Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Creators and Guests
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.
True persistence is sustainable only when it's fueled by clarity, balanced by rest, and adaptable to change. It's not about how hard you or we push, but it's about knowing when to move forward, or when to pivot, or when to pause or when to recharge. If you stay connected to your why, celebrate your small wins and honor your individual human rhythm, persistence becomes a powerful tool for growth, not just a grind, a hustle to endure. That's what keeps you moving more no matter how tough the road gets.
Liz Moorhead:Welcome back to Beyond Your Default. I'm your host, Liz Morehead. And as always, I am joined by one of my favorite humans on this planet, George b Thomas. Hey, buddy. Look at you dancing this morning.
Liz Moorhead:Look at you dancing your way up to the mic. What do you got going on over there?
George B. Thomas:You know, it's, it's a good life. It's a good day to have a good day, as some of my friends, like to say and then laugh after that because they realize it's kind of a dumb saying. But it is a good day to have a good day. How are you doing, Liz?
Liz Moorhead:You know, I'm doing really well. I gotta be honest. Over this past week, you know, you and I have been cooking up some fun stuff behind the scenes that I think our audience is really going to like, But there's something that happens when you start working on things and your soul perks up and goes, this is what you're supposed to be doing. And it's just and I think that's and I wanted to bring that up today because, you know, over the past few episodes, we've been talking about the 4 cornerstones of the superhuman framework. Right?
Liz Moorhead:We've been talking about purpose, passion. Today, we're talking about persistence, and then the final one is love. And it's all about that emotional, spiritual, holistic engine
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:That moves us forward. And so what's been neat about it is just I mean, I found myself working super late some nights just because I can't put something down.
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:You know? I've been Same. Same. It's been and just that feeling of this is capital t, the capital w work. This is the work.
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:And that has felt incredible. How about you? How are you today?
George B. Thomas:So I I'm doing good. It's funny because I too am having this mental, dichotomy. Is that the right word that I'm looking for where
Liz Moorhead:You know what? Today, it can be. It's early in the morning. Why not?
George B. Thomas:I don't know. And let's just use it. But where I know that I have work to do. Like, I have clients that I love. I have employees, you know, and family members that I love, and I've gotta do work around with and for them.
George B. Thomas:But there's this thing that I'm like, oh, man. I really wanna be working on this. Like, I wanna be doing this because and it's funny because it aligns with what we've been talking about. It's like, it it so aligns to my purpose on the planet. It's something that I am super passionate about, which which is fun and funny all at the same time because I didn't realize I was gonna be as passionate about it until we actually birthed it.
George B. Thomas:And it and it and it started to grow from an infant to, like, a child and now maybe even, like, a teenager where I'm like, oh, man. Like, I'm super passionate about this. I'm it's it feels like it's, like, my next purpose in life, but I still gotta I still gotta pay the bills. Like, now if I was a millionaire, I'd be like, let's drop everything and just work on this thing.
Liz Moorhead:Focused on this. But yeah.
George B. Thomas:But that's not where we're at. And and and, again, and I don't mean drop everything as in, like, not do it, but I figure a different way to make sure we are taking care of the humans that I love and and you know? Yeah. Because because I'm a good human.
Liz Moorhead:We love our humans.
George B. Thomas:But but but I'm I'm in the same place with you around this kind of superhuman framework, what's coming next. And so that has been, like last night. Right? Worked all day helping humans, sat on the couch, was watching TV with the fam, but I was also I had my laptop on my lap because I was working on stuff that I just I because I was working on stuff that I just I couldn't let it go. I wanted to be able to, like, get to the next level with it.
George B. Thomas:And sometimes, you've gotta spend the extra time to get you to a place that you wanna be in the future. And I'll never forget. Last night, Liz, I was literally by the way, not why we're here, but I was sitting on the couch with my laptop. And I called back to a story that I had heard and admired and loved and saw the fruition of. And and my my brain traveled back to when Marcus Sheridan would tell the story of him coming home at night and writing blog articles and creating content and and learning what inbound marketing was.
George B. Thomas:And and he had no idea what that change would make to his life or who he would become through the things that he was doing in the evenings with that extra stuff. And I was like, oh, this is I I feel this is my I'm I'm giving myself a future gift. I'm giving myself a future gift. I don't know what that gift looks like yet. This time, it's not time that I'm just wasting.
George B. Thomas:It's not time that I'm just, like, staying busy. It it's purposeful based on a passion, and and this is me in action being persistent to get to the future present.
Liz Moorhead:You know, George, your story, you know, we didn't. I love these types of conversations because as much as we do plan these episodes out in detail, we don't know the stories that we're gonna show up with personally. And what I'm hearing is a recurring theme of persistence. Right?
George B. Thomas:Yep.
Liz Moorhead:And that, as I've mentioned, is what we're talking about today. It's one of the cornerstones of the superhuman framework. It's one of the most important ones. Right? Because, you know, passion wakes you up.
Liz Moorhead:Right? It's
George B. Thomas:the spark
Liz Moorhead:that lights the fire. It's the thing that go makes your whole body go, yes. And your purpose is, yeah, it's what gives you that direction. It's what gives you that guidance. It's that compass that brings clarity and focus to your passion.
Liz Moorhead:Yeah. But persistence is how you keep moving forward.
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:When it's easy, when it's hard, when it's somewhere in between. But what I find interesting about persistence, George, is that it, I think, personally, it's pretty misunderstood. You know, when I hear persistence, right, it reminds me of a conversation we've had a number of times on this podcast when we talked about the idea of healthy hustle, one of the 10 h's of the superhuman framework. People think persistence, People think the negative side, the never stop mentality, the toxicity around that. But instead, what it really is is this idea to deliberately move forward.
Liz Moorhead:You make the conscious choice to keep moving forward with purpose, with passion, with intention regardless as to whether the motivation is there or not. Yeah. So that is what we are talking about today. Right? Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:So I'm really excited for this episode because I want to say something like, if you've ever felt like you've run out of steam or wondered if sticking with something is worth it and when I say you, I mean me. I think we've all been there. I think no matter how growth motivated and how hungry you are, there are going to be moments where you're just like, what the flip am I doing?
George B. Thomas:Yeah. I
Liz Moorhead:would wanna talk about that today.
George B. Thomas:I would even add in there, Liz. Like, if you've ever said that you're hard headed or stubborn, it's those are negative connotations, but, like, I don't know if I fully realized until the deep dives of what we've been doing over the last year plus with beyond your Default and now, you know, several months with the superhuman framework, I've always said, oh, I'm just bullheaded or stubborn or hardheaded. You know what? Actually, I'm just a persistent badass. Like like, it's a it's a superpower that we can have as humans of this idea of being persistent.
George B. Thomas:So, anyway, just rethink about how maybe you think about yourself when it comes to the topic that we're gonna cover today.
Liz Moorhead:You know, and I'm gonna throw out there for our listeners. We did one of our first episodes way, way back in the day when so much was so different in our lives. We had a episode dedicated to the language you use and how you talk about things and the words that you apply to things. I would recommend that as a nice companion episode to what we are gonna talk about today because so much of it is about language. In fact Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:George, let's just dig right into this conversation. I know a lot of people talk about persistence, but what is it really? There are a lot of really crappy definitions flying out there, so I'd love to know how you define it and the role it should play in our lives.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. And, you know, Liz, it's funny because most people when they talk about persistence, and you even kind of leaned into this, they think of it as this kind of, like, grinding endlessly, like, just pushing through no matter what, like, walking through the muck and bier because I have to because there's no other option. But, honestly, that's not how I see it, and and it's definitely not how the superhuman framework defines persistence. To to me, persistence isn't about, like, this need to exhaust yourself to the point of burnout because there are a lot of humans in a lot of places personally and professionally that, like, they're just burnt out. There's no other way to put it.
George B. Thomas:For me, it's about resilience. And I know that we're probably gonna have a episode in the future that we just talk about that word because it keeps coming back up. Resilience. Resilience. Resilience.
Liz Moorhead:In 2 episodes, my guy. Get excited.
George B. Thomas:There you go. I am I'm always excited. But but today, when we're talking about, like, resilience, it's it's also about adaptability. It's about making the kind of deliberate choices that we need to make to keep moving forward. Even when things feel hard, are hard, when they feel uncertain, they they are uncertain, or I I've been there.
George B. Thomas:I'm sure you have too, Liz, listeners. They they just look downright impossible. Persistence is this cornerstone that holds everything else together when life throws you the curveballs that it's gonna throw you. You've got passion, again, to light the fire, purpose to guide the way, and love to sustain you. And by the way, I can't wait to talk about love, which will lead into resilience.
George B. Thomas:But persistence, that's the quiet, steady force that keeps you walking towards the goal or goals that you have even when the fire flickers, when when the when the path isn't clear, when when it just feels like it's all hard to find. Right? And so here's the thing. Persistence is often misunderstood because it doesn't look flashy. It's not always loud or obvious, which again is why I think it can disguise itself as, like, hardheaded or stubborn or like listen.
George B. Thomas:It's showing up for yourself when no one else is watching. It's the 1 hundredth rejection letter and still deciding to send out that 101st. It's not about being stubborn or relentless. It's about being smart and intentional, ladies and gentlemen, about knowing what truly matters and staying committed to those things that truly matter to you as you move forward. Liz, the the role of persistence plays in all of our lives is is huge, and the fact that we don't understand it, pay attention to it, or or lean into it, the amount that we should.
George B. Thomas:Listen, listeners, think about it. Nothing meaningful ever happens without it, it being persistence. Whether it's growing a business, nurturing a relationship, developing yourself as a as a human, persistence is what bridges the gap between starting something and actually seeing it through. Now listen. I have been that guy many times in my younger life where I would start something and just it would pee.
George B. Thomas:Nope. Just like but that's because I was building or training or failing or learning my way to being able to be persistent and see the things through. It's it's when we do see them through that that's when the magic moments of life start to happen. Persistence, we all have to understand, is the backbone of this personal growth journey that we're on because it's the thing that keeps you going long after that that spark that we all get called initial excitement. And guess what?
George B. Thomas:Initial excitement, man, it wears off. It's like
Liz Moorhead:It's the honeymoon phase.
George B. Thomas:Oh my god. Yeah. 30 seconds in, like, what choice did I make? Why am I doing this?
Liz Moorhead:Thanks. I hate it here.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. Exactly. Right? But but when it's grounded in purpose, when your persistence is grounded in purpose, you're clear about your why, well, now all of a sudden it can feel empowering. You're not just pushing forward blindly, which some of us do.
George B. Thomas:We get on that, like, hamster wheel of life, and we're just like, we can't see that we're staying in the same place, doing the same thing over and over. It's in it's insanity. But, see, with persistence and it being attached to purpose, you're you're making a conscious choice to keep going because you know what's on the other side of the thing and the worth that it is or the worth that it will bring. So so if listen, I know a little long winded on that, but if I had to define it simply, I'd probably say it like this. Persistence is the willingness to keep showing up imperfectly, patiently, and consistently.
George B. Thomas:Now I'm gonna I'm gonna say that again for the listeners. Persistence is you as a human, your willingness to keep showing up for yourself and others imperfectly, patiently, and consistently because what you're working on, what you're doing, who you're doing it with or for matters. And listen, listeners, when we live with that kind of persistence rooted in our values, well, then we unlock a version of ourselves, and I'll be completely honest. I'm talking to my I'm preaching to myself right now. We unlock a version of ourselves that we didn't even know existed.
Liz Moorhead:You know, it reminds me of a conversation I had with somebody last year. Last year around this time when your girl, Liz, was going through some stuff. Just so I just just, you know, got fresh out of a divorce, was I had thrown everything into a storage unit and just got a short term rental Airbnb in New Haven, Connecticut because I just did not know how to functionally make decisions. And a friend of mine asked, how are you still working, and how are you keeping it together? I well, first of all, if you just assume any of this keeping it together.
Liz Moorhead:Like like like, first of all, number 1 I got you fooled. Yeah. You know? But then I told her I have a rule in life that I call the bomb rule, the explosion rule, which I think really aligns nicely with your definition of persistence, which is when I when things get dark or when things get challenging, I ask myself one question. Are you physically going to explode?
Liz Moorhead:No? Well, then you're gonna get up tomorrow, and you're just gonna keep going. In whatever shape you're in, you have to keep moving forward. That's all you can do. And it really helped me be persistent throughout the last year, and I'm still not perfect.
Liz Moorhead:I'm still figuring things out, but it is it is a weird little rule where it's like, well, I'm not gonna explode, so what choice do I have?
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:To to stand still?
George B. Thomas:I I love that so much. I love that so much because we all have to have these triggers or hooks to our brain, and and yours, the bomb thing. For me, it's it's and, again, I've said it on the podcast many times, but it's the 1% better each and every day. Like, it is a narrative that when when gets rough, I whisper inside of my own cranium. Alright, bro.
George B. Thomas:1% better each and every day. Like, let's keep just take another step, dude. Just just take another step. And by the way, Liz, none of us will ever be perfect.
Liz Moorhead:I know.
George B. Thomas:Right? And and the listeners, I want you to hear this. Like, perfection is not reality. Progress is 1% better each and every day. You're not gonna physically explode.
George B. Thomas:Just keep taking that step.
Liz Moorhead:I love that. I know we've already started dipping our toes into this pool, but for my next question, I wanna hear from you. What do you see as the biggest misconceptions about persistence? The ones that you would say are probably the most costly to us if we lean into it or the most insidious and destructive?
George B. Thomas:Yeah. Oh, insidious. Oh, that
Liz Moorhead:I know. Isn't that a great burn?
George B. Thomas:That's like a super, villain word. That's city. Like like, here's the thing where my brain goes. It goes in a couple places, of course. You know, that's kind of how my brain works.
George B. Thomas:But but let's talk about when it's time to pivot because I think that's a big word and something that we need to think about, and we don't naturally think about pivoting when we think about persistence. Like, when you think about persistence, it's like head down, straight line, make it through. Like but here's the thing. Persistence is is it's really about resilience. Oh, god.
George B. Thomas:I'm I'm so excited for that episode in in 2
Liz Moorhead:2 weeks or
George B. Thomas:2 episodes from now. It's about resilience and smart choices, and it's about why small, steady steps matter more than big, flashy leaps. And so many times in our life, we're all trying to get that big, flashy leap, and, like and it actually stunts the amount that we could go if we just took those steady steps that matter. K? So one of the biggest misconceptions about persistence is that it's all about brute force.
George B. Thomas:Just keep going. Push harder. Grind it out. And, honestly, I think that, that mindset has done more harm than good to a lot of humans who are like they think about persistence in that way. Persistence isn't about blindly muscling through every obstacle that you have in life, nor is it about sacrificing your well-being on the altar of your goals.
George B. Thomas:And I'm gonna tell you right now, there are humans out there listening to this that you you are sacrificing yourself on the altar of your goals, and and that's not persistence. Ladies and gentlemen, that's burnout dressed up as ambition, and I need you to just check yourself. Like, are you are you ambitious, or you just burnout because you're trying to muscle your way through? Okay? So another misunderstanding is the idea that persistence means never quitting while you're a quitter, which is like, if somebody called me a quitter, I'd be like, no.
George B. Thomas:But, actually, there's times where I just need to quit. Right? But but, like, quitting no matter what kind of aligns with sacrificing yourself on the altar of your goals. But but here's the truth. Sometimes real persistence is about knowing when to pivot.
George B. Thomas:And and, Liz, you know this. Listeners, if you've been listening for a while, you you know this as well. I love a good pivot. I genuine I I genuinely believe that one of the most powerful skills that we can cultivate is becoming what a buddy of mine called me years years years ago. He said, dude, you're a transition specialist.
George B. Thomas:It it when when you're persistent, right, you you you understand that it's like, yes. It's 1% better each and every day. It's one little step at a time. But ladies and gentlemen, it could be a step to the left. It could be a step to the right.
George B. Thomas:It could be a step back so that you can turn in the right direction. You gotta figure out how to be a transition specialist. It's it's recognizing when to step back, reassess, or redirect your energy towards something that aligns better with your purpose and your values. You see, because sometimes we get stuck in this rut of life where we're doing things for the people around us. I went to school to be a doctor because my dad was a doctor.
George B. Thomas:I do this because my boss asked me to do this thing. Does it align with my purpose or my values? Nope. But I keep on doing it. You see, persistence, again, it's not about stubbornly sticking to the same path out of sheer determination.
George B. Thomas:It's resilience paired with discernment. Whoo. I love that word. The the discernment.
Liz Moorhead:We are SAT wording today, professor. Insidious. Discernment.
George B. Thomas:Listen. Ladies and gentlemen. If you don't have some discernment in your life, that is that is one action step you could take after. See, it's it's about being it again, being persistent. It's about being adaptable and smart enough to recognize when continuing to push forward makes sense and, frankly, when it's just time to shift strategies or focus in on something else or even focus in a different area of what you're doing.
George B. Thomas:One last myth about persistence that I wanna cover here. Persistence isn't some grand heroic act that happens overnight. Poof. Like, that dude is persistent, like, a cape and no. People often think it's about these massive leaps forward, but the reality is that, again, small consistent steps.
George B. Thomas:I can't say this enough in this episode, the 1%. But 1 percent is not a lot. It's more than 0. 1's most when you wake up in the morning, do you just levitate and you're at the bathroom? No.
George B. Thomas:You once like, it's a just a natural order of life. One step at a time. Consistently. So Walter Elliott said this, perseverance is not a long race. It is many short races one after the other.
George B. Thomas:You know, that's the fun part about that when I think about that is if it's a bunch of short races, one after the other, you know what persistence gives you in that light time to rest till it's time for the next race? You see, true persistence is showing up for yourself day after day even when progress feels invisible. And that's the funny part too is, like, have you ever gone to the gym or you've done something for, like, a 100 days, but you you don't feel the difference, you don't see the difference, and then you see somebody that you haven't seen for a long time, and they're like, wow. You look good. Sometimes that 1% progress, that individual steps, that short couple races that you did to be persistent, it feels invisible to you.
George B. Thomas:But you have to trust yourself. You have to trust the process. You have to trust the fact that every small effort here's another word for you, ladies and gentlemen, discernment. Every small effort compounds over time into something meaningful. I've told stories about how I've done, like, thousands of HubSpot tutorials.
George B. Thomas:Not one of them tutorials was extra special or amazing, but the fact that we consistently did them for over 8 years and, like, it compounded compound interest because that's literally building a brand and starting a business, and then where we are today with beyond your default, superhuman framework, and clients. For everyone listening, here's something that I want you to think about. And when I say think about it, it's it's questions that I want you to ask yourself around this. How can you reframe persistence in your life so it's less about relentless effort and more about intentional, meaningful progress? And are there places where letting go or pivoting could actually move you closer to those goals that you're seeking?
George B. Thomas:Now, Liz, I'm super curious. What's your take on this? Like, how how do you see persistence being misunderstood in, like, the realms and world that you kind of live in?
Liz Moorhead:You covered a couple of the big ones for me that I wanna double click on. First, this idea of persistence, meaning you have to stick with something no matter what, and you are a failure if you make the choice to drop something. And I'm gonna be perfectly honest. That one really kind of left out of the screen, if you will, as soon as it those words came out of your face because not only did I agree with it, it's something that I've actually been not necessarily wrestling with, but over the past few weeks, I've really been auditing because I'm starting to get a lot more fussy about where my energy is going, and I'm starting to feel a lot more friction of why is my energy here when I know it should be here. And sometimes the most dedicated way you can express persistence in your life is to know what things not to persist with so you may persist with the right things, the right people.
Liz Moorhead:And I, you know, I've spent the past year auditing my life doing it, but the past couple of weeks, you know, I'm starting to notice a greater disparity between, I love doing this. Why am I putting my attention here? And it's it's because there's that push and pull. And if you don't get really clear about what it is you really should be persistent about, you will be half assing everything instead of whole assing the things you should be whole assing. You know what I mean?
Liz Moorhead:So that is something that left off the screen to me. The other thing I would say too is that to persist at something and then to fail at that something is not a failure. I think that's one of the greatest misconceptions about persistence is that to persist at something and to fail at something is to not fail. And it reminds me of a client I had a long time ago at my last agency, and, he had, you know, founded multiple businesses. He was a Silicon Valley guy, just absolutely brilliant.
Liz Moorhead:I loved listening to him talk. And one of the things he said to me once is that he got ahead in life because of the way he perceived his relationship with failure and that he never saw failures as failures. He saw them as instructions on what to do next. And that is where I think about you know, when I was going through some of my darkest moments over the past year, and I will even say over the past month as I'm like, I'm still trying to refine, focus, show up where I need to show up, do the thing. Okay.
Liz Moorhead:I made a mistake. Get back up. We keep going. I keep thinking about that idea of I can look back over the past year and say, man, look at all these failures, but they brought me closer to the focus of where I'm supposed to be. You have to be honest with yourself about why things might get messed up.
Liz Moorhead:You have to be honest with yourself by about why some things maybe didn't go the way you planned them to, but it's still an overarching act of persistence and a commitment to yourself.
George B. Thomas:So So good. Question So good.
Liz Moorhead:So question for you. Persistence, though, is going to look different for different people. Right? Like, my flavor of persistence is not your flavor of persistence. So it becomes how do we define it for ourselves?
Liz Moorhead:How do we find that sweet spot for us as individuals?
George B. Thomas:Yeah. Which which, by the way, one of the things that I love as far as, like, host, cohost, host I don't know who's the host, who's the cohost here, but one of the things I love about what you bring to the table is the ability to bring powerful questions. I want the listeners to know that this is a powerful question because of the answer it enables and the thing that you should be putting in your brain because it does not look the same for everybody. So it's like I can't download a template. I can't steal your blueprint.
George B. Thomas:Like, this is something you have to focus on yourself. Listen, persistence isn't a one size fits all kind of thing. It's it it needs to be. It should be deeply personal. It it's gonna be shaped by your goals.
George B. Thomas:It's gonna be shaped by your values. But more importantly, pay attention to this because I have had to, the season of life you're in. Like, my persistence for GBT 10 years ago, 20 years ago looks completely different than my persistence right now. But, again, I've changed. My goals have changed.
George B. Thomas:My values over time have changed or been refined. Right? And so so the way persistence shows up in your life might look very different from how it shows up in someone else's life, and it could be your kids, your wife, your coworkers, like but know that that's not a flaw. That's design. That's exactly how it should be.
Liz Moorhead:That's both a feature and a bug. Yeah.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So to get to the the deeper part of your your question, like, to start, like, persistence is all about aligning with your why. Right?
George B. Thomas:And and and if you don't know your why, and I would even say your because. Like, every time I talk about why now, I think about my buddy, Mick Hunt, who does the Mick Unplugged podcast, and he talks to humans about their because. Yeah. It's it's amazing. So, like, the the why.
George B. Thomas:But do you know your why? Like, when you're clear on your purpose, what truly matters to you as a human, it becomes easier to decide where you should channel your energy and when to keep going on channeling that energy in the direction of your purpose or your why. For some, persistence might mean showing up every day to write a paragraph of a long dream book that they wanna write. For others, it might mean committing to a challenging conversation. Those are fun.
George B. Thomas:Or sticking to a new habit that you're trying to build. It's not about comparing your persistence to anyone else. It's about defining what makes sense for you individually as a human for those goals, for your values, for the season that you're in. Listeners, I need I need to get your notepads out for a second, and I'm dead serious. Get your notepads out.
George B. Thomas:Get a pen. Get a pen. Sorry. Okay. Because I want you to write this down because this framework that I wanna talk about, it's a simple framework.
George B. Thomas:It's not like the whole superhuman framework. It's like a micro framework inside the framework, if you will. It can help Liz. It can help you. Yeah.
George B. Thomas:And, yes, yes, here's the thing. Even me approach persistence with purpose and clarity, making sure that your my efforts are intentional and sustainable. And so I want you to write down persist. K? Persist.
George B. Thomas:And it obviously means something. Persist. The p is for purpose. I want you to always remember to start with your why Because the purpose is the foundation of meaningful persistence, which is gonna give you a clear direction and the motivation to keep moving forward. And I want you for this p for purpose to ask yourself, what's the bigger picture I'm working towards?
George B. Thomas:How does this goal align with my values? And you'll write these down. Now the e is for evaluate. What I want you to do is regularly check-in with yourself. You see, because persistence isn't about blindly pushing forward.
George B. Thomas:It's about learning, adjusting. I called it pivoting earlier in this episode. And and making smarter choices as you go. And for this e, for evaluate, I want you to ask yourself, what's working well right now, and what's not serving me anymore? Now for the r, this is the rhythm.
George B. Thomas:We all have to find our rhythm. Like, honor the pace of your life. This just just translates right into the season and what you're doing. Like, listen. Some days call for big leaps and others are about small steady steps.
George B. Thomas:You have to recognize that both are valuable and part of the journey that you're on, and you're trying to be consistent and persistent. For this one, for the rhythm, I want you to ask yourself, am I honoring my natural pace, or am I forcing progress at an unsustainable speed? K? The s is for small wins. I want you listeners to celebrate every step forward no matter how small.
George B. Thomas:Taking time to acknowledge these wins builds momentum and reminds you that progress is happening. Remember I talked about that invisible progress? It's your job to remind yourself progress is happening even if it feels slow, even if it feels slow. Ask yourself during this one for small wins, what's one small victory I can celebrate today that brings me closer to my goal or goals? Now the I is for intuition.
George B. Thomas:If I could just get more humans to trust their instincts, to listen to their gut, to hear the small voice inside their brain. Persistence is about knowing when to push harder and when it's time to pivot towards a better path. So for intuition, I want you to ask yourself, am I continuing because it feels right, or am I pushing through out of a habit or out of fear? Now the s is for support, and life is funner when we actually have people around us. So surround yourself with people who understand and encourage your journey.
George B. Thomas:Leaning on others for accountability or motivation can make all the difference in the world of you being able to stay persistent to get to those goals that you're trying to achieve. And so for support, I want you to ask yourself, who in my life can I lean on for encouragement or support right now? If you don't have an immediate name that comes to mind, please, that is a most important next action step to figure out that gap to fill with the right human as you move forward on this journey. T is for tenacity. Oh, I love that word so much.
George B. Thomas:Stay committed to your goal while remaining flexible in your approach. I'm a say that for the people in the cheap seats in the back. Stay committed. Stay committed to your goal while remaining flexible in your approach. Listen.
George B. Thomas:True persistence is about balancing your dedication with adaptability and how you achieve your vision that you're headed to. In this one, I want you to ask yourself, how can I stay committed to my goal while remaining open to new methods or new paths? I think if you just think about persist in these letters, in these questions that you ask yourself, if you use this simple framework, you can start to shape persistence in a way that's not just effective, but also sustainable. And like we talked about earlier, it's deeply personal. And this brings up another key point.
George B. Thomas:Persistence doesn't mean pushing full throttle every single day. It's about recognizing the rhythm that I mentioned earlier of your life. Listen. It's okay to not take a step because you know that you're gonna take another step another day. It's okay to sprint because maybe you know you're almost at the finish line of the marathon that you've been running.
George B. Thomas:Both are valid as long as you're moving toward what truly matters. So so to everyone listening, I I hope that I can encourage you to reflect on 2 major questions that go align or align with this persist simple framework that we've been talking about. 1, what's the bigger picture that I'm working towards? That should be at the top of your notes. What is the bigger picture that I'm working towards?
George B. Thomas:And right below that, what's one small manageable step I can take today to keep moving in that direction? And then under that's persist. I hope that helps. Listen, by the way, I'd love to hear your take. You can email us.
George B. Thomas:You can hit us up on social. What does persistence look like for you? But, also, Liz, I'm curious. What are your thoughts around this?
Liz Moorhead:So I'm actually gonna do a little demonstration, George, because, you know, it's funny. You and I spend so much time together, but you and I have not basically been in a room together for a little over, what, 2 years. Yeah. So you've only seen me from, like, the chest up for about 2 years?
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:I'm about £80 lighter now.
George B. Thomas:Yay. There we go. There we go. Now, listeners, you'd you'd have to watch this on the the YouTubes or the whatever, but yes. See, that's what I'm talking about.
Liz Moorhead:The reason why I bring that up is because persistence is going to be a different flavor, not just individual to individual, but also goal to goal. I didn't start losing weight or actually getting healthy until my flavor of persistence was I am not going to chase weight loss. Weight loss is not the goal. I'm not gonna step on a scale. I'm not gonna do anything like that whatsoever.
Liz Moorhead:My flavor of persistence was, okay. I have a goal. Now I'm not gonna think about it. I'm just gonna show up and commit myself to new systems and habits. Habits.
Liz Moorhead:So persistence became, I don't care what you do. You just have to be inside the walls of that gym for 30 minutes. You could sit there and stare at a freaking wall for 30 minutes, but you have to be inside the gym for 30 minutes. And then it evolves. The goals changed.
Liz Moorhead:The goals shifted. I spent a lot of time. I know I know people always talk about metaphorically speaking. You gotta be careful about staring at your feet. Well, sometimes when you have big things that you need to do, the only thing you should be doing is looking at the steps that are right in front of you and not obsessively looking at what's on top of the mountain.
George B. Thomas:Preach.
Liz Moorhead:Because because that's when we get into situations where we become so obsessed with a goal that we do not realize the most important thing we can do is change our habits and our systems and become the person we want to be, the person who we already are. I would say the other thing too about persistence in terms of how we define it for ourselves is it reminds me a lot of the conversation we had about purpose. We expect it to be this big lightning bolt from the sky. Purpose is this. It's like this great crystal ball that breaks open like in, order of the phoenix and Harry Potter, and it gives the great prophecy.
Liz Moorhead:Right? Like that. But that's but there's so many
George B. Thomas:things that specific.
Liz Moorhead:Kind of stuff. Do you know what persistence really is sometimes? Just making a to do list every single morning and then just doing the to do list. Persistence is just waking up and and and and doing the thing
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:And and not always questioning everything constantly all the time. Persistence is wildly unsexy and unglamorous.
George B. Thomas:I like the to do list. My brain wants to say right below that, right, the to don't list so that you can red flag yourself of, like, oops. I'm doing one of the to don'ts. Let me get back to the to dos. Anyway.
Liz Moorhead:I love that. So when we think about persistence, there is always there are extremes to everything. Right? Persistence is great, and there are thresholds of when it can become unhealthy or counterproductive. So how do you know when it happens?
Liz Moorhead:How do you know when you get there?
George B. Thomas:Yeah. I'm gonna keep this one simple and to the point, to be honest with you. Persistence becomes unhealthy or counterproductive when it stops serving your purpose and starts draining your well-being. I could end there. I'm not going to, but it's like, that's the lens that I want you to look at.
George B. Thomas:When it stops serving your purpose and starts draining your well-being. If you're pushing forward out of habit, out of fear, or, God forbid, out of pride Rather than intentional effort towards a meaningful goal, it's it's a sign to step back and reassess. Why, what, how, when, pivot, yes, maybe, I don't know. Another big flag is when your efforts are causing harm. Again, whether it's burnout, whether it's neglecting important relationships in your life, or even if it goes to the depths of compromising your values.
George B. Thomas:Now you know persistence is no longer doing what it's designed to do for you. The key is to stay connected again to your why. The key is to be honest with yourself. The key is to be honest with yourself about what's working and what's not. And I've already said, this in this episode, but it deserves to be repeated, Liz.
George B. Thomas:Sometimes the bravest form of persistence is knowing when to pivot or pause, pivot or pause. Because if you can be brave and you can understand those times, it's how you're gonna actually protect what truly matters. Melissa, I'm I'm super curious on your thoughts of kind of recognizing when persistence might be doing more, let's say, harm than good.
Liz Moorhead:You know those moments where you look in the mirror and you know, like, I gave my all today or I didn't give my all or I didn't do this or I did like, you kinda Yeah. It's that it's that come to Jesus moment whenever you lock eyes with yourself in the mirror. You kinda know where you're at. Honestly
George B. Thomas:Yep.
Liz Moorhead:Just take a look at yourself in the mirror. You know, listening to this, I guarantee you, there are people right now wondering out loud, is this the wrong kind of persistence? And you're asking a question you already know the answer to. You already know.
George B. Thomas:But you don't wanna answer.
Liz Moorhead:But but you don't wanna answer it because that's the thing. How do you know when persistence becomes unhealthy or counterproductive? My guess is we already know. The real question you need to be asking yourself is why are you denying the truth? What is the cost you feel like is not that you're not willing to pay?
Liz Moorhead:And then you have to counteract that and understand the cost that you are not willing to pay is much less expensive than the one you are already paying by Yeah. Continuing down whatever path it is that you have. So when I think about when persistence becomes health unhealthy and counterproductive, it's it's when we start lying to ourselves Yep. Or we refuse to have the tough conversations or make the important choices that we need to make.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. Which which, by the way I had
Liz Moorhead:to do that this week. I had to take a step back from a couple of things. And I said, hey. You know, I gotta I need I know where my focus needs to be. I know my focus isn't there the way I need it to be, so I gotta take a step back.
Liz Moorhead:Yeah. Too many yeses. Oh. Gotta throw out a few noes.
George B. Thomas:Got gotta do it. We're we're so good at lying to ourselves.
Liz Moorhead:We really are.
George B. Thomas:We're we're we're pro and I don't mean you and I, Liz. I mean, listeners, I'm I'm bringing you I'm bringing you into this as well. Like, just as as fundamentally as humans, we are we are pros at lying to ourself, and we we have honesty is such a key piece to this conversation we're having, which I'm trying to think if we've actually done an episode on honesty. We've done 2. Oh, well, there you go.
George B. Thomas:Go listen to those.
Liz Moorhead:We did a whole episode on self deception. We've been doing this for over a year. It's crazy, isn't
George B. Thomas:it? Crazy. The the library of in motion. Potential growth that you have at your fingertips, listeners. Anyway So us too.
Liz Moorhead:Let's talk about the role of rest and recovery and persistence. What does that look like?
George B. Thomas:Yeah. I mean, it's it's important. I've said important maybe too many times in this podcast episode, but it it can't be overstated. Maybe maybe it's even more than important. Maybe I'll use a different word.
George B. Thomas:It's like, Liz, it's essential. Here's the funny thing. Rest isn't the opposite of persistence. I don't know why we think that is sometimes, but rest is the fuel that makes it sustainable. Without it, we risk burnout.
George B. Thomas:We lose perspective. We drain the very energy that we need to keep going to to be persistent in the pursuit of our purpose that we're passionate about. Like, I don't want anybody to look at recovery as it's like stepping away from the goal. It's it's not. It's it's about stepping toward it with renewed clarity, with renewed focus, with renewed strength because we've actually taken time to rest and recover.
George B. Thomas:I I I want you to honestly think about it like running a marathon. Liz, you just did this a couple weeks ago, I believe. Ran you did a marathon. Right?
Liz Moorhead:I ran a I did a 10 k, and I literally I am I had friends who asked me, oh, have you done a race before of any kind? So a 10 k is 6 and a half miles.
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:And I had I've never done a race of any kind before in my life Yeah. Ever. Yeah. And, last year, I just went, you know, I'm gonna put my money where my mouth is. And so I bought registration, and I just knew no matter what, I was gonna go across the 4 and a half mile Bay Bridge in Maryland.
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:And I was gonna do it, and I did it. And what was really funny is I expected the bridge to be the hardest part because it's, like, straight up for about 3 miles. Like, it's and, yeah, my my calves were killing me and so were my quads, but, actually, what got me the hardest part was the last, like, 3 quarters of a mile.
George B. Thomas:There's a lesson in that lesson.
Liz Moorhead:That was the part where I was just like, oh my god. I I'm saying you heard, like, I've gone over 5 miles, and it's this last one. And I'm like, I gotta do it. What am I gonna do? Stop?
Liz Moorhead:I'm just gonna sit down on the asphalt and decline to finish.
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Liz Moorhead:And it what was crazy to me is that when I got my finishing time, I had set a goal for myself of how long this race was gonna take me. And I made it a point not to really look to see what I had done because the goal was just to persist to get over that bridge, to get that 6 and a half miles done, and my pace was 35 minutes faster.
George B. Thomas:There we go. See see yeah. Here's here's the thing. And, 1, just an understanding of the last bit of your race is gonna be the most difficult. So being rested and rejuvenated or having the ability to push through that is super important.
George B. Thomas:But also the fact that you were like, I know that the end goal is this. Let me just focus on that, and I can actually beat it. And so, listeners, this is why I'm talking about think of it like running a marathon, like Liz just explained. If Liz was to try to sprint the entire way, if you in life are trying to sprint I love Liz's face, by the way. If you're listening to this if you're listening to this, it was it was priceless.
George B. Thomas:But but if you try to sprint the entire way, you'll run out of steam long before the finish line. Rest, pace, rhythm, allow you to do things like recalibrate, rehydrate, like, along the way. And I'm talking a little bit metaphorically, but also, like, reality. In persistence, like, these moments of recovery are where the magic happens. They're where they're where and when we reflect on how far we've come.
George B. Thomas:We can reassess our strategies, and and we can reconnect with our purpose of the whole reason why we're being persistent in the 1st place. And I think we have to talk about how rest actually builds. Here it comes, ladies and gentlemen. Resilience. Taking these intentional breaks by the way, disclaimer.
George B. Thomas:I am fundamentally preaching to myself during this next part, but taking intentional breaks, allows your mind and body to recover. It makes you stronger for the next push. It's it's in these moments that inspiration often strikes. Problems find solutions, and motivation is reignited. So you have to ask yourself, what does that look like in practice?
George B. Thomas:It it might mean taking 10 minutes during a stressful day to clear your head. It might be dedicating an evening to something that brings you great joy. It might mean stepping away completely for a weekend to rest. Oh, god. Anyway, I said I'm preaching to myself on this.
Liz Moorhead:My problem is every time you say you're gonna go take a rest, you start a new company. So it gets a little bit Yeah. It gets a little if I don't hear from you for too long, my first one is
George B. Thomas:the thing.
Liz Moorhead:Look at that. He's finally getting some rest. And then I'm like, wait a minute. Yeah. How about you just Slack recently?
George B. Thomas:Yeah. Listen. Listen. I've I've done all of those at some point in time in my life. I don't exactly remember when some of them were, but that's why I'm preaching to myself.
George B. Thomas:We have to take time to do those things. And and those are pieces that I'm trying to get better at, but the key is to integrate figure out how to integrate rest into the rhythm and not and not as a reward for exhaustion, but as an essential part of your persistence journey. Listeners, I'm curious because I'm also, as I admitted, learning along the way. How do you make space for intentional rest so that you can come back stronger and more focused? Again, I'd love to get a massive amount of emails or a massive amount of people reaching out on social, but I'm even more curious
Liz Moorhead:email you, George?
George B. Thomas:George@georgebthomas.com. But I'm actually very curious to if many humans are in the same boat that I am based on their listeners to this podcast, and they're on like journeys. But, hey, I'd like to hear from you. And, Liz, I'd I'd love to hear your thoughts on this as well.
Liz Moorhead:You can't keep the lights on for anybody else if you can't keep your own lights on. That's my thought. That's my whole thought.
George B. Thomas:That's a whole thought. So
Liz Moorhead:Like I said, like, that that's really it.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. So speaking of thoughts, Liz, we've we've come a long journey. We're at roughly 50 some minutes, I think, probably, once this bad boy is edited down. Out of all the things that we've talked about, what's Liz's one thing from this episode?
Liz Moorhead:Persistence is the most important promise you can keep to yourself because you can't keep any promises to other people until you learn how to persist for yourself. I spent decades of my life persisting for other people and then wondering why I felt empty. And it's been a journey over this past year to really feel worthy of persisting for because that was I didn't like myself. Didn't like myself, didn't love myself, had very little self worth. I felt like Liz is a service and feel like a human being.
Liz Moorhead:And that started to come together. And over the past week, I've really been focusing on persistence is the most important promise you can keep to yourself. Because once you start keeping those promises to yourself, it's not that life gets easier, but life gets more fulfilling. Because when you persist on behalf of yourself as opposed to the agenda that other people set for you, that's when your passion, your purpose starts coming alive. George, what about you?
Liz Moorhead:Take us home. What's your one thing that you want people to remember from this episode?
George B. Thomas:Yeah. My, my one thing for this episode, Liz, is this. Persistence isn't about relentless effort. It's about intentional, meaningful progress. Intentional, meaningful progress that aligns with your individual, you, the human's, purpose.
George B. Thomas:True persistence is sustainable only when it's fueled by clarity, balanced by rest, and adaptable to change. It's not about how hard you or we push, but it's about knowing when to move forward or when to pivot or when to pause or when to recharge. If you stay connected to your why, celebrate your small wins, and honor your individual human rhythm, persistence becomes a powerful tool for growth, not just a grind, a hustle to endure. That's what keeps you moving forward no matter how tough the road gets on this very important journey to a life beyond your default.