Reginald D: Hello everybody. Welcome to Real Talk With Reginald D. So glad you stopped by to hang out with me for a minute. Just wanted to share a few things with you. I started this podcast because I wanted to really help people. I have a passion for people. I have been in leadership positions in various companies for many years now. And, I have seen people that had great intentions fail because they couldn't get out of their own way. And, what I’m going to talk about today is balancing your life for your purpose. Everyone has a purpose and a destiny that God has placed before them. But you have to balance your life out before you can pursue a purpose.  So, let's jump right in. Life gives you challenges and all different types of challenges. But life also gives you choices and all different kinds of choices. I've learned that people are miserable day in and day out for various reasons. They can be miserable because of a bad relationship or working in a dead-end job and still can't provide for their families. But that’s misery you can feel, and it should trigger your mind to do something about it. Remember earlier I said we have challenges, but we also have choices. It is your choice to live or not live in misery. Complacency brings on misery also. Most complacent people are miserable people. But the difference is it's a misery that you can't feel because you are too comfortable in the place that you're in. It will reveal itself years later when you look back and see that you are in the same place, doing the same thing and nothing has changed in your life years later, then you want to start and that's fine, but you should have already been finished. Don't let complacency take your life. You have to stay motivated and pursue your purpose, pursue your dreams and don't be afraid of change. I'm reminded of a company that was having a major downsizing and were offering people $300,000 to volunteer to leave. Now, if you did not take that $300,000, then you ran a risk of just getting severance pay. 50% of the people in that company did not take that $300,000 because they couldn't see beyond that company. They were afraid of change and afraid to take that risk -- $300,000- or two-months of severance pay. Which one makes sense? You can't be afraid of change when it's time to go to your next chapter in your life. You have to be able to jump and change and get there because you can't stay in the same chapter forever. You know, there are a lot of people walking around and don't know who they are in life, don't know what they want.  They just walk around and react to whatever life gives them. I call them reactors. They act out on the smallest stuff. If somebody talks about them, they will lose their minds and go off on people. Then call and get everybody else involved and all they had to say is okay to the situation. Okay. That's not going to work for you today. Okay. It's all right. You have to learn how to control your emotions. If you can’t control your emotions, you need to control your mind and the way you react to things. In balancing your life for your purpose, you have to remove people that are weighing you down and overwhelming you and that are not aligned with your purpose or where you are headed. I know it's hard because people you have to remove or set aside are close to you. Could be family members, but it's necessary if you're going to balance your life for your purpose. When you are in pursuit of your purpose, you no longer need people in your life not aligned. You need people on your team. There is a difference. A team has people working together for one common goal and they also have people in the stands cheering for them. When you just have people in your life, you end up with people just hanging and chilling and really aren’t doing nothing. They are in your life and in your way. You can't have that. When you are in pursuit of something next, you have to create peace in your life. Find things that bring you peace and do it. Like for instance, myself. I love music. I love all types of music. I love gospel, R&B, rap, reggae, rock. It just puts my mind at a peaceful state when I listen to it. It's critical that you find an abundance of peace in your life. When you have peace, you can think clearer, you can be more creative, and you won't burn out quickly. If you are trying to pursue something in the middle of chaos, you won't think clear, you won't be creative, and you will burn out quickly. If you're one of those people that freak out every time you watch the news, just don't watch it. Just don't watch it. Just don't do that to yourself. 

Also, do not talk about the vision and destiny that God gave you with everybody because you will end up talking about it so much to the point that it would satisfy you inside and you would feel like you have already accomplished it. But in all reality, you haven't even started it and you probably won't because you feel satisfied from talking about it. Next. In balancing your life for your purpose, you have to face the truth about you and your life. You have to face the fact that some things are not working and you have to do something about it. You can't keep running from it. You've got to face it. Have you ever seen someone that was diagnosed with something and never went back to the doctor for treatment and ended up dying? It's all because they were running from a situation instead of facing it?   I’m reminded of this kid that used to get off the school bus every day and he was getting chased by this dog. He got off the bus, here comes the dog. Bark, Bark.  Chasing the kid and the kid took off running. Next day same thing happened. The Kid got off the bus, here comes the dog. bark, bark. The kid took off running. So, then the kid said, well, I'm going to quit running from this dog. I'm going to get me a brick. And this time that dog runs up to me, I'm going to bust this dog in the head. So, the next day the kid gets off the bus, and here comes the dog. The Kid gets a brick, raises it up and gets ready to hit the dog in the head. But when the dog started barking, he realized that the dog didn't have any teeth. The dog can't even harm him. So, what am I saying? You don't know what a situation can do to you until you face it. As long as that kid kept running, he would have been running for days getting off the bus. When he turned around and faced it, he knew then that it wasn't that bad. Remember, you have to face the truth and make hard decisions to remove some people or some things in your life out. And you have to remember that there is nothing more important than this moment. People can join or rejoin when they are in alignment with you. The biggest thing you have to do is to stay disciplined and live in your life for your purpose. We talked about choices. We talked about controlling your emotions, choosing people, creating peace and facing the truth. You have to be disciplined with these items and not go back to your old ways in order for this thing to work. Discipline is motivation every time. You can be motivated and be doing all sorts of stuff. But if you do not have discipline, you will fail every time. 

And I want you to know this, that you are more than enough for your purpose. No dream is too big when you truly understand. Abundance is your birthright. God made us in his image. And when God makes something, it's always more than enough. Don't let anyone tell you anything different. You are more than enough. Therefore, you're powerful enough and creative enough to do whatever you want to do. You just have to stay disciplined while working the process. 

I'm going to leave you with this. You either rule your mind or your mind will rule you. Master your mind and you will master your world. That's all I have today. Glad y'all stopped by to hang out with me and have a little talk with Reginald Talk With Reginald D.  I'm taking you on a journey and I'm very excited about it and I know you will be blessed if you continue to tune in.  I’ll be doing this every Tuesday and I think it will bless you. We have to go on this journey so we all can grow and be great together. 

Until then, be safe and tune in every Tuesday.