Ten days until spring, 72 degrees, and Matt’s running late because the morning was a barn burner of activity and connection—something has really shifted. After dropping trivia about the first U.S. paper currency (1862) and Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone call (”Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you”), he dives into what changed. Last week brought an epic battle in his spirit—that force in the mind that says “don’t change, stay in your current paradigm, it’s safe.” Going somewhere you’ve never gone, becoming an updated version of yourself, is scary. The mind preserves the known.

But he stood up and said no to those self-defeating thoughts, and suddenly the shift happened—slowly at first, then all at once. Here’s the reframe: friction is necessary to make things great. Friction causes fire, and fire can be destructive or it can keep you warm and help you build. Right now, the friction is burning down what needs to burn down to fertilize the ground for a new forest—like those fields in Oregon they’d torch every seven years for better crops. It looks dark and bleak, all black smoke, but it’s positive as long as you’re resolute about moving forward. He’s experiencing the afterglow now—free to move, free to be himself. Ultimately, it’s a decision, even when fear is running the show. And he got sick and tired of resisting it. Not his first rodeo. Out of the fog now, building, communicating, having a good time.

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