The Hustle Ep 8: Who’s behind the wheel

Hey, guys. Calvin here from Young & Wildly Successful in Dubai for one of my closest friend’s 30th birthday, Simon Watty [SP] from SlyActive. Incredible company, incredible entrepreneur. So over here in Dubai and celebrating his 30th birthday. Driving a Ferrari 488. This is a machine. It’s a beast. It’s incredible. The video that I want to share with you guys has got nothing to do with Dubai. It’s got nothing to do with a Ferrari. It has everything to do with the person sitting behind the wheel.

And I’m sharing this video with you because it was in 2014, I was here in Dubai. Literally sitting exactly where I’m sitting right now, in a seat much like the one I’m in right now. Let me just show you quickly what I’m looking at right now. This is the Atlantis Palms, the Atlantis Palms. It’s one of the most magnificent buildings in the world and one of the most magnificent hotels in the world and so I was at the Atlantis Palms for my other friend’s birthday who’s here also [inaudible 00:01:30].

And we hired cars and you may have seen the video. We drove around for the day and there were some fantastic comments, people taking the piss out of me at the end of that video about, “Why is Ellen DeGeneres driving a Ferrari,” and all that funny stuff. But nonetheless, that video’s not about that either. My point is this, about 18 months ago, roughly speaking, I was in Dubai in the same place driving past the same hotel in a very similar car. And it’s amazing that you can be in the same place in much the same environment and yet the person sitting behind the wheel is a very different person.

I’m a very different person than what I was 18 months ago. My attitude is different. My mindset is different. My approach to life is different and there’s been some fundamental shifts in my life in the last 18 months and they’ve come through good experiences and bad experiences. They’ve come through success and heartache. They’ve come through trials and tribulations. And they’ve also come through incredible spiritual experiences of just being highly connected.

So I share this with you because I want you to understand that maybe today when you watch this video, you’re going to get behind the wheel. You’re going to get behind the wheel of a car and I ask you, “Who’s sitting behind the wheel of that car?” Let’s go eighteen months ago or two years ago or five years ago or even ten years ago. Who was sitting behind the wheel of the car ten years ago? What did he or she believe about life? What did he or she believe was possible about life that perhaps they don’t anymore?

Because if you used to believe something and you don’t anymore, then I promise you you can believe something new right now. And one of the things that I have dedicated myself to is the understanding and the pursuit of how to create major change in someone’s life in a blink of an eye. In a moment. And that can simply come from realizing that you’re a different person today than what you were yesterday. You’re a different person today than what you were yesterday. And if you’re a different person today than what you were yesterday and a different person tomorrow than what you are today, then that’s growth, that’s progress, that’s success, that’s fulfillment, that’s achievement.

And I want to encourage you to never let that go. I want you to encourage you to go after your dreams and goals and ambitions, knowing that yes, it may be slow progress and yes, you might not be driving in a Ferrari and yes, you may not be in Dubai. But that doesn’t mean to say that you’re not making progress. And that doesn’t mean to say that you’re not further ahead than everybody that still lives sitting on the couch. And that doesn’t mean to say that you’re not successful in your own right doing what you deserve and what you really love to do because I’m living life on my terms and I want to encourage you to live life on your terms.

But I know for a lot of people, they’re actually very successful but they don’t see themselves as successful and therefore you can have everything you’ve ever dreamed of having but not look at that as success and therefore not consider yourself to be successful. Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment. If you go back to the life that you were living five years ago, would you not say the life you have today is successful? If you go back to the life you were living ten years ago, would you not say that the life you have today is successful? I think it would be. And if you wanted to find something in your life that’s successful or that you see as being a success, what would it be?

Because until you realize that every day when you get behind the wheel of your car, you’re a different person than what you were yesterday, even when you don’t think that anything has changed, everything has changed. Your beliefs and your systems have evolved. Until you realize that at the core of your being, what’s the point of making the progress in the first place?

I remember a beautiful quote from Jay Z and he said, “People say to me all the time, ‘Man you’ve changed.'” He says, “Yeah, no shit.” He says, “I didn’t work this hard to stay the same.” You don’t work this hard in your life to stay the same. How has your career progressed? How has your finances progressed? How has your relationships progressed? How has your health progressed? How has your spiritual connection progressed? How have your life experiences shaped and molded the human being that you are today? Because I promise you, whatever you appreciate, you bring about.

And always, one of my mentors once told me, “Calvin,” he says, “Trade your expectations for appreciations.” Instead of expecting to have been further along, why don’t we just appreciate how far we’ve come? Instead of expecting to have more money, why don’t we appreciate the money we already have? Instead of expecting to have a nicer car, why don’t we appreciate the car that we already have? And then instead of expecting a better relationship, why don’t we appreciate the relationship we already have? Because the funny part about it is when you appreciate something, when you truly appreciate something, then it becomes everything you ever dreamed it could be.

I believe it was once said from President of the United States Abraham Lincoln, he said, “Give a man a sterling reputation to live up to and he’ll be the man you always dreamed he could be.” People rise to the occasion when you give them credit. Let’s give yourselves credit. Let’s look and go, “Wow, well done.” You’ve had some big things happen in your life over the last couple of months and years and weeks perhaps even.

But you’re still in the game. You’re still in the game. You’re still on the field, which means that if you’ve still got some life left in you, if you’ve still got a heart that beat and legs that walk and your eyes that can see, then you can still make it happen and I want you to repeat after me, as one of my early mentors Les Brown once said, he says, “It’s not over until you win.”

So let’s take a moment to congratulate yourself when you’re on this journey called life of how far you’ve come. Because I know certainly I am today. Sitting in the seat that I’m sitting in, thinking the thoughts I’m thinking, and realizing that the thoughts that I’m thinking today now are very different to the thoughts I was thinking 18 months ago where I happened to be in the same place, in much the same time, in much the same car.

So here, guys, driving in the streets of Dubai. In a more advanced vehicle than what I was in last time, realizing that you’re never the same person. You may be in the same place with the same people in the same car. But wherever you’re going has changed and indeed you are further along in that journey. So guys, I want to encourage you to live strong and live for passion, to make today and every day a phenomenal, life-changing adventure, and above all else, guys, I want to encourage you to live life on your terms. I’ll see you on another video.