July 8, 2025 • 15 mins
In this episode, Tom Caravela reflects on the concepts of freedom and progress, providing a historical context for Independence Day and its relevance to personal goals. The discussion highlights the importance of discipline and establishing routines, while also addressing the benefits of reducing social media usage. Tom emphasizes the need for effective commitment management and the value of letting go of perfectionism to achieve personal and professional growth. This episode offers valuable insights and practical advice for anyone looking to enhance their productivity and balance in life.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey, guys.
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm going solo today.
And, you know, I'm going solo because I was,like, inspired over the fourth of July weekend.
So this is kind of a fourth of July episode.
My episodes typically come out on Tuesdays.
Fourth of July was a Friday, so it was kind ofin between.
(00:22):
So I was thinking about what to do, it struckme, literally, during that long weekend that
we're halfway through the year.
And if you guys recall, you may or may not havelistened to an episode that I did called The
One Word.
(00:43):
So basically, at the end of or the end of lastyear, beginning of this year, I did an episode
about what's the one word that you want to liveby for 2025.
Right?
So my word was freedom.
Ironically, I was thinking about that on July4, which is day of freedom, day of
(01:06):
independence.
And I'm literally thinking about the fact thatit's been six months, and here we are.
It's fourth of July weekend.
We're celebrating freedom.
And, like, I had a chance to stop and kindareflect and think back.
Over the past six months, was I living by whatI said I was gonna do, which is to remember
(01:29):
that word freedom and live with more freedomfrom negativity, freedom from worry, freedom
from stress, freedom from overthinking, freedomfrom all of the negative things that we're
trying to stay away from.
How did I do?
How did I do in in that prior six month period?
(01:55):
Well, I I I don't think I did great, guys.
I'll be honest with you.
Like, you know, I I I enjoyed the weekend.
I totally enjoyed the weekend.
Had a great time.
And I really found myself living in thatfreedom mode more than I think I have been over
(02:19):
the course of the past six months.
But it's easy.
It was fourth of July weekend.
Nobody was working.
You know, it was like you I would hope that youwould because that's the time to do it.
Right?
So now I'm like, alright, guys.
I'm a hypocrite.
I said I was gonna do something.
(02:41):
I mean, I I kinda did it.
I mean, I I, you know, I I I can't say it wastotal failure.
But it made me think, maybe it's time to kindarevisit and take a look at the next six months.
And I wanna invite all of you to join me to tryto stick to whatever it is that and I'm not
(03:08):
gonna say New Year's resolution because the theone word is just whatever word you picked, if
it's freedom, if it's if it's peace, a lot ofpeople use the word peace.
A lot of people, have, like, certain goals thatthey attach to their one word.
(03:28):
So if you're looking for financial freedom, itthere may be some type of financial goal that
you're pursuing.
Whatever it is, I wanna reset.
I wanna look at the next six months of of thisyear, and I wanna do a better job.
Now here's an interesting statistic, and thisrelates to the whole freedom thing and and
(03:52):
fourth of July and everything else.
So this, like, perfectly ties into mysituation.
In 07/04/1776 is when we declared our freedom.
That's why it's known as Independence Day.
But it wasn't until 1783 that we actuallyachieved freedom.
(04:14):
We were fighting battles for our freedom forseveral years before we got it.
So I read that somewhere, and I was like, thatjust it makes sense.
And maybe you not maybe.
You do need to fight for your freedom.
(04:36):
You need to fight for your happiness.
You need to fight for your goals or whatever itis that you're looking to do.
It's not gonna come easy.
So that made me feel a lot better.
I'm like, you know what?
One of the things you kinda have to do is don'tbeat yourself up.
If you're looking back over six the last sixmonths and you feel like you didn't you didn't
(04:58):
get that 10 pounds off that you promisedyourself you were gonna get off or you didn't
save the the amount of money that you needed tosave so that you could take that vacation or,
or whatever you promised yourself.
Because that's what we're talking about.
We're talking about promises that you made toyourself.
If you didn't do that, it doesn't mean that youfailed for the year.
(05:20):
Let's freaking do it now.
Let's get on it, man.
And I was like, alright.
What's it gonna take?
Like, what's it gonna like, what's gonna makeit easier to get to the to the point where I
can truly say, I'm I'm living my word.
(05:40):
I'm I'm living with more freedom and more peaceand less of the negativity.
And I'm gonna totally steal a quote.
I have to do it.
But and I don't know if any of you guys followJocko Willink or if you even know who he is,
but he's notorious.
He's the guy that said discipline equalsfreedom.
(06:01):
And I don't wanna, you know, have one word andthen all of a sudden I'm having another word
and they go like, yeah.
Have two words now.
But the one thing that I think is gonna helpme, and I think it's gonna help all of you
guys, is what are the daily disciplines that weneed to stick to in order for us to find peace,
(06:21):
in order for us to get to that place offreedom?
You know?
And I always equate this back to fitness andback to exercise back to nutrition.
Like, if you're disciplined with your diet,well, you're gonna get to your goals.
You're gonna lose the 10 pounds.
You're gonna be healthier.
(06:42):
You're gonna feel better.
There's freedoms that go along with stayingdisciplined in that area of your life.
Same thing with fitness.
If you're disciplined in the number of timesyou go to the gym each week, that's going and
you're you're keeping that promise to yourself.
That's gonna translate into a lot morefreedoms.
(07:05):
Not just now in the way your clothes fit or howyou look in the dress.
It's long term health goals, life goals.
So there's so much to this.
But what kinda dawned on me was by getting backI know that when I'm super, super disciplined
(07:29):
and super regimented, which I normally am, butI mean, like, down to the freaking second, down
to the minute, that frees me up and gives methe time that I need to be more peaceful, to be
more in that state of freedom.
So what are your disciplines?
(07:52):
What do you need to get back to doing thatmaybe you got away from a little bit?
It's the summertime.
This is, like, the prime time of year where wejust let shit go.
We just do.
We just kinda let ourselves go.
I'm not saying, like, you know, totally inevery way, but it's that time where you're
(08:15):
like, well, it's more relaxed.
But I know for me, I always fight theoverindulgence that happens sometimes with
barbecues and, you know, you're drinking toomuch.
And, like, this weekend, I got after it.
I'm gonna be the first one to admit.
Like, I I enjoyed this weekend.
I totally did.
And I hope you guys did too.
(08:36):
It's back to discipline and back to keepingthose promises.
So looking at the second half of the year, notjust in in focusing on the disciplines, but
what else is it that you can do to get yourselfback to that place where you feel really good
(09:00):
about whatever it is that your one word was orwhatever your goals are?
I don't I'm not gonna stick to this whole oneword thing.
It doesn't have to just be that.
I'm just saying when you look at the next sixmonths, I tried to look at some of the things
that were getting in the way.
Like, what gets in the way?
And, like, one of the things that I'm gonna dois just less social media.
(09:22):
It's become such a habit and not, like, on aon, like, every day every day, but there are
times when I just I'm like, yeah.
I got time on my hands.
I you know, you go down this rabbit hole,whether it's YouTube, TikTok, Instagram,
Facebook, whatever, and you're just like, man,I'll never get that hour back, whatever it is.
(09:43):
And, you know, sometimes it's good to do it.
Sometimes it's good to just relax, unwind alittle bit, or maybe check, you know, a news
feed or something.
But, I said hours.
Sometimes it's, like, it's crazy amounts oftime.
And just because it's the summer, it doesn't,you know, doesn't mean that you just spend the
whole the whole summer on social media.
But that's one thing that I definitely am goingto be more disciplined with.
(10:10):
The other thing too is I tend to overcommitmyself.
Overcommitments definitely are gonna rob you ofyour time and rob you of your freedom.
I'm trying to get better at saying no andreally picking and choosing where it is that
(10:32):
I'm I'm aligning my priorities.
Because that's misaligned priorities is gonnakill you.
And if it's not going to serve you there's actsof charity, and there's things that you have to
do sometimes for people favors or whateverelse.
But if you're just living your life going fromone favor to the next, you're you're not gonna
get anything done for yourself.
(10:55):
I also think that it's important to schedule intime to pause, schedule in time to reset.
I've never been good at that, but I'm trying toget better by being disciplined with my
schedule so that I pack in the things, thepriorities, and the things that I need to get
done so that when I'm finished with it, I canthen relax.
(11:21):
I can then spend time doing whatever it is thatI'm I'm looking to do to just kind of relax and
and find some peace.
But what happens is if you leave things undone,if you're not disciplined enough, focused
enough, organized enough, and you leave thingsundone, then there's no freedom because you're
(11:43):
constantly thinking that you have to go and dosomething and finish something.
So that's the other thing that I came up withthat has I think is gonna help me a lot.
The other thing too is to detach fromperfection and control.
(12:06):
I tend to do that.
I tend to get overly control freakish, overlyperfectionistish.
And that's that's something that I I definitelyam gonna work on these these next six months.
(12:27):
And I just feel like this this time over thispast weekend gave me kind of a an an inside
look at what I'd like to see happen for thissecond so, you know, holiday weekend, you do
(12:50):
have a lot more time.
You have a lot more time to think.
You have a lot more time to spend withyourself.
And by having that time, it gave me a chance toclear my head, get my priorities back in order,
and say, okay.
What do I wanna see happen for this next sixmonths?
I sat down and thought about this podcast andhow to put it together.
(13:14):
And I'm like, okay.
Make just make the effort.
Continue to give yourself some grace because Idon't wanna beat myself up, but stick to the
plan.
I actually started off doing pretty good.
Actually, I was doing really good.
And then, yeah, I got all caught up.
The year got it.
(13:34):
You know, we got into it.
We started getting super busy, which is great.
Knock on wood.
Lots going on.
Lots happening.
And that's where you start to get derailed, andit's just more and more stuff that you're, you
know, piling on your own plate.
So great reset for fourth of July weekend,clearing the head, getting myself back into
(13:56):
this mode where, like I said, focusing on mydisciplines, being able to say no, getting
super organized, making sure I have mypriorities in check, and not getting
distracted, not letting the distractions, thenormal daily distractions, get in the way,
affect me, and derail me.
(14:17):
So who's in?
You guys in?
I hope you're in.
And I hope that whatever it is that your goalsare, what you're looking to do, what your one
word was, or or or where you're looking to be,let's just say, during the holidays, like, six
months from now.
Like, where where where do you wanna be?
(14:37):
Give yourself reset your goals right now.
Maybe it's again, maybe it's a weight.
Maybe it's something in your savings.
Maybe it's a fitness goal.
Let's do it, guys.
Now is the perfect time.
I'm challenging myself.
I'm challenging you.
I hope this was helpful.
I don't wanna make this super long.
I just kinda wanna come come on here and justdo a little little solo moment and get back
(15:04):
with you guys.
So I hope this was helpful.
And if it was, as always, share this withothers.
Love you guys.
I appreciate all the support of the show.
We continue to grow, and things are, things arereally going well.
And I just wanna thank every one of you foryour support.
You know, I'm rooting for you every single stepof the way.
So get after it, and I'll see you next time.
Hey, guys.
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm going solo today.
And, you know, I'm going solo because I was,like, inspired over the fourth of July weekend.
So this is kind of a fourth of July episode.
My episodes typically come out on Tuesdays.
Fourth of July was a Friday, so it was kind ofin between.
(00:22):
So I was thinking about what to do, it struckme, literally, during that long weekend that
we're halfway through the year.
And if you guys recall, you may or may not havelistened to an episode that I did called The
One Word.
(00:43):
So basically, at the end of or the end of lastyear, beginning of this year, I did an episode
about what's the one word that you want to liveby for 2025.
Right?
So my word was freedom.
Ironically, I was thinking about that on July4, which is day of freedom, day of
(01:06):
independence.
And I'm literally thinking about the fact thatit's been six months, and here we are.
It's fourth of July weekend.
We're celebrating freedom.
And, like, I had a chance to stop and kindareflect and think back.
Over the past six months, was I living by whatI said I was gonna do, which is to remember
(01:29):
that word freedom and live with more freedomfrom negativity, freedom from worry, freedom
from stress, freedom from overthinking, freedomfrom all of the negative things that we're
trying to stay away from.
How did I do?
How did I do in in that prior six month period?
(01:55):
Well, I I I don't think I did great, guys.
I'll be honest with you.
Like, you know, I I I enjoyed the weekend.
I totally enjoyed the weekend.
Had a great time.
And I really found myself living in thatfreedom mode more than I think I have been over
(02:19):
the course of the past six months.
But it's easy.
It was fourth of July weekend.
Nobody was working.
You know, it was like you I would hope that youwould because that's the time to do it.
Right?
So now I'm like, alright, guys.
I'm a hypocrite.
I said I was gonna do something.
(02:41):
I mean, I I kinda did it.
I mean, I I, you know, I I I can't say it wastotal failure.
But it made me think, maybe it's time to kindarevisit and take a look at the next six months.
And I wanna invite all of you to join me to tryto stick to whatever it is that and I'm not
(03:08):
gonna say New Year's resolution because the theone word is just whatever word you picked, if
it's freedom, if it's if it's peace, a lot ofpeople use the word peace.
A lot of people, have, like, certain goals thatthey attach to their one word.
(03:28):
So if you're looking for financial freedom, itthere may be some type of financial goal that
you're pursuing.
Whatever it is, I wanna reset.
I wanna look at the next six months of of thisyear, and I wanna do a better job.
Now here's an interesting statistic, and thisrelates to the whole freedom thing and and
(03:52):
fourth of July and everything else.
So this, like, perfectly ties into mysituation.
In 07/04/1776 is when we declared our freedom.
That's why it's known as Independence Day.
But it wasn't until 1783 that we actuallyachieved freedom.
(04:14):
We were fighting battles for our freedom forseveral years before we got it.
So I read that somewhere, and I was like, thatjust it makes sense.
And maybe you not maybe.
You do need to fight for your freedom.
(04:36):
You need to fight for your happiness.
You need to fight for your goals or whatever itis that you're looking to do.
It's not gonna come easy.
So that made me feel a lot better.
I'm like, you know what?
One of the things you kinda have to do is don'tbeat yourself up.
If you're looking back over six the last sixmonths and you feel like you didn't you didn't
(04:58):
get that 10 pounds off that you promisedyourself you were gonna get off or you didn't
save the the amount of money that you needed tosave so that you could take that vacation or,
or whatever you promised yourself.
Because that's what we're talking about.
We're talking about promises that you made toyourself.
If you didn't do that, it doesn't mean that youfailed for the year.
(05:20):
Let's freaking do it now.
Let's get on it, man.
And I was like, alright.
What's it gonna take?
Like, what's it gonna like, what's gonna makeit easier to get to the to the point where I
can truly say, I'm I'm living my word.
(05:40):
I'm I'm living with more freedom and more peaceand less of the negativity.
And I'm gonna totally steal a quote.
I have to do it.
But and I don't know if any of you guys followJocko Willink or if you even know who he is,
but he's notorious.
He's the guy that said discipline equalsfreedom.
(06:01):
And I don't wanna, you know, have one word andthen all of a sudden I'm having another word
and they go like, yeah.
Have two words now.
But the one thing that I think is gonna helpme, and I think it's gonna help all of you
guys, is what are the daily disciplines that weneed to stick to in order for us to find peace,
(06:21):
in order for us to get to that place offreedom?
You know?
And I always equate this back to fitness andback to exercise back to nutrition.
Like, if you're disciplined with your diet,well, you're gonna get to your goals.
You're gonna lose the 10 pounds.
You're gonna be healthier.
(06:42):
You're gonna feel better.
There's freedoms that go along with stayingdisciplined in that area of your life.
Same thing with fitness.
If you're disciplined in the number of timesyou go to the gym each week, that's going and
you're you're keeping that promise to yourself.
That's gonna translate into a lot morefreedoms.
(07:05):
Not just now in the way your clothes fit or howyou look in the dress.
It's long term health goals, life goals.
So there's so much to this.
But what kinda dawned on me was by getting backI know that when I'm super, super disciplined
(07:29):
and super regimented, which I normally am, butI mean, like, down to the freaking second, down
to the minute, that frees me up and gives methe time that I need to be more peaceful, to be
more in that state of freedom.
So what are your disciplines?
(07:52):
What do you need to get back to doing thatmaybe you got away from a little bit?
It's the summertime.
This is, like, the prime time of year where wejust let shit go.
We just do.
We just kinda let ourselves go.
I'm not saying, like, you know, totally inevery way, but it's that time where you're
(08:15):
like, well, it's more relaxed.
But I know for me, I always fight theoverindulgence that happens sometimes with
barbecues and, you know, you're drinking toomuch.
And, like, this weekend, I got after it.
I'm gonna be the first one to admit.
Like, I I enjoyed this weekend.
I totally did.
And I hope you guys did too.
(08:36):
It's back to discipline and back to keepingthose promises.
So looking at the second half of the year, notjust in in focusing on the disciplines, but
what else is it that you can do to get yourselfback to that place where you feel really good
(09:00):
about whatever it is that your one word was orwhatever your goals are?
I don't I'm not gonna stick to this whole oneword thing.
It doesn't have to just be that.
I'm just saying when you look at the next sixmonths, I tried to look at some of the things
that were getting in the way.
Like, what gets in the way?
And, like, one of the things that I'm gonna dois just less social media.
(09:22):
It's become such a habit and not, like, on aon, like, every day every day, but there are
times when I just I'm like, yeah.
I got time on my hands.
I you know, you go down this rabbit hole,whether it's YouTube, TikTok, Instagram,
Facebook, whatever, and you're just like, man,I'll never get that hour back, whatever it is.
(09:43):
And, you know, sometimes it's good to do it.
Sometimes it's good to just relax, unwind alittle bit, or maybe check, you know, a news
feed or something.
But, I said hours.
Sometimes it's, like, it's crazy amounts oftime.
And just because it's the summer, it doesn't,you know, doesn't mean that you just spend the
whole the whole summer on social media.
But that's one thing that I definitely am goingto be more disciplined with.
(10:10):
The other thing too is I tend to overcommitmyself.
Overcommitments definitely are gonna rob you ofyour time and rob you of your freedom.
I'm trying to get better at saying no andreally picking and choosing where it is that
(10:32):
I'm I'm aligning my priorities.
Because that's misaligned priorities is gonnakill you.
And if it's not going to serve you there's actsof charity, and there's things that you have to
do sometimes for people favors or whateverelse.
But if you're just living your life going fromone favor to the next, you're you're not gonna
get anything done for yourself.
(10:55):
I also think that it's important to schedule intime to pause, schedule in time to reset.
I've never been good at that, but I'm trying toget better by being disciplined with my
schedule so that I pack in the things, thepriorities, and the things that I need to get
done so that when I'm finished with it, I canthen relax.
(11:21):
I can then spend time doing whatever it is thatI'm I'm looking to do to just kind of relax and
and find some peace.
But what happens is if you leave things undone,if you're not disciplined enough, focused
enough, organized enough, and you leave thingsundone, then there's no freedom because you're
(11:43):
constantly thinking that you have to go and dosomething and finish something.
So that's the other thing that I came up withthat has I think is gonna help me a lot.
The other thing too is to detach fromperfection and control.
(12:06):
I tend to do that.
I tend to get overly control freakish, overlyperfectionistish.
And that's that's something that I I definitelyam gonna work on these these next six months.
(12:27):
And I just feel like this this time over thispast weekend gave me kind of a an an inside
look at what I'd like to see happen for thissecond so, you know, holiday weekend, you do
(12:50):
have a lot more time.
You have a lot more time to think.
You have a lot more time to spend withyourself.
And by having that time, it gave me a chance toclear my head, get my priorities back in order,
and say, okay.
What do I wanna see happen for this next sixmonths?
I sat down and thought about this podcast andhow to put it together.
(13:14):
And I'm like, okay.
Make just make the effort.
Continue to give yourself some grace because Idon't wanna beat myself up, but stick to the
plan.
I actually started off doing pretty good.
Actually, I was doing really good.
And then, yeah, I got all caught up.
The year got it.
(13:34):
You know, we got into it.
We started getting super busy, which is great.
Knock on wood.
Lots going on.
Lots happening.
And that's where you start to get derailed, andit's just more and more stuff that you're, you
know, piling on your own plate.
So great reset for fourth of July weekend,clearing the head, getting myself back into
(13:56):
this mode where, like I said, focusing on mydisciplines, being able to say no, getting
super organized, making sure I have mypriorities in check, and not getting
distracted, not letting the distractions, thenormal daily distractions, get in the way,
affect me, and derail me.
(14:17):
So who's in?
You guys in?
I hope you're in.
And I hope that whatever it is that your goalsare, what you're looking to do, what your one
word was, or or or where you're looking to be,let's just say, during the holidays, like, six
months from now.
Like, where where where do you wanna be?
(14:37):
Give yourself reset your goals right now.
Maybe it's again, maybe it's a weight.
Maybe it's something in your savings.
Maybe it's a fitness goal.
Let's do it, guys.
Now is the perfect time.
I'm challenging myself.
I'm challenging you.
I hope this was helpful.
I don't wanna make this super long.
I just kinda wanna come come on here and justdo a little little solo moment and get back
(15:04):
with you guys.
So I hope this was helpful.
And if it was, as always, share this withothers.
Love you guys.
I appreciate all the support of the show.
We continue to grow, and things are, things arereally going well.
And I just wanna thank every one of you foryour support.
You know, I'm rooting for you every single stepof the way.
So get after it, and I'll see you next time.
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