How Do I Know It Works If I Never Commit To It?

Elliott: never stop being a student. I don't care where you go, I don't care what kind of training you go to, just ⁓ keep learning. Keep that growth mindset. And what brought me here, Getting some new ⁓ podcast equipment. I'm trying to make small improvements. I'm trying to be consistent and and grow, on this platform. it's a it's a big learning curve for me. It's huge. I spent the last few weeks learning about cameras, video editing, audio, lighting, things that I I I don't know I don't know shit about it. And there's been plenty of moments where I've thought, There's got to be an easier way. It's been so frustrating. it's also been fun, you know what I mean? It's nothing I'm ⁓ r willing to up. But if you've ever learned something new and you're really into it, right? Whether it's, Fly fishing, ⁓ hunting, whatever it is, right? If you if you're learning something you new, you know what I'm talking about. It takes it takes some time to to get good at it, put in those hours. you see a video that you like or a a podcast that you like and you're like, Ooh, I wanna kind of do something similar to that and you think you've got it figured out, right? And then something doesn't connect, audio doesn't work, camera doesn't work, and then I'm troubleshooting for an hour and it just feels like a disaster. I've had this ⁓ as many podcasts as as we've done, I've had this happen on the last two and ⁓ it's just been frustrating. And honestly, there's also a lot of positive stuff that happens every time every every one of those times that something like that happens, there's something good that comes out of it. There's some kind of growth that comes out of it. You know, I research a little bit on about about how to get a better angle, how to make the audio clearer, edit editing gets quicker. I guess my thought here is to come on and and just say that one of the biggest mistakes we make is believing that learning Has an expiration date? And I I maybe that's not exactly what I mean to say, but basically that y you go through your career and you and it seems like I've met a lot of people that reach a certain point where they stop learning. And I haven't pinpointed on whether that's whether they think they know it all, or whether they think whatever class or something that can offer something new, it's just gonna be the same old thing. And so they reach a point where they stop learning because they don't think they can learn anything new. They've been doing the job for a long time and they've seen a lot. They've got a lot of experience. And it's you've heard me say it before. Experience matters. Experience alone doesn't make us better. Learning does. I think the day that we start believing we know everything ⁓ is the day we stop growing and is the day we need to look in the mirror. I've seen people with five years of experience who are constantly improving, right? That's you're you're you know, you're brand new in the career field. You've got a lot going for you. You've got A lot of excitement, you're still in it. I've seen people with 20 years of experience who we'll give them the five years of excitement, but for the and then the 15 years after have just been repeating the same year 15 times. And I'm not, you know, I'm not trying to be a jerk. It's just it's been kind of an observation. It's the way it is. growth requires intention. You've got to be curious. You know, it requires Being able to admit that there's a better way to do something. And let me tell you something, there is always a better way. You may not know what it is. The society may not have figured it out, but there is always a better way to do something. And that doesn't mean shortcuts. I I'm one I I don't I don't love shortcuts. I think shortcuts lead lead to mistakes. You know, same thing applies to wellness. Nobody wakes up one morning and suddenly has, better fitness, better relationships, whatever it is. It's usually those small things, you know? The first workout, maybe one night you sleep a little bit better, Checking in with a friend. One small decision ⁓ doesn't, you know, doesn't seem like much, but thousands of small decisions they they add up. And I I I actually was reminded of this recently when I started running. Well, I didn't well, yes, I guess I did start running again. Nothing crazy, but the torch run. Special Olympics torch run. I really didn't intend to get out there and run. I kind of dressed for it and I was like, Yeah, I'll run for a little bit. And then I like, No, you what? I'm gonna get out there. I'm gonna run as ⁓ as much as I can and maybe get out there a few times and just give give it all I got. We've got a we've got about a five mile leg. A little bit over that. And ⁓ And I felt a lot better than I expected to. I wasn't gasping for air. I wasn't struggling. I I could f I felt like I could keep going. I felt like I could have done the whole thing. And that wasn't like that wasn't because I made one change that morning. It was ⁓ it was because a lot of small changes that like that that have happened over time. little a little stack of decisions that I made over time. And so I decided to say, well, wait a minute. Maybe I'll take this opportunity and just, you know, I'll I'll get back into running. And so I waited a couple days after the soreness came down. I was like the tin man walking down the stairs the next day. But you know I just stretched it out a little bit, waited a couple days and went out and got back out. ran great. Slow, don't get me wrong. It w it was slow. But wow, I don't recall what it was that made me stop running, but the feeling was, boy, I I remember it. I remember it. ⁓ that simple thing, couple miles that I ran with the team for the ⁓ for the torch run just had me thinking I gotta get back into this and then I went out and did it and I still felt great. So it just got me thinking about some other things. You know, one of the ideas ⁓ I've been trying to do lately is is stay open to new ideas, actually I've always ⁓ been open to that. So I guess I just lied to you all because I've always, always been open to new ideas. I actually embrace change. Smart change. Not every idea is gonna change your life. But I think it's important that we don't become the person who dismisses everything before giving it a fair shot. as much as we hear about wellness these days, ugh. getting a little burnt out on the wellness stuff. but that doesn't mean that we don't keep moving forward, right? It's just, you know, all the noise doesn't mean you don't keep moving forward with wellness. We hear a lot about wellness these days. Meditation, breath work, journaling. And Some of those have always sounded a little easier to talk about than they are to actually do. I've tried, all of those things. Some of them stuck for a while, some didn't. But I kept coming back to the same thought. How do I know if something works if I never really commit to it? So June 1st comes and I was like, hey, I got this idea. And I'm I'm talking to myself in my head. I'm like, I'm gonna try something. I'm gonna try some kind of wellness thing that typically all of us first responders would think, ⁓ yeah, that's not something I'll do. ⁓ again, the list I said before: meditation, journaling, you know, yoga, whatever it might be. But I I I said, I'm gonna start something today. I'm gonna stick with it for 30 days, and I'm just gonna. ⁓ report back. Right. So I r I I couldn't really fall on one particular practice. So I reached out ⁓ I reached out to ⁓ and I hope she doesn't mind me mentioning her here, both of them, but ⁓ Dr. Karen Harmon and ⁓ Abby Brown, who's also got a a really official title, ⁓ it escapes me right now. But they're both fantastic and just ⁓ just just ⁓ intelligent I knew I could reach out to them and get good guidance. And I just told him, look, I'm trying to figure something out that I could test for myself. both of them, liked the idea. ⁓ Dr. Harmon said, Hey, how about a gratitude challenge? ⁓ so basically a 30-day gratitude. What I'm doing is filling out, a very short questionnaire, putting pen to paper, not overthinking it. And and we'll see what happens. I'm in you know, I'm into it now, probably a week or so. And so yeah, I'm gonna commit to thirty days of this gratitude challenge. ⁓ what now one both of them pointed something out. ⁓ And it is important, I mean, I I don't know what I'm gonna do about it at this point, They both said if you're gonna try something like this, you should probably have some way to measure whether it's actually making a difference, right? Some some kind of scale, something that I could actually report back and say, Hey, I had, this much or that much, or, you know, whatever, ⁓ whatever kind of And I think they're ac absolutely right. But I'm not about to create a spreadsheet or track anything. I already do that enough in life. I'm trying to keep this simple. here's the deal. If any of us are gonna do this, I think all you wanna hear is like, hey, I did it. It worked. It felt something felt better. Maybe, maybe you all wanna hear it's backed by research. I guess I would two. ⁓ But I'm just gonna give you like real world, hey, ⁓ this was better, this wasn't, or it was just indifferent. It was a waste of freaking time. So I'm just gonna keep it simple. And I have. I've started to put pen to paper. Each day I'm writing things down. I'm paying attention during the day. I'm looking for patterns, but I'll probably look deeper over time. I mean, I just started this. But I'll tell you this, I'm gonna give this process a genuine effort instead of going through the motions. Thirty days, I will report back. And again, maybe I'll tell you that this was one of the most worthwhile things that I've done. Maybe I'll tell you it absolutely was not for me. Maybe there'll be some things that were obvious. I'm sure some things will be But again, I promise that I'm gonna go into this with an open mind and a real effort. ⁓ going back to how I started, we're gonna talk about serious growth, we just can't reject ideas because they sound uncomfortable or we think they're stupid or They're unfamiliar. We just can't. nothing's a w ⁓ one size fits all. So you never know what little thing's gonna help you. And that's the point. the the point of today's episode. Never stop being a student. Whether it's learning new technology, ⁓ improving your health, becoming a better leader, strengthening relationships, or or or trying something as simple as a as a gratitude practice. And I'm gonna say something. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna call this out the form that ⁓ Dr. Harmon gave me, which Which again is really great. It's easy. So I I think I can follow through with it for thirty days, but it says tactical gratitude, and I'm sure she added that. Maybe not. Maybe not. ⁓ there just doesn't seem like there's anything tactical about it, but we all know, right? Throw tactical in front of anything and then we're into it. So the goal here isn't to, you know, have all the answers, it's just to remain curious enough to keep looking for them. I'm gonna keep learning, adjust, improve. growth truly is a a lifelong process, but you can't you just can't give up on it. And if we just get a little better, a little bit better than we were yesterday, day after day, year after year, you'd be amazed where it can take you.