Beyond Your Default

Recently, I came to a realization. Everything up to this point I had experienced in life — the blessings, the accomplishments, the challenges, the pain — has led me to this moment. This moment in which I serve you all as a catalyst for these conversations of what it means (and what it takes) to live a life Beyond Your Default.

To live a life beyond what we're told to accept, beyond the day-to-day monotony, to reach for something bigger and greater. 
Because you know there's more to life than "this."

When I say "Beyond Your Default," however, what does that really mean?
  • “Everyone keeps telling me I should be happy, but I’m not.”
  • “I feel stuck.”
  • “I know I’m meant for more.”
  • “I have a calling, I can feel it. But where do I start?” 
  • "This is not how life was supposed to turn out. Now what?"
We all have these moments in life where we look at our lives and the world around us, and we know something must give. Something must change.

Maybe you're at the start of our journey, with a whole life in front of you, ready to take on the world in a way that colors outside the lines. Maybe you've just woken up to the realization that the life you've been living hasn't been living at all. Or maybe you've always been a high-achiever, but you still know you have more to accomplish ... and you can't do it alone. 

No matter where you fall in that spectrum, right now, you have a choice. You can continue living within your default norms, playing it safe, clocking in and clocking out every day, scraping by to hopefully achieve what’s supposed to make you happy.

Or you can choose to commit to yourself by accepting the challenge of living beyond your default. That’s how you go from wishing to live your “best life” to actually living your best life. Success leaves clues. And they’re waiting for you to discover them.

Welcome to Beyond Your Default

In this inaugural episode, I take you on the journey that has led us here ... a journey of transformation, self-belief, and growth:

Self-belief
  • I reflect on the challenges in believing in myself, particularly in embracing all aspects of my personality. 
  • I highlight the importance of integrating different parts of oneself, including both the "good" and "not-so-good" aspects.
  • I emphasize that embracing the entirety of one's identity can have a more significant impact than solely focusing on the positive aspects.
Introduction to the Podcast
  • I introduce the podcast and talk more deeply about its purpose, and how Liz Moorehead (my cohost) and I will serve you in future episodes.
  • I invite you to join the community, and we examine the criteria by which you should integrate the Beyond Your Default podcast and resources into your life.
  • I also couldn't contain my excitement for the future of the podcast, as well as upcoming opportunities for us to engage with you, the audience.
Living Beyond Your Default
  • I explain the concept of living beyond the default as I have observed many people accepting life as it is without seeking personal growth or pursuing their aspirations.
  • I share my own desire to challenge the default and live a life driven by education, personal development, and reaching for something greater.
  • I encourage listeners to explore a life beyond the default and unlock your potential for personal and professional growth.
Obstacles and Inner Struggles
  • I discuss the steep challenges I faced while breaking free from the default life.
  • I highlight self-belief as his most challenging aspect, including believing in my ability to impact and share my knowledge and experiences.
  • I acknowledge the importance of overcoming self-doubt and embracing one's potential to become a mentor and positively influence others.
Unhealthy Relationships and Fear
  • I address many people's unhealthy relationships with their inner selves, allowing self-doubt and negative thoughts to hold them back.
  • I explore the concept of fear and how reframing it as excitement can lead to transformative experiences.
  • I suggest that taming the inner voice and learning to overcome fear are essential steps toward living beyond the default.
The Power of Community and Tribe
  • I discuss the influence of the opinions and beliefs of others on personal growth and success.
  • I highlight the importance of choosing the right community or tribe that supports and encourages individual growth.
  • I express his desire to create a tribe through the podcast, providing a supportive environment for listeners to achieve their goals and realize their potential.
What to Expect from "Beyond Your Default"
  • I share my vision for future episodes, focusing on open and raw conversations.
  • I make a promise to you, the listeners, to provide guidance, simplify complex issues, and offer practical life advice.
  • I am to help listeners develop a roadmap for their lives, unlock their potential, and navigate their journey of personal transformation.
The Timing and Purpose
  • I talk about why now is the right time to launch "Beyond the Default."
  • I emphasize my comfort with myself and my desire to leave a positive legacy and make a difference in the lives of others.
  • I express my passion for catalyzing personal growth and helping individuals realize their dreams and aspirations.
For each episode, we'll also be sharing resources, third-party research, and tools you can use to take what you hear in these conversations and apply it to your own life ... in a way that makes the most sense for you.

Creators and Guests

Host
George B. Thomas
A catalyst for growth!
Host
Liz Moorehead
Content therapist and speaker.

What is Beyond Your Default?

What Is Beyond Your Default? "Everyone keeps telling me I should be happy, but I'm not." “I feel stuck.” “I have a calling, but where do I start?"

Right now, you have a choice. You can continue living within your default norms, playing it safe, clocking in and out every day, and scraping by to achieve what's supposed to make you happy hopefully. Or you can choose to accept the challenge of living beyond your default. Stop wishing to live your "best life” and start living your best life. Success leaves clues. And they're waiting for you to discover them.

George B. Thomas:

I was only partially believing in myself. I was only believing in the good part of myself, the good part of my life, the part that I decided to start giving back. But I didn't believe in, like, the historical George, the not so good guy. You know, the rough around the edges, the the guy who likes Tupac and The Fast and the Furious and smoking a cigar and drinking a whiskey. And to be able to pack that guy into the guy who loves Jesus and loves to go to church and loves his family and wants to add value into the world.

George B. Thomas:

What's really interesting is when you put that guy completely together, he has way more impact than just good George. Hi. I'm George b Thomas, and this is Beyond the Default. So first, let me welcome you to the teaser episode of Beyond the Default. I recently sat down with Liz Morehead.

George B. Thomas:

You'll learn more about her and get to hear from her in the future, but we got some sound bites that I wanted to put together for this teaser episode of how do you know if this podcast is right for you? How do you know if this community is right for you? How do you know what you're going to learn? How do you know what you don't know? You also learn, like, where my mind is at, hashtag mentor mode, hashtag it's time to give back even more, and you'll also get to hear why now.

George B. Thomas:

Why Beyond the Default? Hopefully, you enjoy these clips. I can't wait for future podcast episodes. And so without further ado, let's get into the teaser episode of Beyond the Default. You know, it's interesting because we had a conversation a couple days ago, and you asked me a question, are you ready?

George B. Thomas:

And I said, yeah. It's time. I I said that, but mentally, I was like, is it time? But I've had time to, like, actually brew on that, and I've talked to, like, a friend of mine. What's funny is when I said so I said it's time.

George B. Thomas:

They were they, like, were nodding their head in agreement of, yeah, it's time. Almost like they had wanted or expected me to do this months ago or years ago. And so I was like, okay. I am ready. You know, I find myself, like, thinking about things now as I'm walking around or putting my mind in a different place, like, thought processes.

George B. Thomas:

Even when I'm watching different things, like, this week, I was listening to the message at church. I could feel that I was listening and dissecting it differently historically had. And so it's just it's interesting. It's a it's the beginning of a new journey. I'm excited to see where it goes.

George B. Thomas:

Liz then asked me, why is it called beyond the default? What is the concept? The idea of this life of beyond the default. When I think about beyond the default through this life, family members, friends, coworkers, I've just watched people accept life for what it is, and they get into this, like, rhythm of go to work and come home and make dinner and watch Netflix and go to bed and wake up and go to work and come home and eat dinner and watch Netflix. And I'm like, man, can is is that truly all life is about?

George B. Thomas:

Like, is this repeat Groundhog Day? For me, I've always had this I won't say always. About half of my life, I've had this, I need to reach something. I need to buck the system. I need to say screw Netflix, Hulu.

George B. Thomas:

I need to start to live a life that education trumps entertainment. I need to start programming my brain. I believe that I'm worth more than what this default life is giving me. And I believe everybody out there should aggressively attack a life that is beyond what they now call the default Because that is when you are gonna reach the magic moments, the special feelings, the impacting or punching or, you know, designing your side of the universe is when you can remove yourself from, like, this just general default state that everybody accepts. Like, if I get funny for a second, it's like, listen, ladies and gentlemen.

George B. Thomas:

Unplug yourself from the matrix and realize there's actually a real life that you could be living, and you think the life that you have now is is your real life, and it may not be. Next, Liz wanted to dive a layer deeper. And so she asked me, why do I think people are okay with living that default life, that Groundhog Day? Well, that's the thing. It's safe.

George B. Thomas:

It's comfortable. We don't like to live in places that actually push us to the next level or feel uncomfortable. Or if life gets a little aggressive, we're gonna kinda maybe potentially back down, at least again, if we talk about the default mannerisms of what, you know, us mere mortal humans do. And so I think there's a couple of things that over the course of this podcast, we'll talk about probably many things, But a couple that come immediately rushing to the front of my brain, Liz, is we have a very, maybe, dare I say, unhealthy relationship with the inner us. We let that voice inside our head drive the car instead of actually just coming along for the ride.

George B. Thomas:

And I wish more people would drive the car with their heart and not that inner voice that, like, keeps you pinned down. Some people will call this imposter syndrome. Who are you? Why do you belong there? How do you think you could do anything special?

George B. Thomas:

Why would people wanna listen to you? The other thing that comes to mind is this just radical disbelief of there is a thing on the planet called fear. And this for me was one of the most unlocking moments is when I started to transform my brain around this thought of fear, and it not really being fear. I heard it in some talk, some inspirational motivational YouTube video or something, and I ran with it. But I heard the speaker talk about false evidence appearing real.

George B. Thomas:

And I started to train my brain about how I've never actually feared anything in my past. I've only feared things in the future, the things that are unseen. And then I heard this other, like, really smart human talk about fear, and it was the same endorphins energy. Like, it's just energy. Fear and excitement actually map out to be almost exactly the same things.

George B. Thomas:

And so then I started to teach myself when I would step on stage. I'm not afraid. I'm just excited. And man, talk about a radical difference when you start to, like, lean in what you historically have called fear. When you can start to lean in and call that excitement, it just puts your brain, your body in, like, the next 5, 10, 20 minutes, hour, week, whatever it is, into a totally different perspective.

George B. Thomas:

So I think taming the inner voice and I think understanding truly how to battle against this thing that we've called fear are 2 things that we'll talk more about in the future. And then Liz asked me this question, which holy mackerel. She asked me what has been the hardest part for me to deal with along this journey of breaking free of a life that was default and going past that beyond the default. It's funny because with this direction, I go it to the beliefs. Self belief.

George B. Thomas:

Self belief has always been hard for me. You know, I started real small. Real small. And sometimes we think that our starting lines dictate where our finish lines will be. And that's one of the things I think I'm most excited about this podcast series is for people to realize, hey.

George B. Thomas:

If you're sitting here and you had a small beginning, you'll probably have an incredible finish line. And and, well, again, we'll get into that later. But for me, the hardest thing was self belief. Believing that I can turn myself into this kind of, you know, human that I envision for the future. Self belief and that I actually can stand and talk about things, and people are gonna want to hear them and learn from them and leverage them.

George B. Thomas:

The self belief that I could be the mentor. Self belief that I could be something past just the tutorial HubSpot guy, the the belief that God has put me on this planet to do something special, and I can either believe that this is truth or I can sit back and waste the minutes, hours, days, months, and years to potentially help 100, if not thousands of people get past many of these hurdles, potholes, whatever, like, stoppers from becoming the best versions of themselves. So, again, yeah, self belief for me has been the hardest thing. I'd be remissed, Liz, if I didn't talk about how in a meeting where you and I were talking about business, and we are talking about voice and tone, and you said the words, what would it look like if you'd show up as a whole ass human? And what's interesting is that made me stop in my tracks.

George B. Thomas:

It made me think, but I was only partially believing in myself. I was only believing in the good part of myself, the good part of my life, the part that I decided to start giving back. But I didn't believe in the historical George, the not so good guy. You know, the rough around the edges, the the guy who likes Tupac and The Fast and the Furious and smoking a cigar and drinking a whiskey. And to be able to pack that guy into the guy who loves Jesus and loves to go to church and loves his family and wants to add value into the world.

George B. Thomas:

What's really interesting is when you put that guy completely together, he has way more impact than just good George or good Sally or good Billy. Right? Like, loving ourselves and believing in ourselves as whole ass humans is a really key point to focus in on. Next, Liz asked me, what do I believe that stops most people from reaching the ability to live a life beyond the default. Because we trust no.

George B. Thomas:

Not trust. Trust isn't the right word. I'm gonna stick on belief because we believe the opinions of other humans around us actually matter, and they don't. They really don't. It's funny.

George B. Thomas:

Your brother, your mother, your friend, your coworker, they might be holding you back from being the amazing ultimate human you can be simply because you believe what they believe about you to be true instead of believing what you believe about yourself to be true and running with that. Next, Liz piggybacked on my response to that question and dove into, but what do you say about the fact that we humans are community driven, tribal type people and then we're paying attention to these opinions that to us truly matter because we wanna belong. We are tribal. We do wanna be long. The unfortunate actually, I'm a little frustrated right now when I say that because, you know, actually, I'm a little frustrated right now when I say that.

George B. Thomas:

Because when I say that, where my brain goes is, dang on it. I should've created beyond the default, like, years ago because it gives the group, it gives the circle, it gives the tribe that people might not have in their life right now to where I believe that everybody listening to this or watching this can be 5, 10, 50, 5000 steps better than they are today. I believe that they have been put on this planet for a purpose. I believe that the narrative that they've been running in their brain can be changed. I believe that they can reprogram themselves, teach themselves, engineer themselves to become what they only dream of at this point.

George B. Thomas:

And and I believe that their dreams can become a reality. And I can say all of this and believe all this because I've seen it in my own journey. I mean, as you listen to future episodes and you realize some of just the beginning starting lines, radically, corrosive decisions, battles that I've had mentally, you'll start to learn, like, man, if this dude can do it, I absolutely know that I can do it. And I'm I'm really excited, Liz, to help people unlock the ability to have a tribe that believes in them maybe even more than they believe in themselves as they start this journey. As every great host or co host should, Liz wanted to know how can you, the listener, know that this tribe, this podcast, this content of Beyond the Default is right for you.

George B. Thomas:

And it's a very valid question. Which deserves an answer. Yeah. I think there's a couple of things here, but the first thing I'm gonna lean out with is fundamentally you'll just know. If you stop listening to this after this episode, just take this one thing away from me.

George B. Thomas:

Start listening to your gut. Like, your gut is a real thing. Start listening to your gut. It'll put you in the right places. On the fact that you are just fundamentally trying to be a good human, your gut will be a good indicator.

George B. Thomas:

So, like, if you're listening this and immediate you're like, this dude is full of shit. Well, then what I would say is your gut's telling you that I'm not the right fit. Beyond the default is not the right fit. But if you're sitting here and you're pinned down by the fact that, you feel small, that you're beginning was small, if you're pinned down by the fact that the voices in your head tell you that you're not worth it, if you're pinned down because you are afraid of making decisions of pivoting or transitioning. If you're, you know, pinned down because you've been lying to yourself about 1 or 2 decisions that you historically made and what that allows you to be or not be, then this tribe, this podcast, the content that we'll be creating will be right for you.

George B. Thomas:

On the flip side, if you're somebody that you've always felt destined for greatness, but you're just not sure of the road map on how to get there, if you have these aspirational goals that just feel unachievable, if you want somebody that can be like a ride or die that you could email or call at, you know, 10, 12, 2 o'clock in the morning. Okay. Probably not 2 o'clock in the morning. I'm probably sleeping. But you can call almost any time or reach out and be like, hey.

George B. Thomas:

I got this big thing happening or this medium thing or this small thing happening, and I've got questions, well, then this tribe is gonna be right for you. Because, again, the the fun part about this whole new journey that we're on, Liz, is this is me putting my heart out there. This is me tying into, you know, the historical youth pastor, associate pastor. This is me doubling down on adding value to the world past just business chops of marketing, sales, HubSpot. This is me saying, hey.

George B. Thomas:

I'm ready to leave a legacy. I'm ready to double down on what I've been preaching, teaching inside of the professional life of it's all about the humans. And, we're about to get real human as we move forward through this. So Liz next wanted to dive into what can you expect? What will happen in future episodes?

George B. Thomas:

What kind of journey? What kind of topics? How am I as the person who is delivering the information going to show up, and what am I gonna talk about? I'm a little nervous about that because for me, what I'm pushing myself into is is to be as raw, like, rawer than I've ever been. And what I mean by that is just open, wide open.

George B. Thomas:

Listen. I've had some dark times in my life. I've had some bright times in my life. I've learned lessons along the way. It's it's amazing.

George B. Thomas:

If you pay attention and especially if you look back, you know, you can learn lessons on the hills, and you can learn lessons in the valley. And what's funny is some of the hills lessons will actually help you get through future valleys, and some of the valley lessons will actually teach you how not to be an a hole when you make it to the hill. If you want just very open conversation, if you want to be able to, you know, suggest a topic that we talk about. Hey. I wonder how George dealt with this, or I wonder how George would deal with this, or I wonder if other humans have this problem that I seem to always have, or I wonder if these goals are even goals.

George B. Thomas:

Like, you just might be curious. You might be confused. We're gonna try to help simplify the complex. We're gonna try to help tease out some frameworks. We're gonna talk about, you know, life best practices potentially for you.

George B. Thomas:

We're gonna just try to hopefully help you along the way build a road map. Because if you don't have a GPS, if you don't have the pinpoints to your life, if you don't know where you're going, then my fear is, again, you're in life driving around the same block over and over and over again. And you feel busy as all get out, but you're not going nowhere. And so I hope with this, you know, podcast, this community, we help, straighten out the lines, turn the gravel roads into freeways, you know, speed up and streamline people's ability to get to where they are like, oh my god. I knew I wanted to get here, but I didn't think I could get here.

George B. Thomas:

And now I'm here. And by the way, the other part I'd love to be able to apply to this podcast, this community is and now what? Like, you made it. Now what? Because there's a whole lot after you make it.

George B. Thomas:

And finally, on our destination of this teaser podcast episode. Liz wanted to know, George, beyond the default, why now? Yeah. I'm comfortable with myself in the most interesting way that I think I've ever been in my life. I wake up in the morning excited.

George B. Thomas:

I wake up in the morning believing that we can do the things that we've set forth as goals. I wake up in the morning and understand that I have been granted a a story, lessons along the way, and a passion to help and educate, but also tying back into that whole ass human comment earlier. I am probably more of a whole ass human than I have ever been in my life. And so if not now, then when? And why keep making excuses when it could help 1, 5, 10, a 100, a 1000 people?

George B. Thomas:

And that's the other part of this. Like, Liz, finally in life, I'm to the point where Beyond the Default doesn't have to be successful. It doesn't have to generate revenue. I'm not trying to market anything. I'm not trying to sell anything.

George B. Thomas:

It's literally I've reached a point where I'm comfortable with myself, comfortable with my finances, not comfortable with the additional time that this will take, but understand the depth that it could change, even myself and others along the way as we kind of journey through this. But I again, I just I know it's the right time. I I've talked about wanting to write a book for years. I've talked about, you know, wanting to do something like this for years. I've even tried to do, like, 2 or 3 episodes of this before, but it just didn't feel right.

George B. Thomas:

And, again, my gut, my brain, my soul, if you will, the stars even, I feel like they've aligned. And now is the time to start building this tribe, to start creating this content, to start digging in and being just aggressively transparent authentic human. So that people can learn life lessons and unlock their full potential. And I can truly be, Liz, the catalyst that I wanna be in the lives of those who choose to be around me.