A preacher goes to a barber shop for a haircut and has a nice conversation with the barber. When the barber finds out his customer is a preacher he says ‘I don’t believe that God exists.’
‘Why do you say that?’ asked the preacher.
‘Just look around. If God exists, why would there be so many sick people, and suffering and pain. I can’t imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things’.
The preacher nodded his head, smiled and left after his haircut. While outside, he came across a homeless man with long dirty hair and a unkept beard. He came back into the barber shop and said ‘you know what? Barbers don’t exist’.
The barber says ‘how can you say that? I’m here and just worked on you’
The preacher said ‘barbers don’t exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and unkept beards like this man outside’
‘Ah’, the barber said, ‘but barbers DO exist. What happens is, people just don’t come to me’
UNPACKING THIS STORY
This is not a sermon about faith in a higher power or a lecture about believing in God. That’s not my thing. I write this newsletter to provide lessons, wins and challenges weekly I experience to you.
This story hit me in a moment of reflection related to connecting with the self. There’s a version of us that is still 5 years old. That version exists today but we’ve stifled it. We have told ourselves it’s not reasonable to allow a 5 year old mindset to determine our outcomes. We create layers of suppression of the self disguised as ‘practicality’ which gets us to a place where we have what we said what we wanted career-wise, but don’t ‘feel’ good.
Then, we leverage the concept of ‘practicality’ to try to get ourselves out of it. How do I make money, what business can I start, let me allocate funds, let me partner. We are using the same concept that got us into a state of dissatisfaction to then get ourselves out of it. If we’re being practical, that’s just not!
SO JUST ACT LIKE A 5 YEAR OLD?
The point is that of course you need practical solutions in order to get out of your job. Bills are real, mortgages are real, health care is real. Those solutions are in volumes of books, articles, videos. The answers we think we need are peppered throughout my YouTube channel and Instagram feed. Just go watch. Tons of practical answers for you.
If the answers are plentiful, then why do we stay in our jobs?
That’s where you 5 year old comes in. Like the preacher and the barber story, the foundation on which you put practical solutions in place to accelerate the results you crave is the relationship you have with who you are. Your inner 5 year old. Denying the existence of this part of yourself is as ridiculous as denying that barbers exist.
HOW DO I VISIT MY 5 YEAR OLD?
There are three layers to answering this question. There’s the easy solution, the easier solution most won’t take because of limiting beliefs, and then there’s the cheat code. We’re about to go deep - I’m feeling it in this edition - so stay with me!
The Easy Solution
Getting reacquainted with yourself is doable in 10-15 minutes a day. This tactic requires the least change to your daily life and no money. Create a meditation and journaling practice, with intention. Many may meditate and journal daily, but most don’t do so with intention. If you set the intention daily for why you’re journaling, and what you’re exploring in a meditative state, you’ll create momentum toward an objective you state in your intention. ‘I want to find my authentic self’ is a simple enough intention to leverage. Do this daily for months/years and you’ll begin to see shifts
The Easier Solution
We are tribal beings. It’s ingrained in our DNA. And everyone rattles off the sayings ‘you’re the average of the 5 people’ or ‘your net worth is your network’ as if they’re obvious statements .. but most don’t follow through on it. If you surround yourself with extremely fit people, chances are your fitness will improve. If you read my last newsletter, I shared that 46% of employees say they want to quit in 2023. Then they’ll go on hanging out with other people they work with. That’s the wrong environment if they’re truly going to change their lives. The easier solution is to invest in your network. Yet most won’t do that because they say ‘I’m too busy’ or ‘I don’t need that’. Rather than sit in silence 10 minutes a day for years, I’d prefer to get around people that freely admit their dreams and ambitions. That are clearly connected to their ‘self’ and are celebrated for it. When I joined Gobundance, it normalized a new level of life and took a 10 year job exit goal down to 2 years. Emerge Supercharged is specifically developed by me to teach people what I learned and we’ve seen dozens exit. Investing in a community like this is MUCH easier. I can point to hundreds of millionaire entrepreneurs who invest 10s of 1000s in community. It’s a hint I take seriously!
The Cheat Code
For some of you, this is where I may lose you. But I hope you’ll read on and be open minded. Over a year ago, I did my first ever psychedelic retreat with intention. My intention was ‘learn what’s holding me back from being the best version of myself’. I ate 5 grams of mushrooms after going through an deep introspective session with a psychologist and followed up after with an integration session that helped me put the learnings into practice. I outlined the experience with my psychologist on this episode of Tribe of Millionaires.
What I learned in that first session was that my relationship with my ego or inner child was what was holding me back. I denied that part of me and it aggressively let me know that while I was ‘tripping’. My psychologist helped me integrate this and understand what I experienced and it changed the course of my life. Since then I’ve done healing exercises with guidance on my relationship with my inner child and ego, and a second mushroom trip which was much lighter and gave me a sense of connectedness internally I never experienced before.
I’ve never smoked a joint. I barely drink. So this was a big leap for me. The concept was introduced to me honestly at an event with guys with 8 and 9 figure net worths who spoke of MDMA, mushrooms, ayahuasca and other psychedelics like they were part of a normal health routine. Colonoscopy, blood work, explore your spirituality, massage…part of the formula.
There’s an incredible Netflix series called ‘How To Change Your Mind’ that dives into the science of psychedelics for the ‘practical’ among you. Many who are tuned into psychedelics will also take exception to me calling it a ‘cheat code’. To be clear, it’s not as if one mushroom trip solves everything for you. But it gives you a second opinion on reality in 5 hours that will take you years of meditation to achieve. It gives you a violent shove forward in exploring the next level for your life.
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
My section titles are all questions I anticipate you’re asking. Bringing it all together, you are likely in the 46% that want to quit their job this year and consume my content and others to understand the ‘how’. I’m happy to keep delivering that and I’m doing it with this article. The key, though, is finding a connection with your inner self, your inner child, your ego. It’s a high brow concept that most won’t take seriously and therefore, I’m sure you’ll agree, most of that 46% will have their job after this year. Visiting that inner child and celebrating it is the key and I’ve given you three ways you can do that.
The most ‘practical’ is to join me in Emerge Supercharged. That’s no bullshit. It’s not about me, it’s about who we’ve put together for you to network and grow with - the version of you that wants to dream is supported here. But you have to visit that inner child first.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
#1: Be Impractically Practical
My goal is to get through - to land the point. Not to have you tripping on ‘shrooms. So I want to make sure you are clear I’m not poo-pooing your practical approach to getting out of your job. I am, though, saying to let that practical solution work faster by impractically connecting you to you on a deeper level using any of the three solutions above.
#2: The Things We Don’t Realize We Do That Keep Us Stuck
Getting myself to this point of being ‘impractically practical’ took some self-reflection. I have used self-deprecating humor, for example, for years. I still do to some extent but my relationship with it has shifted. It used to be a sign of humility, a virtuous signal that I don’t take myself too seriously. Now it’s simply a tool to ensure I keep the audience with me. Better said, I used to believe it. Getting that smirk from someone to ensure they knew that I was the piece of shit I just said I am, meant everything. It made me feel at peace .. and kept me stuck in place. Do you need to drop a funny line to get a laugh? Do you need to dismiss your accomplishments as ‘ho-hum’ to ensure you feel safe and don’t stand out? Do you fluff off compliments or, even worse, fight with someone when they say they want to get the check? All of these behaviors are self-limiting. They’re disconnected from a confident version of yourself available to you when you get connected with who you are again.
#3: Be the 1% of the 46%
When I read that nearly half of employed people said they’re going to quit, it felt disempowering. The unfortunate truth is the overwhelming majority will justify, explain, shrink their way out of that action. I shout from the rooftops every day on social media to find and invest in community because THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I DID .. and more importantly, it was what I saw EVERY successful entrepreneur doing. But employees don’t. So to be the 1% of the 46% that will actually follow through, invest in your community. If you want to be an employee, act like one. If you want to be an entrepreneur, act like one. I’m so proud of the 16 people coming to Punta Cana to be a part of my Mid-Life Entrepreneur mastermind. They invested upwards of $9000 plus flights to come because they are acting like their future self. You can simply join Emerge Supercharged for $1500 if $9000 is just out of the question for you and vastly accelerate your chances of being the 1% in 8 weeks.
QUICK HITS
Tribe of Millionaires Podcast Episode
✯ To transcend your 2023 vision, I shared a key lesson from Brandon Turner, Dr. Richard Shuster and Preston Smiles on Tribe of Millionaires this week. This episode is designed to speak to identity shift and elevated consciousness. Deep subjects so I’d encourage you NOT to multitask while listening.
A Podcast/Book I Love
✯ I recently re-read Tribe of Millionaires - the book that is the namesake for the podcast and also is core curriculum for (and included with) Emerge Supercharged. Quick read and it’ll give you clarity on key takeaway #3 above.
Lesson from Living Abroad
✯ Your environment matters. For some, the idea of living abroad doesn’t move the needle. For me, moving abroad specifically to the Dominican Republic because of the weather, amenities, culture, language just spoke to me. Here’s a photo of me writing this newsletter upstairs in our house. Hanging with my two pups with windows open, a cool breeze flowing through, blue skies and some music in my ears - I love it here. It inspires me to continue on my 10x journey. If you’re dreaming of that tropical island life, or whatever, know that it’s as good or better than you imagine.
If you want to work with me and become a mid-life entrepreneur, here’s three ways you can do that!
1. Follow me on YouTube. We’re about to blow up that channel and have already put together great content to help you get unstuck. It’s totally free and will be tremendously valuable for you to learn the lessons of becoming a mid-life entrepreneur and avoid the same mistakes I made and continue to make!!
2. Join Emerge Supercharged. This is where I can help you get clarity, build confidence and leverage the community to get yourself out of your day job. It’s the exact cadence I followed and the exact process I learned to quit my $400,000/year job inside of 2 years! I had to fumble around to learn these processes and it still took me less than 24 months - so the possibilities for you are insane! We’ve had dozens quit their day job in the last 2 years and many more are on deck for 2023!! You can get into our 8 week Accelerator with full access to the community for that time for just $1500. Try us out and let us support you on your journey to lifestyle freedom!
3. Come to The Dominican Republic. Our January 2023 Mid-Life Entrepreneur Mastermind in Punta Cana is SOLD OUT! I am taking applications for a second event I plan to host in the late winter/early spring so fill out the form and get on the waitlist for the upcoming announcement! This is a fully immersive, in depth, luxury experience designed to push you beyond your limits and get you unstuck. If you’re feeling that sense of urgency to live your life purposefully before more time slips away, this is the best experience I offer and it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE!