June 9, 2025 • 17 mins
What would it take for you to finally say: enough?
In this raw and revelatory episode of Grumpy Wizdom, host Talib Jasir steps into a pivotal moment—when grief, reflection, and truth cracked open a path to liberation. What begins as an ordinary workday becomes a defining shift, one that challenges him to risk familiarity for freedom.
This isn’t a how-to. It’s a meditation on what risk actually costs... and what it opens up when you're bold enough to move without a blueprint. Talib shares the intimate story of losing his grandfather, facing workplace apathy, and standing at the edge of one of the biggest decisions of his life. Through memory, momentum, and a deck of affirmation cards, he reminds us what it means to say yes to yourself—even when you're not sure how.
If you've ever questioned your timing, your boldness, or your next move—this one's for you.
Listen, feel, reflect—and maybe, choose.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Grumpy Wizdom
00:09 The Concept of Risk
01:19 Personal Story: Career and Family
04:33 The Turning Point: Resignation
06:33 Affirmation and Decision
12:29 Reflection on Risk and Liberation
17:16 Conclusion and Call to Action
📣 Want to work with me?
Hire me to speak, book a coaching session, or invite me on your podcast: 👉🏾talibjasir.com/work-with-me
🎙 Got something to say?
Leave a message for the show: 👉🏾Speakpipe
🎧 Be part of the movement.
Afros & Audio is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas. Donations are tax-deductible and directly support our mission to amplify diverse voices in podcasting. 👉 Fractured Atlas Campaign
📖 Access the first edition of the Grumpy Wizdom Zine— for free:
👉🏾Grumpy Wizdom Zine - On Becoming 1-3
🎧 Tap into the Grumpy Wizdom Spotify playlist—mood music for reflection and rebellion:
👉🏾Grumpy Wizdom Soundtrack
🙏🏾 Support the vision and join the community on Patreon:
👉🏾 patreon.com/grumpywizdom
📲 Follow:
• @talibjasir
• @afrosandaudio
🌀 Join us in Baltimore at the 7th Annual Afro
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Grumpy Wizdom - On Risk - Episode 4
talib-jasir--he-him-_1_06-02-2025_160505 (00:10):
[00:00:00] Ayo!. Welcome to Grumpy Wizdom. I'm your host, Talib Jasir, and I wanna talk to you all today on risk. On risk taking, about
this access that we have,
which is choice. Every day, our lives are made up of micro decisions, micro choices that affect the macro.
(00:40):
And with that said,
we've been socialized to have an aversion to risk
risk, in my opinion, takes us one step closer to what the fuck my fucking stomach. Risk, in my opinion,
(01:10):
is a step towards liberation. And if liberation is something that
I
is not met for a people, then of course substances, like weed, like cannabis.
(01:40):
Stay away from risk at, by any means necessary. Play it safe.
I've gone on record to say that what we experience is not the American dream, it's America's dream for us, it's citizens, it's sheep, it's docile functions of society.
But as you begin to create awareness in yourself and in your body, and [00:01:00] grow and age, age is, a powerful transmuter of self. Because age is going to alchemize you, whether you are with the program or not. You will be changed, from one form into the next kicking and screaming if you have to.
(02:10):
So I'm going to share a story with you all one day about I, so I'm gonna share a story about, so I'm gonna share a story on risk taking in this episode. Titled on Risk
In the last episode, I let you all in on my former career in the pharmaceutical creative marketing agency, and by the time I was done working there, it probably had been almost 15 years that I've worked at this one company while again, getting laid off and going to another freelance job and going back to that company until I went to another agency, that made me know without a shadow of a doubt that I am no longer capable of
entertaining those spaces,
(02:40):
but I digress. I was going in the office every day [00:02:00] and I lived in Jersey City at the time, and this company is in Teaneck. Never heard of a Teaneck before then when we first moved to Jersey, we were back and forth to New York.
That's all we knew. And my first job was in New York City, so I never went that way for anything. So this is my second, go round back at the company. And somewhere in that time, my grandfather became sick. Affectionately called Pop-Pop. I'll share some stories about him another time, but I remember getting a call there while I was working and just telling me that my, my Pop-Pop was not doing well at all, and this was out of the blue.
He's, I had just seen him maybe a few months before that give thanks. Because it had been some time since I had laid eyes on my grandfather, and one of those momentum goals was to go and make some poss and go and create some new memories with the people that you love. And I went from Jersey City, here to Salisbury [00:03:00] and sat with my Pop-Pop for the first time in a long time, and we talked for hours.
(03:10):
Then I got a great picture of him and I, that I'll share in the zine on the last time that I saw him alive. And I Get this call. My grandfather's not doing well. Wait, what? Okay. So what do you need me to do? I'm the only person that is over four hours away.
And so everybody is there already and they're like we're taking care of it. We'll call you back. So they called me back and my Pop-Pop passed away. And this was in September of 2017. He was 88 when he passed. So, you know, leave work and I come home to where I live now, and my father came, my father, he's been really great throughout my life. Like when my great-grandmother passed, he was at the funeral with us. Completely unexpected. But he was there and when my grandfather passed, he came as well.
He was actually a pallbearer beside me as I asked him. My [00:04:00] Pop-Pop was heavy as hell, so he probably regret that shit. But I'm saying that from experience, I was like, damn, ain't no dude was so solid. Anyway, that's morbid. Moving on. Then everything is over and I'm home and I don't go back into work the first week.
(03:40):
I just can't. It was as if a giant fell for me.
My Pop-Pop was my First dad , before we reunited with my father, and he was a really great grandfather. Very loving, always there. Good time. Not so much a great father, but that's not my business.
So
(04:10):
I get back to the office and I remember coming in and. They were ready for me to jump back in and they sit me down with what's happening with my accounts and what they were able to cover while I was out and what I'm gonna have to jump in on now that I'm back and I'm listening and I realize that I don't give a shit about nothing these people are talking about.
I don't care. I don't care that, that happened. I don't care that this happened. I don't care that this might happen. I don't give a damn. And [00:05:00] I realized that finally I was at the point in my life where I had enough. And for anyone that is grown enough to understand when adults move is basically when they've had enough of whatever it is.
You can talk till you blue in the face. You can write it all out. You can make a film and show it back at 'em about all the shit that they should not be up to or be with or be doing. And until they've had enough,
(04:40):
you might as well keep it to yourself. Can't tell grown folks what to do anyway, I had enough of myself. Of the situations that I continue to see myself in that were unfulfilling of being at this job that was sustaining us, for years, but I always felt like a stranger in a strange land. I'm sitting here, I'm doing the work. And it never felt like it was home. It just felt like I was there.
It took me maybe a week or so before I decided I can't, I cannot do [00:06:00] this anymore. And as I mentioned in another episode, I have a high value in accountability and and I'm loyal to a fault. So even though they had already let my ass go, I was, I didn't want to let them down for the things that I was responsible for.
But I decided one day that I'm going to resign. I had completed momentum so, you know, I was feeling like I could do and conquer the world any damn way.
(05:10):
So my daughter's getting ready to go into college. What the hell am I thinking?
But. On this day when I came into resign, I was very nervous, but during momentum, I told you what I created. I wrote my second book, Adviser to the Throne Volume two. I did theThe Fussings (05:20):
Until One of Us is Dead. I created new memories with people that I love, and I also created these cards called the Forward Movement.
I am Affirmation Deck. And I was selling these, but also giving 'em away to my friends. As a matter [00:07:00] of fact, I met MC Lyte in the airport one year when I was going to, yeah, I was going to see my eldest son Damiere, when he lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I met Mc Lyte in the in the airport and gave her a deck one for her and the woman that she was partnering with at the time to doing work with on the road with at the time.
So I've met a lot of people, I'm sure I'll get to those stories at some point. But anyway, I had made these I am affirmation cards and people were loving them. I love them. And just like Afros & Audio, where I am also a member of the community. As a podcaster. As a podcaster and audio professional.
(05:50):
These cards, I also used them. So in this particular morning when I left home and I was feeling a little funky about the decision I was getting ready to make, I pulled my cards. I didn't even look at 'em, put 'em in my back pocket. The instructions are to pull three cards and trust them.
You'll either recognize them immediately oh, okay, I see why I got this. Or in the course of the day, you're gonna figure out why you received this card and or
it's a I Am that you have access to. And with access and choice, [00:08:00] you can embody what's on the cards. So I have the cards in my backpack. I have the cards in my back pocket. I go to work. First thing I do when I come in, I do the status. We do the status meeting. I take a fuck. I take a couple of client calls, and the moment I have a breather, I sit down at my desk and I write resignation letter.
(06:20):
This is about. 11 o'clock. So once I write the resignation letter I'm stand up at my desk because I'm about to, I wish I had a air horn, but instead I hovered my finger over that return button. 'cause I'm thinking what happens if. Okay. But all I don't, okay. I'm like, let me just go to the restroom.
Let me not press in. Let me continue to think this through before I do something. Impulsive. Being undiagnosed. Having undiagnosed A DHD impulsiveness, your boy,
your boy's impulsive capabilities is outstanding. Is outstanding. Your boys, your boy's impulsive. Your boy's impulsive meter is outstanding.
(06:50):
Your boy's impulse meter is on the Richter Scale. Okay. I can be impulsive, but I had a lot of things to consider. I knew I wanted to be free, but I also knew I ain't been free yet, so I don't know how to act. I don't even know how to do free I go to the restroom and I'm standing there and I'm washing my hands and no one else is in there with me.
So me and me are about to have [00:09:00] another conversation looking in the mirror and I'm like, bro, you gotta do it like you have to. You had mentioned that you didn't want this shit no more. Either we are or we're not. What you doing? Because I wanna get outta this bathroom.
And then I remember that I had these cards that I hadn't looked at yet in my back pocket. So after I dried my hands, I pulled 'em outta my pocket and I read them off one by one and the card said, I am open. For those of you who have the Patreon and will be able to see the videos, I'm showing you the cards.
(07:20):
I am daring.
And the last one, I am risk-taking
and I looked at these cards. Wow, I sourced the hell outta these today, didn't I? I am open. Okay. Open to what? Possibilities. Damn. I am daring. Daring to do what? Quit this damn job. I am risk-taking.
(07:50):
And I looked myself in the mirror and I said, you either are or you aren't. And even though [00:10:00] I was a hundred percent aren't, I decided to access my ability to embody what this message was for me on that day. I'm open. I am daring. I am risk-taking. Yes I am. And I went back to the computer. And I press send and I couldn't get out that office fast enough to get to my car and go get lunch.
And I spent about an hour in that car eating my lunch. Why? 'cause I wasn't open, daring, or risk taking. I just tried it on.
I was a nervous wreck. But on that day, when I took that risk, it was the catalyst for everything else because now I'm free.
(08:20):
I'm free to be and do and have exactly what I want.
Not just do and have.
When I got back to the office, one of the co-owners, it was a really great work environment. There were some times where I had to get ugly, ' cause
(08:50):
[00:11:00] I don't call aggressions, microaggressions, I just call it what it is. It's aggression, it's aggressive, and I'm gonna match your energy and we went to HR and we moved on with our lives for the most part. It was a great work environment. I met one of my closest friends there.
Jeff. What up Jeff? I doubt he'll listen to this. He is my single white male friend and I love him. One of my true friends. And oh, and Jeff. Jeff had already left the building. He was out west. A, after having made a choice and which made this a little bit easier for me to say, my goodbyes, at least from working in the office, my, the co-owner, he comes up to me, he sticks his middle finger up.
It was cool. We was, we had that type of relationship and he's like leaving us. I'm like, yeah, man. It's time. There's some things going on with my wife at her job, also, and it was just time to step out of there so we could do something different for everybody's mental [00:12:00] health. I finessed that. Contract position. And so I was working that for a few years afterwards. Still, I had one foot in and one foot out the door. And anyone who knows about putting your ass on the line, if you still have one foot in the o on the other side of safety, then your ass truly ain't on the line.
(09:20):
And there's hardly ever, it's, the motivation is not as fierce when it's all or nothing. And I'm speaking from experience. It wasn't all or nothing for a long time. It's all or nothing now, but it wasn't for a long time.
And so I tell that story because
risk is. Sometimes the only way forward. You can't know what's next and why should you,
(09:50):
I have to tell my, my, my children this all the time, who are not kids. They're all in their twenties, but it's like the younger they are, the more they think they supposed to know already. And I'm like, boy, you are gonna have four different lifetimes, by the time you reach my age, four different ones.
And that's if you're lucky. And didn't just settle into one because it is [00:13:00] not hard to become the trajectory of who you aren't in this here world. In fact is set up for just that.
So as I took this first risk of many, because this is 2017, so Afros & Audio was not even a twinkle in my eye yet. My coaching business was, I had great clients out the bat, off at the and I had great clients out the gate. High profile, high performing individuals who knew they wanted more just like I did.
(10:20):
So that worked for a while. It did. But taking risk, and we've all heard this part.
The reward of taking risk is unmatched, just getting shit by happenstance and because you are on autopilot. All right. But gaining from a risk that you took where it could have went either way and you didn't know which way. But you still jumped. Now that's saying something. You did your big thing there.
And I'm not, no disrespect to anybody that is living like there's a need and necessity for people who ain't. Ambitious and risk taking. We [00:14:00] would have no infrastructure. If everybody in the world was a risk taker.
(10:50):
But on that day, I decided to take a risk the universe conspired.
That quote by Paulo Cohelo from The Alchemist,
and when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it. Word and the universe was conspiring on that morning. I am open. What? I am daring. Nah, I'm risk taking. Oh hell no. I ain't risk taking
(11:20):
up until then. Besides love, not true. I moved to, up until then, the only risk I had taken was. Moving from the DMV to North Carolina, moving from North Carolina to Jersey City. Moving from the DMV to
dorm and Raleigh to Durham and Raleigh North Raleigh, North Carolina. To Raleigh, moving from the DMV to Durham and then Raleigh, North Carolina,
love, that's always a risk. And moving to Jersey City,
(11:50):
those were the risk that I could count on one hand at the time.
So what's the Grumpy Wizdom of this episode?
That liberation is on the other side of how far you are willing to go, what risks you are willing to take. See, a lot of times we get caught up in per in readiness and preparedness. And we skip all over the word willing. What are [00:15:00] you willing to do to get what you want? What are you, who are you willing to be
(12:20):
to experience the life that you want? See, those are the questions.
Risk hardly comes with applause. There might be some nail biting on the side and some people moving nervously. Not sure quite sure what you're doing and why,
risk takes convincing. I. The convincing is unfortunately the result. And since we live in a society of assessment and measurement, and since we exist in a society of external measurement and assessment,
(12:50):
taking risk means you also gotta shut out the noise.
Unlearn behaviors shift your mindset.
It's not easy. And so I understand anybody who decides that I'm gonna sit this one out. Respect. Risk ain't for the faint of heart. You gotta be built for this. And when I say built for this, you won't know what you're built for until you're inside of it. So anyone who's out there listening like, well, I already know what I'm built of.
(13:20):
So thank you. Yeah. I thought I did too until I started taking some risk then I realized what I'm truly [00:16:00] built of, and you will too. So this is to anyone who.
Those visions and dreams of yourself.
You have yet to realize, take that risk.
(13:50):
Most times when you say, when people say risk, what people hear is, what if it doesn't work out? Think of risk in this moment of what if it does?
What are you now risking? Not going forward.
Your result may not be instant, and if you take it from me, 95% of the time, it won't be. And it could still feel like a risk even six years in,
(14:20):
but the reward of liberation and self-awareness
and that. Must come with a healthy side of compassion for
blazing a new trail for yourself, period. It doesn't matter how old you are in this world, if it's brand new to you, then you are a baby and [00:17:00] you have to learn everything you don't know. Sure. That's a risk. But look how much more you know now look how much further you've gone. ' cause you decided, and you acce and you accessed your ability to take a risk, whether you are risk taking or not.
(14:50):
Take that risk.
Thank you for listening. Until next time, peace.
Talib (15:10):
Ayo! If this episode sparked something and you don't keep it to yourself, follow or subscribe, rate the show, drop a review, and pass it on. Wanna see the episode videos? Become a member of the Grumpy Wizdom Inner Circle on Patreon to unlock exclusive content, early access, and a fresh Zine every three episodes.
Join now at patreon.com/grumpywizdom to explore more of my creative work or connect professionally. Head to talibjasir.com. And podcast fam, if you create, produce, or move in audio. Don't miss the 7th Annual Afros & Audio Podcast Festival, October 16th through the 19th in Baltimore. Details at afrosaudio.com.
All links are in the show notes. Thank you for listening. Let's ride.
Grumpy Wizdom - On Risk - Episode 4
talib-jasir--he-him-_1_06-02-2025_160505 (00:10):
[00:00:00] Ayo!. Welcome to Grumpy Wizdom. I'm your host, Talib Jasir, and I wanna talk to you all today on risk. On risk taking, about
this access that we have,
which is choice. Every day, our lives are made up of micro decisions, micro choices that affect the macro.
(00:40):
And with that said,
we've been socialized to have an aversion to risk
risk, in my opinion, takes us one step closer to what the fuck my fucking stomach. Risk, in my opinion,
(01:10):
is a step towards liberation. And if liberation is something that
I
is not met for a people, then of course substances, like weed, like cannabis.
(01:40):
Stay away from risk at, by any means necessary. Play it safe.
I've gone on record to say that what we experience is not the American dream, it's America's dream for us, it's citizens, it's sheep, it's docile functions of society.
But as you begin to create awareness in yourself and in your body, and [00:01:00] grow and age, age is, a powerful transmuter of self. Because age is going to alchemize you, whether you are with the program or not. You will be changed, from one form into the next kicking and screaming if you have to.
(02:10):
So I'm going to share a story with you all one day about I, so I'm gonna share a story about, so I'm gonna share a story on risk taking in this episode. Titled on Risk
In the last episode, I let you all in on my former career in the pharmaceutical creative marketing agency, and by the time I was done working there, it probably had been almost 15 years that I've worked at this one company while again, getting laid off and going to another freelance job and going back to that company until I went to another agency, that made me know without a shadow of a doubt that I am no longer capable of
entertaining those spaces,
(02:40):
but I digress. I was going in the office every day [00:02:00] and I lived in Jersey City at the time, and this company is in Teaneck. Never heard of a Teaneck before then when we first moved to Jersey, we were back and forth to New York.
That's all we knew. And my first job was in New York City, so I never went that way for anything. So this is my second, go round back at the company. And somewhere in that time, my grandfather became sick. Affectionately called Pop-Pop. I'll share some stories about him another time, but I remember getting a call there while I was working and just telling me that my, my Pop-Pop was not doing well at all, and this was out of the blue.
He's, I had just seen him maybe a few months before that give thanks. Because it had been some time since I had laid eyes on my grandfather, and one of those momentum goals was to go and make some poss and go and create some new memories with the people that you love. And I went from Jersey City, here to Salisbury [00:03:00] and sat with my Pop-Pop for the first time in a long time, and we talked for hours.
(03:10):
Then I got a great picture of him and I, that I'll share in the zine on the last time that I saw him alive. And I Get this call. My grandfather's not doing well. Wait, what? Okay. So what do you need me to do? I'm the only person that is over four hours away.
And so everybody is there already and they're like we're taking care of it. We'll call you back. So they called me back and my Pop-Pop passed away. And this was in September of 2017. He was 88 when he passed. So, you know, leave work and I come home to where I live now, and my father came, my father, he's been really great throughout my life. Like when my great-grandmother passed, he was at the funeral with us. Completely unexpected. But he was there and when my grandfather passed, he came as well.
He was actually a pallbearer beside me as I asked him. My [00:04:00] Pop-Pop was heavy as hell, so he probably regret that shit. But I'm saying that from experience, I was like, damn, ain't no dude was so solid. Anyway, that's morbid. Moving on. Then everything is over and I'm home and I don't go back into work the first week.
(03:40):
I just can't. It was as if a giant fell for me.
My Pop-Pop was my First dad , before we reunited with my father, and he was a really great grandfather. Very loving, always there. Good time. Not so much a great father, but that's not my business.
So
(04:10):
I get back to the office and I remember coming in and. They were ready for me to jump back in and they sit me down with what's happening with my accounts and what they were able to cover while I was out and what I'm gonna have to jump in on now that I'm back and I'm listening and I realize that I don't give a shit about nothing these people are talking about.
I don't care. I don't care that, that happened. I don't care that this happened. I don't care that this might happen. I don't give a damn. And [00:05:00] I realized that finally I was at the point in my life where I had enough. And for anyone that is grown enough to understand when adults move is basically when they've had enough of whatever it is.
You can talk till you blue in the face. You can write it all out. You can make a film and show it back at 'em about all the shit that they should not be up to or be with or be doing. And until they've had enough,
(04:40):
you might as well keep it to yourself. Can't tell grown folks what to do anyway, I had enough of myself. Of the situations that I continue to see myself in that were unfulfilling of being at this job that was sustaining us, for years, but I always felt like a stranger in a strange land. I'm sitting here, I'm doing the work. And it never felt like it was home. It just felt like I was there.
It took me maybe a week or so before I decided I can't, I cannot do [00:06:00] this anymore. And as I mentioned in another episode, I have a high value in accountability and and I'm loyal to a fault. So even though they had already let my ass go, I was, I didn't want to let them down for the things that I was responsible for.
But I decided one day that I'm going to resign. I had completed momentum so, you know, I was feeling like I could do and conquer the world any damn way.
(05:10):
So my daughter's getting ready to go into college. What the hell am I thinking?
But. On this day when I came into resign, I was very nervous, but during momentum, I told you what I created. I wrote my second book, Adviser to the Throne Volume two. I did theThe Fussings (05:20):
Until One of Us is Dead. I created new memories with people that I love, and I also created these cards called the Forward Movement.
I am Affirmation Deck. And I was selling these, but also giving 'em away to my friends. As a matter [00:07:00] of fact, I met MC Lyte in the airport one year when I was going to, yeah, I was going to see my eldest son Damiere, when he lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I met Mc Lyte in the in the airport and gave her a deck one for her and the woman that she was partnering with at the time to doing work with on the road with at the time.
So I've met a lot of people, I'm sure I'll get to those stories at some point. But anyway, I had made these I am affirmation cards and people were loving them. I love them. And just like Afros & Audio, where I am also a member of the community. As a podcaster. As a podcaster and audio professional.
(05:50):
These cards, I also used them. So in this particular morning when I left home and I was feeling a little funky about the decision I was getting ready to make, I pulled my cards. I didn't even look at 'em, put 'em in my back pocket. The instructions are to pull three cards and trust them.
You'll either recognize them immediately oh, okay, I see why I got this. Or in the course of the day, you're gonna figure out why you received this card and or
it's a I Am that you have access to. And with access and choice, [00:08:00] you can embody what's on the cards. So I have the cards in my backpack. I have the cards in my back pocket. I go to work. First thing I do when I come in, I do the status. We do the status meeting. I take a fuck. I take a couple of client calls, and the moment I have a breather, I sit down at my desk and I write resignation letter.
(06:20):
This is about. 11 o'clock. So once I write the resignation letter I'm stand up at my desk because I'm about to, I wish I had a air horn, but instead I hovered my finger over that return button. 'cause I'm thinking what happens if. Okay. But all I don't, okay. I'm like, let me just go to the restroom.
Let me not press in. Let me continue to think this through before I do something. Impulsive. Being undiagnosed. Having undiagnosed A DHD impulsiveness, your boy,
your boy's impulsive capabilities is outstanding. Is outstanding. Your boys, your boy's impulsive. Your boy's impulsive meter is outstanding.
(06:50):
Your boy's impulse meter is on the Richter Scale. Okay. I can be impulsive, but I had a lot of things to consider. I knew I wanted to be free, but I also knew I ain't been free yet, so I don't know how to act. I don't even know how to do free I go to the restroom and I'm standing there and I'm washing my hands and no one else is in there with me.
So me and me are about to have [00:09:00] another conversation looking in the mirror and I'm like, bro, you gotta do it like you have to. You had mentioned that you didn't want this shit no more. Either we are or we're not. What you doing? Because I wanna get outta this bathroom.
And then I remember that I had these cards that I hadn't looked at yet in my back pocket. So after I dried my hands, I pulled 'em outta my pocket and I read them off one by one and the card said, I am open. For those of you who have the Patreon and will be able to see the videos, I'm showing you the cards.
(07:20):
I am daring.
And the last one, I am risk-taking
and I looked at these cards. Wow, I sourced the hell outta these today, didn't I? I am open. Okay. Open to what? Possibilities. Damn. I am daring. Daring to do what? Quit this damn job. I am risk-taking.
(07:50):
And I looked myself in the mirror and I said, you either are or you aren't. And even though [00:10:00] I was a hundred percent aren't, I decided to access my ability to embody what this message was for me on that day. I'm open. I am daring. I am risk-taking. Yes I am. And I went back to the computer. And I press send and I couldn't get out that office fast enough to get to my car and go get lunch.
And I spent about an hour in that car eating my lunch. Why? 'cause I wasn't open, daring, or risk taking. I just tried it on.
I was a nervous wreck. But on that day, when I took that risk, it was the catalyst for everything else because now I'm free.
(08:20):
I'm free to be and do and have exactly what I want.
Not just do and have.
When I got back to the office, one of the co-owners, it was a really great work environment. There were some times where I had to get ugly, ' cause
(08:50):
[00:11:00] I don't call aggressions, microaggressions, I just call it what it is. It's aggression, it's aggressive, and I'm gonna match your energy and we went to HR and we moved on with our lives for the most part. It was a great work environment. I met one of my closest friends there.
Jeff. What up Jeff? I doubt he'll listen to this. He is my single white male friend and I love him. One of my true friends. And oh, and Jeff. Jeff had already left the building. He was out west. A, after having made a choice and which made this a little bit easier for me to say, my goodbyes, at least from working in the office, my, the co-owner, he comes up to me, he sticks his middle finger up.
It was cool. We was, we had that type of relationship and he's like leaving us. I'm like, yeah, man. It's time. There's some things going on with my wife at her job, also, and it was just time to step out of there so we could do something different for everybody's mental [00:12:00] health. I finessed that. Contract position. And so I was working that for a few years afterwards. Still, I had one foot in and one foot out the door. And anyone who knows about putting your ass on the line, if you still have one foot in the o on the other side of safety, then your ass truly ain't on the line.
(09:20):
And there's hardly ever, it's, the motivation is not as fierce when it's all or nothing. And I'm speaking from experience. It wasn't all or nothing for a long time. It's all or nothing now, but it wasn't for a long time.
And so I tell that story because
risk is. Sometimes the only way forward. You can't know what's next and why should you,
(09:50):
I have to tell my, my, my children this all the time, who are not kids. They're all in their twenties, but it's like the younger they are, the more they think they supposed to know already. And I'm like, boy, you are gonna have four different lifetimes, by the time you reach my age, four different ones.
And that's if you're lucky. And didn't just settle into one because it is [00:13:00] not hard to become the trajectory of who you aren't in this here world. In fact is set up for just that.
So as I took this first risk of many, because this is 2017, so Afros & Audio was not even a twinkle in my eye yet. My coaching business was, I had great clients out the bat, off at the and I had great clients out the gate. High profile, high performing individuals who knew they wanted more just like I did.
(10:20):
So that worked for a while. It did. But taking risk, and we've all heard this part.
The reward of taking risk is unmatched, just getting shit by happenstance and because you are on autopilot. All right. But gaining from a risk that you took where it could have went either way and you didn't know which way. But you still jumped. Now that's saying something. You did your big thing there.
And I'm not, no disrespect to anybody that is living like there's a need and necessity for people who ain't. Ambitious and risk taking. We [00:14:00] would have no infrastructure. If everybody in the world was a risk taker.
(10:50):
But on that day, I decided to take a risk the universe conspired.
That quote by Paulo Cohelo from The Alchemist,
and when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it. Word and the universe was conspiring on that morning. I am open. What? I am daring. Nah, I'm risk taking. Oh hell no. I ain't risk taking
(11:20):
up until then. Besides love, not true. I moved to, up until then, the only risk I had taken was. Moving from the DMV to North Carolina, moving from North Carolina to Jersey City. Moving from the DMV to
dorm and Raleigh to Durham and Raleigh North Raleigh, North Carolina. To Raleigh, moving from the DMV to Durham and then Raleigh, North Carolina,
love, that's always a risk. And moving to Jersey City,
(11:50):
those were the risk that I could count on one hand at the time.
So what's the Grumpy Wizdom of this episode?
That liberation is on the other side of how far you are willing to go, what risks you are willing to take. See, a lot of times we get caught up in per in readiness and preparedness. And we skip all over the word willing. What are [00:15:00] you willing to do to get what you want? What are you, who are you willing to be
(12:20):
to experience the life that you want? See, those are the questions.
Risk hardly comes with applause. There might be some nail biting on the side and some people moving nervously. Not sure quite sure what you're doing and why,
risk takes convincing. I. The convincing is unfortunately the result. And since we live in a society of assessment and measurement, and since we exist in a society of external measurement and assessment,
(12:50):
taking risk means you also gotta shut out the noise.
Unlearn behaviors shift your mindset.
It's not easy. And so I understand anybody who decides that I'm gonna sit this one out. Respect. Risk ain't for the faint of heart. You gotta be built for this. And when I say built for this, you won't know what you're built for until you're inside of it. So anyone who's out there listening like, well, I already know what I'm built of.
(13:20):
So thank you. Yeah. I thought I did too until I started taking some risk then I realized what I'm truly [00:16:00] built of, and you will too. So this is to anyone who.
Those visions and dreams of yourself.
You have yet to realize, take that risk.
(13:50):
Most times when you say, when people say risk, what people hear is, what if it doesn't work out? Think of risk in this moment of what if it does?
What are you now risking? Not going forward.
Your result may not be instant, and if you take it from me, 95% of the time, it won't be. And it could still feel like a risk even six years in,
(14:20):
but the reward of liberation and self-awareness
and that. Must come with a healthy side of compassion for
blazing a new trail for yourself, period. It doesn't matter how old you are in this world, if it's brand new to you, then you are a baby and [00:17:00] you have to learn everything you don't know. Sure. That's a risk. But look how much more you know now look how much further you've gone. ' cause you decided, and you acce and you accessed your ability to take a risk, whether you are risk taking or not.
(14:50):
Take that risk.
Thank you for listening. Until next time, peace.
Talib (15:10):
Ayo! If this episode sparked something and you don't keep it to yourself, follow or subscribe, rate the show, drop a review, and pass it on. Wanna see the episode videos? Become a member of the Grumpy Wizdom Inner Circle on Patreon to unlock exclusive content, early access, and a fresh Zine every three episodes.
Join now at patreon.com/grumpywizdom to explore more of my creative work or connect professionally. Head to talibjasir.com. And podcast fam, if you create, produce, or move in audio. Don't miss the 7th Annual Afros & Audio Podcast Festival, October 16th through the 19th in Baltimore. Details at afrosaudio.com.
All links are in the show notes. Thank you for listening. Let's ride.
Popular Podcasts
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.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
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