Becoming A Force Of Nature Podcast

You’re probably aware by now that life is not going to make it easy. Whatever you want to do is going to take tremendous effort, perseverance and constant discernment.

Nothing is going to be handed to you on a silver platter. And if it was, it probably wouldn’t be worthwhile anyway.

Humans are a resourceful species. Over time we’ve adapted and created some incredible things; all of us together in cooperation and competition. Western society is probably the best example. At last, after millennia of tyranny, there is representative government, freedom, prosperity and opportunity for all.

But with all this newfound opportunity, you’ve now got to compete against everyone else who wants the same thing. Competition for resources and success is open to everyone. In a sense it’s you against the world.

That’s a lot of competition to say the least, so the barriers to entry have naturally evolved to make things that are worthwhile more difficult to attain. This is just the way it is. It’s simply the natural order.

As soon as you realize this, however, you are immediately at an advantage. You are now consciously aware that life is a competition and that to excel, you’re going to have to vastly exceed the norm.

You’re going to have to be willing to do what most other people won’t do.

You are going to have to find a way to Break Through.

Start with Gratitude. If the toughest thing you must do in your life is chase your dreams, you’ve got it pretty damn good. From this point of view, you’re one of the luckiest humans ever to walk the planet; consider everything else from here to be gravy.

Being grateful as such will give you some healthy perspective. Generally speaking, you don’t need to worry about survival, and you get the opportunity to pursue any opportunity you desire. The whole world is at your feet. You get to pick what you’d like to do. And then chase after it.

Historically, this is an embarrassment of riches.

So, you’re grateful and you’re going to work your ass off. Good.

Make sure to enjoy yourself while you’re doing it. Most things out there that are worthwhile are going to take some time to achieve; perhaps even years. It will do your quality of life and endurance a lot of good to enjoy yourself along the way. As I always say, life is 95% Journey and 5% Destination. You’re guaranteed the 95%, so you might as well CHOOSE to enjoy it.

Living in the moment and taking satisfaction in the process will also work miracles for your long-term endurance and resilience. Your state of mind is the key to everything you do, so give yourself every advantage.

Enjoy yourself along the way

And while you’re in the thick of it, consider it all an exercise in character. Conduct yourself with excellence and produce quality output. Doing this will add tremendous intrinsic value to what you are doing, and this as well will sustain you over the long term.

Plus, developing your character is the purest investment in yourself that you can make. It will pay dividends along the way and set you up for a high value and high quality of life in the long term.

Knowing who you are, living Authentically and having the ultimate confidence in your character will also provide you with a measure of Outcome Independence. You’ll know that even if things completely fall apart, you’ll be fine because your character will always allow you to rebound. You’re not tied to any one outcome; you’re tied to you. And that’s what’s most important.

But back to cold reality. The chances are good you’re going to hit the wall. Circumstances, other people or your goal itself is going to conspire to STOP you. YOU might even conspire to stop you. After the excitement fades and the dog days of a long hard slog roll in,

There’s a natural law out there operating in the universe…

Either you discipline yourself or sooner or later something or someone else will.

Better for you to take charge of your own discipline, than to leave it up to outside forces.

Either you assign your own discomfort right now and continue to do so, or you will have to deal with the unknown consequences later; it’s better to deliberately choose your own path and your own consequences.

Think of it this way—hard now, easier later vs. easy now, harder later.

Plus, there’s no denying another law out there ruling over the natural order…

Nothing truly worthwhile is ever going to be easy.

If you want to accomplish anything at all in this life and make anything at all out of yourself, it’s going to take some discipline. There is just no way around it.

Let us discuss the three pillars necessary to live a life of discipline.

Self-Denial

The first step—learn to deny yourself.

It’s one thing to know what to do. But it’s certainly another, NOT to do something; especially when that something revolves around pleasure or bad habits.

Want to lose some weight? Simple. Stop eating all the time. Deny yourself.

Want to save some money? Simple. Stop spending it all. Deny yourself.

Want to quit acting like as ass? Simple. Stop drinking. Deny yourself.

These are 3 perfect examples of behavior that will slow you down. Behavior that will sabotage all your good intentions and positive actions. One step forward and one or two steps backward is no strategy for success.

If you’re stuck in neutral or find yourself headed in the wrong direction you had better consider the concept of self-denial in these areas and more. Consider it a new way of life.

Introduce the idea to your mind that from now on you’re going to deny yourself. And begin to take pride in this new reality. Be willing to do what most won’t and consider it an indicator that you’re on the way to distinguishing yourself.

Most people today are soft, and they will not deny themselves. But you will learn to do so. Because you are not most people anymore. Or are you?

Think about it. What kind of person always must have what they want? This is childish and weak behavior. And you should realize this. Get angry at yourself for succumbing to it. Get angry for being weak. This is righteous anger. It is justified anger. Use it.

The only way you’re going to harden your character and toughen up is to start by denying yourself. Quit partaking in those things which are making you weaker and taking you off track.

So, here is the Panzer QuickStart method to self-denial…

Just because you worked hard all week doesn’t mean you should be nursing a beer and stuffing your face all weekend while watching Netflix or athletes compete for glory. If anything, your leisure time should be put to use forging and tempering your principles, interests and character.

So perhaps this is a good place to start—the weekends, when you’re most likely to let down, yet are away from the daily pressures of work. Deny yourself in food, money, alcohol and television. Then find something better to do.

And then as you develop some momentum on your weekends it just won’t feel right to backslide during the week. Next thing you know, suddenly you’re as hard as cold steel when it comes to self-denial.

So, clear a path for glory then.

And deny yourself.

Turn your dreams into reality

Right Action

You’ve leveled up and you’ve cleared a path. Good.

Now is the time to start moving forward. It’s time to start taking action.

Most of the time,

So you’re hurting.

Hurting badly.

And it’s tearing you to pieces.

It could be your own fault.

It could be someone else’s fault.

Or just some fucked up circumstances.

But the pain is searing.

It is burning your Soul.

Poisoning your Essence.

Stealing your life.

It’s incredibly difficult to function.

There doesn’t seem to be a reason for anything anymore.

No hope, no happiness, no joy.

Just sorrow and pain.

I’ve been there.

In that dark, grainy and heavy place.

Sinking into the ground.

And in some respects I’m still there.

But what you have to realize is, there’s a choice.

If you still feel something, there’s a choice.

And that choice is within you.

It’s been there your whole life.

For this very moment.

Placed there on purpose.

In Divine foresight.

You can allow the pain, the sorrow, the regret, or the betrayal to consume you.

Or you can take all of those and turn them.

Turn the Pain.

Turn it back, on itself.

This is the choice.

You will use it as fuel.

Use it to focus.

Use it to drive you.

Turn the Pain in to anger.

But then surpass the anger.

To become better than the anger.

Better than the pain.

This is your answer.

This is your payback.

This is your revenge.

This is your reason for being.

You will rise up from the all consuming fire.

Like a Phoenix.

And soar.

To a Higher Realm.

Mightily.

With power, certainty and your own fire.

You will use it, this pain.

Without guilt.

Without remorse.

Use it to become More.

To become Different.

To Evolve.

It’s the only answer.

So you will push back.

And there will be a price to pay.

By, and from you.

For what has happened.

You will use your Soul.

Razor sharp, as a shining, glistening edge.

To cut through the life in front of you.

With Determination.

With Precision.

With Joy.

On anything or anyone that lies in your path.

Because you will not quit.

You will never stop.

Total immersion.

Every Intention.

Every breath.

Is now one.

Is you.

Putting your life on the line.

In total unyielding pursuit.

In total retribution.

To create something good.

From something bad.

When that’s all you can do.

It becomes the only answer.

The only thing.

To make things right.

As right as they can be.

In Defiance.

In Righteous Defiance.

Turn the Pain.

 

All the Best,

Max Panzer

Failure, disappointment, betrayal and defeat; they can all sting like a son of a bitch. Sometimes they can be heart crushing and leave you all but broken. And then just when you think it can’t possibly get any worse, it does.

But, because you’re reading this right here and now, we both know you’ve still got a chance. Many, many have suffered much worse, survived and eventually triumphed. And so will you.

So this is the first thought you’ve got to get straight in your head—you’re not the first and you won’t be the last. Welcome to the real world, where bad things happen to good people and where difficulty reigns supreme.

And if you did it to yourself, the same still applies.

Fault is only relevant for reflection, especially if the damage or failure was self-inflicted. Take note and don’t make or allow the same mistake again. Make a vow to become better, smarter and more disciplined.

What really counts when things fall apart, is that you take responsibility for putting them back together again. For example, if it’s someone else’s fault that your leg is broken, it’s still your responsibility to heal up and get back to full strength. No one else can do this for you.

And it’s the same with the rest of your life. Fault is irrelevant at some point. What matters is the responsibility for making things right; and that responsibility is yours.

Take all the help you can get. But never release yourself from full responsibility. It’s your life and it’s up to you to fix it. Period.

No matter what happens.

Or no matter how often it happens.

There’s only one answer.

Rise Again.

Don’t Expect to be Perfect

As the saying goes, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

By all means strive for perfection. Just don’t expect to be perfect.

There are some absolute no’s in this world—decisions or actions that must never occur in your life. We need not discuss these here. You know what they are. And you will not use this line of reasoning as an excuse to cross the inviolable red line.

But when it comes to performance, execution or discipline, do not expect to be perfect.

Even the master, even the world champion will rarely attain perfection. Once in a while, a near perfect performance can be said to be had, but there are many, many more which are replete with failure and disappointment. The difference between the master and the journeyman is simply about level and peak performance.

Consider yourself as a journeyman in your own life; a journeyman working his way toward mastery. Seek perfection. Seek excellence. Seek your best. But when you don’t quite make the mark, Rise Again, dust yourself off and get right back at it.

And if some of these failures are about bad habits, the same reasoning applies. Shoot for perfection, but don’t expect to be perfect. Improve over time. Tell yourself, this time I will not falter. And if you do falter, tell yourself the same thing again; no matter the interval involved; long or short. Keep at it.

Until one day when you finally do get it right. And you’ll thank yourself for forgiving yourself for not being perfect; for not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good; until good did become perfect.

Rise Again.

Over and over again if need be.

Sometimes it’s the only answer.

And besides, the only thing worse than a failure, is a quitter.

So don’t expect to be perfect, just get right back up and try to be.

Hold the line

Minimize the Damage

If you do mess up and ruin some sort of personal winning streak, do not use the breakdown as an excuse to flush it all down the toilet. Even if it’s the umpteenth time. As discussed above,

There’s a place for you in this universe where you will execute from your optimal state. Everything around you could be in total chaos or everything might be just fine. It doesn’t really matter. You will be performing at your peak and handling whatever comes at you with the best of your ability.

There’s no claim to perfection here. But there is a claim to your best. It may or may not be good enough, but you’ll know you’ve done all that you can. And you’ll know as well you’ve got the energy to keep on pressing ahead.

You will be in balance.

You will have found your Center.

External events will be handled with Willing Acceptance. There will be no wasted time or wasted energy regarding the reality which exists around you. What is, will be what is; nothing less and nothing more.

Internally you will process information and circumstances with Objective Perception. Emotions will remain in check and detachment will rule the day. And you will have clarity like never before.

Your consciousness and focus will be immersed in the Present Moment. The lessons from the past will have been catalogued and the future will be dealt with in good time. And discernment will cut clean and true in the Now.

All kinds of positive energy will be flowing through you. Events and others will be directly affected. And you will wield and project this energy through Right Action; as you would with a powerful flash light in the dark of night.

And finally, a cool, even, burning Ambition will drive you forward. You’ll know exactly what you want from life and each new day will become a fresh new challenge.

Yes indeed, not a bad place to be.

And it will only get better.

Find your Center.

Know Your Mission

You cannot just be drifting and aimlessly wandering around. You will need a Sacred Purpose; or as I like to call it, a Life Mission to anchor all that you do.

Your Mission is your reason for being. It is something that will envelop your whole life. You will immerse yourself completely. Your Mission and you will become one and the same. It will be the stated and internalized Principles that will guide everything you do.

Without a Life Mission, without a Sacred Purpose, you will not find your Center. You will not achieve your optimal state. And you will not be in balance.

Knowing who you are, who you want to become and what you want to achieve are absolutely necessary for you to find your way in this world. Without these things you’re just an aimless soul who will be bounced around by circumstances and you will never fully reach your potential.

By definition then, the stronger and clearer your Mission, the more likely you will be to find the sweet spot; the Center where you’re meant to be.

So dig deep into your Core then. Dig deep into your Soul. Find what it is that will create the ultimate Meaning. Make it a set of principles that will make you proud as you lie on your death bed one day. Make it a Mission you would be proud to discuss with your Father, Mother and Children.

And once you find this Mission and the weight and seriousness of it becomes palpable, you will have your start. Make it the most important thing in your life. And let it drive and support everything else that is important to you as well.

This is the true beginning.

Where you will ride the momentum of your life in balance and in control.

Where you will have the opportunity to manifest your divinely inspired personal greatness.

Find your Mission.

Find your Purpose.

Find your Center.

Remain in parallel

Mind, Body and Spirit

All three aspects of your Being must be inline with your Mission if you are to find ...

Between star athletes, celebrities, business tycoons, the ultra rich and even very successful acquaintances, it might be tempting to feel less than spectacular about who you are. But don’t kid yourself, these are people who put their pants on one leg at a time no different than you. They just happen to be at the peak of a very large pyramid in a particular specialty.

Maybe they are really that good or maybe they just got lucky: whatever, it really doesn’t matter. Good for them.

And remember, generally all you get to see is the gloss on the outside. Although there’s no doubt many of these people are highly skilled and very gifted, they experience many of the same issues in life the rest of us do; sometimes more acutely because of their position and the related pressures. We’ve seen and heard about all the sordid details many times.

Extrinsic success does not necessarily lead to happiness and peace of mind. We are all aware of this at some level, but perhaps need to be explicitly reminded once in a while. There are more important things in life.

My advice to you is to enjoy these people if they are entertainers and perhaps learn from them if their skill sets are appropriate, but to otherwise forget about them.

And to focus simply on you.

You are who matters in your life. And if you want more from that life it’s going to take a laser like focus on the main protagonist—which is of course, you. Forget about everyone else.

Develop who you are. Define your principles. Improve your skills. Harden your mindset. Become smarter. Manage your money. Craft your lifestyle.

Become the Best Version of You.

Develop a Force of Character. Become a special human being. Inspire others. And learn to enjoy yourself along the way.

Make this your Life’s Goal and everyone will benefit—you, your loved ones and society as well.

Yes, Become the Best Version of You.

This is a good idea.

Be Authentic

The first rule of Authenticity is to stop pretending to be something or someone you’re not. Running around putting on a façade is a waste of time and a waste of the gifts you’ve been given.

Your true nature, your true genius is never going to be revealed trying to be something you’re not. Living a lie is no way to live. Pretending is for children. Living to please other people or acting to fulfill someone else’s image of you is a false existence.

But we see this every day don’t we? People living fake, superficial lives. People putting on an eminent front. We know it when we see it. And it always seems so pathetic to see someone working so hard at being something they are not; at being insincere, at being fake.

Being insincere will never lead to reliable success, fulfillment or admiration. No one appreciates this in another person. And yet so many out there make it their primary manner when they walk out the door in the morning.

All because of a lack of courage—and a lack of personal faith.

So have a look in the mirror then. Reflect on your own life and your own actions.

In no way will you manifest your tremendous Divine Potential without being Authentic. Deep in your heart you know this. You’re cheating your true nature.

Stop trying to fool yourself by fooling others. It’s not going to work and you will never truly be happy.

Acquire the courage to be yourself. Have the courage to be Authentic. Give yourself some credit for who you truly are. Have some faith in the gifts you’ve been given. Start from scratch if you have to and work your way up.

There is nothing as impressive as someone who bleeds Authenticity; as someone who is eminently comfortable in their own skin.

Most will admire and respect true Authenticity in anoth...

So you’re moving along in life. Things are better for you now. You’ve been working hard, you’ve made some decent progress and you’ve had some success. Good.

Your trajectory is headed upward and the sky’s the limit. Every month and every year you raise the bar. Your maxim is that you can do more, you can get smarter and you can become more efficient.

The future looks great and your life is very exciting. Excellent.

But be prepared. For forewarned is forearmed. Life will eventually get in the way. We are on this earth to face challenges and face them you will. And even if you’ve already had your share of difficulties, get ready for some more.

Just smile and be ready. What’s going to come is going to come. Don’t ever expect a smooth ride. Ever.

Best case scenario is that you’re able to maintain your momentum regardless. But sometimes, urgent and important matters will need to take priority and you’ll get knocked off track.

And once in a while difficulties will begin to stack up and you’ll begin to consider them as justification for giving up some of your gains. Or you’ll lose your morale completely and simply quit on your goals.

There’s a tendency when all hell breaks loose, to just let everything else go. Perhaps not such a bad thing once in your life. After all, every man has his breaking point. But with life being what it is, this type of reaction or mindset can quickly turn into a bad habit.

Let me suggest a Principle to you in advance of such a day.

Hold Your Ground.

Hold the Line

What if you fought like hell to at least maintain your gains? What if you raised the bar and doubled down, just to Hold Your Ground?

You’ve busted your ass to get to where you are. And if you’re smart you’ll do the same to hold on for dear life. After all, it’s much easier to tear something down than it is to build something up.

Never taking a step back, but only forward when the storms clear will make for a great man’s destiny.

In my opinion this is one of the keys to Personal Greatness; refusing to give up gains. Life is easy in fair weather. Good feelings beget more good feelings and momentum continues to grow. This momentum can become a healthy addiction. If feels great to keep making progress.

But then what happens when the momentum is ground to a halt and the good feelings disappear? Sometimes success can create softness. A man can forget how to fight for what he wants. He can lose his edge.

The difference, I believe, between the men who reach their goals and those who do not is how they react when the fair weather passes and the storms roll in. When the momentum stops and life gets ugly and difficult, most will bail on their Mission; and just try to survive.

Some men, however, will dig in and fight like hell to hold on to what they’ve achieved. They’ll get mean. They’ll get mad. They’ll get nasty. Whatever it takes. Because they realize this is what life does. This is the kick in the mouth meant to dissuade you from your path.

Perspective is the key. Most difficulties will pass. And certainly some will not. But time heals all wounds.

But time can also never be recovered. And the goal in life should be to live your Mission and achieve your worthy endeavors regardless of what life throws at you.

This is what men do.

When things get difficult.

And when things get ugly.

They hold the line.

You will endure and you will recover

Minimize the Damage

Sometimes there will be breakdowns in life. Mistakes can be made, circumstances can legitimately overwhelm and every man does have his breaking point. Shit happens as they say, even to the best of intentions and the best of men.

How’s this for a simple life philosophy:

Always do what you know to be right.

You do know what’s right. Deep down in your Core, you do know.

Simplify your life and brush everything else aside. Cut out all the bullshit. And leave only what is right and good.

Be a good person. Embody Virtue.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, there’s no question what the proper path or thing to do is. And don’t bother to feign ignorance. This is you reading to yourself here. You can start by being honest.

And for those occasions where the right move is not immediately obvious, you can use your intellect and discernment simply to do what you believe is best; take action, evaluate the results and repeat the process until the right answer does become clear.

So make the decision to distinguish yourself in this degenerate world and have the courage to take the right path. Just do it for its own sake. There’s no need to seek fanfare or praise for doing so. Do it for yourself, for your family and for the Heavens. These are the right reasons for doing the right things.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that doing what’s right will lead to an easy life without concern or difficulty. But then we are not children here. We know this. As men, we’re aware we exist in a broken world where life is as much about suffering as it is about happiness.

But let me suggest to you that doing the right thing as a matter of principle will be a powerful way live. It will simplify your life, provide you with the benefits of a clear conscience and add tremendous meaning to all that you do.

You will have Force of Purpose.

It seems to me like this might be a pretty good way to go.

Do the right thing.

The Hard

Right doesn’t only mean ethical or moral, it can also mean hard; as in hard path or easy path; hard way or easy way.

Doing the right thing can also mean doing the hard thing.

For whatever reason, the natural order has been shaped so that much of what’s worthwhile in this life is hard to achieve. Too bad I know, but it is what it is.

It’s going to take some serious effort to do well; lots of effort. There will be hard work, difficult circumstances, difficult people, disappointments, competitors, mistakes; you name it. Hard is hard for a reason.

One of the main reasons people don’t succeed to the level they would like to, to the level of their potential, is they’re simply not willing to ignore the effort it takes to get there. Most of the time it’s no more complicated than that. Hard work kills dreams. Period.

Most people know what their abilities are. And they know what they’re capable of, but they come up short in the long run because they won’t gut it out. Things just get too hard and they will look for and find an excuse to quit.

Or when it begins to dawn on them it will take 2 to 3 times as long as they expected, they will not simply ignore the time it’s going to take. And once again, a convenient excuse will manifest itself for a way out.

The problem in both cases, effort and time, is that the difficulty becomes the focus instead of the goal.

Don’t let this happen to you.

There’s just no way around it. At some point you’re going to have to get sick of failure or tired of being average. At some point you’re going to have to do the right thing by yourself and ignore the time and ignore the effort it takes to get to where you want to be.

Ignore the difficulty.

Get angry if you have to. Or just sellout to your God given potential. Whatever it takes.

Go hardcore. Take the hard path.

And do what you know to be right.

Do the hard work.

Find your One Thing. Achieve Personal Greatness. Live life in the High Country.

All the best,

Max Panzer

Time is passing.

You can sense this.

And you’re still worrying about this and that; every-single-day.

“But these are serious concerns. You don’t understand. There’s a lot on the line here.”

Of course there is. This is the nature of life. And it seems to get all the more serious as the years pass.

Have you noticed this trend? And do you think for one second that it’s unique to you? Or that it’s going to stop? And certainly you know there are many who have had it much, much worse; if only because of their birthplace and time in history.

If you’re not careful, you could spend your whole life worried and anxious about problems and possibilities. This is no way to live.

After all, there will always be something—real or imagined. Life will never be perfect.

We are not denying there are serious immediate matters now and then which will be cause for concern.

But should you be spending every day insecure and worried, or afraid?

Perhaps it’s just that you’ve developed yourself a bit of a bad habit. Yes, perhaps most of your anxiety and worry could simply be a bad habit.

Maybe you’ve simply conditioned yourself to be a worrier or just to be too damned serious all the time. Difficulties and struggles in life can do that to a man. It’s very easy to over adapt under duress.

And maybe you’ve had enough of it by this point in your life.

Perhaps it’s time to just Let Go and Enjoy.

Perhaps it’s time to exhale.

Let Go.

And Enjoy.

You Do Have This Choice

You do realize, that you do have this choice; to just Let Go and Enjoy your life. There is no one stopping you. You could just decide one day, “That’s it, I’m going to quit walking around with the weight of the world on my shoulders. And I’m going to enjoy my life from now on.”

You do have free will and you can control your Perspective. Even serious difficulties can be handled with composure, confidence and ease if you really decide to do so.

You could simply make a hardcore decision one day to employ Willing Acceptance to all things external and then take Right Action to the best of your ability. There’s nothing more that anyone could ask of a man. There’s nothing more that you could ask of yourself.

And you could also decide to stop worrying about things that might happen in the future. Certainly it’s good to plan and prepare, but at some point you have to decide that fate is fate. If you prepare and it’s not good enough then too bad. You’ll handle that possibility when it occurs.

After all, you’re still alive and you’ve made it this far. Let that spark some confidence. You’ve found a way to overcome before, so you’ll simply do so again if need be. Worse case scenario, you fail miserably and have to start over from scratch. You wouldn’t be the first to do so and you won’t be the last. So be it if that’s the case.

So let these ideas enter your mind then; that your constant worry is just a conditioned habit and that you can choose to be happy and at ease.

And that you can break this cycle and Let Go and Enjoy.

You don't need anyone's permission

Give Yourself Permission

And as ridiculous as it might sound, you don’t need anyone’s permission to be happy.

Give yourself permission.

Right here and now,