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#25 - Your Calling Is Hunting You—Time to Stop Playing Small
44 Plays4 months ago
There’s a voice inside you that won’t shut up. A pull you can’t ignore. It’s not just ambition—it’s your calling. And here’s the truth: it’s already chosen you. In this raw and unfiltered episode, I dive deep into what it means to feel that fire and fear at the same time. Your job might pay the bills, but your calling is what sets your soul on fire—and if you don’t answer it, the regret will haunt you. This episode isn’t about comfort—it’s about sacrifice, transformation, and the relentless pursuit of a life that actually matters. So ask yourself: are you still playing it safe, or are you finally ready to answer the call?
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Transcript
Introduction to Mindset Mutiny
00:00:21
Mike Ivanov
Welcome to the Mindset Mutiny. I am your host, Mike Ivanov. Join me as we challenge the status quo, break free from self-imposed limits, and redefine what's possible.
00:00:32
Mike Ivanov
What's up, everybody? Welcome back. Before we get started, I need something from you. I need you to press that subscribe button. Please. 80% of my listeners are not subscribed.
00:00:46
Mike Ivanov
All right, do that for me. I'll make sure I pay you back. I promise.
00:00:53
Mike Ivanov
Go press the button. I'm waiting for you to do it.
00:00:57
Mike Ivanov
All right. Now that you've pressed subscribe, let's get started.
The Inner Force and Personal Struggles
00:01:03
Mike Ivanov
There is something inside of you and me, a force that you can feel, a pull, something that you can't shake.
00:01:12
Mike Ivanov
No matter how much you try to drown it out, trust me, I've tried. It's terrifying, but at the same time, it's exhilarating. And if you're anything like me, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
00:01:25
Mike Ivanov
I've spent years chasing success, doing work, making the moves, building a life, and I've done well. There's been a lot of failures, but I feel I've done well.
00:01:37
Mike Ivanov
Deep down, there is definitely something bigger, something that I've only just started to see clearly. And if I'm being completely honest,
00:01:50
Mike Ivanov
It scares the hell out of me. And maybe that's why, you know, i haven't pursued it yet. Or if it's why it's taken me so long to realize it. Because when you finally start to see your calling for what it is, it doesn't just excite you.
00:02:06
Mike Ivanov
It demands something from you. It demands that you change. That you step up. That you risk everything you knew about yourself. And here's the big thing.
00:02:20
Mike Ivanov
Your calling is so much bigger than your job.
Finding Purpose Beyond a Job
00:02:25
Mike Ivanov
And that's where we all kind of go off track.
00:02:29
Mike Ivanov
So I happen to be sitting with a young man, coaching him on some things that he's working with in his career. And this young man is very, very successful. He's done a great job building his business.
00:02:41
Mike Ivanov
And he just asked me, you know, Mike, ah I feel lost. And we started chatting and what it really came down to is he hasn't found his purpose yet. Now I can see what his purpose is and I'm not necessarily going to tell him.
00:02:56
Mike Ivanov
I'll help him see it himself, but he's very, very talented and very, very special and business that he's doing isn't anything related to what he's capable of. And I believe that once he finds that purpose for himself,
00:03:13
Mike Ivanov
it will unlock a completely different human. But what's interesting is the stories that he tells himself about why he did the business, why he started this and and where he thinks he wants to go.
00:03:26
Mike Ivanov
But at the same time, he's empty inside. And he's like, after all of this, you know, I don't know what I have, you know, and I just gave him kind of a little talk about myself.
00:03:39
Mike Ivanov
And I kind of told them about where I was at with what I'm pursuing and what I believe I was put here to do. You know, and it's not necessarily my job. And I think that's where people get confused, where they put all this effort into their job, which is great.
00:03:53
Mike Ivanov
But then they forget about what really, you know, makes their heart sing. It's like the biggest thing is what makes you, you know, get up out of bed every single day with limitless energy.
00:04:06
Mike Ivanov
You know, and I hate to say this, it's probably not your job. But there's something that would do that for you. And some of us know what it is and we avoid it. Others haven't quite found it yet.
00:04:18
Mike Ivanov
But I will tell you that everyone has a calling.
Internal Conflicts and Societal Pressures
00:04:21
Mike Ivanov
And for most people, it is not the job that they do every day. And it's very important to note that your calling isn't just about you know what you do for a living.
00:04:31
Mike Ivanov
That's what I really want to drive home here. It's about who you are and what you were put here to become. right So your job can be a title, it can be a paycheck, it can be a role you play in a company, but a calling that's much different.
00:04:46
Mike Ivanov
It's deeper. It's within your soul. You have to discover it. And it won't leave you alone. It's relentless. it But it demands that you evolve. And that's where people struggle.
00:05:00
Mike Ivanov
When it demands evolution from you and you don't know how to get there, you don't want to get there, you're afraid to get there. Those are all things that I've grappled with. you know I think fear has been the biggest thing that's held me back from discovering my calling, caring what other people think about what I say, caring about you know what people think about how I look or whatnot. All that fucking shit doesn't matter. That's just going to hold you back.
00:05:23
Mike Ivanov
All right? You stay true to your number one. be you. That's what people love about you. We're all want to be different. want to be the same. That's fucking boring. So don't worry about those things, but those things people worry about every single day.
00:05:36
Mike Ivanov
And that holds them back from becoming who they're really meant to be. So we talk about how it demands that you evolve, right? But that requires you to push past comfort where we all love to be the comfort zone, the place where fucking dreams go to die, right?
00:05:53
Mike Ivanov
You have to strip away every excuse and you have to become the highest version of yourself to achieve your calling. A lot of us get trapped in the idea, right? That our job is supposed to be our calling.
00:06:08
Mike Ivanov
That's bullshit. Straight up. you know, it's hard for me to say because I've dumped a lot of years into my career, right? And that that's tough for some people when it's like, oh my God, I've spent like decades on working on my career and and Mike's sitting here telling me that it's not necessarily my calling.
00:06:25
Mike Ivanov
I'm just asking you to open up your mind and consider something else. i'm not telling you to quit your job tomorrow. If you want to, great. If you're so committed to your calling, go all in.
Self-Belief and Success
00:06:34
Mike Ivanov
you know I support that. But i just want you to think a little differently. I want you to look at your job and I want you to say, wow, geez, if money didn't matter, what would I do?
00:06:45
Mike Ivanov
What do I love to do? What am I good at? When what you're good at and what you love to do meets, that's your element, man. It's special. And you'll know it when you see it.
00:06:57
Mike Ivanov
But again, lot of us get trapped in the idea that that job is supposed to be our calling. 99% of the time it's not.
00:07:07
Mike Ivanov
You know, the job pays the bills. But it doesn't necessarily make you feel alive. And then when we talk about leaving the job to go do something that makes you feel alive, immediately the fear sets in.
00:07:22
Mike Ivanov
How am I going to pay my bills? What am I going to do? I need this money. This job is secure. Blah, blah, blah. Right? Bet on yourself. Bet on yourself. Put your back against the fucking wall and you will achieve everything.
00:07:34
Mike Ivanov
So more often than not,
00:07:39
Mike Ivanov
you more often than not you're going to talk yourself out of it.
00:07:46
Mike Ivanov
You really are. And I've done it a million times. That's why I know that you will. And I've been lucky to have some people around me that have said, no, Mike, stop, shut the mind down.
00:07:57
Mike Ivanov
This is what you're supposed to do. And they're only telling me things that I know deep down inside. But when other people tell me that, I have to push through my own excuses because I'm not going to let them down.
00:08:09
Mike Ivanov
And I'm not going to live a life of regret. right So you can switch careers. You can get promoted. You can even walk away entirely. But a calling, it will follow you. It gnaws at you when you're sitting still.
00:08:22
Mike Ivanov
It whispers to you when you're lying awake at night. We've all felt that. It's waiting for you to stop pretending you don't fucking hear it. That's the key takeaway.
00:08:33
Mike Ivanov
Stop ignoring it. Your call is bigger than that paycheck. It's bigger than that title. It's bigger than what you put on LinkedIn or how you introduce yourself at a party.
00:08:46
Mike Ivanov
Your calling is what makes you feel alive. Understand that. It's what wakes you up in the morning when you're running on fumes. It gives you energy even when you're exhausted. It's what you stop.
00:09:01
Mike Ivanov
It's what you can't stop thinking about even when you're doing something else. That one part right there really resonates with me. It's what you can't stop thinking about even when you're doing something else.
00:09:15
Mike Ivanov
I can tell you that's a fact. No matter where I am, what I'm doing, I'm thinking about the podcast. I'm thinking about trying to help people. I'm thinking about coaching others to build a better human, right? That's all I think about.
00:09:29
Mike Ivanov
And then when I get in that situation, when I'm up speaking in front of others, when I'm coaching guys, like that's when I feel alive. That's when I have this limitless energy that comes over me, right? this This is what I was meant to do, right? I feel that that's my calling.
00:09:45
Mike Ivanov
Help others become better every single day. And that just feeds me. But for you, it might not be the same thing. There'll be other things, right? don't have to do exactly what I'm doing.
00:09:58
Mike Ivanov
But you have a calling and you need to figure it the fuck out. And here's the part that will shake most to their core. Your calling doesn't care about your comfort.
00:10:09
Mike Ivanov
It doesn't care if you're scared, if you're unprepared. If stepping into it means losing security or starting over, doesn't care about that stuff. Stepping into your calling, yeah, you'll lose security.
00:10:22
Mike Ivanov
You might start over. That calling that we're talking about, it will wreck your old identity because you can't achieve that that without changing who you are for the better.
00:10:35
Mike Ivanov
It will force you to break apart everything you thought you knew about yourself and you start to rebuild from scratch. I've done it many, many, many times. Every chapter
Sacrifices and Resilience
00:10:45
Mike Ivanov
requires a new evolution.
00:10:47
Mike Ivanov
It will demand sacrifice. So if you think you're going to get there without trying to sacrifice something, I will save you the time. You won't get there. Transformation always costs something.
00:11:01
Mike Ivanov
Okay? could be financial. It could be blood. It could be sweat. It's tears. I guarantee it. It's giving up things that you like to do that make you comfortable. For some, it might be quitting alcohol. might be going to the gym.
00:11:15
Mike Ivanov
It might be getting rid of these toxic relationships. It might be pushing through something that you've always feared.
00:11:23
Mike Ivanov
But let me challenge you on something. I promise if you truly commit to your calling, if you attack it with the same relentless effort that you give a job, the job that barely moves the needle in your life, it will pay you back in ways you never imagined.
00:11:41
Mike Ivanov
Most of us are stuck in this lie that our calling and our income have to be separate. That passion is nice, but it doesn't pay the bills. I thought that way for sure.
00:11:52
Mike Ivanov
And that's what's held me back for a long time. We also think that you have to be practical and play it safe. I'll tell you something. Playing it safe is the biggest financial risk you'll ever take.
00:12:06
Mike Ivanov
No risk, no reward. I promise you that.
00:12:12
Mike Ivanov
Anytime I've ever played it safe, it's never made me feel alive. It's actually depressing.
00:12:20
Mike Ivanov
Because when you own your calling, When you show up every day, put in the work and refuse to quit, something does change. You become undeniable. You work harder, longer, with better intensity than anyone else because it's not work to you.
00:12:36
Mike Ivanov
It's who you are. You create so much value that the world has to pay attention. And that's when the money starts coming. More money than you'd ever imagine would come from your job.
00:12:49
Mike Ivanov
And why is that, right? these This is very controversial, what I'm saying. But I truly believe it. um You know, people don't pay for average.
00:13:01
Mike Ivanov
They pay for excellence. They pay for impact. They pay for people who are so obsessed with what they do that they can't be ignored. And if you pursue your calling with that kind of fire, you'll build a life you never thought was possible.
00:13:21
Mike Ivanov
And if you need an extra push, and this is what I tell myself, consider the regret if you don't.
00:13:32
Mike Ivanov
I couldn't imagine in 20 years sitting back knowing that I didn't pursue what I felt I was called to do.
00:13:47
Mike Ivanov
It's fucking scary.
00:13:51
Mike Ivanov
And all of you have that. You have the opportunity to identify what your calling is. You have the opportunity to pursue it.
00:14:05
Mike Ivanov
You have the opportunity to not pursue it and then experience all of that regret for not pursuing it. So right now, I want you to pause for a second and picture it.
00:14:24
Mike Ivanov
Picture the version of you, 5, 10, 20 years from now, looking back, wondering what could have happened if you had the fucking guts to go all in.
Changing Mindset for Fulfillment
00:14:41
Mike Ivanov
Think about how it's going to feel knowing you couldn't fucking bet on yourself because you were too afraid.
00:14:54
Mike Ivanov
We all have things we wish we could do. Now be careful of that word wish because that's already negative self-talk. That's already implying that you'll never be able to accomplish it. So you wish for it, right? Fuck that.
00:15:10
Mike Ivanov
Let's be real here. Wishing, just a symptom of your own limiting beliefs.
00:15:18
Mike Ivanov
It is the language of fear.
00:15:21
Mike Ivanov
Wishing is what you do when you're afraid to claim what's already yours. The second that you stop wishing and start doing, start living the life that makes your heart sing, everything shifts.
00:15:34
Mike Ivanov
I promise you that. I have seen it. I have felt it. The universe has delivered shit to me just because I change how I'm thinking.
00:15:45
Mike Ivanov
Because when you do what makes your heart sing, you create a different energy. You attract different people. You unlock a version of yourself that's been waiting to break loose.
00:15:58
Mike Ivanov
And when you live like that, fully aligned, fully alive, the money falls limitlessly. You're no longer chasing success.
00:16:09
Mike Ivanov
It's chasing you. That's the difference between surviving and living. That's the difference between regret and legacy. So if you're still sitting there convincing yourself that your calling can't make you money, fucking prove it.
00:16:23
Mike Ivanov
Prove me wrong. Go all in. Give it the same energy you give your job that you claim to hate. Give it everything. And if you do, if you actually show up every single fucking day with the same consistency, with the same intensity, I guarantee you, you'll make more money than you ever would in a job.
00:16:48
Mike Ivanov
The only thing standing between you and that life is you.
00:16:55
Mike Ivanov
So what's it going to be?
00:17:00
Mike Ivanov
Keep grinding away at something that doesn't move your soul or step into your calling. Take the risk. Bet on yourself. You already know the answer. But now it's time to act on it.
00:17:15
Mike Ivanov
Are you willing to pay the price?
00:17:19
Mike Ivanov
Most people won't. This shit is not for everybody. Most, they'll stay in that illusion of security. Hiding behind their job.
00:17:30
Mike Ivanov
Hiding behind their routine. Hiding behind their carefully constructed excuses.
00:17:40
Mike Ivanov
Most people will tell themselves they have plenty of time to figure it out. That someday they'll step into something greater.
00:17:49
Mike Ivanov
Someday is a fucking lie.
00:17:53
Mike Ivanov
You have limited time.
Embracing Change and Overcoming Fear
00:17:56
Mike Ivanov
You need to understand that.
00:18:00
Mike Ivanov
But deep down, these people that say someday, they know it's a lie.
00:18:09
Mike Ivanov
Because when you finally realize your calling is bigger than your job, you start to see the truth.
00:18:17
Mike Ivanov
Everything up until now has been preparing you for the next level. The skills that you've built, the struggles you've endured, the battles that you fought wasn't just about making a living.
00:18:29
Mike Ivanov
It was shaping you into someone who could handle the weight of something greater.
00:18:35
Mike Ivanov
So the only question left is, are you going to answer the call?
00:18:42
Mike Ivanov
Think about that for a second.
00:18:48
Mike Ivanov
Everything I know today, everything I've built, the identity I've carried, the habits, the patterns, the comfort,
00:18:58
Mike Ivanov
it all had a change if I was going to truly follow my calling. It's fucking terrifying.
00:19:07
Mike Ivanov
But what's even more terrifying is staying the same.
00:19:15
Mike Ivanov
I've been on this journey for years. Through pain. Through triumph. Through breaking and rebuilding. And in that process, I've come to understand something.
00:19:30
Mike Ivanov
I have a story to tell.
00:19:34
Mike Ivanov
And that story isn't just about me. It's about what's possible.
Motivation to Pursue Dreams
00:19:40
Mike Ivanov
It's about mental health, but not in the way most people talk about it.
00:19:46
Mike Ivanov
I don't just want to help people. Okay. I want to push them. I want to push them to open up. I want to push them to face the truth, push them to achieve,
00:20:01
Mike Ivanov
push them to live the life of their dreams.
00:20:07
Mike Ivanov
Because most people don't.
00:20:11
Mike Ivanov
Most people's dreams.
00:20:14
Mike Ivanov
They stay in the same place they found them.
00:20:19
Mike Ivanov
Inside their heads. They fantasize, they wish, they hope, but they don't act. They don't chase, they don't fight, and that's what kills them.
00:20:30
Mike Ivanov
Not all once, slowly, over time, as they settle for a life that's smaller than what they were meant for.
00:20:39
Mike Ivanov
I refuse to be one of them. I'm already living some of my dreams, so why can't you?
00:20:49
Mike Ivanov
I find myself making every excuse in my own head to run from this calling. The mental chatter is relentless, doesn't shut the fuck up. The fear is so fucking loud. My mind is craving comfort because I'm forcing it to grow. It's clinging to the safety of what it knows, but I see it for what it is.
00:21:10
Mike Ivanov
After all this time, all these battles won, all these bricks stacked, I know the fucking game.
Conclusion: Face Fears and Take Action
00:21:16
Mike Ivanov
And I will not let my fear make choices for me.
00:21:23
Mike Ivanov
Still, I keep trying to figure it out. I keep dissecting the fear, tracing it back, unraveling the old stories I used to tell myself. I look at the timeline of my life, at everything that's brought me here.
00:21:34
Mike Ivanov
And the truth is raw. I am scared. I've always been scared. But fear is just a threshold. It's a doorway. A test. The question isn't whether I'm scared.
00:21:47
Mike Ivanov
The question is, is am I willing to step through it anyway? And I already know the answer. But I want you to step through it with me.
00:21:58
Mike Ivanov
Because you're fucking scared too. And it's okay. We're in this together. Don't tell yourself you're not ready. Don't wait for the right time.
00:22:09
Mike Ivanov
Don't pretend that maybe later is a strategy. Because here's the facts.
00:22:17
Mike Ivanov
You will never be ready. There is never a right time. And later never comes. The life you want doesn't wait. It demands action. Especially when you're scared. Especially when you're unsure. And especially when you're unprepared.
00:22:33
Mike Ivanov
So it's time to pay up. Step into it. or get out of the way.