The "I'm Ready Now!" Podcast
Ideas to help you when you're ready for change.
The "I'm Ready Now!" Podcast
EP 34: Breaking Free: When Comfort Becomes Your Cage
After a completely unplanned absence, I return to the podcast with renewed energy!
How many of us have become ensnared in unsatisfying jobs, relationships, or situations because we refuse to let go of what we believe provides security? I explore Dan Miller's provocative question: "What if everything you think is safe is actually what's keeping you stuck?" Through compelling examples like Sarah Blakely leaving fax machine sales to found Spanx, Kodak's reluctance to embrace digital photography despite inventing it, and Howard Schultz creating Starbucks after growing up in public housing, we see how comfort often masks fear while stifling growth and creativity.
The most haunting insight comes from hospice nurse Bronnie Ware, who documented that the most common regret of the dying is "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself." This profound truth challenges us to examine what metaphorical "nuts" we're clutching that keep us trapped in situations that no longer serve us. As Brené Brown wisely notes, "You can choose courage or you can choose comfort. You cannot have both."
What one brave thing might you do this year? Remember, discomfort isn't dangerous - it's often evidence you're growing. And all healthy things grow.
Welcome to the I'm Ready Now podcast ideas to help you when you're ready for change. I'm your host, isaac Sanchez, here. I share my musings on whatever it is I am reading at the moment, as well as any other ideas that I believe will help you break free from a standstill in your thinking in order to get you dreaming again. Thank you for joining me today. Well, I'm ready now. How about you? Excellent, so let's get started. 25. No, that's not the date I'm recording this right now. That is the last time I uploaded an episode. That was the last published episode. I even had to go back and look that up. Welcome back everyone. Listen, if I'm sounding a bit upbeat for having been gone for so long, it's just because the floggings and the self-punishment has already happened several times. So I'm ready to get busy, but I do apologize for not being around, listen, welcome back everyone.
Speaker 1:Part of the delay was just I finished work for the academic year on the 23rd of May and I just got distracted with post-work activity, being off of work, a lot of fun stuff. My wife and I went camping to Holcomb Valley Campsite out in Big Bear. We were getting out locally here and there. Nothing crazy, not every night, but just stuff was happening work around the house. Nothing crazy, not every night, but just stuff was happening work around the house. By the way, I'll talk more about the camping trip briefly in a moment, because that's a lot of fun. A couple of things I want to share. So I'm into a bit of the rhythm this summer because I need to be. I've set goals for about four different areas, and you know there's these other less regimented tasks, things that I'm working on for the summer, but I've got a schedule for them each day and this podcast is one of them, of course. So again, thanks for listening, but I'm back on the rails again and moving right along.
Speaker 1:Also, I should just say this right now I've moved the podcast studio to just a different room adjacent to where I was recording from. If you've ever seen photos of that on my social media, you know they probably saw a picture of me with some drums in the room, possibly. But I wanted to keep the studio just for the drums and the recording because it was tight in there already. And then I have this office space, um, in the next room that we use, um, my wife and I, and so I thought you know what. There's actually space for um us to put that in there.
Speaker 1:So I'm saying all that because there it's not as treated as the other room and there is this big window which is gorgeous to look out of, and there's not much to see there, but a walking space in front. Some brush out there at the tree. It's calming the sky. There's a wall there that keeps me from having to see traffic down the embankment there. So it's nice down the embankment there. So it's nice.
Speaker 1:But there may be sounds of cars going by or a train going by, because that is what's across the way over there, and I'll try to edit that out if it's a real distraction. Now, the good news is the landscaper already went by with his lawnmower, so I think we're free from that. But whatever happens, thanks for putting up with that this time around in advance. I'm going to see if I can put something over that window. But whatever happens, thanks for putting up with that this time around in advance. I'm going to see if I can put something over that window. But if I listen to this recording afterwards and it sounds great, then it's going to stay the way it is.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, remember this. Our housekeeping things here. We have the chapter markers. There are chapter markers here, so if you want to bounce around and to just get straight to the content, you can do that. Also, please reach out to me for feedback. I'd love to hear from you, and you can, you know, comment on topics that we're addressing or about the podcast itself. You may want to, you know, comment on some things that that'd be great too or make suggestions, I should say, about what you want me to be covering, and I'd be happy to entertain that for sure. So you can, in order to reach out to me, you can tap to text me. There should be a link there where you found this podcast, but also you can always email me at IsaacSanchez at Maccom, and that spelling is what you see on my name on the cover art here.
Speaker 1:Okay, what's up in your world? Well, I'm going to talk briefly about spontaneity. Part of the story of me disappearing for a bit was on June 4th through the 9th, the scintillating Lydia Sanchez and I headed out tent camping to Holcomb campsite in Big Bear. This is something that we've been doing. We have some more of it planned, just kind of not even inked in yet, but we want to do it. So we headed out there to do that and it was wonderful. I won't get into the details of that, I may do that later but in terms of spontaneity, that wasn't it because that was planned and we worked on that Semi-spontaneous, because we planned that about a week in advance. So I guess that might fall under spontaneity, but here's the real one.
Speaker 1:Here is we returned back and celebrated our second anniversary. That was June 11th, and because Lydia had a client she was working with in the afternoon, we decided let's just do brunch together at a wonderful restaurant that some friends of ours had recommended here in downtown called Story, and so it was wonderful. We enjoyed that. Uh, lydia said, wow, let's ask um Barbara and Roland, good friends of ours, who have a gorgeous Spanish style home um nearby. Uh, let's ask if we can take pictures, anniversary pictures, just kind of a couple of pictures down this gorgeous um staircase they have in the back of their yard. And so she sent the text and Barbara got back and said yes. So we got excited about that.
Speaker 1:We ran off and got Lydia some flowers that I had ordered. That was supposed to be a secret, but because of this spontaneous move I said OK, well, I got you flowers. I was going to get them on my own and get them to you, but here we go. So that worked out a dozen white roses. She loves white roses. When I came along into her life she learned to appreciate the color in flowers. But I knew that she did want white roses. So not for this, but that she enjoys them. So I thought, OK, I'm going to do this. So we go ahead and run off after our brunch to get the flowers. And then we made the decision to make a quick stop at a local supermarket and we said, okay, let's get some flowers and a card and a couple of, you know, light gifts for them. These are meaningful little gifts for them that are more, oh gosh, what's the word? Symbolic, you know. And so bread for provision, you know things like that.
Speaker 1:So while we were there, this was a funny moment that I started looking for the two songs. One is the song that we enjoyed, that I introduced to Lydia, and it's God Gave Me you by Dave Barnes. There's a couple of versions, but that's the one I introduced to her, and so we've loved that song. We've danced to that song, you know, just at home, spontaneously. Now we've not danced for a while. Need to pick up on that. That's one thing, but the other one is I think it's called A Thousand Years that she walked down the aisle to at our wedding.
Speaker 1:Anyways, while we were at this market getting ready to buy these few things, I'm sneaking around texting Barbara if she would please play the Dave Barnes song you know on when we got there. But then I thought, oh no, you know, there's the song of her walking down the aisle. So I played it. I didn't mean for her to hear it in the car, but she heard it as I was walking out, coming from my phone, and she's like, oh, what song was that? Like, send me that. And I'm like dang it. She wasn't supposed to hear that because I was going to send that a link to that, because they have this audio system that plays indoors and outdoors of their home Roland and Barbara do and so I thought it'd be cool if we drove up and it was just kind of playing through the environment, the atmosphere, and then I walked out and started dancing with her. Okay, so she wasn't supposed to hear that. Well, it comes to find out. Come to find out to hear that. Well, it comes to find out, come to find out.
Speaker 1:Lydia was privately texting Barbara as well Poor thing getting pinged from both of us and she was thinking the same same same thing. So as we drove up, it was a fun moment because her husband, roland, started playing it from his phone. And Barbara, sweetheart, she was ready and started recording us as we walked in the gates of the back, and so Lydia and I dropped off the bags and the things that we had there and we're going to start dancing. And then the music stopped because a call came in. So we did a take two. We actually went back. Barbara said you guys go back to the gate, and they got the music going again and she took some wonderful video of us dancing to the song that we walked down. She walked down the aisle too at our wedding two years prior to that. So it was just a wonderful moment that we had, but that wasn't even the spontaneous part I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:Afterwards we sat down and Roland brought down some wine and we were just sitting there, sharing, talking. We were sharing about the camping trip and they talked about camping destinations, things that they love to do and they love to travel they always have and so we were just sharing, sharing, sharing. Now we anticipated we thought that Lydia needed to go to work that afternoon and she did, except that once we left maybe about an hour and a half later, I think we were like rushing to get home so she could take the car and go to work. She gets a text that she didn't have to go to work, so that was great. We just got to take a. I can't remember if both of us got a text I think just Lydia did from Barbara.
Speaker 1:Knowing that my birthday was coming up in two days, on June 13th, barbara and Roland said you know what? Let's invite them to just this spontaneous trip, one night trip, a stay over in the San Ynez area it's known for its wineries but going up through Santa Barbara and some other just gorgeous little quaint towns. And so that came in and I'll just rush through this so we can get to the content for today. But it was just spontaneity. It's just I'm not very good at it, by the way, so that's why I'm bringing this out. Here is um.
Speaker 1:So we said yes, and then I realized I had a recording session on my birthday at noon, so if we were to go up there, it's a four hour trip and we'd have to leave, get up from the hotel and just hightail it out there and miss a whole day of sightseeing. And uh, my love just kept saying is there any way? You can, you know, like, bring in a sub? And I just you know, no, I can't not. Not because I was hired to do what I do and it just wasn't cool to make that happen.
Speaker 1:But after just racking my brain a little bit, I did remember that as we were working on the session now the owner of the studio and the chief engineer is my friend Shanti, good friend of mine, and the client is a good friend of mine. So I remembered that when we were booking the session, maybe about a week ago before that, nobody was like really tight on time and they even knew it was going to be my birthday. I told them you know what I'll work on my birthday, just bring me a cupcake or something, no problem. So it was all low key. So I remembered that and then I sent the text to my friend Shanti and just said man, here's what came up. Is there any way this can get moved and I'll open up any time of the day next week or, you know, after we come back. And so she took it on without hesitation, got back to me, sure enough, my buddy Lynn, who was the artist we were recording for, he said, yeah, no problem, the next week's great for me.
Speaker 1:So that got moved, and so there we are, off to San San Inez, and we left on June 11th excuse me, june 12th at 5.30 am we met at their house Actually left at 6. We met out about 5.45 at Roland Barber's home, about 10 minutes away. He served us a latte from his home machine. There we got things together, shared some homemade banana nut bread that Barbara had made, just talked a little bit, and I don't know probably about 6.15, we were on our way, and so Santa Ynez is about 40 miles north of Santa Barbara and we were there. We got there, got to the hotel, left our stuff there and just took off, and we packed in the first day at Solvang, just sightseeing, having breakfast there or actually a brunch there too, and then there was an overnight stay there. As we got up the next morning, we slept in Actually that same night.
Speaker 1:Once we got to the hotel on the 12th, we got in for the night, we still had some energy in us, and so we went to the pool and the jacuzzi, had a wonderful time in there and then got up to the hotel room and then met in Barbara Rowland's room and had a little party there with some coffee I think, warm drinks, coffee and tea maybe and some homemade pie that we bought off the street that Rowland bought off of the street from the guy that was selling on the side of the street. He had his own wonderful story about him starting his business with pie making and it was delicious. It was delicious, and so we got to sleep in the next morning my birthday. And then by the time we left we checked out. Oh, and Lydia and I had $30 each from the hotel. It was a casino Chumash man, I should have written this down A casino so we had $30 credit. I lost it for both of us within about a half hour so don't take me with you gambling and then we got in, took off and saw a lot more.
Speaker 1:I'm missing a lot of the stuff that we did, but my point is you know that second day after checking out of the hotel, we still had tons to do. On the way back, we stopped at uh 805. Uh, it's the place where that 805, uh beer is made. And um had a wonderful, wonderful, a wonderful, wonderful kind of late lunch there, cruised into Santa Barbara and got to walk around there a little bit and then headed home. We got home at 10.30 pm on June 13th. We milked this thing from basically 6 am on the 12th to 10.30 pm on the 13th.
Speaker 1:It was tons of fun building relationships with Barbara and Roland, who we've come to love so much. We admire them and we have so much to learn from them about life and relationships. And they would say to themselves, because life and relationships are perfect, but because they're making it work and we appreciate that and they're so real, they're so open with us and a variety of things that we appreciate that from them. And so we're building relationships and we hope to do that with them many, many more years to come. And so just because we said yes to an impromptu getaway that they recommended, that was impromptu for them too, and they just said, hey, let's invite them for Isaac's birthday and we did that and it was just tons of fun. So yay to spontaneity. And you know we'll do it again. And we're actually going the opposite way and, in a non-spontaneous getaway, working on one more getaway that I'll tell you more with them. That is much more planned and really, really exciting. I hope to tell you more about that next time. So we're meeting them for dinner. It's going to turn out to be tomorrow night to talk about that. So listen, sometimes amazing stuff happens spontaneously and other times you got to plan it and make it happen that way.
Speaker 1:So all right, well, let's move on Today's topic. If you recall from the last time, april 21st, what I was teasing, let me bring us back there. What do habits have to do with the monkey grabbing his nuts or her nuts? Wait, her nuts, I think I understand his nuts, you might be saying, but her nuts, isaac. I need some more here on that. Well, it looks like there'll be a little bit of monkey business here in this episode, so we'll need to get through that to figure that out. What do we mean by that? Nonetheless, I can tell you that we will be looking at what Dan Miller has to say to help us make sure that positive change is going to happen in our lives. How do we make that happen? And that's what's up next. So let's see what this means as we get into our time together today.
Speaker 1:All right, as you recall, we're looking through Dan Miller's book the Writer of the Day, and in this today's talk he opens up with this person, george, who's been with his company for 23 years. So there's yay for consistency there and hanging in there. However he mentions Dan Miller does that George hates his job and he'll go so far as to change his uniform from his job before he is seen out by the public or his neighbors so as not to be associated with that company in public. And part of what he hates is that he's not been around for most of his kids' lives. He's missing parties or whatnot. So he's a computer programmer and for the friends that do know what he does, they ask him about setting up their homes and their businesses with their technology. However, he's too attached to the security and that security is, in quotation marks the security of his job to make a move away from it. So he has all these people asking, hey, help me out, help me out, all that service he provides, but the security of his job keeps him there. So there George is, rinse and repeat in a job he does not like at all.
Speaker 1:Now let's set this story aside, and just for a moment and try and figure out the situation we talked about of these monkeys grabbing their nuts. Okay, so what does that mean? So Dan Miller pivots to the process of how monkeys are caught in some places of the world, and maybe you've heard this before. So this is a process. I'm going to go through this pretty quickly. It's real and unfortunately it's common practice in parts of the world, and it's an effective trap that exploits the monkey's natural curiosity and greed, and that's key right there. Okay, but the reason that this works is because it exploits those things right there, their natural curiosity and their greed for the animal. So here's typically how it works.
Speaker 1:There's the bait. You have some kind of container. It could be a jar, gourd, something, it could be a hole in the log, and it's prepared with something enticing. In there Could be marbles, nuts, fruit, some kind of treat that the monkey finds appealing, and so the trap is this the opening of the container is it's just large enough for that monkey to insert its hand in there to grab those goods. Here's the twist the monkey reaches in, grabs the bait and it just forms his fist to hold on to that. However, because of that clenched fist that's holding on to whatever was in there. That entices monkey. That fist is now too large to fit back through the opening, can't get his hand out, and so that's where the capture happens.
Speaker 1:The monkey's then faced with this dilemma Okay, let go of the desired object and be free, or hold on to it and remain trapped. And this is a difficult part because then at some point it sees that the net's being thrown over it or the trappers are coming towards them. So there's this panic and this strong instinct to keep the prize often overrides their desire for freedom and they just become easy to capture. That monkey won't let go of those nuts or whatever other bait was placed there to entice it. So that's how that goes down. As I mentioned, it's important to note that this is considered cruel and often inhumane method of capturing them, and it just causes stress and fear for the animals. But Dan Miller uses it to make this larger point.
Speaker 1:How do we end up getting caught like that monkey? You know our fists stuck in that jar because we just won't change. You know we're feeling that quote security that we're hanging on to, even though, even though we're in a situation that is detrimental to us, I mean we just we're not liking it, we're not feeling it enough. Now we would catch on to that right. We would never do that right. We're too smart for that right. Let's see Many times.
Speaker 1:So, if you think about it a lot of times, what happens is we think that that sameness, being at that same place is equal to loyalty. And boy, loyalty is a wonderful thing. We want to be loyal. And so you hang out there, there, and we hang out there, and loyalty is great. But is it a disguise for thing at all? When is staying the course is not the course we should be on? You know, consistency, loyalty, I mean that stuff sounds great. Fear Not so much. So you know that begs the question which are we practicing?
Speaker 1:Well, to wrap up his point, dan Miller says change can be tough, but how much misery should you endure before taking it as a sign to move on? Is this really a cross to bear, or is it the only way God knows how to get your attention Close? Quote so you know you don't need to wait to be so frustrated. You know not doing your best. And they get fired as a result, although some people have said that's the best thing that would have happened. That happened to them, but that may not be the case for you. And yet there we are not doing so well, and then you get fired because of that.
Speaker 1:And so, with that idea in mind, dan's conclusion is maybe it's time to let go of those peanuts. Go ahead and get your note-taking items, your journal, your writing device, whatever you do. But it's important that you not just listen, but you actually kind of write this stuff out. Type it out, whatever you do, so that you can kind of make some sense of how this applies to you. Here's the question that Dan Miller puts forward to us. This question is what do you need to let go of today? I love that, the way it's's posed, where he adds the word today. This is action oriented, okay, action oriented. And it may be in your thought process what needs to happen. You write it down, and that's an important start, because then that shows you have a plan. If you write it down, if you're just thinking about it, that could fade in and out of your head and your memory. So we want to write it down. What do you need to let go of today?
Speaker 1:Now, my battle has been very emblematic of this issue. Today, you know, finding comfort in security, but instead leaning into average. In other words, some people, you stay in one place, you get secure in it and now you're just going through the motions, so you end up in average. Now I like to think that my average is not mediocrity. I work hard to do my best and I'll just use the example, any example that I have. But it worked with the teaching 32 years in one thing every year, 10 months of my life working with students at the high school level, and there's a lot of different that happens, but there's a lot of it. That's the same. So I work hard and I try to do my very, very best, try to be innovative. As a matter of fact, I got a high compliment this past weekend.
Speaker 1:I'm taking an online class right now this summer and a young lady who used to be a student at the school that I work at is in that class. She's a professional now. She just I think she finished got her master's and she's working as a counselor in an elementary school. And I remember when I logged into the class, everyone had to do an introductory video and I saw hers there and I said, oh, my goodness, this is so cool. So you know, I responded to her introduction and then the cool thing is we were at a birthday party this weekend of a friend of ours a good friend of Lydia and ours and mine who just celebrated her 50. And this young lady is really really tight with our friend's family and of course I know her, and so we met. So instead of just online, we were there, actually sit next to each other. We made it a point to sit next to them and and enjoy a lunch and the birthday party together.
Speaker 1:But while there, she said something that was really, really important to me and I actually need to get back to her and just thank her for this, cause she didn't know how important this was for me to hear, because she and many others are doing this stuff just to get credits Okay, and that's important or units it helps you with your pay. Of course you're learning and of course the topic is AI for educators, so all that's important. But she asked me are you there for the units? I said no, I'm just taking the class, I want to learn about it. She says I knew it. She says when I saw your video on there.
Speaker 1:I said Isaac loves learning, that's why he's in the class and I really appreciate that because I try even though I've been in there for 32 years as an educator I try to be innovative. I've tried to see what's going on in the industry and bring it to the classroom if I believe it will help my teaching or the students. So you know, I'm hoping that my average is not mediocrity, but many times it can be when you're just repeating the same old thing. So you know, I've been involved with my career as an educator for a few decades now and I've done my best not to settle. I try my best to do better.
Speaker 1:Now, however, in that space that quote security, remember there's really no such thing as security, but in there there's, when you're in that same spot. There's not this scramble or this movement is, or this activity to make something happen either. And I'm talking about these moves that you know I need to make. If I was be able to, if I was going to move and do business on my own Boy, then every day you're scraping to make things happen, because if you don't, you don't get paid. If you don't get paid, you don't eat, don't pay the rent, all that kind of stuff. Okay, that's what I mean by this.
Speaker 1:So it's very easy, you know, when you're in that place just to kind of get comfortable with that, when you're in that place just to kind of get comfortable with that, and so that's what I mean, you know, with with the thing that I deal with. So when you're in that place of where you're having every day to scrape, you get sharp. You're forced to do so because you're scraping for solutions and trying new things out out of necessity, not just curiosity. You know I'm able to afford to try things just out of curiosity because I got that steady gig. But when you are doing business on your own, you're scraping because you have to pivot, you have to innovate, because there's competition out there and so it's another game there.
Speaker 1:So my battle at times when I think about this leap to kind of moving out on my own and not having that quote security, is the fear of new responsibility and time requirements to be in business for myself. Now, that's not totally new to me. I've lived my life with a foot in both worlds. You know I've done education my whole life and music my whole life. Music started earlier, since I was in high school. Of course. Education started in my early adult years, and so you know what if everything you think is safe is actually what's keeping you stuck? That's what Dan Miller asks us. Let me say that again what if everything you think is quote safe is actually what's keeping you stuck? That's really really important right there. So here's something to consider.
Speaker 1:Let's turn this rock over and look at a couple of very brief case studies of five people you may be aware of. That has to do with this topic, and you can find out more about the details of their stories later, should you be so intrigued. But right now I just want to go through them briefly, because it builds on this idea of kind of moving on out of the secure or out of the known and trying something new and just kind of be encouraged that it could lead somewhere. Ok, and all people's stories are different and of course these are highlights, I get it, but there's always possibilities for us to be better than who we are now and not be stuck, ok. So here's one.
Speaker 1:This is a story of Sarah Blakely. She's the founder of Spanx and she was selling here's a throwback Fax machines door to door who does that anymore? And so she just says it was secure-ish, it was pretty steady, but she hated it. That goes back to that story Dan Miller talked about. This guy knew his job, you know IT, all that kind of stuff. People were asking for him, his help on the outside, so we knew he was good at it, but in terms of in the job who he's working for hated it. So, sarah Blakely, she steps away, maxed out her credit cards not telling you to do that, this is her story. And she builds this billion dollar brand from a single product idea that since has expanded. So she could have kept playing it safe, but she knew that comfort was killing her creativity. And how many of us are one bold move away from just this radically different life? Because we start highlighting that thing, in her case, creativity that she was just pushing down. So you know again, security often masks fear and what people call playing it safe is just really staying stuck.
Speaker 1:So ask yourself are you playing not to lose or playing to win? That's a key distinction. Are you playing not to lose or are you playing to win? Okay, here's another one. Do you remember Kodak? You might not depend on your age, I do. And so Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975. Now you know they're known for film and a boy. I remember going to thrifties and turn in my rolls of film to get uh, get them uh uh, turned into pictures I can't even develop, excuse me, to get them developed. Okay so they invented the digital camera in 1975, but they clung to the comfort of the film and that quote secure choice led to their downfall. You know, you know, that's that's. They're not the name in digital photography right now. Okay.
Speaker 1:So you know this comfort zone is not risk-free. It's risky in slow motion. Okay. So even giants will fall if they confuse comfort with security. Whatever you think your safe path is, it could be quietly collapsing. That noise you hear is it quietly collapsing right under you? So you got to stretch. We have to innovate, and this is a clear argument to be made for forward thinking. Know your industry, know your market. Again, this hits hard with me because that's what I'm doing right now. I'm trying to do a deep dive in AI as it pertains to education, but it's applying to so much more, of course. Okay. So know your market, know your industry. Here's another one. Let's get three more here.
Speaker 1:Bronnie Ware, a hospice nurse, and she wrote the top five regrets of dying. Okay, a book. Now listen to this number one regret. Take three beats to decide. Think, if you know what it would be right, what would be the number one regret. Here it is. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself. So, so, so important and key. You know that pain of regret, gosh, that's a boulder over your back. You know that's heavier than the fear of trying. And so it's real. Fear is real, but so is regret. And you know, when you're 80, 85, 90, you won't care that you tried or failed, you'll care that you never tried. That's that goal Boy. That'd be a soul killer right there. I never tried and I, I had the chance to several years. I had the chance to and I didn't. So if you could do one brave thing this year and there's still plenty of time for that, friends what would it be? If you could do one brave thing this year? What would it be?
Speaker 1:Two more Howard Schultz, ceo of Starbucks. He grew up in public housing. He started Starbucks. You know, starting Starbucks for him meant stepping into these worlds that were completely foreign. But you know and I relate to that because I don't have entrepreneurs in my life growing up, I have some family members that are dabbling into that with real estate and whatnot. But so he stepped in this world that was completely foreign to him, but you know that discomfort built his legacy. Um, so you know, discomfort isn't dangerous proof you're growing, and that's a good thing. All healthy things grow. And he didn't wait to feel ready. He felt uncomfortable and moved anyway, and that's how coffee became a culture, not just a drink.
Speaker 1:And finally we have the story of Pat Flynn, who's laid off from his architectural job, and this is a job that he'd wanted to have. Right after college, I know he went to UC Berkeley and studied for this, and this just was a big deal for him to be working at a firm and that happened. And so he started a blog to help others pass an exam that he needed to take for architecture, as I recall, and one e-book later, he's making six figures in passive income. So, just being willing to kind of pivot and try something, when the secureness again which doesn't exist blew up on him, he made the pivot. So you know just, you don't need a cliff to take a dive, just a big, bold step. So one blog, one idea, that's all it took. And Pat didn't launch a startup. He just launched a solution, so he's got a great story. I've picked up some of his materials as well.
Speaker 1:All right, so let's close this up today. It's a real thing to hang on to those metaphorical peanuts in the jar, those enticements, those things that we want in the jar, those enticements, those things that we want, and yet again, with that process of getting those monkeys, to their detriment, they don't let go. And because they won't let go of what they want, well, we, in the same way, sometimes don't let go of what we think is secure, in our case and to our detriment. And so let's not do that. Let's not do that.
Speaker 1:We're rational beings. We can think through some stuff, our circumstances, and make these calculated risks, and so let's not do, let's not get stuck on something that we think is secure. And particularly if we know that the willingness to stay in our course has more to do with fear and not loyalty, let's not do that. Okay, sameness is not loyalty sometimes. Sometimes it's just fear in disguise, and it might be time to meet Explicit expectations, exude erudite euphoria, excuse me.
Speaker 1:Well, you're excused, until next week when we revisit the Pygmalion effect. We had talked about that some time ago, but we'll see it from a different vantage point. All right, let me send you out with a quote. Here it is you can choose courage or you can choose comfort. You cannot have both, and that comes to us from Brene Brown. That's it. That's the quote. Think about it, act on it.
Speaker 1:So, again, thank you for returning to spend time with me again after this extended absence. With that, let's make this happen again next week. Thank you for listening. If you found this time together useful, please consider following this podcast and leaving an excellent rating. If you feel you can't do that yet, please reach out to me and let me know what I can do to get you to leave a top rating. If you are already excited about what you've heard, please consider sharing this podcast with a friend. I really would appreciate it. Also, I'd love your feedback, both on today's topic as well as what you'd like to hear me address in the future. I would really appreciate that input. Again, I'm your host, isaac Sanchez. I hope today's thought serves you the way it has served me. Remember, your next move is just one inside away. Have an amazing rest of your day. I'll see you next time. Can't stop falling. Can't stop falling now.