Episode 1: About The Show
Welcome to episode one of “Go Back to Bed.” In today’s early morning conversation, we’re going to dissect the show’s trailer. I want you to have a better understanding of what this show is about, so today, we’re going to look at each sentence in “Go Back to Bed’s” intro individually. I spent a lot of time writing this introduction so that it has layers of meaning. By going through these layers, we’ll find out if this show is something that you want to be a part of.
Let’s start with the show’s title. You might be wondering why it’s called “Go Back to Bed.” The reason for that lies in my initial thought process when I decided to start waking up early. I mean super early, like 3:30 in the morning, to make videos. When I tried to start this, my first thought was “go back to bed. Why are you up? Everyone else is sleeping. Just go back to bed. You’re tired.” I was tempted to go back to bed, but instead, I splashed some water on my face and I shot a video.
At first, I didn’t know what this process was going to look like. I thought it was going to be me just shooting some videos. But eventually, it all evolved into this show. I countered my original thought with, “well, I could go back to bed. It’s what I want to do, but it’s also what everyone else is doing. If I want to live differently than others, I have to make a sacrifice.” And sometimes that sacrifice starts with something as simple as waking up at a time of day when nobody else wants to wake up. My intention wasn’t to stay up from 3:30 A.M onward.
Rather, I went back to bed for an hour and a half or so, but even so, I did NOT want to be up.
Because of this, “go back to bed” stuck with me as a phrase that then started to give me even more meaning as the days went on. Saying “go back to bed” often means to just go back to doing things the way you were before. It means not to do things differently than others. When we try doing something different than the masses, we are told by society that we should just go back to bed and stop thinking for ourselves. Society says “turn off that creative brain that you have and just go back to sleep.
Stop trying to disrupt the status quo. Just conform!” The command “go back to bed” is one that too many of us follow, and I’ve been a victim of it many times myself. We have these ideas that may take us out of our comfort zones that will improve our lives, such as achieving a goal, but then we hear that phrase. “Just go back to bed, go back to your comforting safe place.” Essentially, in this phrase, “bed” symbolizes the place we’re at when we’re in a state of comfort. We don’t want to leave our place of comfort. But in order to make progress, we need to be willing to get out of bed and exit our comfort zone. That’s why the show is called “Go Back to Bed.”
Now, the next part of the intro talks about waking up too early. I state, “welcome to the show “Go Back to Bed” where we wake up too early to discuss what really matters in life and business.” Saying “you’re waking up way too early” is another way of saying “go back to bed.” It’s somewhat sarcastic. It’s a common thought and a very negative way of seeing things. I go on to talk about what REALLY matters in life and business, which is obviously relative. There are things that universally matter to everyone, and then there are some things that differ based on the individual person. Overall, what matters in life in business is getting priorities in order because things tend to fall apart in our lives.
When we’re pursuing something like a business, we’re trying to start a career, but that can lead to us forgetting what matters the most. We end up sacrificing important things which is an issue. We don’t want to be forgetting about health and family. So, it’s important to be reminded of what matters most to you. We’ll be discussing that in this show, so that you can find just exactly what is most important to you. That said, we’ll also be talking a lot about business. I talk about life and business and how they merge TOGETHER. As someone who is building a home-based business and an online business, this will definitely be a theme for me throughout this show.
Speaking of personal life, the next part of the intro talks about why the home should be at the center of your solar system. First of all, I need to define what I mean by “home.” The home’s most basic meaning is “the physical space that we live in.” But it doesn’t just stop there. The home is also your family. It represents the thing that you always come back to for safety, and it also represents your core foundations and beliefs.
Let’s talk about family for a second. Family looks different to some than it does for others. For me, family is my wife, my two kids, and many others. I have immediate family and I have extended family. However, when I talk about my home, I’m talking about the immediate family that I live with. Other people have different versions of that, like some people are married without kids, others are single with kids or single with no kids, living with roommates or friends. Some folks live with their grandparents or even their parents. For them, THAT is their family. Throughout the show, I’ll be speaking more to my version of family because that’s what I know, but I grew up with a different version that I can also speak to.
My mom and dad divorced when I was 14, and then my mom remarried. Stepchildren were living with me in the house then, so I’ve experienced several different family dynamics growing up. However, my current immediate family, which are my wife, and two kids are the dynamic I’ll talk about most. I want to make it clear that I’m not devaluing other family dynamics. Here, you’ll still learn lessons about the home being the center of your solar system, and you can adapt these lessons to fit your own situation.
I’ll also be talking about how I’ve built an online business from home, and how I’ve always worked from home. The home really is the center of my career AND the center of my personal life. In 2020, COVID really pushed people to evaluate their home lives, realizing that they were overbooked and that everyone in their household was very separated, doing their own thing. As a result, many families faced unfortunate divorces, and child abuse cases skyrocketed. Families started to realize that if they couldn’t function together, then there was a major issue. When you’re hardly ever together, it’s very easy to just not notice that there are some things to work on in your family relationships.
This is the blessing that came out of COVID. It forced families to come together and have opportunities to improve their relationships. While many families chose to slow down and spend more time together post-lockdown, sadly, many others broke under the pressure. But for my family, nothing really changed. We’ve always been homebodies. I’ve been working from home for the past five years and my wife is a stay-at-home mom. We also homeschool our kids. We’ve already gone through the process of figuring out how to enjoy being together, so we didn’t learn that during COVID, but we DID learn other things that I’m excited to talk about in this show. It’s helped us resolve relationship tensions and more ways that we can come together as a family.
Now, why did I say that the home should be the center of your solar system? Isn’t the phrase typically “center of the universe?” Yes, but “solar system” makes more sense. I like to be specific with communication. Even when I’m referring to cliches, I like to use something even better if I can. Scientifically speaking, there is no “center” of the universe. At least, not as far as we know. But there IS a center of a solar system. This is an easier metaphor to understand. There’s the sun and all the planets that revolve around it. For the show, we’ll talk about how the home is the sun, and it’s what all your planets should be revolving around. Everyone’s “planets” will be different, though. What those are will be for you to discover yourself. We’ll talk about what planets are closest to the sun and which ones are further away. Order is important here, so we’ll discuss our solar system and the placement of our planets throughout this show.
The next part of the intro says that “it’s at this moment while everyone else is sleeping and everything is quiet and still that there are no distractions to interfere with you getting inspired.” This explains why I’m doing this show at 4:00 A.M. I wake up around 3:00 A.M, record the show, and I go live around 4:00. Inspiration is extremely important, and there’s no better time to be inspired than when you’re alone and focused. Very few people wake up THIS early. Some will stay up this late, and others may awaken around 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, but 3:00 and 4:00 A.M are the times when there are absolutely no distractions.
For a spiritual person like me, waking up this early also gives you time to connect with your higher power, which for me, is God. This is the ideal time to pray, meditate, and tune in to whatever higher power you believe in. You’ll really discover a lot about who you are and what your purpose is when you’re giving yourself this time.
You can start this by committing yourself to waking up this early just one day awake. It doesn’t have to be every single day. I plan for this show to take place three days a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My goal is that this show will help encourage you to start waking up early with us all.
Next in the intro, I introduce myself as a full-time husband, a full-time dad, and a full-time entrepreneur. But how can I truly be “full-time” at these three things at once? Many people will ask me if I mean that I’m part-time at these positions, which is why I deliberately say that I’m full-time at all of them. That’s because my role as a dad and husband never goes away, even when I’m not with my family, or when I’m working. I am also always an entrepreneur, even when I’m not focused on tasks that are specific to my career. That will never change.
So, I’m a full-time member of this human family that all of us are part of. We’ll get into this a lot in the show as well. My family is my top priority, but that doesn’t mean that I forget about being part of a bigger, human family as well. Just because I’m a homebody doesn’t mean that I never leave my home or that I won’t be part of communities, my neighborhood, my state, country, or this entire world.
As a work-from-home enthusiastic, I love working from home, and I’ve always loved it. Even when I had a salary job, I still performed it remotely. I can’t imagine any other scenario. While some hate it, I am a true defender of working from home, especially for those who see family as their top priority. I get to be part of everything that my kids do. I don’t have to miss out on their first steps or their first words because I get to have a daily home life in between performing my work tasks. I love supporting others like myself who are self-employed or who are trying to get to that point. I want to be here for you to help you figure out how to make it all work. This isn’t a side gig or just part of your career, it is your WHOLE career. Self-employment isn’t just something that you do in between jobs. While entrepreneurship is often seen as risky, salary jobs are actually where instability can lie. Sometimes a company gets hit hard and has to let workers go, and you lose your entire income, even if you did nothing wrong.
We’ll get more into this in future episodes, but self-employed workers don’t simply inherit success. No successful person got to where they are without mentors, or without many teachers and people helping them along the way. You were always part of a team and no one is entirely self-made. Further, entrepreneurship isn’t just about making money. You're not really a true entrepreneur in my mind if you're just trying to figure out money-making opportunities, yet what you're doing isn't actually improving people's lives. And whether you are a solo act, a freelancer who I was for a while, or whether you are an owner of a large company with thousands of employees, you are an entrepreneur and you are trying to solve problems and leverage your talents and skills and create a business out of it.
True entrepreneurs, to me, are the key to solving the world’s problems and improving people's lives. This isn’t the government’s job. True entrepreneurship involves having your own voice and doing your own research and decision making without the influence of the government, or even your parents and the media. You must be able to question authorities and reexamine everything. It’s okay to trust certain authorities, but you can’t ever be afraid to question them. While this not a political show, we will talk about these issues when they are relevant to the business world, so this is a topic we will definitely talk about in future episodes.
Now when I say to question authority, I don’t mean to question it so heavily that you don’t trust anyone at all, especially if you’re getting good advice. A good example is my four-year-old son. He trusts me, but even then, he’s always asking questions. While this can get frustrating, I always tell myself how important it is that he’s doing that because it shows that he’ll become an adult that can think for himself, which in turn, makes him more successful in the end.
The next part of the intro talks about advocating for people who aspire to be a guardian of freedom and order. I deliberately put those two together. This plays off the last part where those who question everything and think for themselves are the kind of people who help protect, defend, and guard freedom. But I use the word “guardian” rather than “defender. The reason for this is that guardians constantly keep watch to protect, while a defender only defends when provoked. Guardians can be defenders, but they also do much more than defenders do. If you value freedom, I’d love to connect with you and have you on the show.
I want you to be part of this conversation because our freedom is what allows us to pursue whatever career we want. This is why we’re able to be entrepreneurs and why we can be self-employed. However, I don’t believe in anarchies because there must be law and order since corrupt people will do bad things that they should be held accountable for. Freedom has an end when people use theirs to hurt others or damage property.
The subject of freedom and order will come up on this show, but again, this is not a political show. We don’t take a political side on this show, and we don’t discuss political parties. However, much like our government and business discusses, freedom and order will come up when it’s relevant to our entrepreneurship discussions.
In the next part of the intro, I discuss being someone who is self-reliant yet humble enough to ask for help. “Self-reliant” doesn’t mean that you only rely on yourself for everything. Instead, it means that you turn to yourself first, then your family, then your community and so on. The whole point in business is that you are selling services and products that others cannot produce themselves. Therefore, you can’t believe in business while simultaneously claiming that you only rely on yourself. You have to be humble enough to look to others for help so that you can then become more reliant on yourself and your own skills. It’s empowering to have your own knowledge and skills. This is also something we will cover throughout the show.
Now, we are at the part of the intro that discusses people who fall and get back up, who hit walls and push through while helping others along the way. These people never give up, they stay focused, but they also don’t develop tunnel vision. Keeping awareness of who needs help while also pursuing your own goals is key. Then, I talk about the ability to adapt, which is especially important when life unexpectedly changes course. Obstacles you never expected may show up, and you have to be able to remain calm and problem solve. If you can do this, you’ll come out on top. When it comes to the business side of things, any business that survives beyond a year knows how to adapt. You’ll constantly have to adapt to match your target audience, to keep up with technology, and to keep up with a changing world.
We’ll also talk about those who are willing to look up and believe in something that’s greater than themselves. This can be interpreted in a variety of ways. For me, it’s the belief in God. There are other things that are greater than me, like the human race as a whole, the earth, my nation; those are all the mountains outside my window. These are bigger than me and they’ve helped me keep myself in check, remembering that I am not the biggest thing in the room. So, it’s important that you start to look for something that’s bigger than yourself. Whatever you may believe in, whether it’s the universe, the planets, or just anything that you can look at and immediately realize that there’s something greater than you. This is how you stay humble. Further, believing this way will also motivate you to progress towards your goals and to keep improving yourself in general.
The next part of the intro talks about someone who is creative and intentional, resilient, ambitious, and diligent, all while remaining patient, focused, and steady. Being creative isn’t just about being an artist. Even playing with Legos with my son is something that keeps me from binge watching shows all day. It helps us keep our identity. Other versions of this include cooking, building a business, building a house. Just creating, being deliberate with your time and your choices. You’re ambitious without losing patience. You have steadiness and you’re able to focus. Those who get promoted don’t get stuck complaining or blaming others. You’re creating, not just daydreaming. Dreamers know to keep their feet on the ground because their dreams will never turn into realities if they don’t’ stay on the ground. You have to stay present so that you don’t miss opportunities. We will also talk about having gratitude and being optimistic while not being naïve. There’s a balance here with everything, and we’ll talk about that a lot on the show.
You'll realize that as you're building a business and everything else that you are going to make some decisions based on data, but you won't always have enough data. You have to go off your intuition and what you're feeling, your gut feeling of what you need to do will become extremely important. You will realize how important it is that you get in tune with those feelings that you have and that you get used to making decisions based on those feelings. Being a decisive person is the kind of person who will get things done. You do the research. You take the time, you need to do your due diligence before deciding, but then you don't get stuck in that.
And you make those decisions. And then a leader who knows when to follow and a follower who has the courage to step up and stand out to lead, is something I'm really trying to work on. We need to talk more about those who are willing to honor and learn from the path laid by previous generations while seeking to build and upgrade the path that lies ahead. Having that perspective of your family history and what the previous generations have done for us is really important that we have a positive view of that. It's okay to recognize the mistakes that they've made. That's super important. But we also must recognize all the good that they have done and the good qualities that they had.
These values and qualities describe the kind of person I'm striving to be. I have a way to go, but I'm on the path. And if you resonate with any of those attributes, regardless of how well you feel, you're living them, join me on this journey. So pretty self-explanatory in our conversations, you will get practical advice to help you start your day with clear priorities and confidence to pursue your goals. And like we talked about at the beginning, having your priorities straight, you will definitely learn how to have clear priorities so that you know how to pursue your goals. And you'll also gain skills and knowledge to have confidence in pursuing your goals, but not at the expense of ever sacrificing those priorities. I close by saying, most importantly, you will learn how to find your voice. And then I define what I mean by that, which is what you believe, what you know, what you want, what you stand for. Then, you become the writer and director of your personal and professional life. So that will be the core theme of this show.
You are the one that gets to make the final decision. And ultimately, any decision you make in your life, you're making through your own voice because too many of us become pacified. We were making a lot of decisions based on other people's voices, or we heard other people's voices in our head whenever we were about to decide something. And then we think it's our voice, but it's actually someone else’s voice in our head. And we'll talk more about how to really find your voice internally, but also within your life so that you are the one in charge. You're the one in control and you're ultimately the writer. You are the one who is designing the kind of life that you want and the business that you want and the career that you want. We will dive deeper into all of these concepts in future episodes and conversations, but now, you know what the show is really about, and you know whether it's going to be worth it to you to wake up early to watch it or to listen to it. I will talk to you soon and we'll see you in the next conversation.
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