Episode 383
You Haven't Counted the Cost If You're Playing It Safe With Michael Rosenberg
Michael Rosenberg says you haven't counted the cost when you remain where you are in life, instead of discovering what's truly available to you and finding your purpose. When you're trapped in a cycle of burnout and dissatisfaction, the demands of the corporate world can often become a relentless grind. Michael talks about the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone to discover your true purpose and alignment. His story is an example of what's possible when you break free from the golden handcuffs and redefine success on your terms. He spent over a decade feeling unfulfilled in sales roles, pushing through burnout after burnout, until he decided to take a leap of faith. His decision to sell everything and travel the world taught him crucial lessons about faith, purpose and the power within us all to create and live a life of meaning.
For many men, the fear of the unknown can be paralyzing, but Michael's journey highlights why facing that fear head-on is foundational for personal growth. His journey shows that true freedom comes from within, it's less about chasing external success and more about aligning with your inner values and passions. By redefining his purpose and embracing the uncertainty, Michael discovered transformational speaking and coaching as his calling. Michael reveals common misconceptions for men, such as needing to make it on your own and the belief that passion doesn’t pay the bills; changing these beliefs opens the door to a more fulfilling, intentional and balanced life.
In this episode, you will be able to:
· Embrace your fears and discover your true purpose in life.
· Navigate the transition from corporate life to entrepreneurial success.
· Unlock the power of spiritual awakening for personal growth and fulfillment.
· Uncover effective strategies to find and live your life's purpose.
The key moments in this episode are:
00:14:32 - Overcoming Setbacks and Reigniting Passion
00:19:47 - Making the Leap From Corporate
00:25:16 - Overcoming Fear with Faith
00:28:38 - Embracing Fear and Seeking Adventure
00:31:35 - The Journey to Finding Purpose
00:39:25 - Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
00:43:18 - Embracing the Unknown
Connect with Michael Rosenberg
Website
https://www.instagram.com/wakeupwithmike/
https://www.facebook.com/wakeupwithmike
Connect with Mike Forrester
Podcast Website
https://LivingFearlessTodayPodcast.com
Coaching Website
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hicoachmike/
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@hicoachmike
https://www.facebook.com/hicoachmike
https://www.instagram.com/hicoachmike
Transcript
Well, hello and welcome back my friend this week.
Speaker:I'm joined by Michael Rosenberg and Michael's got an amazing journey.
Speaker:And it's one that I think we can all, all those of us in corporate can
Speaker:relate to at one level or another, because there's been those times
Speaker:where it's like, why am I here?
Speaker:I'm not happy, but.
Speaker:You know, you, you just don't see that way out.
Speaker:It can lead to burnout.
Speaker:You know, we've heard about golden handcuffs.
Speaker:You're kind of tied to that position.
Speaker:Michael went through that and for 11 years, and it was one of those of, you
Speaker:know, sometimes, sometimes it's days that seem like they're longer than weeks.
Speaker:And other times those, you know, those weeks just pile on and they become months.
Speaker:Michael went through that day to day, that week to week struggle.
Speaker:And then he finally hit a point and said, I need a change.
Speaker:It's time.
Speaker:And so I'm looking forward to talking with Michael about, you know, like the
Speaker:fear that keeps us in place and then the fear of, of going and making a
Speaker:decision like Michael did to just go, Hey, there's got to be something more.
Speaker:And I think we've all been at that place where it's like there is something more.
Speaker:We just may not know how to get there or have the faith to take that jump.
Speaker:So excited to talk with Michael here today.
Speaker:How are you doing, Michael?
Speaker:I'm doing excellent, Mike.
Speaker:Yeah, that was an amazing intro and it's got me excited to, to
Speaker:share with you on this topic.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Well, I mean, you've been, let's see, in four years, you've gone to 14 different
Speaker:countries and that in and of itself has a lot of excitement, a lot of unknowns,
Speaker:and so it's, it's one of those of, for some of us, that's our dream, right?
Speaker:Check out later deuces.
Speaker:I'm going to live the adventure.
Speaker:There's some, some challenges that come with it as well, so,
Speaker:um, let's start off, Michael.
Speaker:What does it look like on the professional side of things?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So professionally, I have, um, taken my story of travel and my whole back story.
Speaker:Everything I suffered from the whole journey.
Speaker:Quote unquote pre life, if you will.
Speaker:And I've turned it into a transformational speaking and coaching career.
Speaker:So they say that you are best able to serve someone who is maybe
Speaker:you're set like yourself five years behind you on your own path.
Speaker:And so the way that I work with people is through one on one guidance and coaching
Speaker:as well as I speak on stages to share my story, um, the knowledge that I've
Speaker:picked up along the way, and I inspire people to find their heart again, to
Speaker:find their own wisdom again, to tap into the inner roadmap that we all have that
Speaker:brings you on your true path in life.
Speaker:And so it.
Speaker:It looks many different ways.
Speaker:There's many different things we tackle from unlearning and unconditioning
Speaker:to relearning and reconditioning and finding out really what lights your heart
Speaker:up and, um, you know, where you have been, um, operating from in your life.
Speaker:But it's a very exciting time for me because I'm truly passionate about.
Speaker:the work that I'm doing now.
Speaker:And in all honesty, I'm, I'm at the beginning of this next stage of my life.
Speaker:I would call this kind of my next dream.
Speaker:Traveling was the first big dream.
Speaker:And I wrote a letter to God before I went traveling, asking God to
Speaker:connect me with my true calling on the other side of traveling.
Speaker:And I feel that I have come into that over this past year.
Speaker:So I'm gaining momentum and getting all of that going right now.
Speaker:So many of us will look at something like what we're doing or what we're
Speaker:moving to as like the next step that will take forever and never change.
Speaker:But you stepped into that already.
Speaker:Expecting, right?
Speaker:The anticipation of what's next.
Speaker:This isn't going to be what I do forever, but I want this to be in preparation.
Speaker:I really love that, Michael.
Speaker:That's super powerful.
Speaker:Yeah, well, let's let's jump in on the personal side of things.
Speaker:What does that look like for you today?
Speaker:Personally, I feel free.
Speaker:I feel a sense of liberation within myself that I used to never feel in my life
Speaker:that is available to me all the time now.
Speaker:Um, by no means does this mean that I'm not going through my challenges
Speaker:and through my growing pains and still, you know, facing myself
Speaker:every day and evolving, but I truly deeply feel supported by life, by
Speaker:God, by my friends, by my family.
Speaker:Um, I do what I enjoy.
Speaker:I'm very clear on my inner guidance system.
Speaker:Um, I feel integrity with myself and my life and my choices.
Speaker:And so no matter what I choose to do, right, whether it's a teaching
Speaker:moment that says, maybe that wasn't the best move or it felt great.
Speaker:I feel good knowing where those decisions are coming from.
Speaker:I know that they're mine now and they're not coming from someone else or society.
Speaker:And I'm getting to experience, you know, like while I'm in the midst of getting
Speaker:this new business off the ground, um, I'm doing all the things that still
Speaker:light me up, going out into nature, you know, taking my walks, like jamming out
Speaker:to my music, um, getting super creative with all the projects that I'm up to.
Speaker:So I really feel.
Speaker:Yeah, a sense of excitement and I feel like I have this vision that's really
Speaker:pulling me forth in my life right now where I used to just wake up pushing every
Speaker:day some stuff that I didn't really want.
Speaker:Well, you touched on there, like, Hey, I'm feeling freedom in my life, despite the
Speaker:challenges a lot of times I think is guys.
Speaker:We are so focused on the challenge and trying to solve it and move, you
Speaker:know, through it to have everything.
Speaker:If we're going to feel freedom, Michael, I think it's almost
Speaker:everything has to be roses.
Speaker:It has to be all green lights, um, all the way to the bank.
Speaker:How are you, how are you?
Speaker:Finding that freedom and enjoying the freedom, even
Speaker:when the challenges do come up.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker:Well, I've really learned my over.
Speaker:Many years in the course of my journey that life is always teaching
Speaker:me, you know, from the inside.
Speaker:I learned that life is really an inside out game.
Speaker:The work that we do on the inside and in my own personal case has
Speaker:always, um, Revealed itself.
Speaker:The results, the fruits of that labor in my outer reality.
Speaker:So over the years, I've just gotten to experience so much magic, um, by sticking
Speaker:to what I believe by keeping my faith, my values by developing those along the way.
Speaker:And they've gotten to me to where I am.
Speaker:And over the course of that time, I learned that any
Speaker:fear that I ever had yeah.
Speaker:Was just not what I was making it out to be.
Speaker:And once I made it through it, um, I felt more freedom and liberation each time.
Speaker:So it's like, now I've got the evidence in my life that.
Speaker:Um, what I've been doing has been working and even when times feel dark
Speaker:or I feel like I'm up against a wall, I know that that moment is just revealing
Speaker:something to me within that if I look at and if I follow it and if I learn
Speaker:from it, it expands me, it creates more freedom, it creates more of a
Speaker:full integrated experience of life.
Speaker:And I've also learned that.
Speaker:Man, we get to have joy and be excited about our lives and what
Speaker:we're doing, even when it's hard.
Speaker:Cause look, like the challenges will always be there, but if you can go
Speaker:about it in a way where like you're in it with your life and your process
Speaker:and you can make some fun of it at the same time, so many more doors open.
Speaker:Yeah, they really do.
Speaker:I mean, those, like you said, the challenges will be there.
Speaker:It's.
Speaker:You know, just almost like this natural thing that it's going to occur,
Speaker:but you're choosing to go, it's not an either or they can both exist.
Speaker:It's how I look at it and how I kind of almost frame it, right?
Speaker:I'm choosing to focus on that.
Speaker:I'm free to have these things that I'm grateful for.
Speaker:And yes, this reality of the challenge exists, but it's not an overwhelming
Speaker:all encompassing kind of thing, right?
Speaker:Your balance and your focus are intentional towards what you
Speaker:are really enjoying and what's giving you that freedom and peace.
Speaker:And I, and I really like that.
Speaker:And that's, that's such a powerful action that we're able to take, but often, you
Speaker:know, kind of dismiss it or just think it's less than, uh, what it really can be.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that, like you said, that balance and intention and that focus, you
Speaker:know, for me, um, It's it's the creatorship that we all have, right?
Speaker:When we can really like when, when you know that you're creating your
Speaker:life, that you created everything that you didn't want, and that you
Speaker:can just as powerfully, if not more, create everything that you do want.
Speaker:It's a totally different perspective, and it pulls you forth to really utilize
Speaker:these tools like, um, like the focus and intention, you know, with your whole life.
Speaker:Yeah, it's worked.
Speaker:Well,
Speaker:Yeah, it sounds amazing.
Speaker:Well, let's step back to kind of give some context of the journey and back in
Speaker:high school in football, dude, there was stuff that something occurred and I'll let
Speaker:you tell the story on him, Michael, that took your passion, took the purpose away.
Speaker:And then for the next 20 years, kind of set you on this path where you're like,
Speaker:there's got to be something better.
Speaker:But what?
Speaker:And you know, it, Events can be powerful and I don't want to negate that, that
Speaker:aspect of it, but it's like out of it.
Speaker:You've also grown and learned like you've talked about.
Speaker:So can you take us back to that time and what went on and then kind of
Speaker:what that did to you at your core?
Speaker:Yeah, did a lot to paint my core.
Speaker:You know, I, I look back and I, I think of traumas.
Speaker:We all experienced traumas in my life.
Speaker:And sometimes I tell myself, well, I don't know if my trauma was
Speaker:as bad as someone else's, right?
Speaker:Because for me, it wasn't abuse.
Speaker:It wasn't someone dying.
Speaker:It wasn't something like happening, you know, to my health for me.
Speaker:It was, uh, in high school football.
Speaker:Well, as a kid, my greatest passion was playing football.
Speaker:I loved it.
Speaker:I, and it would just be me out in the backyard and on the field
Speaker:with all my friends, 10 years old, ripping around like Barry Sanders.
Speaker:I was the fastest of everyone.
Speaker:I'd score touchdown after touchdown, nothing lit me up more and put more fire
Speaker:within me than scoring these touchdowns.
Speaker:And I could play.
Speaker:all day.
Speaker:So when I got to high school, I had to convince my parents to let me go out for
Speaker:the team because I was a very small guy.
Speaker:They thought I would get hurt.
Speaker:And it took me, um, three years, my whole high school career up to senior year to
Speaker:finally earn the starting wide receiver position on my high school football team.
Speaker:And my dream was to catch a touchdown under Friday night lights.
Speaker:And I thought, you know, Oh man, I'm Finally going to have my
Speaker:dream come true because I could take it as a kid at 10 years old.
Speaker:Now it's happening in professional.
Speaker:I thought it was professional at the time, you know, high school under the lights.
Speaker:I was imagining the crowd going wild for me.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And what happened is.
Speaker:I ended up dropping all the balls that were thrown my way.
Speaker:Quarterback would throw it, it would hit me in the chest, hit me in the
Speaker:hands, under the big lights in front of the crowd, and I would come back to
Speaker:the huddle with my hands over my head, just feeling like I wanted to crawl into
Speaker:a dark hole and never be seen again.
Speaker:And Essentially, I got replaced.
Speaker:Um, I was, I was benched and replaced by the coach's son and the lights in
Speaker:my life really went off at that point.
Speaker:You know, what it did to me at my core is it shut my heart down.
Speaker:I didn't even know what it was to have your heart shut down, but I
Speaker:experienced so much pain and the pain came from letting myself down.
Speaker:I equated dropping those balls to dropping the ball in my life.
Speaker:I had my dream in my fingertips and it was up to me to make it happen and I
Speaker:had the opportunity and I messed it up.
Speaker:And as a young guy, You just don't know any better, right?
Speaker:As a young kid, I put so much pressure on myself.
Speaker:I locked myself in my room crying.
Speaker:My parents were worried about me.
Speaker:And that was it.
Speaker:Football was over.
Speaker:The thing I loved most that made me a happy kid was now out of my life.
Speaker:And so, yeah, the next two decades, it was like, okay, well I'll go
Speaker:to college and what do I major in?
Speaker:And what do I do for a job?
Speaker:And you know, that was a whole experience in itself for a long time.
Speaker:But if I trace this journey, essentially, I had this what I would call a hero's
Speaker:journey of losing my passion and purpose early on and then reigniting
Speaker:that passion and purpose in my quest to discover who I was through this journey.
Speaker:Personal work and personal spiritual journey many years later, I
Speaker:found my passion in that again.
Speaker:And it's brought me here to this day.
Speaker:Yeah, I think a whole large number of us can relate maybe not with,
Speaker:you know, the football aspect of it, but where we've dropped the ball.
Speaker:In, you know, a metaphorical aspect, and it's not not reaching what
Speaker:we feel we've always dreamt of or what we could accomplish who we
Speaker:thought we were in falling short.
Speaker:And dude, that is so crushing.
Speaker:Um, you know, and the way you've laid it out and and said, Hey, this is
Speaker:the impact that it had going forward.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:As you continued on those 20 years, those two decades after that, um, you were in
Speaker:corporate for 11 years doing sales, right?
Speaker:A good sales career.
Speaker:But through that time frame, there were multiple instances of burnout.
Speaker:And just kind of stay in there through it, what was keeping you in a place where
Speaker:you felt burnt out and not really like you're fulfilling what you want to do?
Speaker:What kept you in that place?
Speaker:Yeah, well, the short answer and very potent answer to this question is I was
Speaker:living from a place of misalignment.
Speaker:Out of alignment with my true self and i didn't learn this until later
Speaker:on and actually what happened is right after college you can you can even
Speaker:expand that eleven serious eleven year sales career to like fifteen years of
Speaker:corporate world i was out in la for a little like trying working as an
Speaker:assistant in the talent agency business but right away i was working for.
Speaker:Really hard people to work, work for people who didn't value me or my time or
Speaker:that I was there to learn or to progress.
Speaker:I was more just like I felt like a slave in that environment and I eventually
Speaker:got out of those three years and I just said, well, what do I do next?
Speaker:Because I didn't care about college.
Speaker:I had no idea what I wanted to major in.
Speaker:I just picked an English major because I thought it was the quickest thing I could
Speaker:get out in four years with, you know, none of it ever made any sense to me.
Speaker:But I was like, this is what you do, right?
Speaker:You get a major and then you can only go into the thing that you have a degree in.
Speaker:I went into sales because I didn't know what else to do.
Speaker:My father was in sales and I said, well, I can make a lot of money that way.
Speaker:And that's what I'm supposed to do now.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And so I started placing my, uh, idea of success.
Speaker:In chasing money because I heard you can make as much as you want in sales
Speaker:and I developed this kind of way about me where it was all about hard work and
Speaker:the harder that I would work the better I would do because this is what my
Speaker:company's taught me my boss has taught me there's a lot of systems in the
Speaker:corporate environment that say if you do it this way you will be successful.
Speaker:And a lot of it felt like Groundhog Day again and again and again, waking up every
Speaker:day, going to the same uninspiring, boring meeting with the same agendas, having
Speaker:to go out and knock on 50 doors a day.
Speaker:All my leads were self generated.
Speaker:I was getting rejected left and right, you know, from business owners.
Speaker:And I never felt that I was good enough.
Speaker:You know, I was in sales.
Speaker:It's a performance based.
Speaker:Business.
Speaker:So if you're not selling, you're not feeling so hot about yourself, usually
Speaker:your company, your bosses, they're not making you feel so good either.
Speaker:So it created this really like crazy up and down emotional
Speaker:rollercoaster ride where for a minute, if I was selling, I felt great.
Speaker:And like I was doing what I was supposed to do.
Speaker:And there was light at the end of the tunnel, the second Monday hit
Speaker:and I didn't have a deal again.
Speaker:And I had to sell something by Friday.
Speaker:I felt like just constantly.
Speaker:Keeping my head above the water, you know, but behind this, like
Speaker:pushing a boulder up a hill.
Speaker:So over the years, I just burned out over and over and over more times
Speaker:than I can count because all of my focus and energy was going into trying
Speaker:to make this thing succeed that I didn't really want in the first place.
Speaker:If I was being honest with myself, I hated what I did.
Speaker:Um, I also found out later, I wasn't really a money motivated guy.
Speaker:I was in the wrong business.
Speaker:Sales is all, you know, kind of money motivated and you know, no
Speaker:matter how well I did for a long time, I didn't do well at all.
Speaker:I thought I was no good at it.
Speaker:I was like, man, can I see myself like getting promoted to a manager
Speaker:or going down this career path?
Speaker:And I just.
Speaker:Wanted nothing to do with it.
Speaker:Um, what kept me there is that I didn't know what else to do.
Speaker:I simply felt I had no options.
Speaker:My frame of the world was I don't have a degree or specialize in anything else.
Speaker:So how could I get out of here?
Speaker:But I had this feeling in my heart like I always knew that
Speaker:we have purpose in this world.
Speaker:So I begged and was just like with God and I was just like hoping one day
Speaker:something would come and save me and give me purpose and I would find that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And get out of what I was doing, but I essentially just kept rearranging the
Speaker:chairs on the Titanic as it was going down, you know, like just, um, my health
Speaker:went, my sleep went and, um, yeah, there's, there's so much more I can
Speaker:go on and on, you know, and then, and you let me know where I should start.
Speaker:There was some things that started to wake me up out of that.
Speaker:Well, I, I think the big thing you ended up like in 2020.
Speaker:Just go and i've had enough i'm done and like what you've described there
Speaker:you know what you were facing and everything like that michael i'm like
Speaker:dude there's so much that can keep us in that place right not knowing hey
Speaker:what else is available what else can i do that fear of the unknown whether to
Speaker:stay there go somewhere else dude you took a jump and said forget it i'm done
Speaker:you sold everything you i believe cashed in like your 401k i mean you just went.
Speaker:I mean, when I think of all in, I'm like, yeah, that, that qualifies there, Michael.
Speaker:And that was the beginning of where you journey, you know, you traveled
Speaker:for four years across 14 countries.
Speaker:How did you get past that barrier of fear?
Speaker:I mean, like you talked about, fear is usually something bigger than what it is.
Speaker:Like we build it up in our head.
Speaker:But how did you get past that barrier of fear to take that step and,
Speaker:and begin that journey of faith?
Speaker:Great question.
Speaker:It took a lot of courage and it began several years before in 2015 16.
Speaker:I began to have a spiritual awakening.
Speaker:I went to India.
Speaker:Some things got triggered in me.
Speaker:I came back.
Speaker:I started to just see the world very differently.
Speaker:And what happened is a breadcrumb trail began.
Speaker:Um, kind of laying out in my life in front of me and the trail was like
Speaker:things that I was interested in.
Speaker:So, um, I started to venture into spirituality and energy
Speaker:work and new friends just showed up in my life all of a sudden.
Speaker:And then someone presented transformational training.
Speaker:It's like a group program.
Speaker:You go to where you learn about yourself.
Speaker:I was like, what's this?
Speaker:And something lit up in me each time.
Speaker:That said, yes, and I didn't know why it was a yes.
Speaker:I just knew that it was a yes.
Speaker:I was curious.
Speaker:So following my yes is what got me there eventually, because what began to happen
Speaker:is, um, I began to gain some momentum with this curiosity and this passion.
Speaker:For this path, I was walking for myself and I had work on one side
Speaker:where I was burning out and on the other side, I'd be off doing activities
Speaker:and moving energy and like going on hikes and hanging with cool people.
Speaker:And that began to outweigh the work situation.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And I was like, man, I want to explore like.
Speaker:this and mysticism and myself and like, what's my soul and
Speaker:what's God and all of that.
Speaker:And in 2019, I went on, this was kind of the turning point for me.
Speaker:I went on a trip with swimming with wild dolphins in the middle of the ocean with
Speaker:a big group in the Bahamas and dolphins have always been my favorite animal.
Speaker:Dolphins, Miami dolphins are my football team too.
Speaker:And, uh, I, I came back from this experience to the shore.
Speaker:And something changed.
Speaker:The dolphins change something in me.
Speaker:I was in such awe, such joy and gratitude like my jaw was hanging open.
Speaker:I was looking out at the horizon and I just thought to myself,
Speaker:I want more of this in my life.
Speaker:I want to feel this more of the time.
Speaker:I've been feeling kind of dead.
Speaker:For a long time, right in this one career path, but this feeling has
Speaker:me just tingling and coming alive.
Speaker:And I looked at my friend and I said, I said, I'm done.
Speaker:I said, I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'm leaving corporate.
Speaker:I'm not going back.
Speaker:I want to travel the world.
Speaker:And so I took a year to prepare.
Speaker:And as you said, I sold everything off.
Speaker:I cashed out my whole retirement fund 401k for the funds.
Speaker:And I, I use this principle that I learned in, um, I think and grow rich by Napoleon
Speaker:Hill of burning the boats and this is when you know there's an old story of a general
Speaker:who took his army across the sea to fight another army and they were out number ten
Speaker:to one but they burned the boats behind them so they couldn't turn around and
Speaker:retreat and they won that that battle and so I just knew that if I kept like.
Speaker:Closing off the outs so I would sell everything I would get out of my lease.
Speaker:I got out of my car.
Speaker:I would tell people to hold myself accountable.
Speaker:I started doing research on travel vloggers to spark and ignite my
Speaker:interest and kind of pull the dream in and start to play and
Speaker:create with what it could be about.
Speaker:And it just culminated.
Speaker:I was like, wow, like years coming up.
Speaker:I got to make this sleep.
Speaker:And I'll be honest.
Speaker:I had fear the whole year leading up to it.
Speaker:I think what it came down to, Mike, as I said, it's kind of
Speaker:reminds me of the matrix, right?
Speaker:When they give him the red and the blue pill and Morpheus says that blue pill,
Speaker:you know, what's down that path already.
Speaker:You've been there day after day after day, but the red pill, you have no idea.
Speaker:So I had the fear of the unknown.
Speaker:But my philosophy was as I was learning about spirituality and the law of
Speaker:vibration and that we're energy and that we vibrate and that we attract,
Speaker:uh, like things and like energy to us.
Speaker:I said, what if I could get myself in the most inspiring environment
Speaker:where my energy was raised?
Speaker:I would have such a better chance at finding my true calling
Speaker:and purpose because right?
Speaker:Logically, I would think naturally that would be attracted
Speaker:to me when I'm in that state.
Speaker:And for me, I wanted to travel and see the world.
Speaker:So I just.
Speaker:I threw it all on the table.
Speaker:I went all in.
Speaker:I didn't know where I was going to go.
Speaker:I dove in restless history.
Speaker:Well, dude, that is one of those that it's like, I love the fact
Speaker:it's not that fear wasn't present.
Speaker:It's in spite of fear.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Was fear still.
Speaker:A variable.
Speaker:What did it still exist as you're on that journey?
Speaker:Because I mean, it's like you're, you're searching for something, but
Speaker:not really knowing necessarily what's going to come up or when or how, I
Speaker:mean, was fear still there of like, Hey, how am I going to make money?
Speaker:How, what about this?
Speaker:I don't have a job.
Speaker:There's no routine.
Speaker:I mean, dude, Michael, you, you went from having like, Some structure, right?
Speaker:You've got a job and there's other stuff.
Speaker:Responsibilities as an adult to.
Speaker:Okay, now, now my job's gone.
Speaker:Now I'm focused on this.
Speaker:I mean, was was the fear there?
Speaker:And then how did you how did you keep yourself accountable outside of your
Speaker:your family and friends and community?
Speaker:So faith.
Speaker:It was my biggest anchor.
Speaker:And yes, absolutely.
Speaker:The fear was there on and off the whole time.
Speaker:Um, you know, when I went traveling, this was like my experiment to find out
Speaker:what God was, what this higher energy was that had been speaking to me,
Speaker:guiding me, leading me the whole time.
Speaker:And I couldn't quite define it, but it was like an experiment to say,
Speaker:if I give myself Completely to you.
Speaker:I will get to test faith and faith is for me truly anchoring in, um,
Speaker:that I'm okay and being guided when I can't see what is in front of me.
Speaker:It's like the indiana, the part in indiana jones where he steps off the cliff and
Speaker:there's this imaginary bridge below him.
Speaker:He can't see, but his leg lands on it and he's okay.
Speaker:So I, I kind of wanted to test the boundaries of my faith and I had
Speaker:learned that every time I stepped through fear, There was almost some
Speaker:kind of reward on the other side.
Speaker:Like it helped me dissipate that fearful energy in me.
Speaker:And there was always something beautiful that I never could have
Speaker:imagined on the other side of it.
Speaker:So I knew that this was going to be kind of like almost walking a bit of a
Speaker:gauntlet in this travel journey because yes, like you said, I was going from
Speaker:unknown completely known to unknown.
Speaker:Now, my idea was to become a travel vlogger and monetize a YouTube channel
Speaker:and make money and I went out to do this It didn't happen because it
Speaker:ultimately felt like another job, and I just decided I don't want another job.
Speaker:I came to be free.
Speaker:And, um, you know, as I got traveling, I realized how much like my nervous
Speaker:system still felt like it always had to be doing something and being productive.
Speaker:It took like a year for me to just start to unwind that, um, Funny thing happened
Speaker:right after I left, two weeks after I left for this journey, the division of
Speaker:my company got, uh, sold off and lots of people lost their jobs and that planted
Speaker:a seed in me where I said, wow, if that's not divine guidance with this experiment
Speaker:I'm taking with faith that I'm so looked out for, even when I feel unsafe, oof,
Speaker:I should just keep following this.
Speaker:So I was trusting that this letter that I wrote.
Speaker:To God, to the universe was eventually going to take form and bring me
Speaker:into something that made more sense that it could be passionate about.
Speaker:But yeah, I had no idea.
Speaker:Um, I just knew that like every time I touched on fear, it opens something up.
Speaker:In the other side and that I craved adventure and I understood from my
Speaker:readings and studies that what I crave that my highest excitement is always
Speaker:leading me forth on my true path.
Speaker:So I just kept seeking those.
Speaker:Adventures and so many fears came up along the way, but it's like I just kept picking
Speaker:up like little tools along the way.
Speaker:And at the very least, I said, wow, like, look what I'm doing out here.
Speaker:Even if I come back, this is 11 thing that help.
Speaker:I said, I can always go back to that job.
Speaker:I can always go find another sales job.
Speaker:I'll always be okay, right?
Speaker:If I run out of money, I could come home.
Speaker:There'll be a safety net.
Speaker:I could apply to another job.
Speaker:Well, but what's the cost of staying where I am now and not
Speaker:finding out what's out there.
Speaker:Yeah, that, that is a powerful thing just to like have comfort in the fact
Speaker:that, yeah, that's not the only job.
Speaker:And, uh, there's always something to go back to in case your pursuit
Speaker:doesn't work out, just having that realistic perspective.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:When we started off.
Speaker:We were talking about the fact you're looking for purpose and that, you
Speaker:know, dropping the footballs, um, kind of remove that passion and that
Speaker:purpose you set out looking for that.
Speaker:How do you, how did you know when you arrived and said, this is my purpose?
Speaker:How did you like have that?
Speaker:Epiphany or that realization?
Speaker:Well, this is a great question because I have a very different view of what purpose
Speaker:is now compared to when I left when I left and all through, you know, my, my,
Speaker:my professional prior career in sales.
Speaker:I looked at purpose as this thing that when I find it.
Speaker:It's going to give me joy, passion, and make me a lot of
Speaker:money, and I'm going to be good.
Speaker:And then life is going to be smooth sailing.
Speaker:And what I learned is that is not what purpose is.
Speaker:Purpose can show up in many different forms and colors, and it can be
Speaker:temporary in one way, and then it can change into something else, and
Speaker:we can have many callings in life.
Speaker:I learned through this journey that By being purpose and bringing myself
Speaker:in a purposeful, intentional way to everything that I do creates purpose.
Speaker:And the more that I create purpose, the more energy of purpose I'm calling into
Speaker:myself because we attract what we develop, what we are, the energy within us.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But what happened to me is I was like three and a half
Speaker:years, man, into this journey.
Speaker:And I was like, dude, where is it?
Speaker:It's like, I don't, I don't.
Speaker:I don't, I don't see my purpose.
Speaker:Like I still don't know what it is.
Speaker:And this journey taught me such deep patience.
Speaker:And I realized that the way I used to look at purpose was like.
Speaker:A carrot dangling in front of me.
Speaker:It's it was no different from, um, the promise of a promotion, a car,
Speaker:a relationship, a house, a family, whatever you think is going to make you
Speaker:happy, content and and be good, right?
Speaker:Those things can all bring pleasure and some fulfillment, but it
Speaker:doesn't solve the void or that craving for the purpose underneath.
Speaker:And so I'm like, yeah.
Speaker:Three and a half years in like what am I going to do and what happened is I
Speaker:started personal coaching along the way just started sharing my insights and kind
Speaker:of guiding people to trust themselves more right tap into their heart and
Speaker:their passions and then storytelling out of nowhere was dropped onto my path
Speaker:a friend asked me to start hosting.
Speaker:A, uh, open mic storytelling night in Peru where I was living at the
Speaker:time and, um, it was a chance for people to come up and share their
Speaker:life stories and to share a lesson.
Speaker:And I got to MC and speak for the first time and I so enjoyed it.
Speaker:And it was the first time I ever got to run an event.
Speaker:Um, I did it every month and I started like, yeah, I was like, wow, I'm really
Speaker:interested in storytelling and how powerful of a transformative tool it is.
Speaker:So I started researching storytelling and it's just like one thing led to another
Speaker:to another until a mentor showed up in my life through a free online challenge.
Speaker:Someone tossed me a video that said unleash your story by my current mentor
Speaker:and I enjoyed that so much again.
Speaker:It lit me up that I actually came back to the states to pursue a full training.
Speaker:With him, which is what got me into transformational speaking.
Speaker:And this rings true to my heart.
Speaker:I'm so excited when I speak.
Speaker:So the, the simple version of this whole lesson was like
Speaker:faith was teaching me patience.
Speaker:And then if I stuck to what I knew and believed and followed my highest
Speaker:excitement, eventually, um, I would be led to something that would be
Speaker:more in alignment with who I was.
Speaker:And it happened.
Speaker:Dude, that is like the most kind of circuitous and patient process.
Speaker:So I got to commend you on your, your level of patience there, Michael.
Speaker:But yeah, it's, it's, it's almost like when we're not
Speaker:looking for it, things show up.
Speaker:We can look and look and look at in a minute.
Speaker:We just go, okay, whatever.
Speaker:It's just like, I've been right here
Speaker:full.
Speaker:If you've got a guy, Michael, that's like going, Hey man, I hear act.
Speaker:As if I have purpose and, you know, the be patient, things
Speaker:will show up and come along.
Speaker:But what does that look like in the day to day for guys that aren't leaving
Speaker:for three and a half, four years and going to other countries there, you
Speaker:know, maybe working that corporate sales job or, um, you know, construction,
Speaker:whatever the case may be, how do they.
Speaker:One act with purpose, but how do they also, um, you know, begin
Speaker:gleaning for purpose, like panning their life to discover that purpose.
Speaker:Yeah, it first begins with taking account of where your life is and
Speaker:getting really honest with yourself and first and foremost, understanding
Speaker:that you are the creator of your life and everything in your life.
Speaker:Happened because you created it and, you know, most of the world wants to
Speaker:point to other people and circumstances and the cards that they were dealt
Speaker:as the dictator of their life.
Speaker:This is not freedom.
Speaker:So it's very hard to feel purpose and passion when you are not free inside.
Speaker:Freedom is not dictated by By your outer circumstances, I've been in many
Speaker:challenging circumstances and still felt very free inside because I knew that
Speaker:I was in the driver's seat and I was creating it all, even if it was a hard
Speaker:lesson that I had drawn up for myself.
Speaker:Um, so know that, like you're creating it and that you have a lot of power
Speaker:and a lot of choice and a lot of options, even if you don't see them
Speaker:at this moment, the second thing would be let go of the outcome.
Speaker:Where you think you need to go, you know, have your dreams,
Speaker:man, dream creative vision.
Speaker:I would actually say that as well, like start to make it juicy and
Speaker:have some fun and ask yourself what would I like in my life?
Speaker:What would light me up?
Speaker:What could I wake up every day and, and get happy about doing?
Speaker:And a lot of people don't know that I didn't know that it is a
Speaker:creative kind of exploratory process.
Speaker:But then the work begins in the moment.
Speaker:And waking up and saying, how can I bring myself to this moment and the
Speaker:next thing I'm doing, uh, in a way that is empowering me and my life because a
Speaker:lot, most of us put us in, put ourselves at this like victim mentality of like
Speaker:the world makes me feel this way.
Speaker:When you understand that you can actually create the feeling, I can, I
Speaker:can bring myself in a joyful way, in a happy way, in an intentional, committed
Speaker:way, and I'm going to bring more of that energy in because I'm creating it.
Speaker:Now, also within the accountability piece, though, you have to look and say,
Speaker:with where I'm at in my life and what my circumstances are, how did I get here?
Speaker:Did I create it or did it happen?
Speaker:Um, or, or, or, or did it just happen to me?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Did I choose it or, or, um, or was it like, because I felt pressure from
Speaker:someone or, or tried to fulfill the expectations of someone, or I did what
Speaker:I thought I was supposed to do, right?
Speaker:Because we get into where we are a lot of times because we
Speaker:don't have the map to begin with.
Speaker:So if you want to change where you are, Okay.
Speaker:You gotta know that it's possible, believe that it's possible, and
Speaker:then as I was talking about before, it, it will start to become like a
Speaker:breadcrumb trail, like a road map that's gonna look different for everyone.
Speaker:I can't give you the way to do this and define your heart and define what
Speaker:lights you up and define aligned work.
Speaker:Um, your soul has that blueprint in it.
Speaker:But I believe that following passion and our highest excitement
Speaker:is the key to that blueprint.
Speaker:And this happens in little moments.
Speaker:It's as simple as, man, would I like to go outside and just look at
Speaker:the sun for 10 minutes right now?
Speaker:Would that make me feel good?
Speaker:You know, what I like to like, like, what's a fun thing that I just always
Speaker:wanted to do that I haven't done?
Speaker:When did I stop dreaming?
Speaker:What's something I used to want to do that maybe I shut down and
Speaker:didn't think was possible, right?
Speaker:Um, Because a lot of a lot of the world just like thinks like that a
Speaker:lot is not possible and we develop these beliefs that like aren't
Speaker:even ours that were given to us.
Speaker:I used to think you have to make a million dollars to go
Speaker:traveling and um, I need financial stability so I can't leave my job.
Speaker:Now let me tell you if I still believe that I'd still be there.
Speaker:What are, what are some other beliefs that you see that are like
Speaker:misconceptions that are holding people back from stepping forward?
Speaker:you You know, through that, almost like that barrier that's keeping
Speaker:them trapped and imprisoned, um, you know, without purpose, without
Speaker:direction, just without their dreams.
Speaker:Like, what are some of those, those beliefs that are holding people back,
Speaker:you know, the since we're speaking to a lot of men right now, men is coming
Speaker:to mind in the sense that a lot of us men are brought up, um, with the,
Speaker:uh, The belief and the expectation that I need to be the provider, I
Speaker:need to make it all happen on my own.
Speaker:I need to have a good job that makes me a lot of money.
Speaker:Um, a woman will only want me if I'm a provider like that.
Speaker:You know, I have to have my life set up in some kind of way.
Speaker:Um, In order to have success to find what that is, um, and it becomes
Speaker:this whole like structure that I believe a lot of men have taken on.
Speaker:That's a little bit of a unbalanced kind of masculine role, right?
Speaker:Um, so these were all given to us at some point, uh, depending on how our
Speaker:upbringing was, who our mentors were, who our parental figure was and all of that.
Speaker:And I would hear a lot of men say, like, you can't really make money with passion.
Speaker:You know, that would be one belief that I would hear a lot.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Um, or like, oh, that's for kids.
Speaker:You know, who's got the time to do that?
Speaker:Like that's not realistic going traveling for that amount of time.
Speaker:That's not responsible.
Speaker:I have to be responsible.
Speaker:That's another belief.
Speaker:I got so tired of hearing people in my own job say, well.
Speaker:Just another day in paradise, you know, every day I'd walk in, I'd be like,
Speaker:but that's, that's a belief that you have, like, you're condemning yourself
Speaker:to that feeling, you know, so I think a lot of the importance of this too
Speaker:comes into awakening the feminine energy within us as men, because we
Speaker:all have masculine and feminine energy.
Speaker:It's not a male or female thing necessarily, but the feminine is when
Speaker:you can tap into that, that's allowing yourself To be creative, um, to express
Speaker:and feel your emotions more, um, to kind of go with the flow and not have, not be
Speaker:so overly stuck on a logical, I have to figure this out manly type of mindset.
Speaker:Um, it allows life to come to you and to show you some things and
Speaker:some beliefs in some ways that maybe you hadn't seen before, so.
Speaker:I think a lot of it just comes back to like allowing yourself to dream
Speaker:again and understanding that, you know what, maybe the way that I have life
Speaker:and then my worldview, maybe there's more to it that I can't see, and
Speaker:you don't know what you don't know.
Speaker:So it just takes like being open, you know, and for me, man, a
Speaker:great way to start is a prayer.
Speaker:I believe I'm not here to say what you should believe in, who you
Speaker:should pray to or anything like that.
Speaker:But when you pray.
Speaker:God, universe, yourself, your, your willpower, whatever you
Speaker:want to pray to, you're sending a direct signal that you are ready,
Speaker:willing, and open to move forward.
Speaker:And then you follow that roadmap that I was talking about, right?
Speaker:Like what piques your interest and whatnot, and life will just start to
Speaker:show you opportunities that will rewire your beliefs and pull you forward.
Speaker:Yeah, it's, it's very interesting the way things will like show up, once we
Speaker:start asking those questions and, move beyond the like preconceived expectations,
Speaker:and looking at our beliefs openly.
Speaker:Um, is this really true?
Speaker:You know, I want to, you just made me think of one quick thing.
Speaker:Mike, I just want to add, you know, When it comes to the minds, we can
Speaker:only see what our past has shown us.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:So if you're trying to predict, if you're trying to see something into
Speaker:your future and you're just not believing it, of course, cause you
Speaker:haven't experienced it yet, right?
Speaker:It's through new experiences that we gain new beliefs, not by just trying
Speaker:to convince ourselves to think of them.
Speaker:So that takes stepping into the unknown and allowing yourself to be changed by it.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:and lots of times we're expecting a certain reaction
Speaker:and we're more alert to it.
Speaker:Almost like, Hey, there's a blue car because you're looking for it
Speaker:and you want to use it to, like, reinforce your beliefs, uh, About who
Speaker:you are or what you're capable of.
Speaker:Yeah, totally.
Speaker:Dude, Michael, I appreciate you coming in and sharing like, Hey, there is
Speaker:a purpose and it can be found and it doesn't necessarily need to look like
Speaker:what we've expected or how we've been taught to be patient, to look for
Speaker:the breadcrumbs and just kind of sit down and be with ourselves, um, to,
Speaker:to really process and start digging.
Speaker:It's not just, pushing and, and letting fear stop us, but often, like you,
Speaker:you shared often on the other side of fear is what we're looking for.
Speaker:And so pushing through, and being expectant that, Hey, I'm
Speaker:going to find the answer to this.
Speaker:I'm going to, uh, Be aware and alert.
Speaker:So Michael, I appreciate you sharing all that outside of the podcast here today.
Speaker:How can guys connect with you?
Speaker:The best way to connect with me is to go to my website, which is wakeupwithmike.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:And there you can send me a private message.
Speaker:If you have a question.
Speaker:Um, if you are interested in hiring me for an event to speak, you can
Speaker:send a message and I also provide a free 30 minute consultation call or
Speaker:a discovery call just to find out if one on one coaching is right for you.
Speaker:And I've got, um, some literature there, some stories, some videos,
Speaker:aside from that, I'm on all the social media platforms, Michael
Speaker:Rosenberger, wake up with Mike.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:perfect.
Speaker:Well, Michael, thank you very much, man.
Speaker:Thank you, Mike.
Speaker:Been an honor.
Speaker:Appreciate it.
Speaker:Sure thing.
