 You know, there's a lot of people out there who think their dad is pretty great, but I have the best dad. And growing up, he had all these annoying sayings that I absolutely hated, but they're actually quotes that stuck with me for most of my life and that help change and guide my life. And today, in honor of his birthday, I'm going to share them with you. What is up, everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, my channel is all about mental health and how to improve your mental health. So if you're into that stuff, make sure you subscribe, ring that little notification bell. But like I mentioned in the intro, today is a beautiful day. It is my father, Zale Boutay's birthday. So like I said, my dad had a bunch of quotes that I hated when I was a kid. And one of the things he always did when he told people his name was Zale, he would say, no relation to the jeweler and he would do finger guns, right? And it embarrassed the crap out of me. So dad, now everybody knows and anybody who meets you will find that out anyways. But anyways, yeah, my dad, you know, he raised me. I've mentioned on my channel that my mom was an alcoholic, so I live with my dad. And he raised me. And my dad, you know, he did an awesome job and he taught me how to be a good person. You know, my dad is somebody I look up to and like he just always taught me right from wrong and all sorts of things like that. And like, it's important. Like I'm talking about this and on this mental health channel because there's certain things on a day to day basis that I have to remember. And the cool thing is now, too, I have a nine year old son and I use a lot of my dad's quotes on my son. And now you're like, Chris, quit your babbling. What are these amazing quotes? All right, let's jump into it. Number one, give more, not less. This is an important one. Like something I see a lot and something I struggle with myself and fight not to do is do the bare minimum, like the bare minimum. Like when I was growing up, you know, when I had a school assignment and it was like this, like I want to do the bare minimum. But my dad taught me to give more, not less. Like I try not to go into situations just doing as little as possible, just to scrape by. Now my high school grades might disagree with that, but I really do overachieve when it comes to certain things that I'm passionate about. Like this YouTube channel, you know, I do a ton of videos. I do a lot. I give a lot and I try to do that to, to stand out and do the best that I can do. Something my dad instilled with me with me is like, no matter what the situation is, like do your absolute best. Like something that I don't want to do is have regrets. Like looking back at different situations and saying, could I have done more? You know what I mean? And that's, you know, how that translates into my life today. I work at a drug and alcohol treatment center. We also specialize in mental health. And when I, when I talk with a client or when they're going through something like I asked myself, did I do everything I can do? Like since I deal with addiction, I deal with a lot of relapses and stuff. Then I asked myself, like, did I go above and beyond in this situation? Did I talk to this person that offer them advice and suggestions? And this is actually something that helps me go to sleep at night. When I do hear of relapses and other tragedies, it's like, I know that because my dad taught me to give more, not less, that I did the best that I absolutely could. And it also helps me at work, like no matter what job I have, no matter what job I have. So even though it didn't translate in school at work, like I excel. Like no matter what job I've had, I've always excelled because I did more than just the bare minimum. Number two, and this might be my favorite one. Okay. My dad always said this, you ready? If you don't ask, the answer is already no. And I love it. I don't know if it's because my dad has a sales background, but like, this is huge. This is huge for a lot of you watching my video who have anxiety, right? And you're afraid to ask for things and stuff like that. And like, it's funny because we were at a restaurant the other day, my girlfriend and I had actually used this with her. I'm like, yo, if you don't ask, the answer is already no. Like, think about it. It makes sense. Like so many of us are afraid to ask certain questions. Well, like, what's the worst thing that can happen? Like, if you don't ask, the answer is already no. If you do ask, there's an upside. They might say yes, but if they say no, you're back to if you didn't ask, like, so you might as well just give it a shot and just ask for it. You know what I'm saying? So like, ask, talk to people. You know, that helps me deal with my anxiety when I get afraid of talking to my boss or a coworker or my girlfriend or, you know, friends or family and stuff. Like I'm not trying to get everybody to like do me a million favors, but like just asking, you know, and it helps me in social situations. I get a lot of social anxiety when I used to. It used to be really bad, but I remember my dad's voice in my head, like, yo, Chris, if you don't ask, the answer is already no. And you'd be amazed. You'd be amazed at what's happening. Like, for example, for example, I'm a small YouTuber. Okay. Like very, very small. Like a lot of people tossing around the word small, like they have like 60 to 100,000 subscribers and they like, well, since I don't have a million, I'm pretty small. Like, no, no, no, I'm small. And I know people who are even smaller than I am. Some people not even at a thousand yet. But anyways, I, I am making a little extra income because I reach out, I reach out to different brands and things like that and say, yo, do you want to support the channel? Do you want to help my audience out, you know, with discounts or, you know, whatever it is. Like I do it all the time. Like ain't no shame in my game. And like my dad, when I was growing up, he used to like embarrass me, but the cool thing is now, now I get to embarrass my son and my girlfriend because we go to places, like I just ask because if you don't ask, the answers already know. Number three, all right. This was huge when I was growing up. It's huge now today. But he always told me be a leader, not a follower. Okay. And like, I remember like as any kid, like I would get in trouble, like I would hang out with dad friends who would peer pressure me into doing stuff. And like, I'd get in trouble for it. And my dad would always remind me like Chris, be a leader, don't be a follower, you know, and like that stays with me. And man, like what I'm doing now on YouTube or what I do in my job, like I strive to be the best that I can be, like going back to giving more, not less. Like I want to be a leader, you know, I that's just how I operate. And my dad's like ingrained that in me. You know what I mean? Like I've trained coworkers at different jobs and stuff because my bosses know they can turn to me because I choose to lead. I take risks. I do things and I try to progress. I'm always trying to improve. Like I'm always teachable. I'm always more than willing to learn, but I do my best to take the lead. But I also know how to balance it when I need to sit back and say, yo, I got no idea what I'm doing in this specific situation. So how about I follow your lead in this? But like when it just comes to life, like, man, like we have one life to live, like just one life to live unless they figure something else out that I don't know. But like in this life, like what impression am I going to leave on this world? Right. Am I just going to be somebody who didn't make an impact? You know what I mean? And this actually goes into my last quote. But anyways, like I do my best to be a leader and not follow behind. And that helps me make better decisions. It helps me set boundaries, like boundaries that I didn't have as a kid when I was a people pleaser, like when people do, let's go do this. Like, like, you know, that saying, like if your friends jumped off a bridge, like would you be like, yeah, like, because I was a follower, but my dad instilled in me to be a leader. And now, like when I see different situations, I can say, like, no, let's go do this. And said, you know, if it seems like it's risky or dumb, and surprisingly, I don't get in too much trouble now that I'm adult. So the very last quote, and I save this for last, even though one of my favorites is if you don't ask the answers already know, but this last quote, number four is leave things better than where you found them. Now, my dad, being a neat freak, I know what he mech by it, but this this quote has changed its meaning to me over the years. So when I was younger, we lived in Southern California, we lived in Santa Barbara, we then moved to Las Vegas when I was like 10, I think, but we we traveled a lot for my dad's work. We traveled a lot. We would stay at his friends' houses and things like that. And my dad would always tell me leave things better than where you found them. Right. So like, if we went there, like usually, you know, my dad's friends' houses were pretty clean, but if like we we went there and stayed at their house and they were out of town or whatever it was, like we would clean it up a little bit more. You know what I'm saying? Like he he always told me leave things better than where when you found them. And like that was important. And I think that's very good. Like, for example, like that's transitioned in my life. Like I've a house set for different friends when they go out of town, because they have animals and stuff. And like I'll go over there and house it and like the day before they get back, like I'll clean their house, you know, I'd leave it better than when I found it. And like I just do that because it's nice. You know how nice it is for like people to come back home and like their house is cleaner than when they left it. Like it's a pretty sweet deal. But what I'm saying is this this saying has has evolved in my life. Like now when I think of leave things better than when you found them, I think about the world. You know what I mean? I think about the earth. How can I leave this world better than when I found it? And that's something that motivates me to make these videos and help all of you out with your mental health. It's one of the reasons I work in a treatment center. I I try to leave an impact on people's lives. I want to make this world just a little bit better. You know, I do a lot of videos where I just talk to you guys about life lessons that I've learned to try to help you improve your life a little bit. I just want to leave this planet a little bit better than when I found it. You know what I mean? And this can this can mean a bunch of things for different people. Some of you might recycle cool. Leave the world better than where you found it. You know, I teach this to my son and he does things like that, you know, and it's really beautiful to see him do it. But like, I want you to take these quotes that I'm talking about and see how you can implement them in your life. Like they they help give me a good moral compass. Like, you know, what should I do in this situation? Am I going to be a leader or a follower? Right. Am I going to give less? Or am I going to give more? And like, if I remember these things, my life continues to get better and better and better. My relationships get better and better and better. My career gets better and better and better. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, dad, I love you. Thank you for raising me so, so well. You created a beautiful baby boy. All right. But that's all I got. So if you like this video, if you love your dad, make sure you give it a thumbs up or if you love my dad, give it a thumbs up. You know what I mean? And if you're new, subscribe, ring the notification bell, click on these buttons, check out what else I got going on this channel. All right. Happy birthday again, dad. I love your face and I'll see all of you next time.