The Grit Factor Podcast brings real conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, and builders. No fluff. Just honest stories, hard lessons, and practical takeaways you can apply right now. New interviews plus solo episodes on mindset, leadership, and execution.
[00:00:04 - 00:00:06] Average is the enemy of greatness.
[00:00:07 - 00:00:10] Comfort is the enemy of growth.
[00:00:10 - 00:00:15] Welcome to the Grit Factor Podcast, where we strip away the highlight reel and get into
[00:00:15 - 00:00:22] the darkness beneath it, the real stories, the real battles, and the battle plans used
[00:00:22 - 00:00:22] to conquer them.
[00:00:23 - 00:00:29] I'm your host, Karl Jacobi, Combat Vet, Entrepreneur, Resilience and Performance Coach,
[00:00:30 - 00:00:33] keynote speaker, husband, and father.
[00:00:33 - 00:00:39] I built, scaled, and exited multiple companies totaling over 40 million in revenue.
[00:00:39 - 00:00:43] But here's what that highlight reel doesn't show you.
[00:00:43 - 00:00:49] Life has been smacking me in the face with a two by four since I was just five years old.
[00:00:50 - 00:00:56] Broken home, constant chaos, no playbook, no safety net, just grit.
[00:00:57 - 00:01:02] And if you're anything like me, you know you've got another level in you.
[00:01:03 - 00:01:07] in your business, your career, your faith, your leadership.
[00:01:07 - 00:01:10] You're just not sure how to get there.
[00:01:10 - 00:01:13] That's exactly why we're here.
[00:01:13 - 00:01:16] Be sure to follow me for more great content and check out my website,
[00:01:17 - 00:01:19] SuccessWithKarl.com.
[00:01:20 - 00:01:21] Now, that's Karl with a K.
[00:01:22 - 00:01:24] Now, let's get to work.
[00:01:28 - 00:01:32] If you've wondered why success feels empty, stay with me on this.
[00:01:33 - 00:01:36] You've hit their goal you chased for years and felt nothing.
[00:01:37 - 00:01:39] Now, here's what happened next.
[00:01:39 - 00:01:47] Everyone hands you the same two fixes, chase a bigger goal, or just be more grateful for what you've got.
[00:01:47 - 00:01:48] Sounds realistic?
[00:01:49 - 00:01:50] No, both are wrong.
[00:01:51 - 00:01:52] Both keep you empty.
[00:01:53 - 00:01:55] That feeling is not the problem.
[00:01:56 - 00:01:57] It's a signal.
[00:01:57 - 00:02:02] I learn that the hard way, and once you learn to read it, everything changes.
[00:02:02 - 00:02:04] Real quick, so you know who's talking.
[00:02:04 - 00:02:07] I'm Karl, and I've built multiple businesses started from my...
[00:02:07 - 00:02:11] a diner of table to over a $40 million in total career revenue.
[00:02:11 - 00:02:15] Then I hit the exact empty that I'm about to describe.
[00:02:15 - 00:02:16] So this isn't theory for me.
[00:02:17 - 00:02:20] I've lived every bit of it.
[00:02:20 - 00:02:21] Which brings me to you.
[00:02:22 - 00:02:27] In this video, I'm talking to the person who's already built something real.
[00:02:27 - 00:02:28] You've hit the marks.
[00:02:29 - 00:02:29] You've provided.
[00:02:30 - 00:02:34] You've got the title, the income, the house, the respect.
[00:02:34 - 00:02:37] You've won by measures that are supposed to count.
[00:02:37 - 00:02:43] Right? And there's this quiet flatness underneath you just can't explain and say out loud.
[00:02:45 - 00:02:51] Getting this wrong keeps sharp, driven people like yourself stuck for years, or decades even.
[00:02:51 - 00:02:54] It can even cost you the people you built it all for in the first place.
[00:02:55 - 00:02:59] Ask me how I know. And let me tell you, getting it right is where the fire comes back.
[00:03:00 - 00:03:04] So, let's get it right. Here's the first thing you have to see.
[00:03:04 - 00:03:08] The markers were never of a fuel. You were sold the idea that.
[00:03:08 - 00:03:10] that the goal would fill the whole.
[00:03:10 - 00:03:14] The title, the number, the next level, it was never built to.
[00:03:15 - 00:03:21] You were running on an empty tank the whole time and calling it drive or ambition even.
[00:03:22 - 00:03:28] And listen, that empty feeling is not proof you fail or that it's a you thing.
[00:03:28 - 00:03:33] Instead, it's a signal you outgrew the fuel that got you here.
[00:03:33 - 00:03:35] So it served its purpose.
[00:03:36 - 00:03:38] And here's the part nobody tells high achievers.
[00:03:38 - 00:03:40] This is not a you problem.
[00:03:41 - 00:03:43] It's just how the brain is wired.
[00:03:43 - 00:03:46] Psychologists call it hedonic adaptation.
[00:03:47 - 00:03:53] Your mind treats every win as the new normal almost the second you hit it.
[00:03:54 - 00:03:55] The house becomes normal.
[00:03:56 - 00:03:57] The income becomes normal.
[00:03:57 - 00:04:02] The expert or respect becomes normal.
[00:04:02 - 00:04:05] The wind you bled for becomes a regular Tuesday.
[00:04:05 - 00:04:06] Here's the thing.
[00:04:06 - 00:04:08] Your brain is honestly,
[00:04:08 - 00:04:10] the worst employee you've ever had.
[00:04:11 - 00:04:14] You handed the thing you bled for for 10 years.
[00:04:14 - 00:04:16] And he goes, cool, what's next?
[00:04:17 - 00:04:21] Before you've even finished the champagne, encourage you, right?
[00:04:21 - 00:04:22] Stick with me.
[00:04:22 - 00:04:25] This is the exact thing that sets you free.
[00:04:26 - 00:04:28] You see, the lift you expected fades fast.
[00:04:29 - 00:04:32] The higher climb, the quicker it resets.
[00:04:32 - 00:04:35] So the fulfillment was never going to be in the wind.
[00:04:36 - 00:04:37] Man,
[00:04:38 - 00:04:45] and Monday. So the wind was never going to be in the win. The wind was never built to hold it.
[00:04:46 - 00:04:53] Now, hear me on this. None of that means you failed or wasted a single thing. You're here
[00:04:53 - 00:05:01] because you built something most people never will. So own that. However, that empty feeling is not a
[00:05:01 - 00:05:07] fall from a high place. Instead, it's a signal from one. That is a big difference. And it changes
[00:05:07 - 00:05:09] everything about what you do next.
[00:05:09 - 00:05:14] Let me show you what this quietly costs you if you don't read the signal.
[00:05:15 - 00:05:19] There was a hospice nurse who spent years with people in their final weeks.
[00:05:20 - 00:05:26] She wrote down what they regretted the most. And there was one answer that came up over and over again.
[00:05:27 - 00:05:33] It wasn't a failed business or a deal they lost. It wasn't a title that they didn't get either.
[00:05:34 - 00:05:39] Instead, it was this. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. And I'm not talking about the
[00:05:40 - 00:05:44] effort kind of hard either. What I'm talking about is the kind that was really about
[00:05:44 - 00:05:51] proving something, the kind that kept them away from the very people that they were doing it all
[00:05:51 - 00:05:56] for in the first place. And what they talked about was missing their kids grown up,
[00:05:56 - 00:06:02] missing the people who were right in front of them the entire time. I know that one from the
[00:06:02 - 00:06:08] inside. For years, I chased wins and a scoreboard. And underneath it, I was chasing acceptance
[00:06:08 - 00:06:13] I never got when I was young. You see, my worth was tied to the hours I put in. Not the results,
[00:06:13 - 00:06:19] not the hours. And when I sat still, I felt like I was losing, like my brain was screaming.
[00:06:20 - 00:06:25] Quit being lazy. Then one day it caught up with me. I was in my living room and I asked my daughter,
[00:06:25 - 00:06:32] who was 16 years old at the time, how she felt about everything I provided. Imagine this conversation
[00:06:32 - 00:06:37] for a moment. The house, the vehicles, the camps, the vacations,
[00:06:38 - 00:06:45] I expected to her to feel proud, taken care of. Instead, she dropped the one word I was not
[00:06:45 - 00:06:55] prepared for. She says she felt abandoned. Abandoned. That one word came out of nowhere,
[00:06:56 - 00:07:02] and it froze me. It broke me in a way that no business failure could ever do. And here's the honest part.
[00:07:02 - 00:07:08] In that moment, I knew something had to change. And yet I still had no idea how.
[00:07:09 - 00:07:16] grinding and staying in motion was the only skill I had. I never learned how to stop.
[00:07:16 - 00:07:24] So my friends, that's the signal and that's the cost. Now comes the question. So now the question
[00:07:24 - 00:07:31] becomes, what do you do with it? Right? At least I hope so. And this is where almost everyone
[00:07:31 - 00:07:40] goes wrong in one or two ways. As for me, I did the most high achiever thing humanely possible.
[00:07:40 - 00:07:47] Try not work it. I tried to outwork the feeling. Like the emptiness was just one more target
[00:07:47 - 00:07:53] I can hit if I just grind it a little harder. Let me tell you, that went great, by the way.
[00:07:54 - 00:08:00] Zero for 100. The first wrong fix is the chase a bigger goal. So what happens? You tell yourself
[00:08:00 - 00:08:07] the next number will finally do it, right? The bigger exit, the bigger title, to add a comma in a bank
[00:08:07 - 00:08:09] account, the next level up.
[00:08:10 - 00:08:18] the same fuel in a bigger tank. You'll get there and it goes flat. And the finish line just
[00:08:18 - 00:08:26] moves again and again. And right about now, some of you are thinking, hold on, Karl, isn't ambition
[00:08:26 - 00:08:34] the problem here? Hmm. Good one. No, ambition is not the problem. You see, ambition pointed
[00:08:34 - 00:08:41] at the wrong fuel is the problem. The second wrong fix is the opposite. You force gratitude and
[00:08:41 - 00:08:48] try to want less. You tell yourself just to be thankful and shrink the wanting down until
[00:08:48 - 00:08:57] the emptiness feeling fits. Sounds like the humble or responsible thing to do, doesn't it? But you see,
[00:08:57 - 00:09:03] that's the very trap right here. That's not peace. That's going numb with better branding. And look,
[00:09:03 - 00:09:09] don't get me wrong. Gratitude is good. I'm a grateful man, especially in this season. But understand
[00:09:09 - 00:09:12] gratitude is seasoning. It is not the meal.
[00:09:12 - 00:09:19] it cannot be your engine. I know this because I tried outrun this feeling by setting more goals
[00:09:19 - 00:09:27] than I can count. I think if I could stack one more win, it would finally quiet down. It never
[00:09:27 - 00:09:35] did. Here's why both of those fail. Both of those treat the goal as the problem. Chase a bigger one
[00:09:35 - 00:09:42] or one a smaller one. But the goal is never the problem. The fuel was. So let me give you the thing that
[00:09:42 - 00:09:48] finally made it click for me. There are two kinds of fuel, borrow fuel and built fuel.
[00:09:49 - 00:09:57] Borrow fuel is approval, proof, comparison, and somebody else's scoreboard. It burns hot and it gets you
[00:09:57 - 00:10:03] moving fast, kind of like an espresso shot. That's my jam, by the way. But it leaves you empty because
[00:10:03 - 00:10:13] it was never yours to begin with. That was my fuel for years, decades actually. Built fuel is
[00:10:13 - 00:10:21] different. It's your own why, your own standard, the person you're actually becoming.
[00:10:22 - 00:10:29] It's quieter and it lasts. And here's the catch that most people miss. You don't think
[00:10:29 - 00:10:38] your way to a built fuel. You act your way to it. One small rep at a time. You see clarity comes
[00:10:38 - 00:10:45] after you move. Not before. So hear what that actually means. That is. That is.
[00:10:45 - 00:10:50] empty feeling was never you failing or anything that your brain screaming at you. It was you
[00:10:50 - 00:10:57] running on the wrong fuel. So the good news here is it's not a flaw to fix. Instead, it's a tank to
[00:10:57 - 00:11:04] switch. If this is landing, I put together a free video series that walks through this whole
[00:11:04 - 00:11:12] rebuild step by step. What song does that remind me of? Can't shake that one. It's called
[00:11:12 - 00:11:19] a grit hode exposed and then just carry a thing else. If he doesn't, if you don't think of
[00:11:19 - 00:11:24] fits and remove it. For whatever reason, I said that, that song just kind of jump in mind.
[00:11:27 - 00:11:33] Here's how you rebuild the fuel. It's four moves. Move one. Name the real chase.
[00:11:34 - 00:11:43] Under the goal, what were you actually after? Was it approval? Safety? Proof that you are enough?
[00:11:43 - 00:11:53] Say it loud. Naming it takes its power back. Move two. Audit your fuel. Look at every
[00:11:53 - 00:12:04] driving you right now and mark each one. Borrowed or built? And listen, be honest here. I can't stress
[00:12:04 - 00:12:13] that enough. And going through this, most people are shocked how much of it is borrowed. And that's good
[00:12:13 - 00:12:25] news. Move three. Rebuild the foundation. Your beliefs, your vision, and your real why. You cannot build the next
[00:12:25 - 00:12:30] version of you on the old field. And deep down, you know this. This is foundation work.
[00:12:31 - 00:12:37] Not a new target. This is the deepest of the four. It's the core of the framework I walk my
[00:12:37 - 00:12:44] clients and members through, and it's the one most people want to immediately rush. Don't. This is the
[00:12:44 - 00:12:52] one that holds all the others up. Lastly, move four. Take one aligned action before you feel ready.
[00:12:52 - 00:12:55] In fact, I want to challenge you to do it today.
[00:12:55 - 00:13:04] Here's what I've learned. Movement is what turns the new fuel on through repeated reps in the same direction.
[00:13:04 - 00:13:11] And let me warn you, you will not feel clear at first, so don't expect it. Clarity is the reward for moving.
[00:13:11 - 00:13:19] It is not the requirement. Do one thing today that lines up with the built fuel even before you feel ready.
[00:13:20 - 00:13:25] Let me tell you the moment this got real for me the second time around, as if the first time wasn't enough to
[00:13:25 - 00:13:30] get my attention, right? A couple of years after that living room, I was sitting in a
[00:13:30 - 00:13:33] photography studio with my wife going through my youngest daughter's senior pictures.
[00:13:34 - 00:13:41] Like any father, I was beamy, proud of everything she'd become, and who she's becoming.
[00:13:42 - 00:13:49] And then we got to the parent photos. And the only parent in them was my wife. I wasn't there.
[00:13:50 - 00:13:55] I'd been out chasing while the life I built happened without me. Now understand, I didn't say a word.
[00:13:55 - 00:13:57] I just sat with it.
[00:13:57 - 00:13:58] kept it to myself.
[00:13:59 - 00:14:00] Here's how I see it now.
[00:14:00 - 00:14:03] Call it life, the universe, or God.
[00:14:03 - 00:14:05] For me, it was definitely God.
[00:14:05 - 00:14:10] And he had been dropping pebbles for years to get my attention.
[00:14:11 - 00:14:17] That living room, this photo studio, one morning after another.
[00:14:17 - 00:14:19] And I kept missing them.
[00:14:20 - 00:14:22] So when I still wouldn't move, guess what?
[00:14:22 - 00:14:24] He dropped the boulder.
[00:14:24 - 00:14:26] And that's a story for another day.
[00:14:26 - 00:14:27] But it's the thing.
[00:14:27 - 00:14:31] that finally broke me open and put me on the path I'm on right now.
[00:14:32 - 00:14:34] And here's the part that still gets me.
[00:14:35 - 00:14:41] I started building in the first place to teach my kids to control their own destiny.
[00:14:43 - 00:14:52] And the whole time, the chase to prove that was costing me the one thing they actually needed my presence.
[00:14:54 - 00:14:56] You see, the fix was never a bigger whim.
[00:14:57 - 00:15:00] It was just switching the fuel.
[00:15:00 - 00:15:06] from proving my worth to being present for the life I've already built.
[00:15:06 - 00:15:10] So here's what changes when you get this right.
[00:15:10 - 00:15:12] The work starts to feel like yours again.
[00:15:13 - 00:15:17] The fire comes back and it's quieter and steady than the old one.
[00:15:17 - 00:15:23] You have a sense of joy, peace, fulfillment that you've missed for so long.
[00:15:23 - 00:15:28] Ambition stops draining you and starts fueling you.
[00:15:29 - 00:15:31] And you get to be present for the people you built it all for.
[00:15:31 - 00:15:39] for. That, my friends, is the whole thing. So if you're still sitting there with everything
[00:15:39 - 00:15:46] you're supposed to want and still feel empty, hear me. You're not alone. And it's not
[00:15:46 - 00:15:54] anything to do with you. And listen, it's not that you're ungrateful. You just outgrew your old
[00:15:54 - 00:16:01] fuel. That is not the end of your story. In fact, I'd be inclined to say that's a graduation because
[00:16:01 - 00:16:09] it's the start of the next version of you. So do it scare. Start before you feel ready because
[00:16:09 - 00:16:15] you're never going to feel ready. The clarity will meet you on the way. Trust me, I know this from
[00:16:15 - 00:16:23] experience. If you want the full walkthrough of rebuilding that fuel, go watch the Grit Code
[00:16:23 - 00:16:30] exposed. It's a free video series, seven short videos, absolutely no cost. The link is in description
[00:16:30 - 00:16:32] and pin in the comments.
[00:16:34 - 00:16:38] Go start today and share this episode. I'll see you in the next one.