Episode 118 - Stop Measuring Worth By Status And Start Measuring It By Action

Ego can feel unbeatable right up until you take one honest look at reality. We start with an ancient line that hits like a cold splash of water: “Be exceedingly humble in spirit”, then we unpack why humility and modesty are not soft traits but survival skills in a world that rewards noise, image, and status. We talk about the simple, uncomfortable perspective that collapses vanity, and why that perspective is meant to wake us up, not shame us.

From there, we get practical. We use Maimonides (the Rambam) to explore how to correct a character trait that has gone too far, and we look at Moses as proof that real humility shows up as care, effort, and leadership, not passivity. Mount Sinai becomes a roadmap for balance: not the highest peak, not the lowest valley, but a small mountain that still rises. We also challenge the habit of judging people who seem less accomplished, and we ask a sharper question: how much of what we know have we actually turned into action?

Then we pivot to emunah and money anxiety. A key sign of trust in the Creator is when your mind stops orbiting around finances, and we explain why that kind of calm is not denial, it is clarity. We share a story about a good person whose worry never shut off, and what hindsight reveals about fear, livelihood, and the steady pattern of being taken care of. We also draw a hard line between trust and entitlement: we still have to get up, make effort, and do the work, while remembering that becoming rich is not a life purpose, it is only a tool.

If this helped you think straighter about humility, purpose, and financial stress, subscribe, share the episode with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the quote that stayed with you.

Transcript

Why Commentary Changes Everything

SPEAKER_01 0:11

The Trust Factor is your ticket to a better life. The Trust Factor shows you how to get through the mind.

unknown 0:21

Trust Factor.

The Case For Radical Humility

Moses, Mount Sinai, And Balance

Stop Judging Who Looks Behind

Charity That Costs Something

Trust Means Money Stops Obsessing You

Anxiety, Meals, And A Hard Lesson

Your Purpose Is Not Becoming Rich

Closing Thoughts And How To Share

SPEAKER_00 0:22

The world is louder and more chaotic than ever. That's why clarity and truth have never been more important. Welcome to the Trust Factor Podcast. Good morning, everybody. Happy Tuesday, and welcome to the Trust Factor Podcast. We are getting into some of the most amazing information in the world. And it's not just the one-liners, it's the commentary. It's not just the title, it's the subtitles that matter just as much, if not even more. Because a lot of these lines that we're reading from here are just that. They're one-liners or two-liners. And so you can learn so much from them that when you go down just a little bit, when you dive down and you drill just a drop with other people's commentaries, with these brilliant commentaries, you suddenly get a different perspective, one that makes so much sense and so many different ways of interpreting the same information. And today is no exception, but let's read. It says Rabbi Levita of Yavna says, Be exceedingly humble in spirit. That's pretty straightforward. Modesty is important. For the anticipated end of mortal man is you ready for this? Worms. What's the big picture message? Very simple. Strive to be humble. Strive to be modest and stay away from the opposite. What's the opposite of modesty and humility? Ego. Thinking that it's all about you running around this world thinking that everything was created just for you. There's an idea in Judaism that every one of us has to do that, but not the context that I'm talking about. The context that the Torah refers to is that we need to walk around thinking, all of this was created for me, just for me? Am I deserving of all of this? Am I conducting myself in a way that God would be proud at the end to say, yeah, I built all that just for you and it was worth it? Or, God forbid the opposite, I built it for you and look at what you did with it. Here, what we're referring to is the guy who walks around thinking he's the be all end all. You want to correct that guy? You want to give that guy perspective, shake him and wake him up and let him know that he's got to come down off his eye horse. Just remind him about the latter part, which said that everybody's end is in the same place. It doesn't matter how pretty you are, it doesn't matter how intelligent you are, it doesn't matter how much money you have, how many material assets you have, it doesn't matter your job title. None of that matters. We all end up in the same place. It all becomes food for the worms. Pretty graphic. But that's going to bring you down off your high horse. And if that's not going to do it, I don't know what else will. But the principle that we're being taught over here is that humility is incredibly important. It is a character trait that we need to work on all the time, and we need to find every way that we can to be able to constantly remind ourselves, to be humble and to remain humble, just like Moses. It says in the Torah that Hashem chose Moses. Why? Because he was exceedingly humble. Because he saw that the way that he took care of the sheep, he was a shepherd, and he would go out of his way and he would go the extra mile for a little goat or a little sheep. And God said, if you're going to be that way with an animal, how much more so are you going to be with my nation? And that's why he chose him to lead the nation. That doesn't mean you need to be a shmatta. That doesn't mean you need to be a carpet or a rag for somebody to walk all over. On the contrary, we're not allowed to be like that. We have to understand what it means to be exceedingly humble, because we're living in a world which is exceedingly the opposite. So remember what we said last time. If you find yourself with a character trait that is too much to one extreme, the right way to fix it, according to Maimonides Ramba, is to go to the opposite extreme and hang out over there for a little while. So if you find yourself with too much ego, become exceedingly humble. And that will bring you back to that balance. There's a whole idea around Mount Sinai in the giving the Torah. Why did Hashem not give us the Torah on the top of Mount Everest? He could have gone to the highest peak in the world, the Atlas Mountains, and he could have given it to us from the highest point on earth, but he didn't. And in similar fashion, he could have gone to a valley, a very deep crater, and given it to us over there, which could have resembled humility, but he didn't. Instead, where did he give it to us? On Mount Sinai. What said of Mount Sinai? That it was a mountain. We know it was a mountain, which means it's elevated, but it was the smallest mountain in the region. There were many mountains in the area. That mountain specifically, Mount Sinai, was the smallest of the mountains in the region. That is to say, know how to find balance. Understand that you need to know when to be humble, you need to know when to have an ego, and you need to manage that on a daily basis. In the beginning, I told you about just how important commentary is. Listen to this. One should not make judgments about a person who is less accomplished than he. A lot of people running around thinking that they're better than everybody else. And so that oftentimes you find them talking about other people in a denigrating way. If someone is less learned, one should consider how much of his own knowledge he has translated into action. His friend may actually be superior to him in that regard. You might think that because you're so intelligent, because you're so learned, that you're special, you're elevated above your friend. But in fact, your friend who may not have your education, maybe he couldn't afford it, maybe his parents couldn't afford it. He wasn't put in the same situation as you. Maybe God embodied you with an amazing mind to be able to learn and retain information. And he didn't get that. But you know what he did get? The ability to translate it into actions. So he may be out there doing so much more than you while you're cramming and learning and growing yourself for yourself. He's out there changing the world with the limited amount of information that he's learned. So don't ever judge somebody who's not nearly as learned as you are. Similarly, if one is wealthy, let him stop for a moment and reflect on whether he uses his God-given gifts for the betterment of others. Yeah, you have money, but who does it help? Does it help humanity or does it only help you fill your belly? Does it only help you feel more important? What are you doing with your money? You know, there's an idea in stakka, and I've said this before, Lefuntsa ragra, which means according to the challenge is the reward. You could have somebody who's worth billions of dollars, and they give away hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. And you think to yourself, wow, what an amazing individual. Look at how much money they give away. These guys are changing the world. And you may be right. However, they may not even hold a candle to the individual who's worth$200,000. And what does he do? He gives away dozens of dollars or hundreds of dollars every year. And you think to yourself, this guy's barely making a dent. Wrong. Absolutely wrong. Why? Because for the billionaire to give away those hundreds of thousands of dollars is a lot easier than it is for a guy who's got barely anything. The billionaire's life is not going to be impacted. The guy who's barely getting by, his life is going to be affected. So for him to give away, even though it's hundreds or a few thousand dollars a year, it hits really, really hard and he has to think about it many, many times. It hurts. And therefore, his staca, his charity is that much more meaningful than the billionaire who's given away hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions. At the end of the day, it's according to the difficulty, the challenge. The billionaire has homes everywhere and cars everywhere and a service crew everywhere, the guy worth a couple hundred thousand dollars, young family just trying to get by, trying to move forward a little bit and grow and put a little bit aside for a ready day, and still he chooses to give away some of that money. Think about it. So the message is don't think that just because you've been given this gift, and it's a gift, remember that, right? There's nothing that separates you from the back. There's nothing that makes you better or more capable than everybody else. He decided that you need to have this money in order to achieve your purpose in this life. So he gave you that gift. What are you doing with it? Is a very, very different question. Let's finish off this. It says, he may find that his less fortunate brother gets more spiritual mileage out of his lot in life. Life is replete with so many such examples that one with open eyes will easily find the path to extreme humility. Think about these concepts, and they will help you to build your level of modesty. Okay, my friends. Back half of the podcast. We're talking about the Garden of Amuna. This is just its gems. We haven't even left the first page of this finance here, but it just makes sense. It just connects. Listen to this. The distinct sign of trust in the Creator is when a person's thoughts don't focus on money. Yeah. Right. Think about the generation that we're living in today. Think about everybody chasing the material wealth today. It's all about how much are you worth? How much do you make? If you look online, people are making money in their sleep, apparently, right? Only a fool doesn't know how to make money online these days. That's what you would think if you heard the stuff online. Those who trust the creator do not worry about where their next meal is coming from. You know what that's like? Parent and a child. When is the last time you've seen a child who's missing a meal and is worried, is nervous. Where's my next meal going to come from? Am I going to eat today or not? It simply doesn't happen. Especially not in first-world countries. I'm sure there are places around the world where it's a challenge. But even then, a child always reverts back to the parent. A child always knows that there is a parent who is concerned with them and their well-being. And that parent is going to do whatever it takes to make sure that that child doesn't miss a meal. It's the same idea. If you understand where the money is coming from, if you understand where everything you have came from, then you don't stop and worry. Am I going to have more of it? You've had it for 50 years, 60 years. I remember a good friend of my family, Allah Ashala, passed away a long time ago. And he was always a nervous wreck, a wonderful human being, but a nervous wreck. He passed away. He was probably in his mid-60s. But I remember having many conversations with him. I was a lot younger than him at the time. I was probably 25 years younger than him. Anyway, at the time, I had conversations with him, and I could see the tension and the nerves on his face. And he didn't understand he had religious children, and his kids were flying high on Amuna and firing on all cylinders. Their lives were going great. Not that they had money, but that they had God in their lives and they were at a state of calm and ease about themselves. Whereas he, the father, didn't have God in his life. And because of that, he was a ball of stress, constantly asking simple questions. And I find myself, I must have been 40 at the time, and he was in his 60s, and I'm finding myself trying to explain to a fully grown adult who's been through so much more than I have, how if he looks back in history at his old life in hindsight, and is honest with himself, then it will be clear to him that he has never missed a meal. And I said that to him, and he says, You're right. And what's going to happen tomorrow? You think tomorrow suddenly you're going to miss a meal? It doesn't make any sense. And ultimately, you could see it was that anxiety and the stress and the worry on this individual that chewed him up and made him sick and ultimately took his life. There's no reason for it. It's not necessary. All you need to know is where your money is coming from, where your food is coming from. He hasn't abandoned you in 50, 60 years. You think he's going to abandon you now? It's not going to happen. Get up and do what you need to do, and he will take care of your livelihood. He didn't bring you here to worry about your livelihood. It's not your purpose. Your purpose is not to become a billionaire. Other people are mistaken. They come into this world and they think, I need to become the richest man in the world. That's not a purpose. It's not. Because if it was a legit purpose, then it would be accessible to everybody. And clearly, supreme wealth is not easily accessible. Just like having children is not a purpose, because if having children was a purpose, then everybody would be able to have children. And that's not the case. These are purposes. These are things that you may have to do as part of your overall repair, but they're not your ultimate purpose. They are just something else that you need to do along the way to help you develop and achieve your ultimate purpose. But there's a lot of people who walk around thinking, I need to become a gazillionaire, and that's my purpose in life. And the answer is it's wrong. It's not your purpose. It's not even close to it. That is just a means to an end. It's certainly not the means to your eternity. Even if money is tight, they know that their financial problems come from him. Therefore, they don't blame themselves or anyone else for their difficulties. That's a utopia, my friends. We're living in a world of entitled people, individuals who think they know they're lazy, emotionally or physically lazy. They're not willing to go out and do the work. They're not willing to make an effort like everybody else is. And therefore, they don't get the reward that's commensurate with that effort. And then what do they do? They blame the whole world. They come up with different excuses, all kinds of excuses to justify why they can't get ahead in life. And the reality is that if they just stopped and recognized that they need to make an effort and the rest will come naturally, then they would make that effort. So many people think it's too difficult. They see a mountain ahead of themselves. They think, how am I going to scale that mountain? It's so difficult to make a living. Minimal wage is X. And if I'm already working at minimal wage, I can't afford a basic lifestyle, so why work? Go to the government and take all kinds of different social programs. It's wrong. You need to be active. You need to get out and do something. And when you do that, you open up the floodgates. You open up the pipe that comes down from the heavens. But until you get up and do something in this world of action, that pipe remains clogged. He simply can't give it to you. He has what to give, but he can't give it to you because you have to earn it by the sweat of your brow. That's the way it works, my friends. We're going to get into this tomorrow. We're going to get past the first page, I promised, into the discussion of finances and our creator. Have an amazing day, my friends. Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts. Drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the Trust Factor Podcast. Thanks for listening.