EP 156 | A Flight of Stair

Yo, what up, yo, I'm feeling tired, you beat quick takes. By guys, people, I'ma just be all up some real quick. Like, you know, like a freestyle, but I'm fine. Podcast, it's gon' be good.

Ice, this is a quick take, people come up. My people, my people. I'ma feelin' real good to talk to y'all today. Got a few things that I wanna cover.

Shout out to the one person that subscribed to my YouTube channel last week. I appreciate you. Especially since I haven't even done a video, you know? Man, y'all know what it is.

I'm not complaining. I'm just, I'm so busy, man. It's new stuff every week. Please note this though, you know?

You know, I can talk. Some things I can't talk about yet, just because they're like, still in motion. You know, things are still happening. I'm one of those people.

It always seems like it's a lot going on, you know what I'm saying? Thank God, there's a lot of great things going on. But I can't stand people who always got something going on. And I don't mean to be that guy.

I really don't. It's just that, you know, when you're, look man, I'm a person in the business world that is excited because, man, I come from like, you know, like just humble beginnings. So I'm always excited. You know, I say I call it being in the game.

You know, and that's why what I try to bring to the show is, you know, sharing some of my experience, mostly through principle, even if I don't get all into the detail or whatever. And like I said, something's a confidential when you're in business, you can't always talk about stuff. And you know, I have to be aware of the fact that, you know, I work for a Fortune 50 organization. And I have this podcast and people are listening all over the world in various countries.

I don't know if, you know, there could be, you know, somebody that I work with or that know me from work or, you know, whatever. So I try to be respectful when I'm talking business and aware and hold myself accountable as I grow through business. Because by the grace of God, I've grown through business, you know, since we've been doing this show for this is year four, I think I've had three jobs, you know what I mean? So that's a blessing.

I don't take that for granted. I guess I'm saying it at this point, just so you know that like something that's real important to me is credibility and experience. And honestly, I struggle sometimes because I'm not a person that always share everything in detail. But I do believe that, I'll tell you like this.

If somebody came to me and was like, Hey man, I'm a private chef and I want to cook for you. You want your wife on her birthday or something. Valentine's Day, whatever it is. Like I need to see an Instagram page with some food.

Like I need to see like, bro, you can't just tell me you a private chef, you know, if you tell me you're a financial advisor and you broke, I'm not trying to hear it. So, you know, so when I do talk about, you know, some of the things I do, that's really the purpose just so people understand. And I'm trying to be an open book as well, because I genuinely believe that the principles that I talk about on this show every week are literally life-changing. Like I'm not talking about like figuratively or like exaggerating.

I'm saying, I genuinely believe that if you listen to this show and apply these principles that we're talking about week to week, that's why I always say go back and listen to the old episodes, not because I just want you to listen, but because I really believe there are some foundational things laid down that if you really listen and you really like apply over time, they will change your life. They have changed mine. I'm constantly growing, constantly changing, definitely constantly making mistakes and learning. But, you know, I'm not selling you something that I haven't purchased myself.

And I think a lot of times right now, people are typically looking for the easy road. And we're gonna talk about some of this today. I'm really just kind of giving y'all a nice intro before I get into the topic today. I wanna talk about to purpose and beyond.

And this was actually a topic that was requested on like Twitter a few months ago, somebody asked me to talk about like what to do after you're successful. Like Jay, like, all right, we talk about getting to success, but no one teaches us what to do not to we're successful. And I thought that was an important topic. I do feel like I probably have at least mentioned that at some point during the show, because that's something that I've talked about myself, at least in my private life.

But, you know, if I have, it's been over some, maybe a couple years ago, maybe in an earlier episode. So, it's worth bringing back up. And my life has changed, you know, in various ways over the course of time doing this show. So, it's worth bringing back up from a more up-to-date perspective, even if I did mention it, right?

But I said all that to say that, you know, this show is intended to change your life. And a lot of people want the easy way out. And unfortunately, from the very beginning, I told y'all that I believe in the idea of a process. I'm not a rich, quick person.

There are a lot of people that sell you things. And what they're doing is selling you a dream that you can't afford. And the reason they notice is because you don't have the fundamental principles in place that you've learned over time to apply what they're talking about. I'm gonna give you an example.

Let's just use, this is just a made-up example. Like, if I had two different people selling me a book. And the first book, the first author is, you know, their book is about, you know, 15 ways to get rich overnight. That's what people want.

People want results with minimal effort. I would never buy that book, because I don't believe in it. I think it's a lie. I think that you are just trying to sell me something to get my money and maybe throw your success in my face, like show me your cars in your house because it's human beings psychologically.

Remember, I just said we look for credibility. I believe in credibility. But sometimes we look for it in the wrong places and things. Like, so you have some influencers and people who, you know, they buy flashy things simply to throw them in your face because they know that you are so gullible that if they show you these things and promise you the things without the work, you will buy their book, their course, you will give them likes, you will follow them, you will share them, you will listen to their podcast and their videos.

And the thing is the only person that gets help that grows financially and in any type of way is them. I would never buy that book. I don't believe in that. In my soul, I don't believe in get rich quick schemes and people who make blind promises that it's just gonna all be alright tomorrow.

I don't believe in that. So at the next person told me, you know, 15 ways to be successful in the next three years. I would buy that book. Number one, because I believe if you're bold enough to title your book something that is not instant gratification that you probably really have some nuggets and some things in that book that if I apply over time, if I'm consistent, I'll be successful.

So what's my point with all this? My point is that the average person, you know, if you're a new listener to this show, I talk about average and I really mean it in a literal way when I use that word. Like some people are just average, buy choice most of the time. But you just average, like that's just how some people are.

Like, hey, you're just average. Not you, not you that's listening. And I'm just generally, you know, saying some people are average. They wanna be average.

I've learned that in my life. I've tried to help people because I thought they needed help. And I realized everybody don't want help. They looking at me like, I ain't asking you for your information, bro.

And I had to learn how to be quiet. You know what I'm saying? Take my own advice. And so yeah, my bad.

Let me get to the point of the show. You know, the passion kicks in, y'all. You know how I get like, I'm passionate about this stuff. I believe in this.

I believe this literally changes lives. The things we talk about on the show. So let's just jump into the content. Let's scratch all that.

Let's jump into the content and have a really, really good time today. So let's start off with a question. Why do you need to be guided to your purpose? I start off the show every single week.

You know what I'm saying? This is Inspire Guys people where we balance faith and business to guide you to your purpose. So why do you need to be guided to your purpose? Okay?

Like, you know, why Jay? Like why do I need to listen to this show? Like what's the whole point? Well, look, the same reason you need to put an address in the GPS if you've never been there before.

You need to be guided to your purpose if you've never been to purpose. And what we do on this show is like, we can admit when we're wrong, we can admit when we need to grow, you know, and where we need help at because pride, you know what I'm saying, hold so many people back because they don't want to need help. But when you ain't ever been nowhere before, you need to be guided there. But then here's the thing, it doesn't stop at purpose.

Once you get to purpose, you need to be guided through purpose. And we're gonna dig into those two ideas today. Like this is a quick take. So I'm not even, you know, it's not gonna be a long show, but I think it's gonna be really potent information.

And so you need to be guided to purpose because you've never been there. So let me just say this about myself, right? Like I genuinely believe is that a lot of times purpose starts at a dead end, right? Because you gotta be tired of something.

This is something I've noticed about people who are successful. It's not that they're like these super perfect people who have lived these perfect lives. Sometimes we get so caught up in who people are today, that we minimize what it took for them to become that. And what they went through and what they had to grow through and go through to get there.

You feel me? And so I just want you to understand, like, when I'm talking like, I'm just like, yeah, like I've been through it too. And for me, I believe purpose starts sometimes, not all the time, but it can start at a dead end. You know, when you just standing there and you like, you know, when I think about a dead end, it's like you really only got three options.

You feel me? You can stand still, which is what most people do. Like most of us in our lives, we get to a dead end point and we just stand still. Let me paint a picture for you, okay?

Let me just paint this picture real quick. Follow me, follow me. I'm an artist in our taste. So imagine, you know what I'm saying, there are two sets of stairs, two flights of stairs, right?

The first flight of stairs, it's not really a flight. It's just one step, okay? The second flight of stairs is, maybe you see a hundred steps and they go in so high, you can't even see beyond that, but it goes higher. Limitless.

But here's the problem. The flight of stairs or the flight of stairs, that's one stair, it's a high stair. So it's just this one stair, but it's real hot to be one stair. Whereas the flight of stairs that are limitless, they're very small steps.

Maybe you gotta go through 10 of those small steps, five of those small steps, right? Before you get to the height of the one step. But here's the thing, as I paint in your mind, the thing is most of us, because that flight of stair, that's a dead end. But most of us choose a dead end, simply because it makes us feel higher on one step, than if we were to go one step on the flight of stairs that has more potential.

You feel what I'm saying? Am I painting in your mind? All right, let's keep it going. So with that in mind, the flight of stair, that's the dead end.

That one step, that's, it's hard to be one note. So you feel good on that one step, because it's like, I mean, I'm hired in everybody else that's at one. You know what I'm saying? I'm the highest level one, there is.

Like, oh yeah, I mean, what? I'm a preacher, but I mean, I don't read the Bible. You know what I'm saying? I don't preach sound doctrine.

I'm just here to get that bread step one level one. You a level one. You don't even read the wire, you preaching. Oh yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm broke my credit messed up, but you know what I'm saying?

I went and got that new Mustang, you know, on my jacket of credit, that thing got to drop top. As a matter of fact, it's the, what's the, the fast Mustang? Is it the Shelby? Is it the Shelby?

Well, I can't think of the name of the, I can't think of the name of the real expensive Mustang. I'm a code though. It's real expensive. It's the fast one.

I'm sorry, man, for the car lovers out there, the enthusiast. Oh, I don't, you know, whatever. Ain't got no cars at the dealerships anyway. That's why I can't remember the name of it because it ain't no cars at the dealership.

But my point is like, I go get the $100,000 car, that $80,000 car. My credit jacked up though, but I went and got that new boy. But I'm level one, but the thing is, my level one is higher than the other level one. So the other level one's look up to me, right?

But here's the problem. I can't go past, it ain't nowhere else to go. All right. So three options when you add a deadline.

I can talk, a dating one, a flight of stare. I would title this show a flight of stare, but then I bet some people, hey, hey, what? Hey, that's plural. That's not singular.

So I'm not going to do it because everybody don't think it's a grammatical error. And they're going to irritate me because, you know, I was going to take them about 15 minutes to get to this point in the show. And I don't want the emails and I don't need it on this one. All right, I'm sorry, y'all.

I'm recording this pretty late, just so you know, it's super late at night. I had a long day preparing, a long week really preparing for some things at work. But I wanted to, like, this was on my heart and I needed to get it out. But in case if my vibe is a little different than they today, I can just know that like, this is after a long day of work.

I'm tired, but it's like, sometimes I like recording the show tired because I'm really just going off pure passion right now. But if I get a little too silly and off on the side, then at least you want to stay in one of being silly today, because I'm just, I'm sleepy. It's like a little baby when baby's that bad, y'all just say, oh, he's sleepy. No, no, look, little man, man is bad.

He ain't sleepy. He just woke up. All parents do that, by the way. Like everybody, any little kid that come on my house, he like, yeah, he just woke up.

I'm like, no, look, man, man, I got chocolate on his hand, putting him on my walls. And I need you to take chocolate off his hands whether he just woke up or not. Anyway, how do we get here? So what most people do at a day at the end, on a flight of steer, is they just stand still.

Because it's enough to keep you comfortable even though you can't go anywhere else. So I know a lot of people, I can relate to that, where you know, whether it's a job, right? I've been in jobs for a long time, like, okay, yeah, like this is something I can share with y'all. So I've worked for the organization I'm at for 15 years, came right out of college, right?

And like, I have had in 15 years, I think I've had seven jobs. So on average, that sounds good. I've almost averaged just being in one job for two years. So like every two years, typically I'm getting a promotion.

But here's the crazy thing about it. I believe it or not, I spent my first nine years at the company in two jobs. You heard it here first folks, that's right. I spent nine years with a college degree in business marketing at entry level jobs.

I spent my first nine years standing still. Now there are a lot of reasons for that that I'm not gonna get into today. Some self-inflicted in my fault, some outside factors, but that's not the point. The point is there is no reason for me coming fresh out of college with a degree in marketing to be in two entry level jobs for nine years.

But I did. I was at a dead end standing still on a flight of stare. And so that's what a lot of us do. And sometimes it's because it's comfortable, right?

I was making decent money. Coming from where I was coming from at the time, I had no money. I had, like, you got to understand, man, if you come from nothing, again, like if you come from nothing and you get on that high stare, that mug feel like you feel pretty high on that stare. That's why you see people do sometimes ignorant things on social media, they flash in $2,000 because they think $2,000 a lot of money.

Well, they on that high stare and it is a lot of money. You know, they think five or 10,000 is just so much money. It's like, okay, like, okay, but on that high stare, it's a lot. So my point is it's easy to get comfortable when you getting and making more than you ever made.

Like if you like, hey, man, I'm just used to making 12 bucks an hour, nothing wrong with that, by the way. But y'all got me an 18, 19 hour? I'm making 38, 40,000? Like, let's go.

Look, like I'm on this high stare. Look, I'm living in check to check. Like with the 40, I can live check to check luxuriously. Hey, man, I'm telling you all, I'm not telling you what I think.

I'm telling you what I've been through. I'm telling you what I've done. I used to think like this, I know some of y'all, man, it's funny like when you grow, and it's something I always try to keep some balance on with people because, like people will meet you at a certain point in your life and they won't be able to even believe that you could have been another way. I'm like, yeah, like, yeah, I used to think like that too.

Like, yeah, like, yeah, me too. I'm not just talking about people, I'm talking about me and how I used to be. And that's important for y'all to know that. Even though y'all like people who encounter me now, like this is authentically who I am.

And it's a weird dynamic in life because like I had this quote, I put this on Instagram today in my story. It's a quote that at least I sometimes when I come up with quotes, I'm like, I'm sure it's words. Somebody else might have said these words before, but you know, at least in my mind, I pinned it. And it was this quote, you know, people who've known you the longest know you the least because the people who've known me the longest have the like people tend to remember more.

And what that means is like, if you met me when I was a class clown in high school and you're mine, that's who I am. If you met me today, you're like, no, this is Inspire Guys people, this is Mr. Bell, whether like this J-Wim, like music, like, no. And so the thing is you actually know me, like the me today, you know me better than they do because they know me the least because they know me so long, they're holding on to things that I've let go of, if that makes sense.

But even though you know me better than them, you know the new me so much that you can't even fathom like the jokes I used to have as a class clown. Like y'all wouldn't be, I couldn't like, me, I was a full blown like stand up comedian mode in school on a bus. Like I would get off the bus and people literally multiple times, people with the entire bus has been clapping when I stepped off the bus because I would literally be up there like Martin, Lawrence and Dave Chappelle and I'm not joking. I would have the attention of the whole bus, but I was willing, that's the thing, like the kind of, you know, comedic humor that I had, I was daring, I was not, I was willing to get on a bus and get everybody's attention.

It's like, you know, like any movie, any movie, I can talk, Eddie Murphy, like on the scene and coming to America when he like, I've re-noted to my throne, like that, you know, he talking on the subway, like yeah, I would do stuff like that. So anyway, what's my point? People who've known you the longest know you least, there's all these nuggets that's coming out today. It's like, y'all, I'm gonna get back on point and we gonna get out of here.

But I've still a long time in my life. And a lot of times when you're standing still at a day at end, it's because you're comfortable. But you're comfortable going nowhere. Now, I mean, maybe I get to these other two points.

Maybe I don't, but it's like some of us are stuck at a day at end. And you gotta be tired. You gotta be sick and tired in order to go towards purpose. So you got a couple options.

We already say it's nasty. We know that that's not a great option. You're at a day at end. You're on a flight up stair.

There's nowhere else for you to go. You know, I've, this is another quote. I think I might have said this last week, but it's like, if the greatest thing you'll ever be is what you were and you'll never be who God created you to be, right? Some of us, our past was just so amazing that we can't become anything better.

Like I bet the story of how you got up the flight up stair is amazing, but man, like if that's as far as you go and you 33 years old is like, ah, yeah, if you're 53 and that's as far as you go. 73, I mean, as long as you live in there somewhere to go. All right, so we don't wanna stand still. I think I've made that point in 20 minutes, right?

All right, Jay, keep it moving. The second thing you could do is turn around, right? So we talking about this idea though, like at this point you at a day at end, you gotta be sick and tired to even find purpose. Typically at this day at end you have to make a decision.

Am I gonna stand here or do I wanna find purpose? You can't find purpose standing still, right? So then now you're like, okay, I wanna be guided to my purpose. You don't wanna stand still.

So you could turn around. Now turning around could be good or bad. This is like not one answer to the turning around situation. And the reason I say that is because you could turn around and quit which we don't wanna do.

We don't wanna give up. We don't wanna just say, oh, it didn't happen overnight. I read the book. I listened to two episodes of the podcast.

That's what some people wanna do. It's like, it's not gonna happen bro. At least, let me tell you this. That's not what I'm selling with Aspire Guys people.

I'm selling God and you to your purpose, balancing faith and business. The reason we're balancing faith and business is because when you go to those earlier episodes, we spent at least maybe a year laying the foundation of faith. Like, you know, it's a bunch of scripture you can listen to when you listen to this episode, this show. You go back like, not that we don't steal.

I mean, last week I was, you know, reading out of the Bible. But what I'm saying is that there's, this show was created intentionally laid on the foundation of faith. We don't get into the gossip. We don't get into dividing people based on their politics or the color of your skin and all these other things.

Like, hey, let's be diverse. Let's be the melting pot that heaven will be united by faith. These are the things that I believe. I literally believe this stuff.

Doesn't mean that I execute it all perfectly or I don't have shortcomings. It just means that this is genuinely what I believe is the blueprint for you finding purpose. Right? There's a lot of intentional thinking and principles and philosophies that go into Aspire Guys people.

And if you listen to this show, as long as you have unlit to believe that you believe in that vision as well. Okay. So we don't wanna quit. We don't wanna give up, right?

Because we wanna be guided to purpose. So then a way that turning around can be good, right? Let's say if you're turning around because you're realizing I'm on the flight of stare and this goes nowhere, but there is this other flight of stairs next to me that have maximum limitless potential. Like it's gonna take me longer.

It's gonna be a process. Eight brat sets for my early listeners. Like there's gonna be a process, but over time if I'm consistent, right? Give it time consistently going in the right direction.

I tell y'all all the time, at least recently, direction is more important than speed. You can get up the one flight of stare faster than maybe I can get up the 10. But when I get to 10 and 15 and 20, there is so much more for me to do because I am into maximizing my potential, all right? So you wanna find purpose?

And you turn around and you go to that one stairway and you start on the flight of stairs as limitless, but you won't step one, right? That's turning around. That's sometimes realizing that I have to take a step back to go forward. And there's a lot of times in my life that I've done that.

I'll give you another example. You know, in 20, the end of 2019 going into 2020, I was working the job, I was a national, or no, I was a regional business development manager. And like I've been working that job for two years. Now remember, I told you, early on, I spent nine years in two jobs.

I don't do that anymore. I can be in a job one year and move on, right? To continue to grow my career, right? That's a tactic, something that, once I had mentors, guides in my life, I should mention that.

That's important. Those first nine years, I didn't have no mentors. I was doing it on my own. I didn't have any connections at work.

Like I wasn't trying to get connections or anything. Once I started having mentors that were way further than I am, that are still way, way, say it with me, way, way, way further than I am, right? Way more successful, super polished, smart people, executives, I mean, high up executives, VP it is, you know, they got, you know, crazy titles behind me in my front of the name. But my point is, once I stopped just doing stuff that I thought made sense and started being able to put my pride aside and realize there are people that know more than me, there are people that have gone further than me that are more successful.

Remember, you put the GPS in because you've never been there before or maybe you have only been there once or twice and you don't know how to get back there on your own. And so when I got some mentors, it was like, hey, like you don't stay in no job a long time. You're smart, you're educated, like you go and get a critical experience and then you find time to move on, like you grow financially, you grow in all these ways. I had people teaching me this stuff, right?

And the thing about it is, once I had mentors that were willing to share, it still took effort from me to go out and learn more. Because a mentor might have 30 minutes for you, they might have 20 minutes that they don't have time to read a book for you. It's not like, hey, let me read a book to you. It's like, no, make the most out of this 30 minutes, make the most out of this hour.

And then go and teach yourself, go and do some things on your own, you know what I mean? Not that I'm showing you or giving you a blueprint. All right, long story short. 29th at the end of 2019, I had decided, like you know what, I've been in this job for two years.

I've learned the critical experiences that I needed to gain in this particular role. And I don't want to stand on a fly to stare. I have more to offer. So there was not a clear pathway for like a promotion for me at the time.

Some of the jobs I wanted, people were standing in them jobs for a while. I have historically not been open to relocation and moving out of state and things like that. So I'm like, all right, if you're not going to relocate, because you got to understand what your weaknesses are, where your limitation is not that that's a weakness, but it is a limitation. It could slow down progress.

I was like, you know what, you need to take a lateral move. But a lateral move, a strategic lateral move, that will give you a new critical experience in comparison to what you do now. So I'm taking a job at the same level, but I went from regional to national, right? So that's a new critical experience.

And then I went to a different function of the organization. So what's my point with all this? There was no clear pathway for me to go to the next step higher. So I had to take a step backwards, step to the side, right?

Take a lateral, get a new critical experience. And I did that job in 2020 and got a promotion by December, right? So I mean, I did that job from March to December. I got a promotion in December and December of 2020.

And you know, I've been now doing this job for since then, since December 2020. So a year, 14 months into the role that I'm doing now. And you know, I'm a senior sales manager. I have a team that goes across the country and develop business partnerships.

And we work with brands and, you know, all type of things. So it's fun. It's cool. Or whatever I've been in this 14 months.

You know, we'll see what God does next. What is my point with all of that? My point is I would have never got to this job from the step before the step I took back or to the side. You get what I'm saying?

So sometimes you have to see where does the next step lead me to? And if I'm at a dead end, I might need to turn around or move to the side or pivot or something, because if I stay right here, nothing's gonna happen. And if nothing happens, that's like me telling, I'm just, I don't know, I'm being super transparent today because number one, I never do that. I had somebody tell me, Meach told me today, like, Meach was like, and Meach has been on the show.

The father shit project is his podcast, check him out. And Meach told me like, man, you should share more. I'm like, I'd be weird, cause people get weird when you share and you talk about success and stuff. I don't know, it seems to offend people more and more.

Like it just gets weird. But I'm taking this advice today. So if anybody's like, man, you may share way more than he usually does, that's why y'all can thank Meach for that. Shout out to Meach.

My point is, had I stayed at the high step that I was at, that was it. There was no clear path to nothing else. That's how I ended up in two jobs for nine years because you could get comfortable. It's like, oh, you're making decent money, like life is good.

Like what's the point of tapping into more potential when everything is good? Now, hear me out. There is a point, there is a limit, right? And this is why we balance things on this show.

I am not telling you by all means necessary. Just, you know, go and get a job and don't know your kids favorite color and work all day. And no, I'm not telling you to do all that. Don't have a relationship with your wife or your husband.

You gotta know your limits. We all have limits. Everyone doesn't wanna be the CEO. Everyone doesn't wanna be the VP of this or that.

Some people have limitations. That's okay. But maximize based on what the skill set that God has given you and the capabilities of your lifestyle. What I'm saying is like, I feel you if you're saying, hey, I got an opportunity to be a VP, but I don't wanna move to Virginia.

And like my wife want me at home and my kids and eat me at the basketball game, I'm with that all day long. But if you telling me, man, I don't wanna be the VP of whatever. And it's just because like I'm just happy at the step I'm at now and like, no, those are excuses. Those are two different situations.

It's an excuse not to move forward just for the sake of not moving. And so for me, especially like, I'm just at a, like I'm just being real at this point in my life, I'm not willing to not maximize my potential. So if I've reached, it ain't about levels, it's not about like, it's about, I told the listeners who have listened to this show early on, I told y'all before, envision who you wanna be in five years and then spend the next five years becoming that. And see, I did that.

Like I have a vision of who I'm trying to become. And yeah, I might be on a high step that's higher than the step I was on before, but no. No, that's not the, see, that's not the vision though. And all right, I gotta say this, let's move to the third and final one, your third option, because I'm getting ahead of myself.

You gotta, if you're not gonna turn around and do something better, you gotta break through the wall. Or you gotta, you know, you gotta start building your own steps. And what do I mean by that? If you wanna fly the stair and there's nowhere else to go, then you need to build the next step so you can go somewhere.

Now, whether you build the next step from scratch on your own, or you turn around and walk up the fly the stairs next to you, you have to understand that either one of those options are gonna take time. I cannot stress to you enough that you need to convince yourself and accept that things take time and it's a process to move forward. Because everybody who wants something overnight, they just build something weak. Like when you wanna do something real quick, you don't do it efficiently, you don't have as good quality, right?

If I tell you, hey, I made homemade biscuits from scratch, you expect them to taste better than the biscuits out of the can because the ones out of the can took five minutes and the microwave oven and the ones from scratch took me an hour and a half and I put my foot in it. Maybe literally, you know what I mean? It might be a toenail in the biscuits. Anyway, what am I saying?

I'm saying that that homemade biscuit, you taste in the time that it went into it. You taste in the effort that went into it. A lot of the fast food and different things is like that. It's not, nobody put their heart in that.

That was me in the back, you know what I'm saying? Cooking it and throwing it in the warmer, like it was prepared two weeks earlier, but Big Mama didn't put her foot in that. You know, that's why anybody out there you ain't ever had no soul food. I'm talking about soul food.

You know, I don't know the history of soul. Let me not lie to y'all just open. Let me at least tell y'all I'm lying. Okay, I'm making this up, but look, soul food is called soul food because somebody bent through something.

They put their soul in that. Like soul food tastes like you've been through something. Man, if you ever eat some macaroni and cheese from somebody who bent through something, that tastes way better than some macaroni and cheese from somebody who's like, oh yeah, I just went and got the velveta out of the box. Yeah, just poured the liquid cheese in it.

Pour the liquid cheese in the cup of the mace and velveta. Man, I want some of that grandma macaroni and cheese. Grandma was laying on her bills and watching all the kids and watching her stories and grandma was tired, grandma was struggling getting the words and the crossword puzzle like that macaroni and cheese. I'm tasting all that.

All right, so what am I saying? You got to accept and convince yourself that things take time. Things don't happen overnight. They just don't.

And even more than that, you don't want them to. You don't want overnight success because that's not success that is sustainable. So now that we've accepted that we are willing to build new steps or at least start at a smaller step that may take me longer, but gets me to where I want to be in the proper time. So now that you have accepted that there's a process to this thing, you know, you are officially a part of the Inspire Guys people family.

That's what we're all about. You know, I believe that consistently doing the right things over time will pay off. And it can be frustrating and it's not pretty every day. And sometimes you burn out and sometimes things happen.

Sometimes you get tired of your work all day and you don't make YouTube videos like you're supposed to, yet you want people to subscribe to Inspire Guys people on YouTube, look at the description of the show, the links and just click the link. If you listen to this on Spotify or Apple podcast or wherever you listen it, all you got to do is read the description of the show. You can click links, you can email me, germanewilsomusicajemail.com, let me know what you think of the show. All that good stuff.

I try to reply back. I think 99% of the time I respond back. And to the 1% of the time I don't just know that that's just me being busy and like overlooking something or whatever. And probably at one point in time, maybe seeing it while I'm busy at work.

Like I'm sorry, man. I just ever missed the email. I want you to email me, Dan, say you missed my email and I will reply. All right, back to this.

I'm wrapping up. Ain't that what people do when they preach in church? I'm wrapping up. You're trying to give people the hope that this is about to end.

It's like, hey, I just want y'all to know this about to end and I want you to keep listening. Okay, that's why people give you the announcement that they about to wrap up. All right, so now we want to build our new steps because we know it's a process and we know it's going to take time. And ultimately now this is the point once you break through and move beyond the flight of stare or break through the day and end wall.

This is also where a lot of people get comfortable. And this is why I say you don't need to just be guided to your purpose because this may be the point where you find your purpose. Like, hey, I finally broke through that wall. I finally built the step.

I'm on a flight of stare now. I'm feeling good. But now you have to be guided through your purpose. And what do I mean by that?

I told y'all earlier, there were mentors that came into my life right around the 2016, 2017 is when I really started getting some high quality mentors in my life in the corporate world. And I started getting, I've gotten some advice before it. And so let me not, you know, crochet that people who have made a contribution. So there were definitely people that helped me get to that point.

But I really got some mentors that were, they were so high up the stairs from where I was at, that they were just providing you with information that was so far ahead of where I was, that it was just that impactful, right? But once I got, once I started like, you know, okay, you gave me some advice and I took it and I went and read a book and I applied it or I did this and that, like, well, once you start feeling good about yourself, it's easy to get comfortable. But I believe in being guided through your purpose. So what I mean by that is like, those same mentors that I'm talking about that came into my life, 2016, 2017, like I just talked to a couple of them this week.

Like, and I've added more mentors over the last couple of years, right? And the reason that this is important to me personally is that some information is good enough to get you to the next step, but you're gonna need some other information to go beyond that. And remember what I'm talking about is similar to the parable of the talents in the sense that I just wanna maximize the potential that God placed in me. I don't wanna go above it and I don't wanna go beneath it, but I wanna do it.

Like, so there are some people like LeBron James, your max potential might be being the best player in the NBA. So you gotta reach that. If it's a bench player, his max potential might be getting into games with five minutes left and scoring four points. But I want you to get those four points.

You're never gonna score 40 in an NBA game, but your max potential at home at the YMCA League might be 100 points. Cause I played against people who are averaging an NBA in the summers at home in a pro-end league. And I'm like, oh, this guy is like Michael Jordan. At this pro-end league.

Lindsey Hunter, when he played for the Pistons, I used to play in a league that Lindsey played in. I actually didn't play against him though, but I've watched him play at that in that league. Like, this man was literally in there with us regular people looking like Michael Jordan. Lindsey Hunter might have been averaging an NBA, but he was Michael Jordan at home.

That's his max potential in basketball. Great for him. He's accomplished what he's supposed to accomplish. What I'm saying is that for my life.

If I'm supposed to be the Lindsey Hunter of podcast, I'll take that. You know what I'm saying? Maybe if you get into a personal conversation with me back at home, I'm Michael Jordan in the personal conversation. I'm Lindsey Hunter on the podcast.

Hopefully you catch my drift. Ultimately you want to reach your potential. And you want to allow yourself the time to take the time to do the right thing, even if they're little steps. Don't compare your little steps to somebody else, big step.

Cause they big step might be a flight of steer. And that's what we do sometimes. We compare ourselves to someone who ain't even going to where they just hired and where we at today. Not realizing if we continue to follow these small steps, you look back over time.

You're like, man, I didn't even realize I came this high up the stairs, but you, I kept the mentors in my life, right? They still got me through now. Then we added new mentors with new experiences and new advice and not just anyone, quality individuals, right? You don't want just anybody, not people who just giving you lip service, either.

I'm talking successful people. That's what I got for y'all today, man. Much love guys people. Hopefully y'all enjoy this.

And I will see y'all next week or here y'all. Talk to y'all. You know what I'm saying. Let's get into it.

Or let's get out of it. We out here. I can talk. If I give up now then I would never see what you had for me.

Sometimes I just wanna give up now but I would never know just how far I could go. I can tell you no. Shut up now. If I keep going will I ever find out?

Oh damn, I just wasted my time now. You can tell me, you can tell me now. Yo, you know what? Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Like, if you just listen to the end, shout out to you. This is like a Marvel credits at the end, you know? But like yo, it just hit me listening to that. I didn't even realize like yeah, that song matches this particular episode.

Like if I give up now, then I may never see what you have for me. Like if I give up now, then I may never know. No, I would never know just how far I could go. Sometimes I just wanna give up now but I would never see what you have for me.

Like that, those words, I felt that like those words man. When I write songs and stuff, like it's just, I don't know man, it'd be really so real to me. I don't even know if the song dope is just so real to me. I feel it.

That's what I'm hoping y'all can take away from today. It's like, if I give up now, then I would never know how far I could go. So if I stay on this one step, I would never even know like, could I have made it up to other steps? You know what I'm saying?

If I give up now, then I may never see what you have for me. Like I would hate to be on a flight of stare and God wanted me up the stairs. You feel what I'm saying? Like I would just hate that.

I don't have to have more than what God has for me, but I don't want less. And I think some of us have false humility and make ourselves feel comfortable for not reaching our potential. Somehow we think we're doing God a favor or we're just super humble. Listen, the servant in the parable of the talents, they had the one talent and buried it.

Right, he did nothing. Buried it, stood still at a dead end and the master came back and caught him a wicked and slothful servant and casted him into outer darkness. But the one that had to and doubled it, well done, my good and faithful servant. All right, you only got four, but well done.

You deal with you supposed to do, you reach your potential. The one that had five and doubled it to 10, well done, my good and faithful servant. Because you've been faithful over a few things, I will make you a ruler over many like, I mean, like, is it just me? Like, if somebody tell me please, like, is it just me or are you, like when you read any scriptures that's Matthew chapter 25 verses 14 to 30, for anybody who wanna check out the parable of the talents, read it on your own time, like, let it minister to you.

I like reading the new living translation, but King James is fine. Like, it's the Bible, you know, but like, I don't know man, like I be feeling this stuff. I need to go, like I told y'all that was already late and I'm talking at the end, these are marble credits, you know what I'm saying? Let me know if you'd like the credits.

I might have to sneak this in enough for the people who really, now this is how you find out who really, really rock with you. You know what I'm saying? They listen to the end. Look, let y'all man be easy.