August 30, 2025 • 24 mins
Episode 106: Why I Hope You Never Reach Your Potential
In this episode of "Your Inner Advocate," host Kimen Petersen explores the concept of never settling for reaching your potential, but instead continually raising the bar. Through personal stories, including his journey training for a half-marathon, Kimen reflects on the value of the path over the destination. He discusses the importance of growth, resilience, and setting extraordinary goals that challenge and transform us. The episode encourages listeners to embrace challenges, learn from setbacks, and cherish the people who support them along the way. Kimen closes with a call to action: identify your next mountain and take the first step, no matter how small.
Timeline Summary:
- 0:00 — Introduction to the podcast and the host’s philosophy
- 0:40 — The wish to never reach your potential, but to keep raising the bar
- 1:21 — Personal story: training for and completing a half-marathon
- 2:12 — Lessons learned from the journey, not the destination
- 3:39 — Overcoming negative self-talk and the power of persistence
- 6:34 — The myth of “resting on your laurels” and the need for continual growth
- 8:15 — The influence of extraordinary people and the importance of your circle
- 10:28 — The value of setting extraordinary, even “unachievable” goals
- 12:41 — Life’s journey: transformation happens in the climb, not the summit
- 13:37 — Reframing adversity: life happens for you, not to you
- 15:14 — The power of learning from setbacks and “unbecoming” what you’re not
- 18:02 — Raising the bar is a lifelong process; never settle
- 19:09 — The excitement of endless becoming and the danger of living a life of “what ifs”
- 22:09 — Final encouragement: write down your next mountain and take the first step
- 24:21 — Outro and call to action
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to Your Inner Advocate,a podcast by Kimen Petersen,
formerly Conversations with Kimen.
This podcast is a space forinspiration, soulful insights,
and meaningful life lessons.
Your host, Kimen Petersen drawsfrom personal stories and powerful
conversations with remarkablepeople to help illuminate your path.
These episodes reflect his livedexperiences and thoughtful perspectives,
(00:25):
all aimed at encouraging you to live lifewith greater authenticity, joy, and ease.
Your inner advocate is here tohelp you tune in, trust your inner
wisdom, and move through life withmore clarity, flow, and fulfillment.
Let me begin with a wish.
It is my greatest wish, not justfor my life, but for yours, that
(00:51):
we never reach our potential.
Instead, anytime we getclose, we raise the bar.
That might sound strange.
You know, we've all been taught thatre reaching the potential is the goal
that there's some kind of a finish linewhere we can finally say, I made it,
(01:13):
but what if that idea is actuallyholding us back from our true potential?
What if life isn't actually about reading,reaching a de uh, destination at all?
What if it's about the climb the path?
And who we become along the way.
(01:35):
I wanna start out by reframing, arrival.
Think about the last big milestoneyou reached, maybe fi finishing
goal, uh, like finishing school, uh,lending that job, buying a house,
running a marathon, qualifying fora national team, signing as a pro.
(02:01):
You know, I, I remember recently,of course, if you've been following
along, I had a big goal ofcompleting my first half marathon.
So this was my first diveinto a bit bit more distance.
Uh, I complete, uh, completed a 5,000,a 5K and a 10 K up to this point, and
(02:24):
I was training for a half marathon.
And I thought like, you know,I'd be elated at the end of that
race when I came across the line.
It would will like hooray.
And the funny thing is, Icrossed the line, I made the goal
(02:46):
and I mean, it was okay and everything,but the truth is the first thing
I thought is like, what's next?
You know, in all honesty, I'd alreadysigned up for a marathon next year,
but there wasn't a, an incredibleamount elation at completing that goal.
It was just like, what's next?
(03:07):
And that's where I am.
I'm like, what's next?
And I think that's when I realizedthe, like crossing that line was
never, never the destination.
It is just a little bit ofa marker along the path.
And the real value honestly camein the hours of training the
(03:28):
discipline, the reaching past whatI thought was capable of self.
'cause the goal I created wasbigger than me when I created
it, and then I accomplished it.
Some of the greatest things, um, were the.
Fact that I got up every morningincredibly early to do these workouts and
(03:52):
these runs, and then along the way, justreally being with myself, being present in
those moments, I learned so many things.
I mean, if you look back in episodesthat I've, I've released, there were
a number one of episodes that came up.
During that, during the path, the nothingreally came outta the destination.
I mean.
(04:13):
I did do an episode about that,but most of that episode was about
everything I learned along the way.
Like one of the episodes I createdis The Mind will try to give
up long before the body does.
And that came from one morning when Irealized that I hit a certain point in
this run where I had to slow down to doa road crossing, and then it starts, like
(04:35):
when I restarted, I'd lost momentum andmy brain would always say, it's too much.
I can't.
And then in a workout doing, I don'tknow, I think it was 10 by 400 and I
think I was to like probably the verylast one and I was about 200 into it
(04:59):
and my brain was going, I can't do it.
I can't do it.
So I like thought, yeah, butmy legs are working fine.
So I checked in with my legs.
Hey, are you guys okay?
Yeah, yeah.
We're okay.
The breath.
Can you, can you.
Is a breath.
Can I, can I breathe enough?
Have I got enough oxygen?
Like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Can we go a little faster?
Yeah.
And I really realized that therewas another time when I realized,
(05:25):
got incredibly emotional, um,on my way back from a run.
And I realized for once in mylife I was going for something
that was bigger than me.
And even with the negativeinternal dialogue screaming at
me, I was still going for it.
(05:46):
And it was interesting 'cause like, likeI said, I'm on the last, I don't know,
300 meters probably of an eight K run.
And the song came on, I'm not givingup, and it just hit me to the core,
like thought about all the timesthat I, I kind of had given up like.
(06:06):
Oh, because there's levelsof giving up, right?
Um, there's the one you just quitaltogether, and then there's this like
almost quiet quitting where you continuelooking like you're doing something, but
your heart's not in it anymore and you'renot really trying as hard as you could.
And I realized that I'm nota quiet quitter anymore.
(06:35):
And that's what it was all about.
It wasn't about crossing a finish line,
arrival's an illusion.
You know, so many peoplethink I'll finally be happy.
Win.
And the summit's not the end.
(06:58):
It is not where you're gonna be happy in amoment you like, you can take a moment and
be happy about what you've accomplished.
It's good to pause in that moment,but then look around, breathe it in,
and then notice that next mountainwaiting in the distance, raise the bar.
(07:23):
And I want to talk about themyth of resting on laurels.
Like we've always heard, we've allheard this phrase resting on your
laurels, but the truth is laurels
are made outta plans
and they wither,
(07:44):
and yesterday's victoriescannot fuel tomorrow's journey.
They just don't
Just imagine a tree that stopsgrowing after one season.
It might still stand tall,
but eventually the storms will weaken it.
(08:05):
Honestly, a tree's growth is its survival.
Same with us.
Our growth is our survival.
Our growth is what fuels us, whatkeeps us alive, what keeps us happy.
We have to keep moving.
It's the same with us.
(08:26):
Think about if Michael Jordan had stoppedafter his first championship, that was it.
Like, yeah, yeah, I'm a champion.
I'm done.
He'd be a footnote, not a legend.
If Serena Williams had said,well, one mil wimbledon's enough,
we would've missed out ondecades of inspiration.
(08:48):
Extraordinary lives arenever defined by one summit.
They're defined out by a life of climbing,of reaching, of refusing to settle.
But I'd say not only that, but thereal extraordinary lives are the
people that you see who honestlyfall and get back up and go again.
(09:09):
And fall and get back.
Go up and go again.
This is the problem with social mediais like a lot of times all we're
seeing is the massive success andwe're missing out on the reality.
I work with all kinds of incredibleathletes and on the outside, if
you know, people don't pay as muchtime as to the bad times they have.
(09:29):
They pay attention to the successesthey have, but I see it all.
And there isn't an extraordinaryperson that I've worked with
that that hasn't had tough times.
The only difference between theseextraordinary people and the
average human beings is the toughtimes never define them, and they
(09:53):
never stay there for very long.
They have a drive and a determinationthat's beyond anything I can imagine.
And the cool thing is you ever heard,
you ever heard this idea that thepeople, like the people you surround
yourself with changes your youbasic basically change, change you.
(10:19):
If you're surrounded by incredible peoplethat are driving and determined to move
forward in life and go for big things,then you're gonna find yourself determined
and drive driven and going for big things.
These people have inspired me incredibly.
(10:42):
So think about extraordinarygoals in the pursuit, and I
want you to picture two people.
One sets this tiny goals safe, achievable,something they can check off in a week.
No problem.
Check, and don't get me wrong,I'm, I'm a fan of little
goals, but I want little goals.
A few of those to add up to a moderategoal and a few moderate to, to massive
goal, and a bunch of massive goals
(11:07):
to achieve a lifelong extraordinary goal.
The other one sets agoal so extraordinary.
It scares the crap out of them.
They might fall, they might fail.
They might stumble, but along the way theystretch and grow and they lock, unlock
strength they didn't even know they had.
(11:30):
Even if that second person doesnot fully reach that extraordinary
goals, they're miles further aheadin growth, wisdom, and resilience
than the one who played it safe.
This is why I'm a fan of massive,almost unachievable, and then.
Some lifelong unachievable goalsbecause the path, you'll be further
(11:57):
down the path if you honestlygo for incredibly huge goals.
I once heard someone said, ordinary goalskeep you comfortable and extraordinary
goals transform you, and that's the truth.
Extraordinary goals.
Don't just give you something to achieve.
(12:18):
They give you someone to become, andthat someone that you become on that
path is the person who has the abilityto achieve that extraordinary goal.
And it, it is the path that shapes you.
(12:41):
Life's not a straight highway.
It is more of a windingtrail through mountains.
There are steep climbs, there arevalleys, there's storms, and there
are breathtaking moments and views.
And the real transfer transformationhappens in the climb itself.
It happens when your legs burn, whenyou're tempted to turn back, when
(13:05):
you wonder if you have anything left,and yet you keep stepping forward.
Think about the people you've meton your journey, some walk beside
you for just a short season teachingyou, loving you or challenging you.
Others stuck with you through storms.
(13:26):
Those are the ma, the ones that mattermost, the ones who walk with you
in both of light, in the darkness.
Those are your people.
And when I look back in the heartof seasons of my life, I remember.
Less about the achievement, moreabout the people who showed up, who
stood by with me, who said, I'llwalk with you through this storm.
(13:51):
That's a real re treasure on the path.
It's the peoples.
Here's an inner reframe that I usea lot now, and it's probably one of
the biggest, most powerful reframes,aside from the question that I ask.
Here's the truth.
That shifted everything for me.
(14:12):
Life is not happening to me.
It's happening for me.
See, when you start looking atit that way, that you're not a
victim of circumstance of life,but you are going through this,
call it the University of Life.
(14:34):
And the hard things aren't there tobreak you or destroy you or hurt you.
They're actually there toteach you, guide you, and maybe
redirect you to a better path.
One of the biggest questions you can addto your life when things are going wrong.
This is the question that I'veadded to added to my life recently.
(14:56):
'cause I used to ask questionswhen things went wrong.
Why me?
Why am why am I, why am I such a loser?
Why does this always happen to me?
Why is life so unfair?
Why can't I ever get it right?
Why can't I, why can'tlife clap me as slack?
I,
(15:18):
and I gave up all those questions,and I only have one question now, one
question for everything that goes wrong.
And that's what is thistrying to teach me?
Because when you sit in, sit in hardtimes, especially cyclic hard times
(15:38):
that keep on coming around and aroundand around, what you'll notice is
there's obviously something to learn.
And if you take a look back in life,uh, other cycles you've been through,
they kept on coming untilyou l learn the lesson.
And once you learn the lesson,they never came back anymore.
(16:01):
And this is the truth thatlife is happening for you.
And it's like a sculptor.
A sculptor, chiseling stone.
Every challenge, every setback, everysingle disappointment at first feels
like something's been taken away.
But in time, if you reallylook back, you'll realize it's
revealing the masterpiece inside.
(16:23):
It's like an episode Idid called unbecoming.
And the truth is we build up all thisstuff that we're actually not on top
of who we really are deep down inside.
And as we drop the pieces of armor,I liken it to this imagery of imagine
(16:43):
a young child who went through alot of tough things in his life and
built up all this incredible strongarmor to protect him from anything.
And finally he gets the I. Herealizes that this armor is
keeping everybody away from him.
So he's walking down this cobblestonepath towards the sunset, and you can see
(17:06):
in the D, as you look pa, you look him,look at him, and you can see he dropped
a gauntlet and then he dropped anotherone and he dropped the arm guard and
piece by piece, he dropped the armor.
Until at the end of the day,all that was left was him.
He let go of all that and now hecan actually be who he's meant to
(17:30):
be because he, he un become, it wasthe unbecoming that he needed to do.
He didn't have to become anything.
He didn't to let go ofeverything that wasn't him.
See, the inner critic wants youto believe that setbacks are meant
like they mean you're failing.
Like I, you're not.
You're not gonna succeed in this goal.
(17:51):
That's that's what the inner critic wants.
But your soul knows better.
Your soul knows every obstacle Is anothermountain calling you to go higher.
When you stop asking yourself,why is this happening to me?
And start asking yourself,what is this here to teach me?
That's when real like, honest,transform transformation begins,
(18:16):
and that's when the cycle ends.
Raising the bar again and again.
The potential is not a finish line.
It never is.
It never was.
It's a moving horizon.
Every time you reachit, you raise the bar.
(18:37):
Think of an artist that don't stoppainting after one masterpiece.
Each canvas, no matter how stunninginspires the next, or a musician
who doesn't quit after one greatsong, each creation calls another.
That's what makes life extraordinary.
(19:01):
You never have to settle.
You get to live in astate of endless becoming,
and that's exciting, isn't it?
It means no matter how high you climb,there's always another mountain waiting,
always another adventure to begin.
(19:23):
And honestly, we could choosenot to go down this path.
We could choose to settle for themundane, for the mediocre to be normal.
Just saying it right now,it makes me feel tired.
We could live a life of going towork, working at a job we hate.
(19:47):
Tired all day.
Go home, eat, watch tv, goto sleep, back and forth.
Drink on the weekend.
Get up on Monday, dreadingMonday, and do this over and
over again until our body fails.
With sin, we pass.
And just before we pass, wecan sit in a rocking chair.
(20:09):
Surrounded by what ifs.
Do you wanna live a life of what ifs?
Or do you want a chanceof being extraordinary?
Because extraordinary doesn'tlive in obtaining laurels.
It doesn't meet, it doesn't livein climbing one mountain and
(20:32):
stopping it doesn't mean settling.
Being extraordinary means everysingle time you start to get close
to your potentially raise the bar,
(20:52):
and at the same time you understandthat you're okay to cheer on
accomplishment for a moment.
But then you keep on going becausehonestly, if you have had a taste of
extraordinary in life, any little bitor any inkling of it, it lights you up.
(21:15):
It gets you outta bed in themorning when you are moving in a
direction that you know is goingto take you to somewhere or has the
opportunity, even the slightest chance.
If you have the slightest chance ofsomething that'll make you happy,
you have to go for it in this life.
Just the slightest chance it's worth it
(21:38):
because in the end of the daywhen you're sitting alone,
you got two choices.
You can say, wow, what a incredible ride.
Where you can say, I wish I had.
Honestly, in life, we do notregret the chances we took.
(22:02):
Whether or not they succeed.
Our regrets all come fromthe chances we didn't take.
So here's my wish for youtoday, every day and forever.
I don't want you to everreach your potential.
(22:27):
I want you, every single time youstart to get close to a potential, you
realize that your potential has risen.
So you raise a bar,
stop living.
I really hope you stop living forthe comfort of the destination.
(22:49):
And start living forthe wonder of the path.
I so wish that you, you dare toset extraordinary goals knowing
that even if you fumble, you'llbecome more than you ever imagine.
And most of all,
(23:11):
you treasure those incredible humanbeings who walk with you through it all.
The ones who celebrate you in the lightand hold you steady in the darkness.
So take out a pen and paper andwrite down what is my next mountain?
(23:33):
What, what in this lifeis calling me higher?
And write them down
and don't wait for perperfect conditions to start.
There is no perfect time to do anything.
You start where you are with whatyou have, and you do what you can.
(23:55):
No matter how small of a step in thedirection, don't settle for safe.
Take the next step.
Take the first step
because a summit is a is never the end.
It's the beginning of yournext extraordinary climb.
(24:21):
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Your Inner Advocate, a podcast by
Kimen Petersen, formerly Conversationswith Kimen if you found value in
today's episode, please follow likeand share the podcast with someone
who you think may benefit from it.
You can listen on Apple Podcast.
Spotify, Podbean, and connect onInstagram @ your inner advocate.
(24:44):
Until next time, keep listening toand developing your inner advocate.
. Welcome back to your Inner Advocate.
Welcome to Your Inner Advocate,a podcast by Kimen Petersen,
formerly Conversations with Kimen.
This podcast is a space forinspiration, soulful insights,
and meaningful life lessons.
Your host, Kimen Petersen drawsfrom personal stories and powerful
conversations with remarkablepeople to help illuminate your path.
These episodes reflect his livedexperiences and thoughtful perspectives,
(00:25):
all aimed at encouraging you to live lifewith greater authenticity, joy, and ease.
Your inner advocate is here tohelp you tune in, trust your inner
wisdom, and move through life withmore clarity, flow, and fulfillment.
Let me begin with a wish.
It is my greatest wish, not justfor my life, but for yours, that
(00:51):
we never reach our potential.
Instead, anytime we getclose, we raise the bar.
That might sound strange.
You know, we've all been taught thatre reaching the potential is the goal
that there's some kind of a finish linewhere we can finally say, I made it,
(01:13):
but what if that idea is actuallyholding us back from our true potential?
What if life isn't actually about reading,reaching a de uh, destination at all?
What if it's about the climb the path?
And who we become along the way.
(01:35):
I wanna start out by reframing, arrival.
Think about the last big milestoneyou reached, maybe fi finishing
goal, uh, like finishing school, uh,lending that job, buying a house,
running a marathon, qualifying fora national team, signing as a pro.
(02:01):
You know, I, I remember recently,of course, if you've been following
along, I had a big goal ofcompleting my first half marathon.
So this was my first diveinto a bit bit more distance.
Uh, I complete, uh, completed a 5,000,a 5K and a 10 K up to this point, and
(02:24):
I was training for a half marathon.
And I thought like, you know,I'd be elated at the end of that
race when I came across the line.
It would will like hooray.
And the funny thing is, Icrossed the line, I made the goal
(02:46):
and I mean, it was okay and everything,but the truth is the first thing
I thought is like, what's next?
You know, in all honesty, I'd alreadysigned up for a marathon next year,
but there wasn't a, an incredibleamount elation at completing that goal.
It was just like, what's next?
(03:07):
And that's where I am.
I'm like, what's next?
And I think that's when I realizedthe, like crossing that line was
never, never the destination.
It is just a little bit ofa marker along the path.
And the real value honestly camein the hours of training the
(03:28):
discipline, the reaching past whatI thought was capable of self.
'cause the goal I created wasbigger than me when I created
it, and then I accomplished it.
Some of the greatest things, um, were the.
Fact that I got up every morningincredibly early to do these workouts and
(03:52):
these runs, and then along the way, justreally being with myself, being present in
those moments, I learned so many things.
I mean, if you look back in episodesthat I've, I've released, there were
a number one of episodes that came up.
During that, during the path, the nothingreally came outta the destination.
I mean.
(04:13):
I did do an episode about that,but most of that episode was about
everything I learned along the way.
Like one of the episodes I createdis The Mind will try to give
up long before the body does.
And that came from one morning when Irealized that I hit a certain point in
this run where I had to slow down to doa road crossing, and then it starts, like
(04:35):
when I restarted, I'd lost momentum andmy brain would always say, it's too much.
I can't.
And then in a workout doing, I don'tknow, I think it was 10 by 400 and I
think I was to like probably the verylast one and I was about 200 into it
(04:59):
and my brain was going, I can't do it.
I can't do it.
So I like thought, yeah, butmy legs are working fine.
So I checked in with my legs.
Hey, are you guys okay?
Yeah, yeah.
We're okay.
The breath.
Can you, can you.
Is a breath.
Can I, can I breathe enough?
Have I got enough oxygen?
Like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Can we go a little faster?
Yeah.
And I really realized that therewas another time when I realized,
(05:25):
got incredibly emotional, um,on my way back from a run.
And I realized for once in mylife I was going for something
that was bigger than me.
And even with the negativeinternal dialogue screaming at
me, I was still going for it.
(05:46):
And it was interesting 'cause like, likeI said, I'm on the last, I don't know,
300 meters probably of an eight K run.
And the song came on, I'm not givingup, and it just hit me to the core,
like thought about all the timesthat I, I kind of had given up like.
(06:06):
Oh, because there's levelsof giving up, right?
Um, there's the one you just quitaltogether, and then there's this like
almost quiet quitting where you continuelooking like you're doing something, but
your heart's not in it anymore and you'renot really trying as hard as you could.
And I realized that I'm nota quiet quitter anymore.
(06:35):
And that's what it was all about.
It wasn't about crossing a finish line,
arrival's an illusion.
You know, so many peoplethink I'll finally be happy.
Win.
And the summit's not the end.
(06:58):
It is not where you're gonna be happy in amoment you like, you can take a moment and
be happy about what you've accomplished.
It's good to pause in that moment,but then look around, breathe it in,
and then notice that next mountainwaiting in the distance, raise the bar.
(07:23):
And I want to talk about themyth of resting on laurels.
Like we've always heard, we've allheard this phrase resting on your
laurels, but the truth is laurels
are made outta plans
and they wither,
(07:44):
and yesterday's victoriescannot fuel tomorrow's journey.
They just don't
Just imagine a tree that stopsgrowing after one season.
It might still stand tall,
but eventually the storms will weaken it.
(08:05):
Honestly, a tree's growth is its survival.
Same with us.
Our growth is our survival.
Our growth is what fuels us, whatkeeps us alive, what keeps us happy.
We have to keep moving.
It's the same with us.
(08:26):
Think about if Michael Jordan had stoppedafter his first championship, that was it.
Like, yeah, yeah, I'm a champion.
I'm done.
He'd be a footnote, not a legend.
If Serena Williams had said,well, one mil wimbledon's enough,
we would've missed out ondecades of inspiration.
(08:48):
Extraordinary lives arenever defined by one summit.
They're defined out by a life of climbing,of reaching, of refusing to settle.
But I'd say not only that, but thereal extraordinary lives are the
people that you see who honestlyfall and get back up and go again.
(09:09):
And fall and get back.
Go up and go again.
This is the problem with social mediais like a lot of times all we're
seeing is the massive success andwe're missing out on the reality.
I work with all kinds of incredibleathletes and on the outside, if
you know, people don't pay as muchtime as to the bad times they have.
(09:29):
They pay attention to the successesthey have, but I see it all.
And there isn't an extraordinaryperson that I've worked with
that that hasn't had tough times.
The only difference between theseextraordinary people and the
average human beings is the toughtimes never define them, and they
(09:53):
never stay there for very long.
They have a drive and a determinationthat's beyond anything I can imagine.
And the cool thing is you ever heard,
you ever heard this idea that thepeople, like the people you surround
yourself with changes your youbasic basically change, change you.
(10:19):
If you're surrounded by incredible peoplethat are driving and determined to move
forward in life and go for big things,then you're gonna find yourself determined
and drive driven and going for big things.
These people have inspired me incredibly.
(10:42):
So think about extraordinarygoals in the pursuit, and I
want you to picture two people.
One sets this tiny goals safe, achievable,something they can check off in a week.
No problem.
Check, and don't get me wrong,I'm, I'm a fan of little
goals, but I want little goals.
A few of those to add up to a moderategoal and a few moderate to, to massive
goal, and a bunch of massive goals
(11:07):
to achieve a lifelong extraordinary goal.
The other one sets agoal so extraordinary.
It scares the crap out of them.
They might fall, they might fail.
They might stumble, but along the way theystretch and grow and they lock, unlock
strength they didn't even know they had.
(11:30):
Even if that second person doesnot fully reach that extraordinary
goals, they're miles further aheadin growth, wisdom, and resilience
than the one who played it safe.
This is why I'm a fan of massive,almost unachievable, and then.
Some lifelong unachievable goalsbecause the path, you'll be further
(11:57):
down the path if you honestlygo for incredibly huge goals.
I once heard someone said, ordinary goalskeep you comfortable and extraordinary
goals transform you, and that's the truth.
Extraordinary goals.
Don't just give you something to achieve.
(12:18):
They give you someone to become, andthat someone that you become on that
path is the person who has the abilityto achieve that extraordinary goal.
And it, it is the path that shapes you.
(12:41):
Life's not a straight highway.
It is more of a windingtrail through mountains.
There are steep climbs, there arevalleys, there's storms, and there
are breathtaking moments and views.
And the real transfer transformationhappens in the climb itself.
It happens when your legs burn, whenyou're tempted to turn back, when
(13:05):
you wonder if you have anything left,and yet you keep stepping forward.
Think about the people you've meton your journey, some walk beside
you for just a short season teachingyou, loving you or challenging you.
Others stuck with you through storms.
(13:26):
Those are the ma, the ones that mattermost, the ones who walk with you
in both of light, in the darkness.
Those are your people.
And when I look back in the heartof seasons of my life, I remember.
Less about the achievement, moreabout the people who showed up, who
stood by with me, who said, I'llwalk with you through this storm.
(13:51):
That's a real re treasure on the path.
It's the peoples.
Here's an inner reframe that I usea lot now, and it's probably one of
the biggest, most powerful reframes,aside from the question that I ask.
Here's the truth.
That shifted everything for me.
(14:12):
Life is not happening to me.
It's happening for me.
See, when you start looking atit that way, that you're not a
victim of circumstance of life,but you are going through this,
call it the University of Life.
(14:34):
And the hard things aren't there tobreak you or destroy you or hurt you.
They're actually there toteach you, guide you, and maybe
redirect you to a better path.
One of the biggest questions you can addto your life when things are going wrong.
This is the question that I'veadded to added to my life recently.
(14:56):
'cause I used to ask questionswhen things went wrong.
Why me?
Why am why am I, why am I such a loser?
Why does this always happen to me?
Why is life so unfair?
Why can't I ever get it right?
Why can't I, why can'tlife clap me as slack?
I,
(15:18):
and I gave up all those questions,and I only have one question now, one
question for everything that goes wrong.
And that's what is thistrying to teach me?
Because when you sit in, sit in hardtimes, especially cyclic hard times
(15:38):
that keep on coming around and aroundand around, what you'll notice is
there's obviously something to learn.
And if you take a look back in life,uh, other cycles you've been through,
they kept on coming untilyou l learn the lesson.
And once you learn the lesson,they never came back anymore.
(16:01):
And this is the truth thatlife is happening for you.
And it's like a sculptor.
A sculptor, chiseling stone.
Every challenge, every setback, everysingle disappointment at first feels
like something's been taken away.
But in time, if you reallylook back, you'll realize it's
revealing the masterpiece inside.
(16:23):
It's like an episode Idid called unbecoming.
And the truth is we build up all thisstuff that we're actually not on top
of who we really are deep down inside.
And as we drop the pieces of armor,I liken it to this imagery of imagine
(16:43):
a young child who went through alot of tough things in his life and
built up all this incredible strongarmor to protect him from anything.
And finally he gets the I. Herealizes that this armor is
keeping everybody away from him.
So he's walking down this cobblestonepath towards the sunset, and you can see
(17:06):
in the D, as you look pa, you look him,look at him, and you can see he dropped
a gauntlet and then he dropped anotherone and he dropped the arm guard and
piece by piece, he dropped the armor.
Until at the end of the day,all that was left was him.
He let go of all that and now hecan actually be who he's meant to
(17:30):
be because he, he un become, it wasthe unbecoming that he needed to do.
He didn't have to become anything.
He didn't to let go ofeverything that wasn't him.
See, the inner critic wants youto believe that setbacks are meant
like they mean you're failing.
Like I, you're not.
You're not gonna succeed in this goal.
(17:51):
That's that's what the inner critic wants.
But your soul knows better.
Your soul knows every obstacle Is anothermountain calling you to go higher.
When you stop asking yourself,why is this happening to me?
And start asking yourself,what is this here to teach me?
That's when real like, honest,transform transformation begins,
(18:16):
and that's when the cycle ends.
Raising the bar again and again.
The potential is not a finish line.
It never is.
It never was.
It's a moving horizon.
Every time you reachit, you raise the bar.
(18:37):
Think of an artist that don't stoppainting after one masterpiece.
Each canvas, no matter how stunninginspires the next, or a musician
who doesn't quit after one greatsong, each creation calls another.
That's what makes life extraordinary.
(19:01):
You never have to settle.
You get to live in astate of endless becoming,
and that's exciting, isn't it?
It means no matter how high you climb,there's always another mountain waiting,
always another adventure to begin.
(19:23):
And honestly, we could choosenot to go down this path.
We could choose to settle for themundane, for the mediocre to be normal.
Just saying it right now,it makes me feel tired.
We could live a life of going towork, working at a job we hate.
(19:47):
Tired all day.
Go home, eat, watch tv, goto sleep, back and forth.
Drink on the weekend.
Get up on Monday, dreadingMonday, and do this over and
over again until our body fails.
With sin, we pass.
And just before we pass, wecan sit in a rocking chair.
(20:09):
Surrounded by what ifs.
Do you wanna live a life of what ifs?
Or do you want a chanceof being extraordinary?
Because extraordinary doesn'tlive in obtaining laurels.
It doesn't meet, it doesn't livein climbing one mountain and
(20:32):
stopping it doesn't mean settling.
Being extraordinary means everysingle time you start to get close
to your potentially raise the bar,
(20:52):
and at the same time you understandthat you're okay to cheer on
accomplishment for a moment.
But then you keep on going becausehonestly, if you have had a taste of
extraordinary in life, any little bitor any inkling of it, it lights you up.
(21:15):
It gets you outta bed in themorning when you are moving in a
direction that you know is goingto take you to somewhere or has the
opportunity, even the slightest chance.
If you have the slightest chance ofsomething that'll make you happy,
you have to go for it in this life.
Just the slightest chance it's worth it
(21:38):
because in the end of the daywhen you're sitting alone,
you got two choices.
You can say, wow, what a incredible ride.
Where you can say, I wish I had.
Honestly, in life, we do notregret the chances we took.
(22:02):
Whether or not they succeed.
Our regrets all come fromthe chances we didn't take.
So here's my wish for youtoday, every day and forever.
I don't want you to everreach your potential.
(22:27):
I want you, every single time youstart to get close to a potential, you
realize that your potential has risen.
So you raise a bar,
stop living.
I really hope you stop living forthe comfort of the destination.
(22:49):
And start living forthe wonder of the path.
I so wish that you, you dare toset extraordinary goals knowing
that even if you fumble, you'llbecome more than you ever imagine.
And most of all,
(23:11):
you treasure those incredible humanbeings who walk with you through it all.
The ones who celebrate you in the lightand hold you steady in the darkness.
So take out a pen and paper andwrite down what is my next mountain?
(23:33):
What, what in this lifeis calling me higher?
And write them down
and don't wait for perperfect conditions to start.
There is no perfect time to do anything.
You start where you are with whatyou have, and you do what you can.
(23:55):
No matter how small of a step in thedirection, don't settle for safe.
Take the next step.
Take the first step
because a summit is a is never the end.
It's the beginning of yournext extraordinary climb.
(24:21):
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Your Inner Advocate, a podcast by
Kimen Petersen, formerly Conversationswith Kimen if you found value in
today's episode, please follow likeand share the podcast with someone
who you think may benefit from it.
You can listen on Apple Podcast.
Spotify, Podbean, and connect onInstagram @ your inner advocate.
(24:44):
Until next time, keep listening toand developing your inner advocate.
. Welcome back to your Inner Advocate.
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