Latest / Forged In The Dark / The Woodpecker
Transcript
- Forged In The Dark: Since the dawn of time, the human race has been striving for greatness. And greatness can be achieved in any area of your life. Welcome to Forged in the Dark. I'm your host, Jamie. Let's dig in. Now there's a Michelangelo quote that is coming to my mind and I hope I don't butcher b butcher it too much. I hope I don't butcher it too much. We don't set our aim too high and fail to meet our mark. We set our aim too low and we meet our mark. And here's another one. The limits we put on ourselves are self-imposed. You say you want a different life. You say you want the results. But when it comes time to actually put in the work, you don't show up. Now I was recently having a conversation with someone about this podcast and they said, Well, how's it going? And I said, It's going good. Like it's really going good. I really feel like I'm getting my sea legs underneath me. But every time I say that I mess something up or, the ⁓ put a an episode that I don't love. ⁓ But to get good at anything in life, you have to put in the reps. And it's not about being perfect, it's about showing up I ⁓ I ⁓ can tell from living my entire life. Saying, I want this, I want that, I want this, I want that, and then looking at how I was actually spending my life, I know exactly why I wasn't getting what I wanted. I know for certain The the purpose of ⁓ of like Forged in Dark others in the personal growth category. It is to give you additional perspectives to increase your curiosity, to increase your awareness. Now I was on my front porch. ⁓ I don't know, time is like a blur to me sometimes. I can say this was a week ago and it was a month ago, but I noticed a woodpecker. And it took it took a couple of days for me to actually capture this woodpeck pecker by by getting a picture or and then ultimately a video. But I I was so curious about the woodpecker that I that I did some digging, I did some research. And and there's so many misconceptions. Because ⁓ When you think about the I don't know about you, but when I think about the woodpecker, I think of Woody Woodpecker. And I think of Looney Tunes. It's Looney Tunes. I hope I got the I hope I got the cartoon right. But I watched this woodpecker and I started thinking about its head. And I started thinking about the impact. And and and as I dug into the research, woodpeckers are just designed to do what they do. And and and a woodpecker never just aimlessly pecks. And it's actually fascinating because woodpeckers have different kinds of pecking. When they peck on objects like windows or gutters or impenetrable surfaces, they are literally pecking for the pure enjoyment of the noise, like make a joyful noise. There there's something to be learned there because we need things in our lives to be joyful about, right? Make what what makes you or or what what things in your life ⁓ make you exclaim like with a joyful noise? ⁓ I'm I'm just thinking of these tiny little baby woodpeckers that have been knocking on my windows since I lived in this house and I didn't know they were baby woodpeckers until just the other day. And it all makes sense in hindsight. But as I got as I as I got deeper in the research with the woodpeckers, like, okay, so they have the joyful noise pecking, and they have the very intentional food scavenging, food seeking. And and this is where it really gets good because they hear what's underneath the bark, what can't Be seen. They don't just peck aimlessly hoping to get the the insects inside the tree. They know they're there and they trust they're there. And when they peck, their head acts like a hammer. And here's probably the best part, the most fascinating part. Their beaks often get stuck. And when their beaks get stuck, They they are designed to work autonomously. So when they get stuck, they don't freak out. They don't go into the stress response. They don't stop breathing. Like it would be like ooh, ooh, like all-wheel drive car where each wheel functions on its ⁓ own. ⁓ All-wheel drive car. Cars get stuck less because if one wheel loses traction, the other doesn't. It just automatically shifts and the other wheel goes. So when the woodpecker's beak gets stuck, it literally starts moving in slow, steady, opposite movements, and then their beak comes out. They they don't have a setback from getting stuck. Woodpeckers are consistent. Woodpeckers are cons are are persistent. Woodpeckers listen to their to their intuitive nature. Woodpeckers listen to what's going on beneath the surface. and the woodpecker never says, Do I want to do this work? The woodpecker just shows up and does the work, whether someone's watching or not. ⁓ I know. ⁓ know. ⁓ The work is easier to do when you have somebody holding you accountable, when you have a paycheck attached to it, when you have an audience attached to it. But do you really want what you say you want? Or do you just think it sounds good to say you want more? And this is a this is really important. Because if you are really genuinely happy with the way your life is and you don't want more, stop pretending you do and enjoy your life to the fullest. But if you really say you want more, if you I mean, if you really want more, if you're not just saying the words, you have to expect that sometimes you're going to get stuck. You have to expect the pain and you might have to adjust your aim. But just like the woodpecker, the woodpecker doesn't give up because it knows the insects are there underneath the surface. The woodpecker doesn't always just peck for insects. It pecks to make a joyful noise. And I cannot let this episode go without coming to the undeniable fact that if you are listening to this show or any other show to decipher hidden meaning you're for wrong reasons. Okay, I feel like I went a little bit o around the around the way. But If you really want your life to change, what can you learn from the woodpecker? Not all pecking is to get the end result, the insect. Some pecking is just for fun. You are designed for the work, just like the woodpecker. The head is designed to be the hammer. You are designed for this work. And and and and And the idea wouldn't be inside of you if there wasn't a real good solid reason. But today I beg of you, get honest with yourself. Either show up and do the work for the results you want, or at least tell yourself the truth. Okay, until next time. Bye.