Latest / Passing The Torch with Martin Foster / Ep. 40: Sydney Sullivan | Seizing the Day with Two INCH Decisions

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Ep. 40: Sydney Sullivan | Seizing the Day with Two INCH Decisions · Passing The Torch with Martin Foster

• 0:00
  Martin Foster: Do not pray for an easy life.
• 0:01
  Martin Foster: Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one, Bruce Lee.
• 0:07
  Martin Foster: My guest on this episode of Passing the Torch is Sydney Sullivan, host of Maximize the Moment Podcast.
• 0:13
  Martin Foster: Maximize the Moment is about maximizing what is inside you and expounding on all the moments every day in your life.
• 0:21
  Martin Foster: I first met Sydney in August at a conference.
• 0:24
  Martin Foster: He is very passionate about his own podcast and using his platform to inspire others.
• 0:30
  Martin Foster: One of the reasons I started my podcast Passing the Torch, is to help lift others.
• 0:34
  Martin Foster: Podcaster, author of two books, speaker and Athlete.
• 0:38
  Martin Foster: Without further ado, passing the Torch with Sydney Sullivan starts now.
• 0:42
  Martin Foster: You see this big smile on your face and I'm liking it, Sydney.
• 2:29
  Martin Foster: I'm liking it, man.
• 2:31
  Sydney Sullivan: I'm loving the opening quote.
• 2:32
  Sydney Sullivan: That's.
• 2:33
  Sydney Sullivan: That's something you get motivated off and off the rip.
• 2:36
  Sydney Sullivan: So yeah, I'm excited.
• 2:37
  Sydney Sullivan: I didn't know where you're gonna go with it, but that's exciting.
• 2:40
  Sydney Sullivan: That is Bruce Lee.
• 2:42
  Martin Foster: I can appreciate that when just felt I don't know if it called me.
• 2:56
  Martin Foster: You know I was thinking like this just seems fitting for for you.
• 3:00
  Martin Foster: I'm excited you hear me.
• 3:01
  Martin Foster: I think we're driving down and I appreciate the fact that you took a lot of initiative at AFSA last month and that's really how this started.
• 3:09
  Martin Foster: Was just you taking initiative and following through?
• 3:12
  Sydney Sullivan: and yeah, man just just props to you.
• 3:13
  Sydney Sullivan: No, thank you for the opportunity, first and foremost, as well as everybody that's that's out there that has supported civilian military family, but that's what it's all about is about initiative and being proactive.
• 3:28
  Sydney Sullivan: There's nothing but airing opportunity out here in the world, and if you don't step into it, no one's gonna do that for you.
• 3:33
  Sydney Sullivan: And so, besides the airing opportunity, it's about the partnerships, and so it took me a long time to learn that.
• 3:39
  Sydney Sullivan: You know that you were taught to strive for success, and Simon Sinek talks about there's, there's all these, these, all these self-help books in the library, but there's there's no section on on helping others, and so, and so once you, once you realize that I think my cup gets filled more with stepping in the gap for others and using the gifts that God has given me and how I can move that in that in humility, as well as get with other people that have great gifts and understand where my blind spots are, so that so I could be edified in the process love it.
• 4:14
  Martin Foster: I think that segway is perfectly into your podcast.
• 4:17
  Martin Foster: So please discuss, and just what you're doing.
• 4:19
  Martin Foster: Please discuss.
• 4:20
  Martin Foster: Maximize the moment yeah.
• 4:22
  Sydney Sullivan: So MTM, or maximize the moment, is a nonprofit that myself kept.
• 4:28
  Sydney Sullivan: Pastor Kevin Hill, evelyn Hernandez, ricardo Valdez, danny Cox, all these people they help.
• 4:34
  Sydney Sullivan: So it's not just a me thing although I'm in, I'm on the face of it, but we do podcasts, we have books, but it's all about John 330.
• 4:43
  Sydney Sullivan: So he must become more, I must become less.
• 4:45
  Sydney Sullivan: That's the foundational thing.
• 4:46
  Sydney Sullivan: So God must become more, and then he'll bring more out of me the more that I raise him up the second level to that, the second tier that most people hear about, that is actually maximize the moment.
• 4:56
  Sydney Sullivan: Every moment not maximizes a moment minimized.
• 4:59
  Sydney Sullivan: So taking advantage of every opportunity that's out there, whether that's interpersonal relationships, striving to get better for personal growth, setting a growth mindset, developing others, all these things that we've done, from prison ministry to actually giving away scholarships at schools, any way that God calls us to step in the gap, we're gonna do that, and so it's a team effort.
• 5:19
  Sydney Sullivan: Like I said, I am the face of that company, but we're always looking at bringing more people in, because it's about maximizing the opportunity together and how we can go further, faster, together.
• 5:30
  Sydney Sullivan: So that's what it's all about.
• 5:33
  Sydney Sullivan: So you can reach me on the podcast.
• 5:34
  Sydney Sullivan: You can see us on YouTube, but a lot of people know me from the social media and the motivation and the inspiration.
• 5:40
  Sydney Sullivan: But what we try to get to is, in this information age, going past the information to the application was leased, to the transformation which leads to us where we need to go what did you say again?
• 5:50
  Martin Foster: if you don't max, if you don't max a moment, you minimize every moment not maximizes, a moment minimize yeah, that's, that's really good.
• 5:57
  Martin Foster: And I think I mean, before we start recording, we were talking about how sometimes maybe the best things that didn't happen for you or to you are actually the best things that may happen to you and, in a way, I wrote down some notes because over the past month we've been texting back and forth, throwing around a few topics.
• 6:25
  Martin Foster: I live in an age now where people are just kind of like thinking.
• 6:27
  Martin Foster: Sometimes it's about hey, I need to get mine or I need to make sure I'm good first.
• 6:31
  Martin Foster: I want you to please expand on pouring in the cup of others.
• 6:36
  Sydney Sullivan: Yeah, so, very simply, I had a boss, a two star admiral, who described this practice for me and he kind of put this in a nutshell right, so as we're junior, people pour into our cups, and as we grow, we grow, we pour into our cups.
• 6:50
  Sydney Sullivan: We recline for more information, we're calling for more knowledge, and in between we start leading people right.
• 6:55
  Sydney Sullivan: But then, as we get to a certain point, right, our cups should be overflowing, and when that overflows, it should be falling down into the others.
• 7:03
  Sydney Sullivan: We should be given back.
• 7:04
  Sydney Sullivan: And so, to summarize, right, most 20 year successes are our most one night successes are 20 years in the making, and we should always be planting seeds for the shade of trees that we'll never sit under.
• 7:16
  Sydney Sullivan: And so, at the end of the day, that's what carries on.
• 7:20
  Sydney Sullivan: I'm big on degenerational wealth, and I don't mean that just like in a financial wealth, I mean like development and growth.
• 7:26
  Sydney Sullivan: So how can I carry the ball forward so that my son, my daughter, that person, that airman, that sailor, that marine, that whoever can carry the torch, pass the torch forward right and carry the ball forward.
• 7:38
  Sydney Sullivan: So I'm big in the pouring into others, because those are legacy is now just what you leave behind, but what others can accomplish because of you.
• 7:45
  Sydney Sullivan: And so how can I leave the bricks, how can I leave no stone on turn, so that other people don't have to do that work and they can propel them faster and further?
• 8:02
  Martin Foster: Brett 744, my guy.
• 8:07
  Sydney Sullivan: I'm excited.
• 8:07
  Sydney Sullivan: I'm excited to be here and that's probably where he gets.
• 8:09
  Sydney Sullivan: I get amped up Like you got this hair sailor or whatever Ferris wheel in the background.
• 8:12
  Sydney Sullivan: I love it.
• 8:13
  Sydney Sullivan: I think it's in the shot.
• 8:15
  Martin Foster: No, it's great, but it's like the banners, whatever we see on Facebook, where people post like a yellow banner but have some like motivational quote, so big shout out to Josh, absolutely.
• 8:36
  Martin Foster: Or with ourselves sometimes, right, and I'm often in the past negative with myself and my thoughts.
• 8:56
  Martin Foster: But as I started meditating and focusing on hey, here's some of the negative thoughts I had I would give myself, like here's two positive affirmations like hey, you changed four flat tires today.
• 9:10
  Martin Foster: Right, or just something like that.
• 9:12
  Martin Foster: Just because we, your dialogue that ignites a success mindset, because, like to me, you come across as someone who has a very positive mindset which drives your outward, the inner mindset which drives your outward success.
• 9:36
  Sydney Sullivan: Okay.
• 9:36
  Sydney Sullivan: So I think that's a very deep question.
• 9:39
  Sydney Sullivan: There's a lot of reflection in that question, so I'm very sensitive to that and what comes to mind and it's not in my notes, but it comes to mind immediately is this I'll share a story with you, and everybody knows I like talk through stories.
• 9:51
  Sydney Sullivan: So there was this young man.
• 9:54
  Sydney Sullivan: He wanted to go out trick or treating with his brothers and his parents told him no, he was too young, and the young man got extremely angry, extremely angry.
• 10:02
  Sydney Sullivan: He ran outside through the door and he punched a tree and he was punching this tree until his knuckles bleeding.
• 10:08
  Sydney Sullivan: Well, young man comes back inside, he goes upstairs and obviously he's upset, he's physically upset, he's crying, he's just in tears and his mother comes upstairs and she shares a Bible verse with him, and the Bible verse is he that conquers the city.
• 10:25
  Sydney Sullivan: He that conquers his soul is greater than one that conquers a city.
• 10:30
  Sydney Sullivan: And so that young man grew up to be Dwight Eisenhower and going into World War II that was actually one of his reflection points was that that verse.
• 10:41
  Sydney Sullivan: And so how can we conquer our souls on a daily basis?
• 10:44
  Sydney Sullivan: What are those things that I need to get over there?
• 10:46
  Sydney Sullivan: Where are those generational gaps?
• 10:47
  Sydney Sullivan: Where are those?
• 10:48
  Sydney Sullivan: Sometimes we connect the dots, looking forward, by looking backward.
• 10:51
  Sydney Sullivan: So we look back at the generational gaps, we look at the things that maybe our parents accomplished or our relatives or whoever is within our line, that support system or maybe not support system, maybe you don't have anything there.
• 11:01
  Sydney Sullivan: And then where are the first steps, incrementally, that can take to move forward?
• 11:05
  Sydney Sullivan: The Bible verse that I cling to is just as the water reflects the face, so does one's heart reflect your life, so motives shape perceptions with shape behaviors.
• 11:15
  Sydney Sullivan: So I believe deeply that our motives and our actions and behaviors are driven from what's in our heart, from what's in our why.
• 11:22
  Sydney Sullivan: And so understanding your purpose, understanding your why, understanding why you're here on this planet, understanding why you're doing certain actions, why you react to certain situations, is super huge.
• 11:32
  Sydney Sullivan: So self-awareness is curative curative in terms of putting things in order in your life and curative in terms of healing.
• 11:39
  Sydney Sullivan: So the more self-awareness I can get, the more than I can step in the gap with others and then pour into the cup of others.
• 11:46
  Martin Foster: I love it, man.
• 11:47
  Martin Foster: How many podcasts have you done?
• 11:48
  Sydney Sullivan: You know what?
• 11:49
  Sydney Sullivan: I think we're somewhere over 200.
• 11:51
  Sydney Sullivan: Yourself and Josh are the first invitations that I've actually taken.
• 11:58
  Martin Foster: Maximize the moment.
• 11:58
  Martin Foster: I know I mean, yeah, you guys have had a ton of.
• 12:01
  Martin Foster: I saw them.
• 12:01
  Martin Foster: It was definitely like I think 254 or something like that.
• 12:04
  Martin Foster: When I looked it up, I know it's definitely over 200.
• 12:06
  Martin Foster: But yeah, like guest wise, that's what I meant to ask you.
• 12:09
  Sydney Sullivan: So guest wise?
• 12:10
  Sydney Sullivan: No, so I'll speak.
• 12:11
  Sydney Sullivan: Like I said, I'll go to prisons, I'll go to ALS and I'll do all kinds of speaking.
• 12:16
  Sydney Sullivan: But as far as like podcasts, there have been people that have reached out but after, like, looking at Josh, looking at yourself, what you stand for, and that's why I kind of poke and prod, because we got to be principle driven, we got to be value driven and those principles are going to draw practices, so all the activities in which we follow through, and so I can appreciate shout out to Josh here in front, I appreciate the activities and stuff he's involved.
• 12:40
  Sydney Sullivan: I'll shout out to you, martin, because and that's why I say I'm super grateful and appreciative I think we share in the same value system as well as pouring into others, and so if we can highlight each other and edify each other, then I'm all about it and moving forward together, get your message out to more people.
• 13:05
  Martin Foster: You're doing successful things.
• 13:06
  Martin Foster: I mean it's, it's cool to see man Like, and I love the photo art that you had you have the hat on and you're like Superman, it looks I was like that's how I feel.
• 13:17
  Sydney Sullivan: I feel like I'm breaking out, but I want it to be value added.
• 13:20
  Sydney Sullivan: Right, I never want to be one just to talk, just to talk, and so that's part of stepping in a gap.
• 13:25
  Sydney Sullivan: Sometimes listening is learning, and when we were at ASSA, the Navy chief he was talking to the command chief he was talking about be a learn it all, not a know it all.
• 13:34
  Sydney Sullivan: So the more that we can learn from each other, the more we can grow, and then, when it's time to speak, then we'll speak.
• 13:39
  Martin Foster: Yeah, I remember that as well.
• 13:40
  Martin Foster: Isom, I think, is this name and my career filled, Some active duty military, my career filled.
• 13:46
  Martin Foster: There's a lot of know-it-alls and I'm like all right team, like we got to settle down.
• 13:50
  Martin Foster: Man, like not everyone knows everything, something else you know.
• 13:54
  Martin Foster: You'd send me some show notes, but there's a couple.
• 13:56
  Martin Foster: I had some topics that was like how can I incorporate the two?
• 13:59
  Martin Foster: When you feel focused and overwhelmed, what do you do to kind of reset and regain, like your momentum?
• 14:08
  Sydney Sullivan: So if I'm feeling off, then I usually know that I'm not moving in ruthless prioritization.
• 14:13
  Sydney Sullivan: So that was something one of my mentors has taught me like ruthless prioritization.
• 14:17
  Sydney Sullivan: We talked about work-life balance and all these things.
• 14:19
  Sydney Sullivan: I love what Jim Collins, who wrote Good to Great and Build to Last right.
• 14:23
  Sydney Sullivan: I listened to him.
• 14:24
  Sydney Sullivan: He did like an impromptu video, but he was talking about harmony, but in a percentage-wise right.
• 14:30
  Sydney Sullivan: So 50% of his day is dedicated to innovation and his job and whatnot, and 20% of his day is dedicated to his family.
• 14:37
  Sydney Sullivan: 10% of that is managing white noise, and then the other 30% or 20% or whatever is left, is dedicated to creativity.
• 14:45
  Sydney Sullivan: And so if I know that I'm off or I'm feeling off tent like, where am I overcompensating?
• 14:50
  Sydney Sullivan: In one of those buckets?
• 14:51
  Sydney Sullivan: Like, am I not spending enough time with family?
• 14:55
  Sydney Sullivan: Am I not spending enough time in the word in the morning or reading books that are going to edify me?
• 14:59
  Sydney Sullivan: Am I not having meaningful conversations?
• 15:01
  Sydney Sullivan: Am I just go, go, go, go, go.
• 15:03
  Sydney Sullivan: So understanding, if I look at your checkbook and your calendar, then I know what you value, right, wherever you spend your money and wherever you spend your time, I know what you value.
• 15:13
  Sydney Sullivan: So where am I spending my money and where am I spending my time, and then reflecting on that, and that really will provide the answers that I need as far as where I'm spending my time.
• 15:21
  Sydney Sullivan: So so I don't make any money from this podcast.
• 15:24
  Martin Foster: And I think when I did my outro for I did episode with Chad Goff, a chief master, chad Van Cleave I got us to give other people an opportunity and connect and share a message.
• 15:53
  Martin Foster: So I spent a lot of money on podcasts and quit.
• 15:56
  Martin Foster: I do like it.
• 15:58
  Martin Foster: That's always fun when my wife sees a new Amazon box at the front door Separate from that, I love.
• 16:06
  Martin Foster: I'm an eater, so I love to eat.
• 16:08
  Martin Foster: I work out so I can eat and.
• 16:11
  Martin Foster: But I love having a garage gym and I've spent a lot of money For the 15 years or so since I've had one.
• 16:16
  Martin Foster: But I sent you a video.
• 16:17
  Martin Foster: That's right, arnold was in the gym, arnold was in the gym.
• 16:21
  Sydney Sullivan: Yeah, I'm a big gym guy too and that's kind of shifted.
• 16:23
  Sydney Sullivan: I definitely have played athletics all over the world and stuff like that.
• 16:27
  Sydney Sullivan: So that was always kind of a stressful leaf, but I think more is.
• 16:31
  Sydney Sullivan: I'm in this season of learning and growing.
• 16:34
  Sydney Sullivan: One thing I like to share with people is obviously never let life happen to you.
• 16:39
  Sydney Sullivan: And so where does that come from?
• 16:40
  Sydney Sullivan: Is life was happening to me when I was at Scott Air Force Base and I was managing things, shout out to the MDT that was there at that time and the leadership at that time.
• 16:50
  Sydney Sullivan: But I was working all these long hours and we're trying to pilot a program and try to do new things and I was like I'm not getting my gym time in, right, I'm not de-stressing, I'm not getting that you stress, that I need.
• 17:00
  Sydney Sullivan: And so I decided to get up very early in the morning, just like you talked about 4am, right, and I was getting up at 4am and I would go to the 24 seven gym at Scott.
• 17:09
  Sydney Sullivan: And for the first two weeks I was kind of disoriented.
• 17:13
  Sydney Sullivan: I didn't really lift in the morning, I really wasn't paying attention to my environment.
• 17:17
  Sydney Sullivan: But after that two weeks, and that ambiguity cleared, I started seeing who was in the gym, and it was the wing commander, and it was a trans count commander and it was the chief, and it was these people that were the top 1% According to our military structure.
• 17:31
  Sydney Sullivan: And so it made me think a lot about how I orient my mornings.
• 17:36
  Sydney Sullivan: And so one thing I like to like, I like to tell young airmen or people in general start your day before you start your day.
• 17:44
  Sydney Sullivan: So I'm big on reading or working out in the morning, but I preferably like read the Bible, and then I read something that is going to help me learn, whether it's on the business side, cyber side, whatever the case is, and if I can get a workout in, cool.
• 17:55
  Sydney Sullivan: But I start my day before my start my day.
• 17:58
  Sydney Sullivan: I always like start edifying my mind or putting something that's going to challenge me at first, and then, by the time I'm stepping into work, I'm already locked and loaded and they're like what was this guy coming from?
• 18:08
  Sydney Sullivan: Well, I started two, three hours ago, right, and so there's a method to that.
• 18:13
  Sydney Sullivan: Like I said, in the 1% we're in the gym and if, if I was like, what's the delta?
• 18:17
  Sydney Sullivan: And so they were starting their day, they got their days are just full, chock full of their calendars and stuff, right, and so that's one tip I would give people is don't let life happen to you.
• 18:27
  Sydney Sullivan: Start your day before you start your day, and you'll be ready to go.
• 18:30
  Martin Foster: But I do legs on Monday and Monday mornings right.
• 18:34
  Martin Foster: So there's something about squats on a Monday, but it it sucks.
• 18:39
  Martin Foster: But it makes the rest of the week easier, because that to me is going to be one of the hardest things, especially I live in Ohio and the winter time it gets cold.
• 18:47
  Sydney Sullivan: Much like Maryland right.
• 18:48
  Martin Foster: But man doing squats on a Monday morning when it's, you know, 25 degrees outside, but I felt like it just makes me tougher.
• 18:55
  Sydney Sullivan: I love it.
• 18:55
  Sydney Sullivan: Yeah, mark Twain says eat the frog.
• 18:57
  Sydney Sullivan: Right, that's right, he sure.
• 18:59
  Sydney Sullivan: Yeah, that's right.
• 18:59
  Sydney Sullivan: The hardest part.
• 19:04
  Martin Foster: I'm like Clever Lane and Rocky three doing like pull ups on the beam and I'm training.
• 19:06
  Martin Foster: I'm proud of you, man.
• 19:06
  Martin Foster: I think this is the blossom of a new friendship relationship.
• 19:11
  Martin Foster: A year from now, we're going to meet up.
• 19:15
  Martin Foster: I want you to think about this.
• 19:16
  Martin Foster: Okay, so a year from now, we'll both be at AFSA, or maybe AFA next year.
• 19:20
  Martin Foster: We're celebrating, we're, we're having a enjoying steak.
• 19:25
  Martin Foster: All right, what's your?
• 19:26
  Martin Foster: What's your go to?
• 19:28
  Sydney Sullivan: I'm a big pizza and wings guy.
• 19:30
  Martin Foster: Okay, we're we're having pizza and wings.
• 19:32
  Martin Foster: We're we're super excited.
• 19:34
  Martin Foster: It's, it's a joyous occasion.
• 19:38
  Martin Foster: We're celebrating yeah, all right, what a year from now?
• 19:43
  Martin Foster: What are we celebrating?
• 19:44
  Sydney Sullivan: How we got 365% better Ooh.
• 19:47
  Martin Foster: That's good.
• 19:48
  Sydney Sullivan: That's it, 1% every day.
• 19:50
  Sydney Sullivan: Chris Nickick, that's my man.
• 19:52
  Sydney Sullivan: I don't know if you've heard the story, chris Nickick, that's my guy.
• 19:54
  Sydney Sullivan: So, chris Nickick, so have you?
• 19:58
  Sydney Sullivan: You've heard of the Iron man Marathon?
• 19:59
  Sydney Sullivan: Of course you have.
• 20:00
  Sydney Sullivan: Yeah, so athlete, right, athlete.
• 20:02
  Sydney Sullivan: Iron man is obviously one of the toughest competitions that is out there, besides for David Goggins, right, cause he just kills everything but he's not human.
• 20:11
  Sydney Sullivan: He takes souls, like if you've heard his book.
• 20:13
  Sydney Sullivan: But yeah, chris, nick.
• 20:15
  Sydney Sullivan: So back to the Iron man.
• 20:16
  Sydney Sullivan: Yeah, 112 mile bike ride, two mile swim, 26 mile run.
• 20:21
  Sydney Sullivan: Chris Nickick was the first person with downstreams room to complete the Iron man and he did this in 16 hours.
• 20:29
  Sydney Sullivan: He gets to the end of the run, everybody's cheering and they're like, hey, what are you going to do next, chris?
• 20:35
  Sydney Sullivan: And he's like I'm going to get 1% better.
• 20:37
  Sydney Sullivan: That's his.
• 20:39
  Sydney Sullivan: Why is every day I'm going to get 1% better.
• 20:42
  Sydney Sullivan: So we're going to meet here at AFA and another beautiful view next year.
• 20:46
  Sydney Sullivan: And how did we get 365% better?
• 20:50
  Sydney Sullivan: How did?
• 20:51
  Sydney Sullivan: Every day we took that incremental step to get better and better, and better and better, and so we're celebrating 365%.
• 20:58
  Martin Foster: better, it might be the name of this episode.
• 21:01
  Martin Foster: Hey, wrapping up, I have some miscellaneous questions.
• 21:05
  Martin Foster: There's no rhyme or reason.
• 21:06
  Martin Foster: I just I'd like to have fun.
• 21:08
  Martin Foster: I like to ask these on podcasts and I do switch them up.
• 21:11
  Martin Foster: What's a random question you would ask at dinner to a?
• 21:16
  Sydney Sullivan: stranger.
• 21:17
  Sydney Sullivan: I ran the question that I would ask a dinner a guest at strange what would be something random, I don't know, I'm really so.
• 21:32
  Sydney Sullivan: Right now it's football season.
• 21:33
  Sydney Sullivan: What's your favorite football team?
• 21:35
  Martin Foster: Okay, let me switch it up on you.
• 21:38
  Martin Foster: You're having a dinner party and the entree, or entrees, are pizza and wings.
• 21:43
  Martin Foster: But it's real classy dinner party.
• 21:44
  Martin Foster: You can invite five guests, past or present.
• 21:48
  Martin Foster: Who are they?
• 21:50
  Sydney Sullivan: Jesus Gandhi MLK, my father and.
• 22:01
  Martin Foster: Winston Churchill.
• 22:01
  Martin Foster: I quote him a lot, winston Churchill.
• 22:05
  Martin Foster: So yeah that's good.
• 22:07
  Martin Foster: In the last five years, what new belief or habit besides the 1% gym?
• 22:13
  Martin Foster: What new belief or habit has most improved your life?
• 22:18
  Sydney Sullivan: That's a tough one because there are so many.
• 22:20
  Sydney Sullivan: Right now I'm locked into the domino.
• 22:32
  Sydney Sullivan: You probably heard the domino speech already, but yeah, I'm locked into the two inch decision.
• 22:38
  Sydney Sullivan: That's changed my life Incremental decisions, and so Don't know if you want me to share the story or not.
• 22:45
  Sydney Sullivan: But okay, all right, we can get into it.
• 22:47
  Sydney Sullivan: That's, it's one of my friend.
• 22:48
  Sydney Sullivan: You know what I brought you a domino.
• 22:50
  Sydney Sullivan: I didn't plan on telling this story, but I brought it because I figured we may talk to it, man.
• 22:56
  Martin Foster: Thank you for this.
• 22:57
  Martin Foster: I've heard about this.
• 22:58
  Martin Foster: Josh told me about this.
• 22:59
  Sydney Sullivan: He taught you yeah, all right, we're gonna get it is.
• 23:02
  Sydney Sullivan: It's here we go.
• 23:05
  Sydney Sullivan: So I Used to travel in South America and around the Caribbean.
• 23:10
  Sydney Sullivan: Obviously, down there they play a lot of dominoes.
• 23:13
  Sydney Sullivan: It is a part of their culture, it is ingrained within their culture and I loved it and I learned how to play dominoes from a team perspective and so there was a team aspect there, because in America we play like individually around the table.
• 23:27
  Sydney Sullivan: But my mentor said there's something interesting About a domino that is two inches in size but it can move something that's one point five times his size.
• 23:36
  Sydney Sullivan: So a two inch domino can move, a three inch domino can move a four point five inch domino, and so on and so forth.
• 23:42
  Sydney Sullivan: And so by time you get to the 26th iteration, you can actually knock over the Washington Monument.
• 23:47
  Sydney Sullivan: By time you get to the 23rd iteration, you can actually knock over the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
• 23:52
  Sydney Sullivan: By time you get to the 27th iteration, you can actually knock over the biggest building in the world, which is the Burj Khalifa.
• 24:00
  Sydney Sullivan: Have you been there?
• 24:01
  Sydney Sullivan: I've not so the Burj Khalifa is in Dubai.
• 24:03
  Sydney Sullivan: It's twice the size of the Empire State Building.
• 24:05
  Sydney Sullivan: It is so tall that you can watch the sunset from the bottom, and then you Could take the elevator all the way to the top and watch the sunset again.
• 24:12
  Sydney Sullivan: Why?
• 24:14
  Sydney Sullivan: Why am I talking about dominoes and Burj Khalifa's?
• 24:17
  Sydney Sullivan: And where's the principal?
• 24:18
  Sydney Sullivan: At Selly like?
• 24:18
  Sydney Sullivan: Where are you even going with this?
• 24:20
  Sydney Sullivan: So we all have goals and dreams and things that we cling to.
• 24:23
  Sydney Sullivan: We have big, audacious goals, things that scare us, just like that Burj Khalifa that's bigger than us.
• 24:28
  Sydney Sullivan: We have our own Burj Khalifa's, but it all started with a two inch decision.
• 24:33
  Sydney Sullivan: It all started with a little domino.
• 24:35
  Sydney Sullivan: It takes me no more than my pinky to knock over that domino, but it has exponential outcomes on everything we do.
• 24:42
  Sydney Sullivan: You can look it up on Google.
• 24:43
  Sydney Sullivan: We make tens of thousands conscious and unconscious decisions on a daily basis.
• 24:47
  Sydney Sullivan: Those are micro habits, micro decisions that we make on a daily basis, and every time I engage with my daughter, my wife, I engage with you and Josh and so many phenomenal people that would meet at AFA and ASFA Like, I'm always making a two inch decision, whether it's having an attitude of gratitude, smiling at somebody, shaking somebody's hand, just pouring into them, praying, from whatever I got to do to step in the gap with you.
• 25:10
  Sydney Sullivan: I'm making a two inch decision.
• 25:12
  Sydney Sullivan: So I always challenge somebody what is your two inch decision?
• 25:15
  Sydney Sullivan: And I keep that in my pocket every day.
• 25:16
  Sydney Sullivan: People are like why are you jingling all around in your pocket?
• 25:19
  Sydney Sullivan: Sully, why I got these dominoes to remind me that I'm always making two inch decisions.
• 25:24
  Martin Foster: But here in that story, I never thought about it like that.
• 25:26
  Martin Foster: It's the perspective and it's an, it's an excellent point.
• 25:30
  Martin Foster: I mean it's just yeah, you're right, man, that's, that's fantastic so I'll double down on the principle.
• 25:37
  Sydney Sullivan: As far as there was a man, there was a writer and he was riding by the seashore and he decided to go for a walk one day.
• 25:45
  Sydney Sullivan: And he gets out to the beach.
• 25:48
  Sydney Sullivan: He's his old man and he's he's seeing the Sun is coming up.
• 25:51
  Sydney Sullivan: But the Sun is quite not up yet.
• 25:53
  Sydney Sullivan: It's that sunrise.
• 25:54
  Sydney Sullivan: So he starts walking down the beach.
• 25:56
  Sydney Sullivan: He feels the breeze on his face but he sees a figure in the distance and he's like what's going on?
• 26:01
  Sydney Sullivan: He gets closer, he still really can't make it out.
• 26:03
  Sydney Sullivan: And he gets a little bit closer, he sees that it's a person and he sees the person is reaching down to the ground, but he just doesn't quite understand what's going on.
• 26:11
  Sydney Sullivan: And then gets closer and this young man and he's picking up starfish and he's chucking them into the ocean.
• 26:15
  Sydney Sullivan: So he gets, so he gets to the young man and he says what are you doing?
• 26:20
  Sydney Sullivan: Well, I'm, I'm trying to get as many starfish off this beach.
• 26:24
  Sydney Sullivan: And he looks down the beach and there's thousands and thousands of starfish.
• 26:27
  Sydney Sullivan: And the man says like there's no use in picking up all these starfish, you need to stop doing that.
• 26:32
  Sydney Sullivan: And the old man starts to walk away and the young man looks at him and he smiles and he picks up another starfish and he throws it into the water again and he says I may not be able to help all the starfish, but I can help this one and I can help as many as I can.
• 26:48
  Sydney Sullivan: And so that's the idea of like being selfless and stepping into the gap with others.
• 26:53
  Sydney Sullivan: I can't be captain America and save everybody, and I'm not trying to save everybody, but I can do what I can when I can and help as many as I can, as long as God gives me breath on this earth.
• 27:04
  Sydney Sullivan: It's amazing.
• 27:05
  Martin Foster: I feel like you've already, as I have one last question as a question asked on every single podcast.
• 27:11
  Martin Foster: I feel like you've already answered it, but I'll throw it up there anyway.
• 27:14
  Martin Foster: If there's a giant billboard that you could place anywhere in the world with your message on it for the world to see and read, what would your message say and where would you place the billboard?
• 27:27
  Martin Foster: Jesus, that's it.
• 27:30
  Sydney Sullivan: That's it, jesus saves as it.
• 27:32
  Sydney Sullivan: Where would you place it?
• 27:33
  Sydney Sullivan: On top of the birch cleafa.
• 27:38
  Martin Foster: I figured as much.
• 27:39
  Martin Foster: Again, just thank you.
• 27:43
  Martin Foster: I know we probably get to.
• 27:44
  Martin Foster: There's so much more.
• 27:45
  Martin Foster: This is only the first of many podcasts that we can do together, but I wanted to have you on just kind of introduce you to my audience and for us to build a connection and really just Set a stone for, you know, the house of make, the house that we're gonna build together.
• 27:59
  Martin Foster: I, you know, I'm not quite as good with the metaphors and you know phrases or quotes as you, man, but you, I respect you and it's it's awesome to see you have an infectious, positive attitude and Just next to being on my podcast, hey, people want to learn more about you.
• 28:13
  Martin Foster: Where should they check you out?
• 28:14
  Martin Foster: Where can they find you?
• 28:16
  Sydney Sullivan: So you can reach me at mtminspiration, at gmailcom.
• 28:19
  Sydney Sullivan: You can reach us at the podcast.
• 28:22
  Sydney Sullivan: You can reach us on YouTube, on mtm youtubecom.
• 28:24
  Sydney Sullivan: You can phone a friend.
• 28:26
  Sydney Sullivan: I'm the only Sydney salivating the gal.
• 28:28
  Sydney Sullivan: If you're military, uh, 703-835-2540.
• 28:32
  Sydney Sullivan: I'll hit you with some morning inspiration or try to connect with you, or however I can serve in the best way possible.
• 28:39
  Sydney Sullivan: So I'm on instagram, facebook, at sydney salivant, you'll find me, I'm there and I'll connect.
• 28:46
  Martin Foster: That concludes another episode of passing the torch.
• 28:49
  Martin Foster: Big thanks to my guest, sydney salvin.
• 28:51
  Martin Foster: If this is your first time listening to my show, here's a quick bio about me.
• 28:56
  Martin Foster: I am active duty military and I have served for 21 years.
• 29:00
  Martin Foster: I started this podcast in january 2018 because I've met so many wonderful people in my life.
• 29:05
  Martin Foster: I love meeting new people, having conversations, learning their history and sharing their story.
• 29:11
  Martin Foster: If you want to support and you enjoyed the podcast, it would mean the world to me if you could follow, rate five stars and leave a positive review on apple podcast.
• 29:20
  Martin Foster: If you are someone who listens on spotify, please follow and rate five stars on there as well.
• 29:25
  Martin Foster: If you found value in the episode, took something away from the conversation and appreciated the insight Chances are there's someone out there who may as well, so I appreciate it.
• 29:34
  Martin Foster: When you share, you can text episode to a friend and tag me and sydney salvin on social media.
• 29:39
  Martin Foster: Let me know what you were able to take away.
• 29:42
  Martin Foster: Thank you so much for spending time with me today.
• 29:44
  Martin Foster: And finally, remember vision, relate, develop, take care everyone, foster out.