Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Most men settle for an ordinary life because it's easy. But if you were to be honest with yourself, isn't there something inside you that aches for more? Don't you feel like there must be more for you? My name is Michael Riggs. I'm a full time author, entrepreneur, men's personal development and marriage mentor, husband and father of five. And I teach men all over the world how to live fully optimized, leveled up lives. So if that's something you're into, stick around, subscribe to the podcast, subscribe to the YouTube channel if that's where you're getting this. And if not, just so you know, the video versions of these podcast episodes are available available on YouTube and it's great to have you here as part of this community. And today I'm going to teach you how to overcome yourself in order to find your calling and your purpose and how to go from living an average life to living the life of your dreams. Stick around. Hello and welcome to the Warrior Kings Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Riggs, here to assist you on your journey to living a fully optimized, leveled up life as a man. So again, welcome and welcome back to the Warrior Kings Podcast. I have two really awesome announcements. Starting this month I'm taking guests onto the Warrior Kings podcast. It's been a solo podcast up to this point. I've mentioned a couple times in the past that I wanted to take guests on, but that was delayed for a while. But now we are taking guests on. I have some really super awesome guests scheduled for the podcast. I can't wait for you guys to learn from them. I held out for some high quality guests. I didn't just take anybody on. I was very picky and picked and choose because I care about you guys and I want you to have the best experience here on the podcast and I want you to learn from some of the top dogs in the personal development space and beyond that. But just some really super awesome, interesting guests coming up here on the podcast. And I can't wait. I'm beginning recording those episodes at the end of this month and then they're going to be rolled out starting next month. So again, super excited about that. The second announcement that I have is one that I don't know if I've mentioned to you guys yet on here, but I have another kid on the way, kid number six. I never thought that I would be a father of five and I definitely didn't think I would be a father of six, but I'm super excited about it. We're hoping for a girl this time. Bring some balance to the house. We have three boys. If you did, I didn't know that. And just abundantly blessed in that department. You know, I always say that my children are my true wealth. They're my lineage, you know, so the more kids, the better, in my opinion. I know some people out there don't like being a parent or don't want to be parents, and that's okay, but for me, it's one of the most fulfilling things in my entire life. I feel like it's one of the things I was mainly put on this earth to do. It's one of the main purposes of my life is to raise these kids up into their purposes and their callings. I love being a dad. It's super awesome. It's one of the coolest things in the world. If you haven't done it, you should try it sometime. Highly recommend. Recommend it, but yeah, Kid number six on the way. And with all that being said, let's dive right into the topic of the day and my talk titled the only thing holding you back is you going after your dreams is scary. Ask me how I know. It takes extreme belief, extreme risk, extreme courage, and a little bit of confidence. And most people never actually pursue their dreams in their lifetimes. It's something like 8% of people actually pursue their dreams and turn those dreams into a reality. And that leaves 92% of people who never pursue or achieve their dreams. That's a lot of percent. I mean, why is that? There are a few main reasons. Most people blame external factors for holding them back from their dreams. And so they lack personal accountability. Of course, it's not your fault. Right. Many people have financial limitations and they view that as a roadblock that's holding them back. Lack of confidence is a huge one. A lot of people don't even think that they themselves are capable of succeeding. If they were to pursue their dreams, if they were to go for something extraordinary, they don't even think that they're worthy of that or that they are even capable of it. The fear of what other people think, that's another really huge one. Especially today when it takes building a personal brand and putting yourself out there, kind of putting yourself out into the spotlight for everybody that you know and people that you don't even know to see. For most pursuits these days, you have to build that personal brand and show yourself and put yourself out there. And that causes a lot of fear of what other people are going to think or what Other people think about you. Another one is giving up. Most people give up on their dream after going for it for a little while. They go after it for a little while and they don't see those results at first. And so they quit before they even see any signs of the potential success of the thing. And so they go back to what's familiar, what's easy. So if you want to pursue a higher vision, a higher calling for your life, if you want your dream job and your dream life, how many of the excuses that you have for not doing that, whatever's holding you back, how many of those reasons that you have, those roadblocks, are excuses that hold no basis in reality? How many of those reasons are based on fear? And where does that fear come from? Ask yourself, are you playing it safe? Are you afraid? Because most of what is holding you back exists only in your own mind and in your own perception. I mean, think of a couple of those things right now. It could be, I'm too old to get started. No, you're not. I don't have enough time. Yes, you do. I'll wait until the kids are grown and out of the house and I have some more freedom. Well, you are choosing that. I don't have enough money to get started. Start with what you have. Things are more accessible right now than ever before. There is a free version of everything to get started. Trust me. That's how I started when I wrote and published my first books. I wrote them on a 10 year old iPad and I learned how to format them myself on that iPad. And then I learned how to self publish them for free when I started this podcast that you're listening to right now. I started it on that same iPad and I used a cheap video editing software to edit it. And then I upgraded my equipment as I went, as I built this thing. And what if I had settled with, I can't, I can't right now. I don't have enough money, I don't have enough time. I'm scared. What will people think? Because the thing is, man, you're either getting started or you're not. You're either doing or you're not doing. There is no in between. There is no preparation duration, period. You're either getting started or you're not. And if you're not getting started, you're probably making excuses. And those roadblocks, those walls, those things holding you back, there are ways around them. If you are determined, be resourceful and make it happen. And will the first thing you do, the first thing you make the first thing you create the first thing you put out there. Will it suck? Probably. Will people judge you or hate on you or even roast you for going after an unconventional dream? Yes. It just comes with it. And you need to accept that. I mean, let's take a look at your ideal future, make a comparison. Let's flash forward to the future. You look back on your life and you say, life was good. I was very comfortable. I went to work every day. I made less money than I truly wanted to, but hey, it worked. We did all right on the weekends. I got to relax, drink beer, watch sports, played some video games, went on a couple good vacations. Listen, man, there's nothing wrong with that. If that's who you want to be, be that. It's super easy. But greatness doesn't come easy. That is the modern average man's version of freedom. But allow me to paint a different pict of freedom for you. You look back and you say, I couldn't stand the thought of living an average mediocre life. And so I went after my calling and my purpose. It felt like it took forever in those beginning years getting started, but eventually my hard work paid off. After all, my dreams came true and paid off and I started making six and seven figures. I learned about money generating assets and the difference between assets versus liabilities. And then I invested and then I retired early and then spent the rest of my life focusing on what truly matters. You'll be able to say I put away distribut distractions and vices and got to work. You'll be able to say I made short term sacrifices for long term gains. Then say, my family was set up for generations to come and they had the freedom and the ability to pursue their dreams and the calling and purposes for their lives. And for the rest of your life, the biggest piece of advice that you can give is do not be afraid. Just go for it because it pays off in the end. How much time have you taken learning how things work? People don't get mega rich working regular jobs for regular people. People get mega rich by following their calling, their purpose and pursuing that relentlessly. Learning how money works, being in service to others while staying fully optimized mind, body and spirit. That's how people get mega rich. So let me ask you, what is holding you back? I can tell you exactly what is holding you back. You are holding you back. That's it. You aren't ready for the short term sacrifices because after five minutes you'll say it's Too hard and you'll run straight back to comfort. The work isn't worth the vision for you. The work isn't worth the sacrifice of the comfort. That is what separates great people from average people people. The willingness to do the work, to make the sacrifice, to make the short term sacrifice for the long term gain. Most people aren't willing to stick it out. They aren't even brave enough to get started. And one mistake that many people make is thinking that they aren't capable or worthy of the same success that mega successful people have. Most people view rich, famous, successful people almost like fictional characters and they think they're high up on some unattainable pedestal. And they also make the mistake of thinking that that success came easily or instantly to those people or they had to something crazy to instantly magically get there. And that's simply not true. You see the success, you don't see the sacrifice and the hard work that it took to make that success possible. Do some people have advantages in certain fields because the way they were brought up or because of this external circumstance or that external circumstance? Absolutely. I'm not saying that doesn't happen. But denying yourself success because of that, because other people have it a little bit easier, is a limitation. That belief that you have that you are not capable of the same success because of X, Y and Z, that is a limitation that you are putting on yourself. And there is no competition for what is already yours and what is meant for you. You just have to be ready and willing to receive what is already yours. The success that awaits you. Based on where I'm from and where I came from, and based on statistics, I shouldn't be here talking to you today. I should be somewhere a lot worse. But guess what? I'm here talking to you today. I'm an author, entrepreneur, husband and father of five, soon to be six who loves God. That's based on who I decided to be, contrary to what was expected of me. Who do you choose to be? Here's the truth, man. Those rich, famous, successful people are just people. People just like you and me. The difference is they decided to believe in themselves. They decided to forge a path for themselves that was outside of the regular, everyday, average checklist of life. And how do you get out of that checklist of life and forge a path for yourself? Number one, find and pursue the calling and purpose for your life. It is my belief that there is a calling and a purpose for every human being's life. There is a reason why you were born. But the thing is we have free will so we can e choose to do that thing or choose not to. And live an average comfortable life. You can decide to do literally anything you want to do. And your calling and your purpose isn't always some grand thing, you know, there's a calling and a purpose that's different for every person. One person, they might be called to be a chef, another person, they might be called to be a missionary, another person might be called to be a pastor or a motivator or a movie star or anything. But there is a calling and a purpose for every person. The idea is to find that calling, find that purpose, and then pursue it relentlessly because it's what you're supposed to be doing. Not settle for an average comfortable life. To go after your dreams, to go after a thing that's based on your talents, your skills, the things that you've learned over the years and most likely is in service to other people. That's a great way to know if it's your calling in your purpose. Because we're all here, supposed to be working together in this life and all of our purposes are supposed to come together as a whole that benefits and serves each other right. That's my belief. We all have a calling and a purpose for our life. Call it destiny, call it whatever you want. Find and pursue the calling and purpose for your life. And I can tell you right now, it's almost always outside of the conventional checklist of life. Number two, crush limiting beliefs about yourself and limiting beliefs about money and success. Because it's possible that you don't believe in yourself or you think that you're not capable or worthy of success. And that could be for whatever reason, you might say I'm not handsome enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not creative enough, I'm not talented enough, I'm whatever. You know, there's always reasons and those are on. All of those reasons exist only in your own head. They hold no basis in reality. And you can prove to yourself that those things aren't true. You can identify the limiting beliefs in your life or like I like to call them life ruining fictitious mental constructs and crush them and begin choose to begin to believe in yourself. And you probably also have limiting beliefs around money and success as well. Like rich people are evil, wealthy people are evil. They sold their souls. If I have money, if I have success, then that means that I'm bad inherently in some sort of way. You know, maybe you were taught that growing up, or maybe you just believed it yourself. You heard it somewhere in your life. All of these negative beliefs that we have about the way the world works, the way the world works out for us are things that we learned as we were coming up in our lives, as we were raised in our lives. Either other people said them, somebody at school said them, your parents might have told you these things over and over again. Identify that they are limiting false beliefs, crush them, prove that they are not true, and then you will stop self sabotaging yourself and holding yourself back from the success that awaits you on the other side of you making the decision to just go after the thing. Number three, pursue knowledge. Read and consume the right content and do this consistently. Pick a field, pick an area, pick something that you want to learn about and read 20 books on that topic and will be more efficient in that one topic than most people in the world. You will know more about that one thing. Let's say it's money and finances. Read 20 books on money and finances and you will know more. I can't put a percentage on it, but a whole lot of people, you will know more than they do about money and finances. Read nonfiction every day. Even if you can only squeeze in one chapter a day. Read nonfiction every day. And when you're on your phone, instead of scrolling mindlessly on funny videos and conspiracy theories and whatever mind numbing content you usually consume, make sure that you are consuming things that teach you, that you are learning from things that motivate you. Listen to motivators, listen to teachers, whatever you feel like you're being called to, whatever you're calling in your purposes. Consume content about that so that you can immerse yourself in what that thing is and learn as much as you can about it. Pursue knowledge every day. No matter what medium that's in either reading, watching videos, listening to podcasts. Make sure that it is constructive for your mind, body and spirit and that it's pushing you in the correct direction, which is in the direction of your dream life and your calling in your purpose. No longer consume, or at least consume in moderation stupid content. Always seek knowledge. Number four, get optimized. Mind, body and spirit. Then the success follows that mind, like we just talked about. Pursue knowledge, body, take care of yourself. Work out, eat right, don't poison yourself. Make sure that you're eating real food, that you're getting real movement in your body. Take care of your body, spirits, have a spiritual practice. Talk to God every day. Make sure that you are praying. Optimize your life, mind, body and spirit and then the Success will follow that. That is the main way to get out of that average checklist of life. And number five, stop holding yourself back. Free your life from distractions and vices, and stop settling for comfort. A comfortable average life is easy, but it is a life that you will someday regret. Following your dreams, finding the calling and purpose for your life and pursuing that thing is going to be difficult at first. It's just a fact. It's just how it is. But in the end, one, you will not regret your life. And two, you will be living a life of freedom, the life of your dreams, a life far more abundant than you can even imagine right now. So it's time to get to work. So that's what I got for you guys today. I hope you got something out of this episode. I hope it inspired you in some way. If it did, definitely drop me a comment, let me know, send me an email, something like that. I love hearing from you guys. If you're not subscribed to the podcast and the YouTube channel, definitely make sure to do that. Like I said, a bunch of awesome guests coming. Coming up on the podcast, I'm going to be interviewing some really, really awesome people. I wish I could tell you who they are right now, but just got to be patient, you know? It's going to be super awesome. And yeah, man, I love you. I'm proud of you. And there are great things in store for you in this life. A life of overflowing abundance awaits you on the other side of you deciding to make the switch, make the change, and become everything that you know you are capable of being that you're just not doing it yet. You already know what you should be doing. You're just not doing it yet. So get started. Have a good week, guys. Get out there. Kill it. Level up every aspect of your life. Optimize your life, mind, body, spirit, and I will catch you on the next one. Thanks, guys. Bye.
