If you're from Canada, you may remember the Freedom 55 ad campaigns. The insurance company running the ads was attempting to alert Canadians what it would take to retire by the age of 55. I remember seeing those ads and saying to myself "freedom 35 is what I'm aiming for!"

Things started off well and in my young naive mind I was well on my way. I started my career at the young age of 17. I met my beautiful wife, Natasha, at the age of 19. I bought my first house at 20. I proposed to Natasha at 21. I bought a second house at 23. I started my business at 24 while Natasha was doing her Masters in clinical psychology. Natasha and I got married and started building our dream home at 26. We had our son when I was 27​. Life was looking good! At least from the outside...

Although I looked successful on the outside, I did not feel successful. Debt was pilling up and every day I felt more and more like a slave. Freedom 35 was no longer in site and once I turned 35 we were right in the thick of the pandemic and not only was I not financially free, I was now locked down as well. We had to close down another business we had started and the debt spiral continued.

I was on my knees but trying to hide it from my wife. There was no need for both of us to be stressed so I carried the burden myself.

So let's back up a little. What is freedom? For me it was doing what I want, when I want, wherever I want, with whoever I want, however I want. That's the financial freedom the world is trying to sell to us everyday.

I remember being at a personal development event that was held by a very well know person. There were hundreds of people there. At one point in the event, all the men, including me, were yelling freedom. The music was blasting and the ground was shaking. It was a powerful experience. It was like the men yelling "FREEDOM" in the Braveheart movie and running into war. I came out of that event on fire but it did not last very long.

What I have come to know is the freedom I was chasing is not freedom at all. It's a trick. It's a lie. It's a trap. As long as your freedom is tied to some "thing", you are always trying to get more or you are trying to hold on to what you have because once you loose that thing, you will loose your freedom.

True freedom can never be lost once you have it.

True freedom lifts you of the burdens you are carrying on your shoulders.

True freedom is not achieved, it is received.

How do I know this to be true? I am experiencing it in my life right now. I can honestly say that I feel more free today than I did yesterday, last month or last year. My freedom grows every single day no matter what happens in my life.

How did I receive this freedom? I made one simple decision. A commitment that changed my life.

The last blog post I wrote was about surrendering. I know in my heart that I had to surrender. To let go of the control. I had one thing wrong though. I was surrendering to the wrong thing.

The decision that changed my life was to surrender and commit my life to Jesus.

If you're an atheist or don't believe in Jesus, don't stop reading yet. That's what the enemy wants you to do. I know exactly where you're at because I was there before as well. Just a couple more minutes. I promise the end will be worth it.

I remember saying when I was a kid, "I wish there was a a guide the life." The truth is that there is and it's called the Bible. It's not some religious book like I originally thought. The more I study it and the more I put the things I learn into practice, the better my life gets and the more free I become.

Now don't get me wrong. This is not some prosperity thing. I still have to deal with all sorts of struggles, pains and so-called bad things. The difference is that I'm free from the burden of carrying all those burdens on my shoulders all by myself. God will carry as much as I want to give him and I'm giving him more and more every day.

I'm no longer a slave. I'm not a slave to money. I'm not a slave to stuff. I'm not a slave to my business. I'm not a slave to anybody. I'm a servant of God and servants are cared and provided for.

If I'm a servant, I'm not in control though? How is that freedom?

If you're trying to control everything in your life, how's it going for you? If it's anything like my life, probably not very well. Control does not equal freedom. If it did, once you lost control, you would loose your freedom. Which I'm guessing happens every day.

The truth is that God's plan is always going to be better than our plans. We just have to get out of our own way, surrender and commit to Him. I know this to be true because He was working in my life before I believed in Him.

Remember that freedom 35 dream I had? I achieved it and I didn't even realize it until I sat down to write this. The reason I wrote this is because Pastor Doug Millar asked me to share my testimony at church after sharing a little bit of my story with him. I achieved freedom 35 because at the age of 35 is when I decided to surrender and commit my life to Jesus. God's plan was way better than my plan (and I can share dozens of stories proving this).

​If you have read this through to the end, I'm guessing you're either already a believer or you're searching for something. If you're searching, I'm praying for you. I'm praying you see the light and start the feel the freedom that I now have. You are one decision away from freedom. All you need to do is accept Jesus into your life.

If you're not sure how to do that, please reach out to me. We can do it together.

If you want to watch the testimony I shared at church, you can watch it here. It's around the 15:30 mark of the video.

I started off the year with a bang. It's been a crazy few weeks and I have been attracting a lot of new opportunities into my life. At the beginning of the year, I shared that the theme for my year is to surrender. Not to throw in the towel but to surrender to the opportunities that come my way.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do a mentoring session and was asked me some great questions. I was sharing that I need help focusing and figuring out where I need to put my time. We were specifically talking about work time. There are two questions which changed my thinking.

First, I was asked "How much do you value your time? What are you worth?"

I was then asked, "What does a person who makes that much per year do?"

So, I had my answer. I'm surrendering to the obvious answer that the universe is giving me and I have decided to put my daily blog on hold. I'm going to take this time to shift it to The Conscious Builder where all the opportunities seem to be coming. It's already set up to be our greatest year yet with some exciting things planned for The Conscious Builder Show and Podcast.

​I'm surrendering to where I'm being pulled to.

The law of attraction states that everything that we are experiencing, have experienced or will experience has been attracted to our lives by our own doing.

Personally, I believe in this. And if you're reading this, I'm guessing that you believe it or some part of you believes it to be true.

Like most things in life though, it's easy to take credit for the positive stuff. When you get that promotion, land a new client or finally get that date with the person of your dreams, you can say "I did this!"

But what about the negative stuff. Are you taking credit for that? Or are you blaming external factors?

Thanks to Grant Cardone's The 10X Rule, I have come to realize, yet again, the power of words.

I often say that things are happening FOR me but he has flipped that around to things are happening BECAUSE OF me.

That simple change of words creates a radical shift in mindset. All of a sudden I am taking radical responsibility for everything that happens in my life. Yes, I know most things in life are out of my control but that does not mean I have to relinquish responsibility.

We are responsible for our own lives. If shit's not working out or you're not happy with your current situation, that's on you and nobody else.

"There's not enough time in a day."

​Could it be possible that your perception of time is flawed?

We all have 24 hours in a day.

What if you changed that thought to "I have all the time in the world."

Because it's true.

It's just not possible.

Is there a hack for a better relationship?

Is there a hack to create a better brand?

Is there a hack to become a better parent?

Is there a hack to become a better leader?

Is there a hack to improve your character?

You cannot hack what's most important in our world. At least not for the long term.

Sure, you could pick up some tips that improve your relationship but if you don't do them consistently they won't last.

You could also pick up some tips to get your brand out to more people but that's marketing, not branding. A brand is built over time.

Tips for parenting are all over the place but kids are smarter than we give them credit for. You can't hack your way to being a better parent. You need to show up every single day and be present.

SImilarly, you can't hack your way into being a better leader. You need to step up consistently. You need to prove your leadership skills to people over time. 

And your character, that's you. If you are always looking to hack everything, what does that tell people about who you are?

Hacking skills is one thing. Hacking principles does not work. And principles are what are most important in life.

Ideas are not the problem. There is no shortage of ideas. I have dozens of ideas every single day and I'm sure you do as well.

The question is, which idea do I need to act on?

Yesterday, I spent the day with 30 amazing, energized, connected and crazy people (crazy is good by the way). These are the types of people where you could share your wildest dreams and instead of them saying "you won't be able to accomplish that," they say, "That's amazing! I know you'll be able to accomplish that AND more. Plus I'll even help you get there!"

The ideas were flowing and lots of questions were being pondered. It wasn't until after the event when I sat down with a potential client that I realized what I must act on. All the ideas and conversations and questions eventually led to this one moment and it clicked.

And it all came from surrounding myself with these crazy people. Stay tuned for exciting things ahead!

Thank you, Sunil, for throwing another amazing event.

I love where life brings you if you allow it to flow.

Yesterday I found myself sitting beside my brother and across from two Monks. We were one of four contractors being interviewed for the new Dhamma Hall that the Monks will be building.

Although I was not nervous about the interview as I have no issues talking about construction and our experience, I did feel a little intimidated when I sat down. I know these people would be the last people to judge us but it was intimidating sitting across from these men.

It was interesting to witness myself in the situation. Intimidation is not something I would have ever associated with a Monk. But here I was feeling it...

So why the feeling? What was I afraid of? How did they intimidate me?

If I'm honest with myself, I believe I may have felt like a fraud. I felt as though they have figured out this thing called life and here I am still trying to figure it out. I just have to do what they do, right?

But there's no way I could do what they do. At least not right now. I love what I do. I love my wife. I love my son. I love the path I'm on. Why does it have to be their path?

It doesn't. We all have our own paths. They all start the same way and end the same way (birth and death) but what happens in between will always be different.

No two people will ever have the same path.

Some things are easy to measure and track.

If you have decided to begin playing the piano, it's easy to see your progress. If you play baseball, it's easy to follow your stats and see the areas that are changing. If you lift weights, it's easy to track if you are getting stronger. If you invest your money, you can see it go up and down.

But what about things like your emotional strength? Or your parenting skills? Or your character? Or your leadership skills? Or your relationship with your spouse.

Often, the things that are most important are the hardest to track and since we can't track them we don't give them the attention they need.

Tracking is important, especially in business, but it's not everything. 

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending an event held by Steve Lowell with guest speaker Sunil Tulsiani. These two guys are phenomenal. They are out to serve and they absolutely deliver.

Most of my morning so far has been spent reviewing my notes and taking action on the things I noted from the event. It is amazing what one day of powerful and positive energy can do!

There are so many great things I could share but there is one thing that stuck with me the most. It is how we talk about money to others and to ourselves. Specifically what we say about its importance.

If we say money is not important, what are we telling our subconscious mind about money?

Imagine telling your wife that she's not important but you want her anyways... How would that work out? I suspect you would not have a wife...

So what happens if you say money is not important but you want it anyways?

Money is energy. Money is proof that you are delivering value to people. Money alone is not bad or good, it's a resource to help you. You get to choose what you want to do with it.

Money does not have to be everything but it is important.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.”

What you do is more important than what you say.

People are watching your feet, not your mouth.

However you want to put it, your actions will always speak louder than your words. It's a principle that strands true. It cannot change.

We've all been tricked by the slick fast talker (I'll admit that I have). Deep down we always knew we were being tricked but we let our head make the decision.

Although the words you use are important, what comes before and after those words will always be more important. The truth will always prevail.