Decoding Transformation: Presence Is The Residence of Potential

Why can some people change and others cannot? What are the determining variables that spark growth and expansion? Transformation—the how, when, and why of change—is a landscape of dichotomies. It is both an art and a science. It is both a mindset and a practice. It is action. But it is also stillness. It is both spiritual and practical. Today I venture out of my comfort zone once again to share some thoughts on transformation in monologue format—synthesizing 56 years on this planet and over 750 conversations with changemakers across the world—into a podcast experiment I hope provides value. Everything I am expressing here is a needed reminder to myself as much as to you. I am certainly no master. My hope is that this episode inspires you to take ownership of your own growth journey—and embody positive change on a daily basis. Show notes + MORE Watch on YouTube Newsletter Sign-Up Today’s Sponsors: Seed: seed.com/RICHROLL Momentous: LiveMomentous.com/richroll Whoop: http://www.whoop.com/ Native: nativedeo.com/rrp Peace + Plants, Rich Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Rich Roll?

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• 0:44Rich Roll?

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• 1:13Rich Roll?

  The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the podcast. So, last month, with some admitted trepidation, I took a little step outside my comfort zone to post my first monologue episode. For those that listened, you know that I was quite unsure how it would be received, half expecting it might just land with a silent thud. But instead, to my delight, it was widely embraced. Further evidence, of course, that growth occurs when the courage to scratch the creative itch trumps the fear of how the offering will be received. It's fear that keeps us paralyzed. It keeps us small, muted, underexpressed. But courage, on the other hand, leads to action.

• 1:57Rich Roll?

  Not that what I did was courageous in any way, just illustrating the point that... This is what you gotta do, and that success or failure is unimportant, really, in comparison to the opportunity for learning, for expansion, and the growth that follows. This is all a long way of saying that confronting, working through, and overcoming what Steven Pressfield calls "resistance" is always worth it. So, in any event, the response to that monologue, being essentially positive, episode 747, in case you missed it, a meditation on our complicated relationship with the digital world, was encouraging, encouraging enough for me to give this another spin, despite being in the throes of some

• 2:40Rich Roll?

  pretty extreme jet lag at the moment, having just returned from Europe last night, all of which is a transparent disclaimer for the quality of my articulation today. In any event, that articulation, that monologue, is coming right up in uninterrupted form after this quick word from the sponsors who made this episode possible.

• 3:10Rich Roll?

  So, I'm often asked what my podcast is about, how I define the lens through which I approach public conversation. And it's a difficult question to answer, because the podcast really isn't about any one thing. On a basic level, I suppose, it's an external projection of my interior self, an extension of my curiosity at a specific moment, shared publicly in real time. And as such, I tend to cast a wide net, following that curiosity, to traverse a pretty wide spectrum of topics with a broad diversity of all kinds of individuals of varying perspective.

• 3:51Rich Roll?

  So, how does one concisely define a show that explores the perils of addiction, environmental awareness, how to best parent teens, the future of AI, the limits of athletic potential, or how to understand consciousness, extend health span, and what it means to pursue a meaningful life? Bueno, he pasado bastante tiempo pensando en esto. Y realmente la mejor respuesta que puedo dar es una singular y unificada temática que captura la esencia de lo que estoy tratando de enfrentar y lo que estoy tratando de entender y lo que estoy tratando de compartir, es la naturaleza de la transformación.

• 4:32Rich Roll?

  En otras palabras, ¿cómo exactamente se va uno de donde actualmente se encuentra? Físicamente, mentalmente, emocionalmente, espiritualmente, a donde aspiran a ser. Para atravesar el delta, la diferencia, el terreno de espacio-tiempo que existe entre el punto A, quién y dónde eres ahora, al punto B, el ser futuro de tu imaginación. Este tema, la transformación, creo que es bastante universal en su aplicabilidad, porque independientemente de quién eres o dónde encuentras a ti mismo en la vida, todos nosotros, todos nosotros, soportamos esta energía inherente animadora,

• 5:16Rich Roll?

  esta aspiración que está construida en nosotros, sea una silbante o en algún ruido, para cambiar, para alterar, para mejorar de alguna manera nuestro lotro en la vida. Algunos encuentran este proceso más fácil y más fácil que otros. Aquellos que logran cambiar para el mejor, incluso si ese cambio es minuto, se ponen en una posición para experimentar un estado alterado de ser que expande la apertura de la posibilidad. Es como este cambio en la energía potencial que produce confianza, que engendra optimismo y que encourages la exploración más profunda en el potencial sin apretar.

• 5:59Rich Roll?

  El resultado, no sorprendentemente, es más acción. Y cuando esa acción, incluso en forma microscópica, se compone, un potencial de impulso comienza a emergir que a lo largo del tiempo produce este increíble ciclo de cambio autoperpetuante de positivo, un ciclo continuo de fortalecimiento, aceleración de crecimiento, elevación potencial, generador de transformación potente lo suficiente para realmente, y casi literalmente, como hechos de hecho, reconstruir constructivamente a un individuo de top a bottom.

• 6:39Rich Roll?

  Wholesale. And not for nothing, all the people that that person happens to come into contact with as well. On the other hand, there's a whole set of other people on the other side, perhaps most of us, that find change elusive, and for some, impossible even. This like fickle, shiny object of desire that's just out of reach, always just out of reach. And despite the same desire to change, somehow, for this group of people, it just remains out of grasp. There might be intermittent bursts of inspiration or motivation, but that always fades quickly.

• 7:20Rich Roll?

  And it's unable to sustain the occasional fits and starts at expansion that somehow always ultimately contract, like snap back to the norm. And that's something that gets processed as failure. Failure that over time dampens the spirit, undermines confidence, and keeps us stuck, keeps us defeated, paralyzed, our souls eroded. We end up relinquishing even the attempt, living out the remainder of our days in what Henry David Thoreau characterized as "a quiet resignation to a life of desperation."

• 8:03Rich Roll?

  So, the questions, reduced to their essence are, why is it exactly that some can change and others cannot? What are the determining qualities or variables that predict growth and expansion over regression or resignation? Is it simply a matter of will? To what extent do things like social conditioning, environment, pain, childhood trauma, socioeconomic

• 8:42Rich Roll?

  disparity, and a whole mishmash, myriad of other very important crucial factors, play into the equation? If the process of transformation was merely this matter of logic or rationality, then wouldn't it make sense that education, access to good information, shouldn't that translate into taking the correct actions required to progress towards one's goal, growth, or ambition? Because whatever your problem, whatever your obstacle, your handicap, be it academic, psychological, emotional, economic, physical, mental, spiritual, that problem most likely

• 9:26Rich Roll?

  isn't unique. It's already been studied, it's understood, the solution probably already exists. There's counsel that can be found in countless academic, philosophical, and spiritual texts dating back millennia, or in the thousands of self-help books that get published annually. What about in the exchanges with friends, or family, or mentors, or colleagues, or in your chosen hall of worship? This is information that flows freely and endlessly in our social media feeds. If you want X, then you do Y. Problem solved.

• 10:09Rich Roll?

  Obviously, change doesn't work this way. Most of us struggle mightily to square the equation because transformation isn't math. It isn't binary, it isn't linear. It's messy. It's complex, infinitely complex. It's confounding in what activates it. It's even more mysterious what sustains it. And this thing, transformation, change, is apparently incredibly resistant to even the most practical, actionable, objective, and obvious advice delivered from the most trusted and respected source.

• 10:54Rich Roll?

  So then what is it? What is the nature and shape of this thing we call transformation?

• 11:02Rich Roll?

  Well, to understand this is to invite paradox into your life. Because transformation, the how, the when, and the why of change, I have come to believe is a landscape of dichotomies. It is both an art and a science. It is a mindset, but also a practice. It's an action, but it's also a stillness. It is both spiritual and practical. A yin and a yang that entails, on the one hand, this bricklayer approach to doing that can produce progressive change over time.

• 11:45Rich Roll?

  And on the other hand, and perhaps more importantly, it's this ethereal, mystical way of being, not doing, but being, that makes space for those lightning bolt moments that can forever alter a life in the blink of an eye. It's also, as someone who has navigated more than a few chapters of transformation in my 56 years and hosted a zillion conversations on the topic, a subject matter, a terrain that cannot be properly covered or grasped in a single conversation, or certainly not by way of a brief monologue such as this. But we can enter this realm.

• 12:30Rich Roll?

  We can find a way into the process of trying to better understand transformation, how to approach it, how to practice it, how to pursue it and embody it, with a thought from the great Mark Twain, who said, quote, "The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why." Now, I'm sure there are many interpretations of this quote. Mine is that each and every one of us has arrived here, right now, in this human form, fully equipped with a unique, never before and never will be seen again manifestation of consciousness.

• 13:17Rich Roll?

  A divine spark, all your own, and unlike any other, an utterly original repository of potential expression, living latent, lurking dormant within us, typically compartmentalized, likely even repressed, yet patiently awaiting discovery. Occasionally, every once in a while, reminding you of its presence by elevating your soul when you are in tune with it, or turning your gut when, deep down, you know you're off track.

• 13:59Rich Roll?

  I choose to believe we are here to evolve. It is our purpose to grow, to progress towards the most authentic and fully actualized embodiment of that unique expression. To become who we truly are, not who our parents want us to be, not who we are convinced society requires us to be, nor the person our environments have unconsciously programmed us to become, but to instead step into and claim our most authentic self-actualized selves.

• 14:41Rich Roll?

  That version of self where there is no daylight between who we are and who we aspire to become, and no mask that hides us from others or ourselves. Now, whether or not this belief of mine is true in the literal sense is actually less important to me than the power it holds as an operating system for life, an approach to guide actions, to guide decisions, with greater intentionality that has engendered my life with a greater sense of purpose, direction, and meaning.

• 15:24Rich Roll?

  Key to decoding one's why is action, of course. The why is revealed through the doing. But that action must be coupled with an incredible commitment to going inward, to stripping away the layers of our crafted personalities, discarding those masks, and deconstructing the narratives, the tired and calcified stories we tell ourselves time and time again about who we are, what we're capable of, what we're not capable of, and why. These stories that we have unconsciously created

• 16:06Rich Roll?

  and reinforced over years, sometimes decades, to make us feel safe, it's time to set them aside. And instead, it's time to get real with ourselves, to connect with and cultivate a relationship with that divine spark, the simple but likely discarded, hidden or buried things beneath and beyond the story that bring us joy or brought us joy during the innocence of youth, the little things that made us feel like ourselves before self-consciousness entered, before our defense mechanisms took over, entered the picture,

• 16:50Rich Roll?

  and muted that stuff, or snuffed them out, or extinguished them altogether. This process, mining one's interior, attuning to the heart, uncovering that divine spark, connecting with the authentic self within, it's all the same stuff. Don't get lost in the terminology. There are many ways to characterize it. But the point is, all of these things demand quiet. It's a subtle art, it's a subtle practice that requires you venture beyond the incessant self-imposed distractions that increasingly imprison us

• 17:31Rich Roll?

  and go instead to this place where you can actually hear and heed those faint whispers. Where is that place? Solitude.

• 17:45Rich Roll?

  Presence is the resonance of potential. This is where Twain's Y lives. And it is these whispers that remind us of who we are, who we are meant to be. How do we do this? Meditation. Mindfulness. Ah, meditation's not for me. Mindfulness is bullshit. You don't understand how busy I am. It's easy for you to say, "My life is complicated." Fine, I get it. Go take a walk instead.

• 18:22Rich Roll?

  The truth is, most people will do anything, literally anything, to avoid the agonizing prospect of simply sitting quiet and alone with oneself. Most will ignore the tug, insistent on remaining disconnected, in a state of persistent terminal distraction, dutifully and reactively subscribing to that thorough life of quiet desperation, or what Dr. Gabor Maté would call "the disease of inauthenticity," a disease that's marked by disconnection

• 19:06Rich Roll?

  from self, that often originates from untreated trauma, is then reinforced by defense mechanisms that, over time and left untreated, can metastasize into actual physical illness. Now, I'm not suggesting you cast your life aside, or that you feel burdened to reinvent yourself overnight. This is not about quitting your job or shirking responsibilities. We all live in the world, and life is fucking hard. I'm simply saying, don't ignore the tug. Find a way to spend some time, even if it's a few moments, in focused attention.

• 19:51Rich Roll?

  On the heart, away from the head. And understand that life is not static. Wherever you find yourself, each thought that you entertain, each decision you make, every interaction with another person, either moves you towards greater congruity with that authentic self within, or indulges the disease of inauthenticity. One truth I've discovered through personal experience is that the further you move away from that congruity, the louder the universe will knock. And the more forceful it will beckon your attention, the more your gut will turn,

• 20:36Rich Roll?

  the more disconnected and out of sorts you're going to feel, the more you're going to feel like a stranger in your own life. Resistance to heed that knock will only deepen that sense of disconnection. And the knocks, they're going to continue. They're going to get louder and louder, each knock more destabilizing than the prior, until the pain of your circumstance is so intense that it exceeds the extreme fear of change you harbor, will you finally summon the willingness to consider a different way? Let's face it, pain is a great motivator. It definitely prompted most of the major life transformations I've traversed.

• 21:21Rich Roll?

  But the great irony here is that we actually don't need to be in pain to change. Each and every moment presents a new opportunity for greater honesty, for better connection with self, and for contrary action to make a new and different choice, for greater authentic expression, and in turn, growth.

• 21:49Rich Roll?

  To embrace a positive change, even in the most micro sense, in the absence of pain, is an incredible act of self-love that we can all practice, that is freely available, that we all deserve and need not be earned. It's also a gift to others, and it's something that becomes easier and more reflexive in direct proportion to our commitment to honoring greater authenticity, to living an examined life, not from the limited perspective of our intellect, but from the musings of the heart, a frequency best attuned

• 22:33Rich Roll?

  when we disconnect from distraction, invest in solitude, and get present with ourselves. Do this without attachment to where it may lead, and you just might meet yourself for the very first time. And while you're at it, stop hiding. Stop apologizing for who you are. Stop waiting for someone else to solve your problems for you, because you are the one you've been waiting for, because the world needs the best version of you,

• 23:16Rich Roll?

  and because the clock is ticking. Thank you for indulging me. I hope you found this valuable, and I'll see you back here soon. Peace. Plants.