Episode 209: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
EPISODE 209
Our Wisdom series continues with a modern masterpiece: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. In the show, we dig into some classic Moonshots themes: purpose, goals, overcoming fear, resilience and more.
Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies worldwide and transforming countless readers' lives across generations.
Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity, reading the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.
Runsheet
INTRO
Paulo Coelho and Oprah on how he knew he wanted to become a writer Don’t be a part-time dreamer (1m10)
FOCUS & EGO
Conscious Originals gives us 2 big tips on how to remain authentic to what matters to us, rather than ego. Living your personal legend (3m06)
RULES FOR SUCCESS
Four Minute Books introduces a big idea from the book. How to reach your goals (1m27)
Four Minute Books continues with the lessons from the book. Beat fear (1m09)
Four Minute Books completes the story with a final call. Rise more than you fall (1m29)
OUTRO
Paulo on how legacy and success can be paralysing. Find your personal legend (1m02)
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Moonshots Podcast. It's episode 209. I'm your co-host Mike Parsons. And as always, I'm joined by the co-host, the legend himself, Mr. Mark Pearson. Freeland. Good morning. Good morning, Mike. Good morning listeners and members and subscribers. We have something pretty magical in store today as show number 209, don't we, Mike?
In indeed. We are just continuing in the wisdom. There is so much there isn't there, mark?
You. Yeah. I quite like the wisdom. That's a nice little phrase. Yes, you are right Mike. We are deep into our Wisdom series and today, listeners, we are diving into a pretty well known and well consumed book.
That's actually celebrating its 35th year anniversary very soon. And that is poor Koos the Alchemist, which I think Mike is fair to say. Mysticism comes through maybe a bit of magic, but also this idea of. Wisdom. The wisdom of looking at your things in your life and determining what matters to you.
These are all pretty important concepts and themes that I think we've come across on the show before, but really never diven, doven into quite in this depth. Have we?
Yeah I think, mark, this is almost. The book before all the other books, perhaps as we dive into the wisdom we are gonna find a book that is all about not.
Living a life where you dream of doing things and not doing any of them. This book originally it's written through two characters as it's written as a FIC story, a bit like Socrates and Dan Millman's waved the peaceful warrior. This is all about our path, our legend, and doing the things we were born to do.
And so Mark, I think before we get into growth mindset, Brene Brown, James Clear Ryan Holiday before all those other Moonshots Classic comes books. Like Paul Coello and The Alchemist comes the books that are all about challenging you and inspiring you to do the things you were born to do and not to live the life that others would have you live.
To live your life. It's pretty good stuff, mark. It's pretty good stuff and I think there's a reason why it is. P Paul Kolo actually has the Guinness World Record for the most translated book by any living author. So I think if. We have listeners thinking Mike and Mark, they've done Dom, Miguel, Rus, and the Four Agreements.
We've just heard Dan Millman with the Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Now they're talking about this brand new book that's all about wisdom. It is truly one of the most consumed and enjoyed as well as translated books globally. So I think Mike it's gotta have. Tips, themes, lessons that we can all learn from in order to try out and create that foundation that enables us to utilize the work of, James Clear with Atomic Habits, with the work of maybe McConaughey encouraging us to journal all these tips that we've learned through the Moonshot Show without a foundation of getting ourselves getting ourselves into the head space of being.
True to ourselves and being authentic. I think it's a bit of a struggle to then authentically deliver on the journaling, delivering on being the best version of yourself. It's like you are right. This is almost like a precursor or a foundation to build on for the rest of the moonshot
shows.
Yeah. Absolutely. This really is You know what I would really encourage all of our listeners and subscribers and members to get ready for is, it is such a great time of the year, it's the end of the year. You're gonna start reflecting and asking yourself, what are you gonna do next year?
Is this is an opportunity to explore what we really dream of doing. All those moments where we feel. Natural in whatever we are doing. So comfortable. Or maybe there's just something calling you and you don't know quite what it is. This is the show that is gonna help you unlock that because we all dream and this book will tell us, show us and teach us how to make those dreams become reality.
All right, mark, where should we.
I think with a setup like that, Mike, we can only have words from two other dream-like individuals. So let's open our show with poor Kolo talking to none other than Oprah about how to not be a part-time dreamer.
It took me years. I knew that I want to be a writer.
Since I was young and have this make things about being the most famous writer in the world, but, It's not enough to know what you want. You have to do what you want, to be what you want. So a writer implies in writing books. Yeah. Huh. A gardener implies in gardens, but if you, I dunno about today, but if you talk to your father, your mother, if you are from a middle class, I want to be a gardener.
Your father say, oh my son, please go to the university. Yeah. Get a diploma and you can do your gardening during the weekend. But you love plants, you love the soil you love, but, At the end of the day, you are convinced, and this is not good for the person who is being convinced and for the person who is trying to convince you are creating this order of frustration around them.
Frustration, mark. This one's really big and I cannot begin to tell you how much I experienced this in my life, particularly, Around high school and college of not doing what you were born to do, but rather following the path that others expected of me. , this mark is why I only lasted for seven weeks.
at university . Can you imagine the look on my family's face when I'm like, yes. So about that university thing, I think I'm going to quit . Anyway, that's a whole nother show. But the thing here is, It's not good to put our expectations on others. People have to find their own path, but also as individuals, we must.
Hold onto that feeling. Paul was talking about if someone is really compelled by being out in the garden, being amongst plants and grass and animals, if this is the thing it calls you, like even when it's rainy, you go out into the garden, even when it's too hot, you go out in the garden. If you have something like that in your life, be it professional or personal, anything in between, and you have.
I would describe it like if there is a feeling of magnetism, you are drawn to something. Another good way of thinking about it is if you are prepared to do something and not be paid for it and still find. Satisfaction in it, some joy in that act. That's a huge signal mark that you are doing something that you deeply enjoy.
You get a sense of fulfillment. Like we don't get salaries for this show and we've been recording a show every week for four years cuz we just love it like that. Is that magnetism that I'm talking about, do you have moments mark in your life where you. Feel that magnetism where you're aware that something's calling you.
Yeah. It's that feeling of, being alive. It's the idea for me that I think Mihai Cheek sent Mihai really encapsulated in his book flow, the idea of getting into something with such attention. And focus and being able to be completely immersed in it. Yes. And not be too distracted by other things, which are, maybe pulling your attention away.
You lose yourself. You lose yourself. Exactly. You get fully into that flow. But those moments I find are pretty rare. Mike, I think you're right. Those are only really reserved for moments that I would traditionally call hobbies. Or passions, maybe it's a bit of exercise that then sets me up for the day, maybe.
And that's for me, a good long swim. Maybe a nice run outside, something that gets the blood pumping.
It's interesting isn't, I think we all have this compelling magnetism. To some sort of hobby, maybe a sport, maybe something creative. I think the message in Paul KO's book, the Alchemist, is that can be in.
As many parts of your life as you choose. , and particularly when we talk about work and career, I believe we have a right to fill this magnetism, this flow state to be doing work. That truly satisfies us, makes us feel good. I think that's a right. I don't think that should be the exception. I think for most people, we don't feel that deep compelling sense about the work we do.
And that's why I think if you're a listener to the Moonshot Podcast, you're trying to find. A way to align the things that you love, what you can get paid for, and to find a mission or said differently, just shoot for the moon. I think we are all on a mission to do that. And I think it's interesting when what Paul Kolo does is he calls us out on it.
Don't be a part-time dreamer. Don't be dreaming in that little anecdote that he gave. Don't be dreaming of going into the garden but not doing it. I think if you can tune into these messages, I think fulfillment and purpose are on the other side of that, don't you, mate?
Yeah, absolutely. And this is really reminding me of.
Our series on happiness. So with Tbe Shahar and his book, happier learning the Secrets of Daily Joy, I think he was really touching upon this idea of happiness being a little bit of a paradox. Something that's always just out of reach, something that we're always striving towards, whether it's success at work, or maybe it's just getting up in the morning and feeling good about yourself.
It's always something that's just a little bit outta reach, but really, I think. What we learned from Dai Lama in the Happiness Series, and I think where Paul Kolo is taking us with The Alchemist is it doesn't always have to be something that is mythical. It can be something that if you approach it in the right way, you can either retrain yourself to feel happier when you're out and doing stuff, feeling content.
But also more importantly, as we heard in this intro clip on today's show, this idea of finding what's authentic to yourself and really structuring your behavior, your actions, as well as your mindset around it in order to try out and achieve or stay true to that authenticity.
It's a big chestnut to crack, isn't it?
Mark? I think if you want to find your true self and a big part of that the word on the street is, and in his next book, Paul Ko is gonna talk about becoming a member of the Moonshot's Podcast is a guaranteed way of unlocking your purpose and finding your legend. So Mark, I think it is only appropriate that we tip our hat to our members.
What has become a brand new Method of celebration every single week, day in, day out. Mike is our roll call of members, so please welcome Bob John, Terry Kenmar, Byron Marj, and Connor and Yasmin, all of whom are now celebrating. Over 12 months as members
of the Win Shot show. I think Yasmine has formally gone into the one year anniversary club, so we are just so grateful Yasmin to your support and thank you ever so much.
But there's plenty more other members, mark. There
are plenty more members who are hot on Yasmine's trail and that includes Lisa Sid, Mr. Bonura and Paul Berg Cowman, David and Joe Crystal, Ivo Christian and Hurricane Brain, Sam Kelly, Barbara and Andre, Matthew, Eric Abbey and Chris Deborah Lase. Craig and Daniel and Andrew Rav eVet and l gv, Raul, PJ Niku, Ola in.
Sara Dirk, Emily, Harry, and our brand new two members, Karthik and Ve Kata. Welcome guys, and thank you so much for your support of the Moonshot Show. Yes,
thank you indeed. And if you are thinking to yourself, Jesus, becoming a member sounds pretty great. Lots of others are doing it. Head over to moonshots.ao, click on the members tag, you're gonna.
A whole new podcast, the Moonshots Master series, that's only for our members. You can only get it from our Patreon site. But you know what, mark? You get Luna powered. Good karma. Luna powered, that sets you up to go live your personal legend, I
reckon. Yeah, it really does. Luna powered good wishes from us, but also you get access to the Master series an entirely new as well as separate show where we deep dive into some of the themes and the topics and the insights that we learn on the Moonshot's Weekly show.
So we really recommend, if you wanna dive into the work on stoic. As well as the idea of happiness, as well as real practical tips like rapid prototyping or managing people. Become a member and you get access to all of that
good stuff. All right. Now let's turn our minds back to the work of Paul Kolo and the Alchemist.
Let's now tune into some thinking from conscious originals and they've broken down some tips and advice on how you can live. Your personal legend, you must follow your heart-centered dreams and your heart-centered desires. Those are your natural interests. They're the things that make you feel alive, inspired, energized, excited, and the things that spark curiosity within you.
Too many people discard their dreams because they've managed to convince themselves that they are not reasonable, and that's because most of the programming that society and our education, Implanted in our minds was to prepare us to live an ordinary life, not our personal legends, but your heart-centered desires are not childish fantasies.
They are breadcrumbs guiding you to your most authentic and most fulfilling life. Plus, as Paolo wrote, you will never be able to escape from your. So it's better to listen to what it has to say. The second step is to not fall for the egos wants or the shoulds of society. One of the main difficulties in pursuing our personal legends is differentiating our heart's desires from the ones of the ego are the ones that come from conditioning.
The egos once are rooted in fear or feelings of lack or. For example, when I was a teenager, I wanted to become a famous actress and live in Hollywood. I did theater at a time and I did enjoy acting. But the reason I wanted to be famous was not a heart center dream or desire. It was my ego. I wanted to feel important and be popular.
As for the desires of the ones that come from conditioning, there are the things that are a society or education or maybe our parents. Told us we should do or should want. For example, I went to university because I was told growing up that smart people get college degrees. Of course that's not true, and for me it ended up being a waste of time and a waste of money.
So to help you differentiate your heart center dreams and desires from those, from your ego or conditioning, you can write down what you. And then for each thing, ask yourself, why do I want it? Is it to receive praise or to obtain a certain social status, or maybe to feel superior to others? Then that's the ego.
Is it because you were told that it's something you should do? Then that's conditioning. And if it's because it makes you feel inspired and energized and alive, then that's your heart. Step three is to commit to pursuing your personal legend. So pursuing your personal legends require commitment. I would say Evan, devotion.
If we keep putting our dreams on the back burner, then we're not committed and we are probably not going to achieve. To commit to your dreams, you can start by writing them down and reading them often, like daily. You can also create a vision board, like a collage that illustrates your dreams or you can also visualize them, but most importantly, you need to make room for them in your life.
If you feel curious about salsa dancing, then take a class. Or if you love animals, then maybe you can volunteer at a shelter once a week. Or if you feel drawn to deserts, maybe plan a trip to visit one.
These are three big, meaty, sometimes difficult tips on how to live an authentic life, don't you
think, Mike?
Which, which one do you think is the hardest? The writing down. The evaluating or the committee?
I think it's actually being honest with yourself, so it's a little bit of a, I think the act of writing it down helps. . So for me, in fact, let me take you through a recent example, Mike.
I had a situation at work where I was feeling a little bit nervous or anxious wasn't quite sure whether I'd made the right decision about something and I was thinking, okay, if it works out, great. If it doesn't, no problem, that's fine. Let's just write it down. Let's see whether this is something I should be getting upset about.
, whether this is indeed something that's worth my. Bandwidth. And whether it's something that actually I should rethink as a, an authentic area to spend a lot of time on, not and therefore energy to try and rectify or whether it's not that big a deal, and the actor of writing it down, journaling.
And I wrote it down in a few different places, one in my journal, but also as more of a second order thinking framework in order to try and determine what the right step forward was and building on what we were just hearing from conscious originals in that clip just then was the idea of being honest with yourself and evaluating whether the decision that I'm consider.
Maybe it's to save face. Is an ego thing or not. So there's obviously a great benefit from raising a hand and asking for help at the same time. Maybe it's not needed, maybe it's only my ego that is playing in and that it's using that as an opportunity to try and, be seen or be heard.
And actually running it down was somewhat easy. I would. Because I needed to get it out, but actually the hard or difficulty became, we're trying to be really focused and honest with how I re responding to that situation. Does
that make sense? Yeah. Cuz I think that it is not common to be taught to express.
To communicate, to write down, to acknowledge the things that you truly love to do, things that bring you delight, fullness, satisfaction, wellbeing, when you are in that flow state, and sometimes the things that make you feel great. Are a bit different to what others have, and then you're like, oh, maybe I don't want to go to university.
, maybe that doesn't make me feel great. Maybe to use Paul Coello as example, maybe I love being a gardener and that's not a lawyer or a doctor. It's a bit odd that I really want to be a gardener. How quirky and silly is that. But what we are seeing here is that in the work of Paul Corello, the Alchemist, True paths are to follow these moments.
Your heart desires. What we just heard. Your heart's desires are breadcrumbs to your personal legend, your purpose, your mission on this planet. You need to acknowledge and pursue those. Otherwise, you are living a life as a part-time dreamer. You're occasionally indulging feelings of, oh, gee, I really love this, but it feels natural.
I'm feeling like I'm born to do this. , but I'm only gonna do it once on the weekend. Like that doesn't f like the logic of that actually doesn't sound so great. Doesn't matter.
No it doesn't because it's really trimming down the amount of time that you are, or all of us are living a version of ourselves that we're quite comfortable.
When you are limiting your let's call it passion or hobbies, the things that make you really, truly happy to just one day a week, maybe at most two it's a very small amount of time, isn't it?
And yes, it's, it is fractional. And one of the things that's really interesting here is you can go and fast forward it and say, imagine that you're on your last days.
Could you ever imagine yourself saying I'm glad I, had this dream of being a gardener, but I never fulfilled it, and I'm glad that I went off and I was a lawyer instead. You'll never say that. You'll always be haunted by this. Oh, I was always compelled by being a gardener. Now, here's the thing, bring it into today.
If you feel storm clouds or an air of discontent and you can't put your finger on it, invariably, if you're not getting energy, From the things you do each day, if you're not getting to the end of the day and say, that was great and I'm gonna get stuck into it tomorrow. Even, of course there's hard times and rough times and things aren't going to plan, but if you are not experiencing over the course of days and weeks a sense of, I'm on the right track, I'm feeling good about this.
If you are feeling. A level of discontent, dissatisfaction, and you can't quite put your finger on it. Read this book. Ask yourself, what is my personal legend? Write it down and evaluate. Why do you want these things? And if you can find the things that really speak to your heart's desires, and they're not about your ego, but they really speak to you through delight, fulfillment, and satisfaction, then you know, these are the things you need to pursue and you should commit to.
Mark, here's my question. Is there something in your life that you have found really is part of your personal agenda? Is there something, a small thing that you really love to do that you've made a commitment to? I think for me
it's come in a more recent experience, over the last, let's say six months where I've actively tried to.
Embrace and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. As we've heard a lot on the show, with open water swimming. So the impact of waking up very early actually no, sorry, the impact of being prepared of the night before. , packing your kit, putting your running shoes out, packing a bag with your swimming staff and your goggles.
Then waking up very early, running to the beach or running to the water, going for a nice long swim. Having that discipline, as we would've heard from Brian Holiday to maintain that as a habit, has benefited me quite a lot. Much more than I would've anticipated, at least at the beginning, where I would've thought, okay, out open water swimming, great bit of fitness.
Fun. Yeah. Bit of social time. Fantastic. Really, the benefit has come from the practice of, being exposed to asking myself, is this making me happy? Do I enjoy going? Because if I don't enjoy going, why? What's
the point? , and how good is it to swim in, in those beautiful Australian oceans?
Mike, just tell us how beautiful is it?
It's, it. It's frankly pretty tricky to put into words, but the cold water, the clarity of the water when you've got a good day. Yeah. Even when it's a bit wavy, it's fun. It puts a lot of joy into my mornings and I notice a physical difference in myself for the remainder of that day because I've had such a joyful moment.
At the start, so similarly to what we might have heard from, Cal Newport or Ron Holiday, who encourage us not to have our phones beside us, so they're not the first thing that we reach for in the mornings. Instead, it's replaced by getting up early. Often at dawn, getting down into the water, being exposed to something that, to be honest, can be a little bit uncomfortable, particularly for me as a British guy who's a little bit soft.
Mike
let me hit you with this question though. So you've overcome all of the organization, the discipline, the resilience. You've swung, you get out on that golden Australian sand early in the morning and you've just swung. How does that.
They a sense of accomplishment. Yeah. Is the key.
It's like a fast track for doing something at work. And seeing the result. I think the benefit that I've found through being able to practice that resilience, but also patience, swimming can be, you're in your own head. For a long time. . , that's definitely benefited.
With regards to work as well, because now I have that little bit more patience when I'm waiting on other people or even when I'm waiting on myself. Allowing the ego to calm down a little bit. I'm not the fastest swimmer. I'm certainly probably not the best, but enabling yourself to do something where, you're maybe not the best at it, but still finding great joy and en and enjoyment.
And satisfaction. It has been really fantastic as
well. Yeah, I totally hear you. I'm far from the world's greatest runner, but I get out there and I do my kilometers and it's very similar process. Another one that comes to mind that. Is really interesting is when I did quit university and gave my parents heart palpitations
I was delivering the great news that I was going to be a professional full-time DJ in 1994. And I had been DJing for a couple of years before that and working in radio. Long story short, is that still to this day, I have a studio and I go a mix and. The opportunity to play records and to create DJ mixes still 30 years later brings me so much joy and a lot like your swimming program.
I have to get organized, I have to work on it. I have to prepare music, put it all together, produce, producer, mixer, edited, post it, and all of that good stuff. And it is such a joy. And one of the greatest things is that I've gone in and out of DJing over 30 years, but to just a week weekend ago, I did a whole new mix album and it felt.
Fantastic to do and the great little kicker when you have a creative practice is that you often have an asset at the end of it. So Mark, this is just blending all worlds. Then there is nothing better than going for a nice long run and listening to one of those mixes for sixty, ninety, a hundred twenty minutes.
And that is, To me, that's where you lose yourself. It's flow state, it's joy, and I'm so happy to have held onto this. And for example, I think because I've held onto that's a little bit of my personal legend, but I think that makes me happier, more satisfied. I think that makes me a better coworker, a better father, a better husband.
I think all of the goodness that I get. Pursuing something that really is my heart's desire, which is music. And it's makes me more well-rounded, more at peace, more just. A better guy, and that's what's on offer If we follow our personal legend, don't you think Mark? Yeah,
I think you're totally right.
That's where you start to see that heart-centered desires really kicking in when you can dismiss the ego, when you can commit to your legend and those dreams that you want to try and achieve, as Paul Kolo would call out. I think this is really the magic stuff of the Wisdom Series, isn't it like.
And if you're really getting into this, head over to Moonshot, do ao where you can get the transcript, you can get all the links, the show notes, and you can see related episodes all around wisdom and really just working out, figuring out life.
Cuz man, mark, life is a hard thing, isn't it? It's full of obstacles.
It's full of obstacles. And fundamentally the challenges that we all. It's probably the case that somebody's been through it first.
And that we are often the biggest obstacle
and that we, our minds, the voice in our heads are the things that slow
us down Too much
Oh, they are indeed. So let's now turn our mind back towards Paul Coello and The Alchemist. He's got some thinking on goals in overcoming all the things that we're gonna face if we're gonna pursue our personal legend. So let's start with some thinking from four minute books summarizing Paul KO's thoughts on how to reach your
goals.
If you want to reach your biggest goals and feel fulfilled, you must follow your personal legend. The story begins with a young Spanish Shepherd having a recurring dream. It happens each time he sleeps under a sycamore tree outside of an old church building. In the dream, the boy hears from a child that he must go to the Egyptian pyramids to seek a treasure.
After meeting with a gypsy woman to find out what the dream means, the boy is surprised when she says he needs to go to Egypt to make matters. Even stranger, an old man named Melcher Edic tells the boy the same thing. This time, however, the man uses. Personal legend to explain what the young man must do.
After some deliberation, the boy decides to follow his personal legend and head for the pyramids. He sells his sheep and begins his journey by going to Taji. Throughout the remainder of the book, he's constantly running into obstacles to his personal legend, but at each. Overcomes them to find success and fulfillment.
You have a personal legend too. It's as unique as you are. You may already know what it is and simply need the courage to pursue it. Whether it's a career, family health, or other aspiration, you must overcome everything holding you back so that you can pursue your biggest dreams. Once you begin, the whole universe will conspire to make it happen, but that doesn't mean you'll be without difficulty.
I like the call out that we've just heard in that clip, Mike, the idea that a personal legend or a dream is very unique. So the idea of you and I, for me it might be learning swim well or running or leaving Lexi as we're hearing in that clip. It can be a career. Avenue. It can be family. It can be health, maybe another aspiration, maybe something more creative.
And at the end of the day, every single person is very unique. Similarly to Elizabeth Gilbert with Big Magic, the idea that even though something has been done before, maybe it's a book, maybe it's a podcast, the point is you have not done or I have not done the journey that I. Go on to go and create it.
And I find that this is quite a reassuring clip, a reassuring idea from the Alchemist, which is all of us are able to go out and start that journey. Whether it's Santiago leaving his village and selling the sheep, or whether it's you and I starting something new, it's me taking on a new challenge at work.
As long as it aligns with. Ambition that I might have to go out and, work hard, achieve something in life, then it feels
pretty empowering, doesn't it? It certainly does. It reminds me of an episode that we did on Napoleon Hill, think and Grow Rich and where Paul Ko and surprisingly the work of Napoleon Hill intersect.
It's about this intention and about giving voice. To the intention, writing it down. So what I like to do is I like to daily make a statement about who I am and what will I do every single day. So for you, mark, you could say things like, every day you could journal. I am a swimmer. I am a long distance swimmer.
My plan is I will swim 25 kilometers. That is what I will achieve. . Now, the interesting thing here is there's a lot of manifestation practices where you need, which bring you back to this basic idea of if you have a goal, you should have. It clear and center in your conscious and subconscious.
For example, when I did the marathon earlier this year, gosh, our listens are gonna be sick of me talking about my marathon, but I'll keep going. So check this out. I would, in the lead up, I ran a couple of really long, not full marathons, but really long, 30, 35 K run. And I would put that number on a poster right in my study right in front of.
So it was always reminding me, and on the month that I ran the 42 kilometer marathon, there was a big 42 Unop poster right in front of me and part of my manifestations, part of my mantras were, I am a runner. I would say this, every morning I will run 42 kilometers. I would say that every single morning so Mark, the best thing I can do is tell you when I was out there on the course and I was like running the marathon, I went back to that well of intention of pursuing my heart's desires to run this race because I needed that because I was knackered and I went there and I got that energy.
It is so important to remind us of our goals and to be clear on them, isn.
I think that's a lovely build, actually. I think you're totally right. And that reminds me of our series on goal setting. That's right. And achieving your goals with John Du Christine wood Key, as well as Michael D.
Watkins. This idea of setting goals as well as intentionality and holding yourself true to those. I think the build that you just did though Mike is a really nice one utilizing whether it's journaling or to-do lists or just post-it notes around
vision boards. I don't, I, I don't care if it's interpretive dance, whatever it takes to manifest those goals.
You've gotta say them every single day. Honestly. Do you think elite athletes are not thinking every day before they train? Every time before they play? I will be the best. There is just no way you can imagine them achieving without that. So we gotta do the. We can't be part-time dreamers. We gotta remind ourselves of our goals because human nature is a little bit lazy.
We just need to survive. Who wants to push themselves across the comfort line? We've gotta be a little bit David Goggins here. And if you don't do that, the crumbling moment comes when we have to meet our fears. And self-doubt isn't.
That's right. Sometimes the thing that's holding us back is the fear of failure, the fear of other people.
So let's hear now again from four Minute Books who continue this, these lessons that we're learning from The Alchemist with an idea around beating fear. Stop
being afraid if you want to remove the barriers that keep you from progressing. The boys soon arrives in Tangia, the culture and the language, which he cannot speak.
This leads to someone stealing all his money. Even worse, he fears. He's made the wrong decision and almost heads back for Spain, but remembering what Mel's edict taught him, the young man pays attention to the omens all around him. He recommits to his personal legend and begins working for a local crystal merchant.
The merchant recognizes the boy's presence as a good Oman and listens to his council that the man should take more risks With his business. This pays off and the two eventually become rich. The merchant knows what his personal legend is and recognizes that the boy's presence is an Oman that he should go after it.
But he's too afraid to follow it and stays where he is. In contrast, the young man uses his money to courageously continue on his journey to Egypt. You also must follow your dreams even when you are afraid of the unknown path ahead. Fear is the biggest thing in the way of you living the life you want, and only by beating it can you live life to the fullest.
Fear and self doubt. Ooh, are they bad news, mark? Ooh.
The amount of challenges that every single one of us face, whether it's you and I making a podcast, whether it's Elon Musk taking over Twitter it could be any person in the world. There will be moments in life when fear holds you back.
So let's ha let's do a quick inventory.
When are the these moments? I'll do some easy ones. See, and if you can do some build here. I think when we are feeling like really indecisive Ugh, I don't know left or right, I just don't I know. Or, oh, what does it matter? I don't really have much to say in this, or frankly, We just avoid
We're just like, decision. What decision? I didn't make a decision. Go. What? God, I don't know about it.
or blame? Blame other people. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. I'm afraid of this situation. Whether I'm gonna look bad I'll blame somebody else. How can I find the blame game?
Yeah, blame is a big one. And judgment.
When let's say you're not aware of you, you are doing some of these things I'm wondering like, are there some feelings that we might have apart from being indecisive? I would say like for sure when you are starting to. Anxiety and stress. This is often a proxy for you are really scared of the failure that may result around whatever the issue is.
Be it personal or professional. I think that's a big thing. What else, mark?
I would say the feeling of. You are not worthy enough. Imposter
syndrome. , that's a good one. Yeah.
Why? Why am I in this job or this role? What am I bringing to it? That's that voice in, that's the monkey mind, isn't it?
Making your, you doubt yourself.
Yeah. And just feeling pretty helpless in the whole thing. You're just almost giving up.
Just wanting to run, yeah. This is certainly a feeling or emotion that I've run into before, in my career when something happens maybe it's something very small in innocuous.
Are you gonna be late or you haven't delivered something, or maybe something more substantial and you are worried about what it's going to affect, how it's going to impact every. Do help
us. You know what David Goggins talks about is having a cookie jar, which is to remind yourself of times where you've faced adversity and you've overcome them.
So we've all had times in our lives where we've done amazing things and he advise us to keep a cookie jar. And so you write 'em all down and you can actually go back to them. When you are feeling some of those emotions, you can actually go back to 'em, go, oh actually there was this time and I really kicked some ass and did the right thing.
I think the other thing you can do is remember all the good things that you already have, and if you want really wanna get in an argument with someone about this, you can always say the fact that you can take a breath right here, right now is a win. You don't have to doubt. You can take a breath, you can be here and now you can get up and go for a walk for 20 minutes and feel better.
You have that control. You don't have to give into fear and self-doubt. I think the other thing that we touched upon with Dale Carnegie and how to stop worrying and start living life. This book talked about ask yourself if you really are experiencing fear and self. What really is the worst that can happen here?
And invariably when we confront that, that relieves the anxiety because the worst case scenario is so highly unlikely to happen. And think about all the things we've worried about in life and how many of them didn't even occur. , which is one of the greatest wisdom truths ever of we just worry about so many things that never even happened.
I think these are the way we can embed some of the practices of Paul Kolo and the . Mike, what do you think? Any other thoughts? I thi
I think as we reflect on the clip, we've just heard with the with Santiago and the individual that he's working with, I think those tips as you've just caught out, Mike would've made sense.
Regardless of time. They are contemporary tips. They are timeless, aren't they? The idea of committing yourself and having gratitude. And that's suddenly something that we were hearing within the Happiness series. But we do have one more clip with regards to some Rules for Success. And this is again, from the four Minute Books, guys who are gonna teach us with one more little story about what to do when you find yourself.
Rise
more times than you fall, and you will never fail. As the young man's journey continues, he meets an Englishman who tells him of an alchemist that can turn led to gold. Eventually, the two stop in Al Feum as part of the caravan they travel with. While there, the boy uses his new found ability to read Omens, to foresee an attack on the oa.
This catches the attention of the Alchemist. The two eventually meet and he becomes a mentor to the young man. The Alchemist also declares the importance of personal legends with what he learns from the Alchemist. The boy turns himself into the wind when a tribe of Arab soldiers captures them and threatens to kill them.
The Alchemist continues to teach the boy, but eventually they must part ways before the young man reaches Egypt. When he gets to Egypt, he begins digging for his treasure only to be immediately beaten and robbed again. One of the men tells him of his own dream. In which he would find treasure under a tree in an abandoned church in Spain.
The boy recognizes this omen and now knows where his treasure really is. He returns to Spain to find it in the exact spot. He had his first dream and uses it to continue to fulfill his personal legend. Just like this young man, you will fall while on your journey, but if you commit to get up every time and keep going, the universe will once again conspire to lead you to just where you need to be.
Just where you need to be. What's so sweet about Paul KO's book, the Alchemist is there's a complete flip side to this, which I would say is You can't hurt me. David Goggins . Yes, exactly. Both saying the same thing in different ways. Just get the hell back up. Don't give in. If you are living your legend, if you are pursuing the des true desires of your heart to be the best version of yourself, you must not.
Give in because like technically, the more times you fail, it means the closer you are getting to really finding that pursuit, that happiness, that wellness, satisfaction, fulfillment, whatever it is that you're working towards, you are going to get that if you stick to it. And if you don't, you gotta start again on a new pursuit, right Mark?
You just gotta stay the course. Just stay
the
course and avoid the flight. Feeling. The idea of Brene Brown who calls out that you need to enter the arena. Yep. But ultimately you're gonna have to brave the wilderness. Eventually it is going to be, it's going to be inevitable in the heroes journey, you will run into times Oh yeah.
When things do get tough. Yeah. And we're hearing within this obviously fable by poor Kolo. Of the, of this shepherd. But really, I think for you and I, and our listeners, it's something that truly does happen so regularly, doesn't it? We're not necessarily in a new village getting mugged, but there are days when we'll maybe run into an individual or a colleague who, grinds our gears just a little bit.
Maybe it feels a little bit unfair. There's a bit of injustice and you, what you want to do is Raise your fists or have a go at somebody. But I think calling back to the first lessons that we were hearing from from Paul Paulo today, in fact, not to put pressure on others. I think is coming back to me now, this idea of having patience with other people as well.
It's a big idea that we heard within the Stoic series. Yep. What are you hearing as we continue learning from The Alchemist?
Resilience. It's so great to see Polo Kolo talking about, because it is been such a huge theme of this show. So many different people from so many different walks of life.
Talk about the need for resilience. I would say something that we did in the Finding Purpose Master series we went deep on this idea of icky guy, and in that there's four things that can help you pursue your personal legend. And I think this is what's really important. It's like a checklist of if you're not sure if you're on track or you are considering giving.
I find these four things really important to come back to. Are you doing what you love? Are you doing something that you're good at? Are you doing something you can be paid for? And are you doing something the world needs? And I think going back to those four questions can be confirmation that you are on.
Or basically a preventative measure to stop you from falling and stopping. Or, you know what? If you haven't really unlocked your personal legend, go to those four questions, which are the root of icky guy. Go to our Finding Purpose masters. Here is, you'll find everything you need to know about icky guy there.
This is how you keep going. This is how you pursue your personal vision to go to those questions. What do you
think, mark? I think also we learned a lot of advice and. Around passion and natural talent from Sir Ken Robinson With the element? Yes. Yeah, good one. And how passion find, how finding your passion changes everything.
, I think this lesson around passion direction, authenticity, melded with. The stories today that we're hearing with resilience as well as grit. Angela Duckworth is really coming through in that, that clip we just heard around rising when you fall. I think Mike, we're making the case as we put at the beginning of the show, without this foundational education or understanding.
It's tricky to then build a lot of our moonshot's advice without having this foundation from The Alchemist, isn't it?
I think it really is, and it's so wonderful how this is like a parachute across so many different ideas and books, and it comes at it from a beautiful storytelling perspective, a very wise perspective.
And what's so really neat about it is that deep inside of it, mark, you've got people like David Goggins, you've got people like Brene Brown, you've got people like Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill. They're all. intersecting, crisscrossing, and weaving a web really of how to find purpose. And when we're on track, living out our legend, living our purpose, we feel a bit more satisfied with the day we get to the end of the week and we feel a bit more fulfilled.
And maybe along the way there's a smile. There's a laugh, there's some joy, maybe even a dash of happiness, but it all comes knowing that there's gonna be hard times too. And I think that accepting those are the terms of the game of life, I think is essential. Don't you?
Yeah, I like that a lot. Accepting that it's just gonna be part of the course.
, you're gonna have to go on again. Whether you are a entering Egypt and you've left your shep, your sheep behind, or whether it's you and I going out on our Tuesday afternoons figuring out what else is out there. We're all gonna run into struggles and challenges, aren't we?
We certainly are, and I think it's only appropriate, mark, that at the end of the show we return back to Polo Kolo for him to tell us one last time.
About finding your personal legend.
My, my personal legend was always to be a writer and finding your personal legend does not mean fulfilling your personal legend because being a writer means writing books. I cannot just sit and say, okay, I'm a writer. So if write a first book, it may or not be successful.
Then there's the next one. There is a third one. All of a sudden you realize that you are, your book, your books are doing very well, and you fear success. You have this moment that you think, oh my God, should I write the next book? Do I need to be judged again by the critics, et cetera. And then you realize that your personal legend is about moving on.
Go. If you, if I had a dream of becoming a writer, write books. Don't be paralyzed by either success or failure. So I'm in the process. I'm on the journey of my personal legend, not to fulfill it, but to live it as full as intensely as I can.
I think this is a really great summation mic of this idea of your personal legend, authenticity, as well as an a.
That just by understanding or realizing. And noting down that dream, it isn't necessarily the same as really going out and fulfilling it. You know that, that requires action. It requires that resilience and grit. That we've heard from some of our other moonshot legends,
haven't we? Yeah. And I heard a little bit of it's not just the destination, it's the journey as well.
What about
you? Oh yeah. Big time. Big time. I think this is a really important call out actually. You are right. That comes throughout this. As well as a lot of the lessons that we've recently learned with regards to stoicism and other authors, even including Brene Brown entering the arena. It isn't necessarily that justification of the end, it's not making a million dollars on the book that you've written.
It's very much the journey that you take to write that book, isn't it?
Yes. So in that, writing a book or gardening or swimming, if you wrote today you can find fulfillment. If you swam well today, you can find fulfillment and that makes it all the more better because you're not just hanging out, oh, I want to be like the world champion swimmer.
No. I swam today and as a build on that I did my best today. . Then you can rest easy and be ready for a swim the next day.
Yeah, exactly. And slowly through the course of creating those habits, those practices, you can get that 1% better every single day. You can start to improve. Maybe that improvement comes with getting faster or alternatively, maybe it's just that little bit more confidence.
Yeah. I mean you, I'm almost thinking of the compound effects where people vastly overestimate what they can do in one day, but vastly underestimate what they can do in a year, you.
Yeah, exactly. You're totally right. But I think one of the key call outs or behaviors and. Practices that we can put into try and balance that situation is what you were calling out earlier.
Mike, I am X. , my plan is y. Yes. And I think that's a great little demonstration of how manifestations can be used productively in order to go out and achieve. Maybe it's something quite simple, maybe something. Or something that maybe takes a year or so to achieve. Yeah.
Totally.
Totally. Mark, now that you have officially ticked off the study of the Alchemist, what is going to be apart from, just a lot more swimming by the sound of it, what is gonna be your big takeaway from this work?
I think the real call out from this book is the fact that life can be difficult.
I think, we've heard about grit and resilience before, but actually I think the different avenue or theme that comes from polo KO's book is the fact that you can't really predict it. , and sometimes those things will be a surprise. So all you can do is prepare.
Yourself and your mindset to put up with that challenge when it does come, because you know that you are living your personal legend, your authentic truth, so therefore it becomes a little bit easier to stay the course. Yeah. What about you, Mike? What are you reliving at the end of this show?
Oh I definitely I like the reminder here of don't be a part-time dreamer, right? Yes. Live the life you dream. Don't just dream it. And even if it's not a hundred percent the destination, the fact that you're moving towards it and working on it, I think is a deep well of satisfaction, resilience, renewal.
I think it's way too good deserves a whole nother. Podcast if you ask me . Alright, Matt, listen, thank you so much for joining me here on the show to study the work of, and thank you to you, our listeners, members, and subscribers. For joining us here on Show 209, where we studied The Alchemist by Mr.
Kolo himself, and that journey began with the call to arms, the one that I particularly liked, don't be a part-time dreamer, and he then pushed into the idea of living your personal legend. You really have to do the work to express it and reach your goals. And along the way you are gonna face fear.
But as long as you rise more than you fall, you will find and live your personal legend. And that is exactly why we do this show. The Moonshots podcast is here so you can learn out loud together to become the best version of yourself to shoot for the moon.
Alright everybody, that's a wrap.