Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - We are NOT the sum of our mistakes & failures

Episode Date: July 15, 2021

Here’s a quick impromptu episode that Shawn French felt the need to put out. Stop defining yourself by your mistakes and failures. That’s not who TF you ARE! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/shawn-french/message Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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But listen, guys, there's plenty of people out there that have gone to prison for actual crimes that that are convicted felons get out of prison and are productive members in society, right? That own multiple businesses, become millionaires, become husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, right? why are we as people beating ourselves up over bad things that we have done? And I don't mean bad like we hurt people. You should care about that. I think like small mistakes, small failures. It's only a fraction of who we are.

We are not the sum of our mistakes and our failures. We have to be able to be aware, self-aware in the moment, right? So that way we don't make those mistakes. mistakes, but we are human. So when those mistakes do happen, we have to have the correct amount of hindsight to go back, think about it, reflect, and then next time, be self-aware in the actual moment in order for those mistakes not to happen again. But I cannot continue to see people that I care about and love talk about how bad they are because of a mistake. Mistakes are fine. Failure is fine, right?

But what we have to understand is, yes, small mistakes or small mistakes. You do your best not to make the same one over and over again, right? But the bigger mistakes, it is what it is, guys. They're mistakes. We have to be able to acknowledge those mistakes, but still not destroy ourselves mentally because of those things. if a person makes a big mistake and does something out of character or isn't their best self or just flat out wrong for what they've done is not a definition of who they are. It's who they were in that moment.

Now here's the thing. We got to go back and we have to acknowledge those things to the people we may have hurt, to the people that we've wronged. Hey, listen, I apologize. It wasn't being my best self. I was being selfish. whatever the case may be, being honest in those actual moments are valuable. And guess what?

That person that you hurt or the person you disappointed is going to respect you tenfold for coming back to them and taking responsibility and apologizing. From that point on, they're just going to evaluate you based on your actions. Because words, guys, they don't mean shit. Action means everything. How you treat people means everything. means everything, not how you say you're going to treat people, but how you actually treat them.

It's a beautiful thing. I just encourage you guys to truly evaluate and truly take inventory on the things that you're saying to yourself. If you're constantly beating yourself up over a mistake, over a failure, all you're doing is perpetuating more failure, more mistakes until that self-fulfill. prophecy actually happens that you're a bad person and that you suck. And that's not the truth.

We are the sum of our thoughts, guys, whether they're good or bad. We have the opportunity to change that second by second. And how you do that is taking inventory and how you feel. If you feel like shit, if you're feeling down, you're feeling depressed is because you're thinking those types of thoughts. But if we choose to be empowered and think of responsibility and how to get better and think positive thoughts about the amazing things that we're going to create on a day-to-day basis, then you start to feel good about yourself, right? You start walking around a little taller. Your feet feel a little bit lighter because you are feeding your mind with positivity. Now, let me ask you this. Do you think for one second that if you feed your mind in your own being

is full of positivity, that you won't spread that to somebody else? Of course you will. you absolutely will same token if you're feeding yourself full of negative energy negative thoughts detrimental thoughts you're going to pass that on to somebody else and they're going to feel like shit after they leave an interaction with you i'm going to leave you with this really quick episode guys it's really quick but we needed to get it out people will never remember what you said to them but they will always remember how you made them feel. So guys, today, go out there, be great. Understand that you may make mistakes,

but it is not defining who you are. And go make someone feel special. Talk to that stranger. Shake someone's hand. Tell somebody you like their shoes. Tell somebody you like their shirt. Tell somebody you admire them because they inspire you on a day-to-day basis.

Ben Newman did an episode on his podcast, The Daily Burn, about you don't know who's in. your audience. I'm not going to spoil it. Go listen to that episode because it's absolutely incredible. It is heartwarming. It is touching. If you don't cry, sorry, you may not be as emotional as I am. But do that. You don't know who's watching you. You don't know who you're inspiring on a day-to-day basis. Right. So with that being said, people don't know who's inspiring, that they might be inspiring you. So go tell them. We all need those words. We all need those words of affirmation like, hey, what you're doing matters and I see you.

So go do that for somebody. All you're going to do is going to open that world up for you, for you to hear those positive thoughts. It may be uncomfortable, but guess what? It's rewarding. All right, guys, I'm out. I will talk to you guys soon. Have a kick-ass Thursday. Peace.