Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Let me tell you the truth most men don't want to hear. You already know what you're supposed to become and what it would take to get there. You're just not doing it. I used to be a nightmare in my own life. Undisciplined, lost, frustrated and stuck in patterns I couldn't break. And nothing changed until I was brave enough to face the unknown and step into the abundant life that awaited me on the other side of the decision to make the switch, make the change, and level up every aspect of my life. If it's your first time here, My name is Michael Riggs. I'm a full time author, entrepreneur, men's personal development and marriage, mentor, husband and father of six. And I teach men all over the world how to live fully optimized, leveled up lives. So if that's something you're into, definitely stick around. Subscribe to this podcast, Follow this podcast wherever you're getting this. Subscribe to the YouTube channel because this is what we do here every week. And in today's episode I'm going to walk you step by step through how to become your best self faster than you ever thought was possible. Stick around.
[00:01:02] 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. It's great to be here today. It's great to talk to you today. Today is Sunday when I'm shooting this. I'm shooting this a little bit late this week. Had church this morning, it was super awesome. Lunch with the family and now here I am talking to you here on the Warrior Kings podcast. I hope that you are well. I hope that you are killing it wherever you are finding this where getting this content. My voice feels a little raspy compared to usual. I don't know if I caught a bug or something like that. But we're going to find out and we're going to get through this episode. It's going to be super awesome. Like I said, I'm glad you're here. And like I said in the intro, if it's your first time here, my name is Michael Riggs. I used to be a nightmare in my life until I sought self improvement. Absorbed as much information, as much wisdom as I possibly could to turn my life around. And now I teach what I learned over the years to thousands of men all over the world right here on the podcast. And some other things, my books, some other Content like that. So if you dig it, definitely stick around. Subscribe to this channel, subscribe to this podcast, wherever you're getting this. And with all that being said, let's dive right into it. Everyone has a vision of their ideal self, who they would like to be, who they would like to become. The leveled up, perfect version of themselves. Well, maybe not perfect, but at least a version of themselves that they aspire to be. And you probably have a vision of that person, yourself, the dream version of yourself. Who would you like to become? What do you dress like? What do you look like? What is your profession? What do your relationships and friendships look like? What does the super awesome leveled up version of you look like? Put that image in your mind and deep down you know that if you were to actually lock in, if you were to actually buckle down, if you were to actually get to work, if you were to actually move in the direction of becoming that person, you would be that person. The problem is, most of us almost never do that. Most people never pursue a higher version of themselves. They have that image in their mind. They just never actually take action on becoming that. And let me ask you, man, if you were to actually lock in and do all the things that you already know you should be doing to craft your dream life and your dream self, how much more fulfilled and how much happier would you be? Because if you are taking action towards becoming that person, it's inevitable. Eventually you will become that dream version of yourself. And maybe you don't actually know what steps to take, like you have a pretty good idea, but you just need a framework to get started. You want to craft your dream self, you want to craft your dream life, but you kind of need some direction, some guidance, and a structured system to get you there. So today I'm going to share with you five steps, five ways that you can begin moving in that direction. And the first step, the first thing that I want you to do, and I teach this all the time to coaching clients. I've taught it here on the podcast before. I've taught it in my books. I want you to get a piece of paper or your journal, something like that, or even a note in your phone and write down the ideal dream version of yourself. What, what are his traits? What does he look like? What's his style? What does his lifestyle look like? What's his daily routine? Put it in bullet points or number it if you're a numbers kind of person. But write out the vision of your ideal self. Say it's something like works out every Day or works out five times a week, gets up early and gets to work, reads the Bible every day, you know, whatever that that dream version of yourself looks like, acts like what his habits are, all of that, right? Write that out and that will give you clarity on how to improve your life, what you want to become, what you to be moving forward. And then next, I want you to determine what steps you need to begin taking to move in the direction of becoming that dream, ideal version of yourself. And like I said, this exercise brings you clarity. Because if you don't have direction, where are you really going? If you just wake up every morning and say, I'm going to do X, Y and Z, and you don't have a plan, you don't have a projection of where you're going, what the end goal, what the end result is, you'll kind of just be lost letting life happen to you. You understand what I'm saying? Like, there has to be a dest that you are working towards in this exercise of writing out the dream version of yourself will give you clarity on that direction. So say that something that you put down on that list is, is super ripped, fit and healthy. Well, the steps that you need to take to move in that direction are eating right and exercising regularly. Because you're not going to get ripped, fit and healthy without taking those actions. So what you're going to do is everything that you write on that vision of your ideal dream self, you're going to then determine what action you need to take to make that, then begin taking those actions, even if they're baby steps at first, even if you implement one thing at a time every day and stay consistent until it becomes the norm, even if it's incremental changes, until it's big change. Small actions compound over time to create big results. And if you are moving in the direction of becoming that ideal version of yourself, it is inevitable that you will become that one day, the next thing on this list. Step 2 and Super, super critical here. If you want to be your dream self, if you want to have your dream life, this is super important, trust me. You need to discover your purpose and pursue it relentlessly. And if you've been listening to the Warrior Kings podcast for a while, you're going to be like, oh, here he goes again with the purpose. I've heard this a thousand times. All right, well, I'm going to keep telling you, man. I'm going to keep telling you until you get it. All right? It is my belief that there is a purpose and a Calling for everyone's lives. Everyone in this world has a deeper calling. A deeper. A bigger calling, a bigger purpose for their lives. The thing is, we have free will and we can basically do whatever we want. So probably nine times out of ten, if not ten times out of ten, it's super rare. People completely skip out on or miss their purpose. Mostly because of the distractions of life and the way that modern society operates. But there is a calling and a purpose for your life, a great calling and purpose for your life. The key is to discover what it is and then pursue it relentlessly. And another thing is there are small purposes that will lead up to your ultimate purpose. For example, I pursued many things over the years. I've been an entrepreneur, a dreamer for a long time and I pursued lots of things.
[00:07:18] I didn't realize when those things didn't work out and I wasn't successful in them. I was actually gathering skills over the years that ultimately led up to me talking to you today, which I believe is my ultimate purpose. This brand, the Warrior Kings thing, my books, all that, that is my ultimate purpose. To share the wisdom that I have obtained over the years with men all over the world. That is my ultimate purpose. You know what wasn't my purpose? Just being a regular YouTuber, being a SCI fi and fantasy author. At one point back in the day, I invented magic tricks for a magic website and taught me a lot of video and audio stuff, you know. So there are small purposes over time that lead up to your ultimate purpose. So ask yourself, what are your skills? What are you good at? What are the skills that you've acquired over the years? What's the wisdom that you have acquired over the years? And then determine how can you take all of that and be in service to other people? Likely that is your ultimate purpose. And if you haven't gotten to that point yet and you're still in the phase of learning and growing the thing that you're doing right now that you feel unfulfilled in that maybe you even feel like isn't working out is isn't taking off, maybe that thing you are acquiring skills and wisdom and knowledge that is leading up to your ultimate purpose. So step two and becoming your best self, your ultimate super awesome leveled up self, is to find the purpose and calling for your life and pursue that thing like your life depends on it, which will ultimately lead you to your dream life. Trust me. And dude, your life is important. That's another thing. Like the world tries to convince us that our life is meaningless, that it's nothing that it came out of nowhere. Your life is very important, and your purpose is very important. You weren't born to live an average life and be average. You were born to be a king. So write out your skills, write out your gifts, determine how you can be in service to other people and also have success for yourself. That's like the ultimate combination. If you could serve other people, help other people with what you do and what you know, and also have abundance and success in your life as a result of that, that is the ultimate combination. And the third step here is very similar to the first step. The third thing on this list is write out the vision for your dream life. Take a sip of coffee here in my super daddy O mug that my wife got me. I think this was Father's Day. Anyway, so, yeah, write out the vision of your dream life. What does that look like? If everything were to work out, if you were to be successful in all of your endeavors, if everything just worked out for you, what does that dream life look like? Where do you live? What does your house look like? What kind of car do you drive? What kind of relationship do you have with God? You know, all of these things. The dream life that you aspire to, write out the vision of that dream life, you know, has a happy, thriving marriage. Ooh, that's a big one. You want to have a happy, thriving marriage. You want your children to be successful and happy. Where are you going? What is the end result? What is that big picture vision? Write that out again in bullet points or numbers. Write out step by step, thing by thing, asset by asset, dream by dream, what that dream life looks like. Then again, determine what steps you need to take to begin moving in the direction of having that dream life. And again, this will give you clarity on the steps and the actions that you need to take to make that dream life happen. And a huge one, huge tip here, light bulb. If you're married, write out that dream life together. Set some goals. I mean, like me and my wife, for a long time, we watched. First, we were into the bus life thing. That was a huge dream of ours. So we would get on YouTube and we would watch tiny home bus tours, you know, school bus conversion tours, and people traveling around living that life. And we kind of shared that dream together. You know, we built that dream life, or at least one stage of our life life together. We would talk about it, and then eventually that dream became a reality. We converted a school bus into a tiny home, and we lived in it for a year. Now we Share new dreams, new visions together. What kind of house do we want to live in? Huge leap from school bus to house. But that's where we are right now. You know, we have like 600 kids. We need a bigger house. You know what I'm saying? But now we watch a different kind of content. We have a different kind of dream life. We talk about it all the time. So huge tip here and huge way to give yourself direction. If you are a married person or if you're on your way to get married even. That's. That's a super awesome time to do it as well. But build that dream life together. Write it out. Where do we want to live? What kind of house do we want to live in? In five to 10 years, what does our life look like? And what steps do we need to take to begin moving in that direction? And there is great, great power in this steps one. You know what, every step in this episode, there is great power in it. But the vision casting for the future, your ideal leveled up self, and the vision for your dream life, great, great power in these things because you will know where you're going and what it will take.
[00:12:01] And number four on this list I kind of mentioned before, but it is to take action. You can't transform your life. You can't transform yourself with the same habits and patterns. And I've realized this myself a lot lately. Like I'm in a constant mindset of always improving. I don't believe that anybody reaches a certain level where they're a guru or a master. I just don't believe in it. Everybody has so much to learn. And one of the things that I realized recently is that I can't change. I can't go up, I can't move forward if I keep the same habit habits, if I keep the same patterns. Some things have to change and those things aren't going to change if I'm not taking action. So like everything that we talked about before in this episode, it's really great to write out the vision of your life and the vision of your dream self and all these things. But what does it mean if you aren't going to take action on it? Take daily action, like I said before, even if it's baby steps, little bits at a time until you get comfortable and go all in. Be taking action and moving in the direction of those things. That's really what it comes to. That is what is really going to make the change in your life. And the fifth thing on this list is to systemize your life. There are a few really big excuses that people make all the time for not becoming their dream self or not crafting their dream life. I think that it really comes down to the comforts of modern life. That's like the number one thing is distractions and comforts of life. Like if it's working, if you're, you know, there's really no need to do anything more to make any extra effort because everything's just, I'm good where I am, you know. But another one of the main ones is not having enough time. I don't have enough time. Well, to be honest with you, you and many of you listening to this have time for a lot of stupid shit. So make time to craft your dream life, to figure out the calling and purpose of your life. The time to pursue that thing relentlessly. The time to change your life by systemizing your life. And what do I mean by that? There has to be systems in place. You can't just wake up and let life happen to you and decide, huh, what am I doing today? I guess I'll take a shower and then maybe I'll some breakfast. And then if I have time, I'll go to the gym before work. It doesn't work like that. There have to be systems in place. And this goes all the way down to small things like grooming. What is your grooming schedule? What does that look like? Because, you know, I'm 37 now and I'm having to groom a lot more things than I used to. You know what I'm saying? And it takes a. It takes up a lot of time. Having a schedule of what I'm going to do every single day to keep up with all of that makes that so much simpler, so much more efficient on time, you know, what does your daily schedule look like? What does your workout plan look like? All of these things systemize everything into a sort of schedule or micro schedules for each thing. You will be surprised how much time there is in a day when you systemize your life, when you cut out distractions and you start focusing on the things that matter. I talked a while back about my 4am routine when I was writing a couple of my books. I kept this routine where I got up at 4am and I did everything that I wanted to get accomplished in the day. Before the sun even came up. I would get up, I would work out, I would read, I would write a chapter of a book. I did all of these things. You know, I would shower. It was this whole routine from 4am to like 7am and when 7am came, I had accomplished so much that I had the freedom in the rest of the day to say, what else can I accomplish here? There is so much time left. You will be shocked how much time you have in your life when you systemize your life and actually take action and get done. So that's number five is systemize everything. And I have a bonus tip for you. This was supposed to be five, but I'm going to give you six because I'm feeling really good today. If you want to be your best self, if you want to level up every aspect of your life, the sixth and final thing on this list is cultivate a relationship with God. If you want to be the best version of yourself that you possibly can be, don't do it alone. And like I said earlier on in this episode, I used to be a nightmare in my life. I was a total jerk and no real change happened. Like, I decided to make the change when my life fell apart. I don't know if I mentioned that in this episode, but at a certain point, my life complet fell apart and I decided to make all the changes to become the best version of myself. I made the decision to do that, but no real change happened until I started seeking God and gave my life to God. It was absolutely transformative. Doors were open to me in this life only when I turned to God and he transformed my life. And here's the thing, man. There is no such thing as a perfect person. There is not one that is righteous. I don't care, you know, who told you what, but the whole story is that we all, all fall short. You understand what I'm saying? Like, there is no one perfect and God knows that. So maybe if you haven't talked to God in a while or you don't even know what that means, try praying and saying, God, I don't want to do this alone. In fact, I'm realizing I can't do it alone. I want to have my dream life and be the dream, healthy, super awesome, successful version of myself. Give me the wisdom and the guidance to show me how to do that. Admit, surrender and say, I can't do this. I alone. There is great, great power in this. There is great liberating freedom in this. By saying, I don't got this on my own and I need your help. Cultivate a relationship with God every day and trust me, watch your life level up and thrive like you can't even imagine. I went from being an absolute nightmare in my life and my life falling Apart to talking to you here today, living my dream life with my dream wife and a bunch of beautiful children. If I can do that, you can do that, too. And one of the main, most critical ways that you can do that, trust me, is to deepen your relationship with God or even start cultivating a relationship with God. And that's what I got for you guys today. There's links to all my stuff in the description of this podcast episode. You can learn more about me there. You can find my books, you can find my YouTube, my social, all, all that kind of stuff. It's all down there in those links. If it's your first time here, thank you so much for being here today. If you've been here for a while, thank you so much for being here today. I'm so excited about this year, guys. Like, we grew so much in the last year that I just have this constant excitement for everything that's going to happen in this year. Thank you guys so much for being here and always listening, sticking around, obtaining the wisdom that I hope is helping you in your life. Like I said, I hope you got something out of this episode. I hope this episode inspired you in some way. And like I said earlier on, man, there's. There is a great calling and a purpose for your life. A life of overflowing abundance awaits you on the other side of you deciding to make the switch, make the change and level up every aspect of your life. I love you. I'm proud of you. Now get out there, kill it. Have a good week, and I'll talk to you guys soon. Thanks, man.
