Win Today

#228 | [WT Remix] Play A Bigger Game In 2026 Ft. Markus Kaulius

• Ryan A. Cass • Season 5

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SPEAKER_02:

But my number one tip in life is to start taking action today. Don't wait for tomorrow. The opportunities of today might be gone to you. The opportunities today are the opportunities that you're supposed to step into. And there is so much you will learn once you start taking action. I can't more highly recommend you just start putting one foot in front of the other. One of the things I teach people constantly, especially entrepreneurs, is that I will learn 90% of what I need to know on the path.

SPEAKER_00:

Two hard things. Help one person. Be good and do good. Live a life of discipline, and you will always win. You have all the tools that you need to succeed. Welcome to Win Today. Thank you so much for tuning in. My name is Ryan Cass, and I am your host. My purpose in this world is to help push people further and harder than they believe possible and become unshakable in what matters most to them in their lives. Every week, you're gonna learn from either myself or renowned expert in their field, and we're gonna unveil pieces of our playbook to help you win today. Please, if you love the show, subscribe and share it with somebody that will benefit from it. Let's dig in. Welcome everybody. We've got a big time special this week. We've got a return of one of my favorite episodes with my mentor, Marcus Collius, and this is about his book and more so his brand, Play a Bigger Game, Seven Universal Principles to Experience True Fulfillment and Win at Life. You're gonna see here that Marcus's energy is absolutely off the charts. And as we're getting ready to wrap up 2025 and go into 2026, this is the time where people are starting to evaluate the year and look at what they want 2026 to look like. And I believe that Marcus is a beacon for what it looks like to design and live an ideal life, hence why this one is coming back for a remix as we enter the new year. I believe what's going to stand out beyond Marcus's energy is that a lot of what his life and career resembles is taking messy action. So you heard in the beginning that he learns ninety percent of what he needs to do when he's on the job or once he's already committed to something. And I believe that we can often be waiting for the perfect step, the perfect opportunities for X, Y, and Z to take place before we actually do something. And then what do we do? We either don't take action, or at times we wish that we took it faster, or we regret the fact that we waited so long. So with that, allow Marcus to help positively shape you and influence a bigger game, a bigger version of you in 2026 and win today. Thank you. My favorite thing to understand about high performers is the genesis of why they do what they do. But first, a simple search on Google. We search your name, we can see the Guinness World Record, and a lot of really cool things. But I have a sense that if someone asked you who you are, you would identify yourself by what you do to help others. And that's really what lights you up. What is it that you would say makes you human, just like the rest of us?

SPEAKER_02:

I love that, brother. Thank you. And I really appreciate what you're saying because it's the truth. What lights me up is not, oh, here's what I got to do in my life, here's the accomplishments. Man, when people read my resume, I'm always like, holy smokes, are they talking about me? That's wild. Uh but what really gets me excited is helping others achieve, helping others achieve their goals, lifting them up, aha moments, that just something that broke through to somebody. So, what really makes me human is not only how much I want to help humanity, but where I came from. I think my story is the perfect story of if this guy can do it, anybody can do it. In my opinion, in my first 15 years, there was nothing special about me. I didn't have a leg up in any way. We were so poor, we were so poor financially, spiritually, love, just broke, broke in every way. And the fact that I could have taken that life and turned it into what it is today, it's proof that absolutely anybody can do anything they choose to.

SPEAKER_00:

That's beautiful. And what you and I share in common as we were speaking off camera, and you just mentioned it here, that your first 15 years, if we looked at that, then we may not have predicted that you'd be where you're at today. And I believe that one of the most beautiful things about high achievers, it's almost for most of them, it's almost as if the troubling times is like a prerequisite to becoming a high achiever because I have not met a single one that hasn't had something very deep that has driven them. In those early years, and I'll call them the formative years. Did you have this vision of becoming who you are today, or did it evolve over time? I remember growing up in the household that I did where there was the systemic trend of alcoholism. I would always spend time envisioning, like, all right, what am I gonna make my life? And I and I made a promise to myself early on that I'm not gonna carry on this trend. And I had this vision of helping people and doing something in the business world, but I couldn't have painted this exact picture that exists today. So, what did that look like for you?

SPEAKER_02:

Brother, you brought up some beautiful things. Number one, the answer is no. I had no clue what it was gonna look like. All that I cared about was just like you not being here where I was anymore. Just I have to break the curse, all the family curses, all the systemic garbage that it has plagued the colleist name. I just needed to break it. That's all I knew. That's all I cared about. And uh, so that was big. Um the other piece that you brought up that I just want to talk about that I I just I love. Um actually, you know what? I think that one's gonna come up naturally again in a minute. So I'm gonna leave that one. But brother, what I what I love that you and I talked about off camera was when you said, and this is one of my favorite lines that Tony Robbins always talks about, that life is not happening to you, it's happening for you. And the people who achieve great things in this world, it seems like they're the ones who've just figured that out and not just heard it, but really understood it. And so I know this is happening for you, and uh, it happened for me. So I want to I want to make sure anybody listening hears this right now. We have so many, so much garbage, so much baggage in our past, and we go, Marcus, this is the reason why I won't succeed. This is the reason why, how could I? And this is what my friend Ed Milette always says, you know, it's the stuff that we think that disqualifies us, is actually the stuff that qualifies us. Yes, and it's really what you're talking about. This stuff didn't happen to me, it happened for me. We grew up so poor, so that I would learn work ethic, so that I would have something on, you know, that you want to call it a chip on the shoulder. I'm fine with that. It was a chip on my shoulder that said, I will not be this poor, I will not grow up with this kind of pain and pass that on to my kids. I will do what it takes. Being in a house where there wasn't enough love in the house, that changed me into a man that's like, when I have my own house, when I have children, they are gonna receive so much love. My wife is gonna receive too much love. That's the kind of man I decided I was gonna be when I was a child. Now, had I not gone through that stuff, I can confidently say I would not be anything like the man I am today. So, for anyone who hasn't turned that corner yet, I just want to encourage you today. What if just ask this question? What if that stuff you think is all your baggage, your garbage, the stuff that disqualifies you? What if it was the biggest gift you've ever received? Just try to answer that. Try to answer how could that be true? How could it be a gift? And don't just get stuck with no, there's no way, there's no way. Well, if you're gonna say there's no way, then you're right. There's no way. Right. But in any situation, you can say, well, because of a divorce, I I figured out what love was and I made a decision. I won't get divorced. I will do everything I have to do, become who I have to become to not have divorce. There's a million ways you can find the answer to that. And hey, I'd love to help you with that. So reach out to me. Let me help you with that.

SPEAKER_00:

You're living up to what I said at the beginning, just the epitome of energy. And I'm getting this huge dopamine hit right now. Like, if we could have these conversations all day, every day, or I feel like we could we could go for hours right now. And I also share being a huge fan of Ed Milette, and I love what you said. The things that you believe disqualify you are the things that actually qualify you. Yeah. When I go speak, especially to students, and I'll occasionally take a poll. How many of you have come from a broken household or in a household right now that there's something difficult going on, some some form of adversity?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And a lot of hands go up because right around that age, as as you and I know, right around that 15-ish teenage years, can be the times where you're looking at that situation as the worst, and I tell them each of you have a gift that you have no idea how how much this can serve you right now if you simply start looking at it as a gift. And when you flip the script on any sort of adversity in life, you will always, always have a gift. You talked in a recent podcast just on Ed Milette for a minute. Meeting the man, the myth, the legend, interacting with him. What's that been like?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, so I I think we're talking about when I met Tony Robbins. So Tony Robbins, I mean, there's there's the king of the castle. I mean, with all due respect to Ed, Ed's my boy. I love Ed. Even Ed points to Tony as the man. And you know what? I would argue that the next guy on the list, that's Ed. And Tony is gonna run out his time. He's he's moving past a point where, you know, he's ready to pass that torch soon, and Ed's gonna be the guy. Uh, Tony, I've spent the last year and a half. Uh, I've traveled with Tony, I've got to spend so many amazing hours with Tony. But Tony actually started changing my life 30 years ago. I came across Tony's cassettes 30 years ago and he put me on a better path. And he is the guy who talks like you and I are talking, which is whatever you're going through right now. What if you get to see it as a gift? How could you reframe it differently? How can you use it as your superpower? And that's truly what it is. You know, this idea, by the way, everybody who's hearing this and who isn't quite grasping, you know, this idea of what uh I think disqualifies me, it's not just the stuff that's happened to you. It's who you are. You you fill in this blank with like, yeah, but I'm not pretty enough, I'm not skinny enough, I'm not talkative enough, I'm not extroverted enough. You fill in all these things. The argument is, and I fully believe this 100% with all of my heart, there is only one of you. You've been made exactly how you're supposed to be made, how quiet you are, how tall you are, all of those things. Now, should you become a better version of yourself? Absolutely. However, the stuff that you want to hide away from the world that you don't want to showcase is usually the stuff that makes you unique and special, and that the world needs you to step into that because whatever that is, well, yeah, but Marcus, I had problem with drugs, I had problem with alcohol, I had a problem with pornography. Well, guess what? There are literally millions on millions on millions of other people who are going through the same thing who you might only be one step ahead of them and they could learn so much from you, or you're 10 steps ahead of them, and you could radically change their life. But if you're gonna hide away and go, well, no, not this, though. This is too embarrassing. This is what this is what disqualifies me, you're missing the chance to serve so many people and change so many lives.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that you brought up Tony Robbins and corrected me on that. I thought that I had heard on a pod that you were maybe gonna meet Ed Milette, but yes, that it is it is out there that you are a disciple of Mr. Robbins and I love him. And the goal board you're looking at right behind me, when I decided to make the shift in my life and again carry carry on that promise that I'm not gonna be the next one. I started researching people like Tony and I read about everything I could about Tony. I was like, what is it that makes this guy so successful? What's the secret sauce? What's is it is it anything complex? And then I discovered, oh well, he writes his he writes his goals down and makes things clear. I was like, okay, well, if Tony does that, let me give it a shot. Yeah. And I would say that, yeah, Tony has made a massive impact on my life now for over 14 years. And I believe that one of the most profound things about impact in this world is that people think, man, Marcus, you've you've you've touched 10 million lives, and man, I just I maybe maybe if I wait a little bit longer, then I can launch that thing and and launch and then I'll impact X amount of lives. And making an impact in this world really starts with just helping one person. We never really know the impact we're gonna have. You've met Tony Robbins, I haven't, but Tony Robbins has said is has impacted my life. You know, talk through the power of impacting just one life because I think so many people stop themselves thinking, ah, I I need to I need to wait until I can help the masses before I do anything.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, that that is truly human psychology right now. Like, let me become a I gotta just I can't keep working on me for a long time before I step outside. But you're so right. You impact one person and you don't know who that's supposed to be. So you gotta go outside. You gotta that person's gonna be drawn to you, who you are today. And that one life that you impact can have a ripple effect that you could never know. You could never know how many lives that person could change. And you should still feel challenged to become the best version of yourself. But my number one tip in life is to start taking action today. Don't wait for tomorrow. The opportunities of today might be gone tomorrow. The opportunities today are the opportunities that you're supposed to step into. And there is so much you will learn once you start taking action. I can't more highly recommend you just start putting one foot in front of the other. One of the things I teach people constantly, especially entrepreneurs, is that I will learn 90% of what I need to know on the path. That means at most I can learn 10 pieces 10% before I start. So I have to start walking. And you won't believe how quickly you're gonna go, oh my goodness, this is not the right path. I'm just gonna, I gotta deviate. But you wouldn't know it until you start moving. Like any path, you start going down and you're not going down the wide road. You're going into the bush and you hack through some of the bush, and all of a sudden you're like, wow, this is not where I wanted to be going. You hack through another part, and you're like, oh man, look at the gold mine that's behind this one, and you start moving forward on that. And the fact that you're taking action will fill you up in ways that only action can fill you up. That growth, this is part of the life journey that is so critical that not enough people are talking about. It's the growth that I experience every day and it gives me so much energy, that gives me so much fulfillment, allows me to make impact on so many people's lives because people just see me and they're like, this guy is changing, this guy's doing stuff. It's not because I do unbelievable things every single day. I wish that was the case, and I'm sure one day maybe it will be. But the fact that I just change a little bit, 1% every single day, that's what people take notice of. So make your move. Take some action today, become a 1% better version of who you were yesterday, that is going to add up so dramatically. And in a year, you will be a different human being.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. This makes me think of I interviewed the founder and CEO of Spartan, uh, Joe DeSena. Yeah. And one thing that he said that really stood out is you know, the antiquated approach of ready aim fire, where that originated was back in the old war days where you had to load the musket with black powder, and you really had to think through before taking your shot because we didn't have these weapons that we could that we could reload. And not to make this a discussion about war, but the approach, we say, ready, aim, fire. Joe said, No, no, no, no. Fire, ready, aim. Because we live in a world today, especially with the technology that we have at our fingertips. We could take a thousand bad shots. Yes. So good. And go reload and go do the next one and keep going because eventually you're gonna hit that target. Now, I believe there is some some prep work, you don't want to go into anything totally blind, but picking up picking a bit of what you said there, Marcus, that you focus on growth every day. And what I heard is you incorporate intentional growth into your day. I'm curious as to what that looks like. How have you how do you manufacture growth into your day-to-day?

SPEAKER_02:

Brilliant question. So, in many ways, let's start with habits. You have to put habits into your life, you have to make this stuff part of your everyday. If it's not a habit, you're gonna go weeks and you're gonna go, oh shoot, I haven't done anything for growth lately. It's such a key part of my life, and it is a critical part of success. Any successful person you come across, this is the probably one of the number one things you're gonna find that they have in common is we create habits and and we dump bad habits that are gonna hold us back. So, for me personally, there's a few things that I'm going to grow every single day for the rest of my life. One is in my health. So, what do I have to do to improve my health every single day? Well, I gotta get some exercise. And by the way, for anybody who's like, this is the only type of exercise, let me help you turn that person off. Don't listen to that person ever again. They're just trying to get your attention on social media. There are a billion ways to get your exercise in. Yeah, some are gonna be more uh beneficial than others, but what's most important is that you get some exercise in. Get your body moving. We are designed to move. All the bad stuff in life comes from us being sedentary. So get moving every single day. So I get my workouts in. Plus, what am I consuming? What data am I putting into my mouth? I look at food as data. What is it telling my body? What is it telling my mind? The food that I consume, I'm telling my body and mind, I'm freaking Michael Jordan. You better be ready to dominate this world. I need to show up as a 10 out of 10 every day, or I'm missing opportunities to impact lives. So when I eat, I'm eating so that my body's going to be at its best. My mind's going to be at its best. My digestion, my energy, all these things are critical. And then the most simple way to manufacture it, start listening to more podcasts, start reading more books. And if you don't like reading, I know there's so many people like, ah, reading. Audible books are awesome. And if you are on Amazon Prime, you get a free book every single month. Like, there's no excuses here, people. If you have 20 minutes a day in the car, you can be listening to a book. You will read a book every week to two weeks. That's massive. As opposed to just listening to music or talk radio or other garbage that doesn't benefit you. It's just entertainment value, which I get. There's a point. Hey, you need some entertainment value. But my quickest argument would be oh, you really need that one? Just out of curiosity, how much Netflix do you consume every day? I don't think anybody needs six hours of entertainment value every day. So you can drop 20 minutes, give me 20 minutes of a book, and now you're gonna start to change your life.

SPEAKER_00:

I listened to you on a podcast recently with Josh Cadillac, and he asked you an interesting question about what do you believe is the biggest opportunity in the market right now? And your response was right along those lines that it is fairly easy to stand out in the world today because the majority of people are consuming non-value added information.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

And even if you commit to 20 minutes, as you said, of consuming valuable information, whether it's an audible book or a podcast, and doing that every day or almost every day, you're going to set yourself so far ahead of the majority of the pack, and it's and it's not rocket science. And here's what I want to know is you said you need to show up as a 10 out of 10 every day. And I love that. Now, you and I are humans, I'd be willing to bet there's days where internally you feel like a two out of ten. Maybe a three, maybe a one out of ten, maybe a zero out of ten. But I also am willing to bet that that doesn't matter because you're gonna push past that. So on the days that you feel like a two, but the standard is a ten, what do you do to bridge that gap?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, fantastic question. And I want to come back to the opportunity thing in a moment, but this idea of not feeling perfect every day, yeah, nobody's gonna feel perfect every day. So make sure you listen to that, everybody. This is not about uh no, no, no, now it's 10 out of 10 every day. No, it doesn't work like that. We're human, stuff happens, but you know what's wild? Out of 365 days a year, if you were to have 50 crummy days, 50 days where you didn't show up at your best, do you know what that would look like on a scorecard? You'd still have an A. That's 50 days. So you can give yourself some grace. Now, I'm not saying I take those 50 days off. Some of those days, I give myself the grace to go, you know what? I am going to rest today because clearly my body needs some rest. But more often than not, if I'm waking up and I'm not feeling my best, then I'm just a little bit off. So if I'm being honest with you, I don't experience twos and threes anymore, which is really nice because my average is so high, it's brought up my average even for my crappy days. So to me, when I'm feeling like a six or seven, it feels like a one or two because I'm used to 10. So on that six or seven days, that is when I challenge myself. Because listen, anybody can have an unbelievable stellar day if you're waking up a 10 out of 10. Oh, I got the energy, I got this. Okay, is there a story to tell there? There really isn't. But the guy who felt like a six or seven or a one or two, but then performed at a 10. Now there's a story, there's a memory. So one of my favorite things to do when people are like, but Marcus, I don't feel like working out all the time. What do what do you do? Okay, so on those days when I'm like, today is just not the day for working out, that's when I go, all right, Marcus, let's go, buddy. This is the day. Show me what you're made of. Set a new record, set a new standard, tell a story. Make sure you're doing something so that you have a story to tell later. Those are my favorite workouts because I push and I push and I have to find new gears. I'm like, bro, you gotta find some more heart. There has to be more heart in there. And when I push and I actually set a PR on that day, bro, that's a story to tell. And now I go, man, I am a freaking animal. I thought this was my level. I'm actually up here, bro. This is not arrogance speaking. This is confidence building every day in who I am and who I'm going to be tomorrow, so that I can show up tomorrow going, man. I know what I did yesterday. I don't even have to tell the story. I'm telling the story to myself. And it's a reminder. We need these stories, by the way. We all have so many stories. If you said, hey, Ryan, why are you a failure? Why might you fail in life? We've all got those stories. Oh, well, let me tell you, man. I did this, this, this, and this. Ah, what a piece of crap. We've all got those stories. So, how about building some stories on the other side? Marcus, why are you gonna win today? You know what? Yesterday I didn't feel like a winner and I freaking dominated. I got a PR, I put in the work, I showed up. Today I'm gonna succeed because of boom, boom, boom, boom. Give yourself the argument. Whatever you focus on, that is what is going to happen. So if you focus on I'm probably gonna lose today, yeah, my bet is you're gonna lose today. If you walk in going, I'm gonna win today for these reasons, I'll put money on you.

SPEAKER_00:

Man, look at that. You're making me want to jump through the screen and give you a hug. No, go back. You mentioned that I'll ask you the same question as it that I heard you say on Josh's podcast. Yes. What do you see as the biggest opportunity out in the market today?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so listen, you already covered part of it, but I'm gonna give you a slightly different answer. So, number one, I truly believe this is the easiest time in history to stand out, like by far. Because most people, and when I say most, I'm not talking six out of ten people. I truly believe 99 out of 100 people are asleep. They are sleepwalking through their days. Their idea of success is just making it through today. If you are 1% more ambitious than that, you will stand out. Now imagine if every day you put a little effort into that ambition, you try to improve yourself a little bit every single day, you will stand out so fast. As somebody who has owned more than 25 companies, I can tell you when I'm speaking to someone who I'm gonna hire, I'm gonna fire, I'm gonna promote, I'm gonna give a raise to. It to me, it's black and white. It is really simple. The conversation goes like this. Well, I've done the average of what you uh uh asked me to do, so I'd like money. Easy no. Thank you so much. Have a good day. Or, hey, you told me to do this, this, and this. Not only did I do those things, but I did this, this, and this. And here's where I see myself going over the next few years. I'm like, there's your money. Easy peasy. But now, here's the other way I want to answer this question. Right now, has a whole other set of opportunities for you in a downed economy where people are sure it's gonna get worse, and they're probably right. 99.9% of people are living in fear. And what happens when people live in fear? They make really bad decisions and they batten down the hatches and they hide and they hibernate. If you can just stay clear of all the fear and try and have an abundance mindset. Now, it's not just Words, this stuff takes time, this stuff takes work. I'm happy to work with you on it. And there's many different ways you can build that abundance mindset. But if you can do that, you can change the world. Because 99% of everybody else is not doing this. You are going this way, you will stand out. Some of the greatest history, uh, sorry, some of the greatest businesses in history. Most of the greatest businesses in history were started during the worst economic times. And I'll tell you just real quick why that is, because I don't know, yeah, but what the heck am I supposed to do? Bad times about, hey, hey, hey. Remember, we're not doing fear talk. We're going to talk abundance. Here's why. If you are a big established company right now and the and the world is tanking, it's really hard for those big companies to turn. They're so set in their ways. Now a new company comes during this very tough time. They can make moves in this tough time to get far ahead, to stand out. You can do it. Just start with the right mindset and take some action.

SPEAKER_00:

You talked about reading books, and that's one way to experience this abundance mindset. And as you were saying that, specifically with the company, some of the greatest companies today we know started in the darkest of times. Yes. I just finished reading The Obstacle is the way by Ryan Holliday. Love Ryan Holiday. That is a book that I will recommend to everyone because what I'm hearing you say there is even the aren't really obstacles. They are they are those are the those are the qualifiers, those are the gifts just being thrown right at you. And if and if and if people when people can simply shift their vision a little bit, and which takes time and training and a lot of rewiring and a lot of programming in the brain, which is available to anybody. Yes. Is it fair to say you don't believe that bad times exist?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, Ryan, this is really good. This is really good. That's a tough way, it's a tough question to answer. The truth is, I believe at some point you will look at any time in your life and say that was not a bad time. I don't know if I want to be as bold as say bad times don't exist, only because I'm worried that people who are still at level one are just gonna now shut us out. They'll go, ah, these guys are just they're such Looney Tunes. What are you talking about? If you knew what I'm going through right now, you wouldn't say bad days don't exist. I I would agree with what your principle is, which is man, at some point we're gonna look back at that. Like, look at COVID. COVID was such a horrific time in the beginning of COVID, for sure, the scariest, most challenging times in business for me and for everyone else. However, you'll talk to most business people who are still around, who are doing well, saying COVID was kind of awesome. Like, uh with all due respect, I I I wouldn't wish it again. I don't, I wish all those people didn't die, I wish all the mental health didn't uh problems didn't happen. So none of that. But as far as for business goes, where I was freaked out the most, it was phenomenal. So if we could just learn to see that the obstacle is the way, and when an obstacle is in front of us, to not go, ah, this is so scary and what am I gonna do? But we went, hey, this is an opportunity, this is an opportunity to grow. One of my favorite analogies is just to break it down into our school years. How did you get into grade six? Well, you had to go through the tests of grade five. If you don't pass those tests, if you are just like, no, tests, I can't do it, no, well, guess what you're doing next year? Still in grade five. But if you can go, it's okay. I these tests, these challenges are supposed to be in front of me, so I can get to grade six. So when I see that challenge coming at me, I don't go, oh no, no. I go, yes, awesome. I'm about to go to the next grade. This is amazing. And hey, if the challenge is hard enough, I might skip a grade or two. Awesome! And think if you have that kind of attitude, not only are you gonna get through it, but you're gonna get through it with better ideas. You come up with way better ideas if you're this guy going, yeah, I can do this, I can do this, versus, ha ha ha ha, please, no.

SPEAKER_00:

Perhaps a better way, as you were saying that, I was thinking through it. Like, how would I answer that question? And perhaps it's not that bad seasons don't exist or bad times don't exist, but life is full of seasons, good and not so good, or perhaps great and difficult, but all seasons deliver. Oh, really? The good times deliver plenty of great things, and uh the rough times also deliver, and maybe not immediately, but you'll be able to see them later in the future. And when I run, man, I was thinking about you when I was running this morning. Like my my dopamine hit in the morning, especially being a marathoner and getting ready for Boston here in 40 and 40 days, 39 days. You know, there's times where I just put my arms out wide like this, Marcus, and like, man, I'm I'm I'm grateful for this day. And but in specifically what I say is, man, I'm grateful for the for the good times, and I'm grateful for the for the tough times. I'm grateful for the good times to come, and I'm grateful for the tough times to come. Because it's not that I wish for the tough times to come, but I understand that those tough moments are eventually, if not immediately, gonna give me just as much as those good moments. Because it's the tough moments that have you and I here talking today.

SPEAKER_02:

This is so beautiful, Ryan. You are on such a beautiful path, brother. I I'll put money on you becoming somebody absolutely spectacular. Not that you aren't already, and you are gonna impact a lot of lives, man. This is the mindset, this is what we're talking about. I want to add one more point because it's something you and I are kind of dancing around when we're talking about all these tough times. I think one of the words that we should really talk about here is acceptance. And I this is a big difference from the people who see something, uh, some sort of challenge in front of us, and they go the right way or they go the wrong way, and it's acceptance. So the people who go the right way are the ones who go, yeah, this is a challenging time, but it is what it is. Let's find out a solution. But 99 out of 100 people go, ah, this is too difficult of a time. This isn't right, this shouldn't be happening. No, I can't accept this. So, this idea of acceptance, everybody, it doesn't mean you have to agree with it. So, this also absolutely pertains to the baggage that you're carrying with your life. Most people can't move on from it because they don't accept it. So, no matter what has happened to you, you need to accept it. Again, you don't have to agree with it. You don't have to go, oh yeah, it's so great that my parents divorced. Oh, yeah, it's so great that this trauma happened to me. But if you can say, Yeah, it happened to me, and now what am I gonna do about it? You are gonna free yourself to grow to become the person you're supposed to become. So just accepting it, going, This is where we're at. This is the reality of the situation.

SPEAKER_00:

Now what? Amen, brother. We're talking through things that are in your book. You're a newly minted author, play a bigger game. What are let's cover one of the seven principles that are in the book. What's the one that you know? If if if folks only read this one principle and and and I want you to read all seven, folks, but if they if they just skip the one, which one would you want them to see?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh man, that's it. That's really tough. That is like having seven children and being like, you get to save one, which one? Uh I I think I'm gonna reach for choice. I'm such a big believer in choice, and choice changed my life. So the principle around choice is this if you can learn to recognize that absolutely everything that's happening in your life is your choice, that can change your world dramatically. Now, of course, you're right away. The the skeptics are like, what are you talking about? I didn't choose to have that car accident, I didn't choose to have this trauma, I didn't choose this or that. Okay. If I'm right, what if? Just answer me that question. What if I'm right? And what if it was a choice? How could you peel it back to a choice? What would that look like? So much of what we have going on in our lives, it's like, well, okay, my health is failing. I guess 10 years ago I could have started eating healthier and exercising. Okay, there's one choice, that's awesome. And of course, my next question will be well, what would you like to do for the next 10 years? If that was a choice that you could have made, what if it's not too late? What if you made that choice today? Now, what if you looked into every single aspect of your life and said, How can it be true here? What you're gonna find is choice after choice after choice that can change everything today, and that really excites me. And my life has been putting this into practice. I am just a product of these principles, and how I live in this, whenever I face anything, I go, what choice led me here? What choice can get me out of this?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, as I was listening to you and getting ready, and again, just I'm gonna compliment your energy and your radiance again, because it's it's here now that I get to experience it live. Man, I wish that a lot of people get to experience this conversation and pick up the book. And on the principle of choice, I've said for a while now that you know how we choose to show up every day, and even I just said it right there, but how we show up every day. Every day we wake up, every day you wake up, any every day that someone listening wakes up, you have a choice to make on how you're going to show up. I believe it's easy to wake up, let's say it's raining outside, or you had a flat tire, the dog threw up, the kids are screaming. You have a choice in those moments. Okay. This non-ideal event is occurring right now. But you can still choose. You know what? I'm gonna choose to come to this conversation with Marcus and and be joyful. Yeah, and I'm gonna choose to go to the office today and and smile and be happy. And that's the the conversation I usually have with myself in the mornings, that even if something again, going back to the to what we said, good seasons, bad seasons, there's days that things aren't going so hot, but I still tell myself, all right, Ryan, you have a choice right now before you even go into the office, how you're going to show up for people.

SPEAKER_02:

Talk through, talk through, talk through that a little bit more, man. Oh, please. I love this, Ryan. That that is the mindset right there. Everybody, rewind it back three minutes to go over this again. You have the choice every day on how you show up to this world. Now, part of what work I do every single day on myself and the people that I spend my time with, the people who I work with, the people at performance coach, the people in my mastermind, I work on this factor every day. And one of the thoughts I want to put in people's heads is what if you showed up every day as your best self? How much bigger of an impact would you make on all the lives all around? Who would you be saving? Who would you be changing just by showing up as your best self? Now, I want to tell you the next level of thinking here, which really excites me because this is the stuff I was learning as I was growing up and I was growing into this. I was like, yeah, I want to show up as my best self. But Ryan, you and I have already talked about, oh man, but there's so many things that are gonna fight me every day from showing up as my best self. What if I could put in a whole bunch of habits that made it so it wasn't even a choice anymore? Like, let me pre-make the choice so that I'm going to have an amazing day. And on the flip side, what habits can I take out of my life that made it more likely that I was gonna have crappy stuff happen? If you apply that principle, your world, it's inevitable. It's inevitable what's gonna happen. Success leaves clues. One plus one equals two every single time. If you do this consistently, you will get this result. So I'm gonna give you some really quick ones. So really quick, actionable items. Try them immediately. Every night before I go to bed, my next morning is already laid out. I know everything that's gonna happen in the morning. So there's no choice. When I wake up, my clothes for my cardio session are already picked out. Because you know what? When you wake up, what should I put on today? That becomes such a bigger decision than it needs to be. Uh, should I wear this or this? And all of a sudden you're 15, 20 minutes in. But guess what happened in those 15 to 20 minutes? You also checked your phone. Ah, crap. I got okay. Give me a minute. I'm gonna just I got two emails. Ah, no, oh, social media, oh no. What an hour went by? Now I can't even do my card. Oh no! No, no, no, no, no. My clothes are already there, my water bottles are already ready. I am on my treadmill within six minutes of waking up. And I've just made a couple of choices and I've ordered some things. It's gonna take that down to four minutes. That's how serious I am about getting on that treadmill. On that treadmill, I am in cardio mode. I'm getting blood flowing, I'm getting clarity happening, I'm in prayer, I'm in gratitude for all the amazing things all around me. And one of the most important things, I have not looked up my phone. I am not letting my phone dictate the kind of day I'm gonna have. There is no good news on your phone in the morning. So why are we checking it first thing before we're prepared? Before you've put on your armor, you've already let some weapons stab you. Don't do that. Make a commitment to say this is how long it is before I'll check my emails, before I'll check social media, before I do any of that stuff. You have to make that commitment and you have to stay, you have to say this is a non-negotiable. And you do that every day. You won't believe how quickly you transformed. Now, because I've got my cardio in, because I've had my time in gratitude, my time in prayer, I am so focused and ready for what comes at me. So now when I check my phone, I'm ready. I will be dictating the day I have, not the phone. What a difference. Look at that. That that was less than 30 minutes, less than 30 minutes into the day, and I am prepared to have a way better day than what I could have had.

SPEAKER_00:

Look at that. Winning today started yesterday. Yes. And for people that are listening right now, if you want to win tomorrow, it starts today, tonight, this morning, right now, right in this instant. The last thing I do every day, two things. Before I leave the office, I always print my calendar for the next day. And then I write down what are the three things that I'm gonna do tomorrow. So when I get in the office tomorrow, I'm not oh scratching my head. Because here's the thing, here's the principle that I have for life, personal and professional, eliminate guesswork. How do you eliminate guesswork? Write down what you want, build a plan, lay out your clothes the night before, just like you said. I come downstairs every day, the first thing I see is that goal board. There's never a uh what am I what does 2024 success look like? It's right there. And it's the most simple thing. And everything you said, Marcus. Yes, it requires a choice, but it is simple. It requires no calculations, nothing. We have choice. One more principle. One more principle. Pick one more, pick one more because I want people to actually get the book and dissect all seven of them themselves. But if we get a little sneak peek of one more principle, I love it.

SPEAKER_02:

You know what? I'm gonna choose one that ties into choice because and it ties into everything that we've been talking about. It's integrity. Integrity is a word. I love talking about it. It's uh it's almost an old-fashioned word now because people don't use it enough. Integrity has so many meanings, but the one I want to focus on is are you being the person that you want to be? Are you being the person that you're supposed to be? Are you being your authentic you? And I mean all the way authentic. And part of what integrity means is there are some conditions, there are some rules that you need to start reapplying to your life. We've we've allowed our integrity to slide in ways that we had no idea we were doing it. So I'll tell you one of the first ones every single day where people break their integrity and it changes the course of their day. And it's usually about three seconds into waking up. They hit the snooze button. The snooze button is the first chance to prove that you're a person of integrity. By hitting that snooze button, you've broken the first agreement that you made for the day. You said you were gonna wake up at this time and you didn't. You said, Ah, you know what? All agreements are negotiable. Here's what happens the rest of the day. Your subconscious all day, when you say, Hey, I said I was gonna eat healthy today, your subconscious goes, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But uh, remember everything's up for negotiation. Remember the snooze button this morning? You're it's not a big deal. Oh, we're gonna go to the gym. There's so much going on. Do we have to go to the gym? You've already slid. Now, I'm not saying this to guilt you. Please, people hear this as a man who loves so much. I love you so much. I don't care if I don't know you. I have so much love and so much mercy for this human condition. This is not coming from a place of this is why I think you're a bad person. Furthest thing from it. This is actually the reason I love you. I love you because you are facing the same decisions everyone else is making. And unfortunately, by these issues that we just let slide every single day, and it and it has molded us into the people we don't want to be. So, all I'm trying to do is draw your attention to it to go, what if tomorrow you said, here's what time I'm gonna wake up, and then you wake up. What's so beautiful about that? You now have this the rest of the day to look at to go, hey, remember that contract I made this morning? I I did it. I said I'd wake up then. My yes means yes, my no means no. I am a person of integrity. There's my proof. And all day you can look at that. And by the way, just in case that wasn't enough information for you on the snooze button, the snooze button is actually called the dream killer for a reason. It ruins your sleep so bad. It disrupts your REM cycles, it disrupts your sleep cycles, it screws you up. So do not think you're doing yourself a favor, you're not. It feels good only in the idea like I have control over this, I'll take 10 more minutes of sleep. Take the control the night before, set the alarm for when you want to set it for now. Be in control of your integrity. That is gonna make it for a special day.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's powerful. And if we go back to the scoreboard we talked about, there's an easy way to put a win on the scoreboard within not even a minute, not even one minute, you can start racking up that scoreboard. And then you you put on the clothes that you laid out the night before, now we're up two to zero. You make the bed, now we're up three to zero. You do your workout, we're up four to zero. It's like there's so many little things we can do every day that then let's say something doesn't go our way that day, or maybe even a couple things. I highly doubt that let's just say you build in 10 to 15 small wins and you go for your walk. Man, if the score is like the bad things have to go against a 10-0, 10 to 0, man, I highly doubt that that's right, uh, you're gonna lose many days.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh man, will you guys have the brilliance of what Brian is talking about? This is how successful people talk and think. But most of us overlook. Uh, it wasn't that big of a deal. I just did this. I just it is a big deal. Put it on the scoreboard because you are 10 and oh, 15 and oh before you even started your day. And yeah, one bad thing at it, who cares? It's 15 to 1.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm killing this dick. So look at that. Here's here's a real live example, folks. That Marcus and I have just been racking up wins in this conversation. We're I think the score might be 100 to zero. And your internet went out. Here you are, you're back again. Dude, we're up 100 to 1.

SPEAKER_02:

Doesn't even phase us. Doesn't even phase it. I love it, brother. Dude, that that that idea of keeping that scoreboard, that is life-changing stuff. So if you guys get nothing else from this today, take that. Keep a scoreboard, keep it running all day long. And just make sure you feed those wins. You can keep feeding it, even the little stuff. And if you feel like you're slipping behind in the score, just do something that's a win. Go for a little walk and go, you know what? I took some time to myself. Uh, say some gratitude thoughts for two minutes. There's a win. Eat something healthy, there's a win. Easy to get your score padded, you're gonna win. If you do those things every single day, think of how that compounds. How do you think that is not gonna turn into a successful life?

SPEAKER_00:

100%. Amen. Amen, brother. Now, I want to go back on one thing. We talked about what it would be like if you showed up as your best self, your most authentic self every day. Some people may be questioning, I don't know what my best self does it mean. What does it mean to be my best self? I don't know what that looks like. What type of inventory or questions should people ask themselves to arrive at that self-discovery? You know what? All right, this is the best Marcus. This is the best Ryan. How do we clearly identify what that really means, showing up as our best selves?

SPEAKER_02:

What a brilliant question, legit, brother. You are you're really good at what you do, man. I I'm honored to be on the uh receiving end of these questions. This is a great question because I think there's tons of people who are like, I don't necessarily know, I wouldn't say I'm my most authentic self. How do I figure that out? Absolutely, it's a process. I will give you a few questions to start you off, but just please know that it's not just like two questions, you answer them and boom, oh, I don't feel it. Therefore, I'm gonna stop. You have to look at it as like a journey. And like any other journey in life, if you want to start getting healthy and you're like, okay, so I'm gonna go work out. You do one workout. Did you change your body? Did you change your health radically? No, it's not about one workout, but it starts with one. So, a couple key questions to ask. Number one, to find out your authentic self, start recognizing that the answers are inside of you. And here's what I mean: what are the things in your life that really light you up? Like really get you excited. Like, if someone were to pay me to do that all day, I would be the happiest human on the planet. Okay, that's who you were designed to be. Now, there might be multiple answers, or there might not be one answer that you're like, I don't think there's one thing. That's okay. Again, this is a process. Try and write down 10 things that even interest you a little bit, and then try and filter that down. Now that I've written down 10, actually, you know what? These three really get me excited. Awesome. See how you're starting to figure out what who you are authentically? Now, on the flip side, another great question to ask, it's a negative question. What things really piss you off? And I don't mean like, well, when someone cuts me off in traffic. No, no, no. I mean that piss you off to the core. It's like an injustice. Oof, when people don't recycle, it pisses me off. When people abuse children in front of me, it pisses me off. That's the kind of thing that I'm talking about. Again, that is unique to you. Of course, there's universal things that upset us all, but when something you might go, oh man, sex trafficking to my core, it upsets me so much. Yeah, sex trafficking, I think everybody would agree is bad. But some people are like, yeah, it's bad, but I'm not gonna do anything about it. Sex trafficking is one of those things that pisses me off to the core. So I am surrounding myself with other people who are daily saving people from the sex trade. That excites me. And the more stuff that I do in that space, the more I get to be authentically me. Why? Because I see something that upsets me to the core, and I'm doing something about it. One of the worst things that we've done as a human race is we see things that piss us off. We see things that light us up.

SPEAKER_01:

But I'm gonna just spend a couple more hours in front of Netflix before I think about doing anything else.

SPEAKER_02:

So take those actions, take some action on something. First, write it down and then start to explore it. Do something about it, listen to a podcast on the subject, spend some time with a small group who also feels that way. There's so many chatrooms about this stuff. You watch how quickly you start to develop a different sense of who you are, and you go, I'm actually feeling more energy. Yeah, you will, because the more you walk into your authentic self, the more energy you have. Because this is who you're supposed to be. It feels right, it feels aligned. And the more in alignment you are, the more opportunities are gonna come to you. Why? Because you're gonna attract the right people, you're gonna repel the wrong people. It's wild how we put off this energy. And I'm not just talking about energy like, oh yeah, you know, the earth is gonna blah, blah, blah. No, no, no, no. I do believe in this stuff. It's really easy. If I love working out, oh, I love it so much. Who do you think is attracted to me? Other people who like working out or the people who hate working out? Of course it's the people who like working out. And all of a sudden now we're getting around each other. And guess what happens when you put two of us together? Ooh, the energy gets even crazier. But we're not doing that. Because we're avoiding being our authentic selves, we're avoiding being the person who this planet needs us to be. Everything feels like it's an uphill battle. Everything feels uncomfortable. And I love the way that that's designed. That discomfort should piss you off enough to make you get up and do something about it right now.

SPEAKER_00:

Right now. Amen. I love that you mentioned that the answers are already inside of you, that you have the answers. We have the answers. Marcus, our conversation embodies this, but to define it, now you have a community, play a bigger game. Title of the book, play a bigger game. If you had to define what does it mean to play a bigger game, or what does someone that plays a big game in life look like? Just to paint a picture around it.

SPEAKER_02:

That's really beautiful, brother. How'd you do that? Beautiful lead up, by the way. Uh, you know, I think it's kind of the the easiest way for me to say it is it's the opposite of what most people are doing. Most people are playing a very content small game. It's comfortable. Uh, I get food delivered right to my couch. I spend a lot of time on the couch. And again, people, please. I'm not blasting anybody, I'm not condemning anybody, but I am calling it like I see it. And if you feel convicted by what I'm saying, that's you. Your authentic you is going, he's talking to us. Let's listen up. How do we play this bigger game? It's about just taking action so that you can do the things that you are designed to do and that you want to do. That want, that need. Need that you have that's how you are designed. You don't need to fight it, just do something about it. When you take action, it feels so good. You're taking control. When you don't take control, you're giving control to others. And there are a billion companies right now who are happy to take your control, they're happy to take the keys to your cuffs and lock you up for life. I'm the person going, I want to set you free. I want you to become the authentic you. Not only are you gonna experience success in every area of your life, but you're going to enjoy your life more. You're gonna experience more fulfillment, more joy, more love. Everything about your life will get better. There is no downside to this. And when you say, Well, is it that easy? Isn't it gonna be work? It's gonna take work and it's going to take effort. But you know what else takes work and effort? Being complacent, being on that couch takes way more work and effort than people realize. Where? How much are you going to the doctors? How many medications are you having to take? How much pain and discomfort do you experience every day from the foods you eat, from the way your body is not working like you know it should be working? That is a huge cost that I am not willing to pay. I will put in the work ahead of time so that I get all the benefits of what this beautiful, amazing human body can do and what this earth has been designed to give us.

SPEAKER_00:

So uh Marcus, we this has been such a beautiful conversation. And God, I if if people aren't jumping out of their seats and jolting to go take action, I'm not sure what what else they'd want to do after listening to this. And and that's that's credit to you, brother. And before we hit our rapid fire session, which is the customary closing, what are all the ways that we can keep up with you, experience you, your communities? What do you have going on that we can tap into in addition to the book that's out now? Oh, thank you, brother.

SPEAKER_02:

First of all, you have done a spectacular job on this, man. It has been an honor spending this time with you. If you want to come spend time with me, if you want me in your corner, if you want to plug into this energy and this kind of mindset, mumbo jumbo more often, I have an amazing mastermind that I love spending time with. It's at playbiggergame.com. Playbiggergame.com. And I have different masterminds for different levels of human beings who want to play different levels of game. Uh, but you can also always find me on social media at Marcus Tallius. Instagram is the best place to reach out to me. I would love a DM from you. If you found me here, please DM me. Like it means so much to me if you reach out to me. I would love to cheer you on in life. You're gonna get just a little bit of this at your disposal. Uh and Ryan, man, I I hope we've started something uh real here, man. I I think you're just an amazing dude. I think you're gonna do incredible things in this world, not that you aren't already. And uh man, I've been blessed with our time together.

SPEAKER_00:

Man, thank you so much, brother. That that that means the world to me. Now, here's the customary closing: it's one gem, one step, one book. Let's go. And the way this works is you and I are are together, we're going to lunch on some cool rooftop, and we're going up an elevator, and someone gets on each floor and they ask a question. The amount of time you have to answer the question is the amount of time it takes to go up one elevator floor. All right. So the first person gets on the elevator and they recognize you, they've they've read play a bigger game, or they're part of the community, they listen to the podcast, they say, Marcus, what's one gem that you live your life by, whether it be a quote or a mantra, that I can put in my back pocket to live my life by? Be more grateful today.

SPEAKER_02:

Be so grateful for absolutely anything and everything that happens. Don't just say thank you. Let it come from here. I am so grateful for this. This has been very special. If you do that, it will change everything else in your life. And the more you do it, the wilder the changes.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that. Next person gets on. Marcus, what's one step that I can take today to start playing a bigger game in life?

SPEAKER_02:

Go today and spend some time in the woods. Go for a 30-minute walk in the woods. Out where it's quiet, out where you can get some good fresh air, out where you can be alone with your thoughts, be in gratitude, make a couple of decisions of what you are gonna do from now on to play a bigger game in life.

SPEAKER_00:

Hmm. Last one. Marcus, what's one book in addition to yours that I can read to enhance my mindset?

SPEAKER_02:

Atomic Habits, James Clear. It's gonna teach you how to put habits into your life, why to put them into your life, and do it now. Take action. One of the best books there is. I love it. I read it every single year. It will change your life.

SPEAKER_00:

I call that book like one of the personal development Bibles that are out there. It's the one of the most transformative books that anyone can read and pick up. And man, Marcus, this has been such a blast. And folks, if you want to play a bigger game in not just 2024, but in life, then keep up with Marcus. Grab the book and take action on these simple mindset shifts, these simple frameworks. And you are not only going to play a bigger game, but you are going to win today. Thanks so much for tuning in.

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Ryan Cass

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