Embracing Challenges and Leading from Within (Episode 139)

Ever felt the weight of the world on your shoulders as a Gen Z, struggling to navigate through unprecedented challenges? You're not alone. Today, we're joined by Dr. Jason Wiggins, a distinguished Gen Z and Millennial expert, who shares invaluable insights and guidance, addressing the most pressing issues you face—be it the pandemic, recession, or job scarcity. He deeply understands these challenges, having gone through his own journey of internal leadership struggles. But he also brings to light the power of failure, framing it not as an end but as a stepping stone towards success.

As we peel back the layers of Wiggins's insights, we explore the unique skill Gen Zs possess—the ability to balance optimism and realism in decision-making. We talk about harnessing motivation, taking action, and maintaining discipline, as well as the transformative role a supportive companion can play in your journey. Dr. Wiggins firmly believes that success is a personal definition, and leading from within is key to achieving it. To top it off, we discuss the exciting future that lies ahead for Gen Zs, the potential to shine amidst competition, and embracing it with gusto. So, brace yourself for an eye-opening conversation that promises to empower you to move forward, glean lessons from failures, and most importantly, lead from within.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Good morning everyone. It is absolutely amazing to be here and, first and foremost, I would like to thank the school administration, the staff and all those that involved been involved in having me come to speak to you today. My name is Dr Jason Wiggins. I am a Gen Z and Millennial Experts and really specifically concentrating on generations as a whole, as we now have five generations working in the workplace Today. What I want to talk to you about, as being those that are currently in high school and junior high, is about leadership, the leadership that we have within us, and what I like to talk about that is because when we lead within, then we are accountable for our actions. And the reason why I bring this up is I know the struggles that you are currently having or that you've had within the past few years. I mean, this is not even discounting the pandemic. You know, as Gen Zs, you've experienced the recession. You've experienced the continued decrease of jobs, a geopolitical society, the economic conditions that we're in. I mean, the struggles have been real and, being Gen Zs who have been born between the years of 1996 and 2010, you've experienced the bulk of all the concerns that we are having and the emotional tear down, the mental health, the things that granted other generations and Gen Zs weren't even concerned of. They are predominant issues and must continue to be addressed. So today's conversation is about leading within. How can we lead within and be the very best person that we can while at the same time, helping others not only be the best that they can, but be accountable for all of their actions, and I believe that I'm a good source of this, that I can provide a footprint to help guide some of the concerns that you currently have, have had or will have in the future.

Speaker 1: 2:59

I grew up in a very small town in the corner of Washington State, right next to the Canadian border, and I was a friendly kid, but I lacked a lot of social protocols. I didn't speak when I needed to. I spoke up too much, I used my mouth much more than I should have, which is obviously now is beneficial as I get to speak to you today but back then I wasn't a very good, sociable person to be around and a lot of the leadership that I had within was failing. I wanted to do well, I had the desire to do well, I meant to do well, but I kept on following short, and the reason why I kept on following short was because I didn't have control over my own actions and not being able to control myself. How could I control others, what they did to me? I was picked on, I was beat up, I was in fights, I struggled with school. I just I seemed to always want to do the right thing, but I was always failing.

Speaker 1: 4:19

And I know, as students here, you are much more educated. You have so many tools at your disposal within social media and all of the learning apps that you have on your iPads and YouTube and all of those different functions that allow you to be connected to. Intelligence is just amazing. I mean, the kids that are growing up now, such as yourself, is you have everything at your fingertips, being a digital natives. Granted, my generation was the first to be involved in the use of computers, but I know that you have an advantage and that's why you're more intelligent than previous generations. That's why you have so much potential and that is why it's so important to come back within that leadership, within.

Speaker 1: 5:18

When I ask you, what is your number one fear? Moving forward? What would that be? It's not just the fear itself, it's am I going to fail? How am I going to fail. What happens when I fail? Well, guess what? We all fail. We will always fail, and if you want to be successful, you will fail so many more times than you will succeed. I know on YouTube you'll see all of these individuals that they're making a nice life for themselves with YouTube and they haven't even graduated high school. Some of them are in junior high and I promise you that is the minority.

Speaker 1: 6:13

We all have a chance in this room to be great, to be great within academics, to be great within sports and extracurricular activities. Whatever it may be, we can do it. But it's that leadership inside. And you know what another part of leadership is. It's an inteprospective part of leadership and that is the motivation inside. It's kind of like the heartbeat, but you have the surrounding areas of the heart that part of that needs to beat is because of that motivation. It's pumping the heart. Motivation is pumping your leadership capabilities and if you are motivated, you believe that you can achieve whatever you want.

Speaker 1: 7:02

You may fail the first time getting there. You may fail the second time getting there. You may fail many more times, but I promise you listen to this. If you don't listen to anything in my presentation today. Please listen to this If you don't try, you'll never fail. Listen to those words If you don't try, you'll never fail. That's the one thing I hope you'll take out of this, which, in retrospect, that means keep on trying, keep on failing. The more time you fail, the more times you have a chance to succeed.

Speaker 1: 7:44

I can't tell you how many times I've failed. My life has been full of failures. I've shared that in many of my experiences and I'm okay with that. I've been fired, I've been let go. I've been part of, absorbed by, a company. You know what? I've learned a lot every single time, but what it comes down to is the leadership that I have within that gives me that strength to know Keep on going, keep on being motivated.

Speaker 1: 8:20

Motivation is a key concept. Think of some of the greatest athletes. Think of those individuals that you look at each and every day and you go. I want to be them. I want to be the best guitarist in the world. I want to be Taylor Swift. I want to be able to sing. I want to be able to attract all the fame and fortunes. Well, remember that is a very small majority of the individuals that do that. Is it impossible? No, nothing's impossible but the ability to lead within, to understand your self-value, to understand your talents, to develop those talents, to then execute those talents and keep moving forward. The key thing is, when you lead within, you keep moving the needle Moving the needle. What that means is you don't stop. Your greatest quality is the ability to not stop.

Speaker 1: 9:26

I've shared this before in previous conversations with others, and that conversation goes, but something like this I had a boss that shared with me Prior to terminating me within the organization. He said you know what, jason? The thing that we love about you is your optimism, but your greatest kryptonite is your optimism. And at that point I thought to myself what does that mean? Maybe I need to look it up on YouTube, maybe I need to do some research, but I knew exactly what it meant. It meant that, no matter what happens, no matter what barriers, no matter what pitfalls, whatever gets in the way, I have to remember that I need to keep moving forward. I can't look back, but I can learn from my mistakes I made. I can reevaluate the situation to what I could have done better, and that's part of leading within, but I also need to keep moving forward.

Speaker 1: 10:40

The more you move forward, the more you gain additional knowledge and you're successful. So as I look out among the crowd today, I'm amazed. I'm amazed that I am standing in front of a generation that is going to achieve more than anybody else has ever achieved within a lifetime. I mean, we are talking about some great generations. We're talking about the baby boomers, gen X, traditional list, gen, gen Y, everybody. They have done some great things, but with the intellectual capability, the technology, the drive from all of the issues that I talked about in the recession to 9-11, to the pandemic, all of these situations have helped mold Gen X into what I see today.

Speaker 1: 11:44

The optimism is contagious. Now, the one thing I know that Gen Z does very well is you're able to kind of counterintuitively with when it comes to optimism and realism. You're able to connect those and not get too absorbed because why? You can look at something for a minute and you already have your opinions made. You've already decided is this good or bad. But when you lead from within, you're able to take that knowledge that you've learned before, what you're currently using, and utilize that for information in the future and that will help drive your success.

Speaker 1: 12:26

If you choose to go to college, you choose to go to the trade school, you choose to start a business, you choose to go in the armed forces, you choose to go and do some humanitarian aid. Whatever you may choose, you're just setting what is going to direct you in the path of your life. You are now starting the phase of greatness. Greatness doesn't start tomorrow. Greatness doesn't start five years from now. Greatness starts within. When you decide to lead yourself, take that energy and focus it on something that is so passionate that it's burning inside you, that's when you know you are moving forward. You are pulling that or pushing that needle in a direction that is going to lead you in a path of success, when you lead within.

Speaker 1: 13:28

Let's look at how you define success. Is success money? Is it fame? Is it family? Is it self-fulfilling? What is fame? Or what is your motivation? What drives you to want to succeed?

Speaker 1: 13:51

It's interesting because what I've seen from successful people is they've always had that innate ability to want more. Not only do they want more, they want it because they work hard for it. Why they don't take a break? The first thing they do when that alarm gets up, goes off in the morning by leading within. They hit the alarm and get up, pop up out of bed and the first decision of the day they make is to make their bed. Yes, to make their bed. Why? It shows organization. It shows that the first decision you made of the day was to make your bed and start the day with a set of discipline within your inner self. That's step one of the day.

Speaker 1: 14:48

Step two is getting ready for the day, getting the mindset, and that comes back to leading within. When you have that mindset that you're going to win, you're going to succeed, you're going to do the very, very best thing you can to take care of everything that needs to get done. That's from being respectful to your teachers, being respectful to everybody around you. That is being on top of your game, and that is why the very best and what they do are those individuals who do not stop, they do not quit, they keep moving forward. So that is what I find, and I think many successful people find, is that when they see a person like yourself and they know that you have that internal drive, you work harder than anybody, you do the necessary things. It's not okay just to talk about it, it's not okay to just go.

Speaker 1: 15:51

I want to do this Show some action. When you lead within, when you have that motivation, you have a form of action, an action where these are what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna write it down step by step. Step one I'm going to do this. Step two I'm gonna do this. And then I'm gonna make a game plan all the way to the end and I'm gonna write success. What does success mean? Success means I accomplished my goal and now do I move forward with that goal in a different direction? Do I build on it? Do I start a new goal? If you look at entrepreneurs out there and there's so many Gen Z entrepreneurs out there, and as I mean, many are starting every single day they're starting a small business. They're doing amazing things when it comes to humanitarian issues. They're working with key people within our government to make life better. These individuals are not doing it because it benefits them today. They're doing it because it benefits the cause. It benefits their continued growth, and that's what I really want to focus on is the growth of being a leader within.

Speaker 1: 17:09

As I mentioned, I struggled. I struggled so much because I didn't know how to lead within. I always wanted more. I always had that motivation as I grew up. I wanted to be the strongest, I wanted to be the fastest. Why? Because I wanted to be the best, and that's the only thing I could learn how to control. I spent a lot of time in the weight room lifting weights, trying to get stronger, trying to be more prepared for sports. I played football, wrestled, rugby and boxing and all those things, because it challenged me, and that's what I want.

Speaker 1: 17:49

The desire of each and every one of you is what is your desire? What do you want to do? How are you going to do it? Well, I can tell you one thing it starts with what you want inside. If you want to be great and I know you want to be great Sometimes you just need that internal motivation. You need that best friend to be able to come to you and say I have your back, I got you. Man, we're going to do this together. And guess what? You have that push. And then not only if that person falls off for whatever reason and stops wanting to help you, then you got to take control. You got to take control of what's inside, and that control inside is what's going to lead you. It can lead you into greatness. It can lead you into any path that you want, and I will assure you that I hope.

Speaker 1: 18:39

Today this message is very, very clear. The world is in front of you. The world for Gen Z is going to be a place where the most things that we've ever seen be successful are going to be created with the in your generation, and if I was you, I would be extremely excited. There's going to be a lot of competition out there, don't get me wrong. Like I said earlier, this is the most intellectual, savvy digital era that we've ever seen. It's the most connected era that we've ever seen. It is the generation that understands but is also conservative when it comes to the approaches. They've seen the disasters that have happened. So you're cautious, I get it. I understand. I would be too, and as I continue to study gen X and millennials and the other generations, I will always continue to focus on what will be how greatness really is created. Greatness is created within us. It's created as that heartbeat Remember I talked about earlier that motivation that is pumping into that heartbeat of leadership, being accountable for your actions, being accountable for the person.

Speaker 1: 20:08

You are being the best person, you are helping others, ensuring that your legacy, your legacy doesn't start tomorrow. Your legacy already started. But if your legacy is not where you want it today, if it's not right now, then let's start right now, because you are the shining star that is going to make and continue to make our society, our world, a much greater place. I am excited what you're gonna do and I hope that out of this message today, you're able to take that. Your actions, your accountability, your leadership you'll be able to take that and move it forward within your daily lives. What you decide you wanna do post high school, what you wanna do in the future, and that motivation will take you as far as you will let it. You will fail, I promise you you will fail, but you will get back up from the canvas of that ring and you will continue to fight to live another day, and that fight will take you nine rounds sometimes, but you will come out victorious. And when you don't, if you don't, it's okay, because you learned so much from that and you're gonna take that and build on it and move forward.

Speaker 1: 21:48

So again, I would like to thank everybody for being here. I'm here, available, to talk to you about leadership and to answer any questions that you have, and I think that this generation is gonna be the greatest thing ever, and I can't wait to see this journey with you. So thank you again. My name is Dr Jason Wiggins, I am your Gen Z and Millennial expert, and I am here whenever you need me. So take care and enjoy the first day of the rest of your life. Thank you, bye-bye.