Purpose

[00:00:01] You're listening to Galt Mode, a daily purposeful deep dive from Josh Galt. [00:00:07] Let's talk about purpose. [00:00:10] So one of the interesting things that got me starting this podcast called Bad in My Religion is the fact that people don't take their faith seriously or the existential questions of our existence and our purpose for being on this journey as spiritual beings, having a human experience seriously. [00:00:33] And I find that to be very strange, considering it is the most important question of our lives and most people sort of leave it to chance or fate or destiny or the lottery or. [00:00:55] What most, mostly I think happens to us is materialism. [00:01:01] We get sucked in and deceived by materialism and believe that that's the all important. [00:01:11] The stuff we have, the car we drive, the clothes we wear, where we live, the vacations we take, etc. [00:01:22] There's nothing wrong with the material, there's nothing wrong with enjoying life. [00:01:29] But if that's your focus, then it quickly turns into hedonism. And hedonistic pleasures barely last through the moment that they're being enjoyed, and they definitely don't last any longer. And then it's like a drug you lack, and so you need to go look for that again and again and again. [00:01:50] So what does it mean to find purpose? [00:01:55] And why don't more people look for their purpose? [00:01:59] One of the things that frustrates me the most in life in general and always has, is people don't take it seriously. We are a very unserious culture. I don't think too many people would argue with me about that. I think most people would argue with my premise that being serious is important. And most people would say that the most important thing is being entertained or being funny, being entertaining, etc. And yes, having a sense of humor is very important. Laughter is good medicine. So I have no problem with jokes, entertainment, entertainment of any form, even if it's drama or action movies or music, whatever, all of those things play a role in our journey, in our lives as humans. But when that becomes the overarching purpose of our lives, we're missing the point. [00:03:00] Because we're not here for vacation. [00:03:05] We're here to be challenged and to overcome those challenges. We're here to learn and grow and evolve. We're here to innovate, to create, to build and inspire. [00:03:18] And too often it's like the system has created this manner of deception to where we are consuming. [00:03:29] We are consuming on our phone phones, we are consuming on our computers, we are consuming with the money that we make. Everything is about consumption. Consumption Consumption. The reason why China's economy is so big is because in the west we have an addiction to immediate gratification, to consumption and to getting rid of things, throwing them away and buying something new rather than creating, rather than seeking to figure out how we can build, how we can do something to create rather than consume. [00:04:15] I grew up without running water or electricity for most of the first decade of my life. When I was up in Canada, obviously we had electricity and running water when we came back to the us but we still lived on a farm and we didn't have a TV because my parents were very, very strict. [00:04:31] I didn't really have pop culture or music or any of those things. [00:04:36] I could play music. [00:04:39] My mom is a piano player and so I learned how to play music. But I wasn't consuming music or television or movies or anything like that. I could read. That was my consumption, was reading. [00:04:56] Reading, while wonderful and I still read voraciously today, is not quite as addictive as scrolling on TikTok. [00:05:04] Reading wasn't designed to be addictive like that. It was designed to educate, to inspire, and yes, perhaps to entertain as well. But I didn't read too many. I still don't simply mindless entertainment novels or whatever. [00:05:25] If I read something like that, it was a philosophical based novel to tell a story with a meaning, with lessons, morals, etc. [00:05:38] So I think because of that, because of that weird upbringing and then after my brother left for college, because he was quite a bit older than me, my formative years, I was still living on a farm and playing sports and school and music and choir and all that stuff. But when I had a lot of free time, I didn't have anything to consume other than reading. After a while, you know, I'm a guy, I like to build things, create things, make things. [00:06:08] So boredom was not allowed. You're forced to do that. You're forced to figure out how to create something, make something. [00:06:16] Even just being a photographer, figure out how to learn, you learn how to take pictures. And it served me well over my lifetime. [00:06:26] But part of it is like, well, what am I gonna do? I have to go do something. I have a camera, so let's go find something interesting. And you start to look at the world, go out in the forest and just look at it differently to try and find something interesting, to create something new, to photograph that I've never taken before in the same place that I'm so used to. [00:06:46] And I think that helped to build a foundation. [00:06:52] And this isn't a screed against pop culture or against staring at your device. [00:07:00] But perhaps it's a gentle warning because now kids get on their phones, by the time they're three years old, they're babysat by the iPad or their phone or whatever. [00:07:15] And in my mind that is absolutely the most damaging thing you can do to a child. [00:07:21] And I'm sure I will have to fight to not have that happen to my kids. But it's. That's not the way to go. [00:07:37] It's just. [00:07:39] We're not here to consume mindlessly. We're not here to be in a vegetative, entertained state all of our lives. [00:07:49] We're not here just to eat and drink and socialize and be entertained. [00:07:55] Every person, whether they feel that deep inherent drive to be something bigger or not, every person has a purpose. I don't believe that there are NPCs non player characters. I don't, I don't buy that. [00:08:19] I think everyone has a purpose, but it's up to us to discover it. Because all there is are lessons. And the only way you're going to learn the lessons that you're supposed to learn while you're here on this earth as a spiritual being at gaming experience is to seek out your purpose to go balls to the wall, pedal to the metal, however many other cliches you can come up with putting it pushing your chips into the table, like go all in and figure out what you can create, what you can offer to the world. Even if everyone mocks you, everyone makes fun of you, everyone laughs at you, everyone thinks it's stupid, everyone thinks it's pointless, everyone wishes that you would stop being so serious about life and just have another beer and sit down and watch TV with them or whatever it is. [00:09:13] Man, there's more to life than that and there's nothing wrong with those things. Again, on occasion, because consuming can sometimes be a way to learn. Hopefully it is that that still is. My consumption pattern is I like to watch things that I can learn from. [00:09:38] So in the last few years, many years, I rarely enjoy a movie and I've only watched a couple TV shows like ever series I did to learn like I like stuff that's very Machiavellian. [00:09:56] If there's characters that can be related to and you can learn something from them, about human nature, about sociology, about psychology, about running a business, about whatever, those kind of things. Like I like to learn rather than just being mindlessly entertained. [00:10:14] My mind drifts off because I want to do something, create something, make something. [00:10:21] So this is a long winded way of saying, don't just let fate decide your purpose in this life and on this earth. [00:10:35] Don't just consume mindlessly, consume time, learn. [00:10:40] But then figure out how you can make, build, create, innovate, how you can make a mark in some way on the world. [00:10:56] Because in doing that, I'm not saying quit your job and follow your passion, because that's probably very bad advice for most people. [00:11:05] Being an entrepreneur often sucks. [00:11:09] It's very difficult. Lonely people don't understand. [00:11:14] So surround yourself with people that do understand, I guess, is the solution to that. But even just the idea that you don't simply want to be a cog in the machine, but you want to be independent, a lot of people won't like that enough, criticize that, or they'll make fun of it, or they'll do whatever they can to keep you from pursuing that. [00:11:38] But don't take it personal because it's just them being scared of doing that for themselves. [00:11:44] Oftentimes that's the simplest explanation. [00:11:48] Because no one punches down, no one that's successful punches down, no one that's secure in themselves. Punches down will punch up. Like, I mean, that's just how life works. When people are ambitious, when people are driven, when people are competitive, you're always gonna punch up. But people that are decent humans that are secure in themselves, they're gonna be looking to go up, not punching down. [00:12:17] I love the analogy that Gary Vee has given for years of you don't build the tallest skyscraper in the city by tearing everyone else's buildings down and then building a three story building, you simply build the tallest skyscraper in the city. And in doing that, you inspire others. Yeah, there's probably gonna be competitors, but you can build your tall skyscraper without having to tear everybody else's down. Right. [00:12:48] And I think that, that as difficult as it is, as challenging as it is, as often lonely as it is to seek what you can create rather than what you can consume, that's really at the crux of finding your purpose in this life and is kind of the meaning of life is what is my purpose and what then is my short term goal, my long term goals, what I want my life to look like? And maybe you don't know, maybe you only know chapters, you only know the short term. But you say, okay, this is my purpose right now, with everything I have, with who I am, with what I know, with what I'm capable of, this is my purpose, I'm going here. Then don't be distracted by all the other things, all the voices all the naysayers, all the laughter, the mockery, the criticism, the shadow banning. If you're on social media, whatever it is, just focus on that goal. Just do it, Just go. [00:13:53] Because as has been said many, many, many times over the ages, when you start to do that, eventually you. You will begin to be surrounded by other people on that same journey. [00:14:09] And then instead of having to fight everyone that you are around all the time, you'll be able to encourage people and lift each other up and support each other, because you're all going this way, taking life seriously, to build something, to create something. [00:14:27] So that's my word for today. That's what I'm thinking about. [00:14:34] It's not easy. I don't think it's easy for anyone, even people who look like they have it completely made. [00:14:42] Because ambitious people are always seeking to do more, to challenge themselves to be better, to be bigger, to create, innovate. [00:14:53] And that never stops. The important thing, though, is that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. The important thing is to just get going, like, and subscribe.