Ep. 234 - Start a Fire

"According to the science of complexity, when a living system is in a state of equilibrium, it is less responsive to change.  Prolonged sameness can therefore leave a system vulnerable and open to major disaster. 

An example in nature would be the absolute prevention of forest fires.  To keep the parks open to visitors, we see a constant emphasis on fire prevention.  But fires are a natural part of the cycle of regeneration and cleansing for that system.  Preventing even small fires allows a buildup of the undergrowth so that when a fire does occur, rather than just cleaning out the groundcover, it destroys even the tall mature trees.  In recent years, we have seen the stories of raging fires, consuming valuable trees, expensive homes, and businesses as they are fueled by years of undergrowth.

Is the sameness and constancy in your life a blessing or is it leaving you vulnerable?  Is 20 years on the same job a sign of great loyalty or has it made you complacent and  unaware of the changes that have occurred in the workplace?  Do you resist change at all costs?..."

The Rudder of the Day  - Dan Miller  

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Links:   

• The Rudder of the Day  - by Dan Miller  
• FREE DOWNLOAD - 2022 Goal Setting Workbook
• 48 Days Eagles Community
  • ...break free from monotony, find your true purpose, and create not only work, but a full life you thrive in.

Past Episodes on 2022 Goal Setting:  

• Thursday, 11/04 Ep. 219 - 2022 Goal Setting (Part 1 - Intro / Financial)
• Thursday, 11/04 Ep. 220 - 2022 Goal Setting (Part 2 - Physical)
• Monday, 11/08 Ep. 221 - 2022 Goal Setting (Part 3 - Personal Development)
• Tuesday, 11/09 Ep. 222 - 2022 Goal Setting (Part 4 - Family)
• Wednesday, 11/10 Ep. 223 - 2022 Goal Setting (Part 5 - Spiritual)
• Thursday, 11/11 Ep. 224 - 2022 Goal Setting (Part 6 - Social)
• Friday, 11/12 Ep. 225 - 2022 Goal Setting (Part 7 - Career)

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello and welcome back to the show, everyone. This is another episode of the All Around Growth Podcast, a show that provides insight and tools to build the life and homestead of your dreams. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host. Today is Wednesday, November 24th, 2021. It is the day before Thanksgiving. And this is episode number 234 of the show. Today we are going to take it nice and slow down the driveway. And we're going to look at some material from The Rudder of the Day, which is a book written by Dan Miller, author of 48 Days to the Work You Love. And this has become one of the books that is visited most frequently by me as I seek fodder for discussion for the podcast. And it looks like, guys, this is the last page of the book. We have worked our way through this entire book, much of which I've shared with you. But let's read the last page and see what kind of wisdom we can glean on this Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. The title is Do You Need a Small Fire in Your Life? Protecting the status quo may be preventing you from more fulfilling opportunities. According to the science of complexity, when a living system is in a state of equilibrium, it is less responsive to change. Prolonged sameness can therefore leave a system vulnerable and open to major disaster. An example in nature would be the absolute prevention of forest fires. To keep the parks open to visitors, we see a constant emphasis on fire prevention. But fires are a natural part of the cycle of regeneration and cleansing for that system. Preventing even small fires allows a buildup of the undergrowth so that when a fire does occur, rather than just cleaning out the ground cover, it destroys even the tall mature trees. In recent years, we have seen the stories of raging fires, consuming valuable trees, expensive homes, and businesses as if they are fueled by years of undergrowth. Not as if, as they are fueled by years of undergrowth. Quote, if we don't change our direction, we're likely to end up where we're headed. Close quote. That's a Chinese proverb. In this is the sameness and constancy in your life a blessing, or is it leaving you vulnerable? Is twenty years on the same job a sign of great loyalty, or has it made you complacent and unaware of the changes that have occurred in the workplace? Do you resist change at all costs? You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply with greater vision and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand. That's a quote by Woodrow Wilson. Following a presentation in a church on Living Out Your Dreams, I had a gentleman immediately push to approach me. He described having no dreams, no goals, and no vision for the future. This was frustrating to him, and he wondered why he was missing those elements I had listed as common components of anyone's daily existence. He went on to describe a long professional life in a respected position in the community. However, the predictable sameness of his life had in fact crowded out his dreams, goals, and vision. We've heard the adage that the good is the enemy of the best. This is an example of that phenomenon. Reasonable success can blur the necessity of seeking out the best. Quote, ablaze with fire that is never extinguished. Close quote. That's a quote by Luisa Seguilla of O magazine in September 2003. It's important to allow for flexibility. Keeping too rigid in our lives can restrict natural growth and positive change, making any unexpected change turn into a major disaster. For any system to survive and grow, it must be capable of welcoming variety within its system. Maybe you need to give up the plaid sport coat and trade in the AMC pacer. You may need to actually light a little fire in your life today. This guy is fantastic. We've got a fan a beautiful sunrise, absolutely stunning sunrise to my east. If I wasn't recording, I would have taken a dozen pictures by now, but to share this with you and see that while speaking is absolutely brilliant. As always, before we ask our question that provides some direction for today, we look at the Bible, and we have a simple quote from Proverbs chapter 29, verse 18, which reads as follows. And finally, the question that will provide some direction for today is where do you need to start a fire in your life today? So where do you need to start a fire in your life today, guys? Huh? If you're struggling with that question, I've got some resources for you. I recently went through a 48 days goal setting workbook by Dan and the 48 Days team, which provides tools and is a great resource to work through seven different areas of your life. So let me see if I can rattle them off for you since I spent a considerable amount of time recently doing this. We've got financial, physical, personal development, family, spiritual, social, and career. And I believe they are in that order as well. So if you're wondering where you need to start a fire in your life, but you're not sure where because you're overwhelmed of how much everything sucks, pick one of those areas. Better yet, listen to some of those episodes, and I'll link to that workbook in the show notes. I believe it's still available for download. All you need to do is provide your email address. Get the 40 or get the workbook for free. It's at no charge. And guys, if you're that adamant about not providing your email address, I understand. Join the telegram group at t.me slash allaroundgrowth. And I'll just send it to you there. Or I'll email it to you myself. Allaroundgrowth at gmail.com. The one area where I need to start a fire in my life, I believe this sunrise this morning, guys, is absolutely unreal. We've got layers of clouds in the sky. And the sky looks like pink cotton candy. It is it's breathtaking, is what it is. And sometimes when you know when when we read things like this starting a small fire in our life, much like the guy that Dan wrote about because he has no dreams. Sometimes thinking about that small fire can be. can be overwhelming. And I understand that. Believe me, I do. But is it Is it really that overwhelming? You know? Are you Oh, this sunrise, guys. That's I I can't. I can't stop. I can't even begin to explain how magnificent this is. I hope that somebody out there is capturing photos of this. This is just man. But again, you know, we we we find ourselves, or at least I find myself, after reading this, thinking about the comfortable complacency in life. And thinking about how we are often willing to stay where we currently are because the fear of change and the struggles that might accompany the change outweighs the fear of remaining the same. Even if the same sucks and we're really not that happy with it, oftentimes the the fear of making or engaging in behavior that will facilitate the positive change that you want is so overwhelming that we stay with where we're at. And you know what? For those of us that do, you deserve it. Because you have so much potential. We all have so much potential that for us just to sit around and figuratively wring our hands and worry about what might come, what might happen, what what what if, what if, what if. Well, what if you like what if these things happen? You know, what if what if you actually tap into that undiscovered potential and realize that there's an entire life out there that you have yet to discover? And what happens if you actually do that? Tap in and then think down the road. God, I wonder what would have happened if I never had done this. Do you want to get to that point in your life years down the road? When you're old, er, and gray, er, and wonder what if I could have, I should have. No, that's a terrible way to live. And I don't care what your circumstances are, I don't care what your environment is. And I say, I mean, I care, but I don't. You know, because for all of us, myself included, when we talk about our environment, when we talk about the context of our life, when we talk about the own individual challenges that are unique to us, it's all bullshit because we're all individual people dealing with our own individual shit. And you know what that's called, guys? It's called life on life's terms, and everything that you say and claim as a reason for not doing the things that you want to do, for not planning on your dreams and not acting on your plans is a fucking bullshit excuse. That's it. I'm sorry, except I'm not, it's an excuse, and you know, I'm reaching a point where I know better. I've been doing this stuff and I've been working on myself for too damn long to continue making excuses. And I've finally reached a point where I've got a little bit of confidence so that I can speak about this. Because I've done the work, and the work I'm specifically talking about right now, that's giving me the confidence to articulate some of the dreams that I have in life in order to make the plans so that I can actually act, come from the 2022 goal setting workbook that'll be linked to in the show notes. And if you're struggling with anything, struggling to identify your dreams, struggling with goals, struggling with whatever it is that you're struggling with, download the workbook, do the fucking work, and stop making excuses. If you listen to this show on the regular, this is nothing new. We talked about this weeks ago. Ask yourself, where are you at with that workbook? Have you downloaded it? If you did, what have you done with it? And why? Or why not? There's still time to make progress and set yourself straight for the upcoming year. There's still time to light a small fire in your life. There's still time, regardless of how old you are. Personally, the time of this recording in November of 2021, I'm 44 years old. I know some people out there listening are older, pushing 50, older than 50. And you may be saying to yourself, it's easy for him to say, he doesn't have kids, it's easy for him to say, he doesn't understand my job. It's easy for him to say, it's easy for him to say, it's easy for him to say. If you find yourself resorting to that kind of comment, it's easy for him to say, must be nice. That's a failure. That's a failure, and you should know better. Don't ever say that. If you find yourself saying something like must be nice, how about reframing that and saying, what can I do in my life to achieve similar results? Must be nice. Shut up. Where do you need to start a fire in your life today, guys? I don't know. That's only a that's a question only you can answer. But I can give you some insight. I can give you some tools. And that's what this show is about. Insight on how to do that. Tools on how and where to start said fire. In the show notes, there's going to be the 2022 goal setting workbook that comes from Dan Miller's 48 Days team. Dan Miller is the one who wrote 48 Days to the Work You Love, and also wrote this book, Rudder of the Day. I am a big fan of Dan Miller. I'm a big fan of that 48 Days Eagles community, and I'm a big fan because many of the tools and resources that I share with you are tools and resources that I've used in my own life, tools and resources that I have personally implemented, tools and resources that have benefited me, tools and resources that I vouch for, tools and resources that I don't think are bullshit because there's a lot of it out there, and we can spend a lot of time, effort, and energy filtering through all that crap in order to find something that actually works for us. It's a long, hard process of separating the wheat from the chaff. And what I'm doing is sharing some of the work that I'm done with you so that you can streamline your own life. Hopefully, in ways that I have, hopefully gaining some benefit that I have. Not necessarily doing so in the ways that I have, but hopefully reaping the rewards that I have from doing so. And much of what I do, much of the content that I share, it's not my own content, it's not original, but that's okay because a lot of the people that I glean this content from, you know what? It's not original to them either. They're referencing, well, in this case, like today, we're referencing Chinese proverbs, we're referencing Woodrow Wilson, we're referencing authors from O magazine, the Bible, and many other sources. Very little in this life is original. Think about that. Very little in this life is original.