And I think that presence of mind and that being able to be calm,
that you've laid a plan out, you've done what you've done that got you
to this point, if something comes up that you didn't expect
or that you didn't know was going to come, your plan is not bad,
it got you to where you are, right now you have to deal with what's in
front of you, that doesn't mean run away, doesn't mean stop
and don't do anything, it means deal with it.
My dad always told me, “if something ever doesn't go the way that
you've planned and you find yourself in that situation, don't
panic”.
“The most important thing you can do is stay calm, stay present”.
And I've always sort of like it and I can't remember,
I think it was a Vietnam War film or some other film
that I was watching one time.
And this sergeant stood right up in the middle of this battle,
and bullets are hitting branches and knocking trees down,
you can hear them zipping by and he stands up and he says,
“hey, go over there, move up”.
“You, you need to watch right over there”.
And the presence amidst all the chaos and destruction and calamity
was what saved all of their lives.
And I think that presence of mind and that being able to be calm,
that you've laid a plan out, you've done what you've done that got you
to this point, if something comes up that you didn't expect
or that you didn't know was going to come, your plan is not bad,
it got you to where you are, right now you have to deal with what's in
front of you, that doesn't mean run away, doesn't mean stop
and don't do anything, it means deal with it.
Deal with what's in front of you, move through it, move around it, move over
it, move under it, but keep moving forward, rectify the situation,
regroup and go.
So what is it that people can cultivate like right now,
the kid that's listening to you that for whatever reason,
whether he's Native American or not, he's being told the same thing,
whatever you want to do, like it's ridiculous.
Like what can they do to make sure they've got the fortitude
to last through the whole rez tour?
Like, how do you build that in yourself?
Every experience that comes your way is a tool.
When we lost our home and we had to go live with my grandparents,
I understood that these are just material things,
that that doesn't define you, it doesn't make you.
So when you get these challenges, when you have these things that come up in
your life, continue to move forward.
Now, how do you get to that place where you come back and move forward and that you become
very intentional about it?
I just did one of our footnotes that's sort of a daily motivational,
inspirational thing about, baby steps.
Baby steps, become intentional about what it is that you're
going to do.
Nobody in your family may have done that, nobody in your community, your city, your
country may have done that, but if that's what's been put here for you,
take it in baby steps, begin to see that you're going to move forward.
It's exactly what I did once I came and I understood my purpose,
I understood what it is that I was supposed to be doing.
I sat down and created a plan as to how I was going to
go about deploying that.
And I think that's what you really have to do.
And take it in baby steps, don't try to do the whole thing at once.
Sit it down, look at it, break it down, rebuild it, put it back together,
and then assign time frames to everything that you want to accomplish
and break it down in phases and then focus everything you have on that
phase.
How do you do that process?
This is a question I get asked a lot because I'm totally with you,
that's exactly what I do.
But like, I'm not sure how to explain that, like, how do you get good at identifying the
real tangible steps?
We only know what we know right now about what we want to do right?
I mean, it could be, there could be things out there that will
be so much more awesome, but we just we don't know what we don't know.
And to the best of our ability, what we can say is,
“here's where I am right now, I can put a waypoint right there, I can mark that”.
“And I know that I want to do X, and this is that thing”.
So if I'm going to step back now what I've got to do is go to work.
I've got to study every single bit of that and understand every iteration.
You know, if it's to make an album.
So what are all the steps in making an album?
From content creation to music production, to mastering to editing,
to recording the record, you know, what are all the business aspects of things
that go into that?
Who do I need to sing?
On all these ten songs how many are going to have
a chorus that somebody sings?
So I start to understand what I have to do and what I'm going to need
other people to do.
And then I start to think, “ok, well, what's the money going to be?”
“How much do I have to put from a money point of view into each phase?”
So each phase has a capital raise that I have to ascertain all of these other
things about what am I going to do to have to put
into this to make it become a reality?
And so that's what I'm focused on.
Once I hone in on all of these things, you know,
yes, it's to be on tour with somebody, but first, I have to have a record, I have
to have an album.
And do you model after somebody like if you're trying to do an album,
do you find somebody that you can get a lot of information from
and then copy that as a starting point, or how do you do that process?
I think every successful person always looks at other successful people
as especially in their field or a field they're endeavouring to get into.
Why fix it if it's not broke?
You just have to find your piece of it that you bring to make it you.
But if they're doing it and they're doing it incredibly well,
sit back and look at it in and find all the ways that
you can take that great model, fix it where you feel like it needs to be
fixed, make it you,
and then can you add to it?
Can you put something on top of it?
And then you take that and really, that's when you start to really do the work
and sit down and study each piece of it,
and then you assign the time frames.
I think the time frames, the timelines are the critical piece to it,
because that's where so many people go from just having a hobby or a dream.
And I'm sure many people understand that dreams are tough because without a time frame,
a timeline, they may just stay dreams.
When you assign a time frame and a plan of action to it,
it can become a goal and then it can become attainable.
And I think that's what you have to do, and it makes it very present then.
You have your work cut out for you, you know what you need to do,
and now it's just about doing it.