A Conversation of Hope With Brett
Positive and hope-filled; with simple, practical steps to live your best life.
A Conversation of Hope With Brett
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This week’s A Conversation of Hope with Brett is all about the power of a fresh start and remembering that yesterday doesn’t get to determine what happens today. Brett shares the incredible underdog story of Indiana football and Fernando Mendoza as a reminder that rejection, failure, and your past don’t define where you can go next. Pasted text.txt He encourages listeners to learn from yesterday without living there, choose faith and hope over regret, and keep moving forward one decision at a time. Pasted text.txt The episode also brings plenty of laughs, inspiring stories of everyday heroes, and closes with a digital detox challenge designed to help us be more present with the people we love. Above all, Brett reminds us that you only lose when you quit—and your best days are still straight ahead.
Les Brown | You Can’t See the Picture When You’re in the Frame
Letting Go to Move Forward | Discover the Courage to Choose Better
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/motivational-speech/id1642546815?i=1000778285282
Joel Osteen | Don’t Give Away Your Joy
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joel-osteen-podcast/id137254859?i=1000777982103
Simple Daily Routine: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1njZbEbTg-NKLto1OptvAkglc6mxdXKo7/view?usp=drive_link
Welcome to A Conversation of Hope with Brett. This podcast is all about you, the listeners, to remind you that you are a masterpiece. To inspire you to dream again. To equip you with simple, actionable strategies for success. Strategies you can start using today to begin your journey towards the incredible life you deserve. He wants to remind you of the champions you were going to do. No matter your past or current struggles, firmly believes that you're fascinated and still hopefully is grateful you're here and promises to give us all each week to help you create the life you were meant to live. So buckle up. Let's get started.
SPEAKER_01Welcome, welcome, welcome to a conversation of hope. I'm so glad you tuned in today. I am excited to remind you and I that today is a new day. Fresh start and a new beginning. Regardless of how yesterday was for you. Today it's all new. Let's get out there and win the day. Alright, y'all. Right from the start, I want to remind you that you are enough. You in fact have what it takes. You are a champion whose absolute best days are straight ahead. Alright, this week I had to share what was probably the greatest sports story in history. It reminds us that with the right mindset, belief, and working as a team, the impossible can in fact become possible. I am so excited to share this with you. I love the fact that I was able to watch it unfold last year right in front of my eyes. Truly, truly remarkable. Alright, here we go, y'all. Indiana's 2025 season wasn't just a football story. It was one of the greatest Cinderella stories in the history of sports. For decades, Indiana football was known as a basketball school. Everyone knows Indiana for basketball. But they were known as a basketball school that was trying to play football. The Hoosiers had more losses than any program in major college football history. Championships weren't even a part of the conversation. Fans simply hoped for a winning season. Then everything changed. When head coach Kurt Signetti arrived, he made a bold statement. I love this, y'all. I win. Google me. Many laughed at him, but he wasn't arrogant. He was confident because he believed culture changes everything. I do too. In just his second season, y'all listen, second season. Indiana shocked the college football world by going a perfect 16-0, perfect record from the losingest football organization in the history of college football to within two years, 16-0. Winning the big championship and capturing the school's first ever college football playoff national championship. It was one of the most remarkable turnarounds college football ever seen. At the heart of that incredible run was quarterback Fernando Mendoza. After transferring from California, Mendoza wasn't viewed as a superstar at all. But he became exactly what Indiana needed. A leader who stayed calm under pressure, believed in his teammates, and consistently delivered in the biggest moments. All right, everyone, stop for a sec. This is really cool. So I heard some statistics about Fernando Mendoza, but I wanted to confirm them before I shared them with our great community. And they were legit. And so this is what also makes this story so special. So Fernando Mendoza is an amazing, amazing human being. Let me tell you. So he had applied previously at over 130 college football programs and was turned down and said no, they didn't want him on the team. He went to 18 football camps, none of the teams took him. He sent his highlight film to over a hundred colleges with no takers. And then finally he got to California and then he eventually was transferred, obviously, to Indiana. But my goodness, you talk about the heart of a champion. Most people would have stopped after about five tries. 130 programs turned him down? Wow. All right, let's keep going. Just so awesome. This whole thing is, and I'll tell you a little bit more about Fernando at the end. His defining performance came in the national championship against Miami. And that Miami was his hometown against the school that never recruited him. Rather than seeking revenge, he focused on the opportunity. He threw 186 yards, rushed for a critical touchdown on a gutsy fourth-down quarterback run, and earned offensive MVP honors as Indiana defeated Miami 27-21, had a perfect season, won the championship, and now Fernando is headed to the NFL. What made Mendoza special wasn't just his statistics. It was his toughness. He played through pain, he absorbed big hits, he never stopped competing. When the game was on the line, his teammates believed he would make the right decision. Great quarterbacks don't simply throw touchdowns, they inspire confidence. Mendoza became the emotional heartbeat of the team. His journey also reminds us that your rejection doesn't define your future. Miami didn't recruit him. He left his previous school searching for a better opportunity. Instead of becoming bitter, he became better. Sometimes the greatest victories happen because one door closes and another one opens. Indiana's story is bigger than football. It proves that culture beats history. For years people said that's just Indiana football. Coach Singeti and his players refused to accept that label. They created a new identity built on self-discipline, belief, accountability, and relentless effort. Every practice reinforced the expectations that they belonged with the national elite. The lessons apply to all of us, your past does not determine your future. Your reputation doesn't have to become your destiny. Whether you're building a business, raising a family, leading a team, or pursuing a dream, the first step is believing that change is possible. Indiana didn't wait for someone else to believe in them. They believed in themselves first. Fernando Mendoza showed that leadership is about serving your teammates, staying composed under pressure, and rising when the moment is the biggest. Indiana showed that no mountain is too high when everyone is pulling in the same direction. Their championship wasn't just about lifting a trophy. It was proof that impossible is often just a word people use before history is made. The 2025 Indiana Hoosiers will forever be remembered as the team that rewrote its story and reminded the rest of us that with vision, leadership, belief, relentless effort, underdogs really can become the champions. All right, one last thing I wanted to visit with y'all with Fernando Mendoza, that is so cool and it's just so classy, and I just, I'm telling you, really, really, really good person. So his mom has MS. And so before he even became famous or was even known, him and his brother had already worked diligently hard to raise $360,000 for MS to try to find a cure. The second he was signed as an NFL quarterback, he immediately gave another $500,000 to MS. He tells everyone that his mom is his hero and she is his inspiration behind all that he does because of her positive attitude through living with MS. So, wow, everybody. I had to sneak that in at the beginning. So that was not the main content, but I had to get it in because it's just so awesome. I love hearing about Cinderella's stories and underdogs becoming champions. That's what it's all about. This week, we are talking about today is a new day. I came up with this episode after blowing it for six days in a row on my goal, which was to not have refined sugar. My goal is always to not have refined sugar. So every morning I would get up and say, Today I'm not going to eat any of it. And then the temptations would come, and I gave in again. And I thought, golly, Brett, really? Really? And then I was reminded that tomorrow when I wake up, it'll be a new day, a fresh start. And I could get in as many as I could on making sure that I did not do the refined sugar. So now at least more days are really good than not. And I'm back on the winning side of it. So that's just awesome. But I want to make sure everybody understands that if you're like, hey, that's nice, Brett, but I keep trying on different things and I keep failing. Or you ever think I've tried to quit this over and over again or start a new habit, but I've blown it. Hey, everyone, everyone in this community, that's okay. That's all of us. But we only lose when we quit trying. And that's honest to goodness true. So please, my whole thing behind this podcast, don't give up. Don't quit. Today is a new day. Let's get out there and let's conquer it, champion. All right, here we go. Have you ever noticed that every single morning the sun rises without asking permission from yesterday? It doesn't matter if yesterday was filled with victories or failures. It doesn't matter whether yesterday was the best day of your life or the hardest. The sunrise comes anyway. Every morning, God gives us a reminder. I'm giving you another opportunity. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. That may be one of the greatest gifts we receive every day. A brand new beginning. The challenge is that too many people are living today while carrying yesterday on their shoulders. They carry old mistakes, old disappointments, old failures or guilt or hurt or regrets. It's impossible to fully embrace today's opportunities when your hands are still holding onto yesterday's baggage. Today I want to encourage you with one simple truth. Yesterday is a place to learn from, not a place to live in. The past has lessons, the past has memories, the past has wisdom, but it does not have permission to control your future. Every champion understands something that ordinary people often forget. They don't stay down after a bad day. They don't define themselves by one mistake. They don't allow one chapter to become their entire story. Instead, they wake up believing. Today is another opportunity. Maybe yesterday you failed. Today you can begin again. Maybe yesterday your business struggled. Today you can make one more phone call. Maybe yesterday your marriage was difficult. But y'all, today we can all choose kindness. Maybe yesterday you lost your temper. Today you can choose patience. Maybe yesterday you doubted yourself, but today you can choose faith. Life changes one decision at a time. One sunrise at a time, one fresh start at a time. Think about driving a car. Imagine trying to drive 70 miles per hour while staring in the rearview mirror, everybody. You wouldn't get very far. Eventually, you would crash. The rear view mirror has a purpose. It's there for an occasional glance. But the windshield, what's in front of you, is much bigger because that's where you're supposed to spend most of your time looking. What's ahead? What's in front of you? Not focused on our past. Too many people have that reversed. They constantly look behind them. I wish I hadn't. If only, I should have, I could have. Those thoughts rob today's joy. They steal tomorrow's dreams. The greatest athletes understand this principle. Miss the shot? Move on. Throw an interception. Next play. Lose the game? Prepare for the next one. Champions don't erase failure. They refuse to camp there. One of the greatest freedoms you'll ever experience is giving yourself permission to let yesterday stay where it belongs. You cannot change yesterday, but you can absolutely influence tomorrow. Every great comeback begins with someone deciding today is different. Maybe you've made mistakes. We all have. Maybe you've wasted some years. Many people have. Maybe you said things you wish you could take back. You're not alone. The good news is this your past may explain you, but it does not define you. There is a huge difference. The author of your future has not finished writing your story yet, everybody. Come on now. Some of the greatest success stories in history came after enormous failures. Inventors failed thousands of times. Athletes lost championships. Entrepreneurs went bankrupt. Leaders made mistakes. Yet those moments became stepping stones instead of stopping points. Why? Because they believed tomorrow could be better than yesterday. That's hope, y'all. Hope isn't pretending yesterday didn't happen. Hope is still believing tomorrow can still be amazing. Every morning when your feet hit the floor, remind yourself I have another chance. I have another opportunity. I have another day to love or to serve or grow or improve. What if today became the day you stopped introducing yourself by your past? Stop saying, I'm the person who failed. I'm the one who made that mistake. I'm the one who always struggles. Instead, say I'm becoming stronger. I'm growing and learning and moving forward and just getting started. Your identity should come from your direction, not your history. One of the healthiest habits you can develop is ending every single day with two simple questions. First, what did I learn today? And second, what will I do differently tomorrow? That's lit. Learn, adjust, and move forward. Don't replay every mistake hundreds of times. Learn the lesson once, carry the wisdom, and then leave the pain behind. Imagine if every morning you truly believed your best days were still ahead of you. That's awesome. It's the only way to live. How differently would you walk? Would you talk? Would you speak? How differently would you dream? How differently would you treat people? Hope changes everything. People without hope just survive. People with hope, they thrive. That's what I want for everyone. The future is where your purpose lives. Not yesterday. The opportunities you're praying for are still ahead of you. The relationships you'll treasure are ahead of you. The victories you'll celebrate, they're still ahead of you. The person you're becoming is ahead of you. Don't spend today's energy trying to relive yesterday. Spend today's energy creating tomorrow. Every sunrise is God's reminder that new beginnings are real. Every new morning whispers, you get another chance. You can smile again and dream again and believe again. You can flat out begin again. So as you leave today and you make a decision, leave yesterday behind. Leave the regrets behind. Leave the guilt behind. Please, y'all, let's do fresh starts. Leave the disappointments behind. Carry the lessons. Carry the gratitude. Carry the wisdom, but leave the weight. Walk into tomorrow expecting something wonderful. Walk into tomorrow believing that your new opportunities are coming your way. Walk in tomorrow with faith instead of fear. Walk into tomorrow with excitement instead of regret. Because your story is not over. Your purpose is still unfolding. Your greatest impact may still be ahead. Your greatest relationships are still ahead. Your biggest breakthroughs are still ahead. And your happiest moments are straight ahead, everyone. And your very, very, very, very best days are straight ahead. So wake up tomorrow with confidence. Smile. Take a deep breath. Thank God for another sunrise. Then step into the day with expectation because every sunrise is an invitation to begin again. Yesterday is, in fact, history. Today is your opportunity. Tomorrow is your promise. And the best is yet to come. All right. Wow, y'all. So, so, so good. I need that. We all do. It's just fantastic. Always remember, today is a new day. Tomorrow is a fresh start. All right. Remember, you only lose when you quit. Every day is a new day, champion. Never, ever, ever, ever give up. That's the number one thing. Don't give up. Please, please, please. I believe in you and I truly believe your best days and victories are straight ahead. Alright, y'all, buckle up as we head straight into the laugh zone. As always, if you're on a treadmill, you might want to step off. I don't want anyone tripping laughing because you're laughing so hard, you fall off. Or if you're heading down the highway, put those hands on the wheel at 10 and 2. And now you are good to go. Alright, here we go. What do you call a chicken in a hot tub? Soup. But the fire truck ruined it. All right, it's story time, everybody. We got two great stories straight ahead: stories of hope, heroes, and what's possible. All right, first one up. Really cool. I just thought I'd share this with you. Person of excellence. Really impressive, impressive here. Senior center worker celebrates 50 years on the job without using a single sick day. Tom McVeck says his job is challenging yet entertaining, a good combination for a prospective career. Yet when he saw the newspaper ad for the job at the Manor Senior Living Community all the way back in 1976, he wasn't intending to embark on a career. But now fifty years later, Thomas finished what the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines as a lifetime career, one which saw him never take a single sick day. If he took one week of vacation a year, he would have clocked in twelve thousand six hundred and fifty times. When I started, I wouldn't think in a million years I'd still be here, said Tom. But I enjoy the residence and the work. And it's entertaining and it's challenging and never boring. Tom works as head of security and on the occasion of his 50th anniversary was presented with an award at a party held in his honor. Wow, y'all, what is possible? I hope for you that you have a job that you enjoy, or that you have a business that you enjoy, or if you're not working and you're raising kids and stuff, you're you're you're our heroes. And I hope you really enjoy doing that. Oh my goodness. We will always show up with excellence. That's who we are. Alright, next one up. I had to read this story a couple times before I did the read for you all. I'll be honest with you, a couple times I choked up because it's it's just really cool. I love the heroes out there. We talk about the golden rule and just doing others as you want done to yourself. This was defined in this story, and it really uh honestly it choked me up a couple times. And we'll see how this one goes as I read it to you. Off duty North Texas firefighter saves three children trapped under boat on the 4th of July. Ugh. From the Dallas Morning News comes the story of a firefighter who went above and beyond the Call of Duty, even though he was off duty. Out in the family boat on the 4th of July, Jason Horne rescued three drowning children trapped under a pontoon boat on the lake out in Texas. The paper referenced firefighters' terminology for rescuing people. When firefighters rescue people, they say making a grab, and that's how they define it. Well, Jason admitted he had made the grab of his career, and he wasn't even wearing the uniform. Jason recounted the story in an interview. He was on his boat spending time with his twelve year old daughter on the lake when they saw another boat and a jet ski floating in the distance, with a pilot waving them down. Then he realized there was a third boat nearby, one he hadn't seen at first, but which was clearly the wrong side up. Sensing there was a need for a grab at hand, Jason told his daughter to sit tight. Then he jumped in the water and swam over to the seam. The people were all yelling, our babies are under there, Jason said. So I went around the side of the boat, dove underneath the boat, two children were trapped underneath, and thankfully their guardians had remembered or insisted that they should wear life jackets. The first grab was a boy, clearly dizzy but breathing. The second girl was not breathing at all. He pulled her on top of the pontoon, hoisted himself up beside her, and began to perform chest compressions before hearing that there was a third child underneath. He dove back into the water without explaining to the Dallas Morning News whether the girl was breathing again. But he couldn't locate the third child. Wow, y'all, that'd be so stressful. There's only so many places one firefighter can be, but then some good Samaritans, that's what we talk about, y'all, that's you. People helping people came by and helped find the third, another boy who was also unresponsive. He had a bunch of ropes and stuff wrapped around him, said Jason. We were able to get him up on the fern of the pontoon boat, and that's when Jason did CPR on the little boy for a few minutes while they were headed back to the boat ramp. By the time they reached the ramp, first responders were already waiting for them and rushed all three children to the hospital, where they recovered, according to the news release. Oh my goodness, thank God. The family later reached out personally to their hero, but Jason insisted he is anything but a hero. And he was just trying to help people that were in need. Not trying, Jason. You did. Wow, and you are a hero. All right, here we go. Now to recap my top three podcast episodes of the week. I like you. Love to listen to podcasts. And whenever I get a good one, I'm like, man, I'm sharing this with the community. They're incredible. I want to make sure they hear what I heard. This is good. Help me out. So I want them to help you out with these podcast episodes. And I always try to mix it up. Number one, Les Brown, you can't see the picture when you're still in the frame. Les reminds us, when we are living through a difficult season, it is almost impossible to see the greater purpose or opportunity until we step back, gain perspective. When you're inside the picture, you can't see the whole picture. We become so consumed by today's problems, disappointments, and setbacks that we mistake them for our entire future. We judge our lives by what we see today instead of what we are becoming. Remember, every successful person experienced seasons where nothing seemed to be working. Dreams took longer than expected, doors closed, but those moments were not the end of the story. They prepare us for what is coming next. Adversity often serves as a classroom. Difficult experiences teach resilience, patience, creativity, faith and perseverance, all qualities that success requires. The struggle is not evidence that you are on the wrong path. Many times it's proof that you are growing. Less encourages listeners to keep believing even when we don't have all the answers. Progress often happens long before results become visible. Just like a seed grows underground before anyone sees it and sprouts. Your efforts may be producing results that have not surfaced yet. Stop allowing fear to make decisions for you. Fear narrows your vision and causes you to focus only on what could go wrong. But faith, however, y'all, expands your vision and helps you imagine what could go right. You may not understand every delayed disappointment today, but one day you'll look back and realize those experiences were connecting together the life that you were meant to live. Keep growing and trust that the complete picture is far greater than the small frame that you're looking through right now. Man, that's so powerful, Les. Link to the entire full episode of the podcast is always in the show notes so you can listen to the whole thing. I hear y'all. Number two, letting go to move forward. Discover the courage to choose better. One of the greatest barriers to creating a better future isn't lack of opportunity. It's unwillingness to let go of what no longer serves us. We cannot step into the next chapter of our lives while clinging to the previous one. Growth requires courage, and courage often begins with letting go. This episode reminds us, you and me, that many people stay stuck, not because they are incapable of change, but because they are comfortable with what is familiar. Even unhealthy situations can feel safe simply because they are known. Every yes to something holding you back is often the no to the life that you are meant to live. Letting go is not about losing. It's about making room. Your identity is not your past. You are not your mistakes, you are not your disappointments, you are not your worst day. The moment you choose a new direction, your future begins to change. One of life's greatest traps is sunk cost thinking. We often keep investing time and energy into situations simply because we've already invested so much. But staying in something that's no longer healthy doesn't recover the past. It only delays the future. Every worthwhile dream requires leaving something behind. Forgiveness, this is so powerful for everyone, forgiveness is one of the greatest forms of letting go. Carrying bitterness does not hurt the other person nearly as much as it hurts you. Forgiveness does not excuse what happened, it simply frees you from continuing to relive it. Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to suffer. Freedom begins when you release what you can no longer control. Always choose better over comfortable. Don't let yesterday's disappointments steal tomorrow's possibilities. Once again, link to the full episode is in the show notes. And number three, podcast episode of the week that I enjoy the most. Joel Osteen, don't give away your joy. Joel reminds us one of the greatest gifts God has given us is joy. The challenge is that too many people allow everyday frustrations, difficult people, and unexpected setbacks to steal our joy. Joel says no one can take your joy. You have it. You have to give it away. They can't take it from y'all. We have to give it away. Don't give it away. Life will always present inconveniences, traffic jams, root people, delayed plans, family disagreements, and unexpected problems. That's just life. They're all part of living in an imperfect world. If you wait until everything is perfect before deciding to be happy, you will spend your life disappointed. Instead, decide at the beginning of every day that your joy is not up for grabs. Joel reminds us of Jesus' promise that no one can take away the joy that God has placed inside of us. While we can't control what happens around us, we can always control how we react. A major theme Joel discusses is keeping the right perspective. Many of the things that upset us today will not matter next week, next month, or next year. Yet we allow small inconveniences to become major emotional setbacks. Ask yourself, is this really worth losing my peace over? Most of the time the answer is no. Another powerful principle is understanding that hurt people often hurt people. Some individuals are carrying frustration, anger, disappointment, or bitterness. Joel compares them to a garbage truck that that are full of emotional trash, looking for somewhere to dump it. If someone unloads their anger on you, don't accept it. Smile, stay kind, and refuse to carry what belongs to them. Remember that, y'all. It belongs to them, not you. Don't take it on. This doesn't mean being weak. It means having strength under control. Real maturity isn't proving that you're right or winning every argument. Real strength is staying calm when you can become angry, showing kindness when someone is rude, and refusing to let negativity dictate your attitude. Oh, such good stuff. Link to the full episode is in the show notes. As always, everybody. Alright, y'all. It's time for our challenge of the week. This week, I am challenging you and me to a digital detox challenge. On my next day off, I will give my lady of love my phone for five hours and not do any. I don't want to listen to it, watch for text, none of it. No phone for five hours. And then every evening I'll put it away for two hours every night. So it's not going to be easy, I know it. But what it will do for all of us, it's going to give us more focused time for the ones that we love. And there will be a victory for us and them. All right, y'all. Join me on that challenge. Let's do it. Always getting better. All right, always remember better, never backwards. Speak words of life over you and your great family, speaking and believing. I am getting better and better every day in every way. Remember, you are loved and appreciated, as my dad would say again and again and again. And you are enough. You are in fact have what it takes. You're a champion whose absolute best days are straight ahead. Never, ever, ever, ever stop dreaming and believing big. You deserve a great life. All right, let's think about that. You do. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being a part of our great community as we roll to one million, y'all. Have an epic day and a magnificent week. God bless.
SPEAKER_00Thank you once again for listening to a conversation of hope with Brett. Brent wants to remind you that you are loved and appreciated. If you found value in this episode and know some of the video hope in the comments, please like and comment. Please don't check out the phone notes. I like to let it ultimately read it. Until next time, between you and your family and incredible readings. And ultimately,