How to Solve Problems When You Feel Stuck

You know, I think most people misunderstand imagination and the power of imagination. Because the minute that you say imagination, a lot of times people get into this… I don't know. They, they, they think about somebody that's s- like, you have to have a beret with a paintbrush, or you gotta be a Andy Warhol or Steven Spielberg or something like that. And then immediately people say, "I, I just don't have that sort of imagination." And I love Napoleon Hill's definition of imagination, and this is the, the premise of this episode, because he nails it And I wanna bring this to you because when you begin to leverage what you already have and reassemble it differently, oh my God, you are going to not only get unstuck, but you're going to solve your own problems, and you're going to chart your way to success. Napoleon Hill defines imagination as the workshop of the mind. I love that right there. Workshop of the mind. He didn't say it's a storage shed. I just, I just went to my storage shed yesterday or whatever the hell… Storage unit. I went there yesterday. Ain't nothing happening in there. And a lot of times when you look at, w- when you think about your life, we really treat it like a, like a storage unit, and we just pile stuff in there, and we just leave it, slide the door shut, put a lock on it, and that's it. And you're paying monthly on something that you never, that you probably never use again. Which is why storage units are so profitable. People are terrified, including me, of throwing, throwing stuff away. But I digress. Napoleon Hill calls imagination the workshop of the mind, and he said this is where you take old ideas and established facts and reassemble them into new combinations and new uses. Oh my God. Bro, if that doesn't put a different spin on imagination for you. Imagination is the workshop of the mind, where old ideas and established facts that you already have are reassembled into combinations and put to new uses. Slap the Bible shut. That's it. That's what imagination is. That ain't fantasy. That is not fantasy at all, and it's not reserved for anyone special. Like, you have an imagination. It's taking all of your experience. It's taking things that you've already learned and gone through. There's a reason why you go through these things And it's reassembling those things into new uses I mean, think about, think about a, uh, like a workshop. Your grandfather probably had one. When you go into that workshop, there's all kind of stuff in there. There's tools, there's materials, there's just all kind of little odds and ends in there, right? And especially, like, as a kid, you would walk in there and, you know, it would just be all kind of little trinkets and, and, and things hanging on the wall, and some things on a shelf and other things underneath the workbench. I mean, it was just all kind of little things. And as a kid, bro, you could just, like, get lost there. And so when Grandpa would go in there, he would start tinkering around a little bit. That's what we have to do See, he didn't… Grandpa wasn't trying to run to Home Depot for something. He would just go in there, use what was already in there, and work it out. You try some things, it doesn't work, you find something else in that workshop, you put it with that, you try that. And so you're trying these different combinations. And this is what your mind is capable of doing all day long. You can actually exercise your imagination. The problem is, somewhere along the way, we stopped doing it, and we started treating established facts as established limitations. It is what it is. I'm too old. I ain't got no money. I already tried that That's what we're doing. And we have moved from a, from a workshop to a storage unit. And now all you have is just a bunch of useless inventory. Everything that you've been through, all of your old ideas that you've… A lot of them, they're there, man. They're just dormant. And because you're not exercising your imagination, there's no, there's no life to it. You got a dead sea in the mind there. Ain't nothing happening. And you're, you're sitting there. The facts are what the facts are, but why not use the facts, the things that you've been through And begin to get some sort of use out of those. you got all the inventory you need. You just gotta start using it differently. Your experience is inventory. Your failures are inventory. The things that didn't work are inventory. The embarrassments were inventory. My demotion was inventory. My bankruptcy was inventory. These are all things that have happened Now put some muscle back in that thing. Imagination is a muscle, man. It's use it or lose it. And so when you're not using it, man, it atrophies. It gets, it gets weak. It was like if I just sat in this chair for a few months and never got up, I wouldn't be able to stand. And so now you've just gotten away from those things. And the good news is, like, you can bring these things back to life See, you've gotten… You, you, you stopped using your imagination because you stopped asking questions. You kinda took things at face value. You stopped trying different things. You're just like, "No, it's not gonna work. See, I told you so." You're kinda working that I told you so syndrome, where you're, you're like actually proving people,"See, I told you it wasn't gonna work." Somebody tells you to try something."No, it's not gonna work." "Man, why don't you call this person?" "No, they, they said I can't call." Somebody tells you to apply for this job."No, man, I'm just not qualified." And that's what happens. You quit looking at things in a different way. Like back in the days, man, you were just like, "Screw it. Let's try it." And now it's just you, you, you operate from the shoulder shrugs. You're just like, "Well, just can't do it. It is what it is It is what it is, is just because you're looking at it through a one-track mind, literally a one-track mind. When people say they have a one-track mind, that is literally… And with imagination, it's multi, multi infinite tracks that you have. Because you get to take the established facts, old ideas, and a little bit of newness, and let me tell you what that newness is. This is where, in the morning, you actually grab a random book off the shelf. Maybe it's something you've been wanting to get around to. Nobody says you gotta commit to a full book. Just commit to 10 minutes. Find a chapter that, like, jumps out there at you and read it, and then how do you see it? It may be totally different than how the author looked at it. But let me tell you what's gonna happen. This is what's gonna trigger your imagination again. You're going to read something, it's going to spark an old idea, and you're like, "Wow, I totally forgot about that." And then you're gonna connect it to something you've already done. See, everything that you've gone through, been through, done, has a use and a purpose. Somewhere, it may take 20 years to use, but it's right there. This is what I call these shelved experiences. Sometimes these experience you go through seem like just a waste of time, and you put them on the shelf, only to need them 15 years later. And so when you read something new and it sparks it, and you start writing about it, and it connects to an old idea, and links over to some previous ex- experiences, and you have these epiphanies and you're like, "Oh my God." And this is how your imagination comes back alive Napoleon Hill said that imagination is the one thing you have absolute control over. He said that. Absolute control over, and that is something that no one can ever take away from you. It's the last of the human rights. People can backstab you. People can call you out. People can embarrass you. People can do all kind of injustices, but the one thing… People can stand in your way. Think they can. The one thing that nobody can ever take away from you is your imagination. That's it. And if you, when you remember that, no matter what the circumstances you're facing, okay, it's the workshop. Imagination is the workshop of the mind, where I take old ideas and established facts and reassemble them into new uses. What do I already have that I can use and start… Bro, it becomes playful. Like, you play with it, and they're of very low consequence because they're already there. They're already s- Like, you're not trying to prove anything. You don't have to announce it to anybody. You don't have to download an app. You don't have to do anything. You already have everything that you need. You just now reassemble it and make that puppy come back alive Your workshop is now open. Maybe you need to do something different with what you already have. You're not using your imagination because you think it, you think your solution is out there, when actually it's up here in your imagination. It's just all you gotta do is just reassemble it. It's like changing the combinations on a lock, okay? Those combinations worked at one time, all right? Now it's time to change the combinations, okay? And when that doesn't work, you don't get all butt hurt. You just try a different one, and try again… A different one. And then when you pull in from random reading, you pull in for 10 minutes, you pull something in and see if it doesn't spark an idea. Sometimes what you read seems like it just nothing was there, but unpack it. How do you interpret it? And then, you know, you may struggle with that a little bit, but then you go out in the day and some sort of chance encounter or conversation comes up, and boom, you got a bonfire of new ideas, new concepts, new ways of doing things. And this is going to shake you out of this rut that you're in You have all of the answers. That's what I'm saying, man. Are there more things that you probably need? Absolutely. Absolutely, but you got enough to get started, man. You have enough to reassemble and not depend on anybody else. That's the only thing I, I want to… I want, I want you to have your freedom. You already got it. Okay? There's a reason why freedom starts with free, because it's using literally what you already have. Establish facts, old ideas, spark it with something new of random reading every day, something that you learn. Just try it. Doesn't work? Try something else. Doesn't work? Try something else. Doesn't work? Try something else. And bro, you're gonna come home, like, with a sense of accomplishment. You're gonna come home not all beat up because you didn't get around to anything. You're actually gonna be invigorated. You're gonna be like… It's like you got a, a new birth, a new aliveness, because you got challenged that day, because you challenged yourself that day, because you tried things that day. And even though they didn't work, damn it, you always learn. All right? Your imagination is right there for the use. Now use it. It's the workshop of the mind. No longer are we gonna have a storage unit. It's time to get that bench to work. All right, let's get out of here. Keep it simple. Keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough. Peace.