TRP 113: Thriving in the Valley of Death
September 12, 2021
Episode Description: All businesses and all dreams face the valley of death! Too many people, too many dreams die in this valley! Learn the simple steps that you can take to seize victory and move from the valley of death to the mountain of victory!
Transcription
Randy Lawrence:
All right. Hey, I want to welcome you to today’s show. Got an exciting topic that I want to share with you and I want to share with you an insight. The truth is you are more than enough. You have the capability, you have the capacity, you are able to do this thing. The dream, the desire that’s been birthed in your heart, you have that capacity.
Randy Lawrence:
A lot of times what happens with dreams is they die in the valley of death. And what I mean by that is that you have this idea, you have this vision, you have this dream. Let’s say that it’s either you… You want to move to financial freedom and so it’s investing in real estate or you desire to create your own business, start your own practice. And so what happens a lot of times is there is a level of excitement that’s there, there’s a level of energy that’s there because of this vision, because of this birth of passion.
Randy Lawrence:
And so now some people, they don’t take action at that moment. They just dream about it. And it’s just always a dream. Now, other people, they will then take action. They begin to move forward in the direction that they perceive as the right direction. And as they proceed down that lane, invariably, there’s going to come moments in time where you encounter the difficulties, you encounter the obstacles, you encounter the naysayers, you encounter the setbacks. And it’s at those moments of inflection where you’ve hit this difficulty and it becomes arduous. It becomes difficult, right? A lot of times at that moment, the infatuation or the passion or the fire that stoked the flame kind of starts to get died out.
Randy Lawrence:
And so this is a very critical point as you go through this valley of death, so to speak, this is where people’s dreams die. This is where businesses turn down, right? So you’re at this critical moment of inflection. The truth of the matter is you have to find the resources within yourself to rise up and continue to execute, to continue to move forward. Maybe it does require that there’s some form of a pivot that comes in, but the critical piece is that you have to move forward. What happens a lot of times, it’s at that moment that people begin to doubt their ability. They say, "Man, I’m just tired of this," right? It’s week after week, month after month, they’ve been going through this and pushing forward.
Randy Lawrence:
And I’m telling you now, everybody goes through it. I’ve gone through it in a variety of iterations and variations, right? I’ve been in the real estate space for 18 years. And so we’ve been through multiple cycles. There’s been multiple iterations of how our business has looked. There’s been multiple cycles of the economy and there’s been difficulty, right? And there has been times where it’s like, gosh, it’s just so tough, so difficult. And it’s at that moment where you have to find the ability to restoke those embers, to restock that flame and to go forward.
Randy Lawrence:
So I want to just give you a couple of tools and think about it. This is what I’ve applied. Some of it I’ve discovered through various readings. Others has been mentors like Tony Robbins and others, John Maxwell. But so, first and foremost, there needs to be a why behind what you’re doing, right? If you’re doing it just for the money… I think of that song, show me the money, must be the money. No, you know what I mean? If you’re doing it just for the money, I can tell you that it’s going to not be enough. There’s going to be a time where you’re like, God, it’s just not worth it. There’s people we buy apartments from. We’re working on a deal now where the guy’s 73, working with the relationship. And he said, "Well, it just, you know…" He’s just tired of it, thinks there’s got to be more to life than dealing with this apartment. So again, realistically, you can hear in that, it was just about the money.
Randy Lawrence:
So, but again, so it’s got to be more than the money. So the reason why are you doing it? Why are you pursuing it? Are you pursuing financial freedom? Is it for to create a better life for your family? Are you pursuing this business so that you can make a demonstrable impact in other people’s lives and improve the quality of their life? Are you pursuing your dream because it’s this birth dream that God’s given you, that you’re going to make a difference in the lives of people? So again, I want to challenge you and encourage you to see that you’ve got to have a motivating reason.
Randy Lawrence:
And then the second piece of it is you’ve got to have faith. Right? In that moment, when you’re in the valley of death and… Praise the Lord, right? You don’t want to stay in the valley of death. You’ve got to believe that this won’t last forever, right? That this difficulty, these challenges, these obstacles, whatever these things may be that you’re encountering, it’s not going to last forever. And you’ve got to muster up within yourself and say, "You know what? I’m going to outlast it. It’s not going to outlast me." Again. Critical moment. This is where as people are walking down this path, they begin to say, "Oh God, this is not going to change. It’s not going to get any better. It’s not going to get any different. What’s the use? I’m just going to pull back."
Randy Lawrence:
And it’s at that moment that you cannot pull back. It’s at that moment you have to believe that, you know what, I’m going to keep going. I’m going to put one step in front of the other and as I do that, I’m going to see the other side of this thing. I remember when we had left where I grew up to move north of Tampa to be involved with starting a church. And I was reading in the Bible. There was a great promise that God had give me and you read this account of Jesus in the Bible. He got into a boat with his followers, the disciples. And he said, "We’re going to the other side." And about midway through the journey he’s taking a rest and asleep with a cushion under his head and a storm is just rocking the boat. And they’re thinking, "Oh my God, we’re going to die." But the thing that they missed is in the beginning, Jesus told them, "Hey, we’re going to the other side."
Randy Lawrence:
And I remember that when we moved out to north of Tampa to be involved in starting that church, that was a promise that I really felt and knew that God gave me, was that hey, we’re going to the other side. And so there was so many difficulties we encountered both with starting a church from nothing and also running a real estate investment company, and coupled together that was 2006, so the epicenter of the real estate collapse is just fixing to happen in 2007 and really off the cliff in 2008. And then not only through that journey, but good Lord, we started a church, impacted people there, started a food pantry, probably in 2009, helped some 40,000-plus people during the height of that economic collapse and expanded the church to probably like a hundred people and connecting together with more and doing celebrate recovery ministries to help people out from some of their addictions and such like that.
Randy Lawrence:
So I say that because it was like I had to have belief in those moments of despair, that moment of valley of death where it’s just like, God, it’s not worth it. And in that model, I’m not getting paid to do that, right? I’m doing that out of a purpose of vision. Right? And so again, you’ve got to have this belief that this thing’s not going to last forever.
Randy Lawrence:
And then third, you’ve got to have a confidence or a belief also in yourself, right? Think about this. The very fact that you’re hearing this podcast is evidence and proof that you’ve come through any and all circumstances of the past. And all of us have been through situations where it was difficult. It may have even been dire and like, oh my God, I’m not sure if I’m going to make it. Right? Like crying and praying, right? And you made it because you have what it takes and you have the resources. And so that you’ve got to really, in those moments of despair, refocus your thinking to see the truth that I’ve got this. I’ve got the ability, I’ve got the power, I’ve got the strength, I’ve got the resources. It’s not a lack of resources, it’s a lack of resourcefulness that often causes people to die in the valley of death. Their business dies, their dream dies, their family unity is gone and it’s because of a lack of resourcefulness, not a lack of resources in your ability.
Randy Lawrence:
And so I want to encourage you to grab a hold of these things and then through that, you redirect your mind, redirect your thinking and redirect your emotions to see the positive outcome that you’re coming to the other side of this thing. And as a result of it, you are going to be victorious. And I would just say this in closing, that God has given you the dream, God has given you the desire and as a result of that, he’s going to equip you with the help and the resources necessary to be able to achieve this thing. There’s no doubt about it. The very proof that you have the dream and the desire is evidence that it can and shall come to pass if you don’t quit. So I want to encourage you to seize hold of the moment, seize hold of it and take advantage of it so that you can move from the valley of death to the mountain of victory.
