Stop Making Excuses for Missing Opportunities ｜ FRIDAY FIELD NOTE
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode, Ryan Michler shares a story of how he was able to take advantage of an opportunity that presented itself and why you should never miss an opportunity to step into the potential that comes up in your life.
Transcript
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart
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your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who
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you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
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you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,
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and I am the host and the founder of the podcast and the movement that is Order of Man.
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As you can see, if you're watching this on YouTube, I've got a little bit of a different
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backdrop than I normally do. Not at my home office. I'm actually here in Las Vegas enjoying
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SHOT Show, which I've been coming to for, I believe this is my fourth year now, and Leupold
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Optics was kind enough to let me use one of their offices at their booth. I'm overlooking
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Leupold. I'm overlooking Gerber and these other firearms manufacturers and industry companies
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and I've got to tell you, this has been a great two or three days. I've done a lot of
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powerful interviews, have had a lot of great conversations, and if you hear a little noise
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in the background, it's because there's thousands of people downstairs wandering around checking
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out firearms and all of these other things that they have to see. But I wanted to make
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sure I got you a Friday Field Notes. Now, guys, this one's going to be a little bit quicker
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than it normally is because I have a very succinct and clear thought that I want to share
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with you as an opportunity arose in my life and I wanted to share that opportunity with
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you very briefly, not to get into specifics, but to share and illustrate a point that there's
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so many individuals, and this used to be me as well, who would overlook opportunities and
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craft and create all sorts of excuses as to why we can't step into these opportunities as
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they present themselves. So let me share with you the opportunity and then I'll talk with
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you a little bit about why I think guys overlook them, create excuses, and don't step into potential
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that comes up. So I had a very close friend who is a very influential person, individual,
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and very successful. He reached out and he says he had this opportunity to come to an event
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that he's putting together. Now, I'm busy. I've got a lot of things going on just like you
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do and this, I had to change my schedule around a little bit, but he's going to have some
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different media companies there, other influential people there, and I jumped at the chance. So
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he sent me a message. He said, here's what we're doing. We're going to be gone for three
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days. I had to move my schedule around, clear that schedule and reach back out to him. I
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said, man, I'm in, flights are already booked, and I'm ready to go. Now, this doesn't seem
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on the surface that great of a story, right? It doesn't seem like this is all that newsworthy,
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but let me tell you why it is because I cannot even begin to describe how often in my life
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and how often I see in other people's lives where they'll have opportunities that present
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themselves, but they'll craft and create all sorts of excuses and all sorts of reasons why
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they can't take advantage of these opportunities. They'll say they're busy or they're spread too
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thin or they can't do this or they're tired or whatever they come up with. And ultimately,
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the reason that you may be denying these opportunities and the potentials that come up and arise is because
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you're afraid. Simple as that. When you take advantage of these things that do come up and
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you have these types of potential opportunities and experiences that present themselves, it poses
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a threat, right? It's not the status quo. There might be investment of your time and your money,
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and there's the risk and the uncertainty that comes with stepping into the unknown. And so rather than
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putting ourselves out a little bit, trying to tweak our schedule or make things work,
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we simply say no. Now, granted, there's an opportunity or I should say a time in a place
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where you should say no, but there's a time and a place where you should say yes. And if you know
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very clearly what you want, we've talked about that at length here in the podcast, you know what you
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want and you're presented with something that is going to move you towards what you want. Your knee
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jerk reaction might be, no, I don't want anything to do with it. I'm not going to take advantage of it.
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I'm just going to sit back and do my thing or tell myself that I can or justify why I'm not able to
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make it work. But you're not going to create any sort of magic, if you will, in your life. You're
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not going to be able to excel and advance and grow. Anytime that I've had something wonderful and
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positive happen in my life, it's because I took a chance. It's because I took a risk. It's because
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I shifted things around. It's because I poured resources and energy and time and money into
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making my dreams a reality. It's very, very easy to say no to things. It's very easy to justify and
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rationalize why we're going to continue to live in the same rut that we've always lived in and be
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comfortable with that. But that's not going to get you what you want. So step number one, guys,
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you have to figure out exactly what it is you want. If you don't have that figured out,
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you don't know what to say yes to, you don't know what to say no to, and you keep doing the
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same damn thing in your life over and over and over again, and nothing changes. And if you're not
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willing to take these bold, calculated risks to move your schedule around, to invest in yourself,
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then don't complain in 10 or 20 or 30 years when you're telling yourself and other people that you
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never had the opportunities that other people did. You did have those opportunities. You just didn't
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take advantage of them. You either didn't realize them or when they came up, you made excuses as
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to why you couldn't step into those things. Another great example of this is several years ago, I had
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a friend reach out to me and he said, hey, I've got an opportunity for you and your wife to go on a
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cruise. And we've got the thing scheduled and all you have to do is get down here. And I said, well,
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that's great. And it was in the Bahamas. And I said, what's the catch, right? There's always a catch.
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I said, what's the catch? He said, the only catch is you have to come down here. You have to run a
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Spartan race and it's this weekend. Now my knee jerk reaction, oh, I can't, I'm busy. There's too much
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logistics. What are we going to do with the kids? How are we going to make this work? But it was a
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wonderful opportunity for me to go spend some time with a friend for him to introduce us to other
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people that we wanted introductions to, to go run a Spartan race, to spend some time with my family
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and my wife specifically. And so I said, yes, I said, yes. How many times do we say no when we
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should say yes? And frankly, vice versa, guys, look for the things that are going to serve you
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and your family and your goals well, and find a way to say yes to those things. Say yes more often
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than you potentially would or have in the past. One of my favorite quotes by John Eldridge, he says,
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deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live and a beauty to
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rescue. And if you say no to every little thing that comes up and you justify and rationalize
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in your mind as to why you can't do those things, you are certainly not living an adventure. You are
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not taking any risk. You are not exposing yourself to not only the risk, but the potential upside that
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comes with these things as well. And anything good, as I said before, that's come into my life
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came because I was willing to say yes to a potential opportunity that frankly, I didn't know if it would
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work out or not. Now some of those don't, but some of those do. And the few opportunities that do work
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out make up for the opportunities that don't. Guys, you've got to get yourself in the game. You've got
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to give yourself some at bats. If you're sitting in the dugout or you're sitting on the sidelines and
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riding the pine your entire life, you don't have the right to complain about other people's success
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when you don't have it. The reason those individuals, me and other people, and also you at times in your
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life have had the success that you have and they've had is because they say yes, when most people
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would say no. So that is my message to you today. A short one. I think it's, I don't know, less than
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10 minutes, but the point is made guys. When opportunities arise, when doors open, you need to
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take a step through them. Do not wait for those opportunities to come to you or to fall in your lap.
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Do not say no when those things present themselves. Find a way to say yes. Know what's
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important to you. Know what your priorities are. And when those doors open, you step into those doors,
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into the uncertainty, into the unknown, and create the life that you're after. That's why I'm here at
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SHOT Show. It's been easy for me to say, well, I can't take three or four days away from my family.
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I can't invest in the flight out here. I've got other things. I've got a podcast to do. But I'm telling
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you what, there's been some great opportunities that presented themselves here at the SHOT Show
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that I didn't know were available because I entered the door. My buddy who called me a couple of days
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ago and said, hey, here's this thing we're doing. Do you want in? I said yes. The guy who asked me to
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go on a cruise, when there was an opportunity to start a podcast, when there's opportunities to
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connect and network with different people, just say yes. Say yes. And see where it takes you. You never
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know where it will. And for me, I like the adventure. And I like the potential upside that comes with it.
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The downside is that you invest a little time and energy and it doesn't go anywhere. But you're
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still not at a loss when you do that. So guys, that's all I've got for you today. Again, here
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at Leupold. Again, gracious enough to let me use their booth and their office. It's absolutely
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incredible. They've got this whole setup downstairs. And then they've got four offices on the top level.
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This is a booth at a trade show, which is really interesting to think about the amount of investment
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they have that goes into this. And of course, they're doing some wonderful things. So check
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them out. Of course, subscribe to the podcast if you're not already. Make sure you share this.
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And ultimately, here's what I want. I want you to say yes to something this week that you normally
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wouldn't say yes to. It doesn't have to be some grand thing. Maybe somebody invites you for a pickup
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game of basketball or invites you to jujitsu or wants to go on a lunch meeting or introduce you to
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somebody. Just say yes to those things. See where they take you. I think you're going to be
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pleasantly surprised and you're going to create some results in your life that you may not have
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even been aware of had you not stepped through that door. All right, guys, get after it. And
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we'll be back next week. Until then, go out there, take action, say yes a few more times. Become the man
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you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the Order of Man podcast. You're ready to take charge of
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your life and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.