The Tom J. Bull Podcast

A big announcement at the conclusion of today’s episode! I’m so excited to share with you! It is your time! This year has been your opportunity to be introduced to your best self and build the courage and faith to unleash the greatness inside of you. Go beyond reflection and begin doing, begin living your most fulfilling life. Believe you can! Begin living now! Let me join you and support you in this beautiful journey! The world is waiting for you! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

What it is we need and want in our life is right here, right now. If we are seeking blessings and opportunities, they will present themselves when we are open, vulnerable, and feel worthy of having abundance in our life. Once we feel valuable enough to access and embrace what is rightfully ours, we will then need to step through the door of abundance that is in the shape of our authentic self. Abundance can only be accessed when we are authentic, genuine, real. The heavy layers of unwelcome expectations must be shed to fit and step through the door to our best life. Be active in your seeking and be courageous in living authentically. This is the only way to access the wonderful blessings uniquely available to you. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Ridding ourselves of old bad habits, unhealthy relationships, and negative thoughts and emotions, is like pruning a tree of its dead leaves, branches and stems. The purpose of pruning is to remove the dead, damaged, and diseased parts for the betterment of the whole. Pruning opens up opportunities for the new and healthy. A pruned tree is opened up allowing more sunlight and healthier air to flow through its branches. By eliminating the unhealthy, negative, and toxic things that we have held on to for far too long, we provide space for growth and healthy living. Old ways, unhealthy relationships, and negativity causes decay in our life’s purpose and breeds disease in our spirit. Evaluate your life. Rid yourself of the parts of you that hold you back from realizing the greatness in you! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Whether conscious or unconscious, we are continually being inspired as often as we breathe. As we go about our lives, we are moved to feel as a result of what we are experiencing in any given moment. To inspire or be inspired is to create feelings in someone or feelings from someone. We can also be inspired through all 5 of our senses, what we hear, see, smell, taste, or touch. Just as inspiration can move someone closer to their greatness, it can also be a detriment if what he/she is inspired by is toxic and negative. Inspire is also defined as breathing in (air), or inhaling. What are you breathing into you mind, body, and spirit? What we choose to breathe in usually aligns with what we give power, authority, focus and attention. Be aware of what you take into your body and how it impacts how you think and compromises your life’s purpose. Breathe in positivity, breathe out toxicity. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Taking 100% accountability for everything that happens to us, both the good and not so good, puts us in the driver seat of our life. How many times have we “driven down a street” knowing very well a negative situation or outcome was waiting for us. If we look closely, we have made choices that have lead us to unfortunate and painful circumstances. We get angry with how we are treated by others, but if we explore with complete honesty we will see that we teach others how to treat us. We are also responsible for how we respond to circumstances that may truly be out of our control. This is a reflection of being accountable for your life’s outcomes and being in the driver seat of your life. It is an extremely powerful approach to living life as our most honest and authentic self. We create the life we live. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

We all have people we love and care deeply about. We have special people in our life that make an incredible impression on our hearts. Celebrate them. Let them know you appreciate them. We don’t have to wait for a holiday, birthday, special event, or tragedy to make someone you love know you are grateful to have them in your life. Reach out and connect with them. If those people are no longer with us, celebrate them, throw a party in their memory and reminisce. Help their spirit come alive in the hearts and minds of those who celebrate with you. Be specific with the reasons you are so grateful for them and the details of the things you appreciate the most about them. Be a blessing to another’s life by celebrating how they impacted yours. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

There is no other moment that exists than the right now, the present. It is where our past and our future meet. From this space, from this time, we are at our most creative. From here, we conjure unique ideas, find gratitude in all things, reflect on our intentions, appreciate the details of our immediate surroundings, form the meaning of our existence and our life’s purpose. Being in the here and now our blessings can be acknowledged and our greatness realized. Embrace the present moment. Listen to the loud wisdom of silence. You are exactly where you are supposed to be. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Your time is now and you’re not alone! Much has been covered and shared over the past 99 episodes. We have countless resources available to us, some we are aware of and many we have yet to discover. This podcast is a movement, a community in the making, to support one another in realizing our individual greatness and our collective power for positive change. Please share these episodes with friends, families, colleagues, people you know who need an encouraging voice and an empowering message. Thank you so very much for listening! This has been a wonderful experience and a long time coming. I’m looking forward to creating and sharing more episodes for you in the many days and years ahead. I would love to hear from you, what you think about the content I’m providing, the changes you have made in your life, the topics you’d like to hear more about, the challenges you face, and the successes you earned. Share with me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. Subscribe to this podcast --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

We may not be seeing the fruition of our efforts as quickly as we would like. If we are truly maintaining a positive mindset, doing the daily work to connect and practice our life purpose, nurturing our positive relationships, maintaining life balance, and all the other important things we need to do to become who we want to become and achieve what we want to achieve, then we are sowing the seeds of greatness and endless possibilities. Perhaps we are not in the season to reap rewards. Perhaps we’re preparing the fields in anticipation for our greatness to take hold. Your time is coming. Your hard work, commitment, and faith will bring the life you always envisioned. Believe in the process. Find joy and fulfillment in the journey itself. Those seeds you have sown will bring an amazing harvest. You will have earned it! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

We occasionally struggle with the negative soundtrack and motion pictures in our minds. These have come from years of disappointment, self-doubt, and hardship. We say terribly unuseful and destructive things to ourselves (soundtrack) and run “worse case scenario” images (motion pictures) in our minds, particularly when we’re fearful or anxious. It’s a way of validating how we feel, which then leads us to convincing ourselves not to move forward. To remedy this, we need to be intentional with replacing these soundtracks and motion pictures with empowering statements and visions of us overcoming and achieving great things and becoming our best selves. If you struggle with this detrimental and sometimes unconscious debilitation, the strategy in this episode will show you exactly how to effectively alleviate these negative thoughts and scenarios. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Have you come to the point on your personal journey from ordinary to extraordinary where you’re beginning to feel anxiety, fear, frustration, and angst about taking the leap to do it? To finally do it? Are you trying to justify why you should just give up on the idea of achieving a dream? It is important to understand this is part of the process. It is the transformational experience we all face when we’re on the verge of greatness. Those who coexist with the self-doubt and negative self-talk and work through it are the ones who come out the other end of this experience stronger, wiser, and more prepared to deal with the challenges that present themselves along our journey to personal greatness. You have no idea how close you are to the life you’ve always dreamed of. If you quit now, you will never know. The psychological, physical, and spiritual anxiety you are feeling is part of this amazing transformation you’re enduring. Believe in yourself. Believe in your purpose. Believe in your --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Surrounding ourselves with amazing and supportive people is extremely important in living our best life possible and being our greatest self. However, what is most important is the relationship we have with ourselves. To have a high level of support around us, but not feel deserving or worthy, leaves the support others provide useless. Have you envisioned your ideal self living your desired life? Is it clear to you? If not, take the time to do so. Otherwise, you are walking in the dark without direction or purpose. You have the insight to achieve greatness. In this podcast, I provide a technique to help you nurture yourself and unleash all the answers to your questions about your life’s journey. You do know, you just need to begin trusting yourself, believing in yourself, and being yourself! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

It is simply impossible to be your best self without being your most authentic self. It is a habit of most of us to modify, adjust, or tweak our values, attitudes, beliefs, views, etc., to adapt to any given group. Practicing our authentic self across all settings with all people increases our level of integrity and is extremely liberating. Most of us adapt this way to avoid losing the interest of others. However, to be who we truly are opens up real opportunities for like-minded people to gravitate to you. You will not compromise the core of who you are. You will live life everyday with real intention from a real place; that is, the real you. Be you and free yourself of the burden of a compromised life experience. Life fully. Live authentically. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Setting an anchor at one of the darkest times in your life, not for the purpose of being stuck in the past, but to appreciate how far you’ve come. We should never look back at our past, but to only see the distance between what once was and what is now. Anchoring or setting a bookmark at a difficult time in our life provides evidence of our ability to overcome and not being overwhelmed. When anchoring, our focus is not on the dark moment, it’s only on the space of progress. To not appreciate our progress or what we’ve come from, we risk feeling entitled and let up on the daily work it takes to maintain living fully, happily, and as a giver to others. Anchor the darkness. Appreciate the journey. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Inspired by the bright lights of the city skyline, my daughter shares her insight using the symbolism of lights when discussing community connection. She shares the following: When a single light flickers on a string of lights, all the others remain bright. However, when a single light goes out, the whole string goes out with it. The flickering of the single light is a warning that something is not right, while the other lights continue to shine bright and unhindered. This analogy represents what happens to a community when someone is hurting but no one heeds the call or pays attention. We are all intraconnected. What happens to one of us creates a ripple effect that impacts everyone in that community. Her proposed remedy? Be present, pay attention, reach out, don’t wait for others to step up, be the one who does, be the support others are seeking or at least guide them toward someone who can help. We all will be in that place where we’ll need the help of others. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

It is time to close the painful chapter you’ve been living in far too long. Be sure to write your narrative as one of empowerment and overcoming difficult and dark times. Dismiss the lies that you have convinced yourself to be true. Reject those who are toxic in your life and only exist to tear you down and feed you untruths. You are worthy of amazing things in your life. If you have fallen down, this does not mean you are destined to always be down. That is a lie. If people tell you anything other than you’re capable and worthy, it is a lie. The absence of love is evil and poisonous to realizing your best self and your purpose for being here on earth. It’s time to close the chapter of toxicity, pain, and hurt and move on to a new chapter of victory, happiness, and personal fulfillment. This is our ultimate truth. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

How we view our world, our selves, our position in the world, and others who share the world with us, is greatly impacted by our self-perception. Our beliefs, values, attitudes, and life experiences are filters through which we take in information that surrounds us. These filters determine if we become open and vulnerable to the blessings and opportunities that present themselves to us, or if our feelings of unworthiness and being undeserving cause us to dismiss or repel the wonder life offers. In order for us to realize our life purpose and to become who we were meant to be, we must have a self-perception that fully aligns with each of these. Challenging our attitudes and beliefs, realigning our values and priorities, and creating an empowering narrative around our life experiences are keys to changing our self-perception and launch us forward to a life we most desire and deserve. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

The soul activated is passion on fire. Available to us are endless resources in the form of books, podcasts, movies/documentaries, speakers, and so on. But even at the time when the information is delivered in these mediums, it’s old. They’re ideas of the past. All of these resources are meant to establish a foundation of understanding and wisdom, and even more so, to inspire. Reading books, listening to speakers, and watching videos are great ways to explore ideas to expand our lives, but they are not the only way to live or do. Using our active soul, we are creators and innovators of life. We build upon what once was via the great thinkers and philosophers and innovators of the past. We are forward thinkers, not backward thinkers. Let not our fiery passion dwindle to “cinders and smoke” by remaining stagnant in expanding our thoughts and ideas, but rather set our passion ablaze to light the way to discovering our best self, living our best life, and making a positive difference in th --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Living fully and defining our success are parallel contemplations. How do you define your success? How do you determine if you’re living fully? To live in our fullness and to be successful in our life is to live out our days the way we choose, without constraints and without judgement. We become discouraged when we decide not to pursue a dream, or reconsider the path of our life as a result of personal or cultural judgment. When our decisions are influenced by the constraints we place on ourselves or the constraints people place on us, this can only cultivate resentment and feeling disheartened. Exercise your personal power by reclaiming your happiness through stripping away the judgments others place on you. Take back your happiness and power from the hands of those who abuse it. Live fully. Live happily. Live without constraint. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

My good friend shared a quote with me that reads, “If the whole world was blind, how many people would you impress?” I was moved by this quote because it is a reminder that people are most impressed with your heart, your intentions, your authenticity. True success is not determined by the watches you wear, the car you drive, or the house you live in, but rather how you contribute to the greater good, your community, the world we share. Empathy, compassion, kindness, and service are among many of the traits found in sustained and meaningful success. The most impactful gestures and measures of success can sometimes be unseen, but clearly felt. Our goals should always be aligned with contributing to something bigger than ourselves and to make the world better simply because you’re in it. Your contribution matters. You matter! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

When we think back to an earlier time, decades ago, when we recall those who provided a service, whether it be our local butcher, gas attendant, or mailman, for example, they went above and beyond when they did their job. They had a relationship with those they served. There was a connection between client and service provider. They may have known you by your first name, or who your family members were, or what you liked and disliked within the products they sold. Is that still your experience today? Do you ever wonder why that has all changed? What if the answer lies in the realization that as we sit back and wait for those people to resurface today, it dawns on us that we may be the person we’re waiting for? Not just in our professional service, but how we interact with people in our neighborhoods, in our communities, going above and beyond to help provide a community experience with whomever we interact. This is the process of building a connected community. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Many of us question if we can stand out from the generations of people who have achieved great things before us. If we want to be a writer, singer, speaker, or artist, is there room for us? Can we be successful among the thousands who have found success doing what we believe is our true purpose? The answer is yes! We are all unique. Even more unique than our message is the genuineness of our delivery, our voice, and our medium of choice. Like a fishing lure, we are uniquely painted and have special actions, or talents, that is appealing to a group of people who we most resonate with. We would never use a bass fishing lure to catch a swordfish. We are all painted with special gifts and our message delivery is unique to who we are. Be you and cast yourself out to the world. Many who relate to you will bite and you will live a life that is completely self-fulfilling. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Like that of the great Phoenix who combusts and rises again from the ashes of its former self, we, too, experience a renewal, rejuvenation, and a re-creation from what we once were to what we are intended to be. This occurs after experiencing great fires in our life. Throughout our journey, we experience countless tribulations, challenges, and adversity, only to overcome, prevail, learn, and grow. Ashes to ashes, we burn and rise time and time again, building upon who we once were. We live cumulative smaller lives that make up our greater life. To learn and grow and become more, our former self must be dissolved in order to embrace our new self. The fires in our life help us resiliently rise up beyond what we ever thought possible. Like the Phoenix, we rise from our most fundamental selves to fulfill the brilliance of our greatness. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Many of us find ourselves as oak trees in a flower pot. We have greatness in us, but we place ourselves in circumstances and the mindset of smallness. We give justifications to why we shouldn’t pursue our dreams. Excitement drains from our hearts when we adopt what many call “reality” as a real justification. Remove yourself from the flower pot. Place yourself in the soil where your roots of greatness can take hold. The greatness in you needs to be exposed to nutrients that fuel you and your true purpose, your “why”. Unstifle your greatness. Become the person only you can be and the one the world is waiting for. You are a mighty oak. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

We are regularly taking in information from our surroundings. How we ingest this information, siphoning it into our mind and spirit through the filter of our attitudes, beliefs, and values is extremely significant to how we process it and give it back to the world. If we are not in our most powerful mindset, a state of complete balance, we can take in the messages and experiences provided to us, contaminate them through our compromised thought process, and give them back with hopelessness and fear-provoking toxicity. However, we can take in the same messages and experiences from the world and filter them through a different set of values, attitudes, and beliefs, and release them back with hope, possibility, and opportunities for growth and change. You are the point where the taking in and the giving out occurs. You have the power to make a difference with not only what it is you’re giving power, authority, focus, and attention, but how you’re processing information in your mind, heart, --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Stress management can be most effective, not when a stress invoking experience occurs, but far before that. Knowing our history, knowing what our button-pushers are, knowing what lies ahead and taking an intentional moment to reflect, can help prepare us for effectively managing our stress. If we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’re always going to get what we’ve always got. Going into stressful moments presents opportunities for growth. Try a new approach, adopt a new perspective, confront challenges head on, knowing you will be stronger, wiser, and more capable having worked through the challenges you face. If you are presented with an adverse situation, take time to reflect, regroup, refocus. By exercising this moment of reflection, we alleviate the impulse to respond without thinking, which can lead to a series of regretful behaviors. In all stressful circumstances, we benefit most when we approach them with intention and a calm spirit. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

This is a reminder to be sure to take time in your life to celebrate the small and big successes along the path of your life’s journey. It’s important to exercise fun in our life and we can do this by way of comedy (laughter, humor), chords (music, listening to music, dancing, singing, playing instruments), and creativity (play, drawing, painting, riding a bike, hiking, etc.). These are the conduits through which we can reconnect with our child-like, explorative spirit. Rejuvenate, recollect, and re-create ourselves through one of our basic needs, fun. Celebrating our life through comedy, chords, and creativity heals our spirit, feeds our heart, and fuels our happiness. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Where are you right now in relation to your personal storms? Are you going into one, in one, or coming out of one? Regardless where you are in relation to your storms, you have the capacity to gain from the adverse experience unlimited lessons. We can all gain powerful insights into who we are, what’s available to us, what we’re capable of, and so much more from difficult circumstances. Much is in our control and much is not. Knowing what we can do, while surrendering to what we can’t is key. In the Serenity Prayer, we plead, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” We will find peace, serenity, and solace when we are able to distinguish how we’re going to manage hardship and challenges in our life. We always have the human freedom, the right, to choose our response to whatever life offers us at any given moment. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

We can easily convince ourselves as to why we shouldn’t move forward to achieve our life ambitions. We judge ourselves by categorizing our circumstances; for example, being too young or too old, having limited resources, having too many responsibilities, and so on. We judge ourselves and begin to justify our perceived inadequacies. These are faulty thoughts that are nothing but toxic to the quality of our life and a hindrance to our personal life journey to fulfillment. We need to strip ourselves of these self-judgments and protect ourselves from the devastating and debilitating judgment the world can give out. Regardless where we stand in life and what is immediately available to us, we must overcome these self- fabricated hindrances and not be overwhelmed by them. We have the power to change the soundtrack and motion picture in our mind that is influenced by our fears and insecurities and turn it into a story of triumph, victory, and perseverance. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Being honest and practicing integrity is essential in creating vulnerability to accept what you need in your life. Being dishonest for the sake of portraying you know more than you truly do, cuts off the opportunity for you to learn what you need to grow. If you’re good at convincing people that you are already wise to a particular experience or skill set, then they will assume you need no attention to helping you learn. Honesty is also significant in giving a raw assessment of where you’re at in relation to where you want to be. If you’re dishonest with yourself, then you will contaminate your truth. Be honest. Have integrity. Your personal growth and development relies on them. Honesty is about being truthful when people are around, integrity is being honest when no one is present but you. Be you, always, and live honestly when alone or in a crowd. It will pay dividends. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

“Being positive” is not just about having a positive attitude and focusing on only the good things in life. Certainly there is a place for this, but sometimes that’s just a distraction from what is lingering about us or from the situation or circumstances we’re in. However, there is a more powerful view and practice of positivity that embraces difficult and challenging experiences and encourages us to extrapolate the lessons from adversity. To be positive is to move to maintain a plus at all times and not a minus, regardless of our current circumstances. Positivity is just that, being at a more beneficial level than that of negative, or a deficit or deficiency. Positivity is about always improving and moving in the direction of usefulness and growth. “Being positive” is to always gain and become more through all experiences. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

What do you do after you experience a terrible defeat in your life? What happens after you fall down or had to take two steps backwards? Like the game of golf, after each hole we either better our score, worsen our score, or our score stayed the same. Each hole is an individual experience. If we allow the feeling of frustration, disappointment, or anger from the previous hole to be brought into the next hole, we can significantly compromise our desired outcome. We need to put both positive and negative experience behind us and before we can move forward. Experience the emotions, learn from the previous experience, and then move forward. Know this is part of the journey, good, bad, and indifferent. The more you’re in the game, the better you will become, and the closer you will get to the desired outcome. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

We are all seekers looking for answers to help us navigate through our life. Searching for answers may be frustrating if we’re not asking the right questions. The question we ask God or the Universe should focus on what we can gain from difficult experiences, not for acceleration through it. Let not the pain and suffering we experience through difficult situations go by with nothing learned and no growth gained. Ask for clarity, strength, wisdom, and courage while you pursue victory over dark times. Become more having asked the right questions and receiving the right answers. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

There is no such thing as luck. Luck is being prepared, being ready, for when opportunities present themselves. There are doors ready to be opened around us. If we’re not prepared for these great opportunities or our awareness is extremely narrow, we will not see what’s available to us. The greater our awareness and the more prepared we are to receiving the blessings around us, the more opportunities will appear. In order to see the amazing gifts that are our’s for the taking, we must be physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually ready. This is not a passive experience like that of simply being lucky. Do the work that puts you in position to receive great things in your life. Be open, be vulnerable, be ready and you will see with a new lens what has always been there for you. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

There are moments that rattle us as we move closer and closer to our best self and what we want to achieve. We can find ourselves having episodes of self-doubt that triggers anxiety about what lies ahead. The unknown, the uncertain, and the unfamiliar can stop us in our tracks from moving forward. We can find ourselves justifying going back to our old ways and back to our old life because even though we were unhappy, it was familiar and predictable. This moment is the most significant moment in your transformation. It is the obstacle that determines whether we live the life we want and live it the way we want or remain a prisoner shackled to our fears and doubts. This is it. Have faith in yourself, the process, and the life to come. Lean on your resources, your blessings. You are not alone. Look forward only at what truly is possible. Dream the big dream. Live fully and don’t look back. The world deserves the best you and you deserve it more than anyone. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

We tend to complicate our lives by trying to do too much with the different areas of our life. By doing this, we spread ourself thin and become scattered with our focus. We sometimes get overwhelmed because we put pressure on ourselves to accomplish too much on a daily basis. We get frustrated with ourselves and our passion for what we want to achieve begins to dwindle. Simplifying our lives and our life goals using the Power of 3 gives us greater focus and helps us feel a sense of accomplishment, progress, and momentum towards our ultimate goals. Set 3 intentions or goalseach day that are aligned with who you want to be and what you want to achieve. Our positive energy will sustain and we’ll feel our movement forward. Keep it simple. Use the Power of 3. Experience a sense of accomplishment each day. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Being vulnerable opens us up to receiving the support, guidance, and information we need to step out into the unknown. Vulnerability, however, is a perceived fear and is seen as a weakness. When we try to appear as though we already know, and shutoff our openness to receiving what we need to move forward, we actually delay our success substantially. Vulnerability is about allowing ourselves to have access to the blessings around us, resources, people, information. If instead of being open, we choose to be closed, we limit the presentation of what is available to us. Trust, courage, honesty, and complete surrender to what could happen (positive or negative) is needed to practice complete vulnerability. Open yourself up and all that you will need to succeed and find personal fulfillment will present itself to you. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

We tend to look outside ourselves to find the answers we already know deep inside us. Perhaps we confide in others or look for signs that the Universe or God send us in the most mysterious ways to validate what we already know. Trust that voice inside you. Trust what manifests in the quiet moments. Silence is loud with knowledge, wisdom, and personal challenges. Trust your knowing. Have faith in your intuition...this is your inner voice helping to guide you. Learn to trust it, embrace it, and live by it. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Have you begun taking the steps to create your best life or to unveil to the world your greatest self? Are we giving ourselves reasons for why now is not the best time to be our most authentic selves or to live each day the way we are compelled to live them? We can give ourselves plenty of justifications for not moving out of our comfort zones and into the unknown of what’s possible. If we continue to do this, we will find ourselves decades later never moving down the road of our life. We will have found our life to be stagnant with no movement toward the life we’ve always wanted. Stagnation breeds disappointment and regret. It’s time to move, even if small incremental steps. The key is to move a little each day...to simply show up...the rest will take care of itself. The time is now to start gaining momentum towards your best self and your ultimate dreams! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Fun is a basic need many overlook. Play, laughter, and joy are key components to enhancing the quality of our everyday lives. Reconnect with what has brought you joy. It’s at your fingertips. “There is no road to happiness. Happiness is the way.” --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

You are not your past. Who you are today is not defined by the way you’ve been treated or the heartaches you experienced in your life. You are worthy of happiness, joy, and self-fulfillment. You are entitled to experience each of these because you are valuable and important. We place ourselves in the bondage of our past. We sometimes dwell in the “once was” and neglect the “what could be”. The past is fixed and unchangeable, but our present and our future is malleable and can be designed and created. It is your human right to be happy and to be the creator of your life. Embrace the blessings that are rightfully yours. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

There is no other way to achieve greatness or to become our best selves than through change. If we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’re going to get what we’ve always gotten. If we want a different outcome, we have to change our approach, the way we think, and our overall style of living. Change is hard. It’s uncomfortable. It’s uncertain. And change dwells in the unknown. Embrace the discomfort that accompanies change. Co-exist with the awkwardness of feeling different. But avoid sliding back into your default in order to feel comfortable and surround yourself with what’s familiar. Success will come to you when change is accepted as the bridge between what once was to what is and what will be. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

How close are we to becoming who we want to be and what we set out to achieve? The truth...we never know how close we are. We may feel that we’re getting near, but sometimes it feels like we’re ages away. We don’t know what lies in the hours, days, weeks, months, or years away. We don’t know if we’re a single moment away from hearing the answers we’ve been looking for in our silent reflection. We don’t know who we’ll bump into who will be the collaborator for achieving our dreams. We don’t know the opportunities that are available to us just around the corner. Our purpose, our ambitions, are worth the wait. Keep the faith, keep hoping, keep the vision, stay aligned in love, embrace the journey, and respect the Great Timing that goes beyond our planning and expectations. Your time is coming. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Silence is loud. Many of us are uncomfortable and avoid silence in our lives, because of the deafening judgments it screams. In our quietest moments we gain much knowledge about ourselves. Silence allows our inner voice to be heard. What is that inner voice saying to you? What are you listening to throughout your day and how is what you’re hearing being filtered by your perspective? What someone is saying to us sometimes isn’t what we hear, just as what we are looking at isn’t always what we see. Find knowledge in solace. Be intentional in spending time in silence each day. What you hear will be necessary for you to find your most authentic self and reveal your greatest self. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Patience is an essential virtue to achieve success that is sustainable. To answer to the call of getting what we want as quick as possible puts us at risk of cutting corners, skipping fundamental experiences, and cheaply building the foundation we need for solid sustainable success. Patience slows us down while we co-exist with our urgency and strong ambition to achieve and become, in order to set up the necessary timing. Patience is backed up by understanding. Understanding the process and having faith in our timing. Your time is coming...and when the time is right, you’ll be ready to realize your dreams standing on foundation that can hold up in even the toughest storms you will face. Be patient. It will come. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

No one ever achieved greatness by being ordinary. We hide behind an ordinary life fearing what the extraordinary may bring, failure, criticism and judgment, the unknown. But what if it is our extraordinary selves that the world has been waiting for? What if your extraordinary self brings extraordinary rewards? What if the life you’ve always wanted was the result of you stepping out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary? What if we stopped allowing fear to dictate what direction our life will go? The world is waiting for you. You are already extraordinary. It was how you were created to be. Don’t minimize your greatness. Stop hiding behind the ordinary life and realize your best self by stepping out with courage. You are amazing! You are extraordinary! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

“When the tide rises, all ships rise with it.” I spent the evening at an event celebrating the great contributions an organization provides to communities throughout the region I live. Agencies, corporations, politicians, and individuals coming together to help people in need. It is true that when we support members in our community not only do we directly impact those we serve, but we lift up our community as a whole. I encourage you to be part of something greater than yourself, to be an active member of your local community. Expand your awareness, look for those in need, and help fill that need. Be a blessing to others, your heart will thank you and so will they! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

Real change takes real work. The principles, philosophies, and practices I share in these podcast are real. These are not strategies for avoidance or escaping reality, but rather confronting challenges head on and putting us in the best space to create real change in our life. I don’t talk about acquiring financial wealth or finding the love of your life, for example, because I know that by doing the things we need to do to balance ourselves, manage and learn from the storms in our life, developing a positive and supportive network of people, maintaining our focus to remain aligned with our purpose, and so much more, that the by product will be all those things, wealth, loving relationships, our dream career, etc. Embrace the process. Embrace the effort it will take to be fulfilled. Embrace the journey to living your best life and being your best self! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

With so much information available to us to help us achieve great things and become our best selves, why are we not successful? “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him put on his bathing suit!” I believe the reason we don’t achieve what we set out to achieve is because we get in our own way, we over analyze, we fret, we make excuses. We suffer from over-analysis paralysis. Minimizing thinking and increasing doing will help us move closer to what we want and who we want to be. If we make a mistake, fall down, take two steps back from trying...it’s ok. We just need to adjust and try another approach. We won’t know what we’re capable of achieving if we get stuck in over analyzing and not trying. Let’s get out of our own way and act on our dreams, and not simply think about being great, but truly living greatness by doing. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

This episode my daughter and I explore the importance of positive attitude and a positive mindset. Our decision to determine whether we can or can’t achieve something or overcome a challenge in our life is key. We are right in either decision we make. If we believe we can’t, we most likely won’t achieve what we want, because our effort will certainly be lacking. If we believe we can, we give ourself a shot and become open to the possibilities for success. Believing we can does not mean it will come to us right away, but it does increase the likelihood that it will eventually. Other concepts and strategies are explored in this episode to move us much closer to being successful. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support

During this episode, I reflect on my purpose and what drives my desire to do the work I do. I disclose part of my story of why I want to help others and where that originated. I also provide a call to action, to encourage you to enrich this podcast experience by being interactive and contributing. Listen to find out how we can create a community of support and encouragement. This is something every one of us needs in our life. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetomjbullpodcast/support