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Doing What You Can With What You've Got
Episode 2918th June 2021 • The Daily Podcast with Jonathan Doyle • Jonathan Doyle
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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.

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Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you here for the daily podcast,

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doing a video version this time.

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So I'm not sure where I'm going to put it, but some of you may see the video.

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Some of you will be listening to the audio either way.

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Welcome aboard new listeners, regular listeners.

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Welcome back today.

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I want to share with you a really good quote from haitch G Wells HG Wells of

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course wrote the famous radio play.

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War of the worlds that kind of almost sent part of the planet insane.

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Cause huge numbers of people thought that the radio play

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was actually a news broadcast.

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And um, yeah, look it up.

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It's really interesting moment in American history, particularly.

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So here's what HG Wells has to say for us today or to us today.

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He says what really matters is what you do with what you have.

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What really matters is what you do with what you have,

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think about it for a moment.

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Uh, I think we spend a huge amount of time in life.

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Some of us do perhaps many of us wishing that we were significantly different.

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There's kind of this internal piece of software.

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That's like, well, if I had this or if I looked this way, then my life

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would be just the way I want it.

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Let's be honest.

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Life is never going to be perfect.

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You are never going to get to a place where it is utterly.

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Just exactly how you want it, what you will do.

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Is seasons often, maybe long seasons where things are going really well.

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And we enjoy those, but this side of heaven, life's never

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going to be absolutely perfect.

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So we don't want to spend too much time wishing and creating a bizarre

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cognitive fantasy reality about how things will be so much better.

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If we were different.

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I'm about five foot.

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Karen says I'm shrinking as I get older, but, uh, I never gonna play professional

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basketball and I could spend a huge amount of time wishing that I had

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different genetics, but I truly don't.

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So there comes a point where we have to accept the package that we're getting.

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And then roll with it.

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You would be amazed at how many people that we assume have

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everything and just perfect.

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And if we had what they had, we would be incredibly happy.

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There's a fair bit of data that a lot of supermodels struggle massively with.

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Self-esteem uh, you can look that up, but basically we assume that they are

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absolutely a peace with themselves and everything's perfect, but you'd

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be surprised the level of insecurity.

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That can affect so many people that we assume would not struggle with it at all.

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You know, recently I was coaching a senior executive who looks

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after a sector of the economy.

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That's worth about $160 billion.

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And I was coaching them, not so much on strategy.

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I was coaching them on their own challenges and struggles with

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something called imposter syndrome.

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This was a person at the top of their game with incredible abilities, great

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charisma who'd got there because they deserve to be there, but was utterly

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convinced that they were inadequate and that they were going to be found out.

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So please, if you take one thing from this short message today, do

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not assume for a second that all the people that you see out there and we

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assume have everything figured out.

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Uh, completely happy because they're not so back to HG Wells, what really

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matters is what you do with what you have.

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So I want you to get a mindset starting to die, that this is it.

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This is what you got.

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Now you can tweak it the edges.

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So everyone knows.

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I do a huge amount of training.

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I love keeping fit.

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I'm always reading.

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I'm always trying to improve.

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But I'm accepting the, the basic package.

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Definitely didn't do it when I was younger.

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Maybe that's why I spent so many years talking to 40,000 young

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people a year because I wanted to get this message through.

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We've got to do what we can with what we've got.

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We've got to do what we can with what we.

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We've got to improve what we have.

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We've got to improve on the basic package and not spend a second

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wishing that we were somebody else.

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You know, I've often shared this when I was doing my first, my second

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masters in philosophical anthropology.

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I was really struck by a quote from the middle ages,

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philosopher, John DUNS SCOTUS.

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And he said, every human comparisons.

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Is essentially diabolical by which you mean satanic.

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He said that every way that we compare ourselves to somebody else is satanic.

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It's evil.

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Why?

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Because he believed that, you know, God, the universe creates us

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and we made this particular way.

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And if we spend our time wishing we were someone else, he said,

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it's basically in gratitude.

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It's basically evil.

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Now you don't know how far you want to take this, but you get the

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point that he's trying to make.

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You know, it'd be a bit like me with my kids.

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If my kids came to me every day and said, you know what, dad, we're

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really disappointed because you know, we, if we'd had different parents,

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you know, or if we were more like this person we'd be much happier.

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I mean, I would just be, that's very ungrateful.

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You're my kids.

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This is what I had.

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This is what we gave you.

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So gratitude is the appropriate response to the package of what we've got.

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Okay.

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Now, as I've said, it doesn't mean that we stay exactly the same

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course we grow and we work on stuff, but let's not spend another one.

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We should, we were someone else let's do what HG Wells says.

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What really matters is what you, my friend do with what you have.

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Okay.

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I hope that's useful.

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Wherever you're listening to this, please make sure you've subscribed.

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You can become a patron on Patrion, but either way, I hope this is a

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blessing to you, and I'm going to have another message for you very soon.

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