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The Thief Within: Reclaiming Your Purpose · Revolution of Purpose Podcast

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Welcome to the Revolution of Purpose podcast. I'm your host,
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John Streit, and each week we bring you conversations with thought leaders,
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entrepreneurs, and individuals who have aligned their life
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with purpose and created extraordinary results. So I'm going to live
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through it and accept it radically with grace and hope and love.
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I mean, I would be proud to be in this household. It was an honor.
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I had so much fun. Tune in every Monday for the Revolution of Purpose solo
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show and every Thursday for Revolution of Purpose Conversations.
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Welcome to the Revolution of Purpose solo show. My name is John Streit,
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and I am so glad you're here with me today. I really wanna talk to
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you about something very important, and this is about the thief within,
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that voice that steals your purpose. So forget the thief in
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the alley that's trying to steal your purse. Instead, we need to pay attention
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to the thief that is in our mind who's after our purpose.
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Most people spend their lives trying to protect themselves from the thieves outside,
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And that's really important, but very few ever notice
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that there is a thief inside. And that one doesn't just want to steal your
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wallet. It steals your courage. It tries to steal your dreams,
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your calling, your confidence, your purpose. And here's
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what makes this thief so dangerous. It doesn't break into your life.
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It convinces you to hand over the keys. This isn't an episode
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about becoming more motivated. It is about becoming more liberated.
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Because I don't believe most people are trapped by their circumstances.
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I think that a lot of people are trapped by unconscious
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agreements that they have made with a version of themselves that they have
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already outgrown. That's not to say that there aren't circumstances
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that hold people back, that there aren't systems of injustice that hold
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people back. But what I do want to say is that you have so much
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more power inside yourself than maybe you realize.
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Over the last several solo episodes, we've been building something together.
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I've talked a lot about attention because what captures your attention eventually
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captures your life. We talked in one episode about your calendar because
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your calendar is writing your future. We talked about the 2 roads
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that are always before us, the fearful road and that of the Creator.
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But today I want to ask a deeper question. If you
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already know who you want to become, Why is it still so
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difficult to act like that person, to believe that
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you're that person, to literally flow in alignment
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with that person? Why is that so difficult,
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my friends? It's because the answer is the thief within.
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Let's find liberation from this thief together today. I'd like
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to show you how to shift your mindset and tap into your power
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so that this thief of your purpose loses his power.
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Here's 3 different shifts that we're going to talk about today. Shift number
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1 is from limitation to identity.
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The question that I want you to ask yourself is this: who have I been
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believing that I am? Because the thief tries to
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steal your identity before it ever tries to even steal your dreams.
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Once the thief convinces you that you're not the person
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capable of living your purpose, You believe
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you can't do it, so you stop pursuing it. We've talked a
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lot lately about the law of identity transformation and how we first
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awaken to the possibility that we can be this person.
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You know, we awaken to that identity, we become that person, then we take aligned
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action as that person and we create our new reality. Well, the same
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thing goes when we're listening to that voice in our head saying that we're
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not capable. Because then we're awakening to a false thing that we're
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not that person. And then we take aligned action of not flowing in that
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identity. And then we're creating a reality that we don't like
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around us. We have to stop pursuing that voice that's telling
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us we can't do it. We have to change our identity. And that
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happens by shifting our paradigm of thinking. That happens by identifying
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beliefs that we have that are limiting us. So many
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times we have these limiting beliefs just through programming since we were kids,
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maybe. You know, it could be something that your parents told you,
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something that your teachers taught you. Somewhere down the line, someone said,
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you are not this person. Or maybe they said, you are
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this person. You know, growing up with my parents, we weren't
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wealthy. I didn't think that bad people were wealthy
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or wealthy people were bad. What I did think was that we weren't
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wealthy people. I just didn't see myself as that. I was taught that
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that's who we were not. And so then I believed that for years until
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finally one day I realized I'm holding myself back due
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to this programming, that internal dialogue that I had
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had for years. It's what I have observed and it was what I believed
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about myself. The thief was telling me something that was not true.
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Have you ever heard of Roger Bannister? I know a lot of people probably have,
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but Roger Bannister was this amazing person
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who, who finally beat the 4-minute
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mile. So, up until Roger Bannister, every athlete believed
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you could not run a mile in under 4 minutes. The coaches
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believed it. The experts believed it. The scientists believed
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it. The doctors believed it. Everybody said, you cannot do it. It is impossible
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to beat the 4-minute mile. And yet, Roger Bannister did
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it. And then, what fascinates me is not simply that he broke
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the world record, but what happened afterwards. Suddenly,
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other runners began doing what he had done.
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Other runners began breaking that 4-minute mile. And what had
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seemed impossible became possible. And what changed?
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Was it human psychology? Somewhat. Was it human physiology?
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Not at all. Was it human belief?
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Absolutely. One of the most fascinating ideas that
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is discussed in quantum physics is the power of observation.
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And when we become aware of a new possibility, we begin perceiving
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opportunities that we couldn't see before. Roger Bannister didn't simply
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run a faster mile. He changed what people believed
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was possible. And once that belief changed, then actions
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followed. Think about the Wright brothers for a moment. The Wright brothers did
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something very similar. They didn't just simply build an airplane.
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They expanded humanity's belief about what humanity
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could even do, that we could actually take flight.
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I wonder how many 4-minute miles exist in our own
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lives, not because they're impossible, but because we've unknowingly accepted
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someone else's limits of our own. How many
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opportunities do we have to take flight? But we don't because we haven't
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seen it happen before to people like us. We haven't seen it happen before to
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people who were raised where we were raised or people who have our background
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or people who have our age or looks or whatever it is.
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So we stay grounded while others learn to fly.
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The second shift I want you to make in your mindset is from
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comfort to courage. The question to ask yourself for this is,
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what comfort have I mistaken for safety? Because here's
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the thing about the thief. He rarely tells us to quit. He simply tells
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us to wait. Wait until you're ready. Wait until you're
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more confident. Wait until you know enough. Wait until life
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settles down. Wait until the fear disappears. My friends, the greatest
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competitor to your purpose is not failure. It is familiarity.
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Because we have a paradigm where we are comfortable in what
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we know. And identity likes to protect itself.
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Our identity is our paradigm, believing that
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this is who we are and we can't become the other person. We can't become
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that guy. We can't achieve these dreams. So, why try?
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I think about Thomas Edison with this. You know, Thomas Edison didn't keep trying because
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he had some extraordinary willpower. He kept trying because he believed
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that he was an inventor. He saw himself in that identity.
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And you know what? Inventors, they experiment, but sometimes
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inventors fail. But when inventors fail, they learn.
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His identity interpreted failure differently than
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everyone else. And once identity changes, aligned action
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becomes natural. Maybe not easy, especially at first,
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but natural. Unaligned action starts to make you
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feel uneasy. You can tell in your gut when you're doing something that just
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does not fit who your identity is. Have you
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ever noticed some habits just simply disappear as you grow older?
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Some fears stop making sense to you. They don't have power
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over you anymore. Some excuses don't even sound believable anymore.
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Why is that? It's because they belong to someone that you're
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no longer becoming. Have you ever gone back to see a house
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that you lived in maybe when you were a kid or 20 years ago or
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something like that? And you drive through the neighborhood and you just think, you know,
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this is nice. I have great memories here, but what I actually want
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is a time machine. Like, I don't want to literally move back right now.
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I just would love to have a time machine and go back and see my
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family and my friends. That's because you're recognizing that
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you're not that person anymore. You're not the person that still
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lived in that home, in that neighborhood, in that part of town. You've changed.
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Your identity has changed. And so now it no longer fits with you.
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The 3rd shift that I want you to make is from agreement to
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aligned action. Which voice am I going to agree
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with today? We just talked about in the last episode
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how we have 2 roads before us every day
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in every decision we make. Is that road going to be a road of fear
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and safety and comfort and not challenging the old paradigm?
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Or is that road going to be me as the creator of
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my destiny, of realizing that I am tapped into limitless
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potential and limitless power? Those are the voices that
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we have to decide who we're going to listen to, who we're going
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to agree with. Please pardon me while I interrupt your podcast episode
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with a quick message. If you're enjoying today's
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episode, can I ask you one small favor? If you're watching on YouTube, just please
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take a second to hit that little bell and subscribe to my channel.
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Hit the like button and share this, share it with someone who needs
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some encouragement today. Also, if you're listening on your favorite
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the growth of this show. They help these conversations reach more people who
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are searching for hope, searching for purpose, searching for
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practical mindset tools that will transform their
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lives. And if you're looking for even more motivation, mindset strategies,
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and purpose-driven content, I would love to connect with you on
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social media. You can find me on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok
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@johnstreetofficial. Also, I'm on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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Just search for John Street. And then one last very important
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thing. If you've ever found yourself asking questions like,
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why am I here? Am I living my purpose? How do
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I get unstuck in life? How do I take my life
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to the next level? Then I would love to invite you to schedule a free
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clarity call with me. Let me be clear. This is not
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a sales call. This is not a coaching call with someone from my team.
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This is nothing prerecorded. This is a real one-on-one
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coaching conversation with me. And together,
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we will explore where you are, where you want to go, and what may
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be standing in your way. My goal is simply to help
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you gain greater clarity, direction, and momentum in
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reaching your goals. To connect with me, to schedule your clarity
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call, or to learn more about the Revolution of Purpose coaching
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programs that I offer, please visit johnstreet.org or
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reach out to me on any of the social media platforms I mentioned.
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And now let's get you back to today's episode.
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Have you ever heard of the story about the elephant in the circus? So you
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have these elephants, when they're baby elephants, they take a rope and
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they tie them to a pick in the ground. And so these baby elephants
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are so small at this point, that rope is really, really tight. They can't
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get off of that rope. And so they condition themselves that they can
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go just a certain perimeter around that pick in the ground.
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They're stuck there. It's their paradigm. It's who they believe
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themselves to be. But as the elephant grows older,
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that rope becomes no match for the weight of that elephant.
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These elephants grow to thousands of pounds, and at any point they
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could snap that small rope and just run away. But they don't do it because
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they've been conditioned from a young elephant that they can only walk
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around the perimeter of that pick. Y'all, the rope is
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not what's holding the adult elephant back. It is the elephant
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itself holding himself back. The thief is not the rope.
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The thief is the belief that they are trapped.
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The thief is the old labels. The thief is the old failures, the old fears,
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the old disappointments, the old identities, the old stories.
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The thief is your past that you say, I failed over and over and
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over again. So therefore, today I may fail again and tomorrow
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I may fail. So why try? What would have happened
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if Nikola Tesla had done that? What would have happened if Thomas Edison had
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done that? How long before someone else would have discovered the light
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bulb? How long before someone else would have discovered all of these amazing
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inventions that we use today? Every one of these
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old paradigms is asking for one thing, it's asking for
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your agreement. It's asking for you to say, I can't move because the rope is
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tied to my ankles. But the moment you withdraw your agreement,
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the moment you say, I know that I have power within
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me, the thief loses its power because you gain
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your authen— your authority. The thief does not leave because you fight harder.
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The thief leaves because one day he realizes you
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no longer believe in him. And more importantly, you realize you no
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longer believe in him. I'd like to leave you with a coaching exercise this
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week. I want you to take a piece of paper and write down 3
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sentences that you have heard yourself say over and over and over
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again in your life. Either I'm not ready, or I'm too old, or I'm
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too young, or I'm not enough, or people don't like
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me, or people won't agree with what I'm saying. Whatever your limiting
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beliefs are, whatever these ropes are,
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that are tied to your ankles, I want you to ask yourself
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one question: who would I become if I no longer
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came into agreement with these questions? Because liberation
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does not begin when your circumstances change.
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Liberation begins when your agreements change.
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The thief loses its power when you stop agreeing with
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it. The late, great Bob Proctor once said, you are your own problem.
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But the good news is you are also your own solution.
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I had the pleasure of meeting Linda Proctor in person a couple
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of weeks ago. I was speaking in Toronto, Canada. She wrote the foreword
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for my book, Revolution of Purpose, and she was so gracious.
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She took an hour and a half and showed me Bob Proctor's studio.
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I got to see his desk. I got to see the stickman.
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Bob Proctor is such an amazing inspiration to me,
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and I can't tell you how many times I have reminded
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myself, I am my own problem in this, but thank God I am also
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my own solution because I am tapped into limitless
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possibilities. I don't have to agree with the thief.
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I can cut the rope. I don't believe that this means we're broken.
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I think it means something so much more hopeful. The same mind
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that learned these limitations can learn a new identity.
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The same imagination that built the prison can
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build the freedom. You don't have to become someone else. You simply
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have to stop believing that you're someone you're not and
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awaken to who you truly are. Your attention shapes
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your thinking. Your thinking shapes your identity.
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Your identity shapes your decisions, and your decisions shape
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your destiny. So maybe today is not about trying harder.
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Maybe today is about becoming free,
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free from the story, Free from the label, free from
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the fear, free from the rope around your ankles,
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free from the identity that no longer belongs to you because aligned
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action is not forcing yourself to act differently.
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It's finally acting in agreement with who you are deep inside.
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You know, every great story has a villain and every great story has
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a hero. Today we've talked about the villain, that thief within, but here's
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what I don't want you to miss. You're not the thief. Yeah,
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that thief is within you. That thief is that old paradigm. But you
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need to awaken to the fact that you, my friends, are the hero. We mistake
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most of our lives with believing that we're waiting
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for someone to rescue us. We're waiting for someone to come and change our circumstances
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or to give us permission to live our goals and our dreams. We're waiting
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for someone to believe in us. We're waiting for someone to unlock the
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door to that next level of our life. But the hero of
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your story is not coming because the hero
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of your story is already within you and has been inside
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of you all along. Every time that you choose truth over
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the lie, you're being the hero. Every time you choose courage
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over comfort, alignment over familiarity,
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the hero within you is getting stronger. And that
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voice from the thief just gets quieter and quieter until
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one day that thief doesn't leave because you
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fought harder. It leaves because it realized you no longer
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believe in him. You're no longer in agreement. So the thief just starts
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to disappear. And that's when aligned action begins, not because someone
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motivated you, but because you've been liberated.
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If today's conversation helped you recognize a thief within
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you that's been quietly stealing your purpose, your dreams,
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your hopes, then I would love to help you take the next step. This is
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exactly why I've created a coaching session called Shift.
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Now, Shift Session is a live one-on-one coaching experience that
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is designed to help you uncover the next decision or perspective that
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will create a breakthrough in your life. It is only a 30-minute coaching call,
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and subscribers to this podcast are receiving a massive
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discount on this coaching session. If you will visit johnstreet.org, you'll see
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an option there to schedule your coaching session with me right now.
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Just send me a message with the word shift. Until next time,
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remember, the greatest prison isn't the one around you.
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It's the one you've unknowingly built within you.
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Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. If this episode
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encouraged you, if it challenged you, or if it helped you see your life a
19:23
little bit differently, would you do me a favor? Favor, subscribe to the podcast,
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leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone who
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needs to hear it. Every share helps us reach more people who
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are searching for hope, purpose, and a life of greater
19:38
meaning. And if you're ready to stop wondering what's next and start living
19:42
with greater clarity and purpose in your own life, I would love
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to meet with you personally. Visit johnstreet.org, now to
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schedule your complimentary live Purpose and Clarity call with
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me. Until next time, remember, your purpose is
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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 step
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in your own revolution of purpose.