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If you've had a dream in your life, that dream was given to you. And it's your job to keep that dream alive. It's your job to tend it, to make sure that that thing grows, to pay attention to it, to own that dream that was gifted to you, and to manifest it, keeping the dream alive. You know, we often set so many big goals. We have these passions. We want to live a fulfilling life. We want extraordinary abundance and health and joy and great, remarkable relationships. And sometimes we have this dream of this new house, or this dream of paying for school, or this dream of creating this thing for our family, or this thing for achieving a dream for our teams. And yet, as we get into the week, we are dealing with the craziness of the world. We felt a little discouraged. Sometimes we're just tired, sometimes exhausted. Other times it seems like there's so much. So we're stressed and overwhelmed and we're so focused on the day's task, we don't even think about what our dream is for our future. We just get disconnected from it all. We go through the motions. We get stuff done, but the fire is not inside. The dream seems so distant. So what can we do? Well, let's start with this. If you've had a dream in your life, that dream was given to you, and it's your job to keep that dream alive. It's your job to tend it, to make sure that that thing grows, to pay attention to it, to own that dream that was gifted to you and to manifest it. I really believe that when we have a clear vision for the future or we just know what we want for our lives or our family, that those impulses, those whispers from the soul or that direction from the divine, or just that passionate dedication is something that we have to make sure we cultivate each day, that we don't take advantage of that in such a way that we just say, oh, well, it's not that important. Oh, well, it's not going to work for me. And we discount it. We think, well, yeah, yeah, what a dumb idea. No, that's a dream. That's an idea that's bigger than you, but it was gifted to you to carry, to bear the burden of, to have the opportunity, the blessing, to manifest, to create. Sometimes that dream is just working with amazing people. Sometimes that dream is meeting somebody amazing and falling in love. Sometimes that dream is building something beyond yourself. Sometimes that dream is just enjoying the day. Sometimes the dream is that big vacation. And sometimes the dream is just a few breaths between the kids. Screaming at each other. It's not about the size of the dream. It's that you honor it, that you work for it. And so let's talk about how you can do that. First, to keep the dream alive, you have to look at it more often. Imagine that your focus and your attention can power something up. It's almost like, you know, when something doesn't get your attention, it just kind of fades away. It doesn't stick around for you. It's the universe noticing what you really care for. And if we don't focus on something and look at it on a consistent basis, of course the dream becomes distant. It's why so many people say, oh, Brendan, I lost my motivation. I go, no, not really. What you lost was the practice of looking at things that matter to you on a consistent basis and reminding yourself of them. The motivation didn't go away. You just haven't looked at it for a while. And that's true with our dreams. Often, you know, we ride it on, what, New Year's and we don't look at it again. You know, if you want to keep a dream alive, you've got to stare at it. You've got to look at it. I have this board in my room. I call it my battle board. And it's just like my personal development kind of board that has, you know, some vision type board on it, but also just my monthly plans and words that inspire me and, you know, kind of the, the, the plan for the year. And what I do is I tend to walk into the office or the studio and I just stare at it. I'm not kidding. I literally just walk in and I just look at it. Five minutes, actually clock it. I make sure I just stand there and look, look at the pictures, look at the plan, think about why I'm doing, what I'm doing, how it's going to impact people, visualize outcomes, Just look at it. Let ideas come into my mind, capture things on note, pin it up the wall. Just staring at the big vision board, battle board, whatever you want to call it. I literally look at my goals. Not just on a piece of paper, it's often on a board. I look at what's happening this month and next month and the month after that, the quarter after that, all just laid out and I just look at it. The dream has never gone away because I stare at it every day and I visualize for it every day. And it gets me going every day. I also think, to keep a dream alive, you already know this. You've got to take action, you have to move towards it daily. Even if that means you read something to learn about it. If it means you call somebody up and ask them a question, you do a Google search, you search some videos, watch some videos, take a course, get a mentor, join a mastermind, whatever you have to do, whatever that daily action is, just writing about it, thinking about it, planning towards it, learning about it daily. That's what that looking at it really means. It's gotta be daily. I'd say you also need to get some instructions. You've got to get yourself educated and ask yourself two simple questions. What knowledge and skills would I need to have in order to build or manifest that dream? That's all about the question of competency. What knowledge or skills would I have to have or build in order to have that thing? And the second type of question is, well, who would I have to become to earn that, to create that, to deserve that? That's a question of character. Who will I become in order to have that dream? I felt so sad for, you know, a lot of kids who are never taught how to do goal setting or think about their future because they just go, I want this, I want this, I want this, I want this. And they ever ask, who must I become to earn that? Who must I become to deserve that type of lifestyle? We can say, oh yeah, well, everyone deserves that. I'm like, well everyone has the potential to manifest it. But no deservedness is different than worthiness, right? Are we all worthy a hundred percent? Are we all worthy of a good future? 100%. Do we all deserve the same things? Well, that comes back into the realm of effort, doesn't it? I think when you've earned something, you appreciate it different and you went through the gauntlet to get it. Now I know some people will not like that because they'll say, well no, no, no, you're confusing this word. Or I think that you're saying deserved means this or that. I think every person is capable, worthy and socially deserves to climb and build and achieve and receive their dreams. But at the end of the day, does the effort match up? Is who they are attempting to become capable of having that thing? I always like to give my example of I did not deserve to be a great public speaker because one day I thought, geez, I'd sure like to be on stage in front of a couple thousand people and just, you know, enjoy expressing myself. No, I didn't deserve to have that dream of filling arenas. What I had to do was go and figure out, well, how do I communicate? How do I impact people? How does this industry work? How would I get booked? How would I start? How would I build my brand? How do I have a company? I had to learn all of that. I had to put in the miles to be able to get on a small stage and then a bigger stage and a bigger stage and a bigger stage and a bigger stage. Was the beginning Brendan deserving of the bigger stage? Well, I would say he was worthy, but did he deserve to have it just because he wanted it? Well, no, I. That'd be like saying I deserve to be on Mars just because I want it. It's like there's a lot of steps between there. So sometimes we have to get instructions and we have to decide who we would have to become. I decided, well, I'd have to become a great communicator. I'd have to become a good business person. I'd have to become successful enough in my field of endeavor that people would even ask me to speak. Another thing that most people often forget when I say keep the dream alive is a dream is high, isn't it? You have to reach high for it. And so what you have to keep doing is levering up your guides and your peer groups. Keep leveling up the people around you, keep increasing your network. Keep reaching for people who are more successful than you are in that field of endeavor, asking them questions, learning from them, becoming a mentee of theirs, or studying their work or reading their books or whatever you have to do so that you can keep leveling yourself up. And I always say, your first mentor is not going to be your final mentor. Your first mentor is like a step one. But guess what? There's going to be four or five other mentors. And what you want to do is make sure keep escalating those mentors in their capabilities, their understanding, or their reach, or their success in your field. That can be as simple as, hey, if you want to be a great parent, yeah, you hang around, you know, some people around the neighborhood, but you keep saying, I want to get around some of the best parents. How do I find them? And you just keep levering up, meeting parents who you keep thinking, wow, they just got it down. They've got character, they're amazing. Look at the family that they are billing. Look at the legacy that they are creating here. This is incredible. Keep levering up your guides and your mentors, finally. I know this is so basic, but that idea of visualizing it or revisiting every day, that comes down to using your growth Day app. You gotta journal, you gotta plan, you gotta act, you gotta journal, you gotta plan, you gotta act. You know, I just don't know very many people who've achieved remarkable things in their life without some type of journal practice. That doesn't mean they maybe write every single day. But, you know, you get around those folks. They tend to have notebooks all over the house, pieces of paper, love letters. They write, they capture, think about every great leader in history that we think about today. They documented, didn't they? Many of their journals still exist with us. Like Marcus Aurelius. I mean, you read his meditations book and you think, wow, if he hadn't written that down, how many people wouldn't learn to manage their emotions throughout time? You think about people who shared their plan openly with people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His dream, that was really a plan to be manifested. These ideas. To journal, to plan, to keep acting on a daily basis, to keep looking at your dream, to keep moving towards it daily, to get better instructions, to develop our character, to lever up our guides. These are the things that keep the dream alive. None of this says watch Netflix for seven days in a row. None of this says bow out of responsibility. None of this says don't try. The dream is not there to serve you. You are here to earn that dream, not to have it. Because you're so perfect and you deserve it right now. Not from an entitled standpoint, but rather as a challenge, as a gift, as something to grow into. Because what's a dream if it's not something that stretches us into a higher realm of existence, into a new land of opportunity, into a new way of being or experiencing this world? What's a dream? It's something to reach for. It's something to reach for. And it's something you can keep alive by these simple activities we talked about today. Keep that dream alive, and you'll do that as long as. As you just remember, every day is a great day to grow. How do you begin to reinvent your life? What would it take to begin a significant shift in our lives? You know, I've had the blessing of studying both academically and practically human behavior change for the last 25 years of my life. And there's just some very clear indicators of what we need to say to ourselves to give ourselves permission and belief in order to change. We're always talking about how you can grow and change and evolve and progress and get better. But I think it's important to share some ideas, and I got a lot of good feedback about it. Because sometimes it's as simple as what is it we're saying to ourselves that's preventing us or allowing us to change. Now, of course, as soon as I say reinvention, some people say, oh, well, I'm, you know, I'm not in that kind of big shift of my life, or I'm not transitioning. But reinvention means a lot of different things to different people. Sometimes it means you're moving to a new town. Sometimes it means you're changing a relationship or shifting focus at work. Sometimes it means you're changing your health, finally getting healthy. Sometimes it's reinventing where you live. Sometimes it's reinventing how you perceive the world and move through the world. All those are good. But if it's going to stick, if you're going to make the big change or the subtle shift, it's all going to start with at some level, you're saying to yourself, and it's usually something subconscious, you're saying, I'm worth it. I'm worth it. I am choosing to grab my life, take control of it and make a shift because I'm worth it. My happiness is worth it. My improvement is worth it. My better future is worth it. I'm worth it. I'm deserving. I am permitting myself to take a risk here, to try something new here, to go to another level here, because I deserve and I am worthy of having a good life. In fact, I'm worth it and I'm deserving and worthy of living an even better life than I've ever had. Sometimes we even say, you know what? I'm worth it enough to live a better life than the previous generation or my neighbor, or what those teachers said about me, or what the people at work think that internally we choose worth on our own accord. But also in the social world, we are conscious of what other people say about us. And we can either choose to believe it or not believe it. But internally, we can make that decision, that demarcation line in the sand one day that says, I'm worth a better life. I want to do this for myself. I want to get better, I want to improve. I want to make every day a great day to grow. I want to make self improvement a way of life so I can find more motivation or focus, be more productive, be a better leader, a parent, a servant, be somebody who can really, you know, advance my life. I'm worth that. And I celebrate you for that. You took the action, you stepped forward, you committed, you have persevered through all this you have in your life and still recognize that personal development is a must. So I love having you here, and you're worth it. Second thing we have to say is, I'm capable. You know, I'm capable of changing my life. I'm capable of learning new things, trying new things. I'm capable of figuring it out. I always tell people real confidence is just the belief that I can figure things out. I don't have to know everything now. I don't need perfect conditions, but I believe in my ability to figure things out as I go. I'm capable enough to figure it out. Doesn't mean I don't fail. It doesn't mean you don't fail. It doesn't mean everything is always hunky dory. Sometimes you're a hot mess, but you're capable of working through it. You're capable of persevering. You're capable of asking for help. You're capable of studying and learning and getting mentorship. You're capable of. Of trying and trying and trying until you figure it out. You gotta raise your hand for change and say, I'm capable. I'll figure it out. Another thing we have to say is it's possible. It's possible to have the dream that I desire. It's possible to live in a new world. It's possible to. To start new habits. It's possible to work out more often. It's possible to have a greater sense of aliveness. It's possible to be more mindful and conscious. It's possible to build a better relationship with those who I love. It's possible to lead better, to communicate better, to be more productive and effective. It's possible to create the future that I deeply desire. Not only am I worthy, not only is it capable, am I capable. It's possible. Not just because of me, but it's possible because I've seen other people. I always tell people who are down on themselves to head to a bookstore, go in that little section called biography, and read the great biographies of the great people. And you realize that they most often had it way worse than anyone else, way worse than yourself, way worse than myself and a perspective. And I don't just say that comparing you to somebody else. I say that because historically we live in a different time than they did. And there was less opportunity, there was less technology, there was less connection. And they faced some extraordinary hardships that sometimes in our modern world we truly take for granted. But you read a couple biographies and you realize, wow, people are way more strong and resilient than, than we give themselves credit for. But when you read a biography, you realize what's possible. Look at how they pick themselves up. It's possible. Look at how they created a legend. It's possible. Look how they built that company, how they, you know, change generations with their invention or their ideas or their contributions. It's possible to make your mark on this world because other people have. It's possible for you to have a great future. Please believe that. Last and not least, you have to sometimes consciously or unconsciously say to yourself, I don't have to do it all alone. I don't have to figure out alone. I don't have to be on the journey alone. I mean, there's groups for everything today that you can join and be part of online where there's a supportive atmosphere, people share resources, there's. People cheer you on, there's, I mean, a gajillion Facebook groups of, you know, all these forums and circles and, and discords to, to be part of communities of people learning and growing together. You don't have to figure out all of your challenges internally alone. You can have a therapist, you can get a coach. You can ask friends and family for help, even if it takes a lot of courage to do it. You got that courage in your heart. You can build a company, you can build great impact in the world. You don't have to do it alone. You don't have to have a bunch of followers. What you need is people who believe. And you need some collaborators. Sometimes that's one or two people. The greatest companies on earth, the ones that you use today, yes, they were started by one person or often two as co founders, but they built teams of support as they went. You don't have to have tons of them now. Sometimes it's that one person, that one contributor, that one co founder, that one new manager who believes in you, that one person on your block who will listen to your crazy ideas over some omelets once in a while. Those are the folks. We gotta cherish them. But we have to remember when we are striving alone, that is no one else's fault. We have to take personal accountability and say, ah, let me find some groups online or find some local meetups. Let me search out some mentors. Let me seek out a coach or a therapist or somebody who can help me process my stress or my overwhelm or my lack of certainty. There are people out there to support you. One of my great early mentors was a guy named Brian Tracy. You probably remember him about his goals, programs, and just an expert in goals. And he always said, if you get to the top and you're lonely, you did it wrong. You thought it was about you and your hard work the whole time. And you never thought about connecting with other people, building a network, and bringing others up with yourself so that you're not lonely at the top. It doesn't mean that you might not have obligations that the people immediately around you don't, you know, quite fully grasp or understand. Sure. But you don't have to be alone. And if you think you have to be alone doing it, it's just not that compelling anymore. And it's just another day alone and solo, and it's hard to stay motivated. We are social animals, after all, and when we are on a journey with other people, we tend to endure the journey longer. That's a reality of humanity, that when we do it together, when we journey together, we survive longer, we build bigger things, we learn faster, we make a bigger dent in the world. I'm worth it, I'm capable. It's possible. I don't have to do it alone.