Exclusive Interview with Mindful Ambition’s Patrick Buggy

Who is Patrick Buggy?

A coach, writer, and aspiring entrepreneur – creator of Mindful Ambition.

I learned more about Patrick via a Q&A interview. He has some great answers. Check it out below!

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Q1) I read your story in your About section, but was there a particular moment when your life shifted? Or was it the result of numerous experiences?

“I change in two ways: gradually and suddenly. 

An INSIGHT can hit you in a moment. But transformational, last change tends to be an accumulation of gradual, incremental, step-by-step actions.

That’s how it’s been with my journey. There have been lots of insights that hit in an instant. But they don’t actually make a difference until they’re aggregated and compounded over time with consistent practice.

At Optimize, we talk about helping you go from Theory to Practice to Mastery. 

An insight is the theory. It’s putting things into practice that has led me to feeling healthier, more energized, more confident, more connected, more on my path, etc.”

Q2) Out of all the mindful exercises you have written about, do you have a favorite and why?

“The one that’s going to help me conquer my next most-important challenge. 😉

The tool I use most often is my Daily Wins Checklist. The tool that’s helped me take the biggest leaps is Fear-Setting. For all goal-setting, it’s WOOP!

These days, I’m probably having the most fun with The Fear Game, helping me close the gap between hits of intuition of things I want to do, and actually doing them.”

Q3) Who comes to mind when you think of role models in your field? How have they influenced your life?

“I’m profoundly grateful that two of my biggest mentors, Brian Johnson and Michael Balchan, are now my teammates at Optimize.

I could go on for days about these two. Both are astonishingly radiant exemplars, truly embodying and practicing wisdom to live life at their best and change the world.

Optimize has played a massive role in my personal and professional growth in the last 5 years. All of that is thanks to Bri.

Michael is the one who first turned me on to Optimize. He was the first coach I ever hired, and has played a direct role in supporting my growth in countless other ways.”

Q4) What does success mean to you?

“Closing the gap between who you’re being and who you’re capable of being. Moment to moment.”

Q5) What do you like to do for fun?

“I love moving my body and being outdoors! Hiking, climbing, camping, sports, going to the beach, playing games with friends, etc.

I find deep, meaningful conversations to be super fun. 

And…I’m also obsessed with Optimizing! I geek out hard on the subject matter of my work, and generally find work to be fun.”

Q6) What would you consider your greatest accomplishment? What else would you like to accomplish?

“My greatest accomplishments: every time I’ve made the decision to leave the safety of my comfort zone and the “approved path” to trust my intuition of what I really wanted.

What I want to accomplish: the same thing, repeated, to continue stepping into the next-best version of myself and giving my greatest gifts in service to others.

My biggest growth edge these days is all areas of building deeply meaningful, authentic, wholehearted relationships.”

Q7) What has been the most difficult part of your journey? Do you have a routine or specific exercises to help you overcome struggles?

“Most difficult = Loneliness and doubt when I hadn’t yet built any momentum in my business. I had no idea if forging my own path would work. I sometimes felt like I was crazy for trying. At one point, I had zero clients, went through a breakup, and my grandma died, all in the span of a couple weeks.  

Every struggle requires a slightly different solution, but there are common frameworks and support structures that I apply in all of them:

1 – The Fundamentals. This is language we use at Optimize about how you’re managing your energy. How you’re sleeping, eating, moving, breathing, and meditating makes a HUGE difference in your ability to navigate challenges.

2 – What is it that I want? Beginning with the end in mind of the future vision. Orienting with that north-star. Then…

3 – How would I show up to this challenge if I were at my best? Getting clear on that. And then…

3 – Taking action. Taking small steps. That’s how we make progress.”

Q8) Have you found any similar struggles in people you’ve coached? How have you worked together on overcoming these?

“Hah! Yes. 

It’s not often that we have a challenge that’s UNcommon. All of our struggles are shared, in a way.

Simply having that frame, that we aren’t alone in, or broken for, facing the challenge the facing is a HUGE place to start.

If we are unwilling to accept and love our current situation, and find some semblance of okayness and internal safety within it, we’ll never be able to make effective progress forward.”

Q9) What are 3 recommendations a struggling person can do to improve their life?

“1 – Dial in your Fundamentals. Sleep more. Eat nourishing foods. Move your body daily. Meditate every day. Breathe through your nose. 

2 – Get support. Talk about your challenges with a trusted party. 

3 – Treat it all like an experiment. Try things out. See if they work. Keep what helps, drop what doesn’t.”

Q10) What does your ideal life look like?

“I’m living it. 🙂

The thing is, life is all about change. So this is mostly a process-orientation, not an end state. 

Energetically, I’m in the best shape of my life and feel like I’m making meaningful progress towards my health/movement/energy-oriented goals.

Work-wise, I’m living on purpose. Giving a wide range of my skills in service to the world. Growing as a result of constant challenges. And working with a team, and in an environment of powerful support. 

Love-wise, I feel connected with a community of people who care about me and want me to be my best, that my most important relationships are deepening in authentic and meaningful ways, and that I’m strengthening my ability to forge new connections.

Put another way, my ideal life is feeling like I’m on my path, and that I’m showing up every day ready to take another step forward.”

Q11) If a magical genie gave you 3 wishes, what would you ask for?

“1 – To make it the norm for everyone in the world to meditate every day.

2 – For everyone in the world to understand how to regulate their nervous systems and process challenging emotions.

3 – More wishes? ;)”

Finding Joy Now

My focus shifts from one task to another as my thoughts wander and I drift further and further away from the present moment. 

This has happened to me many times and I’m sure will happen again in the future, but I have learned a few methods to finding and feeling joy in this moment right now.

Of course some people will say that to attain joy you need to exercise, eat healthy, don’t smoke, save money for retirement — to Do these things _________… and don’t do these things __________… Then you will be happy. And that’s just not true.

You either feel joy now or you don’t. It’s not something you will forever maintain once you accomplish this thing or that thing. It’s something to be had in this moment and to keep with you deep down as you journey through life. Even through the hard times that life brings to us all you will be able to remind yourself of the genuine joy you have. 

Joy comes from a multitude of actions and it’s unique to everyone. One big source of joy comes from loving what you do.

This is difficult in societies that tell us to live for the future – to disregard your happiness for 30-40 years and then you can be happy in retirement. It’s a lie and it has made many CEO’s wealthy.

I do believe in hard work and I believe in doing what you need to do to provide for yourself and your family, but in this internet age it is possible to find joy today while working toward financial freedom and other long-term goals.

Once you accept some inalienable truths you can experience a deep joy. Things such as: 

– Tomorrow isn’t promised.
– One day you are going to leave this planet forever (Memento Mori).
– This moment might be all you have.

Of course there are more inalienable truths, but these are a few that inspire me to find joy today, tomorrow, and throughout all the ups and downs of life.

Below are some exercises that have helped me and can help you. Each person is unique and will find joy in different ways so use what works for you.

-Remind yourself of a happy memory. Dwell in that memory for at least one minute.

-Remind yourself that the best times of your life haven’t happened yet. They are on their way.

-Think of someone you look up to as a role model. Remind yourself why you look up to them.

-Think of 3 accomplishments you are proud of that you have achieved in the past.

-Write down 3 things you enjoy doing – Can be anything – a sport, hanging out with people, going to a certain place, any hobby you have or would like to have.

-Try affirmations. Tell yourself “I am happy now. I am loved. I love life.”

-Think about what you would like to do if you didn’t have to worry about money. Remind yourself that it is possible to attain this in time. Don’t forget it.

-Observe your surroundings without thinking about them. Just see everything without labeling them for a few moments.

-Stargaze.

-Read something new.

-Surround yourself with a few objects that make you feel good.

Text Call someone you love.

Your joy is to be experienced today. Of course you won’t feel joy in every moment of your life, no one does, but you can take action toward living a more joyful life. 

45 Mind Opening & Inspiring Joe Rogan Quotes

1) “Pretend that your life was a movie and it started now, what would the hero do? What would the person that you respect do? What would the person that you admire, and inspires you do? Do that. Live your life like you’re the hero in your own movie.”

2) “We define ourselves far too often by our past failures. That’s not you. You are this person right now. You’re the person who has learned from those failures. Build confidence and momentum with each good decision you make from here on out and choose to be inspired.”

3) “If you ever start taking things too seriously, just remember that we are talking monkeys on an organic spaceship flying through the universe.”

4) “Not knowing the truth doesn’t make you ignorant. Not wanting to know the truth is what makes you ignorant.”

5) “It’s very important to help people figure out how to manage life, to help people figure out how to think, help inspire them, help show them what can be gained from setting goals and achieving them and that excellent feeling – and that becomes contagious.”

6) “Treat everyone as if they were you. If we really are one, then I am you and you are me.”

7) “The time you spend hating on someone robs you of your own time.  You are literally hating on yourself and you don’t even realize it.”

8) “Haters are all failures. It’s 100% across the board.  No one who is truly brilliant at anything is a hater.”

9) “My act is so completely and totally uncensored that the only way I could really pull it off is if I treat the audience like they’re my best friends.”

10) “Your attitude has a giant effect not just on your life, but on other peoples lives around you.”

11) “There’s a direct correlation between positive energy and positive results in the physical form.”

12) “Life is strange. You keep moving and keep moving. Before you know it, you look back and think, ‘What was that?’”

13) “In all my travelings, all my life adventures; I have to say I still don’t know what life is, absolutely no clue, and it is a subject that is constantly on my mind. One thing I do know for a fact is that the nicer we are to our fellow human beings, the nicer the universe is to us.”

14)“There really are no grown-ups, just kids that got old and had kids of their own.”

15) “That’s my only goal. Surround myself with funny people, and make sure everyone has a good time and works hard.”

16) “We got sidetracked and diverted into these boxes, that they call ‘companies’ and ‘corporations.’ And we got stuck in these containers that they call ‘cubicles’ or ‘offices.’ So our time, instead of it being invested in making pottery or fixing cars or doing something where you have a passion or some sort of connection to. Instead of that, you’ve sold your life to sit in a box and work for a machine; an uncaring machine that demands productivity. It doesn’t understand you. It doesn’t want to understand you. No natural behavior. Everyone is wearing clothes they don’t want to wear. Everybody is showing up and doing something they don’t want to do. They have no connection to it. That’s the problem with our society. And then what’s the reward? Go home and get a big TV.”

^^You can hear this quote & more in this short youtube video.

17) “Get better at whatever you’re doing. So what if you suck at it now. Everybody sucks at everything when they start. But if you love it, and don’t lie to yourself, then get better at it.”

18) “No matter how civilized we are and how much society has curbed violent behavior. Human beings still have the same genes they had 10,000 years ago. Our bodies are designed to have a certain amount of physical stress and violence in them. We’re designed to run from jaguars and fight to defend our territory.”

19) “Here’s the craziest thing about life, this is the thing that nobody really considers; you know as much about what life is all about as anybody who’s ever lived, ever. That’s the craziest thing about us. We’re all just kinda wandering through this going “‘You know what you’re doing?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Oh, I do too. I know what I’m doing.’ ‘Okay. Good, then.’” But really no one has a clue.”

20) “Reality really is a theatre. There’s no other way to describe it.  It’s all so nonsensical, ridiculous and chaotic.”

21) “The quicker we all realize that we’ve been taught how to live life by the people that were operating on the momentum of an ignorant past the quicker we can move to a global ethic of community that doesn’t value invented borders or the monopolization of natural resources, but rather the goal of a happier more loving humanity.”

22) “I realized a long time ago that instead of being jealous you can be inspired and appreciative. It carries more energy to you. That can be an awesome and motivating force that can improve your life if you choose to be inspired and not jealous. One has no benefit whatsoever, the other is an incredible resource for creating momentum and improvement.”

23) “The key to happiness doesn’t lay in numbers in a bank account but in the way we make others feel and the way they make us feel.”

24) “Very few people actually look up at night and go wow, that literally is infinite. We are floating in infinity. It is easier to see infinity than it is to see the ground. I have more view of the infinity.”

25) “To really appreciate life you got to know you’re going to die.”

26) “When someone comes along and expresses him or herself as freely as they think, people flock to it. They enjoy it.”

27) “The universe rewards calculated risk and passion.”

28) “The audience changes every night. You’re the same person. You have to speak your mind and do the stuff that you think is funny and makes you laugh…I never want to compromise my act just to get a laugh.”

29) “Work for that feeling that you have accomplished something…Don’t waste your time on this earth without making a mark.”

30) “Discomfort is your friend. It doesn’t matter if you’re sick, if you have kids… if you’re a pro, you go to work…The worst choice that a man can make is to become comfortable.”

31) “Bad breaks are an opportunity for you to reboot, to reassess, get better, figure out another way through your challenges. The people that look at those challenges and say ‘Well why do I have those challenges?’ – They’re cancer. They are dangerous people to be around. They will rob you of your enthusiasm and won’t give you any fuel.”

32) “All the time that you spend complaining, you could instead be hustling. You could be chasing your dream. You could be figuring out what you’re doing wrong and improving your life.”

33) “The people I know that have the hardest time keeping it together emotionally are people that don’t work out.”

34) “Do things that are difficult. It’s very important to struggle. You don’t get to know yourself without struggle. You don’t know who you are until you get tested.”

35) “In order to be truly great at something you have to give into a certain amount of madness.”

36) “One of the most fascinating lessons I’ve absorbed about life is that the struggle is good.”

37) “90% of success is just showing up. Get there and start working. You’re not going to feel perfect everyday. There’s gotta be those days you push through.”

38) “If things aren’t going the way you want them to go, then do something about it! Quit talking about your problems and go out and do something to fix them!” 

39) “The brain is the general and the troops are the body.  Write down your goals and get stuff done.”

40) “Fuel people are the ones out there hustling and always getting things done. My friend Jocko works out at 4:30 in the morning every day. Why? Because he doesn’t want to. That’s how you do it. You go and get after it and don’t make any excuses.”

41) “Resistance is the key battle that you’re going to fight for the rest of your life, but the key to overcoming that resistance is to fight it. Every day you do so, you have won the battle for that day.”

42)“There’s levels to dedication, to discipline, to drive to focus to obsession. There’s levels to it – and if you’re sitting on the sidelines saying “It must be nice”, you just don’t get it.”

43)“Greatness and madness are next door neighbors and they often borrow each other’s sugar.”

44) “100% of all haters in the world are unrealized potential.”

45) “I want to make sure that everything that I’m creating, I’m creating it so other people get enjoyment out of it. And that’s the reward that you get for that.”