About a decade ago I was listening to my favorite speaker for the first time. He was amazing and he completely grabbed my attention, forever changing my life. His name is Doug Wead and if you have never had the chance to listen to him, you should! He gave a speech called, “David and Goliath” and I truly believe it is the greatest 50 minutes ever recorded in a speech. Here is the Link.
While this speech on David and Goliath was super motivating for me, there was something he said in another speech that I wanted to write about today. In the speech I’m referring to Doug really emphasized how to live an extraordinary life and he commented on how much time people waste watching other people live their dreams. He was referring to the time people waste reading tabloids about celebrities, watching reality t.v., sitting around wasting 3-4 hours at a time watching sports.
I love watching sports, always have. I love to sit down, erase all my stresses of the day, and just zone out for hours on end watching a good football or baseball game. I did at least until I listened to Doug Wead. One thing in particular stood out to me above all the rest; he said, “If you will give up watching sports on t.v. for the next 7-10 years and focus on building your business and building your life, then you can fly anywhere you want and go to any game you want for the rest of your life! You can sit wherever you want and experience these games like you never dreamed of before.”
I took that as a personal challenge and made a deal with myself right then that I would never watch another sporting event by myself on t.v. again. I would still get together with friends and watch a game while we hang out, I still went to plenty of games in person, and I still would watch the game while it was on the t.v. in the background at the gym. But I immediately broke my habit of watching other people live out their dreams. I began to build a life where I could create my own.
It wasn’t until I quit watching sports on t.v. that I realized just how much time I was wasting doing that. All of a sudden I had an extra 8-12 hours per week where I could work on my business, build lasting relationships, or read books and expand my mind. The list of what I am able to accomplish with an extra 600-1000 hours per year is priceless. And the crazy part is that I haven’t really missed anything. I still watch the important NBA playoff games with my friends and we still had a giant Super Bowl party. I quit watching ESPN and SportsCenter every night before that was cool, realizing that any of the games I actually cared about I could download the highlights from the computer and get all caught up in less than 5 minutes.
Thank you Doug! Your words mattered and they came true for me. Over the past 5 years I’ve been able to get VIP and front row tickets to the NBA Finals, field access to the Super Bowl, and tickets to the World Cup in Brazil. I’ve had season tickets to the Jazz on the first row by the visitors tunnel and I’ve been able to share over 100 amazing nights building relationships at the game with my family and friends. I’ve been able to attend the Masters and top UFC fights. And I attended 6 of the 7 World Series games in 2016 to cheer on my favorite team the Cleveland Indians. And although they lost in extra innings of game 7, that was some of the best 10 days of my entire life!
Remember the words of Doug Wead, “If you are willing to give up watching others play out their dreams for the next 7-10 years, you will be able to live your dreams the rest of your life!”
What are you currently doing in your life that is wasting your time? Stop doing these things! You only have one life to live. No matter what happens after this life, this is the only one where you live like this at this time! Go out and create an amazing life, live extraordinary experiences, and sacrifice stupid things now for lifetime memories later. Comment below and tell me one thing you will give up today and what you are going to do 10 years from now with the life you are going to create!
Much love.