11: The Yet Mindset

Thanks so much for tuning in to Your Life on Purpose. I’m your host, Mark Guay and I’m super excited to be back back here with you.   If you’re new to this podcast, make sure to download the free life plan I wrote called Your Life on Purpose which has 10 simple steps to live a life with impact. These steps were pulled from my over 100 interviews with the greatest change makers and leaders of our time. The first 10 episodes of this podcast are the audio component to the life plan template.    All right — so something interesting happened over the past two weeks.   I got a bunch of messages from people asking me when there would be more episodes of Your Life on Purpose. And it felt terrible telling them that this podcast was only meant to be the audio component of the life plan I wrote called Your Life on Purpose.   So, I’m going to experiment here for a bit and create more tips to help empower you and develop a limitless mindset.    How long will this last?    I’m not sure. But my greatest goal in life is to have as much positive impact as I can, so if you’re getting value from this podcast, then I’m honored to continue it.    Thanks for you joining me.    Most of the tips I share on this show are the tips I pull from the long-form interviews I hold on The Traveling Cup podcast, just in case that you want longer episodes and listen to my interviews with the change makers and great leaders of our time.   On this episode, I’d like to talk about developing the yet mindset. It’s a growth strategy that helps people think and grow limitless.    But first, let’s go rock climbing.   My fingers were clenched and full of chalk. My right knee was turning black and blue. "I can't climb it," I said, barely audible, unaware that people were even listening. "Yet," said the little boy to my right. I looked over at him, wondering how long he's been standing there. He continued, "Whenever you feel like you can't do something, just add the word 'yet' to the sentence." And so I did what probably made me look like a madman. I laughed. Then I told him he was right.   You see, I'm constantly amazed at the wisdom children can possess. Here I am, a 30-year old man whose entire life's work has been in motivating people, and I'm schooled by a teenager whose simple Dalai lama-esque wisdom helped me realize my own limited thinking. So, I'm sharing this wisdom with you. Whenever you whisper the words "I can't" to yourself, just add in the word "yet". Because here's the thing. We only have so much time here on this earth, and it's up to us on how we want to use that time. If you're like me, you want to laugh as much as possible, help as many people as you can, and suck out all the marrow of life, as Thoreau put it. I want to have real meaningful impact. And perhaps you do too. But working to make an impact on the world means constantly pushing yourself to do things that challenge you, some of which may drive you to say, "I can't." To do that, I need to develop and maintain a limitless mindset. So, I'm adding the word "yet" to my daily lexicon -- right up there with "please" and "thank you." It's going on my screensaver, on little Post-it notes I'll paste in the refrigerator, and I'm even thinking of creating a coffee cup with the word "Yet" on it so every time I take a sip, I'll be reminded of this boy's wisdom. Wisdom I need to remember because this summer I'm challenging myself more than I ever have as an entrepreneur. And the truth is, I'm scared. I've lost a lot in my life over the last few years, as my wife and I battle her Lyme Disease, and the constant failure for her to regain health has seeped into other facets of our lives. Every time I start something new, something I hope will make an impact, I'm terrified of failure. Which brought me to rock climbing.   With this new chapter in my life, I've decided to challenge one of my greatest fears: the fear of heights. I'm learning how to rock climb. My hands are hurting. My feet are blistered. But I'm still climbing and growing stronger and look forward to the challenges ahead.   On an interview with social-purpose visionary, Tyler Bel helped remind me of the power of limitless thinking.    Here’s what she had to share:   Enter Tyler Bel I'm not the entrepreneur I want to be, yet. And I'm not the rock climber I want to be, yet. My wife still struggles with Lyme Disease and she's not fully recovered, yet. There's a whole lot that I haven't done, yet. Yet, yet, yet. That's a three-letter word that I'm going to be using a lot in the future, and perhaps you will too. Just remember that it wasn't me who said it. We have a starry-eyed young rock climber to thank for the reminder.   What about you? What have you been struggling with too? What's your "yet"?