May 27, 2025 • 26 mins
Master The NEC Podcast | Episode 24 | Failure to Achieve Mental Blocks | In this episode, Paul talks very candid about the issue of failure and the concept of Failure to Achieve that so many up and coming electrical professionals struggle with. You have heard the old saying "Failure is part of success" but thats fine until the failure begins to eat you up inside. Listen as Paul talks about your success.
Listen as Paul Abernathy, CEO, and Founder of Electrical Code Academy, Inc., the leading electrical educator in the country, discusses electrical code, electrical trade, and electrical business-related topics to help electricians maximize their knowledge and industry investment.
If you are looking to learn more about the National Electrical Code, for electrical exam preparation, or to better your knowledge of the NEC then visit https://fasttraxsystem.com for all the electrical code training you will ever need by the leading electrical educator in the country with the best NEC learning program on the planet.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/master-the-nec-podcast--1083733/support.
Listen as Paul Abernathy, CEO, and Founder of Electrical Code Academy, Inc., the leading electrical educator in the country, discusses electrical code, electrical trade, and electrical business-related topics to help electricians maximize their knowledge and industry investment.
If you are looking to learn more about the National Electrical Code, for electrical exam preparation, or to better your knowledge of the NEC then visit https://fasttraxsystem.com for all the electrical code training you will ever need by the leading electrical educator in the country with the best NEC learning program on the planet.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/master-the-nec-podcast--1083733/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Master of the NEC podcast, the ultimate
destination for anyone passionate about the electrical trade.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Whether you're a season electrician, an eager apprentice, or.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Just someone who wants to dive deep into the world
of electrical work, You've.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Come to the right place. Join your host, Paul.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Abernavi, a true authority in the industry with over thirty
eight years of trade experience, as he electrifies your mind
with in depth discussions, expertips, and valuable insights that.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Will keep you ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Each episode, Paul will illuminate the complexities of the trade
de code, the National Electrical Code, and share the latest
industry trends, all while empowering you to take your electrical
career to the next level. So gear up, plug in,
and get ready to supercharge your knowledge because with the
Master of the Neez podcast, the power is in your hands.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Now get ready. Here is your host, Paul Abernavi.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
What Up, What Up? What Up? Everybody?
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Welcome to another episode of Master the NEC podcast, and
today's episode's kind of a more personal episode because again,
I have so many students, so many people that I
mentor all over the country, whether it's contractors, or people
preparing for an electrical exam, all types of areas. And
(01:29):
you know, the vast majority of people are successful and
they have no problem achieving whatever goal they want to achieve,
many of them on the very first first go. And
there is quite a few though that fall short and
(01:52):
for whatever reason, you know, don't achieve the goal that
they want to achieve right away. I always tell them
you will achieve it. Stay focused, uh, stay dedicated, stay committed.
But for whatever reason they they fall a little short.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
And for many people that is.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Very discouraging and and it makes them want to just
give up and stop doing whatever they're doing.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Change direction, go something, do something else.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
And so it's always important for somebody like me that
that that again works with electricians all over the country
and in different realms, to remember that, you know, you
you have to stay the course, you have to stay focused.
Failure is part of success, the old saying. You know,
Michael Jordan never would have achieved the records that that
(02:45):
he achieved if he hadn't of just taken the shot.
And he didn't make all the shots, but we remember
the ones that he did make, and we remember the
ones that he make made in critical times. And so
it's the same concept when you're focusing on your career,
life's not always going to go your way. You're gonna
(03:07):
have distractions, you're gonna have the ups and downs, You're
gonna have family issues, You're gonna have all types of those.
I'm not immune to those. I've had those as well
through my career. They take you to these extreme highs
and then down into the extreme lows. But you have
to just keep pushing forward and realize that there is
(03:30):
that pot of gold at the end. There is something
to strive for. You just have to keep reminding yourself that.
And it's good to surround yourself with people that are
very positive that can remind you of that rather than
people that are always trying to drag you down. So
just wanted to talk a little bit about the concept
(03:51):
of failure to achieve and what it may mean. So
you might be out there and I want to relate
it to electrical because again that's it's what I do.
But again I have a vast majority, probably well over
ninety percent of students people in our programs are successful.
(04:13):
And then there's people out there that are not in
a structured program like ours. They're just basically flipping through
the codebook, trying to learn the National Electrical Code, trying
to learn what they need to learn to be successful.
You may be one of them. You're struggling, you're having
a hard time, and I just want to remind you
that it's one of those things that once you get
(04:38):
that license, it really doesn't matter what your score was.
The concept is how you keep it going from there.
So you get your license, regardless of your score, regardless
of the number of times it took you to take
the exam in order to achieve it, none of that
really matters. Once you get that license, that's when they're
learning begins. That's where you have to shift that mindset
(05:00):
to say, you know what I struggled to get here.
That tells me I just knew enough to get past
the hurdle. I need to continue to learn. I need
to focus it. I need to realize that this profession
is more than just working with the hands. That's an
important aspect of it, but there's also the mental part
(05:22):
that you need to prepare yourself. As I say, y'all
heard me say this. I go on social media platforms
and look at the comments I'm always lurking. I read
some of these comments, I cringe. I don't want to
comment back. You know, there's there's people that that that
(05:42):
are very negative, you know, and and and I can
venture down that as well.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I'm not immune to that.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
But when you read some of the things that people
say back to other people on social media, and you
start reading it and you realize that, you know, somebody's
asking a question because they they want an answer, they
need an answer, and somebody is always quick to give
a snippy, smart remark or non educational or something that
(06:10):
just doesn't help the moment. But they couldn't resist, right,
They're just in that that area of their their their
psyche where they just you know, they're just full of themselves.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
They don't want to help other people. Uh.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
And so again I have to be careful because there's
that everybody has that snarky side, and I I really
overwhelmingly want to help people. But I also understand that
I can't participate in a lot of that social media
stuff because again, you know, y'all heard me talk about
(06:44):
being banned on TikTok because I get into putting comments
and I realize that they lean very far to the
left and I post something that's liable to get me
blocked or banned or removed or whatever. When I stay
in my electrical lane, I don't have a problem. When
I venture out of that, and you know, then then
I have a problem. So I understand it as well.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
But it is a very negative place to be for
the most part. And I think social media is creating stupidity.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
That's just me.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Some people feel they're learning on it. That's great too,
but if you're learning the wrong things, it's not good.
But you know, when you when you think about achievement
or failure to achieve, it's a learning process. You're learning,
You're you're gaining more knowledge than you think. Don't don't
give up on yourself. And you know, I get a
(07:37):
lot of calls, uh, basically students who feel connected enough
that they're going through our program, who have listened to
our podcast or watch videos. I mean, I've been doing
this now, probably longer than most people that are online
doing it combined. And that's not egoish that that's the fact.
(07:57):
I've been doing this since the the nineties and started
uploading stuff in the early two thousands. So when I
worked with the City of Richmond as their engineer. I
was in a hotel in a apartment away from my
family Monday through Friday.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
And you know what else was I going to do? Right?
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Create stuff for my inspectors, for my plan reviewers, look
at reports in create content. And that's what I started doing,
creating content and uploading it, and that's what a lot
of people started following on to it. But working as
an electrician and having apprentices, having helpers under me, working
(08:43):
in municipality, seeing inspectors and plans examiners really working hard
to achieve their licensure or their certifications and falling short,
and what it can mentally do to them, it really
beats them down. I mean, there's some people that can
just shake it right off, We'll just go right to it,
they don't mind. And then there's some people that that don't.
(09:06):
They hold on to it, and they it kind of
eats and slowly eats away at them for their failure
to achieve, and they there has been an occasion where
I've seen people just literally throw their hands up and
they're just like ready to give up. And I don't
think you should ever get to that point where you
(09:27):
throw your hands up and give up or let anybody else.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Push you towards that.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
The electrical trade is not for everybody, but if you
venture into it, you can make it what you want
out of it. There's so many different avenues that you
can venture into, so many things that you can specialize in.
That's just so many opportunities that don't let you struggle
be dictate you by you giving up on the journey.
(09:57):
You know, I've had people contact me that are older
and they want to get into the electrical industry. And
now they're older. I'm not going to be negative, you know,
I'm gonna say that's a young man's game. The problem
with the young man is that they don't take the
time to learn the knowledge part. They're too busy reading
a plan and doing what somebody else blindly tells them
(10:17):
to do, and they don't know why they're doing it.
They don't know what's the reasons behind it.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So they have a I guess a drive because they're young.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
They're willing to put in the labor and do it,
but they don't want to put in the time to
learn the mental part of it. Then there are you know,
that's not everybody. There's some that do and they achieve
and they go on to get their licenses. They don't
go on to get their contractor's license. They work for themselves,
or they lead other companies, or they're in leadership roles.
(10:52):
But not everybody can do that, and not everybody can
learn the physical and the mental part is sometimes they are.
Some people are just really good helpers, really good apprentices,
they just can never achieve what they and they may
not have a desire to achieve that. And then there's
a select group out of there that that really do
(11:15):
want to achieve the next level in their in their career,
and when they fail an exam or fail something.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
They take it hard.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
And uh, I think that you just have to remember
that the failure, failure to accomplish something is only a
stepping stone for your success. You're going to get there,
you just needed to focus. I've had people who were
contractor uh well electricians that got their license as electrician
(11:44):
and they struggled with the contractors exam. We don't teach
contractor exam courses. That's a lot very specialized locally. You know,
they got to learn laws, regulations, rules, things, penalties, all
this kind of stuff that's usually in a handout that
you can get and they may have to learn those
elements of it. When licenses get renewed, what's the penalties,
(12:07):
all this kind of stuff, and that's something that you
just have to study. And I think that the reason
that I don't offer courses on that because it's different
in every state. But I think one of the main
reasons is I think it's one of those things where
you need to sit down and really focus on the
locality stuff, the stuff that you need that may be
(12:30):
on a licensing exam for a contractor things that you're
going to be responsible for, the penalties, registrations when you
have to be renewed, what insurance minimums are required, what
contract law you need to make sure that you have.
Is it one page contract a minimum like in Virginia
or is it something more detailed. All those type of
(12:53):
things you have to learn. And so if you fail
achieving your contractor's license, why you're trying to learn those
unique things for your specific state or locality, that's okay
because you're learning it. Take it again, take it again,
take it again till you get it again.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You don't go in.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
I always tell people I don't go in to get
a surgery and I asked the doctor where they were
in their class.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I don't ask a lawyer what was the what was
your score on the bar exam? Yeah, there's many doctors
that some are better than others. Same with the lawyers,
same with electricians, same with educators. Okay, it's all relative.
But I think you have to continue to keep pressing
(13:43):
forward and don't let anybody distract you from the end goal. Now,
if the end goal is for you to become master
Electrician or journeyman electrician, and you achieve that goal and
you don't want to move beyond that, the reason that
we created the CMECP program. By the way, it's not
a plug for the program. The reason we created it
because I literally felt and it's not a money maker.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's not.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
You know again, nine out of ten people don't make
it through the program. We have never charged a renewal
fee to all CMECP members, so it's certainly not about
getting money. And so the reason that we did it
was because I kept saying, there's really there's really nothing
out there for a master electrician to continue their journey,
(14:32):
and I wanted to take a good electrician and make
them a great electrician. That was the whole process. It
wasn't a money making thing. It wasn't you know. We
went through the process of getting the CMECP trademarked swell
as the phrase. We did all these things to help
bolster the program. But it certainly wasn't a money grab.
(14:56):
It was because we literally wanted to offer something thing
that even a master electrician could take their game to
the next level. That's sense of accomplishment. Some people have
that drive, some people do not, you know, so you know,
everybody's different, definitely. But if you're if you're struggling out
(15:19):
there and you're you feel like you're just not achieving it.
You're struggling, you're you're you're you're not where you want
to be. You will be you just you've got that
mentality you're it's very healthy to to to question yourself. Uh,
just don't beat yourself to death. You'll get there. Just
(15:40):
focus and you know what, sometimes you have to invest
in yourself. Sometimes people say, Paul, you're all about selling courses,
you know, and I'm like, well, that's what I do
for a living. Okay, so that would make sense. But
at the end of the day. The goal is that
maybe you need a little help, maybe you need a
(16:00):
little push over the edge, maybe you need somebody that
offers something that can help you. And that's what our
programs are about, trying to do that. But it doesn't
matter whether you use ours, doesn't matter whether you use
some any Mike Holtz does great Mike's got great stuff,
Ryan Jackson's books, you know, all that kind of stuff.
(16:25):
Education is key, it's keing, and it doesn't matter who
you do it, who you get it from. I am
very discouraged as a whole at the future of our trade.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
And you'll say, well, why is that, Paul, I'm like, because.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
I look at social media and I understand that that
is the pulse of all young people today, that most
of the young generation is on some type of social media,
and from the demographics that we're looking at age wise,
you know, anywhere from twenty five to forty five are
heavily into the social media. And when I see, and
(17:07):
this is why I tell you not to get discouraged,
keep learning, keep focusing, put the blinders on, and really
get down to work, because when I look at the
comments that people make to simple questions that people post
or an image that somebody posts, and you'll get some
(17:27):
of the questions. Rather than explain what's wrong with the image,
they'll say something like you need.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
To go back to this or that, or you suck
or whatever.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And I'm sitting thinking, you know, they probably really did
share that image because they did want feedback, they did
want you to explain to them what they did wrong.
And then people are so quick to say something smart today,
something snarky that it was.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
It's pointless.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
It doesn't add anything to the conversation because it really
doesn't explain the issue.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And I think that the what.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Can help you stand out, especially in social media, is
the ability to respond intelligently and give a code reference
to reference what's wrong. You know, somebody says I don't
like it because it looks a certain way. Well, beauty's
in the eye of the beholder, right, doesn't necessarily mean
what looks good to you may look good to somebody else.
(18:24):
But if it's compliant, it's compliant. So I never judge
that way. So it's it's just discouraging to see that.
But as an educator, I have the same same issues
as you have.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Failure to achieve.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
I have I do not believe I have achieved what
we need as a company, as a corporation.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
We have not achieved it yet.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
You know, sales are great, we're doing well, we have
a lot of students, but we're not done. I feel
like every day I feel like I've I'm still struggling
to achieve. When I read these posts, when I read
people who will blatantly say things that are incorrect, propagate
(19:15):
it and say it in such a way that there's
it's arrogant. I mean they say it in such a
way that that's just a matter of fact and it's
literally wrong.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Right.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
There was just one video image where the guy posted
a panel for his review, just wanted people to comment
on it.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Again.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
You know, everybody likes to hear good things about the
work they do. I'm wrong with that, And you know,
I say, be careful doing it on social media platform,
that's for sure. But because there's always a hater, there's
a troll. Trust me, you ain't got to You ain't
have to worry about that. You know this, If anything
tells me something, I tell people, Paul, what do the
people say about your haters? I go, well, Trump has them,
(19:58):
I have them. Eli got them. Everybody's got a hater.
Everybody says, people that just love to hate, and that's okay.
That's their ability to do whatever they want to do.
That doesn't bother me. But they have they're they're out there,
they do it. That's all they live for is to hate.
They live in that world of negativeness and it's just
nothing but hate. Anything that comes out of their mouth
is is hate. You could get a they could get
(20:21):
a huge tax cut, and the next thing out of
their mouth is they'll see the negative behind it instead
of saying shit, I'll be glad, I'll take something right.
Or they get they get to get fifteen hundred dollars
given to them, they'll bitch at why it's not two thousand,
Well it should have been more, you know it's but
that's okay because that's how some people are. Just my employee,
you not to be that way. But anyway, the panel
(20:45):
was posted and the guy had all his neutrals. Everything
a very neat panel, very neatly done, remote distribution panel,
definitely separated as neutrals and grounds. Did everything right, looks
good and some of the had neutrals coming out, some didn't.
It's a three phase panel, and one guy started making
a comment about why would you separate your neutrals like
(21:07):
that you're gonna.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Cause heating and eating blah blah blah blah, and went
on and on and on on. I looked at it
and I went, first of.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
All, I don't know how you can tell that at
a panel, my guy, Because it's a three phase panel,
and there was neutrals coming out of various race ways.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
It just brought them all together. If nice and.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Neat, I mean, like you know, not all three phase
circuits need a neutral. So you could have had motors,
you could have something that just doesn't have a neutral,
have an equipment ground, but it won't have a neutral.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
But how can you make go on on a ti rate.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Of with comments and you have no damn earthly idea
what's going on in that system or what's going on
in that guy's panel. But you could not wait to
comment on something that you don't know anything about the details. Right,
And I say this all the time when I post
an image, I go only comment on what you see,
(21:57):
not on what you can see, not on what you
specula that type of thing. So this is an example
where people can't wait to do that, and they're going
to do that to you, and you're going to be
struggling to achieve, and you're going to have that negative
person come into your life and say something totally negative
(22:20):
and you have got to block it out. You got
to keep focusing on what you want to achieve. Realize
that the end goal is going to be better for you,
better for your family, better for your livelihood, overall, your happiness,
your sanity. Failing sucks. Failing to achieve is a sucky
(22:40):
place to be. Like I say, I have my ups
and downs, highs and lows, own personal issues in the family,
but I'm always trying to keep push forward. And you know,
do I think we as a company are where we
can be?
Speaker 3 (22:59):
No, not by far. We have a lot more work
to do.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
And all I do is go to social media and
read some of the stuff. And I try not to
now as like I used to. When I read some
of the stuff, I rarely start to worry about our trade.
I really do. It really does get me worried about
where we're going to be, But don't let that be
you focus. Achieve your goals one at a time, get
(23:24):
a good program, study hard, if you're studying on your own.
You're not using any course like ours or anybody else's.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
That's okay.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Take your time and focus on specific things. Focus on transformers,
then focus on motors, then focus on conductors and sizing
of conductors and protection of conductors.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Focus, focus, Focus.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
It's kind of hard to know what's on an exam,
so you have to kind of, you know, broadly focus.
And that's the only difference between a structured program is
we kind of know the structure you need to study.
But doesn't mean you need a program, okay, It just
means that you need to buckle down and focus and
you'll get it. You'll achieve it, and once you achieve it,
(24:09):
you'll look back and go, boy, that wasn't that hard.
But it was hard and you worked hard and you
achieved it. And so don't give up. Stay focused again again.
The failure, failure to achieve happens to everybody, but don't
let it define you.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
You will be better.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
And then once you get that license, nobody gives a rats,
but what your score was. Nobody cared whether you made
it by one point or you got a hundred on it.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Nobody cares.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Uh, you know, I can tell the scores that people
probably got by reading social media posts. Right, but you know,
but that's a whole other topic. All right, folks, hopefully
got something out of today's episode, just kind of motivating
you a little bit, talking about failure to achieve, but
you can achieve. Just put in the time, be diligent,
(25:00):
buck out the naysayers, don't interact in the negativity. Keep pushing, pushing, pushing.
You're gonna get it. If you fail the exam, take
it again, maybe you need to do something different.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
over and achieving the same results. Now you adapt to
overcome and you keep pushing forward. All right, all right, folks,
I believe in you, And thanks for listening today's podcast
episode less Cody, more personal. But we'll talk to you
on another episode. Thanks again, God bless.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Thanks for tuning in to another electrifying episode of The
Master the NDC Podcast. We hope you're feeling more powered
up and ready to tackle the electrical world with the
knowledge and confidence you need to succeed. Remember, in the
electrical grade, knowledge is power, and we're here to make
sure you stay flooded into the latest insights, chips and
(25:56):
code updates. If you enjoy today's after don't forget to subscribe,
leave us a review, and share the podcast with your.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Fellow electricians and industry pros.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Until next time, keep your tools sharp, your circuits clear,
and you're my focused because here at the Master of
the ANEC podcast, we're all about sparking your success. Stay safe,
stay smart, and keep mastering the trade. From all of
us here at Electrical Code Academy, thank you for all
your support, and we will see you on the next
(26:30):
amazing Master of the NEC podcast episode.
Welcome to the Master of the NEC podcast, the ultimate
destination for anyone passionate about the electrical trade.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Whether you're a season electrician, an eager apprentice, or.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Just someone who wants to dive deep into the world
of electrical work, You've.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Come to the right place. Join your host, Paul.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Abernavi, a true authority in the industry with over thirty
eight years of trade experience, as he electrifies your mind
with in depth discussions, expertips, and valuable insights that.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Will keep you ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Each episode, Paul will illuminate the complexities of the trade
de code, the National Electrical Code, and share the latest
industry trends, all while empowering you to take your electrical
career to the next level. So gear up, plug in,
and get ready to supercharge your knowledge because with the
Master of the Neez podcast, the power is in your hands.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Now get ready. Here is your host, Paul Abernavi.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
What Up, What Up? What Up? Everybody?
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Welcome to another episode of Master the NEC podcast, and
today's episode's kind of a more personal episode because again,
I have so many students, so many people that I
mentor all over the country, whether it's contractors, or people
preparing for an electrical exam, all types of areas. And
(01:29):
you know, the vast majority of people are successful and
they have no problem achieving whatever goal they want to achieve,
many of them on the very first first go. And
there is quite a few though that fall short and
(01:52):
for whatever reason, you know, don't achieve the goal that
they want to achieve right away. I always tell them
you will achieve it. Stay focused, uh, stay dedicated, stay committed.
But for whatever reason they they fall a little short.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
And for many people that is.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Very discouraging and and it makes them want to just
give up and stop doing whatever they're doing.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Change direction, go something, do something else.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
And so it's always important for somebody like me that
that that again works with electricians all over the country
and in different realms, to remember that, you know, you
you have to stay the course, you have to stay focused.
Failure is part of success, the old saying. You know,
Michael Jordan never would have achieved the records that that
(02:45):
he achieved if he hadn't of just taken the shot.
And he didn't make all the shots, but we remember
the ones that he did make, and we remember the
ones that he make made in critical times. And so
it's the same concept when you're focusing on your career,
life's not always going to go your way. You're gonna
(03:07):
have distractions, you're gonna have the ups and downs, You're
gonna have family issues, You're gonna have all types of those.
I'm not immune to those. I've had those as well
through my career. They take you to these extreme highs
and then down into the extreme lows. But you have
to just keep pushing forward and realize that there is
(03:30):
that pot of gold at the end. There is something
to strive for. You just have to keep reminding yourself that.
And it's good to surround yourself with people that are
very positive that can remind you of that rather than
people that are always trying to drag you down. So
just wanted to talk a little bit about the concept
(03:51):
of failure to achieve and what it may mean. So
you might be out there and I want to relate
it to electrical because again that's it's what I do.
But again I have a vast majority, probably well over
ninety percent of students people in our programs are successful.
(04:13):
And then there's people out there that are not in
a structured program like ours. They're just basically flipping through
the codebook, trying to learn the National Electrical Code, trying
to learn what they need to learn to be successful.
You may be one of them. You're struggling, you're having
a hard time, and I just want to remind you
that it's one of those things that once you get
(04:38):
that license, it really doesn't matter what your score was.
The concept is how you keep it going from there.
So you get your license, regardless of your score, regardless
of the number of times it took you to take
the exam in order to achieve it, none of that
really matters. Once you get that license, that's when they're
learning begins. That's where you have to shift that mindset
(05:00):
to say, you know what I struggled to get here.
That tells me I just knew enough to get past
the hurdle. I need to continue to learn. I need
to focus it. I need to realize that this profession
is more than just working with the hands. That's an
important aspect of it, but there's also the mental part
(05:22):
that you need to prepare yourself. As I say, y'all
heard me say this. I go on social media platforms
and look at the comments I'm always lurking. I read
some of these comments, I cringe. I don't want to
comment back. You know, there's there's people that that that
(05:42):
are very negative, you know, and and and I can
venture down that as well.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I'm not immune to that.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
But when you read some of the things that people
say back to other people on social media, and you
start reading it and you realize that, you know, somebody's
asking a question because they they want an answer, they
need an answer, and somebody is always quick to give
a snippy, smart remark or non educational or something that
(06:10):
just doesn't help the moment. But they couldn't resist, right,
They're just in that that area of their their their
psyche where they just you know, they're just full of themselves.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
They don't want to help other people. Uh.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
And so again I have to be careful because there's
that everybody has that snarky side, and I I really
overwhelmingly want to help people. But I also understand that
I can't participate in a lot of that social media
stuff because again, you know, y'all heard me talk about
(06:44):
being banned on TikTok because I get into putting comments
and I realize that they lean very far to the
left and I post something that's liable to get me
blocked or banned or removed or whatever. When I stay
in my electrical lane, I don't have a problem. When
I venture out of that, and you know, then then
I have a problem. So I understand it as well.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
But it is a very negative place to be for
the most part. And I think social media is creating stupidity.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
That's just me.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Some people feel they're learning on it. That's great too,
but if you're learning the wrong things, it's not good.
But you know, when you when you think about achievement
or failure to achieve, it's a learning process. You're learning,
You're you're gaining more knowledge than you think. Don't don't
give up on yourself. And you know, I get a
(07:37):
lot of calls, uh, basically students who feel connected enough
that they're going through our program, who have listened to
our podcast or watch videos. I mean, I've been doing
this now, probably longer than most people that are online
doing it combined. And that's not egoish that that's the fact.
(07:57):
I've been doing this since the the nineties and started
uploading stuff in the early two thousands. So when I
worked with the City of Richmond as their engineer. I
was in a hotel in a apartment away from my
family Monday through Friday.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
And you know what else was I going to do? Right?
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Create stuff for my inspectors, for my plan reviewers, look
at reports in create content. And that's what I started doing,
creating content and uploading it, and that's what a lot
of people started following on to it. But working as
an electrician and having apprentices, having helpers under me, working
(08:43):
in municipality, seeing inspectors and plans examiners really working hard
to achieve their licensure or their certifications and falling short,
and what it can mentally do to them, it really
beats them down. I mean, there's some people that can
just shake it right off, We'll just go right to it,
they don't mind. And then there's some people that that don't.
(09:06):
They hold on to it, and they it kind of
eats and slowly eats away at them for their failure
to achieve, and they there has been an occasion where
I've seen people just literally throw their hands up and
they're just like ready to give up. And I don't
think you should ever get to that point where you
(09:27):
throw your hands up and give up or let anybody else.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Push you towards that.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
The electrical trade is not for everybody, but if you
venture into it, you can make it what you want
out of it. There's so many different avenues that you
can venture into, so many things that you can specialize in.
That's just so many opportunities that don't let you struggle
be dictate you by you giving up on the journey.
(09:57):
You know, I've had people contact me that are older
and they want to get into the electrical industry. And
now they're older. I'm not going to be negative, you know,
I'm gonna say that's a young man's game. The problem
with the young man is that they don't take the
time to learn the knowledge part. They're too busy reading
a plan and doing what somebody else blindly tells them
(10:17):
to do, and they don't know why they're doing it.
They don't know what's the reasons behind it.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So they have a I guess a drive because they're young.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
They're willing to put in the labor and do it,
but they don't want to put in the time to
learn the mental part of it. Then there are you know,
that's not everybody. There's some that do and they achieve
and they go on to get their licenses. They don't
go on to get their contractor's license. They work for themselves,
or they lead other companies, or they're in leadership roles.
(10:52):
But not everybody can do that, and not everybody can
learn the physical and the mental part is sometimes they are.
Some people are just really good helpers, really good apprentices,
they just can never achieve what they and they may
not have a desire to achieve that. And then there's
a select group out of there that that really do
(11:15):
want to achieve the next level in their in their career,
and when they fail an exam or fail something.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
They take it hard.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
And uh, I think that you just have to remember
that the failure, failure to accomplish something is only a
stepping stone for your success. You're going to get there,
you just needed to focus. I've had people who were
contractor uh well electricians that got their license as electrician
(11:44):
and they struggled with the contractors exam. We don't teach
contractor exam courses. That's a lot very specialized locally. You know,
they got to learn laws, regulations, rules, things, penalties, all
this kind of stuff that's usually in a handout that
you can get and they may have to learn those
elements of it. When licenses get renewed, what's the penalties,
(12:07):
all this kind of stuff, and that's something that you
just have to study. And I think that the reason
that I don't offer courses on that because it's different
in every state. But I think one of the main
reasons is I think it's one of those things where
you need to sit down and really focus on the
locality stuff, the stuff that you need that may be
(12:30):
on a licensing exam for a contractor things that you're
going to be responsible for, the penalties, registrations when you
have to be renewed, what insurance minimums are required, what
contract law you need to make sure that you have.
Is it one page contract a minimum like in Virginia
or is it something more detailed. All those type of
(12:53):
things you have to learn. And so if you fail
achieving your contractor's license, why you're trying to learn those
unique things for your specific state or locality, that's okay
because you're learning it. Take it again, take it again,
take it again till you get it again.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You don't go in.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
I always tell people I don't go in to get
a surgery and I asked the doctor where they were
in their class.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I don't ask a lawyer what was the what was
your score on the bar exam? Yeah, there's many doctors
that some are better than others. Same with the lawyers,
same with electricians, same with educators. Okay, it's all relative.
But I think you have to continue to keep pressing
(13:43):
forward and don't let anybody distract you from the end goal. Now,
if the end goal is for you to become master
Electrician or journeyman electrician, and you achieve that goal and
you don't want to move beyond that, the reason that
we created the CMECP program. By the way, it's not
a plug for the program. The reason we created it
because I literally felt and it's not a money maker.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's not.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
You know again, nine out of ten people don't make
it through the program. We have never charged a renewal
fee to all CMECP members, so it's certainly not about
getting money. And so the reason that we did it
was because I kept saying, there's really there's really nothing
out there for a master electrician to continue their journey,
(14:32):
and I wanted to take a good electrician and make
them a great electrician. That was the whole process. It
wasn't a money making thing. It wasn't you know. We
went through the process of getting the CMECP trademarked swell
as the phrase. We did all these things to help
bolster the program. But it certainly wasn't a money grab.
(14:56):
It was because we literally wanted to offer something thing
that even a master electrician could take their game to
the next level. That's sense of accomplishment. Some people have
that drive, some people do not, you know, so you know,
everybody's different, definitely. But if you're if you're struggling out
(15:19):
there and you're you feel like you're just not achieving it.
You're struggling, you're you're you're you're not where you want
to be. You will be you just you've got that
mentality you're it's very healthy to to to question yourself. Uh,
just don't beat yourself to death. You'll get there. Just
(15:40):
focus and you know what, sometimes you have to invest
in yourself. Sometimes people say, Paul, you're all about selling courses,
you know, and I'm like, well, that's what I do
for a living. Okay, so that would make sense. But
at the end of the day. The goal is that
maybe you need a little help, maybe you need a
(16:00):
little push over the edge, maybe you need somebody that
offers something that can help you. And that's what our
programs are about, trying to do that. But it doesn't
matter whether you use ours, doesn't matter whether you use
some any Mike Holtz does great Mike's got great stuff,
Ryan Jackson's books, you know, all that kind of stuff.
(16:25):
Education is key, it's keing, and it doesn't matter who
you do it, who you get it from. I am
very discouraged as a whole at the future of our trade.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
And you'll say, well, why is that, Paul, I'm like, because.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
I look at social media and I understand that that
is the pulse of all young people today, that most
of the young generation is on some type of social media,
and from the demographics that we're looking at age wise,
you know, anywhere from twenty five to forty five are
heavily into the social media. And when I see, and
(17:07):
this is why I tell you not to get discouraged,
keep learning, keep focusing, put the blinders on, and really
get down to work, because when I look at the
comments that people make to simple questions that people post
or an image that somebody posts, and you'll get some
(17:27):
of the questions. Rather than explain what's wrong with the image,
they'll say something like you need.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
To go back to this or that, or you suck
or whatever.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And I'm sitting thinking, you know, they probably really did
share that image because they did want feedback, they did
want you to explain to them what they did wrong.
And then people are so quick to say something smart today,
something snarky that it was.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
It's pointless.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
It doesn't add anything to the conversation because it really
doesn't explain the issue.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And I think that the what.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Can help you stand out, especially in social media, is
the ability to respond intelligently and give a code reference
to reference what's wrong. You know, somebody says I don't
like it because it looks a certain way. Well, beauty's
in the eye of the beholder, right, doesn't necessarily mean
what looks good to you may look good to somebody else.
(18:24):
But if it's compliant, it's compliant. So I never judge
that way. So it's it's just discouraging to see that.
But as an educator, I have the same same issues
as you have.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Failure to achieve.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
I have I do not believe I have achieved what
we need as a company, as a corporation.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
We have not achieved it yet.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
You know, sales are great, we're doing well, we have
a lot of students, but we're not done. I feel
like every day I feel like I've I'm still struggling
to achieve. When I read these posts, when I read
people who will blatantly say things that are incorrect, propagate
(19:15):
it and say it in such a way that there's
it's arrogant. I mean they say it in such a
way that that's just a matter of fact and it's
literally wrong.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Right.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
There was just one video image where the guy posted
a panel for his review, just wanted people to comment
on it.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Again.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
You know, everybody likes to hear good things about the
work they do. I'm wrong with that, And you know,
I say, be careful doing it on social media platform,
that's for sure. But because there's always a hater, there's
a troll. Trust me, you ain't got to You ain't
have to worry about that. You know this, If anything
tells me something, I tell people, Paul, what do the
people say about your haters? I go, well, Trump has them,
(19:58):
I have them. Eli got them. Everybody's got a hater.
Everybody says, people that just love to hate, and that's okay.
That's their ability to do whatever they want to do.
That doesn't bother me. But they have they're they're out there,
they do it. That's all they live for is to hate.
They live in that world of negativeness and it's just
nothing but hate. Anything that comes out of their mouth
is is hate. You could get a they could get
(20:21):
a huge tax cut, and the next thing out of
their mouth is they'll see the negative behind it instead
of saying shit, I'll be glad, I'll take something right.
Or they get they get to get fifteen hundred dollars
given to them, they'll bitch at why it's not two thousand,
Well it should have been more, you know it's but
that's okay because that's how some people are. Just my employee,
you not to be that way. But anyway, the panel
(20:45):
was posted and the guy had all his neutrals. Everything
a very neat panel, very neatly done, remote distribution panel,
definitely separated as neutrals and grounds. Did everything right, looks
good and some of the had neutrals coming out, some didn't.
It's a three phase panel, and one guy started making
a comment about why would you separate your neutrals like
(21:07):
that you're gonna.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Cause heating and eating blah blah blah blah, and went
on and on and on on. I looked at it
and I went, first of.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
All, I don't know how you can tell that at
a panel, my guy, Because it's a three phase panel,
and there was neutrals coming out of various race ways.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
It just brought them all together. If nice and.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Neat, I mean, like you know, not all three phase
circuits need a neutral. So you could have had motors,
you could have something that just doesn't have a neutral,
have an equipment ground, but it won't have a neutral.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
But how can you make go on on a ti rate.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Of with comments and you have no damn earthly idea
what's going on in that system or what's going on
in that guy's panel. But you could not wait to
comment on something that you don't know anything about the details. Right,
And I say this all the time when I post
an image, I go only comment on what you see,
(21:57):
not on what you can see, not on what you
specula that type of thing. So this is an example
where people can't wait to do that, and they're going
to do that to you, and you're going to be
struggling to achieve, and you're going to have that negative
person come into your life and say something totally negative
(22:20):
and you have got to block it out. You got
to keep focusing on what you want to achieve. Realize
that the end goal is going to be better for you,
better for your family, better for your livelihood, overall, your happiness,
your sanity. Failing sucks. Failing to achieve is a sucky
(22:40):
place to be. Like I say, I have my ups
and downs, highs and lows, own personal issues in the family,
but I'm always trying to keep push forward. And you know,
do I think we as a company are where we
can be?
Speaker 3 (22:59):
No, not by far. We have a lot more work
to do.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
And all I do is go to social media and
read some of the stuff. And I try not to
now as like I used to. When I read some
of the stuff, I rarely start to worry about our trade.
I really do. It really does get me worried about
where we're going to be, But don't let that be
you focus. Achieve your goals one at a time, get
(23:24):
a good program, study hard, if you're studying on your own.
You're not using any course like ours or anybody else's.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
That's okay.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Take your time and focus on specific things. Focus on transformers,
then focus on motors, then focus on conductors and sizing
of conductors and protection of conductors.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Focus, focus, Focus.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
It's kind of hard to know what's on an exam,
so you have to kind of, you know, broadly focus.
And that's the only difference between a structured program is
we kind of know the structure you need to study.
But doesn't mean you need a program, okay, It just
means that you need to buckle down and focus and
you'll get it. You'll achieve it, and once you achieve it,
(24:09):
you'll look back and go, boy, that wasn't that hard.
But it was hard and you worked hard and you
achieved it. And so don't give up. Stay focused again again.
The failure, failure to achieve happens to everybody, but don't
let it define you.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
You will be better.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
And then once you get that license, nobody gives a rats,
but what your score was. Nobody cared whether you made
it by one point or you got a hundred on it.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Nobody cares.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Uh, you know, I can tell the scores that people
probably got by reading social media posts. Right, but you know,
but that's a whole other topic. All right, folks, hopefully
got something out of today's episode, just kind of motivating
you a little bit, talking about failure to achieve, but
you can achieve. Just put in the time, be diligent,
(25:00):
buck out the naysayers, don't interact in the negativity. Keep pushing, pushing, pushing.
You're gonna get it. If you fail the exam, take
it again, maybe you need to do something different.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
over and achieving the same results. Now you adapt to
overcome and you keep pushing forward. All right, all right, folks,
I believe in you, And thanks for listening today's podcast
episode less Cody, more personal. But we'll talk to you
on another episode. Thanks again, God bless.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Thanks for tuning in to another electrifying episode of The
Master the NDC Podcast. We hope you're feeling more powered
up and ready to tackle the electrical world with the
knowledge and confidence you need to succeed. Remember, in the
electrical grade, knowledge is power, and we're here to make
sure you stay flooded into the latest insights, chips and
(25:56):
code updates. If you enjoy today's after don't forget to subscribe,
leave us a review, and share the podcast with your.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Fellow electricians and industry pros.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Until next time, keep your tools sharp, your circuits clear,
and you're my focused because here at the Master of
the ANEC podcast, we're all about sparking your success. Stay safe,
stay smart, and keep mastering the trade. From all of
us here at Electrical Code Academy, thank you for all
your support, and we will see you on the next
(26:30):
amazing Master of the NEC podcast episode.
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