2025 October 14 Wake up excited!

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Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimagining your life. Thanks for joining me today to talk about focusing on your vision. So let's get started. If you like what you hear today, please leave a like, subscribe, tell your friends, send me a message.

Today we're going to be talking about why we even have been talking about developing a vision or making goals or taking big or even little steps every day towards making a new future for yourself. We've kind of hinted at it a few different times about like, would you like to start every day energized and looking forward to your day? Or how would you like to feel if you had confidence in yourself and your ability to face even challenging situations calmly? And there are many more, but the common theme is, how would it be to actually feel more in control even when challenges happen, and know that you're still moving towards your goals. It'd probably feel pretty good.

We all have times when life seems to be pushing back pretty hard. Even people who seem to always have no problems, well, they have problems too. But the difference is they're usually defining the situation in terms of how they will address the challenge, not in terms of how the problem is affecting them. The more inward-facing thoughts and perspective usually comes around as, why is this happening to me? Why does this always happen to me? And because problems happen to everybody, people who seem to take them more calmly are probably just acknowledging things aren't great. How do we fix it?

Everything we've been talking about has been kind of laying the foundation for techniques that can give you the power to have faith in your ability to either get the best possible outcomes from most situations, or at least learn and improve from challenges in a way that strengthens you going forward.

Right now I'm going through a series of minor changes and challenges only somewhat expected, and it'd be easy to kind of talk myself into kind of a really disappointing place. In the midst of the big silent job downturn—and at the time of this recording in the middle of October 2025, the headlines are all about the big silent job downturn. The economy's weak and is expected to get weaker from some leading indicators and expected to contract in numerous world conflicts. Everybody's saying now is the worst time in years to be looking for work, and I'm getting let go from my job.

So I'm immediately faced with the decision. I can totally freak out and panic because they say it'll be impossible for an older guy to get a job in this job market. Or I can lean into my skills and my confidence and find areas that are underserved and work to serve those people, which is exactly what I'm doing.

Are there any guarantees in life? Well, there are only a couple guarantees and we won’t talk about those, but in reality, there actually are a lot of guarantees that people tend to overlook. I'm fortunate to have quite a number of friends both from work and church and many other places. I've met people over the years and have my extended family. Plus, I have an adorable dog that almost everybody loves, so they always want to see him even if they don't want to see me. So I'm pretty sure that I probably won't starve to death and won't have to sleep in unlocked cars.

Now, you might think I'm kidding and being a little overdramatic, but most of us know a lot of people who in truly dire circumstances would be willing to help us out. What an amazing gift and security backup is that? Whether it's a job loss or a hurricane or whatever happens, there's a layer of protection there.

But what about any tangible object, your car, your house, toys, anything? What if you lose those things? I know people who have lost literally absolutely everything. I spoke about them a couple years ago. It's a dancing friend of mine and her husband and her family, and they literally lost every single possession except for the vehicles they're in, the clothes they had on their backs, a couple of things they grabbed out the door like some important documents, and that's it. Including most of the animals on their ranch and all their possessions in a forest fire in Colorado.

And while that was obviously very traumatic and certainly left, I'm sure, some big holes in their lives, I recently saw a picture of them together, and they're still a big, happy, loving family. They could have decided to focus on their losses, but instead focused on their safety and focused on each other and even continued to reach out and help other people in the area where they could. They made the conscious choice to look outside of themselves, to grieve their losses and embrace the future, and to keep living by looking ahead. And most of us have that option in most situations. Some situations are certainly more challenging than others, but in almost every case, we're free to put our focus where we want. And that, dear friends, is why I'm not totally consumed with the immediate future.

There's a saying—James Wedmore, one of my mentors, says it often, and maybe it's Tony Robbins, they both say it—where focus goes, energy flows. And think about that for a second. If you focus on all that you don't have, well, you probably won't be attracting good things into your life. You'll always be looking for things like, ah, I could have that and I could have that, and it's just kind of a downer to live with. If you focus on all the headlines of no jobs and a weak economy, then your brain will look for things to make those thoughts a reality, because that's the way your brain works. Your brain looks at what you're thinking, wants to prove you right, and so will find things to support the conclusion you've already come to.

But if you focus on what the future could hold, you'll probably find ways to make that your reality instead. In our example, if instead of listening to the always negative news, you instead look for the unexpected opportunities, you'll probably find those instead.

Even in the depths of the Depression from 1929 to 1941, successful companies such as Allstate Insurance, Krispy Kreme Donuts—which surprised me—Gallo Winery, and Publix Markets, a big chain with about a thousand stores, were all founded in those years. Some of it was because they saw a niche that nobody else was taking advantage of during difficult times. And some of it was because they just found a better way of doing things. There's another grocery store, King Cullen Grocery, and they're accredited with starting the first modern supermarket with all these things brought together, different types of things in one store. So while the rest of the world was a wreck, and it really was a wreck, still many people found ways to survive and even thrive because they were guided by their life vision.

I knew someone else, actually, who was a seamstress during those years, and they made money by making little girls' quinceañera gowns, and they said even in the depths of the depression, people would find ways to make sure their children had things to look forward to. So they were at home sewing up these little dance outfits and people were buying them, and that's part of the way they got through the depression.

While I hope all is going well with you in every way possible, however, sometimes things happen. And if you're having challenges right now, try to remember what an amazing person you are and all the good things that you're capable of doing, and all the things you're capable of accomplishing. Then focus on the future you want and let your brain guide you to the decisions that lead you to the life consistent with your own life vision.

So that's it for the evening. Your homework tonight is think about what your ideal future would look like, your absolute ideal future. Think about it, think about it in detail. We talk about that when you do envisioning in really detail. Think about what it looks like, what it feels like, what the wind feels like, what the sounds are like, what the smells are like, the people around you. Really think what it's like. And that's the only thing—just think about what your ideal future would be like. Simple little homework. But extra points if you take that vision and then decide what parts of it are really essential to you. And then with just those core ideas, think about how many ways you could structure a future consistent with your life vision. Because when you think about it in depth, all of a sudden, you'll probably find out that there's only a couple of things that really set the tone of your life.

Thank you very much. As always, please remember the many wars, political oppression, all the things going on in the world. There's a lot of stress right now. UKR7.com has links to support the people of Ukraine. Really important, important charity, important thing to me. I wish you would consider doing that if you're looking for some way to support those people. A lot of links there to different organizations, and of course World Central Kitchen at WCK.org. Jose Andrés—that's the group that goes around the world where disasters have happened and helps people to recover from those disasters, typically with food and basic services. They're totally humanitarian. They provide, like I said, meals, basic services, throughout the world. So we have two great international organizations—well, UKR7.com points to a bunch of them, and WCK.org is the other one.

There are a lot of groups. There's the big international ones like United Way and all those places and national ones. But there's also probably groups in your town that can always use your help, a little bit of your time, a little bit of your money. And if you're just not in a position or a situation right now where you want to give time or money, remember that even a simple smile to somebody you meet on the street can change their day and possibly their life in ways that you can't even imagine.

So if you can and you're able, consider donating to UKR7.com, WCK.org, one of your local organizations, or just give somebody a smile for no particular reason. Say hi, good morning. Recognize them. It can change your life.

As always, thank you for stopping by. If you found something interesting or useful, please pass it along and please subscribe and hit that like button. Please drop me a comment as to what you'd like to hear. Have a great week. Remember to live the life that you dream of, because that's the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone. See you next week on 7EveryMinute. Thank you.