874. Success is as simple as XYZ

In this episode, we’re breaking down success into three simple components: X, Y, and Z. You’ll learn how to take stock of where you are (X), identify what actions you need to take today (Y) and stay focused on where you want to be (Z).

Drawing inspiration from Warren Buffett’s wisdom on the reliability of numbers, we’ll explore why tracking and working your numbers daily is the key to success in any area of your life—whether it’s family, faith, fitness, finances, or fulfillment.

You’ll also discover:

• Why confronting the numbers is crucial, even when they’re uncomfortable.
• How to move past emotions and focus on consistency over intensity.
• The importance of small, daily actions that push you toward your goals.

If you’ve ever felt stuck or overwhelmed by the big picture, this episode will help you simplify your approach, take control, and start building momentum.

Tune in and discover how to work your numbers, stay consistent, and achieve the success you’re striving for.

Transcript

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All right. 3, 2, 1. Let's get it. Welcome to another episode of what's your problem, the podcast. And I'm your host Marsh Buice. This is the first time we've met, man. It is nice to meet you uh, if you've been here a time or 10, welcome back, , we're closing the gap. On episode 900. On the way to a thousand, a thousand man is just, I can't wait to get there a thousand episodes. Just, it just means so much it's, you know, the numbers, whatever the number is, but it's just a signal of. What consistency actually does. And what, you know, this podcast. Writing. Reading. And then of course, sharing on the podcast. Has literally saved my life and I'm just so grateful that I get to come back. Time and time again. And I'm also grateful that there are no barriers to entry. Like, I don't need permission to get on the microphone. I don't need permission to share anything with the world, whatever it is I want to talk about. I can do so, and I can put it out there. And that's what's so. Beautiful about. Where we are today with technology and everything like that. Like it's, it's never been easier to get started on something yet. It's never been. Easier to not start either. You know, so many times I think in life we just. We look at things and eh, you know, just going back, I don't know, a decade or more back. And there was always something in the way. Right? Well, I mean, this is the thing and that's kinda like what made life. Uh, what's the word I'm looking for? It's kind of what, let you off the hook, so to speak. Is because somebody was standing in your way. There was always a gatekeeper. And now we, we don't have gatekeepers anymore. You are the gatekeeper and you have been the whole time. You just didn't realize that. And so now, man, just whatever it is that you want to do. I just, and this isn't what even I'm coming to you about today. But just do it. Just, you know, it's so cliche to say, but just get started somewhere. So let's talk real quick. About a concept. Of success, which is the name of the podcast episode success. Is as easy as XYZ. And I want to share for context. I want to share with you a quote that I read from Warren buffet. And I read this, I'm reading the book now and I'll have it in front of me. So I don't know the author's name. But it's Warren and bill. It's basically the, that's the name of the book. And it's basically the relationship of. Uh, Warren buffet and bill gates and how they developed a relationship and what they've meant to one another. So it's pretty interesting. Uh, book. So here's, here's what I read and what I want to unpack. What the thought today. Warren buffet said, if you have X today, And do Y tomorrow to make more. They will almost always add up to the Z that you anticipated. People, however are unpredictable undependable and they're full of surprises. Because calamity can strike at any moment. But the numbers. Numbers can be tracked in the ledger. And if they can be counted. They can be counted on. So I want to break this down. Of what this means to you. And to me. Because success really is as simple as X, Y, Z. See X is where you are right now. Why is what you need to do today. Z. Is where you want to be. And if you think about it, The X, Y, Z principle where you are right now. What you need to do today? To get to where you want to be tomorrow. This applies to every area of your life. I mean, think about it. If you know where you are. And then, you know, what steps to take. You can predict your progress. I love this. You can predict your progress. Fuck a future. You could predict your future. I don't care about that. The future is going to be what it's going to be. But if I, if I take stock and where I am right now, That's my X and I refuse to stay there. And I take action. And do things in a productive manner, through a process, no narrative to it, no extra emotions to, if I just do these things. To get to "Y" this is what I see in my life. You'll achieve it. You'll achieve it. In every area of your life. And you can predict your progress. That's what's great about this. I can predict. My progress because I'm paying attention to the numbers. And I see where I'm at today. I do something to grow that number. Because I don't want to stay there. Because that's where I need to be in the future. Uh, success has got nothing to do with luck. It's not waiting on the perfect moment. So many times, man, we're waiting on a windfall, right? We're waiting on. Well, I mean, if I lived in this city, if I had this kind of job, if I had this degree, If I didn't have so much credit card debt. I mean, it's all. If I was in better shape, if I had a gym near me, all these wind if I hit the lottery, all of these windfall moments. Success is not all at once. Success. It's predicted based on your progress. That you do once all the time. It's all about consistently working the numbers. But let me tell you this. You can't work the numbers. If you don't know your numbers. And this is where most of us fall short. We avoid facing the reality of our "X" and your "X" is your current situation. Because it's uncomfortable. You don't have to stay on your "X". That's what the Navy SEALs say, get off your "X." Take action. Make moves and push towards your Z. Success in every area of your life is numbers driven. And so the more that, you know, your numbers. The more control you have over the outcome. But it's when the numbers don't look good. When they reflect something that we're not proud of. That's when we tend to turn away. Every failure that I've had in life is because I didn't like the numbers. And what the numbers were saying and where the numbers were leading. And I turned away from them. And I pacified it. Through other vices. Through destructive measures. I just wanted to get away from it. Hopefully they'll just fix themselves. That's what we do. We just, we just kind of turn away and hope. Oh, I don't see that right now. Hopefully it'll fix itself. Hopefully I get that windfall. I get that lottery. I get a scratch off. Grandma dies, leaves me an inheritance. Get a big income tax refund. Got a shot. To lose the weight whatever. I mean, it's just this it's these windfall moments. And your windfall that you're expecting is your downfall. Because you're waiting on one big swing. And you're missing out on all the opportunities. In life. Don't lose your focus instead of running from your numbers. Confront the numbers. This is why confrontation is key. It's one of the five CS that I always coach on communication. Life skills, communication, curiosity, creativity, continuous learning, and action. And productive confrontation. Just confront the numbers work, the numbers numbers don't stay the same. If you take consistent action. Because you know this, if you know that it's impossible to go through life undefeated. Then why in the hell do you think that you'll stay defeated? It's impossible wherever you are right now. Doesn't have to be your permanent position. Unless you decide to stay on your "X." So how does this work in real life? There are five. Key drivers in your life. And they all start with the letter F. Family faith, fitness, finances, fulfillment. That's the five areas. If you think about it, everything falls within that. So how can we become successful? The XYZ principle X is where I am."Y" is what I need to do."Z" is where I want to be. All right. So I'm family. It's pretty much a no brainer. Spend a little more, more quality time with your family. You'll have the ball out. You don't have to do it. You don't have to spend any money to try. Here's the, here's the challenge with your family? To spend more quality time with them. I try to do it without spending a dime. Really. Try to do it without spending a dime. It's not the things. It's the experience. It's the relationships. And dude, I'm talking to me. I'm not talking to you. So spend a little bit more time with the family. How can I grow it? And that's being more attentive.. That's being more present. Doesn't have to be a grand gesture. Doesn't have to be nine hours at a time. But just when you're on the phone. When you're in front of them. When you are sitting down and having a drink or having dinner. To be locked in, put your phone away. Fucking world can wait faith. XYZ. X is where I am today. Maybe you don't like where you are spiritually right now. Okay. That's where you are. What are some things that you can do? God is primary in my life. I have fought against him. I have shy'd away from him. I have not talked to him. He still kept me and I looked back. On some of the destructive thing I'm thinking about this last night, man. And I was like, bro, I was just in the wrong setting. Doing the wrong things. God could have just snuffed me out. He kept me. I'm so grateful for it. It's like I got a new birth on life and I don't want to squander it. And some of my frustration is, is sometimes I feel like I'm not doing enough. And that's where I get frustrated, but if I put God just in my life man, what'd you want me to do Big G what you got for me? What you need me to do? What do I need more of and not materialistic things. What do I need to do more of? I want to be more efficient. I want to be more present. I want to be there for my family. I don't want to chase likes and all that. No, but what can I do? To share the gifts that you've given me. And keep you throughout the day. So that's, that's the faith for it. That's what it is for me. Fitness. How can you "X" is where you are. Okay. You're 20 pounds overweight. Doesn't stay that way you didn't, you didn't. You aren't birth at this weight? Okay. So obviously you can go down. Or you're scrawny. You want to build up? Okay. What do you need to do? How do you move the needle? X's where I am."Y" is what I need to do. And dude, I'm talking just a few things. Consistently done every single day. That gets to your Z. A lot of times, man, we don't even know what our Z is. We're just kinda like hope I get there where I don't know. So more better in here. Well, why don't you pick a direction? And this is what I want to be. Doesn't have to be materialistic. Doesn't have to be money driven. I'm not real money driven. I like having a lot of money. But I don't need. To, to have $400 billion. I'm not interested in that. Doesn't even do anything for me. But whatever it is, that'll be finances here in just a second, but on the fitness side of it. Okay. What do you need to do? Okay. What's the challenge. I'm a workout every single day. Cool. And when I say workout, it could be movement working out. It doesn't have to be. A big meathead in the gym and then adjusting your caloric intake. Your ideal body, weight times 14. We'll give you a. A rough estimate of how many calories you need to take in. And then make sure. That your protein intake. His primary. So your protein one gram of protein per pound of body weight. I want to be 200 pounds. You need 200 grams of protein, at least. And then adjust the rest of it accordingly enough about that finances. What kind of income do you want to make? How can you grow your department that you're in now? How can you increase your skillset? And don't for one minute. Sit here and tell me, oh, I got to go back to college. So many people take the easy road and the easy road is a costly road because they just. Fall back into college, again, rack up more degrees and you don't do shit with all. I got to go get me another degree I've had, I've talked to people, I'm getting my double masters for what, what are you going to do after that? I'm not quite sure yet what. You you racking up all these degrees for what? It's, because they're scared to face life. They're scared to step out there in life. In reality and say, oh shit. And then, you know, you're sitting there working. At home goods. And got a double masters. It's because. You didn't have your Z, what, what is it like? You can get there. You just got to work. The numbers, the numbers will always work. But you've got to work the numbers. They don't work themselves. And you cannot set it and forget it. You got to work them every single day. That means some days, man, you just got to look at it and be like, Boy I've let myself slide. All right. If they've got, if the numbers can go up, they can go down. If they're down, they can go up. You gotta work it. And then fulfillment. Finally overlap, man. There is some sense of fulfillment for you. It could be fishing it could be drawing. It could be writing. It could be reading. It could be poetry. I, whatever. Some sort of it could be model airplanes. It could be, and you may have different seasons, but find your fulfillment. I'm fortunate. I have the overlap. The fulfillment for me, what brings me the most amount of energy? That's how you find your fulfillment- like what, what just lights you up, man, when you can do it. Um, for me, it's, it's reading and writing, it's reading something and then translating it and writing it and then sharing it. That's what brings me the most amount of energy. And what's beautiful about. Where I'm at is the writing is an overlap for me because a lot of the things that I write about are about fitness are about finances are about family. Are about faith. And so it's the overlap for all the other areas too. So they just, they helped me in all other areas. Some of your fulfillment doesn't have to do that. It's just a bonus. If you can find that fulfillment so here's the bottom line, man. You got to pick a direction. Life. I think we make. Oh, life is not as complicated as we make it. We make it so complicated. Just, I mean, the Bible says that just focus on today. That's it. Get off your "X" look at where you are right now. And then work your why? Figure out. Okay. These are a few things, a few things that I need to do today. That will, that will close the gap on my Z. This is what I want my life to look like. I want to live here. I want to make this kind of money. I want to feel this way. I want to look this way. Boom. Do it. Success is all about consistency over intensity, the intensity as you see the results, the intensity is going to naturally raise up anyway. So just small bite-size moments, man. Consistency over intensity. It's not about doing everything all at once. It's about doing things right. Once, all the time, you just, you just hit it. Lay the brick. And then when you stay focused on the numbers, And you work the numbers. Don't just look at them, like work them. Your emotions are going to end up taking a back seat. Your emotions are the thing that try to derail you. Put them in the backseat. Nope, let's go. And you confront it. And that's. What's good, man. Because you can control the numbers like, oh, uncle Warren said. If, if the numbers can be, if it can be counted. Then it could be counted on. But you got to track it. You got to pay attention to it. Success really is. As simple as X, Y, Z X is where you are. Y is what you need to do. Z is where you want to be. And so your journey. Can be simplified. It won't always be easy, but you can simplify it. And it's not going to happen overnight. Until is your timeframe, when's it going to happen? Until I don't, I don't know. I just lay the brick. I don't give any of my results back. And I just keep building on that. And if you work those numbers daily. You're going to get to your Z. All right. Let's get out of here. Please share this episode with someone who needs it. Also leave a rating and review. If what's your problem, the podcast. A certain episode or this episode. Or just in general, what it means to you because there are literally millions of podcasts out there. And it could be your words posted. As a review could be the very thing. That causes someone to read what you wrote. And say, let me check out an episode. And then it changes the course of their life. All because of your words. I just. Share the message I've been given. That's it. All right, let's get outta here. Keep it simple. Keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough peace