The Results Are Perfect For The Process You Have In Place | Eliminating Hurry

what's up family welcome back to stay in process today is going to be one of those heavier hitter podcasts where I go a little bit deeper I'm going to talk to you a lot about hurried about process but before we get into that I do want to give a quick shout out I want to dedicate this podcast to a really good friend of mine who I've had the privilege of working with for some time now and her name is Olivia Smoliga she's a stud swimmer and she took some time off of swimming and actually just competed again for the first time in a while and the text message I got this morning was wrote my intentions my keys this morning I felt a love I felt the presence in each moment I made finals in the 50 back 10th and 50 free LFG I loved everything about this right and why I really want to dedicate this to hers because our entire time working together we've talked a lot about being creative being child like again being spontaneous and she has been bust in her ass training so hard and out of the blue she got this opportunity to compete again keep in mind she hasn't competed in a long time and what did she do she went out there competed and performed extremely well she increased her love affair with the water it was just in the moment which is everything that we wanted if you can be in the present moment you are putting yourself in the best position possible to be successful and that is all that you could ever hope for her and so I wanted to dedicate this podcast to her because she has made such significant strides with her mental game and every day it inspires me and I think for all of you guys she will be somebody who could inspire you so again her name is Olivia I'm gonna give you her Instagram handle so you guys can go follow her the Instagram is O Smoliga that's O SM O L I G A and then she has a really cool brand for all my swimmers out there called in depth and it's called in depth swim Academy that's her her social media handle for her brand her company which is just a beautiful company so highly recommend that you guys go check that out especially if you're a swimmer but yeah dedicated to her now also just so you guys know one of my favorite podcasts that I love that I listen to all the time you guys are always messaging me and what podcast you listen to what books do you read my favorite podcast I would say is probably diary of a CEO at Steven Bartlett I think he does such an unbelievable job with this podcast and at the start of every podcast he always says that he is blown away at how many people listen to the podcast and are not are not subscribed and so right here I'm gonna ask you guys to do the same thing that he always asks at the beginning which is to subscribe to this podcast because I am posting these weekly and I want to make sure that you guys are getting the notifications that new podcasts are coming out and I just the one thing I will promise you guys as you subscribe is that I will continue to invest in this podcast I actually recently just bought a Sony FX 30 with a Sigma lens that's for all you content creators out there that want to invest in themselves with a other sweet camera that is the one that I chose to go with and I'm extremely excited for it comes in at the end of this week and that is my attempt to continue to make this podcast even better I'm actually going to be doing my first in-person formal podcast with somebody else for stay in process with one of my very best friends his name is Jack Winkler he plays for the Miami Marlins he was up and down this year up in the big leagues sent down brought back up DFA it's brought back I guess just have been a roller coaster and he is a beauty he is one of my favorite people that I've ever come across in my life obviously he's one of my best friends but he inspires me in so many ways and we are going to Sedona a little bit over a week from today and we are going to record an in-person podcast with that new camera that I'm telling you guys about so again please subscribe so that you guys get a notification for when it comes out and the last single ask of you is whether it's DMing me whether it's commenting on this podcast commenting on one of my posts emailing me at Cypteric relations at gmail.com let me know some questions you guys have he is a beauty he is a master of the mental game he is so good with attachment and surrender obviously having gone up and down up and down to the big leagues he was a senior draft pick like just a total dude if you guys have any questions I would love to ask him those questions on the podcast and so I just ask you to think about it send me him and and would love to have you guys be a part of that as well so that's what we got going again dedicated to Olivia upcoming podcast with Jack Winkler and I just ask you guys to subscribe to this if you are not but diving into the podcast what is it about the title I had for it was that the results you are currently getting are perfect for the process you have in place I heard that from a mentor and it's a it's a principle of the mental game that whatever process you have it it doesn't discriminate it's not an emotional thing the results that you are getting are exactly as they should be they're perfect for the process you have in place and so with that I've been reading a book called the ruthless elimination of hurry and honestly it has really reshaped how I see a lot of my life a lot of what I'm doing and just has maybe realized how much of a hurry I am constantly in this has always been who I am honestly and obviously I'm identifying with that and we know that our brain will do everything it can to affirm your identity but I honestly from my stack of proof I've always been somebody who is trying to push hard to the next thing and yeah the ruthless elimination of hurry has been humbling and I typically use these podcasts I use my social media posts as an opportunity for me to test for understanding and typically when I can create a well thought out intentional clear podcast or three-minute social media video I at least I'm taking away these concepts and beginning to apply them and that's the whole reason we're reading these books is so that we can learn and continue to take the small step forward and so this is my attempt here to take these ideas and share with you how I'm applying them in my life how I'm seeing them in my life and hopefully that supports you guys in applying it in your life so to start out there's a quote in the ruthless elimination of hurry that ties perfectly with the title and it's talking about a business saying that that's the kind of is always starting around and it says every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets sounds a lot like the results you're getting are perfect for the process you have in place now it says usually this is applied to widgets in the bottom line but I love it for life as a whole if the results you are getting are lousy and anxiety is at a simmer mild depression high levels of stress chronic emotional burnout little to no sense of presence of God and inability to focus your mind and the things that make for life etc then the thing then the odds are very good that something about your system that is your life is off kilter and so if you are frenzied in any way you're feeling these things that this anxiousness this depression these levels of stress obviously there is a system in your life something in your life that is off kilter the way you've organized your morning or even your evening routine your schedule your budget your relationship to your phone how you manage your resources of time money and attention something is clearly out of whack so right away I read that in the ruthless elimination of hurry and was humbled because as I've shared I'm somebody that is always pushing for more and I read that and if you're waking up feeling any of these things that I mentioned there's something that's off kilter and so I ask you guys to just take a second here it's easy to always consume it's easy to always distract ourselves but I challenge you in this moment to just genuinely ask yourself how are you doing how are you feeling how is this process that you are working how is it working do you wake up every single morning with energy in purpose or are you waking up every morning and you're empty you're exhausted it's hard to get out of bed is are you are you fulfilled is there a constant need for more are you always trying to read more books are you always consuming more substances are you always just consuming more right is it is it about more money is it about more status take a second and just get clear on on where you're at and when I was forced to slow down and really reflect on that I realize that I wake up in the mornings and a lot of the time I am tired I'm exhausted I'm always pushing for more right I wrote down my notes here that my life has always been about more more more work more money more progress more information more success more everything I've I've always been the guy that kind of struggles with moderation and I remember I saw a lone survivor and there's a scene in there that says moderations for cowards and I love that award I wore that like a badge but yeah I've never been a guy that can really practice moderation it's always more for me it's never quite enough for me it's like walking on a hedonic treadmill right we know that the results were getting are perfect for the process we have in place it's been interesting for me to recognize that as I begin to be this observer of my thoughts as I've shared with you guys on this podcast it is so easy to go unconscious and to accept these realities of being exhausted every single morning. Like it's it's living in a rat race. I'm playing games that I don't even want to play. I'm doing things that I know don't make me feel good. I'm avoiding things that I know I should be doing. Like it's easy when you're so focused to just fall into this trap of hurry of more. And that's what led me to this podcast. That's what led me to the book, The Ruthless elimination of hurry. All I can do is collect the information from a non-judgmental perspective and apply it and work to just take small steps forward. And so again, I was reading through my morning pages and I've seen that I have very specific timelines on when I want to achieve certain things in my life. Very specific. And who made these timelines up? Me. These are all timelines that I have made up. Nobody is holding me to these. It's just me in the business. I'm literally the only one that's running SIP every single social media post every single DM every single thing that happens with SIP is all me. And so I am the one that is setting these goals. And I am the one that is always rushing, right? And I certainly realize that I will take care of the quantity. God will take care of the quality. But oftentimes, I am trying to take care of the quality as I am setting these very specific timelines of when I should be achieving these things, right? Which brings me into the next concept of something called hurry sickness. What is hurry sickness? It is a, it says there's a medical term for this. And in the 1950s, there's two cardiologists named Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman. And they're studying these heart disease patients. And they noticed something really interesting. And it was just that I wrote down notes here. It says it wasn't just what these people were doing. It was how they were doing it. They were always rushing, always competing against the clock, always feeling like they were falling behind. And this is what they called hurry sickness. These doctors noticed it wasn't about how much these people actually had to do. It was about the internal sense of urgency that never turned off. They would interrupt people mid-sentence. They would finish other people's sentences for them. They were tapping their fingers at red lights. You know what it looks like. Does it sound familiar for you? Because it sure as hell does for me, right? And these two individuals, they found that chronic hurry is literally was literally killing people. It wasn't the stressful relief. It was the speed at which they were trying to outrun it. And so I recently have been going on these walks. I got the second book of the artist's way. I even got a book that answers commonly asked questions from the artist's way. And she recommends walks a lot. And so if there's a little tangent, I definitely recommend that you go and walks as much as you can. I added to my success checklist, my habit share, that I want to go on five walks a week that includes no stimulus. And so I've been going on these walks lately in an effort to not always be stimulated. I look at this as time with God. I look at this as time with myself. I've talked to you guys about incubation, getting space from the work, allowing your subconscious mind to just kind of work for you. And a big intention for me is not to look for those answers while I'm on the walk. It's to literally just be in the present. Now, as I'm raw dogging these walks, I certainly can realize immediately that I feel my hand creeping into my pocket to make sure that I haven't missed any text messages to make sure that I haven't got any notifications. Really interesting. I feel my pace picking up all of a sudden. I'm walking fast. Why? What am I in a hurry for? I hear this voice in my head saying, "Hey, Drake, you haven't been getting in the zone too lately. You've been so busy with work. You haven't been getting in the zone too. Maybe we should start this whoop activity for a walk. And let's see if we can pick up our pace and get in the zone too. Kill two birds with one stone, a creative walk while also getting in the zone too." And all that is is hurried. And it's in a rush. The point of this walk is to stretch my body, sure. But more importantly, it is to stretch my mind to take a deep breath and to look at the flowers, to take my time to be here now in the generous present moment. This is all that God has given me. And I should accept this present like I chose. It just be here, right? Slow my pace. Feel the sun on my skin. I've been walking with my shirt off. Be in the moment. Take it one step at a time. Grateful for this moment with myself, right? And in the ruthless elimination of hurried, there's a quote that says, "Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurried is a disordered heart." And that's what has kind of rocked me here, is this is not just that I am not giving myself enough time to slow down. It is rather that my heart is disordered because I am constantly in a hurry. Honestly, as I look at the facts of it, I have a stack of undeniable proof that I kind of live my life in a hurry. And so once again, hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurried is a disordered heart. And so with that, let me ask you guys a couple questions. And it's not really questions. It's just 10 signs that you're living your life in a hurry. And the question is, do you relate to any of these? This is kind of a mirror for you. Here are 10 signs that you are living your life in a hurry. And by the way, calling myself out here too. Number one, you celebrate the shortcut more than the progress, more than the process. You are more excited about that life hack that you saw on TikTok or the life hack that somebody told you about than the actual work. You are looking for a program that gets you there in eight weeks instead of 12 weeks. You want to supplement the protocol, the secret. And when someone tells you that there are no shortcuts, you feel frustrated instead of relieved. I remember being at my lowest point in college baseball after my freshman year. And I saw a tweet. It was a picture of a board at Drive Line. Drive Line is a huge baseball facility. And it said, nobody is going to save you. And at that time, without even realizing it, I was hoping that there would be somebody who could save me, who could give me the secret sauce that was going to fix me right now. I wanted the shortcut more than the actual process. So number two, you cannot remember the last time you did one thing at a time. This is when you are eating while you're scrolling. This is when I'm responding to text messages as my girlfriend is having a conversation with me. This is while you are planning your next three moves while you are just on a walk. You've convinced yourself clearly that this is efficiency and it's not. It's fragmentation. It's distracted attention. We always talk about how diversified attention is distracted attention. To be everywhere is to be nowhere. So exactly that. You are nowhere fully. You are not in the present, which means you are actually building nothing deeply. Your attention is diversified is distracted. So honestly, the quality of the work that you are doing in that moment is not even very good. Right? Number three, the third example or sign that you are living a life of hurry. You feel guilty when you rest. A rest day comes and you're anxious. Today is my rest day. I'm recording this podcast. It's one of the only days I don't coach. I wake up on these rest days and I feel a little bit sped up like this is my day to get everything done that I've been putting off. You feel like you're falling behind. You start thinking about everybody else's or everybody else who is working right now. You can't sit still without your phone. Recovery is not a part of your plan. It is just a reluctant pause that you tolerate. That's what it feels like for me. It's just a pause that I tolerate. And can I rather just be here now and actually take a day to recover? If I'm going to be at my best for other people, I have to be at my best for myself. I have to take care of me so that I can take care of other people as well. Michaela and always reminds me of that. Number four, you interrupt people or finish their sentences. It's not because you're rude, but rather your brain is already three steps ahead. You're listening to respond not to understand. You're waiting for your turn to talk. You already know where they are going with this. So why would you waste time? Why don't you just tell them what you're thinking? Right? Your friends eat. You're in a rush. Number five, your timelines are arbitrary, it's self-imposed. You said you would hit this goal by quarter two, but why quarter two? Because you made it up. Once again, this is me creating timelines that I am so adamant about hitting. And yet, I'm the only one that made that timeline up. Right? Nobody's holding you to it, except for you. And now you're sprinting towards a finish line that only exists in your head. You are sacrificing your peace for a deadline that does not actually matter. That isn't actually real. Right? I have a goal of a certain body fat percentage by a certain date. And I understand I want to prove to myself that I am who I say am, but not at the cost of my peace. Right? Especially when I'm the only one that is holding myself to that. Interesting. Number six, you measure your worth by your output. You have a bad training day. You feel like a failure. Didn't hit your revenue goal. You're behind. You took a day off. You're lazy. You're soft. And then I guess your identity is tied to your performance. That's the last part of that, which means that you are only as valuable as your last result. It's exhausting and it's just not accurate, right? You're telling yourself a story that's just not true. You're telling yourself a story that's worse than it is. You are not clear thinking. Navarovic always says that it's better to be a clear thinker than it is to be smart because people that are not clear thinkers obviously sabotage themselves. Number seven, you are always optimizing but never satisfied. This is when you're looking for the new morning routine, the new supplement stack, that new productivity app. You are always tweaking. You are always upgrading, always looking for the thing that's going to make you feel like you finally arrived but you never do because the problem is not your system, it is your speed, right? I think the true tell of an amateur is that they are always adding something new. Number eight, you resent, you resent anything that slows you down. This is traffic, long lines, a conversation that's taking too long, an injury that's forcing you to scale back, these things feel like obstacles instead of opportunities for you to practice patience. Remember, we're always practicing something, the obstacle in the way becomes the way and often in these moments we mistake speed for progress. Number nine, you can't answer the, how are you doing without talking about what you're working on? I feel this one. Someone asked you how you are, you immediately list your projects, I'm busy, I'm grinding them in the thick of it, you don't even actually know how you're doing, emotionally, spiritually or mentally because you've stopped checking in with yourself, you're literally just focused on this task that you're trying to accomplish and I know, I know, I tell people to focus in the task at hand, I love that emotion is a form of bias, I agree, but when it comes to checking in with yourself, I'm not telling you to be a robot, I'm not telling you to always be checking a box, I'm telling you in high stress moments when you're an athlete, you should focus in the task at hand, but in your life, we do have to constantly be reflecting and refocusing is how I would say that. Now my last example of you being in a hurry or us being in a hurry is that we're chasing goals, but we can't recognize our wins, so this is when you hit a PR, you close a deal, you get a result that you've been wanting and within 24 hours, sometimes less, you're even on to the next thing. There's no celebration, there's no gratitude, there's no savoring, there's no reflection of how far you've come, you are building a life that you can't even enjoy because you are moving so fast that you can't even feel it, right? I think that's one of the most humbling parts of my job, I'm somebody that is detached, so I see it clearly, that's why people hire me to work with them is because I'm a detached perspective and I helped them see things clearly. When I was an athlete though, I struggled with these same things that I'm about to share with you, these athletes sabotage themselves, please hear me clearly, if you are an athlete or you're just a high performer, please hear me, these individuals sabotage themselves and it is jarring every single time I watch it, they come in, obviously in a tough spot, they work, they make all this progress, they get a result and it's never enough. And they're shaming themselves to a point that is unbelievable, right? And again, I was doing this too when I was an athlete, I did the exact same thing, I couldn't even receive my own wins, it's too busy racing towards the next one, but these athletes are just picking themselves apart and we're doing all this work to stack days, make small improvement, take the smallest step forward, practice non-judgmental awareness and they actually start to see progress and then they just judge themselves so harshly. My girlfriend always says that I should all over myself, instead of shit all over myself, I should all over myself, I should be doing this, I should be doing that, they're telling me that they should have done this better, right? And like, I just think that we need to be more intentional with that, take the feedback but also recognize the wins, it is glaring when you work in sports, just how many people get in their own way and then you come across the individual that's just completely delusional and can't see any areas that they could be better and they just believe in themselves so fully and they actually get results and I'm not saying that that's completely correct, but obviously there's something to that, you know, I think thinking negatively and just destroying yourself does nothing for you other than rewire your brain to think negatively and destroy yourself more frequently. So when you think you're being this tough guy and burying yourself after a great game, you're just looking for the negative, the negative, the negative, you're rewiring your brain to find the negative, neurons that fire together, wire together, right? You're always practicing something, we'll get more of that later on but I just think that's so interesting that I thought it was right to shame yourself when I was an athlete to beat yourself up and now I look at it and I'm like, man, how long was I just going to stay in my own way and not let myself be great? And I'm sure that some of you guys that are listening to this resonate with that. And so based on those 10 examples of being in a hurry, I just ask you how many of those resonated with you, right? I'm honestly probably somewhere like a seven out of 10. So wake up call for me certainly. If you're living in a hurry, you are missing the whole point. The process is the point. The workmanship means more than the material. The work is the win. You've heard it all along. If you're here in this podcast, you understand the power of process and the importance of process. Being in the present moment in the generous now and experiencing is the entire point. Because I brought up Olivia earlier who competed today, but the message that I sent her was to breathe deep today into experience, to be Olivia, to feel the water, to let her come out. That's her inner child, the inner artist, the part of herself that is creative. And obviously there's other things that went into that text, but the most important part was just to experience, right? So as we carry on, why are we so quick to be in a hurry? Why are we so quick to bury yourself? This is kind of the neuroscience part of it. I like to back it up and just give you guys as many reference points as possible to support what we're talking about. So why do we do this? Why do we live in a hurry even when we know it's destroying us? Jota spends a talk about this all the time, but 95% of who we are by midlife is just subconscious programs that are running on autopilot. So think about that. Every single day when you wake up, a lot of how you behave, how you think, how you speak, is just recycled thoughts and behaviors. 95% of who you are is just subconscious programs running on autopilot. It's insane. Here's how this works. Every thought that you think fires a neuropath way in your brain. And when you think that same thought over and over and over again, I'm behind and I need to move faster. I'm not doing enough. That path gets stronger and stronger and it becomes a super highway. Imagine yourself on a ski, like a snowy hill. And every time you ski down this, that groove in the snow just gets deeper and deeper. And it's easier to slip into that groove and just follow that groove. And that groove that we're talking about is I'm behind. I need to move faster. Right? Eventually it's automatic. You don't even try to feel hurry. It just happens. You wake up and your nervous system is already activated before you even open your eyes. Right? The thoughts, the emotions and the behaviors that we continuously repeat become more automatic for us and that doesn't discriminate. Right? Hands of says that our routine known thoughts and feelings create the same reality. And so you're not waking up stress because your life is stressful. You are waking up stress because your brain has been trained to default to stress. And so if 95% of you is automatic, you are not choosing your life rather you are just repeating it. And here is what most people miss. You are always practicing something. I love that so much tattooed on my forehead. Every single moment to quote James Clear, you are casting votes for the type of person. You are. We know that our default mode network will do everything it can to affirm our identity. And so when you are casting votes for the type of person that you are and you're always practicing something, it doesn't discriminate. It just comes down to what are you practicing? When you're checking your phone at a red light or you're checking your phone in class, you are practicing being somebody who is distracted. You are rushing through your walk, or should I say, I'm rushing through my walk. I'm practicing hurry. I tear myself apart. You tear yourself apart after a good performance. You are practicing being somebody who is emotional, who is judgmental, and you are practicing self-criticism. You are not neutral. You are always training your brain in one direction or another, right? We're either growing or we're dying. Same concept. But here's a good news. This is neuroplasticity, and neuroplasticity is your brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neuro-connections throughout your life. Your brain is not fixed. Those neuro-path ways that got you here can be re-wired, and it's everything we just spoke about. every single conscious choice that we make to slow down and to be present and to redirect your attention, you are actually weakening the old pathway and building a new one. Think about it as putting new snow over the groove that we talked about. Neurons that fire together, wire together, neurons that no longer fire together, no longer wire together. It's the same principle as training. You don't build muscle by thinking about the gym. You build it reps after rep after rep day after day. You don't rewire hurry by just wanting to become you rewire it by practicing calm by embodying the characteristics and the behaviors of somebody who is calm by living out the emotions of somebody who is calm by choosing to observe your thoughts and to identify with thoughts of calm, right? And here's the funniest part is like when I say these things, when I hear these things for myself, it's daunting, but we have to understand at the first step here is just catching yourself. Just being aware of when you're in a hurry. That's a win. I was training my knees over toes today with my guy, Tray Dillard, shout out Tray Dillard, and he's my accountability partner for a lot of my physical training because he's a stud, right? And I'm doing my knees over toes. I'm doing these splits squats. I'm hustling through it. And I'm like, wait a minute, let me just take a breath and feel every movement. I'm in no hurry. It's going to be here now except the generous now, right? So the first step was me catching myself being friends it being in a hurry. And that's a fat win. That is a fat win. That is a fat tally for being the type of person who is slow, who is calm, right? So when you notice yourself reaching for your phone, you are practicing awareness. You are practicing being someone identity who is aware. When you feel your pace picking up on a walk and you catch it and slow down, that's a rep. When you feel the urge to move on to the next thing and you stay with this one thing, that's a rep that's a tally for being somebody who's focused, right? So the awareness itself is the beginning of change. This is self-directed neuroplasticity. You are the programmer. I always say the world is a malleable place. You are the architect. Attention is the code. What you put your attention on expands, right? Where your focus goes, energy flows. In every moment that you are able to stay conscious and observe thoughts, stay conscious and redirect your attention to the present moment and slowing down. You are rewriting the system that is your brain. You are rewiring your brain. So the question again is not how do I do more? The question is rather how do I reprogram this system? Now, carrying on. There's a guy named Fedor Dosieski. He's a huge Russian author. He wrote crime and punishment. I actually bought another one of his books called The Brothers Karamazov. I think it's how you say it. There's a quote from him that says, "Your worst sin is that you have betrayed yourself for nothing." Your worst sin is that you have betrayed yourself for nothing. I sit with that all the time. When I put worldly things, ego, status, money, fame, the need for control over God, that's betraying myself. When I put it over the things that actually matter, betraying myself, there's a trend on TikTok. I'm sure you guys, if you're on TikTok, have seen it. It's on Instagram too. Almost forgot this was the point of life. That this was the point of our life that we're living. There's a song playing in the background and it's literally somebody just watching their dog sprint. Have their dogs running and they're just in the present moment watching it. They're sitting in an ocean. They're looking at. I don't know. It's like the most basic things. Really what it is is they're in the present moment. And all these people post these trends. Why? Because they feel something. Why? Because we're all in a hurry. We are all betraying ourselves. And the point of this game, as I said to Olivia, is just to experience. It's just to learn. It's to love all these beautiful blessings that are around us at all times. In Mark 836, it says, for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? It's pretty extreme, but are you selling your soul for the rat race? Are you selling your soul for progress and for a sport? Are you missing the point of the game? Are you forgetting the point of life? For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, status, ego, and money and forfeit his soul? You're missing the point of the game. I might get that tattooed on me. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? This is the idea that we have to be reminded more than we have to be taught. I heard that years ago in a marketing and sales video that we have to be reminded more than we have to be taught. And I've taken that with me. It's phenomenal. It's always jarring for me to just recognize how quickly I can slip back into execution mode and always pushing harder for the next thing. I agree that ambition is good. I'm as ambitious as anybody. Right? Anybody that's listening to this is extremely ambitious. But when you lose sight of the things that actually matter, for me, this is when I feel friends it. This is when I feel exhausted and this is when I feel empty. Right? So we have to learn to keep the main thing, the main thing. It's to slow down and to experience and to just be in the generous now. Right? And as I go on these walks, I have just started to realize that I see God in everything when I slow down, when I just open my eyes to it. There's so much for me to be thankful for. I have an amazing girlfriend. I have an amazing puppy who I was so stressed was going to not be trained enough and she's amazing. She's calm. She's sweet. Amazing. Right? I look at the flowers. I look at where we live in Arizona. I look at me running sip by myself and working for myself. Everything that I prayed for. And there's so much to be grateful for. And God is in every single one of these. And I catch myself complaining at times of overwhelmed or of stress. And it's like, how long will I complain about the blessings that I prayed for? There's that funny meme on Instagram where it's like, I can't cry over, I can not even butcher it. I can't cry over basically with the blessings that I prayed for. And yeah, it's been humbling for me. Reminds me that it is not God. That is not by my side. But rather, I have taken my guy, my, my eyes off of him. Right? It's not that he's not with me. It's that I'm not focusing on him. And in these moments, being present, slowing down and accepting God's gifts as worship is my focus. These blessings let me accept them as a form of worship. I always talk to athletes when they're focusing about or when they're concerned about self-sabotage. And I just say, accept these blessings as an act of worship from God. That's the quickest state change that I've ever found for somebody who's worried about self-sabotage. You're just giving them permission to accept these blessings. And so for you listening to this, I, let me be the one that gives you permission to just accept these blessings that God has given you. And to just start to pay attention more, look for them more. Remember that God is omnipresent. There is no place that God is not. And no time he is not present either. Our awareness of God is the problem and it's acute. I took that straight from the ruthless elimination of hurry. So again, what is my intention been lately? Intention instructions for my brain. My intention with this podcast is to drive home the idea of slowing down. My intention in my life is to slow down to go do cardio, betray, dilate and appreciate the struggle, the hard to take my time and to feel it and to appreciate it. Even when it sucks to appreciate it, to slow down on my walk outside and smell the flowers, to listen to Michaela when she's talking to me and to really hear her words and to think before I respond. To drive a little bit slower. It's not only safer, but I don't always need to get to my destination 73 seconds earlier because Lord knows you driving 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. You're still getting stuck at the light that that person who was doing 45 is also at the light, right? We're all at the same light. And really, you get to your destination what two minutes earlier, okay? Like drive slower, Drake. That's what I'm saying to myself. So I wrote down another example. I sometimes will have like where I pull up to a light. And there will be one car and one side and two cars and the other side. And I will pull behind the one car because I'm in such a hurry. Crazy. Crazy. Like why? Why do I need to pull up? It's proven the point. I'm in a hurry. I'm rushed. Isaiah 263. It says you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. And what is it telling us that when our focus drifts off of him, our peace follows it. The peace that we have will also drift. So keep your eyes on him and you'll remain grounded. This is when Peter gets out of the boat. It looks at the wave and the wind that's crashing in. And he takes his eyes off of Jesus and starts to sink. And Jesus looks at him and says, Oh, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? Right? So let's keep our eyes focused on the thing that matters most. Let's be in the generous now. Psalm 168. It says, as I keep my eyes on. always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Right? This proves that strength and gratitude comes from awareness of his presence. Luke 10, 41 through 42. I think I shared it on the last podcast. I love this one. It says Martha. Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. So Mary sitting at Jesus's feet. Martha is out doing a bunch of busy work, a bunch of tasks like you and I. And Mary is just sitting at Jesus's feet. Martha wants Mary to help. And Jesus looks at her and says, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better and what will not be taken away from her. Once again, your worst sin is that you have betrayed yourself for nothing. Right? These are all overlapping principles. And so in the ruthless elimination of hurry, there's this excerpt where it's talking about hurry and it says hurry kills relationships. This is when we take our eyes off the thing that matters most. We're in a hurry. Hurry kills relationships. Love takes time. Hurry doesn't have it. It kills joy, gratitude, appreciation. People in a rush don't have time to enter the goodness of the moment. It kills wisdom. Wisdom is born in the quiet and the slow. Wisdom has its own pace. It makes you wait for it. Wait for the inner voice to come to the surface of your tempest. I don't even know how to say that. Tempest to us mind, but not until waters of thought settle in calm. Hurry kills all that we hold dear spirituality, health, marriage, family, thoughtful work, creativity, generosity, whatever it is. There's a lot of creatives that listen to this. When you're trying to hustle through something, you know damn well, you are not nearly as creative as you are when you're just experiencing. The art is the act. It's the present moment focus. It's the experience. Hurry is a sociopathic predator, loose in our society. To go a step further, attention is the beginning of devotion. Worship and joy start with the capacity to turn our minds, attention toward the God who is always with us in the now. Once again omnipresent. As apprentices of Jesus, this is our main task and the locus of the devil's strategy and against us. Many have noted that the modern world is a virtual conspiracy against the interior life. It's hard to not see a darker force behind all of this than simple capitalism. When we uncritically hurry our way through our digital terrain, we make the devil's job relatively easy. Regardless of our income levels, attention is our scaricist resource. Jesus wisely said, our hearts will follow behind our treasures. So usually when you and I interpret treasure, it means two basic resources. Time and money. But an even more precious resource is attention. Without it, our spiritual lives are still born in the womb. And so I hear this. I love this quote. And I'm like, what does this mean? Let me unpack this. Let me go line for line and unpack this. So let's do it together. What is that saying? It's saying that true joy and worship are not external acts. It begins with attention. It's not about finding God later or somewhere else, but realizing that he's already here and he always has been. The ability to stay present with God is the foundation of a spiritual life. Right? It says, as apprentices of Jesus, this is our main task in the locus of the devil's strategy against us. Our primary spiritual discipline is learning to keep our focus on God throughout the ordinary. The devil's main strategy is not dramatic temptation, but rather its distraction. And my God did this hit me. If the enemy can not, or if the enemy can keep your attention scattered, he doesn't need to make you sin. He just needs to make you busy. Right? Again, if you're not somebody who's sinning, he's just going to make you busy and take your eyes off of him. It also says in here, many have noted that the modern world is a virtual conspiracy against the interior life. So what does that mean? It means that the society that we live in is designed to keep you externally stimulated and internally empty between social media and constant notifications and economic pressure. Everything pulls you away from silence and reflection. It is not random. It's systemic. The modern world monetizes from your distraction. I just made a podcast on focus at Hammers at home. These people are monetizing from stealing. They're stealing our attention. Right? They're monetizing from our distraction and saying in that quote it says, it's hard not to see a darker force behind all this then simple capitalism. And so really what this author is hinting at is that it isn't just marketing its spiritual warfare. The goal is not just to profit. It is to erode your awareness of God's presence. When we uncritically hurry, our way through our digital terrain, we make the devil's job relatively easy. What does that mean? Uncritically it means without discernment or awareness. The constant scroll, the dopamine loop, it slowly doles our soul. Right? The devil doesn't need to convince you to abandon your faith. Once again, he just needs to keep you distracted enough to never practice it. Now as we wrap this quote up, it says regardless of our income levels, attention is our scaricist resource. Obviously in the modern age, attention is currency. If you listen to any marketing, anybody that knows anything about marketing, attention is currency. It's what we're all competing for in the marketing world. Right? But the spiritual life depends on attention and without attention, even prayer and gratitude lose their depth. And the quote it says, Jesus widely said, wisely said, our hearts will follow behind our treasures. Usually we interpret this treasure to mean our two basic resources time and money, but an even more precious resource is attention. Once again, where this is Matthew 6, 21, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Oh, my God, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. You cannot serve God and serve money at the same time. You cannot serve God and serve status and flesh at the same time. Black and white, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. That's Matthew 6, 21. We usually think of treasure as money or time, but this expands it. Right? The attention is the truest treasure. Whatever captures your attention will shape your desires and ultimately your character. What does it mean? It's a heavy metaphor. It means a spiritual life can be conceived, belief and goodwill, but without attention and without presence, it never grows or comes alive. So in other words, no attention equals no transformation, which is humbling. So as we tie this together, and as you hear this, is there any part of you that has reflected on your current results? Whether that's your lifestyle or just your own inner world and realize that there are certain things that we probably need to clean up. Even if it just means walking at a slower pace on your walks, right? And getting in the presence of the Father. And as I work with athletes, everything we discuss is obviously process. This podcast is called stay in process. We talk about being a long-term thinker. We talk about viewing the work as the wind, taking it one day at a time, keeping a small focus. I love to tell them to be eager to take the smallest step forward. That's what the process is. Walking in gratitude daily for what is there that's the focusing, focusing on what's there rather than what's missing. Why? Why? Because everyone wants it right now. Even athletes, right? We all want it right now. Everyone is impatient. The culture we live in today only makes that worse with social media, with constant comparison and with this lack state that we're always living in. The world rewards the individual who can stay patient and who can stay unhurried. Do not get me wrong. I certainly believe in a sense of urgency. Sam Altman says he's never met a slow-moving person who's extremely successful. I would say that my perspectives on that have kind of shifted. I'm not afraid to say that. I've shared that quote before. My perspectives have kind of shifted. I now don't get me wrong. There is a time to have a sense of urgency. A sense of urgency will help you be successful, but that doesn't mean that you will be successful in your spiritual life. It's a delicate dance. I'm not going to sit here and act like I can tell you exactly how to do it because Lord knows I am trying to practice this every day. I'm trying to figure out the secret sauce, the perfect blend every day, but I want to be like Mary, not Martha. I want to keep demanding the main thing. I don't want to get caught up in all this busy work distracted from what actually matters. This podcast is to document my process. If you go back to the first one, the first couple podcasts, it's all it is. Over these past couple of years, I have just documented the things that I'm learning. This is something that I am actively learning here with you. I hope that as I create this, it just helps you to learn it maybe a little bit quicker. than I did. So I certainly think that there is a time and a place to have a sense of urgency. Absolutely. But there is a time and a place to slow down as well. When you're working a process, I've been encouraging my athletes to do this, to think of it this way. It's an act of worship. There are no shortcuts. There are no quick fixes. It's exactly that. It's a process. Goal for yourself in it, be grateful for it, every throw in your catch play, every pass you catch, every sprint that you run, every touch and soccer, every lap you swim. It's an act of worship and goal for yourself in it, be in the generous now, accept the present, accept exactly where you are like you chose it. And work the process, play a longer game, eliminate hurry. It's not helping you. I guarantee it's where a lot of your angst is coming from. Right? Okay, your process, the workmanship means more than the material once again, be eager to take small steps forward, celebrate those small steps forward. It's going to take what it takes. So you might as well enjoy it. We know that where you put your focus, the energy that you show up with, the language that you use, these are all things that are in your control. Right? So choose to put your focus in the things that are happening for you on the controllables, choose to show up with an energy that is grateful, worship, right? Use language that is empowering. I've shared this before but are you, are you anxious or are you feeling extra energy? Are you overwhelmed or are you being challenged? These are again things that are in your control. And if you're going to work this process for a long time, those three things that I just shared, your focus, your energy, your language, those things are going to matter here. Right? And so what I'm going to conclude this with is a reminder for all of us, and I was reminded of this in the Ruthless elimination of hurry. It's talking about Genesis. It says the opening book in the Library of Scripture, our defining narrative says that we're made in the image of God, but we're also, but also we're made from the dust. And so understanding this, image and dust. To be made in the image of God means that we are rife with potential. We have the divine capacity in our DNA. In a way we are like God. We are not God, but we are made in the image of God. We were created to image his behavior, to rule like he does, to gather up the raw materials of our planet, and to reshape them into a world for human beings to flourish and thrive. But remember that's only half the story. We are also made from the dirt, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, where the original biodegradable containers, which means we're born with limitations. We are not God. We are mortal. We are not immortal. We are finite. We are not infinite. Image and dust, potential and limitations. One of the key tasks of our apprenticeship to Jesus is living into both our potential and our limitations, and so once again, let's break this down. Image and dust, the tension of human beings, right? Genesis is giving us both sides of the story. In Genesis 1.26 it says, "Let us make man in our image after our likeness." And Genesis 2.7 it says, "Then the Lord God formed man from dust of the ground." You are both image and you are dust. You are finally inspired that you are yet we are deeply limited. And so when we are made in the image, we carry the fingerprints of God, the creativity, the reason, the love, the imagination, the will. You were made to build, to lead, to create something out of nothing. Your world expands to your level of audacity, right? We are made to create, to think big. And when we create, create at a high level because Lord knows God did, right? But when it comes to dust, we have to remember, remember that you are fragile. You break, right? We get tired. We forget things. We are not infinite and that's okay. Most people lose balance here. We either live too small and we forget that we're made in God's image or we live too big and we forget that we're not him. We need to humble ourselves, right? I talk to athletes all the time about playing bigger, playing bigger, playing bigger, learning more for yourself, speaking in a way that serves you, focusing on the things that are happening for you, right? The law of assumption, neuroplasticity, like there's all these things that tell you that you can be whatever you want to be. You could be anything but you can't be everything, but you do have to remember that we are dust as well. And sometimes it's just not in his plan for us. And you can work like crazy towards what you want, all you want. But above all else, our intention has to be to ultimately want for our life what he wants for our life what is right for us. And again, this is like we just, we need to keep the balance there and we need to know that we are both image and dust. We either live too small for getting that we're made in God's image or we live too big for getting that we're not him, right? So what's the danger of ignoring either of these sides? When you forget that your image, you shrink, you stop believing that your life carries weight, you play small, you numb yourself, you settle. When you forget that your dust, you start living like you're a God, addicted to control, allergic to rest, convinced that everything depends on you, interesting. True spiritual maturity, real apprenticeship to Jesus is learning to hold both at once to embrace your potential without pride and your limits without shame. You're not going to control everything, right? Be courageous, be bold, be a play to an audience of one, right? Turn your, turn your back on the audience and play for the audience of one. Be courageous and have conviction, believe in yourself, believe in him. It's not that we're strong, it's that he's strong within us. But ultimately surrender the control of timelines of when it's going to happen for you. That's not up to you, right? Once again, you're addicted to control, but we're made in dust and again, true spiritual maturity is learning to hold both at once to embrace our potential without pride and our limits without shame. And so following Jesus, this is my takeaway from this, is not just about memorizing theology, it is about being reshaped into someone who lives fully human, right? Lives fully as a human, the way that he did. Jesus healed the sick, he raised the dead in the image of God, but he also got tired, he also wept, he also withdrew to rest, right? I think it's in Matthew when he sends the disciples in the water, he goes to the top of the mountain and he sits in the presence of the Father. I've made videos about this, but this is the perfect representation of ministry and replenishment, right? Hustle culture is not virtuous once again, living a life of busyness is not virtuous. Jesus got tired, Jesus wept, Jesus withdrew to rest, dust of humanity, right? He showed us how to live in rhythm, to create and to rest, to serve in this step away, and to act and to surrender. In this book, it talks about, I'm trying to remember right now, it says, everybody talks about Jesus as the truth, but he doesn't talk about Jesus, they don't talk about Jesus as the way. And when you think about Jesus as the way that means that you are living like Jesus did, there's that famous bracelet, what would Jesus do? Why is that famous? Because that will solve a lot of your problems. If you just live your life in alignment with him, you treat him as the truth, but you also treat him as the way. He showed us the sauce, he showed us how to live in rhythm, again, you create, you rest. He talks about Sabbath in the Bible, right? You serve, you step away, you act, you surrender, you take action on your dreams, once again, you surrender. There's a lot of athletes out there that need to hear that. You are not in control, everybody says, how do you detach? How do you surrender? Well, there's your answer. There's your answer. You recognize that you need to live like he does, and that you are dust, you are not all in control. There you go, there's your answer, right? The world we live in, we currently live in glorifies one side, the image, grind, output, performance, do more, do more, do more, right? And despises the other, which is the dust, stillness, certain limitations that we do have, dependents, but both, we have to recognize both our holy image and dust are both holy, right? And so what's the modern application of that? If you are somebody that is wired for performance, creation, and progress, this tension is everything. Your image fuels your calling, it's a part of you that builds, that coaches, that serves, that leads, that creates, it's the part of you that is dreaming for more, right? That wants to be great. I'm the same way. I love it. Our dreams and visions come from God, and God has the power to create and accomplish them. I believe that. But our dust protects our soul. It reminds you when to step back and when to rest and when to remember that you are not God, you are not in control. You don't get to control the timeline, you don't get to control how it happens. Once again, if you're going to have an affirmation, God, I will take care of the quantity. You will take care of the quality. Remember, quantity is not just work, work, work, work, work. Sure, it is. It's part of it, the work, but it's also the rest, right? It's also the other side of it, the dust. He's going to take care of the quality. That is surrendering to being dust as well. God, I will take care of the quantity. That goes a whole lot deeper than just somebody saying, hey, control the controllables, right? It's the same idea, but it's a lot deeper. And so if you ignore your dust, what happens? You burn out, you get anxious, you get restless, you ignore your image, what happens, you drift, you're cynical, you're empty. You need both, right? You need both to stay in process here. So the spiritual call of this is that Jesus never asked you to escape your humanity. He came to redeem it. To be human is to reflect God's image while remembering your dust. To say, I am made in His image, so I will create, but I am also made from His dust, so I will rest. You were never called to be infinite, you were called to be faithful, a finite vessel carrying infinite love, right? I loved how that tied up there. We are made in His image, so you will create, but we are also made from dust, so we should rest. Man did I need to hear that, man did I need to feel that and reflect on that. That's why I created this podcast because this is something that has been on my heart. Today is Thursday, I woke up and it's my, it's my off day. I don't remember the last time I actually took an off day, like I'm always trying to do something that takes steps forward. And yeah, that's why I created this podcast. Most of the time these podcasts are created because it's just top of my mind, right? It's what I'm experiencing in this moment. So let me know what you guys thought. Share this with somebody that you think needs it. I say this at the end of every single podcast, but we're all in this together and obviously nobody's going to save you as I said in this podcast, nobody's going to save you. But there are people out there that can help. There are people that can nudge you in the right direction. And my whole intention with this podcast is to serve and to just help people. And if you think that there's somebody that would find value in this, please share it with them. That's all that I ask. And then if you like this podcast, subscribe to it so you can get notifications. If you have questions for Jack Winkler, go ahead and send them in to me in any way. You can DM me. You can comment on this. You can email me at [email protected], but above all else, I just want you guys to know that I love you guys. I'm grateful for you guys. I am so humbled to have you here. We talk about how attention is currency and here you are, you've given me an over an hour of your attention. And I just want you to know that I do not take that lightly. And I will continue to do everything I can to learn and to be better for you guys and to create more value for you all and to increase the quality of the product that is this podcast and that is sip. Because in the long term, there is no misalignment between quality of product and process, right? Making process, making progress, making process, right? So I will continue to do everything I can to make this product better. And I am so beyond grateful for you guys. Keep stacking days, place, focus small one day at a time and stay in process. See you.