In today’s episode we explore a great quote from HG Wells. It’s a reminder that we should avoid spending even a single moment worrying about what we don’t have and get to work doing all we can with what we do have.
Transcript
Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you here for the daily podcast,
Speaker:doing a video version this time.
Speaker:So I'm not sure where I'm going to put it, but some of you may see the video.
Speaker:Some of you will be listening to the audio either way.
Speaker:Welcome aboard new listeners, regular listeners.
Speaker:Welcome back today.
Speaker:I want to share with you a really good quote from haitch G Wells HG Wells of
Speaker:course wrote the famous radio play.
Speaker:War of the worlds that kind of almost sent part of the planet insane.
Speaker:Cause huge numbers of people thought that the radio play
Speaker:was actually a news broadcast.
Speaker:And um, yeah, look it up.
Speaker:It's really interesting moment in American history, particularly.
Speaker:So here's what HG Wells has to say for us today or to us today.
Speaker:He says what really matters is what you do with what you have.
Speaker:What really matters is what you do with what you have,
Speaker:think about it for a moment.
Speaker:Uh, I think we spend a huge amount of time in life.
Speaker:Some of us do perhaps many of us wishing that we were significantly different.
Speaker:There's kind of this internal piece of software.
Speaker:That's like, well, if I had this or if I looked this way, then my life
Speaker:would be just the way I want it.
Speaker:Let's be honest.
Speaker:Life is never going to be perfect.
Speaker:You are never going to get to a place where it is utterly.
Speaker:Just exactly how you want it, what you will do.
Speaker:Is seasons often, maybe long seasons where things are going really well.
Speaker:And we enjoy those, but this side of heaven, life's never
Speaker:going to be absolutely perfect.
Speaker:So we don't want to spend too much time wishing and creating a bizarre
Speaker:cognitive fantasy reality about how things will be so much better.
Speaker:If we were different.
Speaker:I'm about five foot.
Speaker:Karen says I'm shrinking as I get older, but, uh, I never gonna play professional
Speaker:basketball and I could spend a huge amount of time wishing that I had
Speaker:different genetics, but I truly don't.
Speaker:So there comes a point where we have to accept the package that we're getting.
Speaker:And then roll with it.
Speaker:You would be amazed at how many people that we assume have
Speaker:everything and just perfect.
Speaker:And if we had what they had, we would be incredibly happy.
Speaker:There's a fair bit of data that a lot of supermodels struggle massively with.
Speaker:Self-esteem uh, you can look that up, but basically we assume that they are
Speaker:absolutely a peace with themselves and everything's perfect, but you'd
Speaker:be surprised the level of insecurity.
Speaker:That can affect so many people that we assume would not struggle with it at all.
Speaker:You know, recently I was coaching a senior executive who looks
Speaker:after a sector of the economy.
Speaker:That's worth about $160 billion.
Speaker:And I was coaching them, not so much on strategy.
Speaker:I was coaching them on their own challenges and struggles with
Speaker:something called imposter syndrome.
Speaker:This was a person at the top of their game with incredible abilities, great
Speaker:charisma who'd got there because they deserve to be there, but was utterly
Speaker:convinced that they were inadequate and that they were going to be found out.
Speaker:So please, if you take one thing from this short message today, do
Speaker:not assume for a second that all the people that you see out there and we
Speaker:assume have everything figured out.
Speaker:Uh, completely happy because they're not so back to HG Wells, what really
Speaker:matters is what you do with what you have.
Speaker:So I want you to get a mindset starting to die, that this is it.
Speaker:This is what you got.
Speaker:Now you can tweak it the edges.
Speaker:So everyone knows.
Speaker:I do a huge amount of training.
Speaker:I love keeping fit.
Speaker:I'm always reading.
Speaker:I'm always trying to improve.
Speaker:But I'm accepting the, the basic package.
Speaker:Definitely didn't do it when I was younger.
Speaker:Maybe that's why I spent so many years talking to 40,000 young
Speaker:people a year because I wanted to get this message through.
Speaker:We've got to do what we can with what we've got.
Speaker:We've got to do what we can with what we.
Speaker:We've got to improve what we have.
Speaker:We've got to improve on the basic package and not spend a second
Speaker:wishing that we were somebody else.
Speaker:You know, I've often shared this when I was doing my first, my second
Speaker:masters in philosophical anthropology.
Speaker:I was really struck by a quote from the middle ages,
Speaker:philosopher, John DUNS SCOTUS.
Speaker:And he said, every human comparisons.
Speaker:Is essentially diabolical by which you mean satanic.
Speaker:He said that every way that we compare ourselves to somebody else is satanic.
Speaker:It's evil.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Because he believed that, you know, God, the universe creates us
Speaker:and we made this particular way.
Speaker:And if we spend our time wishing we were someone else, he said,
Speaker:it's basically in gratitude.
Speaker:It's basically evil.
Speaker:Now you don't know how far you want to take this, but you get the
Speaker:point that he's trying to make.
Speaker:You know, it'd be a bit like me with my kids.
Speaker:If my kids came to me every day and said, you know what, dad, we're
Speaker:really disappointed because you know, we, if we'd had different parents,
Speaker:you know, or if we were more like this person we'd be much happier.
Speaker:I mean, I would just be, that's very ungrateful.
Speaker:You're my kids.
Speaker:This is what I had.
Speaker:This is what we gave you.
Speaker:So gratitude is the appropriate response to the package of what we've got.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Now, as I've said, it doesn't mean that we stay exactly the same
Speaker:course we grow and we work on stuff, but let's not spend another one.
Speaker:We should, we were someone else let's do what HG Wells says.
Speaker:What really matters is what you, my friend do with what you have.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I hope that's useful.
Speaker:Wherever you're listening to this, please make sure you've subscribed.
Speaker:You can become a patron on Patrion, but either way, I hope this is a
Speaker:blessing to you, and I'm going to have another message for you very soon.
