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Welcome, pursuers, to the Pursuit of Calling podcast, where my goal and purpose is to provide

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you with the strategies and tools needed to successfully discover and pursue your God-given

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calling.

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I'm your host, Thomas Carney, and today we're talking about getting going or getting gone.

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Okay so yesterday I got my hair cut.

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I almost didn't though.

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I looked outside and I saw that the roads were kind of messy.

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There was a lot of snow that came down the night before and it was still coming down

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really hard and I wasn't expecting it.

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The road right in front of the house just looked atrocious.

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My hairdresser or whatever you want to call it, I don't actually know what the title is,

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but whenever she texted me she asked me if I was still coming in because of the snow

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and I said, yeah, yeah, I'm coming in.

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I'm going to try.

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I'm going to try to brave the storm and then be honest with you, a few moments later I

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texted her and said, hey, I actually think we should reschedule.

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And then, not even kidding, two minutes left after that, I decided to go in anyway.

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And I texted her and said, hey, actually, you know what?

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No, I'm going to come in and I'll let you know.

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I'll keep you posted.

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So that's what I did.

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Do you know what the funny thing is?

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When I finally got in my car and I drove down the road, even though the roads right in front

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of my house looked really bad, just a little bit of ways down the road, not even a hundred

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yards, the roads were clear, perfectly fine.

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I had nothing to worry about.

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However, I almost let something that seems to be scary and unknown that was right in

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front of me, stop me from getting to what lied ahead.

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And that's what we'll be talking about today.

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So what do you do when the going gets tough?

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Do you get going or do you get gone?

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This is a concept I think everyone will resonate with.

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We all face challenges on this pursuit of calling it.

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We all face obstacles that get in our way.

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It's up to us to decide whether we're going to overcome them or not.

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You know, Ryan Holiday has a book called The Obstacle is the Way.

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And that whole concept is a philosophical concept, meaning that you can't go around

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obstacles, you can't dig under them, you can't go over them, you have to go through them.

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So it's up to us on this pursuit of our calling, our God-given calling, to decide how we're

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going to deal with these obstacles.

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A lot of the time we just don't take action, but that's actually not the problem.

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Something I learned in my coaching training recently is that the problem isn't not taking

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the action, it's what is in the way of taking the action, aka like we've been talking about,

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the obstacle.

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So what do you do in the situation where you feel something is holding you back or is in

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your way from you accomplishing your goals?

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I want you to ask yourself this question first.

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What is it that has me stuck exactly?

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What is it that is in my way?

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What is the obstacle exactly?

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For me, as a very rudimentary example, for me, getting my haircut, I literally felt stuck

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at home.

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So what actually had me stuck, however, was my own fear of not knowing if I'd get in an

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accident or not.

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My car is only two-wheel drive.

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As I was thinking about whether I should go in my car or not, whether I should go to my

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scheduled haircut or not, thoughts started entering my mind.

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My car is only two-wheel drive.

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It can't drive in snow like this.

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Or, you know, I can reschedule.

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I don't want to reschedule, but I can if I can.

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I can push it off.

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That's fine.

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I mean, I'm happy I decided to go because I needed a haircut.

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And you know what I did next?

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Well, in this instance, I thought about the likelihood of me getting into an accident.

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What's the likelihood of this?

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Maybe for me, it was a perceived obstacle that I thought was the thing that I thought

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was the obstacle wasn't actually an obstacle.

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What was the likelihood of me getting into an accident?

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In all honesty, the trip is only about five minutes, so I was overreacting a lot.

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So the likelihood of me getting into an accident was slim to none.

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So our worries, my worries at that time, my worries were holding me back.

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Our worries hold us back, even when it's something as irrational as I just described.

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So I was going to jump into another part, but whenever you face an obstacle, whenever

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you face an obstacle, you don't immediately decide that the obstacle is unmovable.

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You think about it and you decide whether it's actually an obstacle or not, and whether

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the obstacle is within you or whether it is actually something that is truly external

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outside of your control.

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So what do you do when you feel the likelihood is high that something might go wrong?

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What is the likelihood that this obstacle is actually an obstacle that is outside of

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your control?

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Well, I'll tell you what you shouldn't do.

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You shouldn't give up.

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Now I get it, I get it, I get it.

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This sounds very motivational, and this isn't for motivation.

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I'm really just trying to be super, uber practical with you.

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Just super honest.

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Don't give up, because the second you give up, the second you decide that an obstacle

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is too much, the second you decide that your calling isn't worth it.

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It's the second you decide that that thing that you were going to pursue, this calling,

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whether it's a particular direction or it's something that you could potentially move

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for, something that you could potentially really live in your purpose, live in your

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calling with, but you decide that this obstacle is too big.

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That instant, you decide that that obstacle is bigger than your calling.

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It's that instance where you, and if you're a Christian, it's that instance where you

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decide that that calling or that obstacle, I mean, is bigger than the God that gave you

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that calling.

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I love what John Maxwell says.

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He says he doesn't have a career, he has a calling.

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You can't quit a calling.

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It's with you all the time.

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It's the call is on your life, whether you like it or not.

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So are you going to decide that whether that obstacle is bigger or smaller than the calling

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that God put on your life or that purpose?

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Maybe you don't believe in God.

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That purpose that is on your life.

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I don't care if you believe in God or not.

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It doesn't matter.

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You have a purpose.

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There's a reason you're here.

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I can go off on a tangent right now and I have time, so maybe I will.

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People that believe that there is no purpose to this existence.

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I feel bad for them.

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Obstacles aren't obstacles to them, I guess.

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Obstacles are just a part of life and they just deal with them deciding that they're

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just there.

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The second obstacle happens in the way, do they just quit?

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I don't know.

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I don't know what they do.

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I know what we're going to do.

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We're going to pursue.

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So whenever you hit this obstacle, there's something that's outside of your control,

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something where you know pretty sure if you go this particular direction to try and pursue

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your calling this way, something's going to go wrong.

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What do you do?

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You pivot.

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In order to pivot properly, you need to answer two questions.

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Why is it likely that things will go wrong?

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I want you to write those things down.

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Why are these things going to go wrong?

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Maybe they're external and maybe there are some internal things that will cause these

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things to go wrong, cause these things to happen, maybe they're not the only things.

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If they're external, then this obstacle is not immovable.

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I don't believe that any obstacle is immovable.

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That's not true.

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But if it seems that this obstacle is outside of your control, there's something huge in

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the way, how can you pivot?

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How can you pivot?

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How can you actually get through it?

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Write down why it's likely that things will go wrong or could go wrong.

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What is the likelihood that those things will go wrong?

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What are they?

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What can you do differently?

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This is the next question.

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This is more things for you to write down.

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What can you do differently so things go right?

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In other words, now that you have the feeling that you should pivot and now that you know

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why you should pivot, why it's likely, not just because the obstacle is there, that's

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not why you should pivot.

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You pivot because you figure out why and maybe through that first step you actually realize,

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oh, actually, I can get, actually, I don't need to pivot.

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Maybe you don't even need to do this step two.

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Maybe you just keep going because you realize that the obstacle isn't actually in the way

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like me with the snow.

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I thought I could potentially wreck my car, but then I realized the likelihood of that

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was some to none.

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But if you decide that it is an obstacle that is external, it's outside of your control,

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what can you do differently so things go right?

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What can you do differently so things don't end up with the way that you're perceiving

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that they will?

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Get those things down.

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Now, I decided in my instance, I could just turn around.

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If I felt like it was too dangerous, I could just turn around again with a short drive.

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That was the likelihood.

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I could, my mind was like, okay, I can go, I can turn around.

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If it's actually that bad, I can turn around, come home, no harm, no foul, I'll reschedule.

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But I wanted to try.

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We all have as much potential as we allow ourselves to have.

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And I believe that you have unlimited potential.

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And I think that's really exciting, if we're being honest.

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I believe you have unlimited potential.

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Do you?

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Thank you for listening to this episode of the Pursuit of Calling podcast.

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If you enjoyed it, I'd love it if you could share this episode on Facebook, Instagram,

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X, or wherever you listen, or wherever you are on social media.

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Just get the word out and don't forget to leave the podcast a five star review.

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We don't need those one stars.

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Like Dave Ramsey says, if you got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

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One stars don't help anybody, guys.

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So leave a review, leave a comment on Spotify or Apple podcast, wherever you can leave a

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comment.

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And guys, keep pursuing.

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I'll see you next time.