Win Today

#188 | 3 Feet Away From Gold: How To Capitalize On Your Fortune

• Season 5

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The episode invites listeners to reevaluate their pursuit of goals, emphasizing that most failures occur right before a breakthrough. With inspiration drawn from historical figures and personal anecdotes, the discussion highlights the importance of perseverance, belief in oneself, and the discipline required to stay committed to one's dreams.

• Exploring the idea of giving up just before success 
• Insights from the Aspire Tour and notable speakers 
• The story of R.U. Darby and "Three Feet from Gold" 
• Intertwining the lives and challenges of famous figures 
• Importance of unshakable belief and evidence of progress 
• Call to join the Unshakeable Discipline Mastermind Group for community support

Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
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Speaker 1:

You are one year away from people saying that you got lucky, which means that you can make this an absolutely transformational year in 2025 if you just keep the foot on the gas pedal, no matter what. I don't want any of you to stop doing what you're doing, especially the thing that you feel so connected to in your heart, because maybe you don't have enough likes, maybe you don't have you, just it's not growing as fast as you thought. Quite frankly, I thought I was already gonna have about 30 or so people in my group by now. We're not there yet yet. Keyword yet is there any thought of giving up? Absolutely not. Are there some doubts that creep in? Yes, absolutely. We'll be fully transparent about that. There are some doubts. Maybe it's not right, but the conversation with that voice is then brought back to the evidence. Look at how far we've come. Look at how far you've come. Look at how far you've come. What are you three feet away from in this life? You have all of the tools and ability to get there. You have everything you already need to push to those additional three feet. It might take a week, it might take a year. It might take a week, it might take a year. It might take a couple years, but don't stop, especially if it's something that's so connected to your heart.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Wednesday podcast, a weekly resource thoughtfully crafted to help people build and refine discipline, accomplish their goals, fortify their mindsets and be of service to somebody in this world. My name is Ryan Cass and I am mindsets and be of service to somebody in this world. My name is Ryan Cass and I am your host, and it is my mission and commitment to deliver amazing episodes to you every week where you will learn from myself or a renowned expert in their field. We love helping people win in every aspect of their lives, and you can help us win by sharing the show with somebody that you believe will benefit from it, subscribing and leaving a rating and review. We believe that everybody in this world is meant to do something great with their lives, and we're here to help play a role in that. Thank you for tuning in and let's win today.

Speaker 1:

What if you were only three feet away from a dream and you gave up? What if you had gone so far to then discover that you were only three feet away from accomplishing everything that you'd ever dreamed of? Here's a quote for you Before success comes to most people, they are sure to meet with much temporary defeat and perhaps some failure. When faced with defeat, the easiest and most logical thing to do is quit. That is exactly what the majority of people do. More than 500 of the most successful people America has ever known told the author about their greatest success, came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.

Speaker 1:

Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one up when success is within reach. It takes great delight in tripping one up when success is almost within reach. That is from Think and Grow Rich, a book that many of you are likely familiar with and one of the oldest books that still to this day, over five decades later, is often referenced in inspirational speeches all over the world. And teachings about how to optimize your mindset, how to push past temporary obstacles, how to avoid the Q word. I don't even like saying it unless I'm bringing up a quote because, quite frankly, don't believe in it, especially when it comes to pursuing your dreams. If it's really that important to you, it's only a matter of time. If it's really that important to you, it's only a matter of time, it's a matter of when. It's never a matter of if. It's simply a matter of when there's a story behind the quote that I just mentioned and being three feet away from your dreams, which we'll get to. But where this came up was a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 1:

I was at the Aspire Tour Conference in Charlotte, north Carolina, with my girlfriend and one of my best friends, and it was really neat. The opening speakers came out and shared a story about going all in, about going all in, and one of the opening speakers was on American Idol and shared his what was an onstage failure that he had practiced a song thousands of times and knew this thing backwards. Could have sang it backwards if he wanted to and it came time to get on stage. Could have sang it backwards if he wanted to and it came time to get on stage on American Idol and there's millions of viewers and he forgets the lyrics. So something he had sang thousands of times, he forgets the lyrics. And what does he do in that moment? He rolls with it. He starts singing gibberish for a few lines and makes it look like that was part of the song. Not literally gibberish, as in he's not saying real words. But he just started rolling with whatever came out of his mouth and kept his composure, kept going and has turned out to be a huge reality TV star. And another woman came up with him and they really set the stage for the day about going all in, no matter what happens, no matter the circumstances, no matter if you forget the lyrics, no matter if you get turned down. You're all in on your dreams.

Speaker 1:

It was really neat to be at this tour because we got to hear from some of the most renowned people in the personal development space and a few that are often talked about on this podcast, those being Ed Milet and David Goggins, two of my absolute favorites, especially Ed Milet. I love to model my speaking after him and we so happen to have very similar stories and motivation. It was really cool to hear from him in person and just experience his energy live, after watching literally every keynote he's given on YouTube or pretty close to literally damn near every single one, and then seeing it really inspiring. And then David Goggins, watching a ton of his videos, just as I'm sure many of you have. Seeing him in person and seeing the energy live and up close was nothing short of inspiring, and all of those folks that were on stage, including Ed Milet, david Goggins, cody Sanchez, another really big name.

Speaker 1:

There's a common thread, that there's many common threads, but one that links them is that they all faced very unique obstacles that could have justified quitting the Q word. They could have very easily justified no longer pursuing their path, and we may never have got to read Can't Hurt Me or Never Finished, or heard about the power of one more from Ed Milet that we're one day away, one more rep away from our greatest dreams. One more rep away from our greatest dreams. Ed Milet talks about how in his earliest days, having the power and water shut off in his apartment and him and his now wife had to go and shower in the community pool area in the apartment. Imagine if he gave up Some of the most notable names that we talk about globally. What if they gave up when they were three feet away from their dream? So what is this three feet away analogy and rather story. And going back to the opener at the Aspire Tour in Think and Grow Rich, which I just pulled a story from, there's a story right there at the very beginning, about being three feet away from your dream.

Speaker 1:

So back in the days of gold, back in the heavy gold mining days in the US, there was a gentleman by the name of RU Darby who later became one of the most successful life insurance agents in the country and eventually made millions. His uncle had stumbled upon a mine in which they believed that they were about to strike it rich. He saw a shining ore out of this mine. He covered it up to make sure no one knew that there's gold here and traced his steps back to his home, made some phone calls to Darby his nephew being one of them that you've got to get to Colorado, we're going to strike it rich. We've got to buy all of this heavy machinery and equipment because we've got our mind we're going to get all the gold out there and never have to work another day in our lives.

Speaker 1:

So they spend tens of thousands of dollars in machinery and back in the early 1900s tens of thousands of dollars is equivalent to probably now hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, so significant investment. And they start digging and they get excited because they found the shiny ore and just a little bit, just a little bit, and got to experience a little quick high, got a quick win, not millions, but they definitely believed that they were onto something. They had some evidence that this is going to be great. So, after days and weeks of digging, they come to believe that maybe this isn't the gold mine that we thought it was. We've been digging tirelessly, working tirelessly with this machinery, and we're coming up on nothing. Therefore, maybe it was just a pipe dream, maybe this isn't the spot.

Speaker 1:

And they were frustrated Darby's uncle's frustrated and decided you know what, maybe this isn't it. This is silly. We're wasting our time. Now we're giving up this stupid equipment. Maybe it's the equipment's fault. And they sold the equipment for a few hundred dollars to a gentleman that didn't have much capital but he believed. And what did he do? He leveraged some relationships, he built an army of who's who, not how and he found an engineer to go get a second look at this ore. And this engineer, unbeknownst to Darby and his nephew or his uncle rather, they just didn't know where the fault lines were and this engineer showed this new gentleman who just bought this equipment for a few hundred dollars. Oh yeah, no, we're actually really, really, really close. It's just these guys before you didn't know how the fault lines worked. So, sure enough, this guy that just spent a few hundred dollars on equipment from the folks that gave up on a dream ended up striking gold to the millions, multi-millions, made an absolute fortune and only had to dig for three feet.

Speaker 1:

Three feet Now. Imagine what Darby and his uncle are thinking when they find out about this that they were three feet away from a dream. Imagine getting so close to a finish line and then stopping just turning around. Maybe this isn't for me. Imagine running a marathon and you've got a time goal. You realize that, ah, I don't think I'm going to be able to hit it, and you stop at mile 24, 2.2 miles away, like I don't think I could push those other 2.2. That's crazy. What are you three feet away from in your life? Imagine this I'm listening to a book right now about Steve Jobs, who is the founder of Apple You're probably listening to right now that we use day in and day out may not have ever existed.

Speaker 1:

Steve Jobs was fired from Apple. He got fired from his own company. Imagine that Now. He was very intense. What Steve saw, not many others saw, but he was damned if he was going to give up and even if that was at the cost of a few people getting ran over. Now I'm going to stick more to the fact that he believed in himself and this product and this vision so much. I don't agree with how he treated some folks, but his sense of belief was unshakable. So imagine if he stopped after getting fired from Apple. A lot of the tension that people experienced there was because people just didn't see what he saw. It took a long time for them to understand what Steve could understand and see in seconds, and that was part of the disconnect.

Speaker 1:

Here's another one. Many of you are likely Harry Potter fans, but even if you're not, you know exactly who Harry Potter is and you know that there's multiple books. And you know who JK Rowling is. Here's what you might not know about JK Rowling Her idea of Harry Potter and the story. And now the theme park, the movies. Everything was turned down by several publishers. They thought the idea was silly. Now tens of millions of copies of that book has been sold. There's a theme park. Why? Because she was unshakable and didn't stop when she was three feet away from gold. Going back to Apple, most valuable company in the world worth over $3 trillion, could have got stopped three feet away from gold.

Speaker 1:

Michael Jordan not many people know that he got cut from his high school basketball team. Greatest basketball player of all time, six-time NBA champion, sponsored by Nike, has his own clothing brand that brings in, I believe, $100 million a year now. Brand that brings in, I believe, $100 million a year now. Just the Jordan brand. Another thing that people, even if you don't love basketball or follow basketball everybody knows Michael Jordan. Everybody knows the Jordan logo.

Speaker 1:

What if he thought that basketball wasn't for him after he got cut wasn't for him after he got cut? Would the Jordan brand exist? Would the greatest basketball player of all time be known by the entire world, even by people that don't know and follow basketball? Disney Walt Disney was told he lacked imagination and nobody would fall for some mouse. Silly. Who would fall for some mouse and think that this mouse is going to be what unites the world and brings people together? Disney did. Did he give up? No, was he three feet away from gold when people told him this is silly? Yeah, so imagine that, that the most notable names in the world, some of the most iconic brands in the world, were faced, were encountered, were confronted when they were three feet away from gold and imagine what would have happened if they would have been convinced that maybe the idea is not good enough, maybe we just don't have it. What does it come down to? Unshakable belief. Belief in themselves and their product, or what they had to offer, their story, their book, whatever the case may be, the scoreboard didn't matter to them.

Speaker 1:

Discipline is a key component of this podcast and a key thing that we preach. We view discipline as the fuel to help you create the life that you ultimately desire, and discipline being the fuel that gets your habits and systems in check so that you can actually accomplish your goals. If you're looking to level up in 2025, I am happy to be a part of that and encourage you to join the Unshakable Discipline Mastermind Group. This has been my baby for a couple years and we're finally launching it here in 2025. The group consists of a self-paced course that teaches you how to form core habits and mindset that will allow you to accomplish your goals. A daily accountability channel to keep you on track, motivated and in alignment with our members, and weekly mastermind sessions where you're going to learn from either myself or a suite of renowned guests many who have been on the podcast that are going to share pieces of their winning playbooks directly with you. I've learned that being a part of groups over the years has helped propel me to so many new levels in life.

Speaker 1:

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, then go together, and it's my wish that the Unshakable Crew is a choice that makes sense for you in 2025. We are growing up to 100 members this year and have limited time founding member pricing for 12 more folks before we permanently increase pricing to $97 a month. You can get in now for $67 a month, locked in for life, and be a part of the adventure that we're creating with our members. If you're somebody that craves discipline, seeks it or wants it this year, and you're really committed to making lasting changes in your life and being around others that are committed to winning and serving the world and sharing what they learn with others so that we make this world a better place, then join the Unshakeable crew. Go to unshakabledisciplinecom and you can sign up. It is also in the show notes Unshakeable shake, as in milkshake unshakabledisciplinecom, and we're excited to have you in 2025.

Speaker 1:

Let's go Meaning that, if you look at the scoreboard, with Steve Jobs getting fired from Apple when they were developing the iPhone. Then Google came out with Android. There were antitrust suits. He was losing on the scoreboard. If you look at that, you get fired. That's a huge loss to some people. The scoreboard shows damn, the other team is up. Jk Rowling Harry Potter scoreboard. Your idea is silly. No one's going to buy this Harry Potter. What the heck is? That Didn't matter. The scoreboard doesn't matter. What matters is what you believe you can achieve and what you're capable of, and what you believe that this can do to benefit the world. How can this benefit people? The hell with the scoreboard from other people. You're the captain of the ship. I'm fired up.

Speaker 1:

I think about what I'm three feet away from, and here's what I believe. I'm three feet away from taking this podcast and the Unshakable Discipline Mastermind Group and the Unshakable Crew full-time. I'm three feet away from sitting directly across from some of the most notable people in the world, creating powerful conversations face-to-face, in person, the Win Today podcast eventually becoming in person with an incredible studio. I'm three feet away from captivating tens of thousands of people every year with keynote speeches. I'm three feet away from eventually publishing a book that captures all of these experiences and knowledge into a tangible product that people can hold on to for decades. I'm three feet away from creating a lasting legacy for my family. I'm three feet away from converting this dream that has been on the side of my corporate career into what I get to do every day, all day. Three feet away from it, three feet away from it. It, three feet away from it. Three feet away from it. Why do I believe that One? Because I look at the one, because it's what's in my heart. It's what drives me day in and day out. It's the thing that I am most certain about in this life. It's the purpose that I'm most clear on. This is why the big man has me here, and I'm fully convinced about that. No doubt in my mind. Why do I believe I'm three feet away? The evidence is too strong to suggest otherwise. Wynn today is now in the top 2% of globally downloaded podcasts.

Speaker 1:

Four years ago, this was nothing. This was me and a laptop and no mic, no light, not being a great interviewer. This was nothing. Here we are now. The online course was nothing. Two years ago, it was a dream. I've been writing about it for years and, quite frankly, played a little scared for a while. What if no one buys it? Here we are now. Now it's a product. Now there's 10 people enrolled in the mastermind group.

Speaker 1:

What evidence do you have? Four years ago more than four years ago, but around that time frame I launched this because I thought I was going to lose my dad, genuinely thought I was going to lose my dad. His birthday is August 1st. I launched one day on July 31st 2018, with nothing but a passion project and a desire to keep my dad around for one more day, and that's led to several paid speaking engagements, several podcast opportunities. It's led to dozens of people, many of who I don't even know, reaching out letting me know how a talk impacted them, how it's changed their life, how these podcast episodes are helping them. How these podcast episodes have helped them in their recovery journeys. How it's helped them with moving past therapy. How it's helped them push their body, mind and spirit further and harder than they ever have running marathons, running ultra marathons, running 5Ks, 10ks, pushing their body and mind to the limit that they didn't believe possible. How this mastermind group is helping people stay committed to what they told their family that they struggled with for years.

Speaker 1:

Sure, I could look at the metrics and see that I don't have millions of likes and downloads and tens of thousands of people commenting on my things like the biggest names do. But I've got enough evidence to support that we're on to something here and you likely have more evidence than you believe you do. Sometimes we don't look back and we don't look back at the evidence that we have. How many times has somebody complimented you on your abilities? Or let's say that you're wanting to launch your own podcast? Or you've got a podcast and it's growing right now. You've got dreams of it becoming a big thing, but you're not so sure. How many times have people reached out and said man, that was a great episode. Keep them coming. That is all the evidence you need. Someone believes in you and you believe in your vision and mission, or else you wouldn't put this stuff out there.

Speaker 1:

What evidence do you have? Let's look at it without any sort of quantifiable figure. What evidence do you have in terms of who were you one year ago today, two years ago, three years ago, versus who are you now? What differences have you made? What improvements have you made? Rather, have you dropped some bad habits? Do you stay more focused? Do you see that, oh, you know what. I'm actually staying more committed to the things that I wrote down.

Speaker 1:

It's so often to lose sight of the evidence we have, because we often look at the external figures we look at. Well, this guy's got a hundred likes and 5,000 downloads per episode. He's got it more figured out. You don't know that. You know one thing I've come to find after interviewing some of these big names and building relationships with them they ask the same questions we do and they have the same doubts that we do. They have the same doubts that we do. They have the same internal battles. Most of the time. The only differences or rather one of the differences can be is that they just don't stop.

Speaker 1:

I say I'm three feet away, and that three feet away might be a year from now, it might be five years from now, it might be 10 years from now, but those things I'm three feet away from, mark my words will absolutely happen. This will become a full-time, unshakable discipline in the mastermind groups, whether it stays that name or it evolves into something completely different that I don't know about yet, will change thousands of lives per year and will be what I'm doing full time. I'll be on countless stages all over the country, maybe even internationally, sharing the message of how goal setting and being clear on what you want and building systems and unshakable discipline is the key to creating anything that you want in this life. And I'm so glad this is on video because and just along with all the other lessons because this is stuff that I'm so excited to share whenever we get three feet closer.

Speaker 1:

Sahil Bloom just released his book the Five Types of Wealth, and we're going to have him on our book club next week, so if you're listening to this and would like to participate in that, please let me know. But he said something at the beginning of the year that hit my heart. You are one year away from people saying that you got lucky. You are one year away from people saying that you got lucky, which means that you can make this an absolutely transformational year in 2025 if you just keep the foot on the gas pedal, no matter what. I don't want any of you to stop doing what you're doing, especially the thing that you feel so connected to in your heart, because maybe you don't have enough likes, maybe you don't have, you're just it's not growing as fast as you thought. Quite frankly, I thought I was already going to have about 30 or so people in my group by now.

Speaker 1:

We're not there yet Yet.

Speaker 1:

Keyword yet.

Speaker 1:

Is there any thought of giving up?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely not.

Speaker 1:

Are there some doubts that creep in? Yes, absolutely. We'll be fully transparent about that. There are some doubts. Maybe it's not right, but the conversation with that voice is then brought back to the evidence. Look at how far we've come. Look at how far you've come. Look at how far you've come.

Speaker 1:

What are you three feet away from in this life?

Speaker 1:

You have all of the tools and ability to get there. You have everything you already need to push to those additional three feet. It might take a week, it might take a year, it might take a couple years, but don't stop, especially if it's something that's so connected to your heart. The only person that I don't want you to meet in this life just like I don't want to meet this person either the only person I don't want you to meet is the person that you could have become. I believe that's the only thing to be fearful of in this life is meeting the person you could have become. Because you stopped, because you didn't believe that you had the tools. You have the tools. You didn't believe you have the ability. People like Tim Cook, mj, jk, disney yes, they had some brilliance in their minds, but if you put that away for a minute, if you boil it down to the simplest, simplest principle, they didn't stop and they had unshakable belief, and that is absolutely essential to pushing past these next three feet and winning today. Thanks so much, thank you.

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