Latest / Revolution of Purpose Podcast / Make Room for the Great

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Make Room for the Great · Revolution of Purpose Podcast

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What if the reason you haven't experienced the next level of
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your life isn't because you need to do more, but because there's something
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you need to let go of? Today, we will be exploring the vacuum
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law of prosperity and how making room for something new can
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open the door to something extraordinary. Welcome to the
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Revolution of Purpose podcast. I'm your host, John Street, and each week
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we bring you conversations with thought leaders, entrepreneurs,
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and individuals who have aligned their life with purpose and
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created extraordinary So, I'm going to live through it and accept it
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radically with grace and hope and love. I mean, I would
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be proud to be in this council. It was an honor. I had so much
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fun. Tune in every Monday for the Revolution of Purpose solo show and every
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Thursday for Revolution of Purpose Conversations.
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Welcome back to the Revolution of Purpose podcast. I'm John Streit,
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and I'm so glad that you're here with me today. So, today we're
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going to be talking about the principle that has fascinated me for a long
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time, and that is the vacuum law of prosperity.
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If you've studied prosperity consciousness before,
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particularly the teachings of Catherine Ponder, you may have
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encountered this idea. When we release the— what
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no longer serves us, we create space for something
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new. We spend so much of our lives trying to acquire more.
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We try to accomplish more, to become more, but sometimes
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the most powerful thing that we can do is release what no longer
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belongs in the life that we are creating. And here's what makes this principle
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so fascinating. It applies to far more than our
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possessions. It applies to our opportunities, our schedules,
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our beliefs, and even the way that we see ourselves.
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I want to walk you through 6 specific examples today.
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And as you listen, don't just think about what you want to bring into your
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life. Ask yourself what might be standing in the way and
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maybe it's time to let go of. So let's begin in nature.
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Imagine a garden that hasn't been tended in a while. You know,
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the weeds have taken over, the plants have spread out, the soil
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beneath them is shaded by all of that growth.
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And down in that soil, there may be seeds that have been lying dormant for
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a long time. The potential for new life is there, but the
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conditions haven't been right. Then one day you take the time to clear
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out that garden. You put on your gloves, you pull the weeds, trim the overgrowth.
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And let sunlight finally reach that ground again. With the
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right moisture and conditions, some of those seeds will begin
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to sprout. Think about that. You didn't necessarily have to even plant something
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new. You just changed the conditions for what was already
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there. I think about how that happens in our lives.
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How many dreams have we set aside because we couldn't see a way
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forward? How many gifts have we stopped using because
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life just got crowded? How many ideas have
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we been waiting patiently for our attention? If we just create
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the time to give them that focus, maybe the problem isn't that the
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potential is missing. Maybe it's buried beneath those distractions,
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the fear, the commitments that are absorbing all of our energy.
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And I wanna be careful here. Clearing a garden does not guarantee
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that every seed that was laying dormant will grow. Growth still takes care
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and time and the right conditions, but without clearing the
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space, some possibilities may never even have a chance.
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Sometimes the potential is already there. We just
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need to let the sunlight in. Here's a more everyday
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picture for you. Imagine that you've picked out a new sofa for your living room
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and you love it. You can see exactly where it belongs,
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but your old sofa is still sitting in that spot.
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So before the new one arrives, you make arrangements to move the
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old one out. I remember a story that Bob Proctor shared
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of 2 friends of his that he would go and visit them.
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And the friend's wife said, you know, I don't like to sit
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in that living room because I don't like the curtains. And Bob
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was like, you like the curtains? Fine. She's like, no, I really don't like the
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curtains. And he said, well, then why do you still have them? And all of
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a sudden, he said his friend's looking at him like, what are you about to
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do? Is my wife about to start spending some money? And so Bob tells her,
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if you didn't like the curtains, you would take them down. And then you would
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be sitting in a room without curtains, which means you would find new ones and
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put them back up. And so that's what they did. They took down those curtains,
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they sat in the room without curtains until she found the one she wanted.
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And finally, she stopped accepting something that she didn't like
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and changed it with something that she really enjoyed. And then
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that meant that they started using that room again, they started hosting
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people in that room again, because she actually liked the environment. And going
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back to the sofa analogy, here's the important part. There might
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not be anything wrong with the old sofa. It could be comfortable.
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It could be familiar. It could be part of your home for years. You don't
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have to hate it to release it. You can appreciate
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what something has meant in your life and still recognize that that
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season is over, that it's time to change. And of course,
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that applies to more than furniture. We can be grateful
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for a chapter of our lives without insisting that it become the whole story.
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And that brings us to a more challenging example.
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One of the greatest obstacles of an extraordinary life can be
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a perfectly acceptable one. Let that sink in a minute.
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So sometimes what holds us back isn't something terrible, it's something
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good. A good job. It's fine. A good opportunity.
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Oh, that's fine. A routine that works well. Ah,
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that's fine. A role that we've learned to play well.
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You know what? It's fine. And because it's good, because it's
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fine, we feel almost guilty imagining something different.
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Maybe you've been offered an opportunity that looks great
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on paper, but something in you knows that it doesn't align with where you're
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headed. Or maybe you're in a position that once challenged you and now
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just keeps you comfortably repeating what you already know.
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The question isn't, is this good? Is this
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fine? The question is, is this right for
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the person I am becoming? Of course, I'm not
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suggesting that you abandon all your responsibilities and make impulsive decisions.
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Discernment matters. Sometimes the wise choice is to stay,
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to prepare and make a thoughtful transition. But I do want
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to challenge the assumption that gratitude requires us to stay where we are.
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Sometimes we hold on to something not because it
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is right for our future, but because we're used to it. And so we
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decide we're gonna stay grateful for it and bloom where we're planted
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with no even possibility of the thought of moving
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forward, all because we owe an allegiance to what it meant to our past,
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but not a plan for how it can be incorporated into our
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future. Gratitude does not require us to remain exactly
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who we are or where we are. You can honor the opportunity
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that brought you this far, and still make room for the opportunity that
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takes you further. Now let's talk about something almost all of us
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can relate to, and that is just being busy in general. Have you ever had
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a day when you worked from morning until night, you checked
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things off your list, you answered messages, you handled problems, and at the end of
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the day you realized you had really not done anything that moved the closer— moved
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the needle closer to where you wanted to be in your life? Being busy
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is not the same thing as moving forward.
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Imagine someone who was always dreaming about writing a book
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and they leave a message worth sharing. You know, they know that
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they have this idea inside of them that they need to get out.
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They even know what the first chapter might be about. But whenever someone asks
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about it, they say, I just don't have time. Well, maybe their schedule really
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is demanding, but suppose that they look carefully and
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find a few commitments that they could step away from. Maybe 30 minutes
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of habitual scrolling that could replace with writing. Suddenly the
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dream has a place to live in their calendar.
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30 minutes a day might not sound like much, but it's 30 minutes
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of showing up with focused action toward their goal of writing a
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book. And that matters. This is where the vacuum law becomes practical
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in our everyday. If every hour is already claimed,
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a meaningful new pursuit needs an intentional place to
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live. Maybe you don't need more time. Maybe you need to reclaim some of that
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time that you're giving to things that no longer align with your purpose.
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And sometimes that means saying no to something perfectly good
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so that you can say yes to something deeply meaningful.
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And I want to take this principle deeper because the most important space
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that we create may not be in our home or in our calendar. It may
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be in our understanding of our own identity. Imagine someone who
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has always described themselves as shy. Maybe they were the
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quiet kid growing up. Maybe they had an embarrassing experience speaking in
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front of a class. Somewhere along the way, they began saying,
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I'm just not someone who speaks in front of people. Years later,
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they realize they have a message that they want to share. They want
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to use your voice. They want to lead. They want to teach. They want to
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inspire, maybe even stand on a stage.
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But each time an opportunity appears, that familiar voice returns.
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That's not who you are. You are not a speaker. You've always been
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shy. Those are the cards that you were dealt. You're too introverted.
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They can take classes, they can practice their delivery,
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they can learn wonderful speaking techniques, and those things matter.
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But they also have to question that old story that says their past
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is a permanent definition of their future. Please pardon this
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interruption to your podcast episode. This will not take but a minute. Before we continue,
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I want to ask you something. Do you know that you're capable of more,
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but your life right now just isn't fully reflecting the person you
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know you can become? Then I want to personally invite you to schedule a Shift
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Mindset call with me. This Shift Mindset experience
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is something that I created to help you identify one decision
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that you can make that will shift your life. And when I say that this
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is a call with me, I mean exactly that. This is a
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live, one-on-one, personal call between
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you and I. This is not prerecorded. This is not a member of my
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team. It is you and I having a real coaching conversation about your life.
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And it does not cost you any money. It is a 45-minute exchange
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of time. I'll give you 30 minutes of my best mindset coaching to help
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you identify a decision that will create a real shift in your life.
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And in exchange, I just ask you give me about 15 minutes to show
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you the coaching experiences that I offer. There's no obligation,
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but there is an opportunity to create a meaningful shift
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in your life just from this call. You can schedule yours today
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at johnstreet.org. Just click on the button that says schedule
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your shift call. And also, if this podcast is helping you,
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please subscribe, please like, and please share it.
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Every time you do that, every time you engage, you are helping to spread this
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message and inspire someone else to create their best life through
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also living their own revolution of purpose. Now let's get you
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back to the Revolution of Purpose podcast. One of the principles that I teach
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is be it and you will see it. And that doesn't mean pretending
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that you already have every skill. It means beginning to relate
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to yourself as someone capable of learning and growing and acting
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from that new identity. A person who is becoming a speaker
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starts speaking. Even if their voice shakes at first.
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A person who is becoming a leader starts making decisions even
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before they feel completely confident. And each time they take
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that action, they gather the evidence that the old
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story was never the whole truth. What if the greatest
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thing you need to release isn't something that you own, something you
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do, or somewhere you work? What if the greatest thing that you need to release
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is actually an outdated belief that you hold about who
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you are. There's one more thing that many of us hold tightly to, and that
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is our need to control exactly how life unfolds.
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And I totally understand this. It is human nature. We want
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to control it. But there is a difference between manifesting
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and controlling. Maybe you have a goal that you've been working toward
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for years, and you've pictured the opportunity, the people that are going
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to be involved, the exact sequence of events that will get you there.
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Having that vision is powerful. And you know, I believe in
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clear goals, writing them down, imagining what is possible,
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taking purposeful action. But sometimes we become
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so attached to the one route that we
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think will get us to our goals that we stop noticing other possible
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roads to get us there. What if the opportunity that you've been hoping for arrives
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in a form you never even What if the person who opens the door
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isn't the person you expected to open the door? It isn't that
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client that you've been trying to convince to work with you.
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What if the path forward requires a different first step
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than what you've planned, or a different fifth step, or a different tenth
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step? Here's the distinction that I want you to remember: be committed
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to the destination, but remain open to
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how you get there. Releasing control does not mean becoming
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passive. It means doing your part without demanding that
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every person, event, outcome, and the universe
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as a whole conforms to your exact script. You can
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pursue a vision with discipline and still remain curious.
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You can take bold action, but still leave room for
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surprise. Sometimes what we realize isn't the dream. It's our insistence
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that the dream must happen in only one way. Here's what
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I want you to understand about prosperity. It isn't simply about
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accumulating money or possessions. It's about experiencing abundance
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in the areas of life that matter to you most.
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It's not just about money. Prosperity is about
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relationships. Abundance is about your peace,
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your opportunities, your joy, your purpose. And the vacuum law
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of prosperity isn't just some promise that if you throw
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something away, something better will magically appear tomorrow. It's instead an
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invitation to live with intention. To notice
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what is consuming your attention and to create conditions
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in which new possibilities can grow.
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And that, my friends, begins with a choice. I'd like to
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leave you today with 3 questions to consider. If you
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can write these down, that would be great. If you're driving right now, obviously you
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can write them down later. But first, what am I holding onto
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that no longer serves the purpose I am becoming? An important distinction here is
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to look at the identity of who you are as the wish fulfilled,
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as who you are as someone who is living this goal-achieved life
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you want to live. Look at it through the lens of that identity, not the
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person that got you to today, but the person you desire to be tomorrow.
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That new reality you're manifesting and creating. And then say,
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what am I holding on to that no longer serves
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that person I'm becoming? The second question: what am I
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saying yes to that is preventing me from saying yes
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to something more meaningful? Just yesterday I had someone present me
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with an opportunity and they asked me if it was something I could do.
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And I had to say no. I had to say no because the time commitment
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I knew would not be something I could do while working for my
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business, working for the speaking events that I have lined up, working for my
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coaching clients that are working with me, working for planning the next month
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or two of the podcast. Like, I'm just like, I, I know I can't commit
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to that. So I said no to that to keep room
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for the things that I'm working toward that match my identity of my wish
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fulfilled. And the third question is this: what is one thing
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that I can release today to create space
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for the life I desire? And y'all, I'm saying one thing,
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and that one thing is important because maybe that one thing is a distraction
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that you could release, or maybe it's a commitment that you've outgrown.
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Maybe it's a belief you can let go of that you've repeated for so
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long that you've now mistaken this for truth.
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You know, some things can be true about you when you were 19,
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20, 25 years old that aren't true about you when
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you're 30, 35, and 40 years old. There are things that were true
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about you as a child that are not true about you as an adult,
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and that's okay. But we can't live in that old
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truth and expect it to fit who we are in the present. I want you
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to choose one specific action that you can take this week, clear the space,
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and then use that space for something that matters.
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Because making room is only the beginning. What you choose to
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nurture in that room matters because that is what you're choosing to
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get you to the life you desire to live, to the goal that you're
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desiring, to, to that, that purpose deep within you that you know is
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there for a reason. You have a light, you need to
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shine it. So choose the actions that are going to get you to that light.
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And if that means letting go of some of those old actions,
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create the room for new actions to come.
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Remember the garden that we talked about earlier? Those seeds did not suddenly
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acquire the potential to grow when the sunlight reached them. That potential
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was already there. And I wonder how much potential is already
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within you today, waiting for you to create the
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conditions for it to emerge. Maybe it's time to release
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that old belief. Maybe it's time to let go of that distraction. Maybe it's
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time to walk away from something good because you know that
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you're being called towards something great. Whatever it is, remember this: you
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don't always have to add more to your life to experience
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more from your life. Sometimes the greatest transformation begins with what
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you're finally willing to let go of that makes room for more.
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Thank you so much for tuning into this Revolution of Purpose podcast.
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I hope that you'll take these 3 questions seriously,
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and until next time, keep living your own personal
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Revolution of Purpose. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
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If this episode encouraged you, if it challenged you,
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or if it helped you see your life a little bit differently, would you do
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me a favor? Subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review,
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and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.
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Every share helps us reach more people who are searching for
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hope, purpose, and a life of greater meaning.
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And if you're ready to stop wondering what's next and start living
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with greater clarity and purpose in your own life, I would love
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to meet with you personally. Visit johnstreet.org
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right now to schedule your complimentary live purpose and clarity call
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with me. Until next time, remember, your purpose
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is not something you find. It is something you awaken to,
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and then you choose to live it. Go make today another
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step in your own revolution of purpose.