September 15, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode, AJ emphasizes the importance of leveling up in various aspects of life, including sports, work, and personal growth. She shares the mindset required to overcome challenges, the significance of continuous improvement, and the need to redefine success and purpose.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iHeart women's sports
production and partnership with athletes, Unlimited Softball League and Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. Welcome to Dropping Diamonds with Me
aj Andrews, where we dive headfirst into the world of softball.
(00:22):
Today we are diving deep into leveling up, baby, because
we all know that there's levels to this she no
matter what it is that you're doing, there's always going
to be a new level that requires a new you.
And so that's the quote I really want to make
sure we're focusing on today that the level up is
(00:43):
about improving, not impressing. Every single time that we're leveling up,
it sheds the old us and reveals the new, and
sometimes that new takes a little while to get used to.
And so focus on the improvement, not about who's watching
and who we're trying to impress, and from an affirmation,
I want to really build from that while we're dropping
(01:03):
these diamonds today, this affirmation really goes to leveling up.
So we're gonna start with every day, bit by bit,
I'm leveling up to make my biggest hit, whether work,
sports or school, I bring a new better me, redefine
all the rules. Say it again. Our affirmation to leveling
(01:24):
up is every day, bit by bit, I'm leveling up
to make my biggest hit. Whether it's work, sports, or school,
I bring a new, better meat, I redefine the rules.
It is time that we continue to level u. Lovelu,
level up, lovel lovelu. Like Sierra said, you have to
understand that when life starts to get the hardest, it
(01:46):
typically means your closest to your biggest breakthrough and your
closest to the next level. Life feels different, It feels
more difficult when you increase the level. It's just like
a game we play, right, every single time we jump
to a new level of a game or a new
level of an experience, it's a little more difficult, right.
It's because things get more complicated. There's more added to it.
(02:07):
There's more added to the game, there's more challenges, there's
more things that we have to overcome. But there's also
a higher and a higher and a bigger reward every
time we level up and every time we get past
that level. So things to you. If your life is
given or feeling a little bit hard, whether it's on
the field, whether it's in school, whether it's just your
day to day and possibly you are leveling up and
(02:29):
right now you're just in the beginning stages. You're just
in the part. It's not that it's getting too hard.
You're just in the part where most people quit. Right
you're getting through that you're leveling up. I want you
to just ask yourself, as you continue to level up
to your next level, and you continue to drop your diamonds,
whether it's on the field or in every aspect of
your life, the things that you really want to do,
the things that you claim are your goals, the things
(02:50):
that you claim that you want to achieve every single day.
If someone were to be following you around every single day,
when just watching your life the things that you claim
that you want to achieve by your actions of that day,
would that person believe you. Would they believe that this
is your goal? By watching your habits? Would they believe
(03:12):
that this is your goal by watching the things that
you wake up to do. Do you wake up every
single day and you attack the day? Do you go
after the things that you want? Do you level up
for that one percent better every single day? Or are
you okay with remaining the same. Are you okay with
remaining at this level? That's the question you have to
ask yourself when you're focusing and you're trying to level up,
think about to level up. It's not just leveling up
(03:35):
your game will play, but it's elevating and leveling up
your mindset. Everything sometimes feels like you have to switch
gears when you level up, and that just means you
just got to get better. You're forcing yourself every single
day to dive deeper into what it is that you're
passionate about, to dive bever into what it is that
you really feel like you want to achieve. And from
that is when you uncover the new level. Don't be
(03:59):
the same, be better, level up, and don't stop until
you're proud. And so you look back and say, oh,
the things I did today are setting me up for
my biggest win tomorrow. I want you to end every
single day by saying that you ask yourself, do the
things that I do today set me up for better tomorrow.
(04:21):
If the answer is no, then we got to go
back to the drawing board and I'm you need to
make the list of the things that you're gonna do
to change that. For tomorrow to level up, because we're
not staying the same. We are not staying the same.
One of my biggest fears in life, it's not necessarily failure,
it's actually mediocrity, and mediocrity by my own design. And
what I mean by that is that I don't reach
(04:43):
my potential, not because someone tried to stop me, or
not because the situation was too hard, but because I
didn't do all the things that I could have possibly
done to put myself in the position to reach that potential,
to put myself in the position to level up. I
don't ever want to look back and say I could
have done this. Regret is the biggest price you have
to pay in life. I don't think there's anything more
(05:04):
expensive than the price of regret. Go out and lead
no life full of regrets, and know that at the
end of the day, you set yourself up and there
was a single thing you could have done more of
today that could have helped make for a better tomorrow,
that could have then helped make for an excellent future.
Continue to level up and know that right now, the
only way to have true success is to understand where
(05:27):
your current definition of success comes from. So the only
way to have true success is to understand where your
current definition of success comes from. What do you define
as successful? As you define what makes you successful, I
want you to then add tax and say this is
what makes me successful, and this I'm going to add
on to it so that I could level up. It's
like you're adding a staircase every single day in order
(05:49):
to continue to get better. But every time you go
to a new level, they say new levels, new devils.
But we're going to continue to face those things with race,
with hard work, with motivation, and with determination. There's nothing,
nothing they can stop you without your consent. Understand that
(06:11):
when you come to those levels, no one and nothing
can make you feel inferior without your consent. Do not
consent to the naysayers. Do not consent to self doubt.
Do not consent to feeling like you are not good enough.
Do not consent to the thought process that maybe you're
(06:32):
not where you're supposed to be. You are exactly where
you're supposed to be. Nothing comes to you until you
are ready, and you gotta think about it. Oftentimes, the
most time or the most important time it is to
jump is when you don't feel ready. That's exactly when
you have to. That's exactly when you're going to level up,
because you got to think. You think of all these
(06:53):
times when we level up. Sometimes the question is, well,
what if I don't do this? But what if I
can't make it happen? What if this happens? What if
this negative thing happens? What if you change your mindset
to okay, Well, what if everything that I ever wanted
actually happens from this? What if I do so well
(07:13):
that I reach nothing but success? What if I can
do no wrong? What if there's not a single thing
that I do not achieve from this situation, from this experience,
change your mindset from the negative to the positive. And
it's so easy to talk about new levels, new devils.
New devils meaning the new self doubt, the new people
that are gonna tell you what you can and cannot do.
It means the new challenges that you will face. It
(07:35):
means having the need to feel like you are not
good enough. You're always good enough to do enough. No
one can measure effort but you. So you go out.
You be good enough to do enough and enough to
make sure that you reach that next level that you
want to be at. You can't step up to the
next level, though, as long as you keep one foot
(07:56):
on the lower level. You have to dive head first,
all right. We can't teeter between where we were and
where we're going. If you're trying to get there, you
have to go all in. You have to jump to
that next step. You can't rock back and forth because
that rocking back and forth, you're gonna end up falling.
Make sure as you take that step up that you
(08:18):
make sure the other foot follows. That's the only way
to get to that next level of success. Let's take
a quick break to hear a word from our sponsor.
(08:38):
But listen, there's always another level of There's always another ascension.
There's always more grace, more light, more generosity, more compassion,
there's more to shed, there's more to grow. There's always
another level, always another level. I want to make sure everybody,
when we level up, we're going and we're improving ours
(09:00):
every single day, not worrying about impressing others. And just know,
you glow a little bit differently when your confidence is
fueled by belief in yourself instead of the validation of others.
The glow is much brighter when that confidence is fueled
by what you believe, by how you feel, by what
you know yourself to be, and make sure that as
you aim, aim rather at leveling down what it is
(09:25):
that you feel like you can't do and leveling up
what you know you are capable of. Because a portal
to every next level is through the parts of yourself
that you avoid. I'm gonna say that one more time.
The portal to every next level is through the parts
of yourself that you avoid, the things that you don't
(09:45):
want to do. That is the exact thing that you
need to do. The thing that you are avoiding, healing,
the thing that you're avoiding trying to practice or trying
to work on. That is your breakthrough. The level up
lies in the very thing that you do not want
to do, and the moment not only that you do it,
but you do it well and you make it your
best thing. That is when you will truly see your
(10:08):
self level up, not just one level, but probably ten.
The importance of leveling up is not just for yourself,
but it's for your purpose. And remember I believe that
purpose truly isn't necessarily what you do, but it's how
you make people feel when you do what you do.
And as you continue to level up, not only will
(10:31):
you be leveling up who you are and your purpose
in this world, but you will also be leveling up
and bringing up other people with you. You are the
greatest project you will ever work on. So as we
continue this leveling up journey, I want you to restart, reset,
refocus as many times as you need. Just don't give up.
(10:53):
No one said the levels would be easy, but you
know what they say, how they always say in sports,
if it were easy, every body would do it. If
it were easy, everybody would be on your level. And
let's be honest, there's nobody on your level. And I
need you and all of us to go out and
prove it. Show us why no one is on your level.
(11:14):
And it's because you jump with two feet four you
don't leave one back, and you make sure that you
are working towards improvement instead of impressions. When you step
your game up, your life will also step up. It
will continue to level up. I want to leave everybody
with this. As we continue to level up, know that
(11:35):
it feels difficult life. It feels like it's going off
the edge. It feels like things aren't going the right way.
It feels so much harder when you are about to
level up, just like in every single game, just like
as we play sports, when we go to that next division, right,
it's harder. We're playing against bigger, better players. In the beginning,
it feels harder, right, and then we keep going. The
(11:57):
reason why we get good is because we don't stop.
The reason why we become the best is because we
didn't quit on that first entry level game, at the
first entry level practice, beat us up made us feel
like we weren't good enough. We didn't quit. We didn't
say we weren't good enough. We said, I'm going to
rise to the occasion. I'm not going to fall to
the level of my self doubt. I'm going to rise
to this level of my self worth. And your self
(12:18):
worth just has to be higher than that doubt. If
you can make it higher than that doubt, then you
can reach levels that you never even dreamed or realized
were possible for you. So when you continue to level up,
whether it is in softball, whatever sport you're playing, in
life and work in school, I want you to do
it this way. I want you to level up so
(12:38):
hard that they have to get to know you again.
Level up so hard that you have to reintroduce yourself
to people because this person at this level is completely
different than the person they knew at the lower one. Hi,
I am so and so. I know you thought you
knew me, but you have no idea. Let me reintroduce myself.
(12:58):
Allow me to reintroduce us myself. My name is a Jay.
Go in with that mindset and as long as you
can go in and you make sure that your level
up is about improving and not impressing, you will be
on the right path and the best levels. Thank you
guys so much for listening in. Go out and level
up your life in every single way. The true price
(13:20):
of anything you do is the amount of time you
exchange for it. Spend that time leveling up and getting
the place that you want to be in your life
and your career in sports with your family, level up
all the levels you want to get to make us
have to learn you again. I'm so glad you guys
were listening for dropping diamonds. Make sure you check me out.
The next week is where we drop more diamonds. Can't
(13:42):
you back up a diamond? Bie? Dropping diamonds with AJ
Andrews is an iHeart Women's Sports Production in partnership with
Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
I'm your host, AJ Andrews. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz.
(14:04):
Tari Harrison is our supervising producer, and this episode was
mixed and mastered by Mary Do. Listen to Dropping Diamonds
with Aj Andrews on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Dropping Diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iHeart women's sports
production and partnership with athletes, Unlimited Softball League and Deep
Blue Sports and Entertainment. Welcome to Dropping Diamonds with Me
aj Andrews, where we dive headfirst into the world of softball.
(00:22):
Today we are diving deep into leveling up, baby, because
we all know that there's levels to this she no
matter what it is that you're doing, there's always going
to be a new level that requires a new you.
And so that's the quote I really want to make
sure we're focusing on today that the level up is
(00:43):
about improving, not impressing. Every single time that we're leveling up,
it sheds the old us and reveals the new, and
sometimes that new takes a little while to get used to.
And so focus on the improvement, not about who's watching
and who we're trying to impress, and from an affirmation,
I want to really build from that while we're dropping
(01:03):
these diamonds today, this affirmation really goes to leveling up.
So we're gonna start with every day, bit by bit,
I'm leveling up to make my biggest hit, whether work,
sports or school, I bring a new better me, redefine
all the rules. Say it again. Our affirmation to leveling
(01:24):
up is every day, bit by bit, I'm leveling up
to make my biggest hit. Whether it's work, sports, or school,
I bring a new, better meat, I redefine the rules.
It is time that we continue to level u. Lovelu,
level up, lovel lovelu. Like Sierra said, you have to
understand that when life starts to get the hardest, it
(01:46):
typically means your closest to your biggest breakthrough and your
closest to the next level. Life feels different, It feels
more difficult when you increase the level. It's just like
a game we play, right, every single time we jump
to a new level of a game or a new
level of an experience, it's a little more difficult, right.
It's because things get more complicated. There's more added to it.
(02:07):
There's more added to the game, there's more challenges, there's
more things that we have to overcome. But there's also
a higher and a higher and a bigger reward every
time we level up and every time we get past
that level. So things to you. If your life is
given or feeling a little bit hard, whether it's on
the field, whether it's in school, whether it's just your
day to day and possibly you are leveling up and
(02:29):
right now you're just in the beginning stages. You're just
in the part. It's not that it's getting too hard.
You're just in the part where most people quit. Right
you're getting through that you're leveling up. I want you
to just ask yourself, as you continue to level up
to your next level, and you continue to drop your diamonds,
whether it's on the field or in every aspect of
your life, the things that you really want to do,
the things that you claim are your goals, the things
(02:50):
that you claim that you want to achieve every single day.
If someone were to be following you around every single day,
when just watching your life the things that you claim
that you want to achieve by your actions of that day,
would that person believe you. Would they believe that this
is your goal? By watching your habits? Would they believe
(03:12):
that this is your goal by watching the things that
you wake up to do. Do you wake up every
single day and you attack the day? Do you go
after the things that you want? Do you level up
for that one percent better every single day? Or are
you okay with remaining the same. Are you okay with
remaining at this level? That's the question you have to
ask yourself when you're focusing and you're trying to level up,
think about to level up. It's not just leveling up
(03:35):
your game will play, but it's elevating and leveling up
your mindset. Everything sometimes feels like you have to switch
gears when you level up, and that just means you
just got to get better. You're forcing yourself every single
day to dive deeper into what it is that you're
passionate about, to dive bever into what it is that
you really feel like you want to achieve. And from
that is when you uncover the new level. Don't be
(03:59):
the same, be better, level up, and don't stop until
you're proud. And so you look back and say, oh,
the things I did today are setting me up for
my biggest win tomorrow. I want you to end every
single day by saying that you ask yourself, do the
things that I do today set me up for better tomorrow.
(04:21):
If the answer is no, then we got to go
back to the drawing board and I'm you need to
make the list of the things that you're gonna do
to change that. For tomorrow to level up, because we're
not staying the same. We are not staying the same.
One of my biggest fears in life, it's not necessarily failure,
it's actually mediocrity, and mediocrity by my own design. And
what I mean by that is that I don't reach
(04:43):
my potential, not because someone tried to stop me, or
not because the situation was too hard, but because I
didn't do all the things that I could have possibly
done to put myself in the position to reach that potential,
to put myself in the position to level up. I
don't ever want to look back and say I could
have done this. Regret is the biggest price you have
to pay in life. I don't think there's anything more
(05:04):
expensive than the price of regret. Go out and lead
no life full of regrets, and know that at the
end of the day, you set yourself up and there
was a single thing you could have done more of
today that could have helped make for a better tomorrow,
that could have then helped make for an excellent future.
Continue to level up and know that right now, the
only way to have true success is to understand where
(05:27):
your current definition of success comes from. So the only
way to have true success is to understand where your
current definition of success comes from. What do you define
as successful? As you define what makes you successful, I
want you to then add tax and say this is
what makes me successful, and this I'm going to add
on to it so that I could level up. It's
like you're adding a staircase every single day in order
(05:49):
to continue to get better. But every time you go
to a new level, they say new levels, new devils.
But we're going to continue to face those things with race,
with hard work, with motivation, and with determination. There's nothing,
nothing they can stop you without your consent. Understand that
(06:11):
when you come to those levels, no one and nothing
can make you feel inferior without your consent. Do not
consent to the naysayers. Do not consent to self doubt.
Do not consent to feeling like you are not good enough.
Do not consent to the thought process that maybe you're
(06:32):
not where you're supposed to be. You are exactly where
you're supposed to be. Nothing comes to you until you
are ready, and you gotta think about it. Oftentimes, the
most time or the most important time it is to
jump is when you don't feel ready. That's exactly when
you have to. That's exactly when you're going to level up,
because you got to think. You think of all these
(06:53):
times when we level up. Sometimes the question is, well,
what if I don't do this? But what if I
can't make it happen? What if this happens? What if
this negative thing happens? What if you change your mindset
to okay, Well, what if everything that I ever wanted
actually happens from this? What if I do so well
(07:13):
that I reach nothing but success? What if I can
do no wrong? What if there's not a single thing
that I do not achieve from this situation, from this experience,
change your mindset from the negative to the positive. And
it's so easy to talk about new levels, new devils.
New devils meaning the new self doubt, the new people
that are gonna tell you what you can and cannot do.
It means the new challenges that you will face. It
(07:35):
means having the need to feel like you are not
good enough. You're always good enough to do enough. No
one can measure effort but you. So you go out.
You be good enough to do enough and enough to
make sure that you reach that next level that you
want to be at. You can't step up to the
next level, though, as long as you keep one foot
(07:56):
on the lower level. You have to dive head first,
all right. We can't teeter between where we were and
where we're going. If you're trying to get there, you
have to go all in. You have to jump to
that next step. You can't rock back and forth because
that rocking back and forth, you're gonna end up falling.
Make sure as you take that step up that you
(08:18):
make sure the other foot follows. That's the only way
to get to that next level of success. Let's take
a quick break to hear a word from our sponsor.
(08:38):
But listen, there's always another level of There's always another ascension.
There's always more grace, more light, more generosity, more compassion,
there's more to shed, there's more to grow. There's always
another level, always another level. I want to make sure everybody,
when we level up, we're going and we're improving ours
(09:00):
every single day, not worrying about impressing others. And just know,
you glow a little bit differently when your confidence is
fueled by belief in yourself instead of the validation of others.
The glow is much brighter when that confidence is fueled
by what you believe, by how you feel, by what
you know yourself to be, and make sure that as
you aim, aim rather at leveling down what it is
(09:25):
that you feel like you can't do and leveling up
what you know you are capable of. Because a portal
to every next level is through the parts of yourself
that you avoid. I'm gonna say that one more time.
The portal to every next level is through the parts
of yourself that you avoid, the things that you don't
(09:45):
want to do. That is the exact thing that you
need to do. The thing that you are avoiding, healing,
the thing that you're avoiding trying to practice or trying
to work on. That is your breakthrough. The level up
lies in the very thing that you do not want
to do, and the moment not only that you do it,
but you do it well and you make it your
best thing. That is when you will truly see your
(10:08):
self level up, not just one level, but probably ten.
The importance of leveling up is not just for yourself,
but it's for your purpose. And remember I believe that
purpose truly isn't necessarily what you do, but it's how
you make people feel when you do what you do.
And as you continue to level up, not only will
(10:31):
you be leveling up who you are and your purpose
in this world, but you will also be leveling up
and bringing up other people with you. You are the
greatest project you will ever work on. So as we
continue this leveling up journey, I want you to restart, reset,
refocus as many times as you need. Just don't give up.
(10:53):
No one said the levels would be easy, but you
know what they say, how they always say in sports,
if it were easy, every body would do it. If
it were easy, everybody would be on your level. And
let's be honest, there's nobody on your level. And I
need you and all of us to go out and
prove it. Show us why no one is on your level.
(11:14):
And it's because you jump with two feet four you
don't leave one back, and you make sure that you
are working towards improvement instead of impressions. When you step
your game up, your life will also step up. It
will continue to level up. I want to leave everybody
with this. As we continue to level up, know that
(11:35):
it feels difficult life. It feels like it's going off
the edge. It feels like things aren't going the right way.
It feels so much harder when you are about to
level up, just like in every single game, just like
as we play sports, when we go to that next division, right,
it's harder. We're playing against bigger, better players. In the beginning,
it feels harder, right, and then we keep going. The
(11:57):
reason why we get good is because we don't stop.
The reason why we become the best is because we
didn't quit on that first entry level game, at the
first entry level practice, beat us up made us feel
like we weren't good enough. We didn't quit. We didn't
say we weren't good enough. We said, I'm going to
rise to the occasion. I'm not going to fall to
the level of my self doubt. I'm going to rise
to this level of my self worth. And your self
(12:18):
worth just has to be higher than that doubt. If
you can make it higher than that doubt, then you
can reach levels that you never even dreamed or realized
were possible for you. So when you continue to level up,
whether it is in softball, whatever sport you're playing, in
life and work in school, I want you to do
it this way. I want you to level up so
(12:38):
hard that they have to get to know you again.
Level up so hard that you have to reintroduce yourself
to people because this person at this level is completely
different than the person they knew at the lower one. Hi,
I am so and so. I know you thought you
knew me, but you have no idea. Let me reintroduce myself.
(12:58):
Allow me to reintroduce us myself. My name is a Jay.
Go in with that mindset and as long as you
can go in and you make sure that your level
up is about improving and not impressing, you will be
on the right path and the best levels. Thank you
guys so much for listening in. Go out and level
up your life in every single way. The true price
(13:20):
of anything you do is the amount of time you
exchange for it. Spend that time leveling up and getting
the place that you want to be in your life
and your career in sports with your family, level up
all the levels you want to get to make us
have to learn you again. I'm so glad you guys
were listening for dropping diamonds. Make sure you check me out.
The next week is where we drop more diamonds. Can't
(13:42):
you back up a diamond? Bie? Dropping diamonds with AJ
Andrews is an iHeart Women's Sports Production in partnership with
Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
I'm your host, AJ Andrews. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz.
(14:04):
Tari Harrison is our supervising producer, and this episode was
mixed and mastered by Mary Do. Listen to Dropping Diamonds
with Aj Andrews on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
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Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!