Hey, guys. Welcome to the podcast. I'm going solo today. And, you know, I'm going solo because I was, like, inspired over the fourth of July weekend. So this is kind of a fourth of July episode. My episodes typically come out on Tuesdays. Fourth of July was a Friday, so it was kind of in between. So I was thinking about what to do, it struck me, literally, during that long weekend that we're halfway through the year.
And if you guys recall, you may or may not have listened to an episode that I did called The One Word. So basically, at the end of or the end of last year, beginning of this year, I did an episode about what's the one word that you want to live by for 2025. Right? So my word was freedom. Ironically, I was thinking about that on July 4, which is day of freedom, day of independence. And I'm literally thinking about the fact that it's been six months, and here we are. It's fourth of July weekend.
We're celebrating freedom. And, like, I had a chance to stop and kinda reflect and think back. Over the past six months, was I living by what I said I was gonna do, which is to remember that word freedom and live with more freedom from negativity, freedom from worry, freedom from stress, freedom from overthinking, freedom from all of the negative things that we're trying to stay away from. How did I do? How did I do in in that prior six month period? Well, I I I don't think I did great, guys.
I'll be honest with you. Like, you know, I I I enjoyed the weekend. I totally enjoyed the weekend. Had a great time. And I really found myself living in that freedom mode more than I think I have been over the course of the past six months. But it's easy. It was fourth of July weekend. Nobody was working. You know, it was like you I would hope that you would because that's the time to do it. Right? So now I'm like, alright, guys. I'm a hypocrite. I said I was gonna do something.
I mean, I I kinda did it. I mean, I I, you know, I I I can't say it was total failure. But it made me think, maybe it's time to kinda revisit and take a look at the next six months. And I wanna invite all of you to join me to try to stick to whatever it is that and I'm not gonna say New Year's resolution because the the one word is just whatever word you picked, if it's freedom, if it's if it's peace, a lot of people use the word peace.
A lot of people, have, like, certain goals that they attach to their one word. So if you're looking for financial freedom, it there may be some type of financial goal that you're pursuing. Whatever it is, I wanna reset. I wanna look at the next six months of of this year, and I wanna do a better job. Now here's an interesting statistic, and this relates to the whole freedom thing and and fourth of July and everything else. So this, like, perfectly ties into my situation.
In 07/04/1776 is when we declared our freedom. That's why it's known as Independence Day. But it wasn't until 1783 that we actually achieved freedom. We were fighting battles for our freedom for several years before we got it. So I read that somewhere, and I was like, that just it makes sense. And maybe you not maybe. You do need to fight for your freedom. You need to fight for your happiness. You need to fight for your goals or whatever it is that you're looking to do. It's not gonna come easy.
So that made me feel a lot better. I'm like, you know what? One of the things you kinda have to do is don't beat yourself up. If you're looking back over six the last six months and you feel like you didn't you didn't get that 10 pounds off that you promised yourself you were gonna get off or you didn't save the the amount of money that you needed to save so that you could take that vacation or, or whatever you promised yourself. Because that's what we're talking about.
We're talking about promises that you made to yourself. If you didn't do that, it doesn't mean that you failed for the year. Let's freaking do it now. Let's get on it, man. And I was like, alright. What's it gonna take? Like, what's it gonna like, what's gonna make it easier to get to the to the point where I can truly say, I'm I'm living my word. I'm I'm living with more freedom and more peace and less of the negativity. And I'm gonna totally steal a quote. I have to do it.
But and I don't know if any of you guys follow Jocko Willink or if you even know who he is, but he's notorious. He's the guy that said discipline equals freedom. And I don't wanna, you know, have one word and then all of a sudden I'm having another word and they go like, yeah. Have two words now.
But the one thing that I think is gonna help me, and I think it's gonna help all of you guys, is what are the daily disciplines that we need to stick to in order for us to find peace, in order for us to get to that place of freedom? You know? And I always equate this back to fitness and back to exercise back to nutrition. Like, if you're disciplined with your diet, well, you're gonna get to your goals. You're gonna lose the 10 pounds. You're gonna be healthier. You're gonna feel better.
There's freedoms that go along with staying disciplined in that area of your life. Same thing with fitness. If you're disciplined in the number of times you go to the gym each week, that's going and you're you're keeping that promise to yourself. That's gonna translate into a lot more freedoms. Not just now in the way your clothes fit or how you look in the dress. It's long term health goals, life goals. So there's so much to this.
But what kinda dawned on me was by getting back I know that when I'm super, super disciplined and super regimented, which I normally am, but I mean, like, down to the freaking second, down to the minute, that frees me up and gives me the time that I need to be more peaceful, to be more in that state of freedom. So what are your disciplines? What do you need to get back to doing that maybe you got away from a little bit? It's the summertime.
This is, like, the prime time of year where we just let shit go. We just do. We just kinda let ourselves go. I'm not saying, like, you know, totally in every way, but it's that time where you're like, well, it's more relaxed. But I know for me, I always fight the overindulgence that happens sometimes with barbecues and, you know, you're drinking too much. And, like, this weekend, I got after it. I'm gonna be the first one to admit. Like, I I enjoyed this weekend. I totally did.
And I hope you guys did too. It's back to discipline and back to keeping those promises. So looking at the second half of the year, not just in in focusing on the disciplines, but what else is it that you can do to get yourself back to that place where you feel really good about whatever it is that your one word was or whatever your goals are? I don't I'm not gonna stick to this whole one word thing. It doesn't have to just be that.
I'm just saying when you look at the next six months, I tried to look at some of the things that were getting in the way. Like, what gets in the way? And, like, one of the things that I'm gonna do is just less social media. It's become such a habit and not, like, on a on, like, every day every day, but there are times when I just I'm like, yeah. I got time on my hands.
I you know, you go down this rabbit hole, whether it's YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, whatever, and you're just like, man, I'll never get that hour back, whatever it is. And, you know, sometimes it's good to do it. Sometimes it's good to just relax, unwind a little bit, or maybe check, you know, a news feed or something. But, I said hours. Sometimes it's, like, it's crazy amounts of time.
And just because it's the summer, it doesn't, you know, doesn't mean that you just spend the whole the whole summer on social media. But that's one thing that I definitely am going to be more disciplined with. The other thing too is I tend to overcommit myself. Overcommitments definitely are gonna rob you of your time and rob you of your freedom. I'm trying to get better at saying no and really picking and choosing where it is that I'm I'm aligning my priorities.
Because that's misaligned priorities is gonna kill you. And if it's not going to serve you there's acts of charity, and there's things that you have to do sometimes for people favors or whatever else. But if you're just living your life going from one favor to the next, you're you're not gonna get anything done for yourself. I also think that it's important to schedule in time to pause, schedule in time to reset.
I've never been good at that, but I'm trying to get better by being disciplined with my schedule so that I pack in the things, the priorities, and the things that I need to get done so that when I'm finished with it, I can then relax. I can then spend time doing whatever it is that I'm I'm looking to do to just kind of relax and and find some peace.
But what happens is if you leave things undone, if you're not disciplined enough, focused enough, organized enough, and you leave things undone, then there's no freedom because you're constantly thinking that you have to go and do something and finish something. So that's the other thing that I came up with that has I think is gonna help me a lot. The other thing too is to detach from perfection and control. I tend to do that. I tend to get overly control freakish, overly perfectionistish.
And that's that's something that I I definitely am gonna work on these these next six months. And I just feel like this this time over this past weekend gave me kind of a an an inside look at what I'd like to see happen for this second so, you know, holiday weekend, you do have a lot more time. You have a lot more time to think. You have a lot more time to spend with yourself. And by having that time, it gave me a chance to clear my head, get my priorities back in order, and say, okay.
What do I wanna see happen for this next six months? I sat down and thought about this podcast and how to put it together. And I'm like, okay. Make just make the effort. Continue to give yourself some grace because I don't wanna beat myself up, but stick to the plan. I actually started off doing pretty good. Actually, I was doing really good. And then, yeah, I got all caught up. The year got it. You know, we got into it. We started getting super busy, which is great. Knock on wood.
Lots going on. Lots happening. And that's where you start to get derailed, and it's just more and more stuff that you're, you know, piling on your own plate.
So great reset for fourth of July weekend, clearing the head, getting myself back into this mode where, like I said, focusing on my disciplines, being able to say no, getting super organized, making sure I have my priorities in check, and not getting distracted, not letting the distractions, the normal daily distractions, get in the way, affect me, and derail me. So who's in? You guys in? I hope you're in.
And I hope that whatever it is that your goals are, what you're looking to do, what your one word was, or or or where you're looking to be, let's just say, during the holidays, like, six months from now. Like, where where where do you wanna be? Give yourself reset your goals right now. Maybe it's again, maybe it's a weight. Maybe it's something in your savings. Maybe it's a fitness goal. Let's do it, guys. Now is the perfect time. I'm challenging myself. I'm challenging you.
I hope this was helpful. I don't wanna make this super long. I just kinda wanna come come on here and just do a little little solo moment and get back with you guys. So I hope this was helpful. And if it was, as always, share this with others. Love you guys. I appreciate all the support of the show. We continue to grow, and things are, things are really going well. And I just wanna thank every one of you for your support. You know, I'm rooting for you every single step of the way.
So get after it, and I'll see you next time.