Ready Is Fake | Jay Yang | The Sean Trace Show

In this episode of The Sean Trace Show, I sit down with Jay Yang, an author, copywriter, and creator who helps founders and entrepreneurs communicate better through content. 

We talk about why so many people feel stuck, behind, or unsure of their next move, and Jay breaks down why most people do not actually lack motivation. They lack clarity. From defining your North Star to taking small daily actions, Jay shares a powerful way to design your life like a video game, with clear goals, milestones, and progress that keeps you moving forward. We also get into overthinking, courage, consistency, rejection, cold outreach, and why action creates the information you need to change your life. One of the biggest takeaways is simple but powerful: you do not need to feel ready before you start. You start, and readiness comes after.

What is one thing you have been overthinking that you know you need to finally start?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You know, there's uh there's a story of how uh, you know, Roger Federer loved tennis in all his life and he became number one tennis player in the world. And there was another tennis player, Andre Agassi, who hated tennis with a passion, but he also became number one in the world at one point. And so one loved the game and the other hated the game, both became number one. And so it wasn't how they felt about the game that led to them becoming number one. It was what they did. And so action and only action can change your life. You cannot think your way to a better life. You can't manifest it no matter what the self-help gurus say. It is only what you do. And so, uh, you know, another way to rephrase that is, you know, if if you and I are sprinting, you know, we're running a hundred-meter sprint and uh we both want to win, well, winners and losers both have the same goal. We both want to win. But the difference is one ran faster. And so it's it's your actions that change your life. And so if you are, if you want to do something and you and you don't feel ready or you feel kind of nervous, uh, the mantra I give to you is that action produces information. And so just do things and you'll get more data on whether you like this thing or whether it should go differently. But trying to think your way out of overthinking without any information or any data uh is just analysis paralysis.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Welcome everyone back to the Sean Trace Show. Um, your host, Sean, and I've got an awesome guest with me today. Would you like to tell people who you are and a little bit about what you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Hey, Sean, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Uh, my name is Jay. I like to think of myself as and a copywriter second. And so the bulk of my day is speculated on a separate book. The rest of my day I work with founders and entrepreneurs and help them market their companies on social media. I love that, man. Um, how did you find this path? How did you get started? Oh man, well the story starts back during COVID. Um, I was in my childhood bedroom playing video games for five hours a day, kind of just running away. And I don't know, I don't remember exactly why, but I had this sense of like, hmm, I should probably do something more productive with my life. And so I Googled how to make money online. And one of those things was to start a YouTube channel. And so I started a reading promotion YouTube channel. Um, so totally unrelated to copywriting. Um and the channel didn't go anywhere, but it taught me the power of content. Like I could actually reach people, um, hundreds of people from my bedroom. And so I got obsessed with the question what does it mean to change someone's behavior? What does it mean to inspire someone? And that kind of led me down the rabbit hole of copywriting and online content and content creation. And yeah, five years later, here we are.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

That's awesome, man. And like this is something too. Like, there's for this podcast, it's like, you know, really self-help. But I love also, like, I also have my my full battery media podcast because I love to talk about how content can be something that can inspire people to make change, you know, and it's like it's kind of one of those areas where it's a little bit of both, but like I wanted to talk to you about this too, because you know, the way you write and what you put out there, the content you put out there, is really inspiring. Because for me, one of the things that you you posted that was um the inspired was like, I'm gonna slow down here. I get stuck sometimes. I get stuck with my thoughts, I get stuck, and a lot of people get stuck in life, you know? And let me look put it look at it this way, right? We started a new challenge in my house. Uh, all of the kids in my house, I have my daughter, but we also share a large house with my nephews and my sister-in-law. And we were just like, dude, there's way too much screen time happening, it's just way too much. And so we sat down and we said, we're gonna challenge all you guys. If you guys get off screen time, we're gonna have this book challenge. And I've been charting it, and the kids get points for reading, and they've been eating it up, right? And my nephew, he's always fast, he's fast at everything, and he read the diary of a wimpy kid in like three days. And my daughter is sitting there going, Yeah, great book, great thing for a kid. But he was like, um, my daughter's sitting there going, thinking she's stuck. And she's like, I am trying, but I just can't get keep caught up with him. And one of the things too is like, I was like, just slow down. You're you're not that behind, you know, you just gotta keep. And she's like, Well, I I need I got this much of the book left. And I said, Okay, well, how can we get keep going? And I was like, Well, just focus on your next step. You know, focus on the next page. You don't have to focus on finishing the whole book, just focus on reading the next page. And I wanted to ask you this because a lot of people feel stuck or or behind. What is one small move they can make this week to start moving forward? You know, what's something that people can do to change that trajectory of their life, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Well, first off, I love that idea of the reading books challenge. That's uh is a super awesome thing. Um yeah, feeling stuck, feeling behind. I I think it's it's almost this universal thing of people have a productivity guilt of they feel like they should be doing more than they really are. Um but I would argue that most people don't lack motivation, they lack clarity. And I think, like in your in your daughter's example, like she was motivated to to read the book and to finish the book, but I think it was a lack of clarity on how do you actually get there? And the analogy I like to use is that uh no one tells you that you need to focus while playing video games. Uh I think that's because video games have a North Star and then a hierarchy of goals or milestones to getting them that stretch you but don't overwhelm you. And so the question then becomes how can we design our life like a video game? I love that. And so for me, what's worked for me is I have two steps. So, step one is to zoom out and define your North Star. This is like what we're trying to achieve. And so one of my favorite scenes in Alice in Wonderland uh Disney movie is Alice is walking on this dirt path and the path splits into two different trails, and she doesn't know which path to go down. And so she looks up at the Cheshire cat and goes, Mr. Cheshire Cat, which path should I go down? I don't know where to go. And the Cheshire cat responds, Well, where do you want to go? She says, I don't know. And the Cheshire cat says, then it doesn't matter. If you don't know where you want to go, any path will take you there. And that that scene lives rent-free in my head. And and and it sounds kind of obvious, like it's hard to take, it's hard to hit a target you can't see. But I think so often in life, we spend our times being super busy, but not being super productive. We we run around doing all these different things, but not necessarily doing the things that drive us forward towards our goal. And so, step one is to zoom out and define what you actually want to achieve. And so, uh, in in this example, like, what do you want to achieve in life? And most people will say, Oh, well, I just want to be rich and I want to travel the world or I want to start a family. And that's okay, but it's kind of vague. It doesn't really motivate you. A better answer would be like get super specific. Like, what do you do? Like, what do you do for a living? Are you working on a laptop? Are you working with your hands? Are you working inside or outside? Are you working with people? Are you working alone? Where do you live? Do you live in a house? Do you live in an apartment? Do you live in the mountains? Do you live by the beach? Like who are you with? Do you have a spouse, friends? How many friends? Like who how you want to show up with them? You get super, super specific about the life you want to live. And that sounds obviously easier said than done, but I think the the difficulty that you feel, the discomfort that you feel when you get specific is a good thing because that that specific that discomfort creates deprivation because it it highlights a gap between where you are and where you want to go. And deprivation is the evil twin of motivation. And so the more deprived you are of something, the more motivated you are to get it. And so this is where we really start to like tackle the I feel stuck, but I don't like, I'm not motivated or I don't know what to do. Because when you can clearly picture what you want out of your life, that creates the the deprivation needed to get it. And obviously that's not a it's not a feel you want like forever, but it's a great way to ignite your journey and start. So that's step one is zoom out and define what you actually want to achieve? What is your North Star? Step two is once you have zoomed out and you can see the big picture for what it is. Step two is to zoom back in and ask yourself, what can you do today? Because I think analysis paralysis occurs when you have too many options, but too little focus, right? You have now zoomed out and you have all these different things that you can do to achieve the North Star that you want, but now you're overwhelmed. And so step two is zoom in. And I think uh smart people in particular uh tend to fall in this trap because smart people can do many things, and so they try to do everything. And right to me, uh focus is ordering consciousness, it is making sense of reality, it is it is like putting blinders on so you know what to pay attention to. That's what focus means to me. And so the question I like to ask myself is if you know what you want, what needs to be true in order for that to occur? Or a different way to phrase that is what inputs increase the likelihood that you get the output that you want? So, like you've zoomed out, you know what you want, now zoom back in. What decisions, what daily decisions help you get closer to your North Star? And that allows you to create a roadmap, a video game uh to get towards what you want.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

I um got the chance earlier in my life, and I'm gonna have a chance again to study with one of the greatest acting teachers in the world, Ivana Chubbuck. And uh never became a big actor. I love it, but I've used her technique my entire life. And one of the things that's a big thing is Ivana has these 12 steps. And the first three are the fundamental core of the of the technique for me. And one of the things that she looks on as step one is what are your overall objectives? Well, it's a character's overall objective. What is your objective? It's like your why, your big why, you know, to be powerful, to be worshipped, to be safe, to be uh validated. And then you have a scene objective, and every single character in a movie has their overall objective, and every scene in that movie, your character has an objective in that scene to move them towards their overall objective. So, you know, in this podcast, I don't know what my overall objective is. Um, I want to be able to make an impact, honestly. That's one of my things. I want to be powerful. I mean, I'm not I'm not pulling punches here. Like that's one of my goals in life, but not just because I want power for power's sake, but because I want to be able to make a change. I've got a 10-year-old daughter that I see growing up in a world that's a little bit crazy at times. And I want to be able to be able to be a change maker in that world. So then I come into this podcast. Well, what is my goal in this podcast? Well, my goal is to have this podcast be as impactful as I can so that I can move toward that larger objective, you know? And I think that that's kind of a similar type of a thing. We have these big goals, these big whys, but then every single day we can be doing something that can be moving us toward that bigger vision, that bigger outcome. Now, part three, though, of her technique is the obstacles. And this is what makes life more rich. Um, you know, what are my obstacles today? Well, it's a relief for me. It's five in the morning for me, uh, which is an obstacle waking up and being fresh. But at the same time, it makes it so that this, this, this moment has more meaning for me. The fact that I was like, you know what? Jay is such a cool guy and he's got such powerful, impactful stuff he wants to say. I want to be there. And I want to come at a time that works for both of us. And boom, that obstacle becomes a PowerPoint. And I think that everything in life, I think if we can reframe some of the stuff that we are bouncing against and running into, and sit there and go, you know, it might be tough, but at the end of the day, actually, these are the the things that define us, you know, our goals, our large goals, our small goals, and then the obstacles how we can kind of move beyond that because you want something good in life. There's always gonna be something that stops you, you know, it's gonna be something that slows you down. And I think one of the things is you don't need permission to start. And you know, you were talking about this in a beautiful way, but what does that actually look like when someone's scared to take the first step and how do they take it?

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Yeah, for sure. I think uh the desire to have permission before we start is uh a fundamental desire that I think is taught from us at an early age. Like we're taught that there are rules for a reason, that rules are non-negotiable, uh, you know, raise your hand before you speak, ask to go to the bathroom, you know, complete your homework on time. And the the thing that I've observed is if you actually look at the people who become, quote, successful in the world, they all treat rules as suggestions. They all treat rules as negotiable. And that's not saying you should run red lights and and kill people. Obviously, that's not what I'm saying. But I think fundamentally, if you are waiting for someone to give you permission to live your life, you will always be waiting. Like no one can live your life for you. And so I think step one goes back to what we were talking about of that North Star. Step one is asking yourself, what do you want? Not what your parents want or what your teachers want or what society wants for you, but what do you actually want? And I think if if awareness is the first step to change, reflection is the first step towards taking high agency over your life. Right?

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Wow. Reflection is, and it's like one of the things I think that is so powerful. Like you have your why, but you have to sit there and internally think about for me, every single day I I'm pivoting and reevaluating how I can better get there. And I feel like there's little signs along the way. Um last night I had uh a podcast that was not confirmed correctly, and I had been traveling and I got behind. I didn't send off the you know, and I I didn't send a reminder to you too. And I was like, oh man, I dropped the ball. And what I realized in that moment was um travel, Leo, traveling last week to work, not an excuse. I need to be better. And that reflection allowed me to sit there and go, you know what I really need? I need an executive assistant who can help me making sure that all of these places that I'm not getting things done, that I'm getting them done, that I'm not dropping the ball in these places, that I'm able to not screw myself so thin. But it was reflection that allowed me to see the next step that was needed, you know? And it was reflection that allowed me to sit there and go, wow, you know what? I am not playing the game at a hundred percent. It doesn't mean that I have to stake that, but it definitely means that I've got to figure out a way to do it better. You know what I mean? Yeah, for sure. I want to ask you this too, because one of the things too is, you know, we were talking about this. Again, people overthink before they begin, but how do you personally start when you're not ready or when you feel like you're only 50% ready? How do you make sure that you're able to step up and get it going to where it needs to be?

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Yeah, I think the it is a is a fundamental misconception to believe that you need to feel 100% ready before you start. I think it's you don't feel ready and then you start. You start and then you feel ready. And the feeling of readiness is a byproduct of taking action. And the other thing I say is the discomfort you feel when doing something new is a positive signal, not a negative signal, because you're doing something new. You're getting outside of your comfort zone. And it is easy to sit in your head and ruminate about all the possible scenarios and what happens if this happens and if this other thing goes this way, you know, what happens then? Uh, but trying to overthink your way, you know, as George Mack eloquently says, trying to overthink your way out of overthinking is like a cocaine addict trying to snort their way out of a cocaine addiction. It just doesn't work. You can't think your way to a better life. And, you know, there's a there's a story of how uh, you know, Roger Federer loved tennis in all his life and he became number one tennis player in the world. And there was another tennis player, Andre Agassi, who hated tennis with a passion, but he also became number one in the world at as at one point. And so one loved the game and the other hated the game. Both became number one. And so it wasn't how they felt about the game that led to them becoming number one. It was what they did. And so action and only action can change your life. You cannot think your way to a better life. You can't manifest it no matter what the self-help gurus say. It is only what you do. And so, uh, you know, another way to rephrase that is you know, if if you and I are are sprinting, you know, we're running a hundred-meter sprint and uh we both want to win, well, winners and losers both have the same goal. We both want to win. But the difference is one ran faster. And so it's it's your actions that change your life. And so if you are, if you want to do something and you and you don't feel ready or you feel kind of nervous, uh, the mantra I give to you is that action produces information. And so just do things and you'll get more data on whether you like this thing or whether it should go differently. But trying to think your way out of overthinking without any information or any data uh is just analysis paralysis.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

I like that saying of like, hey, and trying to support your way to change. That's how it feels sometimes to come around that path, you know. But one of the things, too, like I you're sitting there talking about Andre Agassi, and I'm reminded of like Nicola Jokic. Um, and I'm I'm mispronouncing the Joker's name, I'm sure. Basketball player that is, you know, in line to be the MVP, has been multiple times MVP, and he hates basketball. Like the dude is like a huge lover of like he's got horses back home, and and he's like it's weak into that, but you know, he shows up last season after season and he crushes it. But he got so damn good by practice and reps. And I think that's something that people always forget. Like they see the work, they see the outcome, I should say, of the work. They see the outcomes of the change that people made internally. If I someday pop on the scene and my podcast blow up, and I'm like, people like, oh, you know what, Sean Trace, this was that, they aren't gonna see the hours, weeks, months, years that I put in. There are some people who have been coming with me. And to those people that are watching and listening, probably my mom, thank you for that. You know, I appreciate you showing up with me, and I appreciate the people that have been there for early on. You know, there might be a time where you suddenly it clicks for you as well, and everyone's like, Wow, you know, how did you get here? What was it that you did? And they didn't see that showing up, and I think that that's the thing that people have to realize is like it's not always easy to show up. You know, I'm sitting here showing up at five in the morning this morning, and my obstacle, my wife was like, What are you doing up so early? Texting me, come back to bed, and I'm like, it's okay, okay. But like, I won't ask you this, you know, because it starts off with daily habits, simple habits, you know, and after this, I've been getting back in the gym and I'm loving it. Last night I I go to my time three days a week, I go to the gym three days a week, at least when I'm lifting and I, you know, get my cardio in, I'm always high nights. But, you know, I'm gonna go do some yoga today because I'm feeling sores out. But one of the things I wanted to ask you is, you know, um, what are a few simple daily habits that actually move someone forward every day?

SPEAKER_00 21:50

I wish there was a super sexy answer to this question, but the honest answer is that you know, success is not a magical list that nobody knows, it's an obvious list. That nobody does. And the daily habits that you've heard before of waking up early, working out, going, you know, going on walks, eating, eating right, reading, writing, you know, taking care of your health. Like the basics are the basics for a reason because they work. And, you know, when I was younger, I definitely had that idea of, oh, you know, once I get into these different circles and in the in these different rooms, then I'll find the magical silver bullets. I'll I'll find the magic secret to all the success and I'll finally be successful. But uh, you know, I've had the privilege of working with a ton of super successful people. Um, and there is no silver bullet. There's just a hundred different golden BBs that we all already know. And so, yeah, I think the honest truth is we need to be reminded of the basics more than we need to be taught new fancy methods. And so uh all the cliche self-help habits that you've heard are the exact same habits that I still have to this day, and the exact habits that I recommend everyone listening. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

It really is. It is those little ways you show up, you know. Uh I I think of the gym all the time. Like people want to get in shape, they want to get strong. You get there by simply showing up, by going to the gym. You want to learn to run a marathon, you want to be a triathlete someday. You have to go and put on your shoes. That's probably the single most important thing that you can do. Put on your shoes. And then once you put on your shoes, walk out the front door. You know, it's that simple, it is that straightforward. It is like that is how you get it done. And if you can show up day after day after day like that, you're gonna be like, hey, suddenly I'm strong, suddenly I'm bigger, suddenly I am stronger than I used to be. And that's a huge, huge deal, you know? And I think that that's what I would say is what's powerful for people is the power of transformative small things. There was this picture of a castle that I saw the other day, and it had these deeply embedded pits in the stone, and they were like scientists just tried to figure out what this was, and when they finally figured it out, it was wild. These soldiers were having a game at this castle, and they would drop a pebble and it would bounce off the stone. But they did this game. It was like Middle Ages, they were incredibly bored, but they dropped this stone so many times that it started to make these big, big, like pitted holes in this rock, you know? And it wasn't anything fancy, there wasn't any super drill, it was just guys again and again and again and again over probably about 80, 90, 100 years, it might have been a tradition that was handed down from like soldier to soldier, you know? But they did this and it it reshaped the stone. And that's the thing that I think people don't realize is that you have the ability to reshape the stone in your own mind, but you have to continue that that step-by-step action. And I wanted to ask you this too, because when you were younger, you reached out and created opportunities. What would you say to someone who feels too intimidated to do that?

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah, well, first of all, I would say I resonate for sure. Um, I remember being super scared when I was sending my first cold email to Dat Tyler Denk, who is the CEO of Beehive, um, a new other tech startup. And I remember my like my finger was hovering over the the mouse pad to click send. And I just remember just feeling super scared that he would judge me, super scared that my friends would find out and they would make fun of me, super scared that he would just say no and I would have to face rejection. Um I think the biggest thing that that holds a lot of people back, and now it's kind of interesting. I get to see the other side of it of people starting to cold email and cold reach out to me, um, is they have a tendency to put people on a pedestal, which I totally understand. I think with content creation and social media nowadays, it's very easy to have a uh a parasocial relationship with someone. You've you've watched hours of their content, maybe you've listened to hours of of Sean's podcast and you and you feel a little intimidated because you you look up to them and and you feel like you've known them. Um but but yeah, I think that at the end of the day, we we all bleed red. We all wake up and have to use the bathroom, we all have to awkwardly do that little hop and we put our pants on, right? We all have fears, doubts, and insecurities. And so uh I think the biggest piece of advice I can give is don't tell yourself no before the world tells you no. And so if you're gonna cold email someone, like let that other person say no, don't tell yourself no and never shoot your shot. Right. Because as cliche as it is, if you don't ask, the answer will be no. And so uh if you want to reach out and create opportunities, shoot your shot, go for it. Um, because the squeaky wheel gets degrees, and the person who asks has a higher than zero percent likelihood chance of getting yes. I 100% agree, man.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

And it's like it is that way, you know? Like we we do put people on a pedestal, and they're just regular people like us. And if you can sit there and think about it that way, I mean, I married a an absolute superstar rock star of a singer in my wife. And when I asked her about that, she was like, Oh, I was like, Why did you uh go on a date with me? And she was like, Because you asked. And I was like, Wow, there we go. That was a great example, you know? Because my wife, and this is something I actually was cracking up about. I've heard about all of these successful women and actresses at times who have um, or actors as well, like these people have these really weird dating lives because a lot of people don't feel like they can ask them out, you know, they feel like this person's on this pedestal. And you know, with my wife, I was like, Hey, you want to go out to dinner? She's like, I would love to. And I said, Oh, I'm sure you have people asking you all the time to dinner. She's like, Not really. It's kind of weird like that, you know. Um, and I think that like it comes up to this next one. People really are afraid of looking stupid, you know? And you have to get past that because on the other side of that feeling of looking stupid is where you can find your success, you know?

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Yeah, 100%. There it reminds me of a a parable um that I that I came across. And basically there's a story of this old monk, this old monk and his student are walking on this dusty mountain path, and they pass this man on the road who just randomly starts to, you know, hurl insults at the at the monk. And he's he's like, you monks are all frauds, you know, you're living off of charity, you're you're you know, you're not really in light, blah, blah, blah. And the student gets really angry. The student's like, you know, what the heck? Like, who are you? But the older monk stops him and he says, and he says, like, chill. And he and then he says, he continues walking. And and then they keep walking for a while. And the young student turns to the older monk and he's like, Master, how how could you let him speak to you that way? Like he he insulted us. And the older monk stops and he turns to a student and he says, If someone offered you a basket of rotting fish and you refuse to take it, who must carry the stench home? And the student says, the one who brought it. And the monk says, Just so, his words were a gift I chose not to accept. Therefore, they must remain with him. And I love that story because I think it highlights such an important truth, which is that no matter what you do, people will always have an opinion. If you succeed, they'll call you lucky. If you fail, they'll say, I told you so. And so, no matter what you do, they'll always find a way to judge the decisions you made, even if they never had to make them themselves. And so I think it's kind of futile to try to be liked and admired by everyone. Like when you shoot your shot, when you send a cold email, you risk other people making fun of you, you risk getting hearing rejection. But I don't know. I don't think I even want to be liked and admired by everyone because I don't think I like and admire everyone. And so why would I have the assumption that everyone should like and admire me? And so uh I think it's it's a sign of maturity to be able to tune out the voices around you and do what's right for you in your life, uh, even if it doesn't make sense to those around you. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

You don't need to be liked by everyone, you just don't. Uh, and if you are trying uh to do so, then life's gonna be a lot more challenging. But you do need to be liked by yourself and you do need to understand what your mission is and what your purpose is and what your why is. And I think when you can figure those out, it makes it easier to make the decisions that are right for you. I think that everything has to line up with your North Star. And right now we are surrounded by people, whether it be influencers or politicians or um celebrities, that talk and try to make it seem like we should be going their direction, doing what they say. But I think that people are starting to realize that we all have our own internal compass. And that compass could be, you know, I need to, I'm not saying like you need to be like everyone else. I'm saying maybe your internal compass is like, I need to set up an ice cream shop because I think the world is needing more ice cream shops because it helps people feel loved and this and that. And if that's your internal compass, if that's your thing, and you want to be the ice cream shop guy, dude, you need to realize that that's your calling and that's your path, you know? And and I think that that's you know, geez, I mean, I could totally think of so many reasons to have an ice cream shop. It builds joy, it's exactly it brings people happiness, you know? And you know, you gotta figure out your thing. But if someone wants to build a career or business, what are the two or three things they should focus on no matter what?

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Well, I think that's a very broad question. Uh I think it's slightly different to build a career or business. Um, but if I had to think of the through line between being successful in whatever you do, which I think the question is that the question is as being asked, uh I think step one is again getting really clear crystal clear on what you actually want. Because how can you hit a target you can't see? Step two, I would say reverse engineer the the the lives and the habits of the people who have the life that you want and those who have come before you so that you can make their hindsight your foresight. And I think it a lot of people go through life not studying those who came before them, not reading books. And so they encounter a problem and it's a new problem for them because they haven't studied the problems that uh the people ahead of them have faced. And so uh step two would be if you know what you want, who has achieved the thing that you want, what can you learn from them? And then step three, I think no matter what, even if it's in your career or in your business, I think it's increasing your value, stacking your skills, uh, learning outside of work, training your current skill skill set for a better skill set, constantly trying to upskill. Um so I think, yeah, step one is what do you want? Can you learn from those who've come before you? And how can you continually get better? And I think if you do those three things in your career and your business, I think you have a higher likelihood of becoming getting you have a higher likelihood of getting the outcome that you want. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

I I I love studying the the masters of your your path, you know, people who have done this thing, people who have been there. And you know, there's a reason that for so many, so many years of human history, like we learned careers by mentoring and being mentored, you know. Uh people were apprentices, people went and studied with the masters. I I um got to to learn leather working from an absolute master of the craft, and I am by no means a master, but I know a little bit about how to work with leather. And I learned by going and apprenticing with this guy for a while, and the wisdom that was passed down every single day was a masterclass. Each and every single day was a masterclass. And that to me is something that's so powerful because if you can be there and showing up and open to everything, you know, the sky's the limit. But you gotta be showing up and you gotta be an open vessel, you know? And one of the things that I love that you said is that you say courage matters more than talent. What does courage actually look like in real life for people trying to change their lives?

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Courage to me is feeling the fear and doing it anyway. I don't think it would be courageous if you didn't feel fear. Because then it would just be doing something you already know how to do. And so I think you know, courage can look different for everyone. It can be as as big and bold as putting your job, moving across the country and starting something new, or it can be as simple as putting your shoes on in the morning to go for a walk or a run. I think courage is when you are getting outside of your comfort zone and and trying something new. And I think fundamentally life will meet you at your level of audacity. Like the people who tend to get what they want out of life are the ones who have the courage to ask, the courage to start, the courage to try. And I think more people would benefit from putting themselves out there and exercising their courage.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Man, I love that. The audacity line is powerful because you know let's say that you want to go find a pirate's buried treasure somewhere, and maybe that's your thing, you want to go and find that treasure, and your treasure is obviously an analogy, right? For whatever it is, that goal that you're you're seeking in your life. But if you are um if you're not showing up, if you're not sitting there going, I need to learn these different skills. I I love that actually, I think it's MIT actually still has a um a specialization in pirate. Like they'll give you a certificate in being a pirate if you take a certain set of classes. I think there's a sailing class, but you can take an MIT, like a swordsman ship class still at there at the Harvard, I don't remember, but they actually have a certificate of of being a pirate. So you have to get out and take the classes, you have to do this stuff. And you know, I I think about the sailors of old that were seeking out treasures around the world. They had to to get out the front door, they had to get on a boat and they had to sail, and have a vision, they had to have the audacity to think that they could do something. You think about Steve Jobs, you think about Oprah Winfrey, you think about Joe Rogan. These people had audacity to think that they could do something. They had the audacity to sit there and go, wow, that could be me. I remember um what was it? Uh Tom something, uh, Joe Rogan, I can't remember the name, the guy's full name. There was this comic comedian in the early 2000s, and he was a really weird guy. And I remember when he got onto Joe, Joe Rogan got onto his show. This was before Joe Rogan began the Joe Rogan podcast. And Joe Rogan went on this webcast early, early, early on. It was like, what is this? Like, and he's like, So just get here and talk about whatever. And like people kind of trace this back to like this is the moment Joe Rogan saw what a podcast was all about. And he said, Yeah, so I can talk about it or guess about anything. Yeah, it's your own cloud, your own format. You record it, you post it, you upload it, and you could see his eyes get like ears return it. That could have been the seat that was planted that was just abandoned. But then he had the audacity to show up. He had the audacity. I remember watching one of my friends, um Fao. Fao was the first guy that I know that did a podcast. And like, and I sat there and I messaged him, was like, dude, how are you doing this? How are you hosting? How are you doing all this stuff? And then I started my loading and then I started the other one, and then I started unloading stuff crazy like that. But one of the things that was interesting to me was that you know, I had to just start the process of showing up, and that was the biggest thing I could do.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

Yeah, I think uh consistency plays such an integral part of success. I think when people think of consistency, they they understand how important it is. I think consistency to me is is there's there's two parts of the coin. Part one is consistency, yes, showing up and and and staying in the game and putting in the reps. But I think the other side of the coin that not enough people think about is iteration. I think people tend to get obsessed with being consistent for the sake of being consistent. But and and while that is important, that will get you further than most people, right? You know, successful people are consistent, those that aren't don't last long. But if you are simply consistent but not consistently getting better, then you are also in a trap or in a fallacy. Um, simply posting a video a day, but not iterating and getting better on that and and trying to tweak how can I improve the hook or how can I speak better, or you know, what's a different editing style that I can improve on? If you just simply post and don't improve, then you're not actually going anywhere. So I think I think consistency is important, but improving and iterating on the things that you were doing uh is equally, if not more, important.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

I I love that because we have so many people that are doing things and you can be busy doing something, but you're right, if you're not getting better, if you're not improving every single time that you do something, you're just spinning those wheels. You're just going in circles, you're going through the motions. But like real progress comes from getting better every single time. Like if you are making wallets, well, is the wallet that you made this time not falling apart? The one that you did last time, you know? And are you know, you sitting there and taking the feedback uh from people that uh are people you need to be taking feedback from, you know, those are the important things. And you know, I think that one of the things that we don't get enough of is that consistency paired with the iteration, paired with how can I improve? How can I be better at this? Because, you know, you can be showing up, but you might not be thriving. And that's a big deal. Like you we don't want to just show up. We want to be showing up and you know, having that that that leveling up that happens when you are iterating and making it better, you know. Uh, I want to ask you this though, because how important is consistency really? And what does it look like in the day-to-day life, you know?

SPEAKER_00 41:56

Well, I think I touched upon it a little bit before. I think consistency is that that baseline layer of if you aren't consistent, you just won't last long. And so you might have moderate, immediate success, but it'll fade quickly if you aren't consistently doing the things that got you there. I think what does consistency look like on a day-to-day? Honestly, it looks pretty boring. I think it goes back to how we started this podcast. You know, success is not a magical list that nobody knows, it's an obvious list that nobody does. And so there was this tweet I saw the other day of uh Jason Tatum was uh showing his his daily routine as he prepares for an MBA basketball game. And there were so many people commenting, this is so boring. Like, wow, he actually doesn't do that much. Like, you know, I would I couldn't live this lifestyle. But that is the lifestyle required to be great. Like you think that championships are won on the night of the event, but that's just not the case. They're won years before in in in private practices and empty gyms and doing your stretches and doing your workouts. And so if someone were looking at like my average day, it's pretty boring. I wake up, I write my book, I lift, I walk, I hang out with family, and that's pretty much it. And I do that as many times in a row as possible. And it could be boring to others, but to me, that that's what I find fun. And so uh, because I have a meaningful goal that I'm going after and I I've asked myself what inputs would increase the likelihood I get the output that I want, then I just continue to do those inputs every single day. I continue to wake up early, I continue to write my book, I continue to make a positive contribution towards the projects that I'm working on. And on the other side of it is the results and the life that I want to live.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

I love that because it is. It is on the other side are the the things, the fruits of our labor, the things that we really want to be diving into. But we have to um figure out how to craft that, figure out how to get there. Because again, just throwing stuff at the wall isn't always it. You have to have that plan. But plan without action gets you nowhere. I want to ask you one last question. If someone wants to change their life over the next year, what mindset should they start with today? What can they do today to really make that change begin to happen?

SPEAKER_00 44:20

I'll give you two. I think the first one is the title of my book, which is You Can Just Do Things. I think a lot of life comes down to realizing that you can just do things. And I think a lot of people wait for permission or they wait for someone else to hand them things. And I think if you realize that the world as you as you know it around you has been made by people that were no smarter than you and you can influence it, I think that is one of the most powerful mindsets you can adopt is realizing that you have agency, that you can, if you want something, you can make it happen. So I'd say that's that's mindset number one. I think action, the second mindset is asking yourself the two questions that we've that have kind of alluded to this entire conversation is what do you want? And what inputs increase the likelihood you get the output that you want? If you consistently ask yourself those two questions every day, every hour, if you have to, of like, what do I want in this moment? What do I want in this season of my life? And what actions will increase the likelihood I get the output that I want. And that I think will change your life far more than any mindset because it's about actions. It's a behaviorless lens of looking at the world. It's a probabilistic mindset of what inputs increase the likelihood I get the output that I want. If I take this action and there's a higher likelihood of getting the output that I want, then statistically I have a higher likelihood of getting what I want, which is uh very math-based way of looking at the world. But I think uh it has served me well. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

I I think so, you know, and it's like life is a game of probability, but the more that you're putting yourself out there, um, the more likely you are to get the results that you want, you know, because it is a numbers game at the end of the day, but it's also a being smart about those numbers games. So I love that, man. Where can people go to learn more about you and what you do?

SPEAKER_00 46:24

You can uh find some of my stuff uh on any platform basically Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn. It's uh at J Yang Inspires. And um for most of my updates, it's my newsletter, janginspires.behive.com. I write a free weekly newsletter where I kind of test concepts that I'm writing about in my book, frameworks I'm thinking about, things I'm wrestling with. Um, and yeah, if you want to check out the book, you can just do things. Uh a lot of the concepts that we talked about in this conversation, I cover in the book. And it is to me the guide that I wish I had when I was young and had a lot of ambition, but didn't really know where to direct that or how to start or where to start. And so uh yeah.