How to Grow: Why You Can't Rest on Your Laurels

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

You know, the greatest tragedy in in somebody's life is never failure. Right? With failure, at least you went on you you tried something. Right? You might have fallen flat on your face.

You might have, you know, not accomplished what you set out to do, but at least you tried. At least you went out there and you tried something and you learned a lesson. Right? The greatest tragedy is never finding failure, never putting yourself into a position where you can actually be tested. And I think that's a position that a lot of us find ourselves in right now.

And I think one of the biggest problems in our community, the veteran community, is that we go through these trials and tribulations that joining the military offers us. Right? You go through boot camp. You know, you go through deployments. You you become great at your job.

You are in this merit based system where you actually get recognized for the work that you do and not for anything else. Right? It's it's it's all based on that record that you create and you produce throughout your career. And then when you get out, you're you're told to follow this kind of script. Right?

So maybe you go and you go to college. Right? And you you're sitting there in class and and, of course, there's a grading system there, but there's there's not much excitement there. There's not much of a of a fear of failure there. Right?

You know? And and a lot of the veterans I know, they work very hard there. They they they try very hard, but it's not the same. Or you go out into the civilian world and you get a job, and you're told to do this thing, and you're you're earning money, you're earning money for the company, or you're you're fulfilling your position. Maybe you go into public service, maybe you're a police officer, maybe you're a fireman.

But, again, it's it's there, but it's it's not the same. Right? And as we follow these scripts, they become kind of automatic. You know, you wake up, you go, you do your thing, you come back, you go to sleep after eating, maybe spending some time with the family, and you wake up and you do it all again. And I am a big believer in the idea that the the unrest that we're seeing out there right now is because we're in this position where people had it really, really easy, had it really, really easy for a long period of time.

And then COVID nineteen comes around, it throws a little wrench in the system. And in some ways, actually COVID nineteen exacerbated things because now we're all just just staying home. Right? We're not not going anywhere. We're not doing anything.

And the whole idea of even even the potential of failure gets taken away from us. Right? Even the ability to take a chance, the ability to go out there and try something new, that gets taken away from us. And then, you know, with with what happened with George Floyd, everything there just blows up. Right?

We don't have these things. We don't have that that that that ability to go out there and to try anything, and then this idea comes around. And and now we get to go out and we get to have our voices heard about something. Right? And I think that that that's what we're seeing here.

A lot of people ask me, you know, what do I need to do in order to be happy in life and to find success? And what I would tell you is this, it's it's not college. Every you talk to the media, they're always saying, hey, college is the key to success, the key to upward mobility. Right? The key to success, in my opinion, is knowing how to fail.

Right? Going out there, trying new things, constantly pushing that that boundary, where your your abilities are just stretched enough, so that you have to improve them to to to reach the mark. That's where success comes from. Right? It's not getting yourself into a comfortable position so that you can come home every day and do the same thing every day.

It is with that constant pushing, pushing your boundaries. And I think people forgotten how to do that. We're in a position where we have everything at our fingertips. You pull out your cell phone. You can learn about anything.

You can order anything. You can have things delivered to your door. Right? Most almost all of us pretty much have running water. Well, most of you listen to this podcast aren't wondering where your next meal is gonna come from.

We don't have to struggle like we used to. And I think there's something to having some struggle in your life. That's a big reason why a couple years ago, I started jiu-jitsu. Because I'd been bodybuilding for a long time. I was really good at it.

I was very strong. I was making good money. I didn't have a big struggle in my life. And then first day I go there, I step on the mats and I get choked out by a hundred and forty pound kid who was barely out of puberty. And that told me, hey.

There's something here I need to learn. And going and doing that, not just that day, but the day after and the weeks after, the months after, the years after, what that taught me was that where I felt stuck in my life was because I hadn't tried anything new. I hadn't tried anything to make me uncomfortable. I was only doing things that I was already good at. And so if you're stuck in your life, here's what it say.

Go out there and find something. Find something that you know you're gonna fail at. Alright? At least you're gonna know you're gonna fail at it at first. And then try it.

And then once you fail, don't give up on it. Keep going. Try to try to stretch through your abilities a little bit. Try to learn what you need to know in order to do it. Alright?

And then once you you get to a certain point, keep going. Alright? Keep trying to stretch your abilities. And then what this is the key part here. You gotta translate that to the rest of your life.

What you're doing in your job, how you're treating your family, how you're treating your wife, your kids, your husband. You know, you you've gotta constantly try to improve yourself in everything you're doing. Otherwise, you stagnate and you die, or you stagnate and eventually, you get to a point where you're so sick of stagnating that you do stupid things. So that's a little bit of advice for me. I'm at a point right now where I'm about to try something new.

I'm moving from Florida from California to Florida this week. Coming out of a state that I've lived in since 2011, lived in for the past, you know, nine years and or not since 2011. I've been here since 2007, so over nine years. So it's been about twelve years since I've been here. And made this place home and going to a new place, starting a new job, starting a new adventure, and doing it all while I'm continuing to try to do this.

And is it uncomfortable? Absolutely. But is it exciting? 100%. Am I on my heels right now trying to figure out what skills I need to know, what I need to learn, what I need to do to to make things better while I'm down in Florida?

Absolutely. There's a lot of fear here. But that fear sometimes is a really good thing. Right? I always say fear is a liar.

Right? Fear is a liar because death is gonna come to us all. And you can't let your fear of new things overcome your desire to live. You've got to live. And living isn't doing the same thing every day.

It's not falling into some comfortable routine. Living means that you're actually out there. You're actually solving problems, and you're actually trying to push yourself forward to make life better for those around you, for your family, for yourself. And if you do that and do that consistently, then things like depression, I can't say they won't come, but you'll have a much better time of dealing with them. And that's all I got for today, guys.

I hope you're doing well. I'm moving this week. I will continue to record on the road, and we're driving from California to Florida across the Southern states. So be through Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana. I haven't been to those two states before, and then on into Florida.

So I'm really looking forward to that. And maybe I'll put some stuff out on social media, and maybe I could see some of you guys along the way. But with that, guys, thank you so much for listening. Please share these episodes out with anybody that you think could benefit from them. Please head over to iTunes and write us a written rating and review, and, I'll be talking to you soon.

This is Chris, the Warrior Soul podcast, and I am out.