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Speaker 1: Yes, Yes, I am Dramas and this is the Street

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Speaker 1: Stoic Podcast, bringing you your daily dose of timeless stoke

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Speaker 1: philosophy remix for the hip hop generation. Now, with that

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Speaker 1: in mind, let's get things started with your daily shot

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Speaker 1: of inspiration. Now today we are going to be focusing

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Speaker 1: around the stoic idea of focusing on what you can control,

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Speaker 1: but more specifically embracing the process and valuing progress over perfection.

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Speaker 1: And today I want to do something different. We're not

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Speaker 1: gonna be talking about a rapper. We're talking about the

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Speaker 1: late great Kobe Bryant. Saw a video of him. It

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Speaker 1: got me inspired to pull up some quotes from him

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Speaker 1: because I think he just has this incredible mentality and

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Speaker 1: he's so inspirational. You know. The whole idea of the

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Speaker 1: Mamba mentality, it just kind of came to mind and

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Speaker 1: felt like something I wanted to dive into. And it

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Speaker 1: works so well with what we're talking about today. And Kobe,

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Speaker 1: in his own words describing Mamba mentality, he said, Mamba

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Speaker 1: mentality is all about focusing on the process and trusting

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Speaker 1: in the hard work when it matters. Most hard work

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Speaker 1: outweighs talent every time. Mamba mentality is about four am workouts,

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Speaker 1: doing more than the next guy, and then trusting in

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Speaker 1: the work you've put in when it's time to perform.

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Speaker 1: Without studying, preparation and practice, you're leaving the outcome to fate.

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Speaker 1: I don't do fate. And man, there's so much to

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Speaker 1: digest in those words right there, But I love that

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Speaker 1: last line. I want to start there where he says,

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Speaker 1: I don't do fate, and I just think that that's

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Speaker 1: so incredibly powerful, right, because he's he's obviously talking about,

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Speaker 1: you know, how he doesn't leave things up to chance

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Speaker 1: if he can help it, right, And and let's be honest,

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Speaker 1: we all want the easier path in life, right, we

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Speaker 1: oftentimes end up focusing so much time on this fantasy,

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Speaker 1: right or you know, thinking about what our life is

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Speaker 1: going to be like when we get that goal or

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Speaker 1: that outcome that we're desiring, you know, is achieved. We

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Speaker 1: end up putting more effort into that than the actual

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Speaker 1: work that it takes to produce, you know, something of quality.

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Speaker 1: And sure you can, you can half ass things, and

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Speaker 1: maybe you're gonna get lucky every once in a while,

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Speaker 1: but that's not sustainable. You know, if you if you

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Speaker 1: want real growth, and you want real longevity, and whatever

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Speaker 1: it is that you are doing, the only thing you

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Speaker 1: can do is put in the work each and every day.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you think about, you know, someone like Kobe Bryant,

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Speaker 1: and I had heard a podcast interview with him when

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Speaker 1: he was releasing the book Momba Mentality and talks about

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Speaker 1: as like a young kid and he was undersized and

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Speaker 1: wasn't the best at the camps that he would go

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Speaker 1: to as a team, you know, but but he kept

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Speaker 1: his head down. He focused on himself, you know, he

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Speaker 1: focused on perfecting his craft. He talked about how he

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Speaker 1: you know, wanted to set his mind on the fundamentals. Right.

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Speaker 1: He knew that if he became great at the fundamentals,

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Speaker 1: it would eventually lead to ultimate greatness, you know, in

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Speaker 1: what he does. Right, So each and every day he

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Speaker 1: busted his asset and focused on these small things, the

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Speaker 1: fundamentals of basketball. And then he talked about how each

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Speaker 1: summer he would go back to those camps and he'd

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Speaker 1: be just a little bit better. And this went on

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Speaker 1: until eventually he was the best person at those camps. Right.

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Speaker 1: But it was all because he stayed dedicated each and

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Speaker 1: every day right, And he was focused on becoming great

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Speaker 1: at the fundamentals, which is what led to long term success.

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Speaker 1: You know, he knew that he couldn't just take shortcuts

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Speaker 1: and then expect to be great or to expect you know,

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Speaker 1: consistent greatness. You know, if he was just taking the

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Speaker 1: quick and easy routes. He knew that he had to

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Speaker 1: become great at all the little things, all the small things,

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Speaker 1: all the things that are not flashy but truly make

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Speaker 1: you a well rounded basketball player in this instance, right,

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Speaker 1: But for us we're talking about trying to become well

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Speaker 1: rounded as a human being or in whatever it is

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Speaker 1: that we're we're trying to chase after. I think the

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Speaker 1: same rules apply. You know, Kobe was focusing on the

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Speaker 1: things that were actually of importance and that would genuinely

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Speaker 1: make him a better player, rather than the things that

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Speaker 1: would you know, be be impressed to others and maybe

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Speaker 1: help him win a couple of games. Right. And this

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Speaker 1: leads to to a stoic quote from from Marcus Aurelius,

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Speaker 1: and this comes from his his journals and in meditations.

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Speaker 1: He says, concentrate every minute like a Roman on doing

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Speaker 1: what's in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly,

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Speaker 1: willingly with justice, and on freeing yourself from all other distractions.

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Speaker 1: Yes you can if you do everything as it were

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Speaker 1: the last thing you were doing in your life, and

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Speaker 1: stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your

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Speaker 1: mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self centered, irritable. You

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Speaker 1: see how few things you have to do to live

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Speaker 1: a satisfying and reverent life. If you can manage this,

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Speaker 1: that's all even the gods can ask of you. And

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Speaker 1: that one's obviously a bit lengthy, but I particularly love

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Speaker 1: the part where he says, focusing on what's in front

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Speaker 1: of you with precise and genuine seriousness, right, Like, it

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter if you're doing the most mundane task like

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Speaker 1: shooting a free throw, right, you should be treating it

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Speaker 1: like the most important thing in the world in that moment,

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Speaker 1: because it is, like, too often we take ourselves out

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Speaker 1: of the present moment by thinking about the future outcome,

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Speaker 1: and it ends up making us, you know, incredibly sloppy

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Speaker 1: at the thing that's actually in front of us. And

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Speaker 1: when you lose focus on any one of the steps

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Speaker 1: within the process, it makes you sloppy, or it allows

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Speaker 1: you to set yourself up for failure in this case

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Speaker 1: that we're talking about. You know, having that sort of

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Speaker 1: focus on the process and valuing even the most mundane

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Speaker 1: task is what allows you to truly grow. It allows

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Speaker 1: you to become better and eventually become great. Like Kobe

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Speaker 1: kept doing this, you know, in whatever he did until

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Speaker 1: the day that he sadly, you know, passed away. Someone

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Speaker 1: can always come along and pass him, you know, if

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Speaker 1: he if he didn't continue his dedication towards growth and greatness,

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Speaker 1: that is what helped him stay on top four so long. Now,

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Speaker 1: all of this is incredibly personal to me, and I

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Speaker 1: relate to it in so many different facets of my

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Speaker 1: life looking back at my life and my career and

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Speaker 1: all of my experiences. You know, one of the things

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Speaker 1: that really resonates from these quotes from Kobe, you know,

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Speaker 1: he talks about how hard work outweighs talent, and that's

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Speaker 1: something that I think I always adapted, you know, from

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Speaker 1: my early days in chasing you know, my dream in

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Speaker 1: the music industry, and the reality is, you know, I'm

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Speaker 1: probably the least talented person of the artists and the

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Speaker 1: musicians that I came up with. Yet I'm the only

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Speaker 1: one who's actually making a living doing what they love.

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Speaker 1: And why is that? It's because I took every opportunity,

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Speaker 1: no matter how small it was, I took it seriously.

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Speaker 1: You know, if it was somebody at the radio station

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Speaker 1: asking me to grow on a grocery run for them

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Speaker 1: for some you know party that they were throwing, I

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Speaker 1: took that job seriously. I did it to the best

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Speaker 1: of my ability, right, And those are all you know,

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Speaker 1: that's a small, stupid task, but it just shows you

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Speaker 1: my dedication towards whatever I was doing that each and

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Speaker 1: every opportunity that I was given, even if it wasn't

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Speaker 1: something that directly seemed like it would lead to something,

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Speaker 1: and that in order for that outcome to hopefully happen,

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Speaker 1: I had to do that mundane task well, right, And

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Speaker 1: that did eventually lead me to getting a gig and radio.

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Speaker 1: That person who I was making grocery runs for ended

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Speaker 1: up being my boss who got me my first job. Right.

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Speaker 1: And again, it's something I consistently have to remind myself

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Speaker 1: of every time I do something. I just recently had

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Speaker 1: put out a book called Just b And even with that,

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Speaker 1: you know, I started with the most pure intentions. You know,

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Speaker 1: I am just trying to write something that feels special

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Speaker 1: to me. That I'm being vulnerable, and towards the end

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Speaker 1: of the process, I'm already finding myself thinking about what's

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Speaker 1: going to happen when it's out, who's going to read him?

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Speaker 1: And then making myself nervous. Oh my goodness, Now all

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Speaker 1: these people are gonna gonna hear my innermost, you know,

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Speaker 1: deepest thoughts, and that would water down be content that

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Speaker 1: I was writing during that period, and I had to

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Speaker 1: check myself. I had to say, I'm not putting out

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Speaker 1: the best product possible. I am losing sight of the

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Speaker 1: process and focusing too much on the outcome. And at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, you know that is not

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Speaker 1: going to lead towards long term success. Now we have

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Speaker 1: heard from man the late great Kobe Bryant. We've heard

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Speaker 1: some words from Marcus Aurelius. I've given you some insight

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Speaker 1: into my own personal attachment to this idea. Now let's

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Speaker 1: talk about how you can make it your mantra for today.

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Speaker 1: But first let's take a quick break and then we'll

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Speaker 1: be right back. All right, So we have heard the

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Speaker 1: words of Kobe Bryant. We have heard Marcus Surrealius, I

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Speaker 1: have talked about how I have a personal attachment to

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Speaker 1: the stoic idea of focusing on what you can control,

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Speaker 1: and specifically when it comes to embracing the process. Right now,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about how you can apply this, how you

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Speaker 1: can make it your mantra for today. Now, I think

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Speaker 1: it starts with focusing on what's in front of you,

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Speaker 1: right like we all would would love to have more

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Speaker 1: control in our lives, right more say, and obviously not

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Speaker 1: complete control. But the more that you focus on doing

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Speaker 1: the work, the more control that you're going to have

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Speaker 1: in your life. Right Like, the harder we work, the

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Speaker 1: better we become, The better we become, the less things

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Speaker 1: that we leave up to chance, you know, but we

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Speaker 1: have to be dedicated to the process, dedicated to what

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Speaker 1: is in front of us, right that is the most

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Speaker 1: important thing. And to summarize all that we've talked about

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Speaker 1: on this idea of focusing on what you can control

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Speaker 1: and embracing the process, you know, we started with Kobe

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Speaker 1: and this Mamba mentality, right and I love the words

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Speaker 1: that he says where without studying, preparation and practice, you're

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Speaker 1: leaving the outcome to fate. I don't do fate right now.

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Speaker 1: The words of Marcus Aurelius, right. I love what he

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Speaker 1: says here when he talks about doing what's in front

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Speaker 1: of you with precise and genuine seriousness, And I think

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Speaker 1: that's speaking to all of the little things that add

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Speaker 1: up to something big, all of the mundane tasks that

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Speaker 1: seem so insignificant, taking them incredibly serious, focusing on them

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Speaker 1: like they are the most important thing in the world. Right.

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Speaker 1: And lastly, when it comes to my story, you know,

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Speaker 1: I can pinpoint the difference between the times that I

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Speaker 1: was putting in the work and slowing down and focusing

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Speaker 1: on greatness rather than validation, and those were the moments

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Speaker 1: where I saw the most growth personally and professionally. Again,

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Speaker 1: you have to slow down, you have to focus on

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Speaker 1: the process and treat everything that you're doing, everything that's

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Speaker 1: in front of you. Ment the smallest task as the

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Speaker 1: most important thing to you in the world. Focus on

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Speaker 1: what's in front of you, and you'll be able to

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Speaker 1: achieve all that you want in this life. Now, with

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Speaker 1: that said that, I also want to plug my book

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Speaker 1: real quick. I mentioned if you want to check that out,

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Speaker 1: just be dot NYC that's the website. Just be to NYC.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate the support in advance, and thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for checking out the Street Stoke Podcast. Do your

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Speaker 1: best to apply these concepts that we've discussed today, Incia,

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Speaker 1: everyday life, and I will catch you next time. The

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Speaker 1: Streetstoke Podcast is a production of Ihearts Michael Bura Podcast

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Speaker 1: Network