill, whatever it is you wish for your life…you can make a lot of changes by what you consume through podcasts and social media even if the people in your inner circle aren’t doing it, that doesn’t mean you can’t, it just means you may have to work a little harder to surround yourself with the changes you want to make.
What is it you want to do that you haven’t done? Is it still on the table? What changes do you want to see that you haven’t seen? Are you filling your head with people who have already made those changes and talk regularly about how you can to0? It’s important to think it’s possible. If you think it’s possible, it is.
It’s very important to also surround yourself with people who think it’s possible or at the very least fill your head with podcasts that show you what’s been done and how you can do it too.
My challenge to you this week is to evaluate where you are and where you want to be. Do you see it as possible? Are you surrounding yourself with the idea that it’s possible? Through your peer group or what you consume? Be the change you wish to see, be the one in your group that’s always raising the standard, be the person you wish you could be and you will be in a very short time. Next year you can be everything you wish or you can be exactly where you are right now. It all depends on you. Share this with 3 people who raise your standards. I love you guys Ill talk to you in a few days.
