Hate It Or Love It: Defining Success & Elevating Your Circle

In this episode, Darrell Reese Jr. speaks on the mindset required to achieve success and why it's crucial to surround yourself with individuals who share a similar drive. Darrell discusses the concept of mediocrity and why it's important to define success on your own terms. He challenges listeners to evaluate the people they allow in their circles, emphasizing the need to be surrounded by those who strive for greatness rather than settling for the bare minimum.

Key Takeaways:

- Defining Success: Success varies from person to person, and it's essential to identify what it means to you personally. Once you have a clear definition, align your actions and mindset to move toward that vision.

- Rejecting Mediocrity: Mediocrity is acceptable for some, but if you're aiming for greatness, you need to distance yourself from those who are content with doing the bare minimum.

- Continuous Improvement: Emphasize the importance of personal growth and enhancing the quality of your work with every new endeavor. Always aim to be better than you were the year before.

- Avoiding Delusion: Understand the balance between confidence and delusion. While it's crucial to believe in yourself, claiming to be the best without the substance to back it up can be detrimental.

- Surrounding Yourself with the Right People: Steven stresses the importance of being in the company of those who inspire and challenge you. He shares his desire to one day inspire others and help them achieve better versions of themselves.

- The Superpower of Caring: Steven touches on the potential pitfalls of caring too much and trying to help those who aren't willing to help themselves. While it's admirable to want the best for others, it's important to recognize when your efforts may be better spent elsewhere.

Quote of the Episode:

"I'm 10 steps better than I was last year, or a year before that, and a year before then. I'm not in a position to go backwards."

Join the conversation! Share your thoughts on what success means to you and how you're working to elevate your circle. Tag us on social media and use #ElevateYourCircle to connect with others who are on the same journey.

Follow the pod: https://www.goldprintent.com/ihtipodcast Tune into the “I Hate This Industry Podcast” with hosts Darrell Reese JR. & Steven Almeida for game-changing insights! #IHateThisIndustryPodcast

Follow Darrell Reese JR.

Instagram.com/Darrellreesejr

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Twitter.com/___therealworld

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This episode is perfect for anyone looking to redefine their goals, evaluate their surroundings, and commit to continuous personal and professional growth. Don't miss it!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
As far as the, like being mediocre as far as that,

(00:05):
some people are okay with it.
And that's okay for them.
Or that's okay for them in that aspect.
So like me personally, if you have the sentiment,
if you have the ideology of yourself,
that I'm just gonna do this,
and even if it's the bare minimum,
then I don't want you to be around.

(00:25):
Like the people I'm trying to surround myself with
are people that want better for themselves,
that think, okay, just because I got it,
it's not here forever.
I wanna always strive for greatness.
I wanna always strive for success.
And success can look like many different things
to many different people.
So you have to define what success looks like to you,

(00:46):
and then you have to move like this.
I mean, there's some people out there
that have that mindset and they don't even know it,
that what they're producing and what they're doing
is mediocre, but it's good to them.
And I always say like,
to just bring it down a level on that aspect,
I understand it, but my problem lies is
when you start moving and when you start talking

(01:06):
and when you start acting,
like what you're doing is better than the next person,
and what you're doing is better than this.
Like I always say, me personally,
I always have room for improvement.
Like I'm always, I'm 10 steps better than I was last year,
or a year before that and a year before then.
Like I'm not in a position to go backwards.
So I always say enhance the quality with each release.

(01:29):
And that's more so the storytelling aspect of it.
But then once you start shit talking and saying,
you're the greatest at this, you're the greatest at that,
you're the best artist in this hometown,
you're the best artist at this, you're the best at this,
and you're not, to the majority of the masses, you're not.
Then that's when the delusion start to kick in.
That's when the, okay, you have to bring it a step down,

(01:52):
a little bit, my beloved.
You have to bring it a step down a little bit.
And like, I understand the delusion part of it.
Like I understand that.
Like you have to be delusional when you're doing this shit.
Like you have to be.
And my problem lies is when the shit talking comes to park,
like things like that.
Like me personally, I wanna be in a room full of people

(02:14):
that I can learn from, that I can grow from,
that inspire me and things like that.
Of course I wanna one day be in a position
to where I can inspire many, many people.
I can put people in better position just like that.
But that demand better for yourself,
I express that sentiment because not only am I doing

(02:35):
what I'm trying to do for the betterment of me
and the people around me,
but I also wanna seem better for others.
And we talked about earlier with the,
like the superpower aspect of it.
And that can be my downfall of trying to help someone,
trying to do this when they not inspired,
they not gonna take it, they not gonna go to bat for it,

(02:56):
they're not gonna go hard for it,
they're not gonna work hard for it and things like this.
So that's where my problem lies, but I learned from that.
Each moment in it, I learned from it.
And we as a people, and I'm speaking more so
towards the black people,
I'm still black people like I ain't black.
I'm speaking to you sometimes as black people,
like we have to stop looking at,

(03:18):
like yeah, we have to stop looking at things like,
okay, I'm just doing this just to get by.
Because there's a sense of, like I have to,
like there's a sense of action towards that
as far as you move different, like it's the creating,
it's the creative versus the person that has the nine to five.
You quit the nine to five, then you go full creative mode.

(03:39):
Some people, a lot of people, I hear this on store,
like a lot of people feel like there's survival mode
when they go to nine to five,
but they're working towards the money aspect of it,
not the happiness aspect of it.
So I can understand that part.
So yeah, like just simply, like I said on the last part,
like just demand better for yourself.
Seek the knowledge and demand better for yourself.

(03:59):
Like that is my new slogan, and I want the better,
I want the betterment of my people.
I want to see us do better.
I want us to know that outside of these walls
that we have caved ourself in,
there's more on the horizon, there's more out there
to experience, there's more knowledge to know.
Like YouTube is free.
Like you don't necessarily have to go to school

(04:20):
for these things anymore.
Like these sites and these platforms and things like that,
there are free versions of this
that you can expand your knowledge,
that you can expand your content,
that you can expand your storytelling and things like that.
But my only problem is, is that I guess it's more so
just the shit talking aspect of it,
that you are doing this,

(04:42):
like the energy you putting out there, like,
what we talking about?
Like what we doing?
Like what we doing?
And I had a situation a while back,
like I heartthrobbed a little bit on a previous part
where you tell this person, you tell these people,
like it's kind of similar to,
like we doing a review for the music.

(05:02):
And if I tell you it's ads and things like that,
don't try to go to war with me,
go to war with your conscience,
go to war with yourself and try to make your music better.
And if you keep trying and trying and trying, quit.
So yeah, like that'd be my biggest thing as far as our people.
We just simply just seek the knowledge
and demand better for yourself

(05:22):
and know that whatever level that you think you accomplished,
there's always a level greater that you can reach.
There's always a level greater
that you can reach on that aspect.