decide discover deliver develop four
words for now by the end of this
there’ll be four life-changing tools
applicable to any of life situations you
will not find a list of techniques to
follow rather universal principles to
utilize in your unique situation you
will learn how to step outside of the 3d
and enter 40 life and decision making
are inseparable you and I are faced with
thousands of decisions every single day
big and small significant and trivial
life itself is a decision I didn’t
understand that so through the
monumental moments of my early life I
wandered aimlessly unconscious and empty
I went through the motions my decisions
were haphazard and reactionary I was on
autopilot I fought to take control of
the unmanned cockpit but the freefall
prevented me from reaching the controls
the turning point on my journey was
understanding that a decision to change
is not one moment it’s a progressive
happening growth doesn’t start then stop
in the same thought it’s infinite I was
amazing at making decisions but even
more amazing it not committing to any of
them i fraudulently hung my head high
and presented myself as a together young
man but that’s easy to do when the most
important part of any decision is absent
the commitment saying I’m going to be a
better person is easy it sounds nice and
makes you feel good which is why I
favored inaction
It was as if I stared all of my answers
in the face but then gave them all the
cold shoulder my lack of commitment was
caused by fear if you felt this before
you’re not alone welcome to the human
race a decision to change creates
extreme cognitive dissonance and
confronts our desire to know and our
need for comfort it’s a lifelong
commitment because change doesn’t
come overnight or just
once-in-a-lifetime once you make that
choice you sign on the dotted line
an eternal contract with yourself to
always decide growth over everything
else
this decision is much more than a
thought it’s also a feeling a commitment
and a sign of self-worth self trust and
self confidence
and action is simply the byproduct of
all the effort made to commit to change
it flows naturally from you it’s like a
bow and arrow you pull back the cable
and release to send the arrow flying
pulling back requires all the effort
just like a decision letting go is
effortless just like taking action
remember your decision to be a better
teacher to change careers or to cut the
ropes of mediocrity is not a decision
made it’s a decision committed to
forever once that happens you’ll know
what to do every step of the way I think
that one of the hardest things for
people to overcome in life is that
feeling of wanting to be someone or at
least wanting to be the right someone
you may have or are going through this
now and some of you may not have been
have gotten there yet but a lot of
people will wonder what what what am I
supposed to do with my life so after
you’ve decided it’s time to start the
process of discovery growing up I was a
a bit crazy some would say I had
excessive amounts of energy I was
diagnosed with ADHD and put on meds that
were supposed to help me focus but they
only seemed to confuse me because deep
down inside I knew I had something
special to offer the world or at least
my world then at the age of 15 I was
blessed my son Connor and instantly
everything changed all of a sudden I had
to figure everything out and become
something real fast I’d have time for
childish thoughts of grandeur I needed
to get a job and take care of my family
like
now I could always revisit my
aspirations later right well that’s how
it happens folks the trap that we all
fall into life happens and in it
swallows us and before we know it time
has passed there are two ways that we
typically succumb to this trap first and
for me it was a struggle struggles can
reroute reshape or halt your life
altogether if you let it
and the second way is a lack of
direction there’s so many people out
there that seemed to want so much from
life but can’t seem to find a direction
so they wander aimlessly and in both
scenarios time is the ultimate salt in
the wound isn’t it time passes by and we
begin to lose this ability to believe in
ourselves so what we’re capable of how
was I going to take better care of my
family and not hate myself so I started
well and I thought there’s got to be a
better way of doing this then you know
I’ve got to be able to weigh it there’s
got to be a way to provide and be happy
so I started taking in massive amounts
of information I started reading lots of
books I started learning new skills and
from those skills came new pursuits it
was kind of like a spiderweb of
different paths but we all know where a
spiderweb ends up all the lines and the
links lead to the center and yeah I may
have taken a lot of side routes and
backtracked even stood on the edge but
ultimately I’m led to the middle and
that’s what it takes commitment to find
it to never stop now passion is a buzz
word that we hear a lot right now but
not everyone’s passion can sustain them
in life what’s more not everyone’s good
enough of their passion in order to make
a living so in a lot of cases what we
teach is what we call the crossroads
calling this is a sweet spot in your
life where the road with your skills
meets the road of your passions
sometimes we are really good at
something that just isn’t our passion so
my challenge to you is take a deeper
look at your passions and your skills
I’d be willing to bet there’s a sweet
spot where those two characteristics
cross and yeah you might have to get
creative
but who knows you might find something
new to offer the world so there you are
standing in the middle of a crossroads
with no sign
no map no one to take you by the hand to
show you the way you’ll want all the
help you can get because the crossroads
is an obscure and opaque point in life
however the pinnacle of growth is the
constant decision to change and the
crossroads is where you stand weak at
the knees out of breath and exhausted
it’s where you get to let go of
everything you’ve let weigh you down and
take a single step then another then one
more until you’re walking down the path
you’ve created let me tell you what it
felt like to walk down this path I
served a LDS mission in Bogota Colombia
for two years I joined the LDS Church
just one year before I left on my
mission and prior to joining I lived a
good life with ups and downs like all of
you but I could almost grabbed hold of
the chaos I felt within there was a
thunderstorm deep down no signs of a
sunny day peeked through the dark clouds
on my horizon while in Colombia I walked
the dirt roads under the scorching heat
and amid the damp humid air however I
never felt so comfortable because it was
there I met myself at the crossroads my
passion for progress and skills and
leadership met head-on I didn’t have a
Thunder strong within me anymore
it turned into a burning desire to teach
others I started to deliver on my
discovery to learn and lead I acted I
didn’t wait or make excuses like it’s
not the right time it wasn’t a hard
transition the tough part was already
over all I had to do was take a step I
believe my heart and mind would fill in
the blanks that all of us encounter
immediately after we ask how it’s so
easy to get caught up in the details of
how but how is a question asked on the
go
never stagnant Lee asking how as you act
will provide the answers and often the
solutions deservingly arrive before the
question is even asked I learned not to
waste all the energy and resources for
plans that will not culminate how I
initially imagined and folk
sit on taking action I promise your
brain is a trustworthy Ally if you
simply let it shine plans change ideals
and values don’t all of you do me a
favor and in your seats take a step
effortless right what you just did
symbolizes how easy it is to take that
first step on your journey if your
decision to act is wholehearted and you
believe in yourself I didn’t know how
easy it was to act until I decided I
could the power comes from belief I
decided to teach others about personal
growth so I worked with my brother
building life decided we didn’t know how
but we knew why our hearts and minds
pulled it all together as we took small
step after small step it’s not about
having a detailed blueprint it’s about
making a wholehearted commitment and
acting actions life’s panacea one of the
things that led me into creating 40
living with my brother was the study of
business we’ve all probably heard that
half of small businesses fail within the
first year but even scarier is that 95%
fail after five years and one of the
main reasons for that is they work hard
and they have a little well-deserved
success and think all as well but fail
to realize that the marketplace required
requires constant growth and a stet and
a plateau business is just a fish in a
barrel waiting to be shot your true
happiness is designed the exact same way
but your ego is a clever little sucker
and it knows you better than anyone else
and it can trick you into feeling happy
when in reality you’re just comfortable
you can live three of the D’s you can
decide you can discover and you can even
deliver but the fact is there is no one
thing that makes everything good there’s
so much more out there that we don’t
know yet and how else would we get there
it’s kind of like that story of the
small fish who was born in the small
pond her growth was limited by the size
of that pond until one day
she leaped into a bigger scarier pond
she had to fight her way through fear
and all sorts of struggles until
eventually she became the biggest fish
in that pond he said it’s a great story
but I always wonder does it end there
or does she leap again and who’s to say
that next leap does it put her in a lake
or a river what then you see with this
mindset and persistence growth becomes
unlimited and unlimited growth is
unlimited happiness
no matter the scale of it Abraham
Lincoln said give me an axe or give me
six hours to cut down a tree and I’ll
spend the first four sharpening the axe
was he referring to the idea of
understanding your task before you
tackle it or was he simply illustrating
an iteration of the process of growth
and you may be thinking this all sounds
like a lot of work but another thing
we’re programmed with as humans our
default just like a computer we have
default settings that we revert back to
under stress or when we don’t know what
else to do and just like that fish when
we leap into the bigger pond we need to
make that pond our new default we should
always strive to raise our defaults now
can I really do me a favor I take their
finger and stick it in the air like this
great now listen very carefully because
the truth is we cannot truly know what
our calling is simply because as we grow
we become capable of more new loves new
passions desires dreams hopes and
potential and if you stop who’s to say
what could have been next and ultimately
you don’t know what you don’t know go
ahead and take your finger out of here
that was just so that what I said didn’t
don’t get me wrong there is an ultimate
goal we should all strive to achieve and
that goal is to serve others because we
are all in this together and the more we
decide positively and the more we
discover and grow and the more we
deliver on these commitments and the
more we develop all these attributes
the more we become so the more we can
offer [Music]