Be Your Own Hero #18

list on my website. So if you go to https://ionmotive.com/reading list, you'll be able to find that. I put some of my favorite books on there, as well as books I plan to read in the upcoming year. And as I go throughout this year, I will add more books to that. My goal is to read a lot of books this year. So I will continually add some of my favorites. I wanted to do this just because I read a lot of books and I talked about the importance of learning so often, so it only seemed right to do

that. I hope you're having a great 2021 so far. I know I am, I'm back at school, just got this new sign from my girlfriend, Cassidy. If you're watching this on video, it's pretty awesome. And if you're not watching, and you're listening to this on podcast, I'll make sure to, I'll make sure to post a picture of it because it's awesome. It's a neon sign, and I just love it. It looks great in the background of these episodes, and now I'm even more pumped, so let's just start this episode.

Early on, in the first couple of podcast episodes, I talked about my struggles with mental health issues, particularly OCD and anxiety. It was during my sophomore year where those issues were at, definitely the worst. They had been worse in the past, they had been troublesome when I was younger, but they hadn't been that way for a long, long time. And it wasn't anything specific, which kind of made it hard to, to target it kind of made it harder

to fix. The problem was I just, I just didn't feel right, I didn't really enjoy what I was doing. I was just struggling to get these thoughts out of my mind. And it wasn't even anything specific really I just felt like my mind was clouded a lot of the times, and I knew I needed to make a change. But so often, when we want something in our life, when we want to make a change, we're looking to outside sources to be the catalyst for

change. But the reality is, in order to change our lives, we have to be the catalyst, we have to be the ones to take action. Eventually, it got to a point where it was just like, shit, you know this, this isn't fun. I'm tired of feeling like crap all the time, I need to do something, I need to make a change. I'm the one who's going to take charge of my life. So

that's what I did. I created a couple of small goals for myself and started working on those my goals were really to feel more passionate with what I was doing. Because like I said, it kind of felt like I was sleepwalking, I was in this fog. And that was my next goal, I wanted to get the fog out of my mind, I wanted to feel more alive. Once I had those ideas, the ideas of wanting to improve, I created goals, goals that were actionable, that I could, that I could implement into my life

immediately. Obviously, I wanted to improve myself, it's easy to have that idea. It's a little bit harder to make goals, but your goals need to be specific to actually get somewhere. So what were some of those goals for me? I wanted to get better grades, I wanted to focus on school a little bit more. So obviously I started studying a little bit more, I even dressed

just a little bit nicer. And I didn't really dress bad or anything but I'd wear a lot of the athletic leisure type of clothing where I'd wear sweatpants and a hoodie. And I looked okay, but definitely could have looked better. So even now, I try to dress up pretty nice at least once a week and look a little more appropriate for, for college. Another thing I wanted to start doing to improve myself was invest some money. And I started very, very small. But it was

just fun to learn about. I started reading some financial improvement books, some books about personal finance. I read "Rich Dad Poor Dad," I've more recently read the "Wealthiest Man in Babylon" i think is what it's called. And I started playing around with some stocks

looking at things like that. And that felt great to do, that felt great to know I was even if I was paying only a small amount, even if I was only investing a small amount, I was investing into my future goals and my future life, the ideal life I want. Lastly, the biggest goal I had was to start helping others.

I created a YouTube page which I originally called Ion Motive, and I changed that now because I am now doing more podcasts with it, but the original Ion Motive, before podcasting ion motive, I just created motivational videos based off of movies I liked. So for example, my biggest one, my most popular one, I think it's got I think like 20,000 views, I might be wrong somewhere between like 10 and 30, in that range,

I'm not really sure. But I took the movie Gladiator one of my favorite movies, and I cut it up, put TD Jakes, put one of his speeches over the video with some really, really powerful music and I created a little motivational video. And honestly, for only have, only having done it a few times, I think it was pretty good, so I'm going to put the link in the description down below, because I honestly still watch it, it still gets me pumped up, and maybe it might be something

worth checking out for you. I really enjoyed knowing that I was starting to help others, that made me feel better. It made me feel more passionate, like I said, and kind of gave me the sense of direction. Ultimately, though, I realized, I probably can't do this forever, I probably need to do something else. But I wanted to expand on that same type of motivational work, that same type of mindset related work, psychology related work. So that led to me doing this podcast.

Another great example of why if you have a goal, and you have no idea what to do, you just got to start, because had I never started making those motivational videos, I might not have ever started doing this. So try something, it'll work out in the end. So what is my point with all of this? Let's get down to some nitty gritty information. I started feeling better once I actually created goals and

started working on them. There's been a lot of research that suggests that even just having a goal and taking little baby steps to accomplish that goal makes you happier, simply having a goal, I don't even know if you have to work on it. But once you finally create it, you feel happier. And that's what I did. But the problem is you have to move from idea to goal. There is a difference between having an idea and having a goal, right. Having a goal has so much more substance than just having a

good idea. It wasn't the idea that made me happy, but the process of working on it that made me happy. It's very easy to play around with the idea. Maybe you want to go live in Europe, maybe you want to be a photographer, maybe you want to be a YouTuber, maybe you want to learn how to sail boats, I don't know what it is.What, whatever that idea is, just think about it. It feels great to imagine it but only for a few minutes, right? Because as soon as that idea is gone, so is the

happiness. Once you actually start working on a goal, make it lively, add some substance to it, that's when you start to feel great, because you can consistently work on that goal day in and day out. We need to activate our conscientiousness. So I imagine your idea as a dream, right, it feels great to imagine it. It's like you're asleep. Everything is going well. It's pretty. It's nice to look at. But eventually you wake up and you have to wake up

right? You got to snap awake, you got to realize, oh my gosh, I have the dream. Now I have to make it a reality. Now I have to start working on it. Because in a dream, you don't really have the thing. You need to wake up. You got to take action to make that dream happen. Truthfully, I am so happy just working on this page, right. It's like I said before, I've said this many times, it's nowhere near where I

want it to be. But just working on it consistently has made me happier like, Jordan P., Jordan Peterson, he talks about it in his book, that you need to have an aim, right, you need to have a goal you need, to be aiming up in your life, have a sense of direction, because that's where you find the meaning, that's where you find happiness, right? That keeps, that path will push you. If you follow that path, you will live a good life.

Again, you've got to aim at something, you've got to find a way to improve yourself with doing something you love, something you're passionate about, something you really really care about. That's how you find happiness I honestly believe, like consistent happiness. Ever since I've started doing this page, I've been way happier. It makes me feel alive. And I'm not saying it's always fun. I hate doing some of the things for it. Some things I got to do to get an

episode posted. It's just tedious, but it's part of the process. And because I see the end product, because I'm trying to work towards that aim, that goal, the ultimate destination where I want this page to go, where I want my career to go, working on those tedious things, I find more joy. Now this might sound like a silly idea at first, but honestly, I think it could really help you get going. It's helped me. I didn't come up with it or anythingm but you might have noticed the title, "Be your

own hero." I've heard that idea. I think first from Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan. I think they did a podcast together. I don't know if it was when they did it together. But I both, I've heard both of them taalk about that idea. That you need to be the one to save yourself.

I heard Joe Rogan say imagine your life basically as a movie or a documentary, and people are watching you recording you, and you are the hero of that story, you are the hero of your life, and they're going to record it, but you have to be the one to make it happen. I've always loved the hero's journey stories so much. I mean, I've talked about Lord of the Rings, I've talked about Star Wars, all those types of movies, those are definitely two of my favorites.

There's just so much in those stories that I feel is relatable to life, even if the stories are happening in a made up place, or a galaxy far, far away. Their struggles are very human, right? They, they aren't heroes at the beginning, the characters are weak at the beginning, and that's what I love the most I

think. There's, they start with the idea, the heroes have the idea, but they realize if I want to change, if I want to save the world, if I want to improve myself, I cannot wait for anybody to save me, I've got to be the catalyst of my own life. I've got to be the one to make it happen. They have that idea. They're in the dream state. But eventually they wake up. In Star Wars, Luke is on Tattoine, right, in the very first movie, he's imagining joining the rebellion, but it's just an

idea. Eventually, he has to just go for it, and he does. Even though he's not ready, he becomes ready in the process of working on his goal, on having his aim. Think about Frodo and Lord of the Rings or any of the other characters. They have the idea but they have to leave the Shire, they have to leave their comfort, they have to leave their perfect world in order to to save everybody else. Frodo is a pretty whiny character in the movies, he's not ready at all.

But he takes the steps, he improves himself each and every day. These characters don't become heroes in an instant. It's not like a light switch. It's not like, oh, they're off, they have never done anything, and then boom, they're the best of the best, they're saving the world, they're saving the universe. No, they suck, they fail over and over and over. After the little self improvements, they start to build confidence, they start to improve themselves, they start

to become the hero. It takes a long, long time. But eventually they do it. They reach their potential. They, they reach self actualization, and they become who they were meant to become. Anything is like that, any goal is like that, your life is like that. Taking it back to my example earlier, I just started investing with a couple of

bucks. I'm not where I want to be, but I began to invest a little bit more, and once I start making some more money again, I'll invest even more, and that process, right, is exponential. It starts super, super slow, and it builds up over time, and then it starts to shoot up dramatically. That's what happens in life. It's the gradual improvements that help you really explode, that help you take off, become who you were meant to be. As a final note, let me sum this up in a quick minute right here.

Again, you have some ideas of what you want your life to look like. I'm sure everybody does. But are you actually working on those? Have you made those ideas, goals? If not, you need to, right, take the idea, take the dream, and wake up. Write a goal down today. Start working on a goal. Start trying to improve yourself. Who cares if you mess up? That's part of life. That's part of the hero's journey. Everybody fails, unless you're not doing anything. And that is an even bigger failure.

Right? You have to try something. Aim up and start working on your goal. It's, It's seriously one of the most rewarding feelings, just the little improvements. I mean, like I said, this podcast, I'm really enjoying doing it. And I've come a long way from my first one. I've been working on it, I've been working on it hard, right? It's been a time

consuming process. But just doing the little things, reading my transcript, reading what I say trying to speak a little bit more professionally, trying to elaborate a little bit more, trying not to use my notes as much, that's been a struggle. But I've, I've, I'm much more comfortable now that I was at the beginning because I tried, because I failed. But ultimately, it was, it was because I took the idea, made it a goal and started working on that. That's what you've got to

do. That's what you've got to do if you want to make this journey worthwhile. That is all I have for you today. I really hope you enjoy today's episode. Felt good to just talk about that kind of stuff. I love the hero's journey, and trying to apply that same, that same path, that same kind of story to my own life has helped me dramatically, right, I was tired of the same old shit, feeling like crap all the time. Eventually, I was like, Man, I'm sick of this, I'm going to improve, I'm going to

make myself feel better. You're the one who's got to save yourself. You are the hero of your journey. If you found this episode valuable. Please leave a like if you You're watching it on YouTube, and if you're listening to it on podcast, please leave a review. Wherever you're watching or listening to this, please subscribe so you get notified when these episodes first come out. I look forward to bringing you another Ion Motive episode next week. We're coming up on 20, that's pretty good, that's,

we're getting up there. Time's flying by, but having a great time doing this until next time, remember the motive? May the force be with you? No, I'm just kidding. Live a charged life.