3398: Most Sharks are Actually Just Dolphins or Seals AND How Do You Eat an Elephant? by Joel of 5AMJoel

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Living Daily. Most Sharks are Actually Just Dolphins or Seals AND How Do You Eat an Elephant?

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Both by Joel of 5AMJoel.com and I'm Justin Malik reading articles to you every day to help you live a more meaningful and positive life

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and this time I have two shorter posts so with that let's get right to them and start optimizing your life.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Most Sharks Are Actually Just Dolphins or Seals by Joel of 5AMJoel.com

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Most of my surf sessions are between 5 and 7 a.m. The conditions are perfect, there are no crowds, and it's a great way to start the day.

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: But it can be scary because when you're in the ocean before sunrise it's completely dark, you're all alone in open water,

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and all you can think about are sharks. Something touches your foot? Shark! Hear a splash behind you? Shark!

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: You get that dodgy feeling that something is watching you. But after a little while the sun slowly starts to rise.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00]: The water gets lighter and you realize things are just fine. There are dolphins, seals, and it's quite beautiful around you.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: You're safe. Surfing is fun. You're always glad you paddled out. In the real world, the surfing analogy is kind of like navigating new scary things in the real world.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: It could be traveling in a new place, meeting new people, starting your own business, speaking in front of a large crowd, or taking on a tough problem at work.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Unknown waters play tricks on your mind. You think there are sharks everywhere.

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's important to remind yourself that the universe is not against you. Most sharks are just dolphins and seals.

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_00]: New people you meet are on your side. They want to help you get ahead and achieve your goals in life.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Unknown waters are usually beautiful and safe places. You just have to jump in to find out.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: My boiler room moment.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_00]: It was Monday morning, 7am, and all the LA sales reps were packed into the conference room.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: The company was notorious for having a ruthless, cutthroat, and competitive sales culture.

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was about to witness it all firsthand, my first week on the job.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: The sales manager, a 27-year-old legend, walked up to the front of the room as he finished his fourth can of a Red Bull.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: The room fell dead silent and all eyes were on him.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: He started the meeting by yelling at the top of his lungs,

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: If you don't want to be here today, get the f*** out.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: It was like that scene from the movie Boiler Room.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: He continued yelling and grilling people for the next hour.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And all I could think was,

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't belong here. I've made a huge mistake.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I went back to my cubicle and sat there wondering if I should quit that day

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_00]: or wait a few weeks before they found out I was a fraud and fired me.

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I stuck it out and survived just fine.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Things changed drastically over the next few weeks.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Teammates, co-workers, and managers all stopped by my cubicle to introduce themselves.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: They offered me help.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: They offered me mentorship.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone took time out of their busy schedules to coach me.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone had my back.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Win together, lose together.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: That was a company motto.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: What started out as a shark tank ended up being a fun and life-shaping work environment.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Experiences I'll never forget.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I learned to thicken my skin and no longer run away from scary situations.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Call to action.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Seek discomfort.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: It's natural to be scared of the unknown because bad things might happen.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: But keep in mind, good things happen too.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And usually the good things have a way higher chance of happening than anything bad.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_00]: So run towards the stuff that scares the shit out of you.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Recognize your fear.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Recognize your fear.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Respect it.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Then move forward anyway.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Just do it.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Doing scary things leads to awesome moments in life you'll never forget.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, now who's ready to meet me tomorrow morning at 5am for a surf?

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Chances of getting bitten by a shark are only 1 in 9 million.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: How do you eat an elephant?

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_00]: By Joel of 5amjoel.com.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: This time five years ago, I was in a pretty stressful situation.

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_00]: My wife and I got married.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_00]: We bought our first out-of-state rental property.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And I closed the largest sale I had ever made in my career at that point.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: This all happened within a 90-day period.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Three elephant-sized projects, all happening at the same time.

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Emotions were high.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember my boss at work giving me some advice to help manage everything.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: He said,

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Wake up each day and think,

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: What 30-minute task can I do to bring me closer to one of my goals?

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: While my wife and family tackled 99% of the wedding stuff,

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I took on the other two projects.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I broke everything down into 30-minute chunks and tackled a few each day.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: For the rental property, my 30-minute tasks were things like

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_00]: read a contract, call my realtor, or find and send four documents to the bank.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: For my work project, my 30-minute tasks were things like

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: schedule meetings with XYZ team members,

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: redesign the proposal, or practice my presentation.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Breaking everything down helped me compartmentalize.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Every day, even though I was only doing small tasks,

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I was slowly progressing towards my goals.

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: This helped manage stress because I always felt accomplishment

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and things were always moving forward.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: In the end, we got it all done.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Whenever I'm going through a stressful time today,

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I think back to five years ago.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: How do you eat an elephant?

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: One bite at a time.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to the posts titled,

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Most sharks are actually just dolphins or seals.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And, How do you eat an elephant?

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Both by Joel of 5amjoel.com.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you to Joel.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: We've probably both, you and I, built up something in our minds as being super scary,

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: only to find out it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it happens more often than we think.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to imagine the worst case scenario,

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: or assume that the worst will happen,

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: when in reality, the odds of that might be really low.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Like the case of being bitten by a shark being only 1 in 9 million.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And like his first day on the job,

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: it's usually those new moments that get us in that mindset.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: It's fear of the unknown.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Things might seem completely crazy and scary,

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: but after going through it another time,

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: or being around whatever that is for a while,

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_00]: we might actually grow to enjoy it.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure we've both experienced that too.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Yet somehow we can ignore that and still resort to fear and worry for something else.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: It's funny how our minds do that.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're facing something scary right now,

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: remember, the sun always comes up eventually.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Things get clearer,

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: and more often than not, those sharks turn out to be dolphins.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you again to Joel for this one,

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and thank you for being here.

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Have a great rest of your day.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be back tomorrow for the Friday show,

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: where your optimal life awaits.

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be back tomorrow for the Friday show,