The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 108 - Divine Wisdom: Finding Balance in a World of Excess
Are we becoming a society medicated to the teeth, where therapy is the norm rather than the exception? The Trust Factor podcast challenges our modern approach to success, happiness, and fulfillment with timeless wisdom that has sustained generations before us.
At the heart of this episode lies a profound distinction: inspiration without action is merely entertainment. We scroll through countless motivational posts daily, each sparking momentary resolve that quickly fades as we move to the next dopamine hit. The host shares his personal journey with Sabbath observance, revealing how transformation doesn't require dramatic upheaval but begins with simple, consistent steps—even something as minor as not touching a light switch can initiate profound life changes.
The episode's most counterintuitive teaching addresses our relationship with work, money, and luxury. While reasonable effort is necessary for basic needs, the pursuit of excess often traps us in a destructive cycle. We work longer hours for luxuries, which leads to increased spending, creating financial pressure that demands even more work. All the while, we sacrifice health, relationships, and spiritual growth on the altar of material gain. The irony? If certain luxuries are truly meant for us, they will come without this excessive toil and sacrifice.
True success comes through trusting that what is allocated for us cannot be diverted elsewhere and will arrive precisely when it should. This trust grants the peace of mind and tranquility of soul that no amount of money can buy. Rather than breaking yourself on the wheel of endless striving, take that small first step toward balance today. Your future self—healthy, present, and genuinely content—will thank you for it.
Good morning everybody. Welcome to the Trust Factor, the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine teachings. Guys, I want to reiterate and stress from the bottom of my heart how important it is that you implement these teachings. Guys, these are nuggets of wisdom that have the power to change the course of your life, that have the power to change the course of your life. They have the power to give you happiness, to give you peace of mind and contentment, to allow you to enjoy the fruits of your labor, to allow you to enjoy this lifetime instead of having to suffer with anxiety and depression like so many people. So many people are medicated to the teeth. Everybody's in therapy, whether it's individual, personal therapy or couples therapy or family therapy. Today, if you're not in therapy, there's something wrong with you. If you're not medicated today, there's something wrong with you. It is a sign that society has been corrupted. We have been corrupted by secularism and secular society. Guys, these are the teachings that allowed humanity to thrive and succeed for generations, and generations that brought us to today. We are standing on the shoulders of these giants who taught us this divine wisdom that came from the only creator, the one and only, who created this entire world and the people within it. Please understand that the only difference between success and failure in this world is action. That's it. It is the same difference as inspiration versus action.
Speaker 0:You can be inspired and we all get inspired every day by images, by words that we hear or read or see, whatever it is. There are so many ways for us to be inspired. We watch a video online. We get inspired and we want to do something. And what do we do? We flick right through it into the next one. Why Are we looking for more inspiration? Stop, you were just inspired. You just saw something or read something or heard something that made sense to you and you were driven and you said I'm going to do something about this. It makes sense. I want to try that. That would be great. Stop, don't scroll anymore, don't flip the page, don't change the channel. Take what you've learned and do something. Take an action.
Speaker 0:It doesn't have to be that you have to build an empire and you have to make a paradigm shift, where you have to turn 180 degrees, because now you learned something new and you have to change your whole life and the fabric of your. Take a step, a small step. I'll remind you that when I decided to start keeping Shabbat because I researched it and I understood the benefits that came with it and I knew that God had said that this was the most precious gift that he had to give us when I made that commitment, I started by not touching the light switch. I did everything else I went to the mall, I drove my car, I went to work, I did all the things I was normally doing for so many decades but I started with a light switch and it changed my entire life. My friends, you have to start with something and be smart about it. Don't set a monumental task that will make it difficult for you. Set the easiest task possible, so much so that it sounds ridiculous that anybody hearing what you're going to take on as a step towards improving your life and you make it so minute, so insignificant yet it's a step in the right direction and you reach out to Hashem and you use your words and you say God, I'm doing this because I want to get closer and I want to improve my life and I want to have better things for me and my family and succeed in this existence. He will help you to get there. That small act that you've done is just the indication, it is just the step that you have made in his direction, and when he reciprocates, my friend, your life is going to become spectacular.
Speaker 0:Now we were just reading about how, if we're going to make an income and if we want luxuries, if those luxuries are coming to us they will come you do not need to make extra efforts. The Chovot HaLev Avot this book, is telling us very clearly that, when it comes to your basic income, your basic livelihood, the food, the clothing, the shelter, the things that you need in order to survive, you are obligated to make what we called hishtadlut. You need to make an effort. That is obligatory upon every single one of us. Nothing comes for free. There's no such thing as a free lunch, and God only helps those who help themselves.
Speaker 0:So, when it comes to your basic living and your sustenance, you have to put forth a reasonable effort. We've said that many times, but what we just learned is that if you're looking for luxury, if you're looking for excess, you want more, and it's coming to you. You do not need to make any extra effort. If you have to give eight hours as a reasonable effort in achieving your basic necessities, it is those very same eight hours that you need to put forward in order to attain the luxuries that you would like to have. In other words, you are not required to put in an extra effort.
Speaker 0:And, in fact, if you decide that you're going to put in extra effort, you're going to take another job, you're going to get into another industry, you're going to do something to supplement your income so that you can afford the luxuries. And you start to focus on that, and it consumes time and energy and money. It takes away from your time with your family, it takes away from your time with your community. It takes away your time of learning and spiritual and personal growth, because you're so hell-bent on making extra money and you've convinced yourself that it is by way of your effort that you are going to make that money. Then guess what happens? You ready for this? Amen, he says. Have at it. If you're so interested in being the one responsible for your excess, then what he's going to do is when you go out and get that additional job, or when you spend 18 hours in the office at the expense of your young children that you don't see and you don't put to bed and you don't throw a ball with or that you don't grow spiritually or professionally. It consumes all of these other opportunities for you to become a well-rounded individual. He says I'm going to give you more money. He puts more money in your bank. He makes that effort successful.
Speaker 0:Now you wonder why you say it doesn't make sense If you're saying that it could be counterproductive. That's exactly what it is. He's going to make you successful in your endeavor, why he has an obligation to take you in the direction that you want to go. You want to be the one responsible for making the extra income, to providing the luxuries. Then he says amen, I'm going to make you the one responsible. I could do it for you. I could make you that extra money, I could give you the luxuries without you having to take away and detract and minimize your time away from these important things. But if you're insisting that you want to do it because you lack faith in me, because you do not trust me, you only trust yourself, then I'm going to confirm for you your corrupt thought pattern and he's going to make you successful, which in turn, is going to cause you to recognize that you were successful and that you should just continue to repeat.
Speaker 0:So if working eight hours was a standard, but now you needed more luxury, so you decided to work 10 hours a day, right, and you saw extra income coming in. You saw the fruits of your labor. God says, okay, you believe that those two hours were responsible for your extra income? Great, I'm going to make that the case so that the next time you put in 14 hours and 16 hours and 18 hours, and then you know what you pull an Elon Musk and you sleep in your factory, you sleep in your office. That doesn't mean that you're going to end up with the money that Elon Musk has, because I could show you a tremendous amount of people who do that very same thing Take away time and money and energy from their family and their community and the things that are going to make them well-rounded individuals, and invest it in their business. And the strange thing is that they're investing it in their business in order to be able to allow themselves the time away from their business.
Speaker 0:You see that you understand how it's a vicious cycle. You work harder because you want to provide more for yourself and your family so that you can work less, but ultimately what ends up happening is you end up locked in your office. You end up consumed with having to make more money. And then what happens? You make more money, so you spend more money. So now you're living outside of your means, because we all do that. We all know that. We're always living outside of our means. We're always living on credit. We're always extending ourselves, we're always taking loans, we're taking financing, whatever it is leases. You make a little bit more money. Now you're spending a greater amount. In other words, you're making $1,000 a month more. You're spending $2,000 a month more. So now you have to work even harder to keep up with the newfound income that you have.
Speaker 0:My friends, you're putting it all on yourself. You're going to make yourself sick and what's going to happen is you're going to end up in a hospital. You're going to end up medicated. You're going to end up in treatment. You're going to end up miserable and depressed. Why? Because you're breaking your back. You're driving yourself crazy.
Speaker 0:You're trying to control outcomes and, at the same time, if it's coming to you, he's going to allow it to come to you through your efforts, as opposed to you saying I need it, but God runs this world the same way he gives me, runs this world. The same way he gives me my health. The same way he gives me all the money to pay my bills. The same way he's given me children. The same way he's given me opportunities. The same way he pumps my heart and gives me vision and hearing and all my other senses. The same way he does and has provided for me for 50 years, 60 years, 70 years. He's going to continue and if I have the good coming to me, it's going to come through him, not through my efforts.
Speaker 0:That allows you what he says over here when he finishes off this chapter. He says when a person trusts in God to provide for him, he will find peace of mind and tranquility of soul, for he knows that his allotment will not be passed on to someone else, nor will what was ordained for him come any earlier or later than its predetermined time. He, and no one else, will receive whatever funds God has allotted him at the time that he sees fit, regardless of our efforts. You, you understand, my friends. That is the Holy Grail.
Speaker 0:That is what I opened up this podcast with and that is, in fact, the reason why I started this podcast, because I know people are suffering, I know people are misguided. I know we're living in a more secular world than we ever have before and I know that we are being inundated with the wrong message, a message that's going to force you to fail and it's going to cause you to get sick at a young age and end up wishing on your deathbed that you hadn't lived the life that you live. Stop, change it now. Put the right mechanisms in place to live a successful, healthy life, a balanced life and everything that you have. Coming to you, my friends will come to you. Put your trust in God. He is the one who loves you like an eternal father, a divine, infinite father who has all of the resources and wants to see you succeed. The same way, your father of flesh and blood wants you to succeed Only infinitely more. Have an amazing day, my friends. Have a successful day, and we'll continue tomorrow.
