Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor Podcast. I am your host, Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another podcast episode. And if you wanna learn how to create the perfect morning routine, go to theperfectmorningroutine.com. I created a workbook and a video for you to go through to create the perfect morning routine based off of science.
Once again, that is theperfectmorningroutine.com to get it for free. Today, I wanna talk to you about something that genuinely I think has changed my life forever. And it's not a productivity hack, it's not a business strategy, it's not a neuroscience trick, it is a perspective. It is a simple shift that's really changed my outlook on my life every single day since I came up with it.
And I think, truly, that if you let this land and you use what I teach, that it could completely change the way that you live your life as well. So for me, I just turned 40 and there's something about turning 40 where time starts to feel a little bit different. Not in like a depressing way, but in an actual beautiful way.
I started thinking more deeply about time that has passed and time that will pass. And I started realizing like, hey, this life is not an endless hallway anymore. I started realizing like, this thing is moving. And when you look at the average person and how long they live, I am halfway through the average person's life. Hopefully I do get longer, but according to stats, I'm halfway there.
I'm halfway done. And recently I keep seeing these videos on Instagram of people holding their babies and their young children. And on the screen, it says, when I'm 80 years old, this is what I'll dream about.
And every time I saw one of those videos, something inside of me cracked open because I started looking at my young son way differently, not with like sadness, but with like this, this reverence. And I started realizing like, even though I already knew it, but I started really, really realizing, oh my God, like these are, I'm in the good old days right now. Like this is it.
So that moment that feels like ordinary, just a normal Tuesday afternoon or an exhausted morning, like this little season that I keep rushing through, one day there is going to be a day where I would give anything, and everything that I have to come back to this moment right here.
And I had this realization that when I'm 80 years old, if someone were to come to me at 80 years old and say, Rob, you could have a million dollars, you could have every single award, all of the success that you want, everything you've ever wanted, and I'm 80 years old, or... You can go back and be 40 again. And you can hold your young son again. And you can wake up in your current body again.
Or you can laugh with your wife again. You can have all of your energy back. You can have your health back. You can have your old life back.
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Chapter 2: What mindset shift changed the host's perspective on life?
I would trade every fucking dollar, every achievement immediately. in order to be back where I currently am right now. No hesitation. Every single penny, everything. And that realization really hit me like a truck because I think it's true for me and I think it's true for every single person that's listening to this episode.
We spend our entire lives chasing things that our older self would gladly trade away to have just another ordinary Tuesday at the age that we're currently at. One more sunset, one more...
dinner with the people that we love, one more chance to feel young again, one more chance to walk around and not feel that old pain that's been nagging us, one more chance to hear our child laugh from another room. And the crazy part is, right now, we already have it. Right now, we're literally living inside of the moments our future self would ache for.
Even if your life is not where you want it to be, and it's not even great at this moment, you would still trade places with yourself. But we're so busy, we don't think about it. We never see how amazing this moment is because we're so busy chasing the next thing. Because I think most people are unknowingly sacrificing their life trying to build a life. Think about that for a second.
Most people are unknowingly sacrificing their life trying to actually build a life. And so I want to talk to you about how I've been using my 80 year old self as my mentor. And I really want this episode to like shift your perspective so much that you want to listen to it every single morning. Okay.
So I think a lot of people believe, and I thought this for a long time, I'll finally feel fulfilled when dot, dot, dot. when I make more money, when I buy the house, when I get married, when I lose the weight, when I become successful, when I hit this goal, when I prove myself to other people, when I get recognition, I will finally arrive. And the truth is,
that arrival that we're all trying to get to never actually comes because your mind was never designed to arrive. Our minds are designed to chase, to go to the next thing. And this is what the psychologist actually called the hedonic treadmill. Like you get one thing and then your brain normalizes it very, very quickly.
You buy the car that was your quote-unquote dream car, and six months later, it's just your car. You hit that income goal that you want to hit your entire life, and then it just becomes your normal income and you want to make more.
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Chapter 3: How does turning 40 influence one's perception of time?
You build that business, and then your brain asks, okay, but what's next? And so your mind keeps moving the finish line. And meanwhile, your actual life is the thing that's happening while you're keeping yourself so damn busy.
your child is growing up, your body is aging, your parents are getting older, your friends are disappearing into their own busy lives, then one day you'll wake up and realize, oh my God, I was so focused on building a future that I forgot to actually live my present moment.
And that's why I keep thinking about this 80-year-old version of me, because I think my 80-year-old version of me, my 80-year-old Rob, sees life clearly, like way more clear than I do. Your 80-year-old self already knows what truly matters. Like, I want you to imagine your 80-year-old self. Like, imagine you at 80 years old. Not like vaguely, like actually picture them.
Like, what do they look like? What do their old wrinkly hands look like? How do they walk? What do they regret? What do they miss? Like, what would they tell you right now if they could sit across from you? And I want you to understand something. Your 80-year-old self is not impressed by most of the things that your current self is stressed out about. And we will be right back.
And now, back to the show. That's crazy if you think about it, isn't it? Like, your 80-year-old self does not give a damn about your Instagram algorithm. Doesn't give a damn about looking cool or winning every argument or getting your inbox to zero or...
Buying the next status symbol or the comparison game that you find yourself in or the approval of other strangers or how much money is in your bank account or the job title that you have or the kind of car that you drive. Your 80-year-old self cares about presence. They care about love. They care about their health. They care about connection with other people. They care about meaning.
They really care about time because they don't have a whole lot of it left. They care about making memories. They care about peace. They care about depth. They care about aliveness. Your 80-year-old self knows exactly what matters because they know what will disappear soon. And that's why I started using my 80-year-old self as my mentor. And it's genuinely changed my life.
And so now whenever I get stuck throughout the day, whenever I'm overwhelmed, whenever I'm too busy, whenever I have a hard decision, whenever I find myself freaking out about something, I just ask myself, I'm like, okay, 80-year-old Rob, what should we do here? What's the right thing to do? And for me, It has been shocking how quickly clarity gets here. Like how quickly it appears.
Because your older self just cuts through all the bullshit. Because I think there's two versions of us that are constantly speaking in our heads. There's a fearful one that's driven by ego. And then there's one that's a wise future self.
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Chapter 4: What realizations come from reflecting on the good old days?
What can I learn from them? Someone who has already lived the future that I'm moving into. And the beautiful thing is that your older self already knows what matters. And so I think to myself, how can I today download the wisdom from him right now? How can I listen to him and find out what really matters?
And I want to make this practical for you because it's really become a daily practice for me. And so here's how you actually do it in your life, okay? Step one, I want you to actually create your future self clearly. Like most people never connect to their future self like really deeply and emotionally.
So they make decisions, you know, based off of immediate comfort versus what's actually important to them. But neuroscience shows that the more emotionally connected you are to your future self, the better decisions that you'll actually make in the present moment. And so I want you to sit down and journal. What does your 80-year-old self value? What do they regret? What are they grateful for?
What advice would they give you right now? What do they wish you'd stop worrying about so much? What wisdom do they have to give you? What do they wish that you would appreciate more? Like actually write it all down. Don't think in your head, put it down on a piece of paper, like bring them to life on a piece of paper. They're already waiting for you to get in contact with them.
Okay, so that's step number one. Step number two is start consulting with them daily. Literally, I do this multiple times a day now. If I'm stressed, I look at something and I go, will this matter when I'm 80 years old? 99.9% of the time, the answer is no. If I'm working too much, I ask myself, will I have wished that I worked more or like actually lived more?
If I'm sitting on the couch watching a basketball game and I'm distracted and my son comes up to me wanting me to get off the couch for the 15th time in a row when I just got up 14 times earlier, would my 80-year-old Rob Look at that moment and be like, ah, don't worry about it. Or would he give anything, everything to get up and read another book to my son?
And instantly, when I think about that, I'm present. My perspective shifts. It returns, I guess is a better way of saying it. And like the meaning in my life returns, right? So that's step number two. Step number three is let your future self interrupt your autopilot. Like most people are unconscious. I've been unconscious for most of my life.
They wake up, they grab their phone, stress, rush, react to this thing, repeat, and then years, just disappear, right? You have to interrupt the autopilot. One of the biggest problems in modern life is overstimulation. We are so distracted that we can't even feel our own lives anymore. Your older self, what would they tell you? Slow down, experience this.
Not someday, not when you accomplish that thing, like right now, in this moment. I have realized that if I can think that way and interrupt my autopilot, I'll try to bring in all five of my senses to the present moment. And when I do this and I bring in all five of my senses and I try to be as present as I possibly can, it's like, it's weird. It's like the present moment becomes so rich.
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