Why Growth Isn't A Straight Line

I couldn't wait to do this . It's been a couple of weeks since I recorded . I think I found a nice cadence . I think every two weeks I'm going to record a podcast . That's probably the best way , because it gives me time to figure out more about this thing that we call life Funny story . I'm going to go off on a tangent real quick .

I guess I don't really follow Taylor Swift . I obviously know who Taylor Swift is because of my wife . My wife was telling me about Taylor Swift and she was like yeah , she has a new album . I'm like I told you that when you were trying to score them $18,000 tickets .

I told you back then she was just doing this so she could get people excited and then she was going to come out with another album . Anyway , she was telling me that Taylor Swift was coming out with a new album and she was going to do a podcast with Travis and all this stuff and she was going to . It was like this big grand opening or whatever .

So she's sitting here telling me and she has all these theories of why , and I'm just sitting there listening . Now I'm doing all I can to listen because the reality of it is there's very low interest level when it comes to Taylor Swift and what she's doing . It's not that I don't like her . I love everything she's about .

I just can't find enough interest to listen and hear about it . So , anyway , my wife's talking and she's telling me all about it .

It's probably went on for about six solid minutes and I was just sitting there listening and I realized I said , oh , listen to you trying to figure out all of these things with Taylor Swift and what she's doing and why she's doing it and this album , what this means and what this song is about and what this lyric .

I said this is the same stuff I do every single day with the universe . So I said Taylor Swift is like the universe for you . I'm over here trying to figure out why is it so hard to grow ? Why does growth feel this way ? How come this is this . So for all my Taylor Swift fans Swifties , sorry apologies , I get you on another level .

I understand , but today , today , what I wanted to talk to you about good god , almighty , we're gonna go ahead and get started I want to talk to you about this thing that we call growth . See , we've come to uh , glamorize and spiritualize and make growth sound like it's this beautiful thing . Yes , yes , I'm a caterpillar becoming a butterfly . Get out of here .

No , it's not . No , it's not . It sucks , it's ugly , it's painful . You're going to lose parts of yourself . Relationships crumble . That is not for the weak hearted . So I have to tell you this of really what growth looks like , truly , because a lot of people don't really understand what growth looks like and that's why we run from it .

Okay , the number one myth we think that growth is a straight line . I go from A to B and then B to C . That ain't the way it works . I don't go from zero to 100,000 , 100 to 2,000 , 200 hundred thousand . No , you may go from zero to two hundred thousand , back down to forty thousand .

When you start understanding that it's not a straight line , it's not a staircase , dash is like a squiggly , like if you were to give me a pen in my left hand and tell me to draw . No matter of fact , put it in my left foot and tell me to draw a picture and draw a line . That's what growth looks like . Here's the issue .

We have this thing that we call in this human game , that we call the ego . The ego operates in certainty . The reason why it operates in certainty is because it's rooted in survival . So as long as I know what's coming , I can plan for what's coming . And if I can plan for what's coming , I'm safe . And I'm safe , I'm alive .

So linear growth is predictable , real transformation , real growth it's unpredictable . So when you start to realize that the unpredictability of life , the uncertainty , is nothing more than a pocket , a cocoon , a womb for your growth , if you are in a process or in a point of life right now where you're wondering how , congratulations .

If you're in a point of life and you're like well , when is it ? Congratulations . You are in this incubator , this opportunity for growth . Now I was talking to actually , I'm going to tell you a story . I'm going to go ahead and do it . I told you on a five-mile run , it's almost like . I'm like am I experimenting with my son to have podcast episodes ?

I don't know what I'm doing . Anyway , I told you I took about a five-mile run right , so he's playing on this new AAU team . Now this was something that he manifested for his life . He said I want to play on a Nike . It's called the EYBL , the Elite Youth Basketball League . It's like the premier AAU league . He said I want to play in that .

I said okay , well , the goal is to get there by high school . You do that and you get recruited , all that stuff . Okay , but they also have for seventh and eighth graders . So he's in seventh grade , no-transcript .

I told him , I said you're going to have to start moving and acting and doing all of these things as if you were already on the EYBL circuit in high school . But I told him , I said here's the thing that's going to be uncomfortable You're going to have to do it when you're in sixth grade .

You're going to have to do it before you ain't got a hair on your body . You're going to have to do it before you even hit puberty , meaning you're going to have to become something that you ain't never , ever been in this life . So I told him , I said look , if you do this , I promise you it'll happen . We got to get up early .

I work team , he gets asked to play . So now he's playing on the top team in the state of indiana on this junior eybl team , right , great , fantastic . So I told him . I said here's the deal though there's going to be growth that takes place because the season doesn't start till june . You got asked for something in august to do in june .

You got asked to prepare yourself over the next eight months , and the reason why I'm saying this for you is because some of us , we get good , god Almighty , I'm getting chill . Some of us we get to see what the future could hold , but it's not right now . It's for a couple months out , to give you time to prepare . And this is where the growth comes in .

You have to understand that life is molding you and shaping you for each iteration and each change that takes place . But in

order for you to do that , there has to be transformation . So I told him , I said , look , we're going to go to the gym . So we go to the gym and we working out right Now , my son and my daughter . I had a good upbringing , right .

I didn't really I mean , I didn't really have to deal with adversity , I didn't have to worry about where the next meal was coming . Nothing like that , relatively speaking , right . So our goal is always to have to make our children's lives , or their lifestyle , better than ours , right , whatever that may look like .

So you know I work hard , I make sure , I take pride in making sure that I can provide them a lifestyle that I can't have Now . I wish I could have got a new pair of shoes every day . Do I do that for my kids ?

No , right , but I tell them , if you do what you're supposed to and you work on growing , meaning you put yourself in positions that are challenging , I will always meet you there with something to reward you .

And I'm just representing life , I'm just being the microcosm of life , because every time that you do something that's challenging , that forces you to grow , good God , almighty , do you not know that the reward is always on the back end of the breakdown ?

It's on the back end of the adversity , and the adversity is almost like the universe , ensuring that you're fully invested in this transformation that you're about to make . So I took my son to the gym . He worked out for like an hour right , great workout .

I did good and I'm like I mean I worked him out pretty hard , but he's like , he's handling it , he's doing good . So I was like all right , we got one more thing to do . I said you got to score three points , I'm only going to play defense . You got to score three points and you can only score in the paint . I mean , you can only go to the basket .

You can't shoot a bunch of jump shots , can't do that . We used to call this back in college . We used to call this a money game , because when you play somebody for money you ain't going to shoot no jump shot . You got to get as close as you can to the basket .

Now I'm significantly bigger than him and I'm older than him , so it's probably overwhelming for him to try and score on me . But for this moment I didn't really care , because I realized I was going to have to be adversity in the form of dad , in the form of this defender . You see , here's what we got to understand .

Adversity is going to come to you in any way , shape or form . It could be death , it could be the end of a marriage , it could be your health , it could be your kids getting in trouble , it could be things not going the way you want . And I said to myself I have to manufacture adversity in his life so he will know how to deal with it .

So I'm going to go ahead and say this to deal with it . So I'm going to go ahead and say this , and I told him this beforehand . I said I am going to purposely break you , I am going to purposely put you in situations that are going to be really , really hard . And I told him , I said I'm going to play defense as hard as I can on you .

I'm going to play defense as hard as I can on you . This went on for 15 minutes , y'all 15 minutes . Within the course of that 15 minutes , I know some of us moms out here , I know y'all saying oh no , why is he doing that to us ? Oh my God , okay , I had to do this . I had to , and it wasn't about basketball . And here's the deal right .

He got to a point where he was frustrated , he was crying . I mean , I was up and I was talking crazy . I was purposely doing this to develop his mind , number one , but number two , to show him really what growth looks like . So , anyway , school just started . Seventh grade is like real school , right ? They don't get recess anymore .

So he's already tired , right , he's already in a place mentally where he ain't even really ready for , but anyway , we're going through it . He's getting frustrated , he's throwing the ball , he's mad . I'm like no , no , no , no , no , no , no . You see what you're doing right now .

You don't realize , because you're only 13 years old , that you're actually getting better and you're actually growing in these adverse conditions . But see , we can't grow when we sit here and get frustrated and we start kicking the ball and we're getting frustrated and doing all these things . We have just bypassed our opportunity to grow .

So I told him , I said you're going to have to figure out a way to get through this . So anyway , to make a long story short , he scored his three points . He did it . He did it no-transcript . I said oh , oh , you proud of yourself right now . Huh , you feel like you did something , huh , that's why you , over here , got that half smile .

So I told him let's go sit down . So we sat down , we were taking our shoes off . He was still a little bit frustrated because he was mad at himself , because he did cry . He was mad at himself because he felt like I got to him and we got back in the car and I got a real 13 year old now .

See , I thought my kids would always want to talk to me when they got in the car Anybody who got teenagers . I didn't think it was really going to happen . I thought for some reason I was going to be immune . We got in the car . He didn't say nothing . We got like a 40 minute ride . We drove for like 25 minutes .

I'm like you really just ain't going to talk , I go , what's going on ? And he opened up , he goes . So he ends up telling me that he was disappointed with himself because he felt like I got to him and I said hey , son , I have to tell you this . I purposely did this .

This was fully conscious , I was fully aware I had to create an environment that would be challenging for you psychologically . It was never about basketball , ever , because basketball is going to stop . You're going to be old , bald and gray like me one day and you ain't going to play basketball other than a 40 and over league maybe , but you're going to be done .

You're going to have to have this mindset , though , with you your whole life . So I purposely do this to create adverse situations . So you have to figure out a way to get through it . So he looks at me . He goes you did that on purpose . I said yeah , I told you I was going to do it . He goes I didn't hear you say that I go .

Yeah , I told you I was going to make it hard , I was going to try and break you , but here's my point y'all . My point of this is when you start to realize emotional tolerance shapes the pace of your growth . Your ability to handle discomfort without quitting is what's going to allow you to make your nonlinear growth curve climb faster .

You being able to show up even when it's difficult , even when you're not seeing the results , even when it's not working , even when nobody's recognizing , even when you're not getting validation , even when your family thinks you're nuts , even when you're like well , am I doing this right ? I don't know how to do this . Nobody in my family has ever done this .

I don't know if I can , if you can just show up with the mindset that says this is going to be comfortable , but I'm here . This is going to be challenging , but I'm here and I told him . I said you did it . But here's the issue right now , your mindset's looking at what you didn't do ? Y'all ain't trying to hear nothing .

I'm saying I'm about to get off this moment . I mean , matter of fact , I'm about to get off Because you ain't trying to hear nothing . I'm saying , right now we're too suited and too conditioned To look at what we didn't do and what didn't work and what we didn't have . Good God , almighty , y'all ain't trying to hear nothing .

I'm saying I'm using you , I'm using real life examples right now , and I'm telling this 13 year old I said son , you got a choice , you got a choice . I can look at what I didn't do or I can look at what I did do and , depending on what you do , it's going to take fuel out for the next journey , which one ? It's your choice .

So I'm trying to teach them Growth ain't no ladder , it's not a ladder . Y'all , hello , please write this down . Growth is not a ladder , it's a jungle gym . It's a jungle gym . Has anybody ever been on the monkey bars ? It's a jungle gym . It isn't like . Oh well , let me just walk up these stairs . Yep , yep , I'm just climbing Yep , one at a time .

Yep , I'm going to be here next year . That ain't the way this goes . That ain't the way it goes . So the reason why I'm saying that . I told him I'm getting chills . Good God , almighty , y'all stay with me . I told him . I said you do realize that was probably hard Physically . It wasn't hard . Psychologically it was hard .

I said do you know that the hardest , worst thing or worst week , or worst month , or worst year or worst marriage or worst , can be the doorway to your best ? Do you realize that this is how it works ? Y'all ain't trying to hear nothing . I'm sitting here on a podcast right now . I'm sitting here on a podcast with you right now .

Do you not realize that this is the physical manifestation of the hardest thing I had ever had to endure in this human experience ? This is a direct result . I was in such a low place I didn't want to live anymore . Literally , I did not think that my existence was worth it anymore . I felt like

I was unworthy . I lived in shame , I lived in guilt and for some strange reason , the universe said we're going to throw a bunch of bones , we're going to give you a bunch of things just to get your head above water , but your mother better start swimming . And that was the choice that I had to make .

So we listen to this podcast right now , and I did this podcast purposely to talk about growth , to let you know that it ain't linear , so you would have an idea of how this actually works . Now this podcast right now . I started this . My first episode was on December 9th 2020 . December 9th of 2020 . Okay , now here we are .

I'm recording this on August 14th of 2025 . So almost five years , almost five years now . What is this About ? Four days ago , this podcast , the Pathway to Results , and I want to tell you thank you for listening to this podcast . Like I said , I never even thought that anybody would even want to hear what I had to rant about .

I didn't even know what I wanted to talk about . I just wanted to express and let this stuff out . So thank you for listening each week and sharing it , and all that because you have contributed to this thing . This podcast just hit a million downloads this week . Now they tell us that a million is a lot and I just think about every soul .

I get DMs and emails and text messages and people are like , oh , wow , this episode and this episode , and I'm like , I'm humbled , I'm grateful , but , to be honest with you , this was more of just a healing journey for myself that I've shared with you and I'm grateful that it resonates with you and that it's touched you .

But this podcast got to a million downloads just this past week , and the reason why I'm saying this is because it started on December 9th of 2020 . I didn't know what I was doing . I went on Amazon . I ordered a bunch of stuff . I was good at Amazon . By then , covid had already passed , so I knew how to get on Amazon .

I went and said let me go ahead and see if I can find me a microphone . I ordered a computer . I ordered a used one , but that worked . I started recording podcasts . My first episode was an interview . I interviewed because I'm like that's what you do in podcasts , right , you interview people . I'm going to be honest with you .

I don't want to interview nobody . I ain't going to lie . I'd rather do all the ranting . I was sitting here biting at the bit asking questions . Really , I was the one who wanted to talk . I said this doesn't work . I feel like this doesn't work . Then I tried something new , but then I was like well , no , a podcast , you have to have other people on .

So I had somebody else on . Oh , I'll get somebody who's like high profile . Then that'd be good . And I still felt the same way and it was like how about this ? Let me figure out what works for me . Let me figure out what resonates with me . Let me ask myself what does Derek want ?

I'm saying this to you as a microcosm for you in your life , because you're going to do the most growing when you put yourself first , when you ask yourself what is it that I want ? What is it that I want to do in life ? Where is it that I want to go ? I'm not going to go by what I think everybody else thinks I should do . What is it that I want ?

So I I'm not going to lie to you . It was really really hard to be consistent . It was really hard . Now the podcast comes out every Friday at midnight Eastern , but when I first started , I was doing like one podcast a month , once every two weeks . There was a lack of consistency . So I made it my goal .

I said I'm just going to be consistent , I'm just going to produce a podcast a week and let's see how long I can do that . And then I started to find my flow .

Here's why I'm telling you this , because if I had a chart up , if I had a chart and you could see this from December 9th of 2020 until March of 2023 , do you know that the highest download amount for a month was 3,000 downloads On average ? On average , it was about a thousand downloads a month for three years .

For three years it looked like nothing was happening . It looked like it wasn't working . It looked like I was wasting my time . It looked like it was never going to work For three years . And here I say it was never going to work . I didn't have an idea . I didn't know what I wanted to do . I never had a plan .

I didn't have a plan of , oh , let's get to a million downloads . That was never it .

But here's my point for all my entrepreneurs out there , for anybody who's in a season of growth , for anybody who's in a season of transition , for anybody that is in a season of transformation Please understand that every day that you show up to those fields and you till that soil and you keep watering those seeds , you got to know that those seeds eventually are

going to grow , whether you wanted them to or not . So this is what I'm telling you over the course of three years . I'm sitting here looking at this graph . I said . This graph was literally quote-unquote nothing for three years . Nothing , nothing , absolutely nothing . But it was something to me and that's all that mattered .

I developed the muscle of showing up consistently for myself and then I started to actually like doing it . I started to love it , I started to get a flow . Good God , almighty , you know how it is when you start to do something . You just started cooking .

I just want to get in the kitchen and just throw around a little bit , throw down , and now , all of a sudden , I actually love cooking and people say they like it . Well , good God , I might as well start a food truck . I might as well see if I can go and start a recipe or do something . Start selling these things on Pinterest or Etsy .

I don't need Etsy , I don't need people to sell food on there , but you get what I'm saying . I started to say , oh , my goodness , I like doing this . And then the universe started to free up . It started to free up this thing that we call time . I started to have more time to be able to make more podcasts .

So , instead of doing once every week and creating pressure of I got to get this done , dang , I can do three , four , five episodes in a week , in a month . Then it started to give me this information and have access to this information to be able to start sharing .

I said , whoa , I like doing this podcast , but here's why I say this Whoa , I like doing this podcast , but here's why I say this I never wanted to do this podcast With the intention of making any money , with the intention of being famous , with the intention of people coming up to me Saying I listen to your podcast .

I never , ever , ever , ever Made that in my intention , meaning I never put it outside of me . And I'm here to tell you you listen to this podcast . Do you not know ? I record this podcast the same way . I did the first episode that I ever did , sitting in my rusty bedroom with a desk that's got papers all over it , and I do all the editing .

You all have been with me from the beginning . You've seen , I had a different intro and then it went for a little bit where there was no intro . We just went straight into the podcast . There was nothing leading up to it , it was just straight . Now we're into the podcast and now we got a nice little flow . You hear that music , you know what it is .

You see how there's been evolution . Hear me when I say this Along this road of growth , there will be evolution . There will be things that don't work . You got to give yourself permission to pivot . This is why I'm telling you it's not a straight line . You may start heading at 20 degrees north , but then you may have to turn .

You may have to turn back around . This is what true growth looks like . So now we can look at it and say , wow , in 2025 , you got a million downloads . Oh my gosh .

Those million downloads were the culmination of all those years , all those weeks , all those Fridays when I was just focused on doing the same thing and making sure that I was aware of what resonated . So I'm telling you this it ain't a straight path , and just because you feel like you're moving and you're not going anywhere , I'm going .

I feel like I'm moving in a circle . Raise your hand if you ever feel like that's you . No-transcript , you're not moving in a circle , you're moving in a spiral . There's a big difference between a circle and a spiral . A circle just keeps going in the same direction , in the same frequency , in the same energy .

A spiral ascends , even if it's the smallest amount and you can't recognize it . It does not mean that it's not happening . So along this path ,

there have been breakdowns , there have been challenges , and here's what I've come to realize Every time that there's a hardship , there's a breakdown I told my son this yesterday All that is is just the sound . Every time that there's a hardship , there's a breakdown I told my son this yesterday all that is is just the sound of your old limitations breaking .

That's all it is . I told him . I said you have grown so much , son , since June when I dropped you off that camp in Florida . When I dropped you off , that was the beginning stages of creating environments so you would grow , because as a kid , for the most part growth is minimal .

Physically you're going to grow , obviously we're going to go through puberty , but psychologically , if I can grow at the same rate , what's going to happen when I'm 22 , 23 , 24 years old ? So , as your father I said I'm sorry , son , but you're welcome to . I'm sorry that you had a father who was a mindset coach slash whatever you want .

I'm sorry that this is the thing that we're going to focus on . But know that anything I ever do with you is always to develop your mindset , because that mind will be with you for the rest of your existence , not just in this life . The next life is what as well ? So if we can develop it and learn and understand how it works .

And then here's what happened . Y'all you start to realize , oh my goodness , there was no limits , there's no limits . Oh my goodness , there's no limit to how much I can grow , there's no limit to how high I can go , to what I'm capable of , what's possible . And I start to realize , oh my goodness , I was never lost .

Even back before I started that podcast , I was never lost . I was never lost . Hear me when I say this , hear me , hear me , y'all Hear me when I say this You're not lost , you're not lost .

You , just at a point in the map that you ain't ever seen before you , just at a point in life that you ain't ever dealt with , you had a new iteration of you that you ain't . You ain't , damn . I don't even know . I don't even know who I am anymore . So , no , know that this order of growth isn't going to be a straight line . It's a dance .

Anybody here ever dance with somebody ? Now I dance by myself . I can cut a rug . Now I ain't gonna lie to you , I can cut a rug . Now , I ain't even going to lie to you , I can cut a rug by myself . But when it comes to dancing with others , I haven't danced with others .

Occasionally I'll mess around with Carly and she'll be cooking or something in the kitchen . I'll come up to her and say , let's pretend , let's pretend that we're dancing together . I'll be stepping all on her toes and everything . She'd be like stop . No , no , let me finish cooking these tacos . Please stop it .

You know , when you dance with somebody else , sometimes we just all over the place . When you start thinking of growth as a dance , there's times when you got to step back , just like when we dance . We got to step back . And the reason why we step back is because I create space . What you creating space for ?

Because I'm about to do a little twirl , as I call it . I'm about to do a little spin . I'm about to spin right into your arms . You see , I'm about to move forward into this loving relationship , this loving way of being . You see what I'm saying , this loving circumstance . But I'm going to take a step back and it's going to seem like I'm walking away .

It's going to seem like I'm pulling away from it . Nah , watch me hit this twirly , this whirling derby , and I'm about to come right into . It is the way growth is . The path is crooked because you're carving out who you need to be . So I told my son yesterday when we were riding home .

I said listen , this is the way growth looks and this is the way it feels . This is why so many people give up before they get to where they could be . This is why they stop , son . This is why they stop because it don't feel good . It doesn't feel good . We got to experience the polarity in this human game . You got to be able to feel both sides .

It can't be hunky-dory and pleasurable all the time . It can't be . I told Carly the other day you know what ? The two driving forces , the two most powerful forces in a human being that drive us and motivate us . You know what they are . You know what they are . They're the same coin . It's pain and pleasure . That's the same coin . They're just one's .

And I'm telling you all , and I tell myself this if I can love the pain just as much as I love the pleasure , the pain won't have power over me to the point that it will stunt my growth . Growth is uncomfortable . That's just the reality of it . This is just the way life . I don't . I mean , I guess . I mean I'm trying to think about why .

I think probably on a deeper reason Universe is like I'm not going to let you be all that you can be , I'm not going to get to see something . I want to experience it too , through you . I want to feel what it feels like to feel pain , because I don't know what pain is outside of you , I don't know what scarcity is outside of you .

I only know abundance , says the universe . I only know unlimited nature . I don't know what it's like to be limited . So I want to see what it's like through you . So I have to leave you all with this . You came into this life , you came into this life , you came into this experience . Oh , you gonna grow . You gonna grow , whether you want to or not .

Please believe you gotta grow . And with that growth there will be dips , with that growth there will be setbacks . But please know , please , please , please , please . The dips , the setbacks , the adversity , that is not the opposition of growth , that's actually the preparation of growth . That's actually the preparation of growth .

So for everybody , please , please know the momentum that's needed for you to get back up and keep moving . It's built in silence . Ain't nobody going to see it ? Everybody see the million downloads now Y'all hear about . Now , dang , I love that podcast . We went to the Indiana Fever game the other day . I was waiting for Carly to come out the bathroom .

This lady ran up on me . I said yo , lady , you scared the crap out of me . I'm with my kids . She came from my blinds , I didn't even see her . She said I love your podcast , I love it . I said well , dang ,

okay , thank you , but can we just take a picture ? You don't run up on me and scare me like that , please . Today's world , you don't know , I don't know , you have no idea . But here's my point . You listen to this podcast now . People know about it all over now , but they don't realize that the momentum was built in silence .

Huh , meaning people ain't going to see your forward progress , or when they , just because they don't see it , it don't mean that it ain't happening . Keep on posting , keep putting that stuff out there on social media . I know you may not be getting the views and the followers that you think you should , but you better believe somebody . Somebody's looking at it .

Somebody's watching , and here's the deal . They might not like it , it , but that don't mean that they don't like it . Go ahead . I know what you're gonna do you're gonna go ahead and take a screenshot , you're gonna put that quote and you're gonna tag me on the story when it's come out . I already know you are .

Just because they don't like it , don't mean that they don't like it , do you see ? So your job is to keep building , just keep building this momentum and this wave of energy , just like a tsunami . A tsunami has this power and it's gathering all this energy across the ocean and then we always see it when it hits the shore .

We see it when it causes the destruction , we see it when it creates the impact , meaning , everybody sees the plant after it's already come above the surface . Do you know how much stuff had to take place for that seed , for that plant to germinate , for it to come above the ground ? Dude , this is the same with you .

So your success , your growth , is built on compounding micro shifts , micro shifts , micro shifts , micro shifts . Meaning it's not the big thing , it's me showing up every day . It's the small , invisible adjustments . We call this in the basketball world , we call this stacking days . I'm stacking days , I told my son yesterday .

Imagine if we had days like we did yesterday . Imagine what you would be like here in two months , psychologically , mentally . Nothing's going to break you , I told him . I said now , I'm not a Navy SEAL , I'm not a Green Beret , I'm not a Ranger , I'm not Special Forces .

But if you look at this thing with Tiger Woods and his dad , this is all Earl did with him . Earl would purposely do things and he would push him to a limit . Now , he did it when he was young . I didn't do it when I was that young . But Earl would purposely do things and he would push him to a limit . Now , he did it when he was young .

I didn't do it when I was that young , but Earl , but this is what built Tiger Woods . Now , obviously , with everything , there's going to be wounds on the side of it , but here's the difference . I told my son . I said listen , please know that everything this is why I have to work on myself so much .

Everything that I do is coming from a place of conscious awareness , to help build and teach yourself how to grow . When you learn how to grow , you will become unstoppable . Hear me when I say this , everyone here when you learn how to grow , there's no limitations , there's no limits .

So I have to tell you this just because you go backwards , just because there's regression , just because there's a setback , it doesn't mean that you failed . It just means that you have to revisit the old habits , but with more awareness .

So I told my son , I said I remember when I used to have you jump rope and you only had to do 25 times in a row without messing up and you used to cry . And he said what , oh ? I said , oh , you forgot . Oh , don't worry , I got video , here you go .

And he was sitting here looking at it and I said oh wow , how quickly we forget , how quickly we forget how much we've transformed , how quickly we forget how much we've grown , how quickly we forget that version of us who we've had to let go of .

I have to tell you this the fact that you are picking up and noticing now that you're going backwards or you're regressing , or that this was hard or this , that means that you've actually grown . You're picking it up faster . You're seeing oh , wait , wait . So I had to tell my son this and I'm trying to teach him . This is the way it looks .

It's always going to be messy in the middle , y'all , if you need to get it tattooed , go ahead and do what you need to do , but please remember it's going to be messy in the middle . Yeah , don't get on your head , though . Don't do that , because people are going to be like what's that about ? Well , yeah , I was listening to the Pathway to Podcast Uh .

Result DG . Realize that it's always going to be messy in the middle , but that's where the magic is . That's where the magic is , that's where the growth is . You can't see the shift in real time . You can't see it . I see it , though , they see it , and you ain't never . I don't see it in my own life .

I don't see the growth , the shifts , in real time , but here's what I do know . I don't see the growth , the shifts , in real time , but here's what I do know . I know the transformation has happened on the inside and eventually it's going to have to show itself on the outside , and it isn't that what we came here for To make the unseen become seen . Amen .

You don't even realize why I just said amen , do you ? Amen means to make what is hidden become seen . So when you start saying these prayers , when you start getting down on them knees and you pray to whoever and you say amen .

Make sure you say an amen to your transformation and your growth too , because you're growing on the inside first before it shows itself on the outside . And it's messy . You know how . I know this and I'll let you go . Look at when a baby's being born . Now I've had the opportunity to produce two children in my existence .

Okay , and I never forget when Carly was pregnant , she found out she was pregnant with Hudson . I was in the gym playing basketball LA Fitness and she came in and she's like guess what ? And I'm like running up the court and I look at her . I'm like you're pregnant . She's like , yes , I stopped the game . I ran over there and gave her a hug .

I said y'all forget about this game , y'all get somebody else in here . I got a baby on the way , y'all . And then I left . That was in November when she told me she was pregnant . I left in December To go on tour with the Globetrotters . I left December 25th and I didn't come back home until May .

Well , I don't know , know , trimester , I don't know which one it was . Tri throws , three throws me . I don't know what it is , I don't know , I don't know what trimester she was in , but I know one thing when I pulled in that garage and the garage door went up and she came and answered that she opened the door and she had on some striped pajamas .

Those striped pajamas

fit differently than they did back in November . I know that she had a baby bump and it was a real baby , like dang , you got a basketball in there . What in the world ? I said , oh my goodness , there's a baby , there's a real we . Up until that point it was all uh , abstract , it was conceptual . Okay , let's go to Carter's and get the onesie .

Now it's like no , she really , there's really a baby in here . And then I watched Hudson be born and I watched Ruby be born . I watched both of them . I watched their births . I said , oh my goodness , the amount of transformation that only took place in nine months . Nine months , this baby is here .

Now anybody who's ever given birth or seen somebody give birth , it is what's the word . To me , it's the most spiritual thing there is in this physical existence and the reason why I have to say that . That's one side of the coin , but it's also one of the most messiest things I'm not going to .

I mean , you got blood and you got the placenta and all that . I'm not going to get into it , right . But you look , you listen to this and you an adult , you that kid . You know what I'm talking about . But I said , oh my goodness , how is it ? The most beautiful thing is also one of the most messiest things , messy being relative .

But we can find beauty in that We'll take the baby , wipe it off real quick and put it in our chest and do skin to skin . Oh my goodness . And one thing I realized with a baby . You would think when a baby comes out , a baby would have an odor .

I tell my kids all the time I have never felt skin so soft , I have never smelled skin that was so sweet . Now , obviously , this is probably a defense mechanism for you know , so we don't have a sense that we wouldn't be eaten by animals back when we were cavemen .

But I said , oh my goodness , how is it something that can be so I don't know what the word is messy , difficult , challenging the mother's pushing and screaming , and hurting , but yet it's so divinely beautiful . This , my friends , is the epitome of growth . It's messy , it's ugly , but at the same time it is so doggone beautiful . So keep going , keep going .

Don't stop just because it made a left . Don't stop because you went to the floor below . Don't stop because it's challenging . Don't stop because it's hard . Stop when you are done , and you will not be done until you check out of this meat sack of a body that you have .

So go ahead and get it while you're here and , as always , I wish you nothing but the best on the pathway to your results .