Parker Yablon: What's going on, Elevation Nation? Back with another Fortitude and 15. And man, Sam, today we are talking about something that I feel like we always kind of talk about. We hint at a bit. And that's the topic of dreaming. I know I probably do that a little bit better than you do. And so I want to have a conversation about it. I wanna see where your dreams are at right now, where your head's at. You're gonna get meta on me, I have a feeling. But what's going on? How we doing, brother?
Sam Panitch: Dude, my life rocks. Everything is great. Thanks for asking. You seem tired. And you're in the grayest conference room I've ever seen wearing a shirt with essentially the same color as the wallpaper, and it's making me depressed. So I hope you're having a better day. You also need a haircut.
Parker Yablon: Growing the hair out, getting ready, but yes, I'll get a haircut over a holiday weekend. And I didn't choose the wallpaper. The wallpaper chose me. This was the room that was available, and I wasn't gonna record in public because I'd be rude. And I don't want to be rude to people. and this, you know what? This is a soft polo. So don't be don't be ragging on it. Even though I tried to play golf in it and I realized that was a terrible decision because you need like a special shirt to golf. like a golf shirt. This is not a golf shirt. So all is good, brother. And can't complain. Timmy the dreamer, man, came on on Tuesday and it took a while for us to get him on the pod. But I wanna break down a little bit more about dreaming and talk through with you about where your head's at. You know, what what did
Sam Panitch: Let's do it.
Parker Yablon: you What what did you used to dream about? What are you dreaming about now? I imagine it's changed a bunch. If you haven't listened to the episode with Timmy the Dreamer, he's a motivational speaker traveling across the country. And it's so fascinating because he is helping people give themselves the permission to dream again. Can you imagine that being a like a problem in the world? And when he was talking through the the challenges of people that people don't dream anymore. They they live vicariously through other people's dreams instead of saying, you know what, I'm gonna make my dream a reality And so he's doing really important work, Sam. I I I I really think what he's doing is cool. And he's got a cool message in how he tells the story.
Sam Panitch: Yeah, he's a good dude. Really great conversation. All about the concept of dreaming. I got a lot of hot takes, a lot of meta takes on dreaming, Parker, but I don't want to steal your thunder. I've had some vivid dreams lately. A lot of vivid dreams. but that's not the type of dreaming that we're talking about today. We're talking about dreaming for your goals. I made a video today talking about that we actually achieved our dream of speaking on stages, of going on tour. Elevating the mindsets of young people. And one of the hardest parts of me with that dream was the realization that I don't know if I loved it. I don't know if it was that fun. We have these dreams in our minds that we work towards because we think they're going to be these incredible moments. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you love every second of it. And for me, the dream was always to go and speak on stage and be able to elevate the mindsets of people. And I love that part. But gosh, the parts leading up to it and the parts getting there and the rough parts that people don't talk about or think about, like selling it to people and having to make all the materials and get to these places that you're speaking and kind of a pain in the butt. Didn't love that. And so the dream that we lived out, yes, it was incredible, but my dreams have changed and evolved. And so I'm excited to get into the conversation with you. What questions you got for me, man? What dream thoughts?
Parker Yablon: Well, I don't just have question from you. I mean, I think let's talk a little bit more about that. First of all, the first five minutes when I speak on stage I don't dream about. Like I I not at all. I you know how I get. It's very nerve wracking. I think the idea of getting on stage and helping people and elevating with people, it's really cool. I growing up never thought that was gonna be what I wanted to do. And to be honest with you, when you used to say to me, Hey, we're gonna speak on stages one day, I'd be like, dude I don't know if I want to do that. I honestly didn't even know what I wanted Elevation Nation to be. Maybe, to be honest with you, an avenue to get out of my my job or make a living, you know, being able to do a podcast or run workshops for people. I don't know. Dreaming's interesting, dude, because it's it's something that you can think about, but the only thing that's gonna get you closer to that thing that you're thinking about. is like taking a step forward. So let's walk it back then. My first question on Dreaming for You, Sam, is like with Elevation Nation, when we started and brainstormed in February in Ocean City in twenty twenty, right before COVID was gonna wreck the world. What were you dreaming of? Was it dreaming of you know, what what was younger Sam dreaming of? And then let's go to now, Sam, and I'll I'm happy to give him my own perspective as well.
Sam Panitch: I wanted a reason, an excuse in a way to meet really cool people. I think your network and the people that you meet is the most important thing about you and it opens up a ton of doors. Yet I didn't feel like I had a network outside of the four walls of my corporate office. And it gave me a reason to expand my network. So that dream certainly been accomplished and will continue to be accomplished. In addition to that, some other dreams was just being able to speak. And then lastly being able to help people. That was the biggest one. I think we've accomplished all those dreams, which is why it's hard for me sometimes to come up with new dreams for Elevation Nation. I don't know exactly what will bring me the most fulfillment, joy, happiness, peace of mind when it comes to EN. I love where we've headed. I'm kind of open to where it heads. And not that I don't have dreams. I have dreams and I have aspirations, but I think I also am open to new dreams popping up.
Parker Yablon: New dreams popping up. I mean, I have a lot of dreams that have popped up every single second of every day. And I agree with you. Meeting new people, making an impact on the world and trying to like do something fun with my time and do something beyond. Like it's a good dream. But I know you talk about your dream life a lot. And you remember when we went through that phase where you're like, I'm not actually trying to define my dream life by like the tangible things that happen in that life. But you rather thought about it with how you feel, like the emotions that you're experiencing in your dream day or life. Help us understand that perspective.
Sam Panitch: Yeah, I think for a lot of people they tie their dreams to things that they can grab or grasp. Certain dollar amount, certain salary, type of house, type of car, type of job, things that they can actually get and say, All right, I did that. And I think there's something dangerous when you have your dreams be tied to those specific things because either they don't come true or they do come true and they're not as sweet as you thought they were going to be. And so I've taken a slightly different approach to my dreams. Although I will say that one of my biggest dreams is to still have a farm. It's very tangible. I just want apple orchards and mangoes growing everywhere. That is still a tangible goal that I have. But when it comes to my dreams, I think there are some obviously cheesy ones. I want to be happy. I want to be healthy. Like, sure. What I really want is to be creatively challenged every day in a room full of people that inspire me. Right. I want that feeling of collaboration and creativity to be at the forefront of my mind. I want fulfillment that the work that I'm doing, or at least a part of the work I'm doing, is making the world a better place and helping people. I want to know that I'm financially secure and to feel safe and comfortable with where I'm at and that my family and myself are taken care of. I want to know that I'm taking care of my body and I feel healthy. I feel energized waking up every single day. I want these feelings, right? I don't know exactly the path or the thing or the job or the dollar amount that is going to get me there. But the dream is that I have these feelings. And the dream also is one that I currently have right now. I do get to do a lot of this stuff. I want to continue a lot of this stuff. These dreams, many of them, have already come in true have already come true. And That's why I struggle sometimes with dreaming. And I think I need a lesson from Timmy. Maybe we need to do a workshop with our boy because sometimes I struggle to make bigger dreams because I'm trying to be grateful in the moment with the dreams that I already currently am living out.
Parker Yablon: Do ever find yourself hedging though? Like you the reason why you don't well, no, I
Sam Panitch: I think that's gratitude. Isn't that gratitude?
Parker Yablon: no, but I feel like sometimes, you know, I'll come to you with like a big idea. And, you know, that's different a little different than dreaming, right? But I'm the dreamer in our partnership here and or the big idea guy. We're both dreamers. But I think sometimes like I've found that and I I'm I fall into this too, is that like we hedge a little bit. on our dreams. Maybe we don't think too big because that how could we actually do that? How could we get there? And we hedge on it. We're like, we could do a version of that or we could test it. Or you know what? Like for example, we had a dream that fell short and we failed. And maybe it failed because we hedged on it. And that was the community piece, right? We committed to each other that we were gonna build this community. We were gonna invest in it. gonna join a masterclass and we had this dream of hey Elevation Nation could be more than just having people pay us to come to them and elevate their people. Like we could create the spaces too. We both agree still to this day that we want that. Obviously there's a lot of time and effort and resources that go into putting something like that together. And we said, you know what, it's not worth it at this moment in our life. And so I often think back, it's like We have all these dreams in our head, but how often do we hedge on them and make them not come to life? Imagine if we like stuck it out and we pushed through the challenges and we actually threw our first event. Maybe we'd be on a different course, dude. And maybe we'd be heading toward a world where our dreams were becoming more of a reality. And they are. But like a new dream to your point. Maybe like we're staying in the game and new dreams will come up. I just it it's fascinating because dreams don't come true. Like unless you just continue to pursue them. And sometimes I feel well last
Sam Panitch: Yeah, I mean I think it's an interesting
Parker Yablon: l to my last point is like sometimes I feel like w and this is the hard part, it's like, why dream if I know it's never gonna come true?
Sam Panitch: Yeah, I don't know. Why would you dream if you know it's never gonna come true? I don't think you should dream then. I think those are bad dreams then.
Parker Yablon: Well, I think that go well, I think that goes against kind of the point of Timmy. Like what he's trying to do is that people believe that their dreams are not gonna come true, so they don't dream at all.
Sam Panitch: Yeah, so if you don't believe it's gonna come true, then yeah, you should not dream. I agree. But if you have one percent of you that thinks maybe I could do this, then I think you should. Then go for it, then dream. And to your point on hedging our bets, yeah, I think we did that fully. But I think we did that for reasons. I don't know if you'd be as happy if we built the community. You wouldn't have as much free time. Maybe you wouldn't be able to live in New York City. Maybe you would have had to move to DC. Maybe that would have caused issues for you. Maybe that would have stressed you out more. Maybe that would have caused issues in your full-time job, right? Like you make decisions based on the education that you have and to make the best decision for you overall. If we were able to live our lives in vacuums where things weren't impacted by others, we could try and test a billion dreams. But there's finite time, there's finite energy, and there's finite resources. And so you make the best decision you can to keep as many of your dreams alive as possible, right? Another taboo example is I could have tried to be a professional athlete. So could you. We would have had to made a lot of sacrifices. We would have had to train completely differently. And we probably would have had it settled to being a professional athlete in like the middle of fucking nowhere. Right? But we decided that sacrifice was not worth it. So we hedged those bets and went and did and followed other dreams. You have a beautiful wife And a family that you are starting, you moved, you were able to afford a new apartment. You were able to do all those things because you made other sacrifices and killed other dreams that maybe would have made you equally happy, maybe would have made you more money, less money, maybe would have made you a complete miserable person. You never know. Dreams change, dreams evolve, and they have to adjust. So quitting on a dream to me is not a failure. Quitting on a dream is pivoting to other dreams to fulfill those.
Parker Yablon: That's a good point. I think it's good perspective. you you make good points. You have to you have to hedge at some point. You have to say, is this dream worth it or not? You know, there's a lot of it's a pivot, but there's
Sam Panitch: It's not a hedge. It's a pivot. It's a pivot.
Parker Yablon: a lot of people who sc try to pursue their dreams and they never get there. And maybe that's just part of life and grow like, you know, think about a professional basketball player. There's only what, twelve people in a team and then maybe a couple extra on the practice squad or whatever. Like that's not a lot of people, but so many people think they can get there, hope to get there, and they put all their eggs in that basket to your point. We got a dream, but you gotta know when you can pivot to find new dreams. And I think that's where at we're at a point now. Obviously, the next couple of months is gonna be different for Elevation Nation for us, just with time and investment that we're putting in. But dude, once the new year comes around, like I want us to dream some more, dream new. Like what what is the world that we're gonna be able to build from from Elevation Nation? Is it hey, we're just gonna meet people on a podcast? Hey, is it we're just gonna speak in front of, you know, some camps throughout the year? Or, dude, I still dream that we're gonna be throwing Elevation Nation summer camp one day or Elevation Nation summits or Elevation Nation golf tournaments. I don't know. But there's a part of me that I'll never let that go because that's a world where I think we can get to. I believe it wholeheartedly, and that's my dream. That's my my world that I think we can get to and Until I'm told otherwise, we're gonna keep going.
Sam Panitch: Dreams change, dreams evolve. But as long as you keep dreaming, I think you stay in the fight. Until next week, Elevation Nation. Peace.
Sam Panitch: Dude, my life rocks. Everything is great. Thanks for asking. You seem tired. And you're in the grayest conference room I've ever seen wearing a shirt with essentially the same color as the wallpaper, and it's making me depressed. So I hope you're having a better day. You also need a haircut.
Parker Yablon: Growing the hair out, getting ready, but yes, I'll get a haircut over a holiday weekend. And I didn't choose the wallpaper. The wallpaper chose me. This was the room that was available, and I wasn't gonna record in public because I'd be rude. And I don't want to be rude to people. and this, you know what? This is a soft polo. So don't be don't be ragging on it. Even though I tried to play golf in it and I realized that was a terrible decision because you need like a special shirt to golf. like a golf shirt. This is not a golf shirt. So all is good, brother. And can't complain. Timmy the dreamer, man, came on on Tuesday and it took a while for us to get him on the pod. But I wanna break down a little bit more about dreaming and talk through with you about where your head's at. You know, what what did
Sam Panitch: Let's do it.
Parker Yablon: you What what did you used to dream about? What are you dreaming about now? I imagine it's changed a bunch. If you haven't listened to the episode with Timmy the Dreamer, he's a motivational speaker traveling across the country. And it's so fascinating because he is helping people give themselves the permission to dream again. Can you imagine that being a like a problem in the world? And when he was talking through the the challenges of people that people don't dream anymore. They they live vicariously through other people's dreams instead of saying, you know what, I'm gonna make my dream a reality And so he's doing really important work, Sam. I I I I really think what he's doing is cool. And he's got a cool message in how he tells the story.
Sam Panitch: Yeah, he's a good dude. Really great conversation. All about the concept of dreaming. I got a lot of hot takes, a lot of meta takes on dreaming, Parker, but I don't want to steal your thunder. I've had some vivid dreams lately. A lot of vivid dreams. but that's not the type of dreaming that we're talking about today. We're talking about dreaming for your goals. I made a video today talking about that we actually achieved our dream of speaking on stages, of going on tour. Elevating the mindsets of young people. And one of the hardest parts of me with that dream was the realization that I don't know if I loved it. I don't know if it was that fun. We have these dreams in our minds that we work towards because we think they're going to be these incredible moments. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you love every second of it. And for me, the dream was always to go and speak on stage and be able to elevate the mindsets of people. And I love that part. But gosh, the parts leading up to it and the parts getting there and the rough parts that people don't talk about or think about, like selling it to people and having to make all the materials and get to these places that you're speaking and kind of a pain in the butt. Didn't love that. And so the dream that we lived out, yes, it was incredible, but my dreams have changed and evolved. And so I'm excited to get into the conversation with you. What questions you got for me, man? What dream thoughts?
Parker Yablon: Well, I don't just have question from you. I mean, I think let's talk a little bit more about that. First of all, the first five minutes when I speak on stage I don't dream about. Like I I not at all. I you know how I get. It's very nerve wracking. I think the idea of getting on stage and helping people and elevating with people, it's really cool. I growing up never thought that was gonna be what I wanted to do. And to be honest with you, when you used to say to me, Hey, we're gonna speak on stages one day, I'd be like, dude I don't know if I want to do that. I honestly didn't even know what I wanted Elevation Nation to be. Maybe, to be honest with you, an avenue to get out of my my job or make a living, you know, being able to do a podcast or run workshops for people. I don't know. Dreaming's interesting, dude, because it's it's something that you can think about, but the only thing that's gonna get you closer to that thing that you're thinking about. is like taking a step forward. So let's walk it back then. My first question on Dreaming for You, Sam, is like with Elevation Nation, when we started and brainstormed in February in Ocean City in twenty twenty, right before COVID was gonna wreck the world. What were you dreaming of? Was it dreaming of you know, what what was younger Sam dreaming of? And then let's go to now, Sam, and I'll I'm happy to give him my own perspective as well.
Sam Panitch: I wanted a reason, an excuse in a way to meet really cool people. I think your network and the people that you meet is the most important thing about you and it opens up a ton of doors. Yet I didn't feel like I had a network outside of the four walls of my corporate office. And it gave me a reason to expand my network. So that dream certainly been accomplished and will continue to be accomplished. In addition to that, some other dreams was just being able to speak. And then lastly being able to help people. That was the biggest one. I think we've accomplished all those dreams, which is why it's hard for me sometimes to come up with new dreams for Elevation Nation. I don't know exactly what will bring me the most fulfillment, joy, happiness, peace of mind when it comes to EN. I love where we've headed. I'm kind of open to where it heads. And not that I don't have dreams. I have dreams and I have aspirations, but I think I also am open to new dreams popping up.
Parker Yablon: New dreams popping up. I mean, I have a lot of dreams that have popped up every single second of every day. And I agree with you. Meeting new people, making an impact on the world and trying to like do something fun with my time and do something beyond. Like it's a good dream. But I know you talk about your dream life a lot. And you remember when we went through that phase where you're like, I'm not actually trying to define my dream life by like the tangible things that happen in that life. But you rather thought about it with how you feel, like the emotions that you're experiencing in your dream day or life. Help us understand that perspective.
Sam Panitch: Yeah, I think for a lot of people they tie their dreams to things that they can grab or grasp. Certain dollar amount, certain salary, type of house, type of car, type of job, things that they can actually get and say, All right, I did that. And I think there's something dangerous when you have your dreams be tied to those specific things because either they don't come true or they do come true and they're not as sweet as you thought they were going to be. And so I've taken a slightly different approach to my dreams. Although I will say that one of my biggest dreams is to still have a farm. It's very tangible. I just want apple orchards and mangoes growing everywhere. That is still a tangible goal that I have. But when it comes to my dreams, I think there are some obviously cheesy ones. I want to be happy. I want to be healthy. Like, sure. What I really want is to be creatively challenged every day in a room full of people that inspire me. Right. I want that feeling of collaboration and creativity to be at the forefront of my mind. I want fulfillment that the work that I'm doing, or at least a part of the work I'm doing, is making the world a better place and helping people. I want to know that I'm financially secure and to feel safe and comfortable with where I'm at and that my family and myself are taken care of. I want to know that I'm taking care of my body and I feel healthy. I feel energized waking up every single day. I want these feelings, right? I don't know exactly the path or the thing or the job or the dollar amount that is going to get me there. But the dream is that I have these feelings. And the dream also is one that I currently have right now. I do get to do a lot of this stuff. I want to continue a lot of this stuff. These dreams, many of them, have already come in true have already come true. And That's why I struggle sometimes with dreaming. And I think I need a lesson from Timmy. Maybe we need to do a workshop with our boy because sometimes I struggle to make bigger dreams because I'm trying to be grateful in the moment with the dreams that I already currently am living out.
Parker Yablon: Do ever find yourself hedging though? Like you the reason why you don't well, no, I
Sam Panitch: I think that's gratitude. Isn't that gratitude?
Parker Yablon: no, but I feel like sometimes, you know, I'll come to you with like a big idea. And, you know, that's different a little different than dreaming, right? But I'm the dreamer in our partnership here and or the big idea guy. We're both dreamers. But I think sometimes like I've found that and I I'm I fall into this too, is that like we hedge a little bit. on our dreams. Maybe we don't think too big because that how could we actually do that? How could we get there? And we hedge on it. We're like, we could do a version of that or we could test it. Or you know what? Like for example, we had a dream that fell short and we failed. And maybe it failed because we hedged on it. And that was the community piece, right? We committed to each other that we were gonna build this community. We were gonna invest in it. gonna join a masterclass and we had this dream of hey Elevation Nation could be more than just having people pay us to come to them and elevate their people. Like we could create the spaces too. We both agree still to this day that we want that. Obviously there's a lot of time and effort and resources that go into putting something like that together. And we said, you know what, it's not worth it at this moment in our life. And so I often think back, it's like We have all these dreams in our head, but how often do we hedge on them and make them not come to life? Imagine if we like stuck it out and we pushed through the challenges and we actually threw our first event. Maybe we'd be on a different course, dude. And maybe we'd be heading toward a world where our dreams were becoming more of a reality. And they are. But like a new dream to your point. Maybe like we're staying in the game and new dreams will come up. I just it it's fascinating because dreams don't come true. Like unless you just continue to pursue them. And sometimes I feel well last
Sam Panitch: Yeah, I mean I think it's an interesting
Parker Yablon: l to my last point is like sometimes I feel like w and this is the hard part, it's like, why dream if I know it's never gonna come true?
Sam Panitch: Yeah, I don't know. Why would you dream if you know it's never gonna come true? I don't think you should dream then. I think those are bad dreams then.
Parker Yablon: Well, I think that go well, I think that goes against kind of the point of Timmy. Like what he's trying to do is that people believe that their dreams are not gonna come true, so they don't dream at all.
Sam Panitch: Yeah, so if you don't believe it's gonna come true, then yeah, you should not dream. I agree. But if you have one percent of you that thinks maybe I could do this, then I think you should. Then go for it, then dream. And to your point on hedging our bets, yeah, I think we did that fully. But I think we did that for reasons. I don't know if you'd be as happy if we built the community. You wouldn't have as much free time. Maybe you wouldn't be able to live in New York City. Maybe you would have had to move to DC. Maybe that would have caused issues for you. Maybe that would have stressed you out more. Maybe that would have caused issues in your full-time job, right? Like you make decisions based on the education that you have and to make the best decision for you overall. If we were able to live our lives in vacuums where things weren't impacted by others, we could try and test a billion dreams. But there's finite time, there's finite energy, and there's finite resources. And so you make the best decision you can to keep as many of your dreams alive as possible, right? Another taboo example is I could have tried to be a professional athlete. So could you. We would have had to made a lot of sacrifices. We would have had to train completely differently. And we probably would have had it settled to being a professional athlete in like the middle of fucking nowhere. Right? But we decided that sacrifice was not worth it. So we hedged those bets and went and did and followed other dreams. You have a beautiful wife And a family that you are starting, you moved, you were able to afford a new apartment. You were able to do all those things because you made other sacrifices and killed other dreams that maybe would have made you equally happy, maybe would have made you more money, less money, maybe would have made you a complete miserable person. You never know. Dreams change, dreams evolve, and they have to adjust. So quitting on a dream to me is not a failure. Quitting on a dream is pivoting to other dreams to fulfill those.
Parker Yablon: That's a good point. I think it's good perspective. you you make good points. You have to you have to hedge at some point. You have to say, is this dream worth it or not? You know, there's a lot of it's a pivot, but there's
Sam Panitch: It's not a hedge. It's a pivot. It's a pivot.
Parker Yablon: a lot of people who sc try to pursue their dreams and they never get there. And maybe that's just part of life and grow like, you know, think about a professional basketball player. There's only what, twelve people in a team and then maybe a couple extra on the practice squad or whatever. Like that's not a lot of people, but so many people think they can get there, hope to get there, and they put all their eggs in that basket to your point. We got a dream, but you gotta know when you can pivot to find new dreams. And I think that's where at we're at a point now. Obviously, the next couple of months is gonna be different for Elevation Nation for us, just with time and investment that we're putting in. But dude, once the new year comes around, like I want us to dream some more, dream new. Like what what is the world that we're gonna be able to build from from Elevation Nation? Is it hey, we're just gonna meet people on a podcast? Hey, is it we're just gonna speak in front of, you know, some camps throughout the year? Or, dude, I still dream that we're gonna be throwing Elevation Nation summer camp one day or Elevation Nation summits or Elevation Nation golf tournaments. I don't know. But there's a part of me that I'll never let that go because that's a world where I think we can get to. I believe it wholeheartedly, and that's my dream. That's my my world that I think we can get to and Until I'm told otherwise, we're gonna keep going.
Sam Panitch: Dreams change, dreams evolve. But as long as you keep dreaming, I think you stay in the fight. Until next week, Elevation Nation. Peace.
