#41 Declaring Your Personal Independence

hey guys this is Greg Denning and you are in the school of awesome sauce where I share with you Amazing Stories and strategies to help you live an extraordinary

[Music] life good morning my friends oh man it is good to be back and sharing some ideas here I'm super stoked and excited it's really early in the morning on the 4th of July here in the United States and today we celebrate Independence Day in this country and it was the day we celebrate declaring independence in the history from from Great Britain um and we're who we're going to talk about that super excited but I recently got back from a trip I was leading a humanitarian expedition to Guatemala and I go down every year uh I love it love it never get tired of going back there I love that country and those wonderful people and the work we do and we work with an organization called cultiva International and we're helping we're helping cultivate people and helping them um help themselves self right humanitarian work that really makes a difference it's all built around self-reliance and empowering wonderful individuals and we work with the the indigenous people high up in the mountains um of Guatemala and the department of solo LA and oh man it's it's incredible you're you're so high up there these beautiful Green Mountains and these wonderful little people they're all dressed in their in their traditional dress and where we were this trip they only speak kich um little a native language and oh man it's so powerful and so awesome and um one of the so we build we build garden boxes and they have to go through this training learn how to do it and they have so it's a learn and earn program there's no handouts because handouts don't help people and well they don't help people that can help themselves there are certain people that cannot help themselves and they need handouts but in this case you know we're trying to empower people and help them make Transformations or life and and they're good hardworking people they just need they need some uh they need you know life gets tough and and this in this particular instance we're helping some single moms and one of them you know she was so stoked I mean you could visibly see her excitement and her confidence and empowerment like she felt like hey I I can do this I can Triumph and she's just trying to survive and uh trying to raise her daughter and she said said you know I don't I don't have a husband but now at least I have my garden W it was so powerful like and I know that one thing's not going to change her life but it's the beginning of a change it's something that she can do something that she now owns that she earned that she can do to help provide for herself and her daughter and it's the beginning of empowerment and and work and transformation and and Independence and that's what we're talking about today Independence because it's Independence Day and what I want to invite and challenge all of us to do is to declare independence today personally for you for you your for your family for your life to declare this Independence right independence from what and we and we all have to like look back and say okay what's it's so fun you guys to step back from life sometimes and I hope you do this every time I go on a trip I'm heading out in just a couple days I'm heading to where we fly this is so fun flying to San Francisco for an for an overnighter and then we fly to Korea and we have a big layover so we're going to go to Soul and then we go to Mongolia for a couple weeks to get way out on the step and have these incredible Adventures out there and experience the nadam festival oh I'm so stoked and then on the way back we have a long layover in Beijing and we've planned to go see the great wall and the Forbidden City and then come back so so so crazy stoked but every time I do an adventure trip oh by the way we are going down to Guatemala I go every year and I'm going down again in May and at some point every one of you need to come down there and do a humanitarian Expedition with us and just learn about like the right way this part of the part of the trip is we learned about the right way to be to do humanitarian work in philanthropy and how to instead of doing helping that hurts we do helping that actually helps and and really making a difference so come with me on those adventures and check out our adventure trips they're on World School academy.com and we got them all lined out for the year we got Wilderness Adventure trips here in the United States we've got couples trips we got all kinds of Epic Adventures International cultural just Challen Alles oh man they're awesome because they're pattern interrupts and that's that's where I was going with this story is like every time I go somewhere I have this uh every time you have this little Awakening and you step back from your life and you step back from life in general and you get to just pause and look at your life and if you don't do that often if you don't have if you've never done that or you don't do it often or you don't have a way to do it please please please set that up and even schedule it in like schedule in a time where you literally stop doing what you're doing you get this pattern interruptor you stop doing what you're doing you break away from that to some intentional um place and what's interesting it doesn't doesn't necessarily have to be a physical Place although that helps but literally could just be a mental place a a spiritual place where you you stop what you're doing and you step back from your life to look at your life and you you try to see it like an outsider you try to get really objective about it almost like in your mind's eye you step away from you and you look back at you and and it's so awesome and so important that we do this we stop and we say okay where where am I where am I going what direction am I facing what what am I doing well what am I struggling with like just just see yourself and take a big picture so that we don't get to the end of our life lives cuz if we if we wait if we don't do this intentionally and regularly then many of us and and think about think how often this has happened and people we know that they just get on this path and they keep their heads down and they just they go totally down the wrong way they want to go and often as it turns out they get to the end of their lives and look back and go oh no no I did life wrong I did life wrong and they're filled with remorse um I've talked about the top five regrets of the dying and you know there's so many stories out there so many stories and just thousands and thousands and thousands of people who on their deathbeds get this unique perspective and clarity about what really is important in life and it's of often not what we thought was important while we were doing life and when they share that perspective friends you and I we need to listen because they're telling us don't do what I did when you get to the end you realize what you thought was important often wasn't very important so today we want to declare independence right independence from what what what's stopping us so if you look back at life like what's getting in your way what's getting in your way I wish we were together so I could we could all hear each other's answers and get a lot of inspiration but I ask this question all the time from audiences around the world and the answer is I get a lot of common answers and so you stop say what wait what is it what's in your what's in your way what's preventing you from being free from having real true freedom to live life on your terms to live the life that you want to live that like you get up in the morning excited to be alive like I do I mean who has this much energy this early in the morning there's not many of us and you know just W oh you know I got to mention that because I was recently with a group and they're like they're like gez how do you have so much energy I swear you got to take some kind of drug for that and it's hon ironically exactly the opp opposite I eat so well and exercise and and that's and I and I energized my mind feeding my mind on clean pure things and my body on clean pure things that's what gives me this kind of energy we'll talk about in a second but like how how can you be so excited to get up in the morning like your alarm clock is an opportunity clock and then at night when you go to bed You Feel So Satisfied and so fulfilled and yes my friends you can do this in any situation and condition in life because I know some of you right now are listening to that like well but I can't do that because XYZ right we all have our our reasons or excuses and I realize sometimes it is ridiculously hard I know some of you are going through some crazy hard times right now there's some suffering there's some hurt there's some pain I get it but I I want to be bold enough to say that even in the worst conditions and circumstances we can still step it up we can still do it you guys we can it's possible it's doable as we have to declare that Independence so what's in your way what's preventing you from waking up totally stoked and going to bed every night fulfilled what's stopping you what's in the way from deep inside of us if we'll stop and we'll have this quiet time these pattern interrupts and we'll step back from our lives we'll notice inside this quiet longing this yearning to reach for our potential whatever that looks like for you each of us has a unique and Powerful potential something great and special and meaningful that you know you need to work on you need to do you need to share like something you're like hey you know what I've been doing some I just been going along the prescribed path of society here just been kind of limping along doing whatever Society expects us to do and it is time to break free my friends let's declare independence and so what are the things that are holding us back sometimes it's the opinions of other people we live in in this time especially with social media I love social media but man it has created this this weird dependence on well and it's always been around but it's really just kind of amped up it's depends on the opinions of other people and we get so hyp sensitive about what others will think of us and so we get into what I what I call I call it the peacock pageantry so I refer to it as the pageantry we all have our feathers out and we're strutting around like just everything we're doing is is you know for appearances right and ironically the peacock doesn't even like fly it's not this Majestic bird like an eagle or a hawk flying soaring high above and living this extraordinary Majestic you know fiercely independent life is just strutting around on the ground saying hey look at me look at me and we do that right we all get caught up in that I I get caught up in it we we get caught up we because we're social people we're around others we get we get caught up in like what will people think and it's fun so fun to ask yourself why do I dress the way I dress with my hair makeup with clothes why do I do that why do I live where I live why do I have the house that I have why do I drive the car that I drive like why do I do what I do why do I behave the way I behave and some of us have very different behaviors privately and publicly are we putting on a show are we wearing masks so declare independence my friends from The Masks we have on from the facades from the pretense from this show this performance we think we have to give declare independence and just be your best self I'm not I'm not saying I'm not saying you know that you really want to be rude but you're nice because you're in public and now you're going to be independent and just be rude cuz you want to be rude now I'm not saying that I'm saying be free to be your best self to live the life you want to live to be the person you want to be authentic and open and genuine and sincere and this is me declare independence from the opinions of others I got another one declare independence from the this

insatiable appetite we have for entertainment people are entertaining themselves to death this is constant constant entertainment and it's never been easier to entertain ourselves with the like the Click of a button we can be entertained to death and I again I love entertainment I I love I love having fun I love you know having some good times but how many of us are literally wasting away our lives being entertained and even when we're not being entertained we're thinking about being entertained we can't wait to be entertained we just live for entertainment I love to think about this idea and I love to teach it that if if if if the only thing you did was trade in the last year you trade your entertainment time for Education time how that would transform your life if you just took just hours for hours if you took all the hours you spent watching TV or movies Netflix just listening to music just entertaining yourself and you spent that exact amount of time just hour for hour minute for minute if you just trade that over to reading fantastic books off my recommended book list holy guacamole how that would totally transform and revolutionize your life that input determines output it would change everything so declare independence for this insatiable need appetite addiction to entertainment I mean there's plenty of time for entertainment in fact when you're studying the great books and doing great things it's extremely entertaining and so I guess the the transition is not to eliminate entertainment altogether but make sure that you're doing awesome things that are building your life and they're edifying and uplifting and encouraging for you for your your spouse for your friends for your children if you're a parent like do the great stuff and it'll be entertaining so you're you're going to be entertained because it's

awesome but you're also getting in the stuff that's that's lifechanging so declare independence from this from this who this this problem we have of ENT overload entertainment overload here's another one declare independence from your utter dependence on others now obviously the in relationships we move from dependence to Independence and then up to inter dependence that's the highest form interdependence with with spouses with friends with family with great relationships really rock solid awesome relationships are inter dependent but people cannot become interdependent until they first become independent they have to have a sense of independence they' got to have some some autonomy and some ability you see some of us are very very dependent so if you're a youth listening to this or a young adult you've got to at some point declare some independence from your dependency on your parents like it's time for you to start washing your own laundry friend and cooking your own meals and at at the right point to provide for yourself like and and you some of you parents it's time for you to declare independence from your you know your your kid that's still living in the basement living off of you in their 20s or 30s like okay hey Independence Day time for you to be dependent and and youth and young men there's this gigantic Failure to Launch epidemic happening right now where we just haven't Youth and Young adults just haven't declared that Independence and put in the work and preparation to be independent because you can't declare it unless you have the skill set to do it right and you've got to have because that freedom freedom only comes with responsibility and so we've got to declare that independence from being dependent on other so think about in your life right now and and and a lot of people are are overly dependent on their spouse they literally feel like I I've told this story before um the best illustration of it is in Charles Dickens book um David Copperfield where he has what she calls herself his child wife because she can't she I was going to say can't she can't do things for herself and in a sense she can't because she hasn't prepared she hasn't declared her independence she hasn't prepared herself with the skill set the mindset the ability the skilles to do that right and so she can't but the truth is she can she she just won't and there's so many of us that won't be independent we won't say you know I can do that I can do those things I don't have to sit here and and act like a helpless victim I mean let let that sink in you guys we have to declare independence from our victimism it's so easy to play the victim and we we literally tell ourselves I can't do that I don't know how to do that no this is the way I've always been uh we blame we make Excuse excuse me we make excuses We complain but we have to declare our independence from our dependency on others now this isn't don't misunderstand me here like this isn't like hey I don't need you I don't need need anybody in my life I can do this on my own actually we really need people we do and and Inter interdependence is the goal where we have this beautiful relationship with all human beings around us every relationship we have is some kind of interdependence but again like I say like if you're overly dependent on someone or something and it actually becomes a crutch it becomes a weakness where you feel like man I can't I can't fully express myself and my opportunities and my abilities my full potential because I'm too dependent then it is time my friends to declare independence and make that happen it's time to declare independence from you ready for this you guys ready for this from all the junk and the crap you're putting in your bodies oh it's killing me like when I'm when I'm out with people uh on trips or Expeditions or just in groups and I and I'm watching observing what people are putting in their bodies and and and literally watching their dependence they literally behave like atcts they have to have their caffeine drink or even even coffee or a cigarette or like I've seen this dependence to like ice cream and junk food we get these food addictions and and it's like it is fascinating especially when you're on adventure watch watch this when you go out on a trip or an adventure with someone and or yourself and you just find yourself oh I have to have it I have to have it it's controlling you like it's crazy controlling you I've I've worked with individuals they they have to have a couple of cup of cups of coffee or you know down two big old rock star or Monster drinks before they can even function

that's not Independence that's not powerful control of your life it's like it's this gross dependence that's literally keeping you back it's it's holding you back it's taking away your power and so I want to challenge you I know some of you like this like no he just said that why did you say that and then I'm not meaning to be offensive or mean here but I'm saying think think about it do you have anything that's it it you're dependent on it you're just sitting there like it's holding you back if you have some kind of junk food addiction fast food junk food garbage food I watch people just pound sugar and chips and garbage and and and it's like they're it's actually tanking your energy levels it's actually harming your energy levels especially if you like are consuming tons of caffeine to have more energy you literally have created an energy dependence and so you'll have these spikes and then these slams these drops right and so I I want you to I want to challenge you do it declare independence from this this addiction to junk Foods or any foods like if you have some kind of emotional addiction to food um which happens a ton like cut that off declare independence from being out of shape declare independence from from being overweight you don't need that extra weight you don't need that stuff like declaring independence from this day forward I no longer need this extra weight on my body I'm letting you go and and I mean I'm talk I'm serious you guys and create like here's here's something you could do like write this down we have to write it down because we actually deceive ourselves if we think we're going to make massive changes and we don't even write it down we think oh yeah I'm going to make a change we don't write it down we need to write down our own Declaration of Independence write it down slap it on the wall get it on your mirror get get it in front of you get it in front of others from this day forward I declare independence from my need to consume some kind of substance and if if you want to stop smoking you want to stop drinking you want to get caffeine out of your life even soda like I remember when I cut off soda cuz I wanted to be in way better shape I wanted to get in fantastic condition I was reading it was just like look if you want to be in great condition you've got to cut off sugars and the sodas and I was like no but I love Dr Pepper and mint chocolate chip ice cream they're my favorites and I sat there with myself that day I remember that I was uh I was 16 or 17 and I literally remember reading that article and going oh but I love them I want them so bad and then saying but I also want to get in fantastic shape like I want to be really really healthy and for me I sat there thinking okay like I have to make this Choice do I want that or do I want that and I realized that what I really wanted and I've shared this quote before I'm going to share it again the chief cause of failure and unhappiness in life is giving up what we want most for what we want at the moment and the moment things the momentary things were the ice cream and the Dr Pepper and whatever and the junk food right those were momentary things they don't bring any lasting happiness or fulfillment to my life life it was those things and so I declared independence and I cut them out completely gone and like it I like trying to get my body in optimal condition has brought me so much energy so much health and so much joy so much Freedom total freedom to live life and so my friends I challenge you I invite you with love and encouragement declare your Independence from junk food and substances that aren't helping you and then any other thing in your life anything you guys if you have toxic relationships declare in dependence from those things if you have a job you hate declare independence from that thing and prepare yourself get the skills get the contacts get some other job if you don't want want to work for somebody else you want to have your own independence you have you want to have your own your own business you want to be an entrepreneur have have some extra money then declare your Independence today right now don't let another day go by of slavery self-inflicted slavery declare your Independence write it down and work on it work on it like crazy till you get the skills and the abilities and you have the knowledge and and the power to be independent to live life how you want to live so if you've been living under the bondage so to speak of other people toxic relationships or your mom or your mother-in-law your dad or your father-in-law or the neighbor the friend or somebody else who's just been you know you you've been you've been feeling small and confined and constricted and and dependent and unable to live you know life on on your terms to the best of your abilities like and this isn't some silly little Rebellion to to do dumb things don't please don't please don't do that don't don't take this and be like yes I'm gonna go ruin my life baby I'm not talking about that I'm just talking about like we should be pursuing greatness like the greatest highest levels of life true true greatness just becoming superb human beings in every way in this quest for excellence and we have to declare freedoms from the things that are binding us like so many of us are living in cages and we're in bondage and we're slaves to our appetites and our vices and our addictions declare independence from your addictions whether that's pornography or drugs or the addiction to entertainment or the opinions of other people or to your insecurities isn't that interesting we get addicted to our insecurities we get addicted to gossiping to complaining to throwing pity parties we we we throw these we get addicted to pity parties we get addicted to things that are holding us back and and we love being comfortable so we get in our little comfortable space and it's fascinating I meet people all the time and and it's like it's a it's a normal thing right it's it's unnatural in a sense which is ironic okay go with me here for this irony it it's unnatural to seek out uncomfortable things right that's not normal most of us don't do that like if we if we just kind of are going through the motions of life none of us are going to intentionally be like oh yeah I want to do things that really make me uncomfortable we don't we we seek out comfortable things that's that's our world and yet ironically we're most fulfilled and we feel just alive and we're making progress when we are consistently doing uncomfortable challenging things like we Thrive as human beings we are literally hardwired and we Thrive Whoa We thrive on Challenge and discomfort but many of us we get in our little routines right and we do the same things again and again and again and we start boxing ourselves in and we don't without even realizing we start caging ourselves in where we're at home and we're in this tiny little space of interaction we go to the same store we go to the same work or the same school setting or same church same little things and we have a couple little things we do and that's it and many of us literally don't get out of that that's it that is our world that's our life that's everything and and some of you might be like yeah that's it and I want it that way why would you why would I want anything else I'm telling you like we have to break free from that declare independence from your comfort zone cuz life and I know you hear this it's cliche and it's like it's been it's been beaten to death but it's still true life really begins at the edge of your comfort zone that's where real growth takes place that's where real transformation takes place and I would say that is where Freedom begins to take place so declare independence from your your fears and your doubts and your worries and wor worry is just misuse of your imagination my friends you're just we use our creativity imagination to conjure up fears and worries and doubts about things that may never happen in fact most of them will not ever happen and yet we spend our times worrying and worrying and Afraid of things that'll never happen that's crazy isn't it so declare independence from that comfort zone break out of that cage decide to live to be your absolute best what what would your life be like if you were living free what would this world be like if most of us were living

free I think that's the greatest aha for all of us is to realize that we're often living in cages or prisons and we're finding out that we're the Jailer we've created the cage and we can break free so my friends will you with me please declare independence and if you need to like if you need to do some kind of ritual some kind of ceremony today like do it I'm not I'm not kidding like do create some kind of ceremony like break something write out your Declaration of Independence I'm not kidding about that like please do that and share it with me shoot me an email and and and message me like declaring independence let's start a movement here declare your independence from all that junk and from the things that are holding you back and stopping you and preventing you from living the kind of life you want to live you know the kind of life that you dream about or at least you used to dream about and you kind of just acques and give up oh that was just a childish dream I'll just settle into the med medre existence and I know we do that so we don't think it's possible we kind of give up hope declare independence from that mediocre existence and let's live and and and you can break something or snap something or change something or write something just do something different just drop the things that are there like declare your Independence and take action okay let's do this you guys let's I want you to live live extraordinary lives this is what I live for I live for creating the life that for me is absolutely free and extraordinary that where I'm empowered to live my best life with me and for my wife for my children I mean that's I I can't be an awesome husband or an incredible dad if I'm trapped in my own dependence my own cages I have to be free and then to contribute and help and make an impact and a difference in the world woo I love this stuff so let's be free my friends let's live this life of [Music] extraordinary freedom and possibility and potential because awesome is always an option reach

upward hey everybody thanks so much for listening to this episode I hope you got a lot of value out of it and found some things that you can apply to your life right away hey I'm I'm being totally sincere when I say I I live to help you live your extraordinary life so I hope you'll reach out to me if you have any questions or let me know how I can help you in any important area of your life and in fact you know this this podcast is brought to you by the school of awesome sauce monthly coaching program take advantage of that get in there if it's the best way to get a breakthrough to the next level so you can can level up your health your spirituality your emotions your mind your relationships your finances business every part of your life just get in there where you have a a coach and a mentor you have a supportive Community to make things happen so so jump in there take advantage of this try it out get in there with us and level up your life see you on the inside reach upward [Music]