This one is a solo episode where I talk about the walls we build for ourselves and how they can hold us back from achieving our full potential.
As an entrepreneur, I’ve built plenty of walls inside my own head. I used to think that they were helpful and kept me focused on doing the best job I could for my business, while also keeping me from being out of my comfort zone. But the truth is that these walls were holding me back from exploring new opportunities and experiences.
In my book “Owner Shift — How Getting Selfish Got Me Unstuck,” I wrote about this in chapter 19. I realized that I had been building my own prison, a place where I could be scared and safe at the same time. A place where I could focus all my attention inside and where I already knew everything. The walls obstructed my view in all directions, making it hard to see what my future could be.
I know that I’m not alone in dealing with self-built walls inside of my mind, and my guess is that we all have these things, whether we call them walls, obstructions, or something else. So my message to myself and to you is to tear down your walls. Tear them down like you’re in an excavator and you’ve got a big, heavy ball on the end of it, swinging it back and forth, and hitting those walls until they come tumbling down.
These walls could be inside of your mind, inside of your company, inside of a belief system that you’ve accepted as your own, or inside of a past that you’re holding onto. Whatever walls you’ve constructed, and whatever walls you’re living inside of now, they are holding you back from the life that you’re capable of living.
So if you want to move forward and create a future that you want, it’s time to tear down those walls. Listen to my latest episode to hear more about my experience with walls and how tearing them down can help you achieve your full potential. And don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter, the Inspire and Activate Greatness Newsletter, for more positive, future-focus thinking things that can excite you as well.
Thanks for tuning in!
Full transcript below.
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Transcript
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
walls, built, newsletter, thought, belief system, company, excavator, prison, unstuck, call, little bit, insulate, feedback, episode, construction company, achieving, future, blog, lange, obstructions
SPEAKERS
Mike Malatesta
Mike Malatesta 00:05
Hey, everybody, welcome back to the How’d It Happen podcast. I am so happy to have you here as I am with every episode. And before I get started on this solo episode, I wanted to just remind you that I’ve got a newsletter. Alright, so blog/newsletter that I call the Inspire and Activate Greatness Newsletter, and it’s something I’ve been doing for a few months now. And I’m really excited about it, I’m getting super feedback from it as well. In the newsletter I focus on five things; five positive, future-focus thinking things that excite me, and I think might excite you, as well. So if you’re interested in subscribing, go to my website, mikemalatesta.com and find the blog and subscribe. And you’ll get one every Thursday in your email box. And if you do decide to do it, let me know what you think. Because I’m always trying to make it as valuable to you as it is, to me, and I never want to be disconnected or misaligned. So feedback is good, let me know what you think.
So this short episode is about walls. And walls have been a big thing for me over my career as an entrepreneur. And what’s interesting about walls is that I don’t know how to build a wall, I have never constructed an actual wall. I always relied on Bob Lange and his sons who have a construction company and they can build, you know, walls out of block or concrete or whatever. And we would use them for all of our wall-building needs. And they built really strong walls. They built real walls, you know, walls that could take a pounding ,walls that could you know, hold forces back and all those kinds of things. I’ve never physically built a wall, but over my years as an entrepreneur, I built plenty of walls inside of my own head. And those walls were very, I thought, very helpful to me, because they were sort of a form of isolation, they were a form of protection. I thought they kept me in a place where I could do the most value, which is pretty much completely inside of my own company. And they kept me out of, you know, the things that were outside of there, things that I was either scared of or unsure about, or uncertain about or didn’t want to experiment with. So I kind of used those walls as both a way to keep me focused on doing the best job I could do for my business and, and also to keep me from being out of my comfort zone.
I wrote about this in chapter 19 of my book “Owner Shift — How Getting Selfish Got Me Unstuck,” and I’m just going to share a little bit about that what I wrote with you. And then I’m going to tell you why I’ve changed my thinking about walls.
My mind operated its own block wall 3d printer. The walls it made were invisible to everyone but me. They were strong and kept growing taller and deeper. I realized what had happened. I built tall, strong walls to insulate me from the outside world. Ironic. I’d been so fortunate to avoid prison after the indictment, granted the gift of freedom. At the same time, I was building my own prison, a place where I could be scared and safe at the same time. A place where I could focus all my attention inside and where I already knew everything. In the valley, the Uncertainty Valley which I talked about in the book, I realized that I was afraid to venture off the grounds and exist on the other side of my walls. It’s no wonder I couldn’t see what my future was. The walls obstructed my view in all directions.
So maybe I’m the only one who deals with you self-built walls inside of my mind, but I doubt it. My guess is that we all have these things, whether we call them walls, or obstructions or something else, and I guess my message today to myself and to you is to tear down your walls, tear them down, you know, pretend you’re in an excavator and you’ve got a big, heavy ball on the end of it, and you’re just swinging it back and forth, and you’re hitting those walls, and you’re just taking them down, because walls keep you inside.
You know, it could be inside of your mind, it could be inside of your company, it could be inside of a belief system which might be yours. And it might be someone else’s, that’s that you’ve sort of accepted as your own, like your parents’ or your partner’s, or your family’s or someone else’s. It could be inside of a past, or inside something else that holds you back. The life that you’re capable of leading, the life that you’re capable of living, the capabilities that you are capable of achieving, are almost always outside of whatever walls you’ve constructed, and whatever walls you’re living inside of now. So if you want to move forward, and you want to create a future, that’s exactly what you want, or as close to exactly what you want as possible. I recommend you take a look inside of yourself and say, What walls do I have, that are keeping me from achieving what I want? Do I even know what I want? Knowing what you want is a good first step to getting outside of the walls that are keeping you from it. Do I even know what I want? And then whether it’s on your own, or with some help from a coach or a colleague or a group, really start thinking about how you can deconstruct those walls, even a little bit at a time, start chipping away at them, and start to see that what’s out there, behind whatever walls you’ve constructed, that’s real. That’s where the real power is. That’s where you can find and become exactly what you want to find and become. And that’s not just for you personally, for your company, for your family, for your relationships, whatever.
So don’t be like me, and I hope you’re not. Let’s get rid of those walls. Let’s get rid of the isolation. Let’s get rid of you know, past belief systems or anything like that that’s standing in your way. And let’s bust down those walls and get exactly what you want. Until next time, thanks for listening. I appreciate you
