789. Curiosity in Action: Cultivating Mental Toughness in Uncertain Times

When you step into the unknown, man, that's where the sweetest fruit is. That's where the biggest opportunities are. And so the way that you're going to be able to step out into that unknown and still not feel overwhelmed is by harnessing your curiosity and being able to roll through those things itself. So that's the first thing, man, you got to embrace the uncertainty. Now, recently I read a book, Dan Rome, R O A M. I think he wrote a book called the back of the napkin. And he writes about a process of visual thinking, and there's four keys to visual thinking. I love this. It's look, see, imagine, show. Welcome to the Marsh Bites podcast, five skills, six daily habits, all designed to get you RFD. Hey, ready for anything dive deep into communication, curiosity, creativity, continuous learning and action and productive confrontation. Here you'll learn how to embrace uncertainty, handle the adversity, and never settle. Again, mental toughness isn't easy, but I'll help you make it simple. Let's dive into today's episode. Welcome to Bice podcast. I'm so happy that you're back here with me and today, man, we're going to. Continue on with the power of curiosity, how to harness the power of curiosity. And what you're going to find here on the Marsh Bites podcast, it's five skills, six daily checkpoints to get you RFA ready for anything. Three things we all go through in life, uncertainty, adversity, and complacency. And most people don't know what to do with any of those. So here you're going to learn how to embrace uncertainty, handle the adversity. Never settle again. Well, how do you do that? Well, I'm glad that you asked. So it's five skills, skills of communication, curiosity, creativity, continuous learning and action, and productive confrontation. And then it's six daily checkpoints. That you get through every single day. This is what maintains the power of consistency and this alignment is what's going to bring you maximum results. So what I've elected to do for the next many, many episodes is break down my mental toughness, daily coaching curriculum. It's what I charge for, but I want to give it to you for free. That way, if you want to do it on your own, or if you listen to this and be like. Yeah. All right. I'm ready to have a coach and cool. Hit me up. I'd be glad to help you out. So let me recap the previous episode. We explored the importance of harnessing your curiosity. Curiosity is key. Communication is where it started. Okay, now we're going to go on to curiosity and the next episode, we're going to go to creativity, but we're going to, we're going to end up on the curiosity today, but the previous episode, we talked about how to develop your mental toughness by learning how to power. Your curiosity by embracing questions, having continuous learning, and then maintaining an open mind. And that open mind is not getting so chiseled down into one area and stop blocking your friends because they're affiliated with one party and you're not. Are they like one person over and like. Man, stay open minded. Open mindedness is what's going to. And if you're curious, you'll stay open minded. It's not having these assumptions and it's the vulnerability and the strength actually to be able to change your mind and say, you know what? I once felt like that. I once believed that, but I'm willing to change my mind because I'm open minded. It's what curiosity is all about. So today, man, I'm excited to finish off the curiosity part of the mental toughness daily, and it's four things, man, that we're going to jump into embracing uncertainty, learning from failure, challenge assumptions, and experiment. And innovate. So let's jump into this because I want to get you in, get you out and get you on with your life. Quick tip before we move on to this, there is first thoughts with Marsh Bice urge you to check that one out. It's a second podcast. These are raw thoughts. I sit down and write, and then I go to the mic and then I express those raw thoughts and a lot of times. What comes out on the marsh spice podcast is a little bit different than what I wrote about initially. Sometimes my writing gets a little, you know, I may go in the left field a little bit. I've learned how to get it more concise and deliver this on the marsh spice podcast. But if you want to go in left field with me every now and then are going right field are going dead reverse going down the highway. Then I urge you to check those out, man. These are just raw thoughts and you'll hear the stumbles and the lapses and all of that, but cool. That's, that's what it's all about from there. And I really enjoy doing it. So those are initially, this is how it's going to come out. The Marsh Spice podcast comes out officially on Monday, but normally I try to launch them on Sunday morning and then Wednesday and Friday will be first thoughts with Marsh Spice and you can jump over there and eventually. Most of them will end up on this podcast, but they'll be a little more condensed. Some of them may never make it over here at all, because there's been several times, like I've written things and then come back to them later. And I'm like, nah, I don't feel that no more. I don't look at it that way. Open mindedness. I don't look at it like that no more. So they never see the light of day. Kill them. So anyway, let's rock out with a curiosity. This is which came for. So there are three things, like I said, that you're always going to come up with man, adversity, uncertainty and complacency. And so, while it's, it's vital to tackle the adversity and resist the complacency, you also have to learn how to embrace the uncertainty. Uncertainty is, you know, the opportunities would not be as sweet. If you didn't have uncertainty in your life. And so the uncertainty scares the bejesus out of people, man. But I don't know. I I've learned through sales that I had to learn to embrace the uncertainty. I had to, because in sales, you never know what you're walking into. It could be weather related. It could be shortages. It could be strikes like what we're having right now. It could be inventory issues. It could be a rise in interest rates. It could be customers just. Turning demonic on you. What? I don't even know. I just walk into different things. So I've learned to just roll with it, man. You just learn to embrace it and you figure out how to have that positive mindset and just keep that thing going. So this is, I try to take that sales mentality because I think we're all selling our way through life and I try to bring that. Onto this podcast. So that way you'll start adopting this sales fluidity, keeping the ball bouncing, trying to figure out what your other options are, and then you, you rock on from there, man, because when you step into the unknown, man, that's where the sweetest fruit is. That's where they. Biggest opportunities are. And so the way that you're going to be able to step out into that unknown and still not feel overwhelmed is by harnessing your curiosity and being able to roll through those things itself. So that's the first thing, man, you got to embrace the uncertainty. Now, recently I read a book, Dan Rome, R O A M. I think he wrote a book called the back of the napkin, and he writes about a process of visual thinking. And there's four keys to visual thinking. I love this. It's look, see, imagine, show. So this method will actually help you in, in using your curiosity as a tool. So the first thing that you're going to do is you're going to look. Looking means that you just scan the room. You're just scanning the situation. You're not making any judgments or anything like that. Then you're going to see. Seeing is. The patterns, you start seeing some pattern recognition and saying, okay, what am I seeing here? Okay. That's what the seeing is. Then imagining is using your curiosity to imagine what possibilities are there, but also what alternative possibilities are there to meaning that, Hmm, what if I did this, this is that tinkering, this is that curiosity, this is that creativity we'll talk about on the next episode, but it's using these things. Communication, confrontation, learning. See, it's using all these things and imagining not just one possibility, not just one opportunity, but multiple. And then it's showing, showing is the condensing after you've scanned. After you've seen the patterns after you've imagined, then you concisely put it into action and that's the show. So I think that would be a great method for you. I didn't even read the whole book. I just, you know, I read until I get the joke, meaning this is what I came for. This was the aha moment. I'm like, I can use this in any area of my life. So you want to read the whole book, check out the whole book. I think there's some other good things in there. I'll never know. Cause I just moved on to something else. I hope you're finding value in today's episode. Ready to elevate your skills and transform your life. Secure your spot for coaching today at marshbice. com. Hurry. These are limited spots. Now let's get back to the show. The next thing. Is you got to learn from failure. So you got to understand there's a difference between failing and failure. Failure is an identity failing. Is a process and bro, let me tell you something, always keep it a process failing. It's just a moment. Don't make it a monument. It's just, it's where you are. It's not who you are. So when you're failing, I N G. Okay. That means it's present tense. That means it's still in process. Keep that ball bouncing. So this gives you a chance to get that feedback to look at it and to analyze. Thanks. Thanks. Adjust and go back up the hill again. You're going to have these setbacks. You're supposed to have the setback. If you didn't have setbacks. Then you wouldn't grow. You'd be just banging around an average. So the fact that you're stepping out on these things and you're embracing the uncertainty, boom, and you're learning from the failure, actually not learning from the failure, learning from failing, and you just keep that ball bouncing from there, man, let me tell you something. If you want every single time. It wouldn't be as sweet. Your life would be super, super boring. But also, when you win, that was an expected outcome. You won, okay? And then you get there and you're like, eh. But when you lose, dude, it rattles your cage, man. It wakes you up a little bit. It's just like, oh, what the fuck? And then you gotta go back to the lab, man. You gotta make it better. You gotta improve. And so that's the beautiful thing about failing, but that sets you up for bigger wins. Sometimes life is saying one or two things, either a, I got something bigger for you or B you don't have the infrastructure in place so that if I let you win today, you would destroy yourself. So it's becoming a success is just as important. As being a success it is it's the becoming it's the infrastructure that you build it's the foundation it's the the rebar man like what they put in cement it's the it's the the the mesh inside It keeps things strong. So when that weight comes down, you can hold it. You can withstand it. That's what I'm talking about right there. All right. So you just power your curiosity. Curiosity is like your oar to rowing to success, man. It is. You just keep rowing. Just keep swimming. Just keep rowing. That's the biggest thing. All right. Third part, challenge your assumptions, man. Assumptions are deadly. They are. So assumptions is defined. I looked up the word. I said, I said, what is assumptions? Assumptions is defined as beliefs accepted without proof. That's what assumptions are. That could be detrimental to you, man. So, whenever you find yourself making these assumptive statements, flip it into a question. Challenge it. That's how you do that. So you challenge it by converting your assumptions. Make it a question. Just flip it around in with a question mark. So this fresh perspective. And actually, it pulls you out of this assumption, Mark, when you do that and you flip it into a question, dude, if you do this, you're going to be amazed. Just take the assumption when you're about to make a statement, it's an assumption, flip it into a question, see what happens. Instantly takes you into open mindedness. Now. You will have the tendency to try to slide back into assumption bill again, but you led with a question. Stay open to it. What's another question? What's a follow up question? I can ask and you'll get this, you'll get this bubble back going again as well. Now, also, 1 thing that's going to be helpful for you to in challenging your assumptions is to give yourself advice as if you're giving your friend advice. See, it's easier to give advice than take it. Right. How many times have you've given, like, Dr. Phil, like, advice to someone else, yet you've had the same situation and you're just like, I don't know what to do. So, giving yourself advice as if, you know, and I'll do this all the time, man. I'll do this on my walks in the morning. I'll do this when I'm riding to work. Are driving to work. The other marshes riding to work. So what I'll do is man, how you feeling, man? I'm a little tired today. A little frustrated. Why are you frustrated? And I'll bounce back and forth with marsh to marsh. And what I'll do is as if I'm giving my friend. Me and giving myself advice from there. Another helpful tip that I did this early on, man, when I was bottomed out trying to get my life back off the skids, man, back out of the rocks was I wrote letters to myself. And so writing letters to yourself is a powerful way you write the letter and then you write back. Now, I didn't send the letter off. I just wrote it in, you know, my legal pad, and then I would, I would write back as if I've received the letter. And then I gave advice from there contextualizing writing. That thing will actually help you think better, more concise. More clear and you'll get it off your chest, man. You'll free up some of that clutter as well. So that may be some things that'll help you with challenging your assumptions and keeping that ball bouncing from there. And the last part in maintaining and harnessing your curiosity is experiment and innovate, man, innovation. Stems from trying new things. When's the last time you did something for the first time. So this is what you got to do. And so I'm always, even though my six steps are the same, I wake up at a set time, I work out, I write, I read, I share something of value, and then I plan my meals. Those are the six things that I do. So, although my core steps are the same. Inside of those, they have all kinds of flexibility. So I'll try different workouts. I'll try different methods of writing. I'll try different ways of sharing content. I'll try different ways of meals, things like that. Sometimes they blow up in my face and don't work out well. Sometimes they don't. It's curiosity. I tried. I didn't abandon. And flip the script and get off the six steps, my checkpoints, I stay with those, but they're built on purpose to have the flexibility because my life and what works for me is not going to be the same for you. But the core things of waking up at a set time, writing, working out, learning. I think I skipped that earlier, sharing and planning my meals. That's the six things. And so that's, that's what I do every single day. And I, and see, here's the beautiful thing about that is I've won the day before I've even gotten to work. I got six things already taken care of and I just learned throughout the day. I just add to it, but it's already done. It's already done. And so that's what I coach on the mental toughness daily, how to do this. That's personalized for your life. We're going to stick to those six principles, but. You're going to use the skills of communication, curiosity, creativity, continues learning and action, productive confrontation to backfill those areas that is familiar to your life yet is aligned with the future of where you want to go from there. All right, so that's what that's what I do, man. I'm always experimenting. I'm always innovating. And that's what you want to do as well. You got to understand, man. Curiosity is is is more than just a trait, man. It is a tool and it can always redefine. And reshape your perspective. So that way you'll be more RFA. You'll be able to handle the adversity, embrace the uncertainty and never settle again. All right, so let's get out of here. The next episode, man. We are going to jump on creativity. I think we're going to do that on the next episode is creativity. I may give you a break with a, an episode in between. I don't know. We'll see. And that's why I had the flexibility of being able to do all right. That's, what's beautiful about this for more content. I know you're going to hear the outro here in a minute, but for more content, you can jump over to the Marsh Bites podcast. Also, if you want to leave me a voice memo, please do so. And man, I need you to, I need you to share this episode. I need you to continue. It's starting to. It's starting to really grow, man. And I need you to continue to share these episodes. I need you to talk about these episodes. I need, Hey man, clue me in on it too. Let me in on the conversation. I'd love to be able to chime in and add my two cents or understand your perspective from there. And then also, man, if you want to take your coaching to the next level, bro, I'll be glad to help you. I've got limited spots because I'm a limited person, but I've segmented some time so that way I can help. Those become RFA ready for anything. The thing that I coach on is, is the only thing I coach on are things that have worked personally for me. I am the living proof of that. If I have not provided the results of my own life, I am not going to coach on it. I don't know anything about it. And I will be the first to let you know I'm not for you. On that, but for those who I am for, hit me up, be glad to help you out. All right. With that, keep it simple. Keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough. Keep that momentum flowing. Peace. Thank you for joining me on the Marsh Bice podcast. If you're ready to take the next step, consider signing up for coaching at marshbice. com. That's M A R S H B U I C E and your support means everything to me. Please help support the show by sharing with others. Leave a rating and dropping a voicemail right there on my website until next time, keep it simple, keep it moving, never settle, stay tough peace.