Mastering the Mindset
Mastering the Mindset
Getting More Things Done
We know exactly what needs to be done to achieve our dreams but struggle to take the first step. So many of us get caught up in endless preparation instead of simply doing what needs to be done. Whether it's starting a business or finally committing to a fitness routine, the key to success lies in action, not just in planning or talking about it. Let's talk about it
Listen To My Music!
YouTube Channel
Here's how you can donate:
VENMO
PAYPAL
CASH APP
Need other options? Email me at:
dariusdotch@gmail.com
What's up everybody and thank you for listening to Mastering the Mindset. My name is Darius Dodge and I'm an actor, hip-hop artist and fitness and life coach, and I'm here to personally help you train and improve your mindset so that you can, one, become the best version of yourself mentally and, two, gain focus and motivation to be able to take action and achieve the success in life that you want and deserve. Before we get started, please like and subscribe to my channel and at the end of this episode, if you liked it, please share it with a friend or a loved one or someone who would benefit from hearing this message. I'm so glad you're here and I'm ready to go on this journey with you, and that journey begins now. All right, thank you so much for being here. If you are on YouTube, go ahead and like and subscribe to my channel.
Speaker 1:I have a little bit of news. There's a new way for you to support me. You can become a monthly supporter of the show and you get to choose the amount that you want to support, and you can cancel at any time. But there is a link in the description. You click on it. It'll bring you to a different page and you can choose to either donate three, five, eight or ten dollars a month. Of course, this will be greatly appreciated how much you decide to support me with and again, this helps me keep the show going and keep me to provide you with all the episodes I can, so we can go ahead and grow together. But let's go ahead and jump into it. Today, we're going to be talking about taking action, about taking action, why it's so hard to do and how to actually start doing it, and I'm going to be kind of blunt and saying some things that just need to be said. But we're going to talk about doing what needs to be done in order to create the life you want. And I'm going to start this episode off by reading this. I guess you can call it a poem a poem, and before I read it, let me tell you why I'm bringing it up.
Speaker 1:So I was just at my 20 year class reunion the other night and I was catching up with people I haven't seen in a long ass time Most of them has been 20 years and somebody asked me a question and you you know, they were giving me my flowers saying how they see all the posts I make, how to think that all the things I'm doing is so cool, how I'm going after my acting and music career and how I'm doing all this video work. And they asked me. They said you know, I want to start making music videos. I'm not music videos. I want to start making videos and getting better at making my content look good. And I, I know I just need to start, but I see you and you just go out there and you just do it. And they asked me so how do you do it? How do you just go do it like that and believe it or not, this is common, not the fact that I got asked the question, but this common thing with most of us, including you. Not the fact that I got asked the question, but this common thing with most of us, including you yes, you, the majority of the time.
Speaker 1:It is not rocket science. We know what needs to be done. We know what we need to do. We know what we need to do to be successful. We know what we need to do to be better at something. We know what we need to do to fix the relationship. We know what we need to do to be good, to be in good physical shape, but people don't do it. We know what we need to do, that we need to work hard and be dedicated and try and fail and keep going and put in hours of work and step outside your comfort zone and take risks. We know. We know that we do. Everybody want to have a six pack and everybody want to be a millionaire, and yet not everybody has a six pack and not everybody is a millionaire. So let me go ahead, read this poem, and I don't know who wrote it. It's on a few different websites, but I found it on his website, garth Evans dot com, and it says the author is strangest loop. Whoever the hell that is, whatever that means. Anyway, the poem is called Do the Thing. Let me just read it here we go Preparing to do the thing isn't doing the thing.
Speaker 1:Scheduling time to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Making a to-do list for the thing isn't doing the thing. Telling people you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Telling people you're going to do the thing Isn't doing the thing. Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing Isn't doing the thing. Writing a banger tweet about how you're going to do the thing Isn't doing the thing. Hating on yourself for not doing the thing Isn't doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing Isn't doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing Isn't doing the thing. Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing Isn't doing the thing. Fantasizing about all the adoration you'll receive once you do the thing Isn't doing the thing. Reading about how to do the thing Isn't doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing Isn't doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading this essay isn't doing the thing. The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing. End quote. And again now rocket science. I'm sure you know what this poem is getting at. The only way, the only thing that matters is doing the damn thing, doing the thing.
Speaker 1:Like if you say I want to start this business and of course, you want that business to be successful. So what do you do? You do some research, you go buy a book and you learn about the business, you learn about the industry. Then you say, well, you know what, I know, I'm going to have people working for me, or I want to have people working for me. Let me go and read up about how to be a good boss, let me research how to be a good leader. Then you decide that you need to scope out what your market is going to be. And you do all this research. Then you realize, wait a minute, I need a logo. And you go buy the logo and you get it put on cups and you get a t-shirt made. Do you see where I'm going with this? You did everything except build the business. You Do you see where I'm going with this? You did everything except build the business. You did all that and you ain't done, now, one thing to actually build that business.
Speaker 1:A lot of times we can trick ourselves into thinking we're getting stuff done. And, yeah, you may be getting stuff done, but what you're not doing is you're not being productive. You're busy but you're not productive, and I preach that a lot on here. Know the difference between being busy versus being productive. And yes, 100 percent learning about the business and preparing for it is absolutely helpful and you, 100 percent, should be doing that kind of stuff. But is that actually getting you closer to building that business? No, it's not. You may think it is, but it's not, because you can literally do research for years and years and years if you want to, but if you don't actually take any action, then nothing is going to come from it, and a lot of times, the thing we need to do is something that we're just scared to do or just don't want to do. If we're honest, that's what the deal is A lot of times.
Speaker 1:We know that to grow our business, we need to post about it, yet we also know that we ain't comfortable in front of a camera, and we also know that the only way to get more comfortable in front of the camera is to get in front of the damn camera and to do it. Often. We know that, and that, believe it or not, used to be the issue with me, and, believe it or not, to a certain extent it still is. Turning on a camera and getting in front of it is a big dream killer for so many people. And, believe me, I get it. I do. I'm an actor and I still have those feelings. But I'm telling you from experience the only way to get better at being in front of a camera is to just do it.
Speaker 1:And yeah, it's going to suck at first. You ain't going to like how you look. You ain't going to like how you sound. You're going to do a whole bunch of takes and still going to hate it. The lighting is going to be trash. You're going to stumble over your words. It's going to be bad, it will, but the beauty of it is it's literally like that for everybody, everybody. I look back at some of the stuff I put out there and my God is so cringeworthy. A lot of it I deleted on my page because I don't know about it. To come across, it is that bad. But what did I do? What does that mean? It means I started somewhere and I got better at it.
Speaker 1:And we can literally use this example for almost anything. For working out, you want a better body, you want to have that six pack. You can do all the research and go buy the gym clothes and say you're going to start that diet next week, that this New Year's resolution is going to make you lose all this weight. But when it comes down to it, if you don't go to the gym, if you don't stay consistent with working out and eating right, if you don't go to the gym on the days you don't feel like it and you tell yourself you ain't motivated and you constantly eat food that you know you ain't supposed to be eating, then you just won't get the results you want. It's the actions that count, not the planning, not the research, not the preparations. And again, we fool ourselves to think of it being productive, like starting a business. Being productive is actually creating the product, actually making the sales calls, actually creating the content online. That's being productive. Being busy is planning it, researching it, getting your home office space ready.
Speaker 1:So ask yourself and ask yourself often is what I'm doing right now getting me closer or further from my goals? Is what I'm doing right now getting me closer or further from my goals? Is what I'm doing right now getting me closer or further from my goals? And don't lie to yourself. Designing a logo for a business ain't going to make your business start any faster. Looking up the best shoes to run in will make you better at running.
Speaker 1:Listening to a podcast about your mindset will make your mindset any better. It's about the actions you take. You can listen to me every day for years, and if you don't actually apply any of the things we talk about on here, then you won't change. You'll have the knowledge, you'll know how, but there won't be no change. And look, this is just the case with life.
Speaker 1:A lot of times life is as simple as either you do it or you don't. Either you do it or you don't. It's so black and white a lot of the times. And whatever success means to you, it means different things to everybody. But whatever that is for you whether that's the money, the career, the happiness, the freedom, the recognition, the awards, the marriage, the house, the kids, the vacation, the businesses, the kids, the vacation, the businesses whatever success means to you, you either get it or you don't. And you know the easiest way to not get it is to not do it. If you don't do it, if you don't take the actions, if you keep putting it off, if you keep procrastinating, if you keep letting your comfort zone stop you from taking action, then you won't get it. You won't. And you know that. We all know this is simple and nobody coming to save you, nobody's coming to save you.
Speaker 1:We too grown and we all know those people right. They're basically adult children. You can tell that either it was their parents or their significant other who just did way too much for them as adults, like if somebody's mama always did their son's laundry, or every time he had no money, the parents bailed him out, or mama always cook for him. Well, now he don't know how to do laundry and every time he needs money he calls mom and dad and he can't cook. Instead of him knowing how to do laundry, how to struggle and overcome hard times and how to learn his way around the kitchen and there are a lot of people out there like that Well, not like that example, but with the same mindset, they're used to folks helping them out. So, yeah, they may want to start that business. Then rich mom and dad comes in and helps them out. Or they may want to lose weight. Well, they tried the regular way. They go to the gym. It doesn't work. They quit, they get surgery, they take Ozempic or they want to write a paper and they let chat GPT do it for them.
Speaker 1:And I know that's not you, that person, that ain't you. You don't listen to this kind of podcast if that's you. But we know what to do most of the time. Most of the time is just to do it. It's just to man up a woman up and say goodbye to that old version of yourself, because I can say, from the few years I've been doing this podcast and the work I'm putting in on myself, I see growth. I look back and I can see the changes. I see how I handle adversity. I can see how productive I am. Like I always say, this is the most productive I've ever been in my entire life. Now I can look at things that I know would have taken me a long time to do, especially the things that I would procrastinate on. Now I'm getting those things done, like emails.
Speaker 1:Five years ago, if I needed to do something as simple as emailing somebody to get information or emailing to give information, it would take me a couple of days before the email got sent. I was lazy for one, and I just moved slower when it came to stuff like that. And the thing is I wasn't the only one. My peers were moving the same way. A lot of them still do.
Speaker 1:Every time I hear somebody say, yeah, I need to go ahead and email them, in my mind I'm like well, why don't you just do it? Matter of fact, right now is a great time to do it. People can know they need to send an email. No, it's only going to take five minutes to send that email and yet days done gone by and the email still ain't sent. Is that true? It's OK if it is, because we all been there, done that.
Speaker 1:And the thing I'm getting at is, yes, the waiting days to send an email is a small thing, but it's the mindset that I'm talking about, right, the taking action, knowing what you need to do and doing it no-transcript. So, yeah, sending emails and being way better at doing it in a timely fashion, that's a byproduct of me being the kind of person who takes action. Very small detail, I know, but it's things like that that I notice about myself, especially when I hear people talk about the things they need to do. Like if somebody says, yeah, I need to go ahead and get all that stuff out of the attic, you know you need to do it and yet days have gone by and you still haven't. I can guarantee you there are some things right now that you've been saying yeah, I should go ahead and do that and you still haven't done it. Trust me, we all do it.
Speaker 1:But when you get in the habit of taking action, of doing the thing, like the poem says, you start to notice a shift in yourself. You start to have the habit of not procrastinating, of not waiting until the last minute, and that's one of those things that will happen over time. Again, we know what to do. We know what to do. Taking that action has to be a habit, and what better time to start than now? So that's what I got for you today. You again for being here. Like I said, please like and subscribe on YouTube and if you want to be a monthly supporter, please go ahead and do that. I left the link in the description. You can choose to donate monthly either three, five, eight or ten dollars. Either one is greatly appreciated by me, and I'm going to leave you with another song, and the song is actually really fitting for this episode.
Speaker 1:The song is called Get Into it, let's get it in. Uh, you see, lately I feel like I'm on a whole nother level where ain't nobody else at but me. I'm on a whole nother level where ain't nobody else after me. I'm lonely. Okay, I'm getting to it. Yeah, and it's my year and I'm going to make that clear. Yeah, you pop, let's see right through it. Get it. Wait, it's Dodge. When it get like me, come and sit by me. I'm going to show you how to do it. And I've been spitting fire like I'm sipping lighter fluid you taught me I come with it. Yeah, these batteries included. Let's get it Got a long way to go, okay, but I can't see how I can ever go back those Green Bay Packers.
Speaker 1:I need cheese now and I feel like a cactus. Get too close, girl, you don't see how. And she want my subscription. No commitments, that's a free trial. I gotta call y'all back. My grind been calling. I'm on speed dial. We don't got time for your nonsense. We've been working. We've been focused. Time to get to some fun shit. Time to step and get the ball rolling like we chilling at Brunswick.
Speaker 1:I know what I want. I'm calling a nine. I'm placing my order. I'm about to go get it. No, uber Eats, nah. And they say time is money. That's why I ain't got no free time. Fake shit, make me queasy. That's when I throw up the peace sign In every single picture. I be repping that. Take three sign. Tell me what you know about, take a plan. And you've been grinding daily and I ain't going to stop. I looked at my watch. It's time for a shot. Who it is? I've been getting to it. Yeah, my career is right where it needs to be. I want to take a shot for every single person that believe in me.
Speaker 1:They told you I was sick, but you ain't listen like the CDC, and I kept my emotions bottled up like what genies. Be Good, better yet. I wish you could get like me, but you don't get it. I'm feeling so misunderstood, feeling so sticky, because I'm a man of my word. I said that I got a good. I'm sticking to it If you write me a check and I'ma just do it.
Speaker 1:Look, I just thought about being 17. Ay picking it in the basement, chilling with Chapman, smoking with Steve. Ay getting drunk with Kobe. Jay Bird had them Mecca jeans. Ay and J-Hood had them pounds duffel bags Full of s***.
Speaker 1:We knew back then. Look, I felt like Walt Disney. It was a thing of beauty how I was a beast when I pick up a pen. Just told Moseley pick up some hens. Just told Sap to pick up my keys cause we finna get litty again. Party over. Yeah, we did it. Start me over at the beginning. I know what I want. I'm calling it now. I'm placing my order, I'm about to go get and they say time is money. That's why I ain't got no free time. Fake shit, make me queasy. That's when I throw up the peace sign and every single picture I be repping. That take three sign Tell me what you know about take three. Tell me what you know about being the man, but you got a face like a baby. Tell me what you know about having a plan. And you been grinding daily and I ain't gonna stop. I looked at my watch. Shot who it is. I've been getting to it, thank you.