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Yes you can Show up imperfectly (S5) S24:E7 Friday · Inspirations for Your Life

0:24
Well, hello there, everyone, and welcome to Inspirations
0:28
for Your Life.
0:28
I'm so glad you decided to join me
0:31
here today.
0:32
It's great to have you here.
0:33
It is Friday.
0:34
It's June 12, 2026.
0:37
And that means we'll be wrapping up our
0:40
master topic, sadly, but we'll be moving on
0:42
to a brand new one tomorrow.
0:44
All right, guys, if this is your very
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first time coming here, I'd like to take
0:48
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If you've been here one time, five times,
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say not only welcome and thank you, but
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Feel free to grab that and come on
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back so we can kick off the show.
1:41
All right, everyone.
1:42
So welcome.
1:43
Yes, welcome.
1:43
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another powerful episode of
1:47
Building Your Life, of course, now with Discipline,
1:51
Growth, and Ownership.
1:53
And so, you know, I'm John C.
1:55
Morley, serial entrepreneur, engineer, marketing specialist, video producer,
2:00
podcast host, coach, keynote speaker, graduate student, and
2:04
passionate lifelong learner, and now a published author,
2:08
which I'm so grateful to be.
2:11
Today's message is simple, but transformational is the
2:17
key.
2:18
You do not need to be perfect to
2:21
move forward.
2:23
You just need to show up.
2:27
This episode is, yes, you can show up
2:30
imperfectly.
2:32
It's about building real momentum through consistency, releasing
2:37
unrealistic pressure, and taking ownership of your growth
2:41
one step at a time.
2:44
So let's kick it off with our very
2:45
first point, and that is number one, consistency.
2:50
Consistency beats talent over time.
2:53
Consistency compounds results.
2:56
Talent may open the door, but showing up
2:59
daily is what builds the lasting success.
3:02
You know, people think just because you've done
3:03
something one time, you know, you're going to
3:05
be a hero.
3:06
I'm here to tell you, you're not.
3:09
You need to keep showing up.
3:11
You need to keep having that consistency.
3:13
You keep having that structure, and that's when
3:15
you're going to notice change, and not immediately,
3:17
guys.
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It's going to take a little bit of
3:18
time, all right, before you're going to see
3:19
some lasting success.
3:21
Number two, you don't need a perfect plan.
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People think you do.
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You don't, but just the next step.
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Clarity comes from action.
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Focus on what you can do now instead
3:34
of waiting for everything to be figured out.
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I think that's the problem.
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People think if it's not figured out that
3:41
they can't move forward in their lives, but
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I'm here to tell you that you will
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figure things out as you go, and I
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know that can sound, how can I say,
3:50
a little bit daunting, a little bit scary,
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but it is the truth.
3:53
You are all very, very smart, and so
3:56
when you have the ability to trust, you
4:00
know that things are going to grow.
4:02
You know that things are going to get
4:03
better, all right?
4:04
I think that's a very important thing to
4:08
basically understand.
4:12
Number three, showing up, messy beats, not showing
4:17
up at all, imperfect action, creates progress.
4:22
Waiting for perfect conditions keeps you stuck, keeps
4:27
you procrastinating, keeps you wondering, what if?
4:32
But yet, you don't seem to get any
4:34
better results because you're doing what Einstein said,
4:38
insanity.
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You're doing the same thing over and over
4:40
again and expecting different results, and that's just
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not going to work, right?
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It's not going to work.
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Number four, think progress, not performance.
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Shift your mindset toward improvement.
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Now, growth happens when you stop trying to
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impress and start trying to evolve.
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It also comes with a quiet inner voice,
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right?
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I think that's an important thing to understand,
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and it's becoming aware of things, right?
5:35
There was an interesting quote.
5:37
You walk into a room, you see a
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dog, and let's say you see a cat,
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and you see a table, and above the
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table, you see a rooster.
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And it goes like this, how many legs
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are touching the floor?
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So most people would say eight because there's
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eight touching the floor.
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Now, we have eight legs, okay, but we
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also have four more legs, four
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more legs from the table.
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So that would be eight.
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Now, technically, are the two from the chicken,
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the hen, is that on the floor?
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Technically, it's the legs of the table that
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are touching the floor.
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But we're not talking about being connected.
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We know the legs from the cat and
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the dog are definitely touching the floor.
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We know the legs of the table.
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So I would have to say four and
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four is eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, four
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times three.
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But that's all about perception, right?
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Our whole life is about perception and how
7:05
we can distinguish things, and then we can
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make strides to where we want to go.
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Number five, guys, you're allowed to be a
7:14
work in progress.
7:15
You don't have to be finished right now.
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In public, you do not need to hide
7:20
your journey.
7:21
You see, real growth is visible, honest, and
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it's ongoing.
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And I think when people learn to be
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that way, their life can change.
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Their life can change because of the fact
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that they're humbling themselves, right?
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And I think that's hard for some people
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to understand, that when we understand stuff, our
7:57
world changes around us.
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Our world changes around us in an instant.
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But if we're not aware of the perceptions,
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then it's like nothing happened.
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Just like you look at the table, right?
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And you look at the animals, you first
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say, well, gee, four, four, eight.
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And you forget about the four legs in
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the table, 12, right?
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Number six, one small action today is better
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than 10 ideas tomorrow.
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Execution beats intention time in and time out.
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What you do now matters more than what
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you plan later, right?
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Planning is good.
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It's good to have that action.
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But it's also important to take some steps
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now.
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I think that's a very important thing, OK?
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Number seven, motivation fades, habits carry you.
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Motivation is temporary.
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Habits create stability.
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And they keep you moving forward.
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They keep you moving forward.
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And I think sometimes when we hear this,
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we're not really sure how to respond.
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We're not sure.
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But I want to tell you that you
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can respond in a pretty easy way.
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But oftentimes, it gets confusing because of what
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someone else said.
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And that perception becomes what?
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Our reality, even if, ladies and gentlemen, it's
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not true.
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Even if it's not true.
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Number eight, you won't always feel like the
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way you do now.
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Do it gently anyway, right?
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Maybe you don't feel like exercising.
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Do it gently anyway.
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Maybe you can't do the full battery of
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exercises.
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Do something anyway.
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And you're going to feel productive.
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Show up in a way that is manageable
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and will keep you going.
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The inertia of the energy is going to
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make you even feel positive.
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Number nine, lower the bar and keep it
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moving.
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Make it easier to begin.
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You have to take the first step, so
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let's make it easy to begin.
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Progress will build, I promise you, folks, when
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resistance is low.
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We can always make things harder, like maybe
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you're on a bicycle and you lower the
10:41
resistance so that you can start.
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But the truth of the matter is, when
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you lower the resistance, the bar to entry
10:48
is easier.
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Number 10, you can rest without quitting.
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It's perfectly OK to rest.
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I rest.
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Rest supports growth.
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Pausing does not mean stopping.
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I know many years ago with my dad
11:08
and family, they would say, John, you're taking
11:11
a break.
11:11
I'm like, yes, I am taking a break.
11:14
Well, wait, we didn't finish.
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I understand we didn't finish, but it's important
11:18
to know that it's OK to take a
11:21
break and not be chastised for it.
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I think that's something that a lot of
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people miss.
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All right, a lot of people miss that.
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Number 11, tiny routines change your life slowly.
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Small actions repeated daily create powerful long-term
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change.
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And I think most people don't understand the
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law of compounds, right?
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They don't understand what's going on.
11:55
And I know how this all works, right?
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I know how this all works.
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And it's important.
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A lot of people will do something because
12:16
of the show of it.
12:18
But you know what they won't do?
12:21
They won't figure out if there's truth right
12:24
away.
12:25
They just know that it appears to look
12:29
good.
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But is it really good?
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That's the question.
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And it's a conundrum a lot of people
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get into.
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Number 12, don't confuse boredom with failure.
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I've done it myself when I was young.
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Growth is often repetitive.
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And repetition builds mastery.
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You know, when you learn something and then
12:55
you do it after a while and you
12:57
start doing it almost autonomously and you do
12:58
it perfectly, you're like, wow, that happened because
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you kept on.
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You were consistent.
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You had a structure.
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Consistency may feel boring, but it is effective,
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my friends.
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It is effective.
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Number 13, you don't need to reinvent your
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life every week.
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You need to keep going.
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Stay steady.
13:27
You don't need to reinvent the wheel.
13:28
It was already invented.
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Success, ladies and gentlemen, comes from continuation, not
13:33
constant change.
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But I know a lot of people are
13:37
like, well, let's change this.
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Let's change that.
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Let's change this.
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And all they do is change stuff, and
13:41
it becomes more of a problem.
13:44
Number 14, track your effort, not just your
13:51
outcomes.
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See, effort is within your control.
13:56
Measuring it keeps you accountable and focused on
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the task at hand.
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Number 15, this is one a lot of
14:07
people don't want to do, but I think
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it's really key.
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And that is, ladies and gentlemen, celebrate your
14:14
micro-wins.
14:15
Small progress deserves recognition too.
14:19
It builds confidence and motivation over and over
14:23
again.
14:24
You'll say, you know, I didn't finish yet,
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so I shouldn't be able to do anything.
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Right?
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That's important.
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And if we start to realize that, then
14:47
our life is going to change.
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It's going to change.
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Number 16, did you know that your 70
14:58
% effort is still valuable?
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You do not need perfection.
15:03
Like I was telling you, maybe I'm tired
15:05
and I can't do 100% of my
15:07
workout before I go to sleep, but I
15:09
still put a good effort to get a
15:11
lot of it done.
15:12
And that means something.
15:13
And that means more, because if I skipped
15:16
it, I'd be like, oh, my gosh, I
15:18
skipped it.
15:20
Now, maybe you're so tired or something else
15:23
came upon you, or even maybe you had
15:24
a headache.
15:24
I've had that happen to me, right?
15:26
And I can't do the full battery that
15:30
well, but I still try as much as
15:32
I can.
15:34
Because you don't need perfection.
15:37
You need consistent, structured effort.
15:40
Even imperfect moves you forward.
15:44
Now, it may not be as fast as
15:45
you want to go, but that is OK.
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Number 17, make the choice, ladies and gentlemen,
15:53
right now to show up for yourself like
15:55
you show up for other people.
15:58
What do I mean by this?
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You're a good person.
16:02
You're accountable, right?
16:05
And you show up for people.
16:07
My question to you right now tonight is,
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why don't you show up for yourself?
16:13
Well, it's just me.
16:15
So what are you, chopped liver?
16:17
You don't want to show up for yourself?
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Well, if I disappoint myself, it's like it's
16:21
only me.
16:22
It's like, so you're saying that you have
16:25
less respect for yourself than your other people?
16:27
No, no, no, no, I'm not really saying
16:28
that.
16:29
What are you saying?
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I'm saying that I can always make it
16:35
up to myself later.
16:36
Oh, you can.
16:37
So now you're knowing that you can already
16:42
negotiate with yourself, and you're planning to not
16:45
do something because you know that you'll let
16:48
yourself off easy?
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No, that's disrespect.
16:53
Show up for yourself like you show up
16:55
for others.
16:56
Honor your own commitments.
17:00
Self-trust is built through follow-through.
17:04
And ladies and gentlemen, it does not need
17:07
to be perfect.
17:11
It needs to be consistent, and it needs
17:13
to be structured, consistent, and structured, consistent,
17:31
and structured.
17:32
That's the key.
17:34
Number 18, guys, perfection is just a delay
17:37
tactic.
17:39
Action is clarity.
17:41
Taking action reveals what works.
17:44
When you don't, you just become better at
17:48
procrastination and disappointment.
17:53
Waiting only delays growth.
17:56
So my question is, why do people delay
17:58
growth?
18:00
Einstein already told us that if we do
18:02
the same thing over and over again, and
18:03
we expect different results, that's insanity.
18:07
So are we insane?
18:09
We do the same thing over and over
18:10
again, expect different results.
18:11
We are, according to Einstein.
18:13
So we need to change something up.
18:14
We need to change some of the inputs,
18:17
or we're never going to get different outputs.
18:20
Number 19, guys, you are not lazy.
18:24
You're overwhelmed.
18:26
Just start smaller.
18:29
Overwhelmingness blocks action.
18:32
Kind of cripples us.
18:34
Simplify the tasks to make progress easier.
18:37
And when you do, your body's like, oh,
18:39
I can do this.
18:40
I'm all over this.
18:41
I got this.
18:45
Different feeling than, oh, wait a minute, I
18:47
can't do this.
18:47
I can't, I can't, I can't.
18:49
Right?
18:51
Number 20, guys, break it down into things
18:57
you can do in five minutes.
19:00
Starting small reduces resistance.
19:03
Action often grows once you begin.
19:06
Once you see that you're able to solve
19:09
a problem, you're ready to do the next
19:11
thing.
19:21
That's interesting, right?
19:24
Very interesting because now you understand it.
19:32
Pretty neat.
19:40
I think sometimes people, they set expectations for
19:46
themselves that are unrealistic because they put a
19:50
timeline down that's not realistic because they have
20:00
underestimated how long it's going to take to
20:02
do something because, well, let's face it, they've
20:06
been procrastinating their whole life.
20:08
So going from procrastination to action is not
20:11
something that happens overnight.
20:13
This is a way of life, guys.
20:16
It's not something you just do because it's
20:19
fun for one day.
20:21
It becomes part of you.
20:22
Now, ladies and gentlemen, number 21, you can
20:24
rebuild momentum any day of the week, not
20:29
just Monday.
20:30
There's no perfect start time or even date
20:34
or holiday or year.
20:35
You can begin again whenever you choose to
20:38
do it.
20:39
Don't be married to things like, well, it
20:41
has to be on the first of the
20:42
month.
20:43
It has to be on a Monday.
20:43
It has to be on January 1st, right?
20:47
Those are all excuses for you to procrastinate
20:50
and not do anything all those other days
20:52
that you could be doing to actually get
20:54
somewhere.
20:55
Number 22, be the person who doesn't disappear
20:58
on themselves.
20:59
Stay consistent with your own goals.
21:04
Reliability builds confidence.
21:07
And it releases the dopamine in your brain.
21:11
I think that's a very important thing to
21:13
understand, okay?
21:19
Important to understand that.
21:24
Really important to understand.
21:31
And maybe you're saying to me, John, I
21:34
get so overwhelmed, but I just shut down
21:36
and I figure I need to take a
21:37
nap.
21:39
So when you get up from that nap,
21:43
think about the big picture, but then try
21:48
to just start charting a few things down
21:51
that you could do right now.
21:53
And then as you start to see, you
21:55
could put those things on your calendar and
21:57
realize that they only take two to five
21:59
minutes.
22:00
They don't seem so bad.
22:01
I know when I first started doing this
22:03
a while back, I was like, oh my
22:03
gosh, how am I ever gonna get all
22:04
this stuff done?
22:05
I'm like, wait a minute.
22:06
This stuff doesn't take as long as I
22:07
thought it did.
22:08
It took more time to plan it.
22:11
But now that it's on autopilot, guess what?
22:14
It just is on my schedule and I
22:16
can do it.
22:18
Number 23, guys, your future self will thank
22:21
you for every imperfect rep, every action adds
22:25
up.
22:27
You're investing in who you are.
22:30
That's who you're becoming.
22:32
Transforming to who you are today, to who
22:35
you want to become.
22:37
Number 24, guys, discipline is a love language.
22:40
You speak to yourself.
22:42
Discipline is self-respect.
22:45
It reflects now how much you value your
22:49
future.
22:51
You know what that is?
22:53
Or do you just say, it's okay, I'll
22:56
figure it out on my journey, right?
23:12
I think a lot of people don't realize
23:15
that.
23:19
And that's something I think that, it freaks
23:23
a lot of people out because they don't
23:24
know, well, where do I start?
23:26
I've never had this problem.
23:27
I never did this before.
23:29
Number 25, keep showing up.
23:33
That's your superpower.
23:37
Consistency and structure create results.
23:42
Okay, not motivation.
23:45
Motivation will fade in and out.
23:48
Showing up repeatedly is your greatest strength.
23:51
Embrace that strength for when you do, magic
23:55
happens.
23:57
I don't mean magic.
23:58
I mean, your goals happen because now they're
24:01
operating in alignment with who you are as
24:04
a person.
24:06
When you act every day, and that's in
24:11
alignment with your core values, stuff gets done.
24:17
Stuff gets done.
24:20
Number 26, guys, focus on the progress during
24:24
the hard days.
24:25
Difficult days still count just as much.
24:28
Small steps maintain forward movement.
24:33
When it's hard, doesn't mean you need to
24:35
do any more.
24:36
Just do the same amount.
24:39
Number 27, build your identity through repeated action.
24:43
Your habits will define you, whether you agree
24:46
with it or not.
24:48
What you do consistently shapes who you become
24:54
because your actions predicate what you say, how
24:58
you stand, how you react or not react.
25:02
I think that's an important thing.
25:04
A lot of you will miss that.
25:05
Number 28, guys, you ready for number 28?
25:08
Number 28's not an easy one.
25:11
Remove pressure to be perfect.
25:14
Let go of unrealistic expectations.
25:17
Let them go.
25:18
Let it fall off your back like water.
25:21
And I think when we understand those things,
25:24
our life can change.
25:27
Our life can change.
25:31
Our life can change.
25:33
Remove the pressure to be perfect.
25:37
Growth accelerates when pressure decreases.
25:45
Number 29, create momentum through small wins.
25:51
Each success fuels the next.
25:53
Momentum will continue to build, and even exponentially,
25:58
the energy and your confidence.
26:01
And you see, when your confidence builds, like
26:05
I could do anything, you don't feel tired.
26:09
You don't feel like you can't get anything
26:11
done.
26:12
These are important things, guys.
26:14
Number 30, commit to the process, not just
26:17
the result.
26:18
Stay focused on the journey.
26:20
Even if you're not getting what you want,
26:22
keep going with the journey.
26:24
Consistency and structure.
26:26
Long-term success, guys, is built through sustained
26:30
effort.
26:32
Sustained effort.
26:33
Before I close up today, this episode is
26:36
your reminder that progress does not require perfection.
26:42
It requires presence, consistency, and
26:55
you can start small, guys.
26:58
Move forward imperfectly right now and still build
27:03
something meaningful.
27:05
Just because it's not perfect doesn't mean it
27:08
can't be meaningful and valuable.
27:11
Keep showing up for yourself because that is
27:16
where real change begins.
27:18
I think when you understand that, you'll start
27:22
to understand how this evolves.
27:25
And if you're showing up for others, which
27:26
I bet you are, start showing up for
27:30
yourself.
27:32
Show yourself some love and some respect.
27:36
Ladies and gentlemen, I am John C.
27:38
Morley, serial entrepreneur, engineer, and so much more.
27:42
And I invite you to stay disciplined, to
27:44
keep growing, and take ownership up to the
27:47
next level in your life.
27:49
And when you do, you will never wanna
27:53
go back down again because the vision and
27:57
the feeling will just push you forward like
28:00
you can't believe.
28:01
Have a great one, everyone, and be well,
28:02
and check out Believeandachieve.com.
28:28
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
28:29
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪