Jon Mayo: 0:08

Hello everyone and welcome back to Be Relentless. Thought expeditions are actually over, so today starts a new exploration on the Be Relentless podcast, because we are always growing and evolving in pursuit of creating as much value for you, our listeners and our community as possible. So today we’re going to kick that off with a short, concise look at what can we do when shit gets hard and it gets real and even the strength that we have cultivated appears to flee from us. Let’s get to it.

Brandon Seifert
John, so I know that you’ve been battling a couple of things recently. Tell me about it. What clarity, what have you been going through? What are your thoughts, Lets talk.

Jon Mayo
Absolutely so. We have a ton of really good examples that generations before us have not had. I’m talking about Jaco Willink, jordan Peterson, joe Rogan Dawgans, david Goggins, cameron Haines all these guys who are just these ebonyms of indomitability. Something happens good. They’re up at 3.30 in the morning. Good, they’re running a marathon a day. Good, whatever it is, they’re standing in the gap, doing what others won’t, so that they can call forward those who aren’t and equip them to do it, and that’s really powerful. But something that’s also powerful is being able to express the vulnerability of when things are really freaking hard. And for myself, I came into another season of that difficulty over the last few days and it was very challenging for me mentally and spiritually and emotionally to figure out how to get back to peace so that I could continue forward with clarity. And the reason I think it’s important to express that is it’s very easy to paint history as the victor, as though you’re a hero. That’s indomitable. But it’s very valuable to say hey, no, when you’re going through challenging seasons and shit is hard, then it is in fact hard Right. And for myself, monday we launched or Monday the sixth fish launched, the waymaker movement in community. Right, that is available now, super exciting. I hit launch, I send a message hey, it is now live. And guess what? All of my confidence, all the direction, all the drive, everything completely left. I was like sitting there, like in kind of feeling battling, a bit of despair and like, oh my goodness, all my confidence gone. And thinking through that was really challenging because I was like, okay, now what? Right, I just was on the surge to build and I was like that high that you get when you’re fighting for the Super Bowl or for some competition or some goal. Then you accomplish the goal and the highs gone, and I know the longer vision, I know the larger impact. I I’ve done countless hours of analysis and meditation and reflection on precisely what it is that I’m working to invest my life to accomplish what we’re working to do with the show, what these different elements are doing to inspire people to live more intentionally, to live relentless action and become waymakers Good willpower. I fell for the trap of beginning to want to force the wrong, to force the outcome, and I wanted to do that twofold One, I realized with it being built and this is in reflection, right, and I’m now speaking in hindsight but I I battled with it from Monday all the way through yesterday, which is Wednesday. And then I had a great conversation with a friend and I realized that silence is oftentimes the solution when things get crazy and it gets hard, sitting in solitude and silence can help to produce and refine the solution, and that’s precisely what I worked to do. So I had a conversation, realized okay, at the time is now went into the car and went for a few hour drive, complete silence, just thought, and what I came to the conclusion of is I was working to control the outcome too much, and what I needed to do was hold fast to the path, but hold loosely to the outcome. And with that realization of holding loosely to the outcome but steadfastly to the path, I was able to sink back into. Oh so then, what does that look like? Well, in this moment, how can I best show up with intention and lead? Well, how can I best love? How can I best drink in gratitude for that which is around me? And, as it’s time, how can I exercise extraordinarily extraordinary violence of action in that which I do need to do to continue to progress this work, now that I’m free from trying to force the outcome and instead just being true to the path and the direction that needs to go to meet the desired intent, service and creation of value in life that I’m working to do with my life. And with that realization, a lot of peace came into mind, and that peace came from me resubmitting myself and committing myself to the authentic pursuit of that which I’m doing and the letting go of ego and self and trying to create the outcome and everything that comes with that. And since that decision was made, the clarity has been seeking me in today has been significantly better and I’m back on the path. But every single person is going to get knocked off, knocked around, knocked down, and that’s not the issue, right? It’s not the absence of difficulty or struggle that we’re looking at. It’s the choice to take valiant, courageous action despite that. Right, it goes back to. Courage is not the absence of fear, but action despite fear or with fear, and, in the same way, to become a waymaker to strive for, to create value, to build strong communities and to pursue significance. It’s going to be hard, but it’s the choice to respond to that hard well, and to become a better version of self because of it. So what the heck do we do with all this, right? Well, when you’re going through the shit and it’s hard, and you’re overwhelmed and you feel that despair sinking and you feel that anxiety sinking and you’re questioning the path that you believe to be true, take an intentional, tactical pause. Stop. The work will wait. If you died, it wouldn’t get done or someone else would do it anyways. Stop what you’re doing, do a force halt, turn off all your notifications, breakaway, go for a long walk, a drive or a sit whatever works best for you and allow yourself to think in the silence until you feel that great sense of calm while being in stillness. Come back. That then allows you to move forward with clarity. Once again, thank you for joining us on another episode of Be Relentless. If you found value in today’s show, pay it forward by sharing it with someone you care about now, not later now. Additionally, if you’re not part of the Waymaker community, why not Go ahead, join today and let’s forge forward together.