FBC – 469 – What does it mean to live a life of principles?

What does it mean to live a life of principles?

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Today, I want to talk about a subject that's very dear to me: A life of principles

What does that even mean?

Am I not living a life of principles right now? What are the founding principles you are talking about?

I will answer these questions in today's episode and share some personal stories about my past to illustrate the point.

Also I will reveal one of the biggest shocks of my life and how I realized that I had been a fool for some many years

All this in today's episode.

Make sure to tune in, it's super powerful stuff

—

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

“Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me.”
– Arianna Huffington, president and editor in chief The Huffington Post Media Group

So one thing that I strive to achieve and something that guides me in everything I do is principles.

It might sometimes seem that I'm rigid or something to a bunch of people but I mean, to me, it's everything, you know, a life of principle. I mean, there is nothing like it for me. Right.

So what do I mean by this? So, you know, obviously everybody has principles, OK?

And one thing that actually bothers me sometimes with people and it's just like my personal opinion on it is that people don't actually understand what a principle is.

OK, so principle is a freaking principle, which means that it doesn't change. It doesn't change depending on if it's in your interest or if it's not in your interest. It's a principle.

OK and I see so many people, way too many people who have very flexible principles. All of a sudden there is some reason why it's an exception or it's not the same. It's something different, you know, and this is something that drives me nuts.

I'm one of those guys who will say, look, a principle is a principle. And no matter what happens, no matter if it's going to cost me or not, the principle is going to apply. And this is how I’ve chosen to live my life. And on many occasions, you know, I was faced with a bunch of decisions where, look, I just decided that, you know what, the principle will stick no matter what.

I will avoid people who have those flexible principles. Everybody has their convictions and I have mine.

Maybe you know people like this that always have a good reason for doing something when it's them and then when it's other people. Oh, yeah. Don't do this. You do what I say. Don't do what I do. OK, and for me is, look, I don't care about what I say. I will do it. All right?

So I told you a few months ago maybe that I was in a situation where I felt that we gave our word. And then afterwards we're trying to get out of it and find reasons not to do it. And it doesn't work with me. I don't like that stuff. You know, regardless if it's going to cost me money, if it's going to cost me time, if it's going to. I don't care.

But for me, that's the way it is, the best path to f get where you want where you want to go. I don't do it for other people. I do it for myself. But what happens is that people will see that you are the real deal and that you have integrity. Because, I mean, integrity takes you a long way.

There are some people. I will do stuff with them. I will help them. I will go out of my way for them because I know they have this integrity.

What does it mean to live a life of principles?

Because once people realize that you're a good person, you have integrity, and then it will take you a long way. And this is what I mean by living a life of principle is, you know, regardless if it's in your interest, you know, because sometimes it will cost you a little bit of money, it will cost you this will cost you that. And then all of a sudden there is a good reason not to do it.

I just saw a mini documentary on Muhammad Ali. For me, he had always been this loud, like, loud jerk and like, I don't know, was full of himself and always boasting and stuff, you know, I found the guy quite annoying and quite loud.

I really didn't understand why people liked the guy that much. I was like, what's with the guy? You know, it was just like an arrogant prick. That's what he was to me.

When the Vietnam War came, the US said, well, if you're an American citizen, then you would be called and you'd go to Vietnam. And he was supposed to go to Vietnam. He was called and he said, no, I don't want to go.

Why would I fly all the way to Vietnam to kill some people who've never done anything to Americans right there in their own country over there? They've never done anything to me. Why would I go there and kill these people?

So he was told that, well, if you don't do this, then you will lose your title. It's a court martial, blah, blah, blah, and then you can go to jail for like five years. Well, five years in jail and losing your titles and stuff, well, you know, losing a title sucks, but going to jail, I don't want to go to prison.

But he stayed true to himself. He stood his ground. He said, look, I am not going there. So he was sentenced to five years in prison.

And so basically, he appealed and stuff with his lawyer. So he lost his license. They took his passport, he couldn't go anywhere else. So he was stuck in the US. He couldn't work, obviously, because he was suspended and he was facing five years in prison.

And he fought for five years against the system, five years going to court after court after court. Just imagine you cannot work for five years. You have zero money coming in. He fought until the bitter end, until he actually prevailed and he did not have to go to jail.

So just imagine this kind of commitment. But he said, look, this is what I believe in. These are his principles. He's not going to go and kill some innocent people and stuff. He stood his ground and, you know, I didn't know that about the guy. The only thing I saw was the arrogance.

I'm very actually very sorry that I judged the guy without actually knowing more about him, because to me, he's one of the most admirable people on the planet now.