Bringing Out Your Best with Jonathan Dunn

There is no better feeling in the entire world than investing 10,000 hours and truly being great at something.

Dr. Cliff Fisher: All right tribe. Welcome to awaken greatness with Dr. Cliff Fisher and Jonathan Dunn brought to you by Dream leader Institute where we awaken greatness and give you the tools to find and create your greatest self and raise the consciousness of the planet. Today is such a great topic for this as far as bringing out your best. And so I get on the phone with John D. This this morning, right off and he's wearing this vest this caution vest is what I saw. So Jon D, you definitely brought your vessel. You know what brought you to this?

Well, it's always interesting to process and talk this stuff out. Because as as we mentioned earlier, in 2008, as the economy was crashing, and I worked about a 17 hour day on my birthday, which is on 911 and I drove home, and my family was already asleep. I was just trying to work hard enough to keep the lights on. And I walked into the kitchen where my chicken case it is we're sitting there in a plate with with saran wrap over it. But there was a card right next to it that my daughter had made for me Kaylee and the garden. I'm looking at it right now. It said Dear Dad, you are the best dad in the world. We love you so much love Kaylee. And then she took her you know, two year old brothers and and scribbled gunners name. Now, I was not a bad dad ever. And Kaylee over the years we've talked about it repeatedly. But the interesting thing that night was, it was the first time I asked myself a question like this. I go, you aren't a good dad, you know, you do the piggy bank rides. You're goofy and funny. But what would your life look like? If you were the best dad in the whole world. And by the way, we're not saying better than other dads or anything like that. But the best dad you can possibly be. And that kind of took me on a journey of you know, learning to unlock myself learning to unlock others. And what what differentiates the people like the Michael Jordan's of the world? Who decided to be the greatest of all time, goats, which is, you know, now the DLA mascot as well, like, what would your life look like? If you were the greatest of all time? Once again, that doesn't mean being better than other people in your own right? In everything that you do. And like I mentioned earlier, Dr. Cliff, I mean, how many people even wake up? And like contemplate statements like that? What what, what would I look like, if I was the best at loving my wife? What I look like, if I was the best teammate at work? What would life look like if I was in the best possible condition? What would life look like if I was in the best emotional, you know, condition, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm eternally grateful to my daughter for giving me that card. And asking me that question. And obviously, we'll, we'll go over some of the finer points in this this interview. Because I'm sure some people right now are wondering, is that neurotic to like, want to be the best and everything? And no, it's not neurotic at all.

Dr. Cliff Fisher: I'll tell you like I went to I saw patients this morning and everybody's coming in, let me go. What's exciting on the day that I got another day at work, hopefully got it. Like it's just a drag on and I just don't think you can ever achieve that being the greatest version if you just feel like you're punching a clock, checking the box, whatever that is. And so why do you think bringing your best or being the best of all time is so important?

Well, what why do I think it is so important? I mean, I heard you say on an earlier podcast, that you know, held to you would be meeting the person that you could have been And suffice to say, I am very much in agreement with you. And you know, I think about this as well like what what was holding me back at that time from automatically, just having that default? Like of wanting to be great. And by the way, everyone on this, by the way, everyone on this podcast if you're looking at going, crazy guy and as the neurotic, no, because I want to tell you and Dr. Cliff knows about this for me, for me being the best, is actually just simply being loving for 960 minutes a day, I want to make that crystal clear. That, to me being the best means that and by the way, like I said, that doesn't mean being better than anyone else. Because that option is available to everyone. And why I wanted to go on that road. Because if I'm being loving 960 minutes a day, and I'm surrounded by other people who are being loving 960 minutes a day. That's a pretty fun life. And and the other part is, what am I what am I, if you're listening to this, and I don't remember the name of it, but there was a documentary about Mr. Rogers like it came out in like 2017. And we're not we're not talking about the movie where Tom Hanks played Mr. Rogers, it was a documentary about Mr. Rogers that was played in a bunch of like art house style theaters. And one of the things that Mr. Rogers said in the documentary that has stayed with me for all these years is if you don't deal with things, they don't magically go away. If you don't deal with things, they don't magically go away. And if you'd like to go on the journey of learning to be loving, 960 minutes per day, which would be rarefied air to be in and exactly what the world needs right now. It forced me to look into a place I had been wanting to avoid my whole life. And that is within. Because it's all the traumas of our lives, all of the betrayal of our lives, all of the hurts of our lives that build up inside, that kind of stymie that growth. Because, you know, I tell parents all the time. You notice how when you're young, your kids they dream, dream, dream, dream dream? And then I say, Dr. Cliff, tell me how many adults you know, that are dreaming openly? And what what would you say? I mean, obviously, we're dream leader Institute. So we got a lot, but just out there. And John Q Public Ville, how many and how many adults are just dreaming freely each and every day? Less than one less than 1%? And if we really get crystal clear on why people aren't dreaming? Well, there's a lot of reasons but in large part, point one is they don't believe they can achieve the dream. And then if you said, Well, if you were a kid, you believe you can achieve the dream. And now you're an adult, and you don't believe you could achieve the dream of why is that? What's the gap in the middle. And it's hurts. It's betrayal, it's trauma, and it's loss. So when you decide to go on the journey, of being the best, and whatever way that means to you, it's going to force you to look within and heal that stuff up. And thus, whenever I get a client who is open to dreaming, I'm secretly fist pumping under the table because I know what it really means. That person is going to go on a journey of healing. Because the fact of the matter is, none of us become the best without healing. And the beautiful part about that, in the world is when we heal our wounds, we stop transmitting them out into the world. And you know, it got kind of makes me think of this video that I watched of Nick Saban, who is the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, and he was on 60 minutes one time. And a lot of people are very stressed out about the future and what the future holds. And Nick Saban as a leader of men, understands his team is made up of people who are potentially stressed out about the future and they want to win and win the championship. What does Nick Saban do to counter that? He gathers the team up and he says I don't care about the scoreboard. I don't even care about winning games. What I care about is each and every one of you developing the habit of bringing your best every single play of the game. And team if you bring your best every single play of the game, I guarantee you, you don't need to worry about the scoreboard. And it's so beautiful. And it runs so counter to everything that you see in society to these days. And the results speak for themselves. I mean, I don't know exactly, but the man's one eight or nine national titles, and, you know, has a winning record every single year, do they win every game? No. But they win more often than not. And I'm just thinking to myself, What could this world look like, if everyone started being present? Instead of being stressed out about the future, or regretful of the past, and they just go, Hey, let me bring my best every single play of the game. And if, if you're listening to this podcast, I can tell you if you make the decision to make that habit. You're going to be a very uncommon person in this world we live in because very few ever even contemplate that thought. Is the fact of the matter. Because people are hurting inside. Yeah,

Dr. Cliff Fisher: I just want to double click on a couple of things you said for everybody. Because I think when you talked initially about like kids dreaming like, I think kids believe anything's possible when they're younger. And then when do we lose that? You know,

I tell parents all the time, when you see your kid stop dreaming. It's because they've been hurt, I guarantee it. And by the way, parents, if you're listening to this, when your kid tells you one of their dreams, don't just take that in passing, sit down with them. Put it on a sheet of paper. Write out milestones on the path to achieving that dream. Write out days that you commit to doing it. And truly be a family and hold them to that. Teach them accountability. Imagine a world where kids are growing up looking for in loving accountability, and then doing that with other people. Don't just say, Oh, that sounds great. Best wishes to you, pal. Sit down with them and capture the freakin moment and learn as they go through it. Because once again, why do people not dream, because they don't believe they can accomplish the dream. And when did that start in childhood. And by the way, as well. This might be a hot take. If you're a parent out there, and you're telling your kids to live the life of your dreams, you better be doing it yourself. Otherwise, get a hat at the local hat shop and have it printed and have printed on the main part of the hat hypocrite. Because of you're telling your kids to live the life of your dreams. And you're grinding away and slugging away in society. It's sending a very mixed message to them. And I'm sorry to tell you that but it is because they don't really care what you say, by the way, they're watching you. And actions always speak way louder than words ever do. At dream leader. We understand how people learn. And way more people learn through observing or doing than they do by some lecture coming out of someone's mouth, or even reading a book. Not that we don't advocate for all of those things. But your kids are watching you. So if you're telling them to live their life of their dreams, you darn well better be doing it yourself, then you better be huddling as a family and like talking about that stuff. Once a week. You know, Cliff yesterday, I was doing this CPA group. And countability is a big, big part of our thing. And we were going back through all of the modules and pulling out the greatest hit and each one and seeing where they were at. And in the cover of module two, it basically states miracles start to happen when we give as much energy to our dreams as we do our fears. Now, Dr. Cliff, do you think that's probably a true statement? A true statement, they all thought it was a true statement as well. And I say I'm hard on these people but in a loving way. And I said a few of you on this meeting are living in denial a little too much. And they say what do you mean? And I say to them, I say hey, how many days per week do you want to live the life of your dreams? And Dr. Cliff What do you think they told me seven? They told me seven I go great people. Me too. And I go so what I want everyone to do is this. Take a few minutes there is no rush to how many how many hours you spent working on your dreams last week? Cliff, what do you think was the median answer?

Dr. Cliff Fisher: 30 minutes. I

got about three hours over the course of seven days. Okay. I say great, everybody. Great, great. And I said, Now, here's the kicker. And I said, Don't bullcrap me, because I know you people by now I pay attention. I said, how many hours last week did you spend on your distractions? It was a great moment in coaching history, because I wasn't trying to gotcha them. I'm there as an advocate for them. But you got to bust people out of their delirious states, and most people are in a delirious state. What do you think the median answer was time spent on distractions? Okay, so we're talking social media. And we're in Oh, and by the way, over the course of seven days, so that that's the number we're looking at. Alright, I'm

Dr. Cliff Fisher: gonna go 14 to 21 hours

20 to 30. And I said, I'm proud of you people for being honest. But this everyone is literally the society, we live in. People blindly going around going, oh, I want to live the life of my dreams, seven days a week, but I put three hours into them. And you'll how much you put in your distractions 20 To 3020 to 30. And by the way, I'm guessing they actually underestimated it. That can't win. That can't win. And I say to him, I say, hey, what would it feel better? Living the life of your dreams seven days a week, or being distracted? 30 hours a week? And you know, it's no mystery. What they all said, Wow, man, that's heavy dream seven days a week. So I say who accomplished those their dreams. All it does every one is follow a formula. It's actually not even hard to accomplish great dreams. It really is. Just got to put the time man. And like, go on that journey of discovering your potential. But But think about this as well. I was talking to us about a business the other day. I said to the business I go how many people that work, or do you believe actually believes they can accomplish dreams? And the owner goes? Probably one or two. Wow. And I said, do you find it's probably challenging to lead someone who's so defeated out of the gates? And they said, Yeah, and I said, you deal with a lot of weird problems. Yeah. Do you think it's connected? Yeah. And I go, do you think it's possible to up that number of people believing they can live their dreams to 100%? And he goes, I do think that's possible. And I go, how would it be leading people who believe they could accomplish dreams, and they believe your leadership was based off, just leading them to their dreams? He goes, that would be an amazing place. And I said it would, and it would also involve a lot of healing. And it would involve a lot of people asking themselves, what would the best may look like? And I gave this honor the company, by the way, four minutes only. And I said script out the greatest view. And it was like the most beautiful definition you've ever seen. Like, I wish I had it handy. Like, like a loving, caring, kind, doting father, a loving, caring kind husband, you know, reaches out to people like ahead of time, just like his beautiful answer. I think I didn't dawn on you. His name is Jordan. There's only four minutes. He goes, Wow, that blew blew my frickin mind. And I know once again, Jordan, how many people even contemplate what we just did. And by the way, this, this might be the main main part of the podcast here. And this, like this, like legit might be the best advice you ever get. So I'm going on the journey of being the best dad in the world, which I was the best ad for calian gutter. And they're awesome. And they're happy and loving and cool. But on this journey of going on that journey. I picked up a book and correct me if I'm wrong here. Dr. Cliff i is Malcolm Gladwell. I think it was outliers. And in the book, Gladwell basically states if you want to be great at something It's going to require an investment of 10,000 hours. And he has since come out and said, it's not exactly what I meant. And it's not exactly a rule. But But yeah, it's, it's more likely than not an accurate statement that if you really want to be great at something, you're going to have to invest 10,000 hours. And I'm telling everyone on this podcast, there is no better feeling in the entire world than investing 10,000 hours and truly being great at something. And just thinking about this world, we live in Dr. Cliff. How many people even invest just 10 minutes a day being a better human being? Not enough. I don't know. People would rather invest 10,000 hours being on their phone, playing video games, playing in fantasy land, whatever it is. And that's never going to deliver you to the promised land. I am telling you, and we here at DOI are here to help. The ROI for you will be a bazillion times, any finances we ask you for being your greatest self will be the greatest feeling you have ever experienced in the life to be a true authority at something. And we need more people in this world to just commit to being really great. If life, people practice more time, being great at a golf game than they actually do being a loving husband, or a loving wife. And that is very problematic. But you know, I asked people Do you consider yourself a pro or an amateur? And everybody likes to tell you for? And you say what are the characteristics of someone who's truly a pro? And you know, I invite everyone to, you know, pull out a piece of paper and jot that down right now. What are the characteristics of someone who is a consummate professional? What are the characteristics of someone who is reached their potential as a human being? Take a few minutes, write that out. And then take out another sheet of paper write amateur and write out the characteristics of someone who's an amateur. And look at both lists. And just ask yourself, which one do you more likely drifted into. And then you look at that professional list and authority, that greatest version and just go, what would my life look like if I lived out those characteristics, and was surrounded around other people living out their own characteristics on that. And you start to get really excited about what your life could look like. And you start to really stand apart from others. Not that that's the goal. But you really understand most people in life. They are living their life with like a governor on what they can accomplish. They're they're living their life on a cruise control. And it's take the governor off, take the safety brake off your life, and go all out. And it's the only way as well that you'll end up dying and have no regrets.

Dr. Cliff Fisher: What do people need to do to be able to bring out their best?

I love that question. Okay, first off, you know, always reach out to us. But here's what I say. If you want to have a life of love, if you want to have a life filled with happiness, and you want to have a life of prosperity and accomplishing cool things, you've got to begin to understand. The first thing is to get really good at five choices. That's it five choices. And now you're wondering, okay, what are the five choices then? You wake up, you stretch your arms out, you take your first breath, your choices have began in that moment. And you can choose to be bad if you want and every one of us has made that choice before okay, it's okay. Doesn't have to define you. But obviously you know by now that's not going to bring you prosperity, happiness, love accomplishment of great things. So we know that you don't have to get get to five choices just for you wake up, make the second choice could choose to be mediocre. That is sad. We live in a society right now that rewards mediocrity, but I digress. That one's obviously not going to get you what you want either. So then we move into third choice 95% of the world is that one, two or three, you know, it's true, you wake up, you see what everyone else is doing, even though they're miserable and hate their life, but you just want to achieve the same results as them. That's called the average. It's like, you go to a zoo, and you see a herd of animals and they poop on the ground, you know, and then they step in each other's crap. That's exactly the life of someone who chooses bad, mediocre average, they walk around stepping on each other's Shi T. And if you go as Johnny cursing right now, now he's not, it's an acronym. And you know, this is true, this will nail it, um, you step on each other sadness, you step on each other's hurts, you step into insecurities. And I know a lot of you listening right now you go down these right, I am insecure, and then ultimately society traumatizes each other. And yet 95% of the world is at one, two or three, this is a fact. You go Well, the good news is that I only have to get good at two choices, and you know, what, you're gonna have to, you're gonna have two choices, you only got to get good at one choice. And if the only choice, you wake up, you stretch your arms out, you say, today is the day I'm going to be world class elite, the greatest version of myself, whatever word floats your boat, by the way. And by the way, as I said, that means that love, you love yourself, you love your relationships, you love your team, because that's what this world needs. It's the ultimate ointment. And if you're surrounded by loving people at all that time, well, you check the box of happiness, boom, you check the box of love, boom, you check the box of prosperity, and there's nothing more prosperous than knowing your love for you. And then when you're surrounded by loving people, your true potential comes out, and you accomplish great things. So then if I say, hey, to the podcasters, out there, which choice do you make? Well, you'd say, well, of course, dummy. I'm choosing five then. And I'd say Great. Welcome to the club. And here's the best part, take five minutes, and write out the world class version of you. And I Guaran freakin tee you and it's gonna surprise you. You already know the answer. You've just been ignoring it for far too long. And ask yourself, Where did that answer come from? So step one, is you write out that answer. And you read it every single solitary day, and you initial it, and you make a social contract with yourself to do that. And by the way, when you notice yourself not doing it, that means you're lying to yourself, and how do we feel about relationships that lie to us, we'd all love them. So you got to overcome that first and foremost, to stop lying to yourself. And then as well, you got to do this, you got to brand your list to everyone you know, and go, Hey, there's a new sheriff in town. This is what I'm shooting to be. And by the way, since we actually spend time together, I want to know what yours is, as well. I want to take our relationships to the next level in 2024. And I want to support you tried and true to become that. And I want to ask you to do the same. And from that point on. You never be a human who lowers anyone else's average out. You're always at five. That is step one.

Dr. Cliff Fisher: All right. I think this was awesome. I think it's a great place to stop. Next time we'll be talking about priorities and work life harmony. So I'm super excited. But we had to have this part first to be able to go to that next space. Exactly.

This is a perfect lead in to one of the greatest drills you will ever earn in your lifetime. To be a choice five part of that is what is really important to me in my life and not drifting away from it. It's going to be amazing. Awesome.

Dr. Cliff Fisher: All right. We'll see you guys next week. John D thank you for your genius appreciate you. And you guys have an awesome day and bring the greatest version you bring your best