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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 stoic

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Speaker 1: philosophy remixed 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 of being your own master

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Speaker 1: and the idea of purposeful action, right and something that

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Speaker 1: that kind of came to mind. A couple of different

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Speaker 1: hip hop quotes or lyrics, I should say that came

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Speaker 1: to mind first of almost. One was from Big Sean

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Speaker 1: in the song Blessings, and he says, yeah, I'm that invested,

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Speaker 1: but you can't attest it. A million dollar goals, managed

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Speaker 1: to manifest it, the family never going in erexic, I

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Speaker 1: pay my mortgage and electric. And he's talking about all

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Speaker 1: the things that he created right, a life where he's

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Speaker 1: able to take care of his family and he's not

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Speaker 1: having to live in fear of of not being able

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Speaker 1: to do so right, and and also being able to

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Speaker 1: take care of his own things right, things like bills

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Speaker 1: and and and he's talking about obviously his mortgage and

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Speaker 1: his electric specifically. You know, he's talking about the idea

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Speaker 1: of this not being an issue because he has created

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Speaker 1: a life where he is not only in control but

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Speaker 1: also has more than enough to take care of his

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Speaker 1: own daily needs. Right, he has mastered his life, and

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Speaker 1: he has a freedom now that the financial stability is

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Speaker 1: giving him, right and then taking it further. I pulled

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Speaker 1: a quote from Jay Z and this is on the

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Speaker 1: Aims from Sierra Leone remix. And we've all heard this

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Speaker 1: quote a million one times. But Jay says, I'm not

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Speaker 1: a businessman. I'm a business man. And he's talking about

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Speaker 1: cregating the the ultimate power and mastery of his life

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Speaker 1: by turning himself into a business. Right, he is a business,

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Speaker 1: he is a brand. Right, he is the one at

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Speaker 1: the center of everything that happens. Right, and that's the

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Speaker 1: ultimate control, that's the ultimate freedom and mastery of your

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Speaker 1: own destiny. Now, this, this kind of you know, goes

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Speaker 1: nicely into a quote from one of the Stoics here

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Speaker 1: at Petitus, right, and he says, he who possesses an

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Speaker 1: undiminished and stable liberty, being free and his own master,

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Speaker 1: towers over all others. For what can possibly be above

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Speaker 1: a man who has mastered his life and is thus

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Speaker 1: above fortune, right. And he's talking about you know, having

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Speaker 1: the old timant freedom right, being your own master. And

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Speaker 1: he's of course mentioning that you know, you are above fortunate,

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Speaker 1: above wealth. But but I think the idea of the

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Speaker 1: modern world that we we live in. Of course, you're

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Speaker 1: not supposed to be obsessed with money or chasing money

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Speaker 1: for no absolute reason. But I think if you really

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Speaker 1: broke down what is at the core of of most

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Speaker 1: of us, who are you know, chasing uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: the the idea of of building up some sort of

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Speaker 1: financial portfolio, right, or or giving ourselves a better life

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Speaker 1: when it comes to money and making more money and

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Speaker 1: and building wealth in general. Right, Like I think we

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Speaker 1: we all don't realize that at its core, we're not

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Speaker 1: chasing the money itself, right, We're not chasing the dollar sign,

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Speaker 1: the number that ends up in the bank. We are

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Speaker 1: are talking about freedom here, right. That is what money

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Speaker 1: gives us. It's what money represents. It's the ultimate freedom

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Speaker 1: to be in control of our lives and to be

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Speaker 1: our own master. Right. And I love what he says,

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Speaker 1: you know, being free and his own master, you tower

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Speaker 1: above all others, right, And this is such a beautiful thing.

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Speaker 1: To keep in mind, particularly in the world that we

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Speaker 1: live in today. I mean, you know we're going through

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Speaker 1: you know what is is you know, being called by

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Speaker 1: many a recession. Right hasn't officially gotten that title, but

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who are losing their

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Speaker 1: jobs and inevitably will continue to do so. Right, and

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Speaker 1: even further down the line, people will will be replaced

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Speaker 1: for someone cheaper, or their job is going to be

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Speaker 1: automated through AI, whatever it might be. You know, you

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Speaker 1: are are not in control there and and that's the

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Speaker 1: the idea of being a a nine to five worker

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Speaker 1: and not thinking anywhere beyond that, which we will get

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Speaker 1: into a little bit further down the line. But you

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Speaker 1: know that is you relinquishing your control. And what all

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Speaker 1: of these people are saying is is placing value on

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Speaker 1: having the power over what happens to you, right, having

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Speaker 1: the power over being able to protect yourself, your family,

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Speaker 1: take care of your own needs, right, having that ultimate freedom,

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Speaker 1: being the master of your own life. And you cannot

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Speaker 1: do that when you rely on some sort of outside

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Speaker 1: entity to be you know, your end all be all right.

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Speaker 1: And let's talk a bit about how I relate to

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Speaker 1: this right, because I think this is something that has

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Speaker 1: been so incredibly personal for me in my journey. And

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Speaker 1: and this is my my first year. We're coming off

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Speaker 1: of my first year of being on you know, self employed.

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Speaker 1: I have partnerships and and things like that, but at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, I am self employed. I

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Speaker 1: don't have a nine to five job anymore. And that's

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Speaker 1: been the ultimate goal, of the ultimate dream for me.

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Speaker 1: And and I think it started with sort of never

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Speaker 1: getting to attached to a job or a particular position, right,

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Speaker 1: and and understanding that everything that happened for me while

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Speaker 1: being somebody who was, you know, a nine to five worker,

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Speaker 1: all of that was was simply stepping stones for me

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Speaker 1: on my my bigger journey, right, because I understood that

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Speaker 1: at any point in time, these people could decide that

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Speaker 1: they want to move on from me, that my position

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Speaker 1: is no longer needed, that they can you know, fire

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Speaker 1: me and the divide up all of the things that

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Speaker 1: I do amongst a few other people. And that's inevitably happened.

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Speaker 1: I've been hired from from jobs before, right, And that

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Speaker 1: was a great learning lesson sort of realizing that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I am not not replaceable, right, And that's something that

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Speaker 1: stuck with me, you know, and and why I always

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Speaker 1: kept the ultimate goal of one day being able to

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Speaker 1: work for myself, to be completely independent from having to

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Speaker 1: rely on one source for for all of my income.

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Speaker 1: You know. It's why I have multiple businesses, multiple sources

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Speaker 1: of income, and I think that that's provided me with

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Speaker 1: a peace of mind and a fulfillment that I can't

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Speaker 1: even really put into words, you know. Uh. And and

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Speaker 1: the beauty of having that control and not relying on

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Speaker 1: one thing is that, you know, when life inevitably throws

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Speaker 1: you a curve ball, you're going to be okay. Sure,

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Speaker 1: maybe you have to cut certain things out of your

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Speaker 1: your daily routine, but you are still living in control

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Speaker 1: of your own life. One thing cannot make or break

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Speaker 1: you one person, one company. And listen, I'm not gonna

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Speaker 1: say man, that you shouldn't be scared of the prospect

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Speaker 1: of going you know, independently and working for yourself. It

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Speaker 1: is scary, right, you could fail, But I think at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, I would rather fail having

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Speaker 1: you know, chased after something that was incredibly important to

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Speaker 1: me than then having failed at something that I didn't

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Speaker 1: really give a shit about. But even if this journey

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Speaker 1: that I'm on right now, where I've done now about

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Speaker 1: a year and a half of working for myself. Even

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Speaker 1: if let's say it ends in a year and I

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Speaker 1: have to go back to that nine to five grind,

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Speaker 1: my heart will be so full knowing that I got

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Speaker 1: to live out my dream at least for a particular

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Speaker 1: period of time. And guess what if I have to

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Speaker 1: go back to that nine to five lifestyle, I will

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Speaker 1: then be planning ahead of how I can get back

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Speaker 1: to being my own master and living that independent life

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Speaker 1: that I think we all deserve. Of course, we have

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Speaker 1: heard from Man some of the greats, jay Z, Big Sean,

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Speaker 1: one of my favorite stokes Epictidious. I've talked about my

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Speaker 1: own story a bit. I want to kind of summarize

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Speaker 1: all of that into how you can actually apply this

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Speaker 1: to your life in a practical way. But first let's

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Speaker 1: take a quick break and then we'll be right back.

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Speaker 1: All right, So we have heard the words of Big

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Speaker 1: Sean today, we've heard the words of jay Z, one

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Speaker 1: of the stoics eptitious. I have talked about man my

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Speaker 1: own personal journey and and how I truly believe in

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Speaker 1: this stoic principle of being your own master and taking

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Speaker 1: purposeful action. Uh, now that we have heard you know,

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Speaker 1: everybody else's story, let's talk about you. How can we

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Speaker 1: make this your mantra for today? And I think at

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Speaker 1: first and foremost starts with thinking beyond the current life

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Speaker 1: that you have. Right, you have to set up goals

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Speaker 1: that give you in out And this has always been

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Speaker 1: an incredibly important cornerstone for me. Always have an exit plan, right,

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Speaker 1: Never assume that you know one thing is going to

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Speaker 1: be the thing that you do for the rest of

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Speaker 1: your life. Right, understanding that things change, and actually you

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Speaker 1: should be embracing that change. That's how you grow, That's

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Speaker 1: how you elevate. I mean, even if naturally, you know,

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Speaker 1: moving on to a new job is generally how you

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Speaker 1: end up making more money. Right. And and the reality

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Speaker 1: is like, we shouldn't have to wait until we are

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Speaker 1: sixty five years old to become the master of our

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Speaker 1: own lives. Right, Like that just never made sense to me.

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Speaker 1: It's this nonsense that we have been fed. And I

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Speaker 1: think we really have to begin to to break free

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Speaker 1: of that. And the reality is like, when you even

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Speaker 1: just think of building generational wealth, others outside of our

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Speaker 1: community have figured out a long time ago. Right, they

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Speaker 1: own real estate, they have invested in the stock market. Right.

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Speaker 1: They understand that simply working a nine to five is

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Speaker 1: not going to give them the generational wealth. The way

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Speaker 1: to get ahead in this country, in this world is

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Speaker 1: to have multiple things, you know, multiple multiple items in

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Speaker 1: the pot boiling for you. Right. The idea that we

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Speaker 1: can just survive off this one job and think that

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Speaker 1: we get out of college, we get this job, we

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Speaker 1: stay there till six or sixty five and in life

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Speaker 1: is amazing. Like, that's just not a reality for most

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Speaker 1: of us. And we have to think beyond this, you know,

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Speaker 1: the idea that we've all been brainwashed with. Right, And

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Speaker 1: we also, I think, have to adapt this idea of

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Speaker 1: using our nine to five as a stepping stone rather

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Speaker 1: than being the totality of our lives. Right. I would

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Speaker 1: give myself timetables. If I got a promotion, I big all, Right,

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Speaker 1: in a year from now, I'm going to move on

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Speaker 1: to something else. Like I never allowed myself to get

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Speaker 1: too comfortable in in whatever role that I was was given.

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Speaker 1: You know, the nine to five job provided me with security, Right,

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Speaker 1: It provided me with a consistent paycheck that I can

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Speaker 1: then use to invest in other things that would eventually

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Speaker 1: set me up to have a life of independence. And

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Speaker 1: that's exactly what I did. So you have to think

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Speaker 1: beyond the lessons that we've been taught of. Go to college,

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Speaker 1: get a nice job, and life works out for you.

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Speaker 1: It's just not a real reality. There is no real

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Speaker 1: security in this world unless you are the one in control,

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Speaker 1: unless you're the one signing the checks at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day. And when I talk about my own life,

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Speaker 1: you know, that's that's what I have done. I've never

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Speaker 1: allowed myself to rely on just one thing as my

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Speaker 1: source of income. I took my nine to five. I

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Speaker 1: used it as a stepping stone to create other incomes,

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Speaker 1: other areas of opportunity, and eventually, when I built those up,

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Speaker 1: I was able to go out on my own. And

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Speaker 1: that's exactly the life that I'm living right now. We're

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Speaker 1: not one person, not one company, not one job, not

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Speaker 1: one opportunity controls how I live my life. And that

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Speaker 1: is the ultimate source of fulfillment when you get to

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Speaker 1: have that peace of mind and that freedom in your life.

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Speaker 1: Now that said, thank you so much for checking out

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Speaker 1: the Street Stowick podcast. Do your best to apply these

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Speaker 1: concepts that we have discussed into your everyday life and

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Speaker 1: I would catch you next time. The Street Stoke podcast

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Speaker 1: is a production of My Hearts michaela podcast network