Ed Mylett (18:59)
They overcome adversity. They put themselves in uncomfortable situations. They show courage. They step in when needed. They're people's heroes in their life. They do things they're afraid of on a very regular basis. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is taking action in the presence of fear. I promise you, the more courageous you are, the more you are opening yourself to the best emotions in life. These 10 things, these 10 steps, these 10 ways of being, are gateways to the positive emotions in our life. And when you combine that with identifying your gifts and using them in the service of other people and being conscious of wanting these emotions, your entire life is going to transform. So we've been discussing an awful lot lately finding more bliss in our lives, the pathway to more happiness. Because it's probably the question that I get asked the most. In our last program, I was discussing the prevailing thought in the world today, which is that lots of money will lead you to happiness and fulfillment. In fact, I was recently interviewed another person's program with. With another influencer who's a friend of mine, and we had an honest disagreement. It was his contention in that program that if you're broke, you can never be happy or fulfilled. And I just have an honest disagreement about that. I know an awful lot of people in my life who don't have a ton of money but are blissful and live very happy, very fulfilled existences. On the other hand, I know a lot of people who have a ton of money who are not happy, aren't fulfilled, are empty, are constantly searching, searching for what will make them happy, what will deliver bliss in their lives. And I want to be clear with you. I've been happy when I was poor and I've been happy rich. And it is clearly my contention, I want to be clear with you that happy rich is better because you can do more things for people when you have money, for the people you love, for the causes that you believe in. I don't want you to confuse the idea that if once I get money, then I'll be happy. I talk in one of my previous audios called Blissful Dissatisfaction about the concept of learning to live blissfully and yet simultaneously stay dissatisfied. Most people conflate those concepts. They think happiness and satisfaction are the same emotion. They're not. They're completely separate emotions. You can be happy and still dissatisfied. You can live in bliss and still be a dissatisfied person, wanting to chase your goals and dreams, wanting more in your life, wanting to contribute more, earn more, get more significance, make more money. And so I've been happy rich and I've been happy poor. And I can tell you for sure, in my life, being happy rich has been far better. But I'm not confused into thinking that that money, money, this wealth, living oceanfront, they necessarily make you happy because no matter where you go in your life, you have to bring you with you. And so if you can't learn to be happy when you don't have all these things you think you want, I can promise you you won't be happy when you do have all of them. And like I've said, I have many friends of mine who are not in careers where they make a lot of money, they're never going to be wealthy and they're completely happy, blissful people living very fulfilled lives because they're making a difference in other people's lives. I think it's a terrible contention to think that only money is the only way to happiness in the world. And I know that's the prevailing thing you see on tv, reality television, you see it on social media. I can tell you that it's just not true. I coach and mentor many, many very wealthy people. And the reason they work with me, in some cases they like to make more money, they'd like to grow their businesses, their brands or careers. But many of them work with me because they want to be happier. They want to be happier even though they've got great careers, even though they've got notoriety, even though they've got money and material things. And so today we're going to talk about that separation and what I think is the pathway to becoming happier. And that is finding your purpose, finding your mission, finding your calling. We've discussed this a little bit previously in other programs, but I think there's also some confusion about this as well. See, I really believe in order to really live a fulfilled life, I think material things can make you happy short term. I mean, we've all bought something in our life before and when we bought it, we were happy. We bought that outfit we wanted, the pair of shoes, the car, the house, and we were happy when we bought those things. And we've enjoyed them and they bring joy to other people. And so there's no doubt that material things and wealth can make you happy. But it's short lived. There's a big difference between happiness and fulfillment. If you want fulfillment in your life that's going to be long lasting and enduring, it's not going to be things, it's not going to be money. I understand that having money can help you do many things for other people and we're going to talk about that in the program. What I believe about fulfillment is that if you can find your calling, if you can find your purpose, your mission in your life, that's the pathway to not just happiness, but a level past that which is fulfillment. So let's talk today a little bit about finding our calling. And I get asked often, how do I do that? I don't know what my calling is. I don't know what my mission is. Here's what I can tell you that when you do find it, you will know there'll be a peace about you. There'll be an intuition you'll have that. It's just a knowing this is where I belong, this is what I was born to do. And I can tell you it's almost like a relationship you're in. It's not always going to be perfect, there's going to be bumps. But many you listen to this have found that right person, you're in a relationship, it's not always easy. It's, you know, people think, well, once I find my calling, it's just going to be a smooth path because that's what I was called to do. It's my mission. It's like everything's going to be divinely put in order. For me, that couldn't be further from the truth. It's just as messy as things that aren't your calling. It's just as difficult as things that aren't your calling. In fact, sometimes when you find your calling, your path and your mission, those things can sometimes be more difficult than the things you were already doing. And so it's like any relationship you're in, once you found the right person, it's not perfect all the time, but you have this sense of knowing, this sense of peace, the sense of purpose, the sense of right. Really, you have this sense of home, and you're at home with that person. When you find your calling in your life, you're going to feel home. And that's the feeling I can best describe to you, is you'll just feel at home. You'll feel like it's right where you belong. And so I want to dispel a couple myths. Number one myth that I hear is that your career has to be your calling, has to be your mission. You know that adage of once you find something you love, you'll never work another day again in your life. And that's completely true. But I'm just going to be very real with you. For many of you, you're going to find a career that is your calling and your mission and your purpose. And you're going to be blessed that what you do for a vocation is also your calling and your career. But that is not the case for everybody. Sometimes your calling, your mission, your crusade, your purpose is not your career. I think it's important to try to find a way with your work that can best suit your mission and purpose and calling. But for some of you listening to this, you've been trying all your life to find a career that is your calling. Well, what if your calling isn't a career? What if you're supposed to make a bunch of money at your job or your business and you're going to take that money and you're going to use that towards your calling and your mission and your purpose. In other words, your career, your business, is to generate income, revenue that's going to fund your calling and your purpose and your mission. I Could tell you that I have many friends whose job or their business they had wasn't their real calling. But they made a lot of money. And that's why making a lot of money is so wonderful. They made a lot of money in their initial career or business and they took that money and that money. What they did with it became their call in a career. So I just want you to consider, yes, you should be trying to find a job or a business with an alignment with your cause, but perhaps that's not the case. What if your cause, for example, is to help cure cancer, but you're a schoolteacher, or you own a financial services company, or you own a chain of dry cleaners? Are you telling me that you have to find a career in medicine in order to fulfill that calling? It's ridiculous. And so one of the reasons so many people are lost is they're only trying to find their calling and their mission and their purpose in a job, in a career. And that may not be the case. That job and that career may be where you're going to fund your calling and your career on the side. And that leads me to point number two. I hear all the time about side hustles. Well, what about a side mission? What about a side cause, a side crusade. See, maybe you're going to have a job. And in that job where you're planted right now, it's not what you were called to do as your ultimate contribution to the world, but it's where you're planted. So you should win there now. You should give it all you've got and start a side cause. Start a side mission, a side crusade, a side calling. In other words, don't always connect your career to your cause. Maybe you're going to work from nine to five every day somewhere, and when you leave there on the side, you're going to do something that you're calling. And maybe that calling doesn't even require capital. Maybe it's something you're to do in your side hours. So I don't want you to confuse, number one, always, that your calling has to be your career. It would be great if it was. If that aligns with your skills, terrific. But that's not going to happen for everybody. So number two, maybe you've got to make a lot of money in your business so that you could take that money and help fund and create that cause crusader mission you have. Maybe number three, that job you have is never going to fund you a ton of money, but you're going to create a side Cause a side crusade, a side mission, a side calling. And so be thinking about this. These are the pathways to fulfillment. And so it may be your career, it may be making a lot of money in your career. It may be that when you leave that career at the certain time of day, you get to change and put your Superwoman cape on, your Superman cape on. And that's when you decide to donate time. Perhaps that calling a crusade or mission, that side mission of yours involves money. So you've got to have a job that generates a lot of money so you can fund that. Maybe it's not that at all. I mean, there are millions of things that could be your calling or your mission. You could be donating time at a shelter, you could be in charitable work, you could be working with children. And I think that's the misnomer, is that I hear people all the time think their calling has to be something they monetize. You know that I know so many people whose calling is to work with children. And so they've got a job full time, but they coach Little League, they're involved, involved in different young women's groups, the Girl Scouts, you name it. And so that's their calling, is to work with children. I know other people where it's to work with the homeless. They've got a job, but they found fulfillment towards working with the homeless. There are any number of callings or causes or missions or crusades that will fill your heart. Maybe it's helping inspire people with your faith. Maybe it's helping people with their schoolwork. Maybe it's writing a book, right? Maybe it's learning an instrument and entertaining people with the music that you create. It could be any number of things. Could be your calling and your crusade and your side mission, not necessarily your job. That's why this notion that you can't be fulfilled if you're not making money is ridiculous. What if your calling is to be a mother and to raise your children? You're not going to make a lot of money doing that, but for you, it would fulfill you beyond any other thing you'd ever choose to do in your life. What if your calling was to work in a charity and donate your time? You're not going to get welcomed doing that. Are you telling me you can't be fulfilled? What if your calling is to be a pastor or a coach? See, there are all kinds of callings and crusades and missions in life that you're not going to make millions of dollars at. And you know what? For someone like you that would have never fulfilled you anyway. And so all of us are wired differently. In my case, most of the things that are my calling involve serving other people. I happen to be blessed that the initial business I've had and that I still run to this day serves people and contributes to people. I've been able to take the wealth I've made and it's afforded me the time to invest in all kinds of children's causes that I'm passionate about, family causes that I'm passionate about. And that money was important in giving me the time to do. It also allows me to write the checks towards those causes that I want to help and support as well. And so for me, the pathway was career and making a lot of money. It's what I'm doing with you right now. I make no money doing this. My content is completely free to you. My books are free, my audios and videos are free. So are you telling me I can't become fulfilled because I'm not making money helping you right now? That's ridiculous. And so the next point is always your calling will be somehow contributing to other people. Your mission, your purpose, your calling, your crusade will always involve helping other people somehow. Next point, it will involve natural giftedness. You have, I've talked about this in previous audios. You were wired when you were born with natural giftedness and some talents that you've developed over time as well. Most people don't give themselves credit, but every single human being, no human is more special than another one. I'm not better than you and you're not better than me. I'm not more special than you. You're not more special than me. You were born and you've developed incredible gifts in your life. It could be your gift for kindness, for compassion, for intensity, for learning, for teaching, for speaking, for listening, for humor, for a musical instrument. Your math skills, your engineering skills, your problem solving skills, your inspirational skills. There's all kinds of talents, all kinds of gifts people have. Maybe it's the gift of touch, maybe it's your vision as a leader and what you can see in the world. But you were given special gifts. Don't shortchange yourself. The pathway is almost always through your gifts. That may or may not be your career. This is where we begin to move towards our mission, our cause and our crusade. The next thing I would suggest you do is ask yourself a powerful question. Who do you admire? Who are some of your role models, some of your heroes? And begin to think about that. Why do you admire them? What are the things they've done or the attributes you have that you admire so much in them? I can tell you this is going to be one of the most powerful things you're ever going to hear. The things you admire and see in them. You have a sense, a deep sense, an intuition that some of those same qualities exist in you and that's why you're drawn to them, that's why you admire them. So ask yourself, who are some of my heroes? Who are some of the people I admire? And what were the traits in them that I admire so deeply? Maybe it's their passion, their loyalty, their vision, their speaking skills, their physical beauty, their entertainment ability, their kindness, their generosity. But I can tell you right now that the things, things that you admire in them, that hero of yours, the seeds of those same gifts, lie within you. Now you have to ask yourself, this is my giftedness. I admire this. How could I use those same attributes towards contributing to other people? It may be a completely different track, a completely different path, but it'll be utilizing some of the same gifts in your way. You may not have the exact same abilities they've had. I know you hold them up in high regard, but remember, those are all, all children of God too. Those are all just people as well. And all they did was magnify the three or four magical gifts that you just listed in them towards the benefit of other people. You're going to take those same gifts you have and you're going to contribute towards other people and magnify them in your way. But the pathway to that passion is often through our role models in our heroes. Ask yourself who those people are and what those attributes and gifts are. The next key is try some things, try a side hustle, try a side business, try a side crusade, try a side mission. I'd encourage you to try to find a business that can deliver on your cause and mission because it would be great that you could monetize it because that monetization, right, is a magnifier of the contribution you could make because that monetization will give you more money towards those causes in different ways. But in my case, for example, I just knew I wanted, wanted to serve people and I knew that I wanted to make a difference in the world. And once I started chasing that path and I thought, you know, some of my gifts are I love people, I'm a good listener, I'm pretty compassionate, I'm a pretty good communicator, I'm really intense, I'm a hard working person, I Don't have a ton of gifts, but those are some of mine. And once I started to point that towards my business life, it magnified outside of my business into different charities I was involved in and different business ventures I was involved with different social settings. And all of those things started to be part of my cause, mission and crusade that's led to me and you here today. If you'd have told me 20 years ago that I'd be one of the top peak performance life strategist, personal development people in the world, I'd have thought you were crazy. So this road has led somewhere I never envisioned, but it started by me starting to think about the things I admired in my role models. I noticed some of those same attributes I had and I just started trying different things through business, through social, through philanthropic deeds. And so I would challenge you this, you got to try, start to get moving, take action. Try one thing, it may not be for you, try another, but eventually you're going to try one and you go, this is home. This is where I belong. I've got this sense, it's almost like dating. It's not usually the first person, right? You've got to try different dates, different people, and then eventually those are some failures. Eventually you find the one, your home. And so eventually, when you try different businesses, different side hustles, different side missions, side crusades, it could end up being that. I mean, it could be anything. It could be that you start making coats for the homeless part time, you start feeding people at Thanksgiving, it could be anything. But once you start trying, take, what are my gifts? Who do I admire? How could I start to take this to other people and start trying different things? Start to live your life. You got to stop thinking and start acting right. Start taking action. This is the key. And eventually, like dating, you're going to find the one eventually that's home for you. And then for some of you mega achievers like me that I know, follow me. Because you want to be wealthy, you want to be successful financially. Let me say one thing on that topic. You should try to go get stone ass wealthy. For those of you that have that desire in your heart, you know you want to win, you know you want to get wealthy. Everything I've said prior, you needed to hear first. I will never lead with money. I will never lead with material things when I coach and mentor you. So I've tried to lay this foundation of all the contributions you could make. I'm not delusional enough not to know that many of you who Follow me. You want to be wealthy, you want to be a multi millionaire, you want to be able to travel and do the things you want to do in your life and the material things. And getting wealthy is important to you. I want to challenge you to go get stone ass wealth because let me say something to you about that. I know what it's like to do it. And if you have first laid the foundation that you know that's not going to make you happy, you've laid a foundation, which is why I've taken the entire beginning of the video in middle about the foundation. Once you've laid a foundation that my bliss, my fulfillment is going to come through my crusade, my mission, my calling, the difference I want to make in other people's lives, the contribution I want to make, once that's the foundation and you understand this first, for those of you in your heart, you got a burning desire to go get wealthy. Once you've laid that foundation, you need to go do it. Because those of us that have that foundation first, only through getting wealthy can you make that big difference. You want to know the greatest thing about being wealthy? About being, I mean really wealthy? You know what it is? Living at the ocean is amazing. Having a private jets, incredible. Driving whatever car I want is wonderful. Being able to take care of my family is wonderful, right? Anything anybody ever needs, I can be there for them. Having multiple homes, all of this is, it's awesome and I want you to have it. Especially after you've laid the foundation of knowing that'll only make you happy. But what you're chasing is fulfillment. The best part is I don't ever have to be anywhere I don't want to be. Think about that for a second. What if you could live a life where you don't ever have to go anywhere you don't want to go. You don't have to be around people you don't want to be around. You have to go to places you don't want to be and neither does anybody that you love and care about. That type of total freedom of time is why I'm so excited about being wealthy above everything else. Because now I'm totally free to choose what I do with my life. I decided once I got wealthy because I had laid this foundation. And that happened because my original career, many of you know my original job, it wasn't a career as I worked at a group home with orphaned boys, wards of the court, my boys were. And I made six dollars an hour working with young children, eight and ten year old Boys. And that laid the foundation. I fell in love with serving other people. I found in love with making a difference for these young men. They just wanted somebody to love them and believe in them. And my gosh, all of a sudden when my athletic career ended, I found this place was home for me. Home for me was actually called McKinley Home for Boys. And that's where I found my life home. My life home I found out there at a young man. I never knew it before. I never found that this was what I wanted. I had no idea. I thought my calling was baseball, right? I thought my calling was to be a professional athlete. And then I found home. My home was making a difference in these precious little boys lives. They needed someone to believe in them and love them and give them tools to live their lives better. And I found that there. And I invested my entire heart right there. I knew this is where I belong. And it was from that path. That was the first path. That's why I talk about chasing things. That was the first place I started serving people. And then it led to business and then it led to other places. And once I got free of my time, I found fulfillment. Because what I'm doing with you right now is my home. It's my calling. See, you are just an extension of my first eight boys at McKinley Home for Boys. I started with eight to ten year old boys, eight of them. And now I end up reaching millions of people multiple decades later. But it's the same path. My calling is to contribute. It's to use the life skills I've developed. It's to use the fact that I was an insecure and shy person and I needed to learn how to build self confidence. I know how to have the brain work, how to think better, how to perform. At my peak. I needed to learn how to really truly become happy. Because I wasn't. I needed to learn what's my pathway to fulfillment. I used some of the gifts I listed earlier with those boys and I'm using them with you now. That's my home. And so. But the best part of being wealthy is my time is mine. I get to spend about every minute of most every single day doing my calling. It's no longer a side hustle, it's a full time crusade. It's a full time mission in my life. And I think that's why I feel so fulfilled most of the time in my life. Doesn't mean I don't have bad days, doesn't mean I'm not down, but I'm most alive. When I'm doing this with you right here, it's the greatest honor of my life is contributing to other people, starting with my own family. But for me, that pathway had to come through wealth to free up the time. I didn't want to spend an hour or two a day. I don't want to reach just eight or 10 or 20 people. I want to reach millions of people and eventually billions of people through my message, through my trainings, through the tactics and strategies I teach, through the way of thinking that I teach people. And so now the platforms have allowed me to do it as well. But it started out with finding my home. It started out with thinking about the people I admired and what were their gifts and traits. Why did I admire that in them? Because I had some of those same gifts in my own unique way. Now, Dr. Martin Luther King was one of my great heroes. He had this amazing ability to speak and to inspire. He talked about dreams all the time. And I started to think, I'm a dreamer, I can speak, I can contribute, I can inspire. I love people, I believe in people, I'm non judgmental of people. And I found my way of taking those gifts I saw in him. Mine weren't anywhere near on the scale his were. And neither do yours need to be. About your hero. I'm not deluded into thinking I'm as good a speaker or as good a man as he was. But I saw things in him. I knew his intentions were good, I knew mine were. And I started to do that same stuff with 8 and 10 year old boys in the group home. And then it magnified and the pathway led. That's how it's going to happen for you. This is truly how we find our calling in our life and it's truly how we find fulfillment. And so for those of you that want to be wealthy, let's go get it. I want that. There's a whole segment of people that need to go get wealthy to fulfill their mission. Not everybody though. Some people, their mission is to teach school or to be a pastor or to be a nurse or to be a mother. And that's what's going to fulfill them. And I'm not confused to think that the mothers listening to this that are making a difference in the precious children's lives they touch, or the school teachers that I know or the people that work in special needs or for the Special Olympics or spend their time in charities, I'm not deluded to think I'm more fulfilled than them. That's not true at all. My fulfillment came through this path. Their fulfillment came through that path. But we all have in common is we're using our gifts that we were given towards the service and contribution of other people. That's the calling. And we've all found our version of home. And you can as well. So finally ask yourself this question. What would you do if you had all the time in the world to do whatever you wanted to do? What would be the things you'd be doing? I know you'd say, well, I'd be sitting on that beach out there, Ed, and you would for a while, trust me. And maybe you should try it once you get wealthy. But you can only play so many golf courses. You can only sit on so many beaches. And guess what? Sitting on that beach is going to make you very happy. Playing a great golf course is going to make you very happy. Going to an incredible restaurant is going to make you very happy. But there'll be a point where it's just not enough just being happy. You're going to want to be fulfilled. And so get a level past that. If your time was all yours, how would you spend it? Who would you be helping? What would the difference be that you're making? What are some of those gifts you've got that are unique to you? And stop beating yourself up for real. What are some of those gifts? Is it your intentions? Is it your heart? Is it your faith? Is it your voice? Is it your beauty? Is it your humor, your articulation, your critical thinking skills?
