Dream Chasing: How To Finally Get After The Dream God's Given To You

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Good morning.
Good morning, welcome back tothe Certain Success Podcast,
matt and Joe here, and today isa big day for me and maybe for
Joe too.
But we're in the middle ofattending virtually one of my
favorite conferences in theworld and, um, and I woke up

(00:24):
just so sure of my direction andmy dream and like knowing
exactly what I want.
And you know, we all havelevels of success and whatever,
but there's no way that I'vereached the level that I want to

(00:45):
reach.
And, um, you know, what's thecoolest thing for for me right
at the moment is is how you know, in in this recent season, you
know, joe and I have cometogether and our, our objectives
, our life plan, our season oflife, all these things are like
so lined up.
But this podcast, that was along introduction, but this

(01:09):
podcast is about getting clarityon your dream and then going
after it, no matter what.
And no matter what means it'snot probably going to make sense
If you, if you, have a Goddream that every time you think
about it it just like lights youup and I want to talk more

(01:33):
about that.
But you know, whatever thatthing is, that when it enters
your mind, are you thinkingabout it or it's.
You know, you're like, oh man,I would love to do the whatever
it is, and but then you areimmediately like I can't do that
because of X, y and Z.
That's the thing that you needto go do.
You need to chuck everythingand go do it.

(01:54):
So sorry for the long intro,joe.
No, it's perfect.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
It takes us back a long way.
When you're getting into sales,you're reading the books,
you're learning from the gurus,you're the quotes that you
learned from Henry Ford.
Whether you think you can orcan't, you're right, right, and
it's what we're putting ourenergy towards.
And if we want to sit here andthink doom and gloom, guess

(02:20):
what's going to come.
Doom and gloom.
Guess what's going to come.
Doom and gloom.
So we don't want to fill ourdays with that negative
self-talk.
We want to build our days withglorifying the perfect God that
he is.
He created us, he wants us tobe happy, he wants us to have

(02:41):
fun at what we do in our toil.
You know there's scriptureabout that and we'll we'll talk
about that in a minute.
But this isn't.
This life is tough enough andthere's no need for us to make
it harder by saying no so oftento ourselves before we even get
a chance to get out of the gate.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, I think you know, maybe maybe a better way
to sort of shine a light on whatwe're trying to talk about here
is just say, okay, likeeverybody listening to this call
, you know, hundreds of peopleare going to listen to this and
they're going to go, and I and I, on a scale of one to 10, if
you're listening to this, I wantyou to ask yourself am I
chasing my dream right now?

(03:20):
Not?
Have I achieved whatever theoutcome is?
Am I on, like when I get upevery day?
Am I moving the ball forward onchasing whatever my actual
dream is?
Versus, do I get up and, youknow, put on my uniform and work
for the man and do whateverthat thing is, and not that, not

(03:41):
that working for the man can'tbe your dream.
I mean, if that's your dreamand we're going to talk about
the trash man and like, yourdream can be anything.
Your dream can be to be, youknow, the lunch lady at at the
grade school and just lovingyour engagement with those kids
and whatever it is.
But if you're listening to thisand you're pretty sure cause

(04:03):
you and you already know theanswer, Like, if you know I'm
not chasing my dream, or yes, Iam and if I'm not chasing my
dream.
Here's all the reasons, here'sall the excuses, whatever it is.
But like that's to me is the isthe framework.
It's like, yeah, and you couldalso.
I think where you were going to,Joe, is a little bit.
It's like you should bring joyto whatever you're doing.
You should get up and be joyfulabout it today.

(04:24):
But this, to me, is aboutgetting really crystal clear on
what God built you to do,knowing that there's going to be
some fear and you're going tohave to jump off a cliff to go
chase it.
But just the percentage ofpeople that are actually doing
that is so small.

(04:45):
And to me, like that's what Iwant to do with the rest of my
life, is like scream that, youknow.
Grab your balls and jump as wetalked on the other, you know
the other day, Right, Likethat's my, that's what should be
written on my tombstone.
It's like he grabbed him likeGo get it, stop procrastinating,

(05:09):
stop doing whatever halfwaylife thing you're doing and go
get it amen.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
I mean that's it.
I mean that's a sermon initself.
And the two of us will tell youright up front we're not
pastors of church, we're notchurch leaders, we're not
theologians.
We have a heart for Christ.
And yesterday we said whatChrist was saying to me on the

(05:40):
beach and he said I want you tochase me.
Everything you've ever wanted isright here and, matt, where I
think it is, is that when youstart your day you have to start
with Christ.
It's the first place I have togo to for the rest of the day to

(06:02):
make sense.
I have to go to for the rest ofthe day to make sense and dive
into the scripture and startlearning that his design for us
is this freedom from our ownpersonal hell of the daily tasks
that we put ourselves into,whether it's work, whether it's
whatever.
It is it he.

(06:23):
He didn't design us for it tosuck.
He designed it.
Yeah, I mean that's the firstthing that comes.
He designed it for us to thriveand to go out there and go get
it.
And so for me and I know foryou, because this morning we
were, we were kind of messagingeach other and you're like Joe,
I got to finish up my quiet timewith the Lord and I totally get

(06:46):
that, because I do that to youas well I'm like I'm not done
with my quiet time.
I can't go get it, I can't gochase it until I sit still with
him and let him speak to me inhis word and let him speak to me
in his word no-transcript.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
I agree with you that you have to just be completely
on solid ground in your faithand your relationship with
Christ, because he's opens thedoor to understanding your
passions, understanding thosethings that are burning in your
heart, that are like I want togo do this.
Well, if, if you're inalignment with Christ, you're

(07:42):
inviting the holy spirit intoyour, your thoughts, and those
thoughts are about, you know,whatever.
You know cliff diving, or youknow, uh, you know, growing
coffee in kawaii, which I don'tknow where that came from, but I
, when I was in kawaii, I sawthis coffee place and I was like
I want to do that.

(08:02):
I want to be growing coffee inkauai.
I saw this coffee place and Iwas like I want to do that.
I want to be growing coffee inKauai.
But whatever your dream is, andI believe that if you're in
alignment with the Lord andyou're getting up every day and
you're trying to focus yourattention on God and the things
that he put, if what he puts onyour heart to do is grow coffee
in Kauai, then that's whatyou're supposed to go do.

(08:25):
Like, the practical translationof that in the world is go do
that.
And then the first thing thatyou're going to it's like, well,
I don't have the money and Idon't know how to do it and I
can't go live in Kauai and likeall those things.
And God's like, well, wait, Ididn't say any of those things.
I put it on your heart.
To go grow coffee in Kauai GoRight, go, follow me, means go

(08:49):
to wherever your heart isburning.
To go Get on the plane, go.
Wow.
Sherry's going to be reallyupset when she wakes up and
finds that I'm in Kauai or onthe way.
And that is not my dream, butI'm just using that as an
example.
But I want to read this NapoleonHill quote from last night
which keeps coming back upthere's one quality which one

(09:11):
must possess to win, and that isdefiniteness of purpose, the
knowledge of what one wants anda burning desire to possess it.
And you know I was telling youthis morning that I feel like
that.
It's it's a wordy quote andit's like I think it's easy to
just sort of go oh, that'ssounds nice but and not to

(09:32):
really like dive into it.
But there's something burningin every single person who's
listening to this.
That's like burning in everysingle person who's listening to
this.
That's like I would love to dothis thing, but I can't, I'm not
good enough, there's no way, Idon't have enough money.

(09:52):
There's like all the reasonsand I think we live in a world
where it's been beaten downenough in all of humanity that
we think that that's actually amistake, like that.
It's irresponsible to thinkthis way, and I'm like all I

(10:13):
want to do in the world is tobring people back to their dream
and go like no, god, put thaton your heart and the reason and
the voices that are saying thatyou can't are not God.
That's everything, but Godsaying oh no, you know why would
you?
We wouldn't want you to chaseyour dream.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
That evil one.
He's a bastard.
And before we get to, you knowyou brought it up a second ago
Danny the garbage guy in myneighborhood and he's one of the
stories.
Danny the garbage guy in myneighborhood and he's one of the
stories and I haven't shared itwith any of you before.

(11:01):
But for the last couple ofyears God was putting on's not
like.
I'm, you know, a part of achurch where I'm in leadership
or I'm a theologian.
I have been journaling to Godfor the last 14 years and every
morning I write to God and Ishare what's on my heart you
know whether it's a prayerrequest for friends or family,

(11:22):
writing down the scripture fromthat morning and just thanking
God for the day.
And I have thousands of pagesthat my kids will have when I am
dead and buried one dayHopefully I'm not buried, maybe
they'll put me out to sea and soI told my kids, I want a Viking
funeral.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
I think there's only one place in the world you can
still do that anyway.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
So I I kept saying, no, god, I'm not your guy.
And the more that I keptreading scripture everyone that
God chose in the Bible,especially when you look at the
Old Testament and when you lookat Paul in the New Testament,
he's choosing people you justdon't expect to be the
foundation of our Christianfaith.

(12:07):
And so I finally decided onDecember 20, I think it was
December 27, that I was going toset my alarm for December 28,
2023 at 5 am, and I'm going tostart writing this book, and I
put a goal of having it done byApril 5th of 2024.
On the morning of April 5th 2024, I wrote the final day, and

(12:32):
that is a definiteness ofpurpose that was laid on my
heart by a loving God who said Itold you you could do it and
that's how you win.
You win through having thatdefinite purpose in your life.

(12:52):
And, as I said, the devil beatme up every day saying you can't
do this.
Why are you doing this?
You're the last person whoshould do this.
You're broken, saying you can'tdo this.
Why are you doing this?
You're the last person whoshould do this.
You're broken.
You sin.
Yeah, you're right.
And on the other side, crisis,you got this.
You can do this.

(13:15):
So I wrote a story about.
Do you want to answer to that?
And we can still get back toDanny the garbage guy.
Any thoughts?

Speaker 1 (13:19):
go through your mind as a I don't know.
No, I mean, I think you're youright on track with with what
you're saying and and you know,I think, maybe, maybe the only
thing I would comment about thatis that I think it's important
to note too that, like that thebook is, that you finished is a
huge accomplishment, vernacularof the dream that that runs your

(13:45):
whole life, and like thismassive, massive thing which is
is is true, but also it can bethis one particular, you know, I
want to learn how to run amarathon.
Okay, what's the trainingrequired to do that?
That's not your whole life, butit's.
It's a big thing, you know, andand maybe, if you're, if you're
listening to this and you'renot chasing your dreams at all,
and you're like feeling stuck,like pick one thing, like

(14:08):
running a marathon or writing abook, that you know it's not.
It can be all encompassing fora minute, but it's not the rest
of your life, and that's what Iwas thinking about when you were
talking about the book.
But, yeah, talk about thegarbage man.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
I love this story, yeah, so day 256 and day 257 are
about Danny, and the first dayreally just talks about this guy
that's.
You know.
He's assigned to myneighborhood.
He's always dancing while he'son the side of the truck.
He's Cuban.
I come to find out that he'sCuban and he's just loving his
music and I finally stopped andI had to talk to him and he is

(14:48):
really the scripture that Ibrought up a second ago Matthew
5, 16,.
In the same way, let your lightshine before others that they
may see your good deeds andglorify your father in heaven.
I'm like that's Danny and Mattto think about it.
He's probably one of the mostsuccessful people I've seen in
his work that I've met in myentire life.

(15:08):
In fact, the next day I wrote inday 257, danny talked to me
further and said the garbagecompany offered him a driver's
position that offered more money.
He said I don't want to do it.
I won't be able to dance on theside of the truck and meet with
the neighbors.
I love what I do and whichtells us in this world that we
live in.

(15:28):
There's the ditch diggers,there's the roofers, there's the
Danny's of the world that arepicking up our garbage.
There's the people that arethere to get your kids while you
drop them off in the circle atschool, and you trust them.
And there's so many people thatwere built, designed for what
they're doing and they're themost successful people at what

(15:51):
they do, because that's whatthey were wired to do.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
That's success.
That's it.
And God, how many people do youmeet that know themselves well
enough, that know their identitywell enough to go?
Like God, this is what God, godbuilt Danny to to dance on the
side of the road and like heknew that, like not not another
job that might be more money isnot the answer and it's going to

(16:14):
take away his joy.
You know, and I think most ofus walk around not understanding
that about ourselves, and youknow, um, you made me think
about the, the stage thing.
You and I were talking beforethe podcast, about how we both
enjoy public speaking, and andyou know that you know, I built
a, I built a conference businessand built 150 conferences, and

(16:39):
but what?
What made me do that?
Is like the joy of stepping onstage and the energy that I get
from the room full of humans andthe adrenaline of.
I famously would not script whatI was going to say.

(17:03):
If at all, it would be theabsolute last minute, but you
know, I was inviting the Lord togive me the words, like I knew,
I didn't know what it was thatI was after until until it
happened, and for most peoplethat would be like horrifying,
um, but to me, like that was myexpression of who I am and how I

(17:24):
, how god works in me, you know,and um, but but I I think the
main reason I wanted to bringthat up, though, is to talk
about the fact that that I thinkit can be seasonal, and, you
know, maybe there was a time 50years ago, where you would start
a career and stay in the samejob until they gave you, you
know, the, the golden watch atthe, at the end, or something.

(17:48):
But you know, we live in aworld of seasons now, and so I
ran that business for 10 years.
You know, covid kind of killedthat business, but there was a
million things I could have done, the pivot and whatever, but
like I knew it was the end ofthat season, and so I think
that's another piece of it toois to go like this is what God's
putting on your heart to go doright now, go chase it with

(18:08):
everything you have, but also beprepared to pivot.
We took we already did a podcaston that but like no, that um,
you know what, whatever God'stelling you to do right now,
like that's going to be a seasonthat Brooke's going to dry up.
My, my Elijah is one of myfavorite stories in scripture
and when the book dries up, hejust shown you to move.

(18:29):
It's not like you did anythingwrong or there's any problem, or
you should be shameful aboutquitting, or like when the
season's over, you go.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yep, Yep.
You had said something, thoughthis morning about when you
walked off stage and your wifeis there to greet you and it
touched you, just to share itwith me.
Those are those confirmationsof I'm in the right spot and and

(19:01):
, if you don't mind, you knowyour, your beautiful wife,
Sherry, shared with yousomething when you came off the
stage one time what, what, whatwas like?
What was that like?

Speaker 1 (19:12):
Well, you know you're gonna make me cry again.
I was crying when I was tellingyou about it.
Because it's okay, well, it'sso.
I'm glad you brought it backbecause it's so pivotal to this
conversation about living yourdream is because that's when you
know you're living your dream,is when it just like fills your
heart with so much joy that itmakes you want to cry than once.

(19:42):
Sherry didn't always come tothose events, but when she was
there, she would see me on thestage and she would just see
like me, at like my absolutenuclear amped self, and like you
can't fake that.
And it's not about uh, uh, youknow, wanting, you know, well, I
certainly like the sound of myown voice, but it's not about
like, oh, look at me, orwhatever.
It's not that, that kind ofthing, it's just this like

(20:05):
energy that I get from all thehumans.
And oh, and, like you know,walk up the stage at least once.
I can remember exactly.
And she was like, wow, likethat's what you should be doing
all the time and again, likewhatever, when you're listening
to this, like there's a thingthat's that's your thing, like
for Danny, it's what Dannyshould be doing all the time is

(20:25):
dancing around, you know thetrash truck.
What I should be doing all thetime is standing on a stage,
which is funny.
Ironically, I've been sort oflike hiding from the stage of
late and and I think that was aseason and there's a lot more to
that I think that was a seasonand there's there's a lot more
to that.
But during that season, likethere was no greater thing that
I would rather do than be inthat moment at explode, had the

(20:48):
same song every day and uh, Iknew the song beat for beat for
beat for beat.
I knew how many steps it wasgoing to take for the song to
end, so that my foot hit thestage when the song ended and
everyone that anyone listened tothis that's been to explode
would be like I can never hearthat song again because I played

(21:11):
it so many times.
And but so like it's likefinding that thing and just like
not letting go of it, even whenit's just hard as hell and and
you feel like you can't make itand all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
It's the runner's high of what we were wired to do
.
I mean, I used to run in my 30sand I do the 5Ks, the 10Ks, the
15Ks.
I never did a marathon, I don'tknow why I didn't.
I beat my body up enough doingthose smaller races.
But I did a ton of races whenmy kids were younger and I could

(21:47):
tell you that during a lot ofthose runs I'd get the runner's
high that they talk about.
And for me that runner's highwas my breathing cadence, my
stride, my peace, my focus.
We're all together on the samesheet of music and you know

(22:09):
listening to music in my ear andlet's just say it's.
You know the theme of Rocky,you know, and it's like I'm in
the movie and I'm in thatcadence and I'm running.
I'm in the movie and I'm inthat cadence and I'm running.
And for a short little Italianlike me, you know to run fast I
have to do double time to keepup with some of the faster
runners because they got alonger gate.

(22:30):
But for me and for you and foranyone listening, it's that
cadence, it's that runner's highand you know when you're in it
and you were in it when you wereon stage.
I've been there when I, youknow, was able to speak on stage
.
When you're, when you'redriving through to get to the

(22:54):
goal, to get to the end, and youknow you're in the right place
and everything is falling intoplace, that's when you know,
know you're doing what you'rewired to do.
Now for Danny, maybe one dayhe's, you know, ahead of culture
for the garbage company, wherehe has finally realized that he

(23:16):
can teach other people that typeof joy in their work, and so I
mean I pray that for him.
If that's what his desire is,is that he finds another season.
I hope everyone realizes, ifyou're on this and you're
listening to this, this isn'tabout if you love what you do.
Maybe you should look forsomething else just to see if

(23:37):
you love something else.
If you love what you do, rockon.
But if you hear that voiceinside you, maybe it's the Holy
Spirit in your case who's sayingI really want this for you.
This is what God designed youto do.
Let's do it.
I encourage you with all myheart.
Go after it.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
I got one more.
I got one more thing I got toshare with you.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Not sharing it with me.
You're sharing it with thisentire.
You said hundreds of people arelistening to this.
I'm I'm praying that there'seventually thousands upon
thousands of people that get tohear our voices.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
Yeah, oh yeah, it's already there.
If you think about over timetoo, you know, um, but what I
wanted to read to you issomething that, um, our guy
jamie winship said, which issaid joy is where the spirit is
and fear is where the enemy is.
And so when, when you were Joe,I was thinking like that's the

(24:43):
filter.
The filter is joy.
So if you are just filled withjoy, you get up every day to go
do what you're doing, then youknow you were living what you
were put on this earth to do, do.
And if, if it's anything lessthan that, if it's, if it's not

(25:05):
an 11 on the joy meter, youreally need to be starting to
think about, like, and prayingabout and asking the Lord about
like, what am I supposed to godo next?
And think about what are thethings that make you burn, like
there's a reason that thosethings make you burn and stop
and stop ignoring those feelings.

(25:25):
And then, but the but thesecond line of that fear is
where the devil is.
That's that thing Cause, whenyou, when you, when you think
about the things that bring youjoy, that you're like oh, I wish
I could go do this thing.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
It's it's just fear that knocks it.
He knocks it out of you so fast.
It's like ah, that's, that's,that's irresponsible, that's
foolish.
You know, but when I, when,when riding average joe the
journey home, uh, the thing thatI think I shared with you was
this I don't want to get toheaven and see the face of god,

(25:58):
our christ say well done,faithful servant.
But Well, there's going to be abunch of buts, I think I know,
and one of those was justlistening to my voice.
This is what I shared for youto do and you didn't do it.
I was like I don't want todisappoint God and in through

(26:22):
that process I got to tell youit allowed me to dive deeper
into scripture than I ever havein my in my life.
You know, I didn't just write ascripture and then say, okay,
let's write a.
You know a story around that.
I had to read the scripturebefore that and read the
scripture behind it and see thecontext of what the scripture
was saying.
And through all that I was likesee the context of what the

(26:43):
scripture was saying.
And through all that I was like, huh, I'm learning more, and I
think that's really if there'sanything I can say on a personal
level, god is like, yeah,that's really what I wanted you
to do.
I wanted you to dive deeperinto my word, and so that was a.
That was one of the goodoutcomes.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
No, you were.
I mean, yeah.
The punchline which needs to besaid is that all this dream
chasing and heart wrenching andyou know, all this stuff at the
end of the day, the objective isno Christ, be more like Christ
and become what God made you tobe be.
But I think that I think it'spretty easy to translate that,

(27:22):
too, to go like well, what'swhat's the fastest path to
becoming what God made me to beis like, well, listen to your,
to what's burning in your heart,and go.
Do it in spite of all the fearand the.
You know, the insecurity and theand the lack of belief and and
the.
You know, and I love.
I love the conversation abouthow that levels up too, because

(27:42):
when you, you know, and I love Ilove the conversation about how
that levels up too, becausewhen you, you know, when you're
younger, sometimes that journeymight only be a month, you know,
but you know after you know,you and I are chasing things now
that are going to take years toexecute and it's, it becomes,
you know, a heavier lift to livethat faith out.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
I saw a poster, something online and I've seen
it a few times, and it says noChrist, no Peace, n-o spelled
N-O, n-o no Christ, no Peacefell n-o-n-o no christ, no peace
.
And right below it it saysk-n-o-w no christ, no peace.

(28:27):
So it's almost goes back towhatever you focus on grows.
Wherever we put our energywithout christ in our lives and
for those that are listeningwithout that foundation, no
Christ, no peace.
He's not there.
It's going to be a struggle, butwhen you know Christ, you will

(28:48):
know the peace that you probablyhear from our conversation that
Matt and I are having today.
We're on fire and we're on firefor a reason.
It didn't just happen, wedidn't just self-combust.
It is happening for a reasonand our prayer is that you take

(29:09):
this journey with us as wecontinue to have these
conversations, and see howpowerful our loving God really
is in our lives and he wants usto do exactly what he designed
us to do and, by the way, hedidn't design us to do one thing
.
Once you figure out somethingand you've got that widget
figured out and you become a proat it and you love it and
you're like now I'm bored withit, guess what?

(29:31):
He's got another one for you.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Yeah, it's time to level up.
And you know, and, and yeah, Ithink the I know for me that I
have fallen away too many timesfrom whatever I was chasing
because I lost my faith, and notcompletely, but you know in
part, and, and, and so this,this idea of you know, this,

(29:59):
this notion that you can donothing apart from Christ, the
translation of that for me inthis, in this dream chasing
podcast, is like you won't havethe gut to stay in it through
all of the pain and the fear,without that depth of faith.

(30:20):
And that's the, that's thecertain success factor.
Right, it's like you're never.
You're way, way, way, way lesslikely to get to the objective.
You're way more likely to quitas soon as your faith fades.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, and you know, one of the people that I listen
to a lot is Rick Warren, and hestates it in a way that just
makes sense, and it's this If wesay to God, god, I'm afraid,
I'm just too fearful to do it,that's a form of atheism,

(30:59):
because you just told God he'snot big enough.
That's a form of atheismbecause you just told God he's
not big enough, and so, whateverit is, give it to him and you
can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah, I think you know.
I think you know the it's.
It's a positive confession totell I'm, I'm afraid, I don't
know how to do this.
I need your help.
You know that's the.
The the more accuratedefinition of confession is like
tell him what's going on, yeah,and not that he doesn't know,
and then you know that's wherethe resurgence of that power
comes from.
So, dude, it's been good today.

(31:46):
Thanks for being with us guyson the Certain Success Podcast,
and we'll see you back here realsoon, god bless.