Tune Out the Noise: Focus On What Really Matters
Getting what you want demands you tune out the noise; and there’s a lot of it. George talks about how to actually do it!
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About the Episode
Getting what you want demands you tune out the noise; and there’s a lot of it. There are countless people trying to extract your time, attention, energy and money; if you let them do it, you won’t end up where you want to go. George answers a question from the mailbag, plays a quick game of would you rather, and talks about how to know what matters, and how to do what matters.
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George Grombacher
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Episode Transcript
All right. This week’s letter comes from little Veronica little Veronica writes, Dear George, gee, would you rather would you rather have Restless Leg Syndrome? Or Alien Hand Syndrome? What a time to be alive? Would I rather have restless leg syndrome or Alien Hand Syndrome? What a brilliant, rarely would you rather have aliens and Alien Hand Syndrome? Have you ever heard of that? That is a new one for me. I have heard of restless leg syndrome. And I can remember. I don’t know if that’s honest or not. I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t know that. I remember the first time hearing the term those those three words put together Restless Leg Syndrome. But I remember thinking, no effing way. It can’t be a real thing. Me twitching my leg and bouncing my leg. They’ve actually put that they’ve actually created some kind of a condition to explain that out. Again, what a time to be alive. But that was some time ago. And you know what? I think what I heard today, still, no effing way. There’s no way that that’s still a real thing. But I hear to lament about Restless Leg Syndrome, even though I kind of am. But to answer your question, little Monica, or was it Veronica little Veronica? To answer your question, I rather have Restless Leg Syndrome than Alien Hand Syndrome, you’ll have to look up what Alien Hand Syndrome is. But fundamentally, in my mind that my leg is bouncing, but if I’m not able to use my hands, that is a trickier thing for move on. Like to linger on this for just one moment longer. These things, these restless legs syndromes and Alien Hand syndromes are amazing terms. There’s some other amazing terms that come to mind when I think about restless legs syndrome. micro aggressions, that’s a good one. Trigger warnings. Also pretty solid. Here’s another safe spaces. Ready for the biggest one that I find most interesting. You Ready? Ready? Equity. Such great, great terms. There’s such great terms. And they’re all made up. They are all made up. Manufactured terms. They’re not real. What? No, they’re there. They’re absolutely made up. They are. These are manufactured by people who want to sell you the solution to their made up problem. They’re made up by Grifters. Remember that story, when you were a kid, the emperor’s new clothes. It’s essentially that couple people concoct a money making scheme. So preposterous. That 99% of people just go along with it. Thank God for the 1% Thank God for the 1% and say, wait, wait a minute. What’s going on here? And this story, emperor’s new clothes. It’s the little kid. He’s the 1% Maybe it was she i i forget. But she’s the one that calls out the emperor as not wearing any clothes. He has no clothes. Because it’s plain as day ever is walking around naked in the super fancy clothes that only sophisticated people can see. You see what we’re doing here. So you’re spending a bunch of time thinking about any of those things that I just mentioned? If they are, if that occupies your time, if that occupies your attention, or any of the other 1000 Similar type things you’ve been taken. They got you. Earlier today, I asked our robot overlords what it’s called when people relentlessly focus on shit beyond their control when they’re looking at houses are on fire. What is that called? When my house is burning down around me, but I’m just I’m not unconcerned by that. I’m unconcerned by these late and clear problems and focused on micro aggressions and equity and you name it You get it? What’s that called? The robot said, the tendency to focus on other people’s problems instead of one’s own is often referred to as vicarious living or vicarious problem solving involves a person being overly concerned or preoccupied with the issues, challenges or situations. Sometimes to the extent of neglecting their own needs or problems, this behavior may stem from a variety of reasons such as the desire to avoid personal issues, seek distraction, or fulfill a sense of purpose by helping others. That’s very noble. I thank you for that. So I asked, Can you tell me more about this vicarious living or vicarious problem solving and my robot overlord was happy to do so. They said that it involves individuals becoming overly focused on the problems and experiences of others instead of addressing their own concerns. actual definition of vicarious living is the tendency of individuals to immerse themselves in the lives experiences and challenges of others, often to the point of neglecting their own needs and personal growth. They’re motivated by avoidance, we’re motivated by distraction. We’re motivated by comparison. It’s the same thing as vicarious problem solving. It’s just it. It’s over involvement. It’s lack of boundaries we project or projecting on others. Of course, of course, that’s what we’re doing. Have, it’s obvious, it’s plain as day. A should be focused on stuff that matters to me. But I’m focused on a bunch of other bullshit that doesn’t matter at all. A very, very human of us. And I do it too. I’m not up here, all holier than thou saying, you’re dumb. I’m smart. I do this too. It’s important to note that well, empathy and support for others are positive, these are good. But focusing too much on others is bad. Thanks, robot overlords. Here’s the thing. If you’re spending time worrying about other things, or other people’s things, that just means you’re not spending time on things that actually matter to you. begs the question, do you know what actually matters to you? Just the other day, just the other day, I heard Dave Ramsey uncle day that 78% of us are living paycheck to paycheck. I’m exhausted by this. I’m exhausted by the ever changing statistics. Most of us live paycheck to paycheck, which means we’re essentially broke. What that really means is that we’ve got bigger fish to fry than whatever it is that we are giving our attention to. Here’s some it’s always been true. And most certainly remains true hierarchies exist. And on hierarchies, higher order things are of higher value, lower order things are of wait for it, lower value. Based on that app in reality, we should give our MBRs our most valuable resources, which are time, attention, energy and money. We should give those we should allocate those to highest to the highest order things and not to lower order things. highest order equals highest value, lowest order equals lowest value. We need that we need to understand that because every time I say every time you say yes to one thing, you know what happens? You say no to everything else. Unless you are some kind of a futuristic robot, or you’ve received Elon Musk’s neural link or you’ve just opted in and had jet GPT or whatever else installed in your brain are our most valuable resources, our time attention, energy and money are finite. I don’t have an inexhaustible amount of attention. I only have the same amount of time that you do. And unless you’re Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk or whoever else, you have a finite amount of money, and we must make good decisions about how we allocate those things. And we’re not doing that. We’re just not doing it. It’s not happening. What are you giving yours to how are you doing with this?
I know it’s not easy, requires a lot of work. You need to figure out what hours are and need to figure out what’s at the top, what’s at the bottom and figure out what I’m going to spend my money on. What I’m not going to, and the others. Are you freely handing your attention to other people? Because they’re telling you, it’s where you should put it? I’m focused on this because because I want to signal how virtuous I am. Is that what we’re doing? Yeah, I’m gonna fly this flag. Because that’s what good people do. I’m gonna post this square on my social media, because that’s what good people do. That’s what righteous good people on the right side of history are done. Okay. All right. I don’t know, maybe. Here’s how it should go. From my perspective. Number one, we must tend to our physical health, our physical, making sure that my body is as strong as it possibly can be. How are we doing in that area?
Speaker 1 11:12
Why weren’t we Wow,
george grombacher 11:15
you think that a lot of us are living paycheck to paycheck? Oh, buddy. We’re getting smoked. Smoked. Number one, physical health. Take care of your body, for God’s sakes. Number two, your financial health. Gotta have your money in order. Otherwise, you’re getting crushed, which is the whole point of this 78% living paycheck paycheck means you broke inches away from financial disaster if you’re not already there. Mama saw sucks. Been there? Number three, your relationships. You’re married? Have a good relationship with your Pope with with your folks with your parents? I don’t know. Got kids? How’s your relationship with them? How are they doing? Are you able to support them? Because here’s the thing about the first two is when you’re physically strong and financially strong, that’s going to make you more available to be an advocate and champion for those that you care about. And who rely on you. If you’re sick, that tired, broke, you’re not any good to anybody. harsh but true. True. So that’s a good starting point. Now, if you’re a religious person, and the spiritual practice, maybe you could put your relationship with God. It’s interchangeable. Wherever you want, you decide. That’s the whole point of this. And I’ll tell you what I think but I want you to think about what you think I’m not interested in putting my values on you. I’m interested in you putting your values on you because it’s because they’re your values. Not because you saw somebody doing something on social media or because somebody on television told you what was important or whatever. Most of it’s BS. Most of it is BS. It’s got nothing to do with you. Tell you what, though. Once you get everything else squared away, get those things squared away, then you can move on to micro aggressions. Go tackle those. Stop letting others dictate to you what matters. You need to determine what matters in your life. Then focus your resources on making those things as strong as you can. Now and again, when 70% of us are broke living paycheck to paycheck, it’s not happening when the majority of us are obese not happening. Mmm, that song Tesla’s song signs. Awesome. Awesome song.
Speaker 1 14:05
Dun dun dun dun dun dun don’t don’t
george grombacher 14:11
sound says long hair pre cut people need not apply. Then it goes on to say do this. Don’t do that. Can’t you read the Sans? Yeah. Everybody’s always telling you what to do. Do this Don’t do that. To read the sign. Supposed to be doing this fall in line. No. song ends like this says so I’ve got me a pen and a paper and I’m I made up my own little sign that said thank you, Lola, for thinking about me. I’m allowed and doing mine. You decide what matters? Then start focusing on what matters is a super cheesy internet meme going around saying disappear for six months. 12 months come back unrecognizable become unrecognizable, super cheesy, but it’s solid advice. Same put your blinders on. Get off, it’s stupid social media, whatever else. Focus on you. Square yourself away, get your shit together, stop worrying or thinking about what Grifters want you to think about worry about. Life is way too short. Your prayers are too important. You’re too important. It’s all right here for you. We’re living in the greatest time the greatest place it’s ever bad. That’s reality. Yet we’re wasting it. We’re squandering it. We’re broke. We’re overweight. Because we’re paying attention to people we shouldn’t be append attention to you decide what’s most important to you. For that reminder, never gonna be anybody more interested in your financial success than you are. act accordingly. Thanks, love Veronica for the letter. Appreciate it.
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