Lorenz Miles (English II) Interview #1

The conversation covers the importance of making intentional choices in life to avoid drifting towards negative habits and outcomes. It highlights the impact of surrounding oneself with positive influences and developing good daily habits. The book "Outwitting the Devil" by Napoleon Hill is recommended for its insights on decision-making and shaping one's future. Personal anecdotes emphasize the significance of planning, self-improvement, and making proactive decisions at different stages of life. The dialogue stresses the need for focus, discipline, and thoughtful action to achieve personal growth and success. You got a game coming up soon, right? Yup. You excited? For sure, definitely. Alright, cool. Yeah, I don't know when, but I'm going to definitely make a few of your games. Yeah, for sure. Our first game is Thursday against Louisville. Yeah, I got the schedule. Your dad sent it to me. Okay, yeah, cool. Alright, man. So, let's get to it. Alright. Start off with that. What is it? What is your favorite book of all time and tell me why you love the book? So, man, this was tough because I read a lot, but I'm going to go with Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill, and it's one of my favorite books because it challenges your way of thinking and there's an important life lesson that talks about the consequences of being what they consider a drifter in life and how that kind of sets you up to not succeed. Okay. So, you said a judge, can you kind of like go into what that means? Yep. So, a lot of times, as you get older, you'll really understand this, but you have to be very intentional about who you are and what you're trying to become in life. A lot of times, people think things just happen and they don't, whether they're good or bad. There are always this domino effect in life that will lead you to being successful. They can lead you to being lazy. They can lead you to, you know, like I think all of us have addictive things, good and bad, right? And depending on what you allow to occur, what your habits allow to occur will enhance those, right? So, a perfect example of that is if you're hanging around a bunch of people that, you know, are drinking or smoking or whatever it can be. Like, more than likely, that is what you're going to end up doing, right? It doesn't matter if you feel like, oh, I have willpower. You know, it is not going to happen. But the same thing occurs if you are hanging out with people who read a lot, hanging out with people who work out a lot, hanging out with, you know, whatever you perceive as positive. Like, you're going to start drifting in a positive way. So, you know, I guess hopefully that gives you a good example of what a drifter is. So, like, just like the main thing, like, who you go around, youth kind of fly together. Yeah, birds of a feather fly together. But there's also, like, your habits, right? If you get up, so, like, one of the things that I like to do in the morning, like, I got, like, probably three or four things that make my day good, right? So, like, I get up, I like to work out. I also like to read, and I also like to listen to an audio book. So I feel like when I do those things in the day, I always have a positive day, right, because I did some things to help me self-improve. Like, those are things that make me feel good and also help me self-improve. And if I'm not doing that, like, let's just say I'm eating junk food all day. You know, junk food will make me lethargic. The more lethargic I get, the more lazy I get. The more I don't want to do the other things that make me feel good about myself, right? And now all of a sudden I'm sitting around, you know, not being productive. You know, there's a lot of things that can occur if that happens, and you just got to make sure that, you know, you're on the other side of that. All right, yeah, I understood all that. Bro, like, one more thing. Like, is there—well, let me ask this. When did you read the book, and, like, how did it affect your mind at that point? Man, I probably read this book—I've read it twice, and I've also listened to the audio book. So I probably read this book maybe 12 years ago. That was the first time. And it made a lot of sense. It resonated with me because of the simple fact that some of the decisions I was making around that time frame, I felt like could hinder me and put me in a different position. And, you know, I was looking for something to kind of give me a spark to do better. And this book really kind of said, hey—it basically was telling me, you know, if you continue to go down this route, that opportunities will get taken away from you, and the things that you feel as though you want out of your life won't be presented your way. Right. Because there's no way they're coming because of what your habits, what your daily goals look like, what you're doing on an everyday basis is leading you to a negative way, not a positive. Okay, thank you for that. And before I close out, what was the name of the book again? Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. I'll send it to you on the text message so you can see it. Okay, I appreciate it. I think that it really demonstrates kind of like how people need to move in terms of life habits, who you hang with, like you said. And it definitely sounds like a book that is more influential in like the younger stage. Not even just for younger stage, man. You know, one thing you'll learn, you know, as you continue to grow, you'll be 16 this year, right? Yep. Yeah, man. I mean, we all have different parts of our lives where I call them reflection points, right, where you have a moment in life and you're just looking at it and you'll be like, damn, I need to make a good decision. And you'll make a decision for right now or a decision for the future. And like I always say, who you are in five years depends on what you do right now. So, like for me, I'll give some examples. You know, I knew I wanted to learn about stocks. Right. So in 2020, you know, I sat still and I learned a lot about stocks. You know, I can't say that I'm a millionaire, but I will say that I have a real good understanding about stocks. Both my kids got a good portfolio. I got a good portfolio and we're getting better. Right. But if I never took that step, you know, I would never get there. And so a lot of times I think people think that things just occur like, oh, I'm gonna be a good basketball player. Well, what are you doing to become a good basketball player? Or I'm just going to be a good speaker. You know, like you have to learn how to be a good speaker. You know, like the podcast is a good example. You know, I'm so used to talking to people from the things that I have done in my past. You know, so like it comes very natural to me to have these conversations because I've had them already. So I'm confident, you know, but if I never had those conversations, I would be a little nervous. Like I'm pretty healthy right now. But, you know, we made a decision to eat better, you know, to have home cooked meals, you know, to work out. So like my body is feeling good, getting close to 40 years old. You know, there's a lot of different things that you could think of. Whether you're 16, whether you're 21, whether you're 25, 30, 35, like there's always going to be these things in life that occur. And you got to know how to handle whether you're dealing with just you or you're dealing with a person. Like, you know, you have to, you know, look deep down and figure out what decisions that you need to take that might not benefit you right away. They might hurt you. Like you have to learn how to say no to things and say no to people so that you can get to another step. Sometimes you need to change your environment. You know, like I live in Virginia. I didn't live in Virginia. I moved to Virginia because it was quiet and nobody knew me. And I got a chance to focus on getting myself better without a lot of distractions. Like that was a decision that I did, shoot, 13, 14 years ago. I moved to Virginia. Ain't no soul out here. You know, but like that was a decision made to continue to help me grow as a man. And it hurt short term because I was bored. But it helped me out. You know, I ended up finding my wife out here, built up some connections out here, and now, you know, I'm very comfortable here. So there's always going to be, yeah, this book is good for young kids. But it doesn't matter what age it is because, like, you're always going to run into scenarios. Like right now, another scenario we're working on right now is, okay, I have two kids. I have a wife that I take care of. And I have a baby on the way, right? We're starting to look at how much money we spend every month versus how much money that we bring in. And how do we get to the point where, you know, we're green every month and we're not racking up debt, right? So like there's always going to be an inflection point and then a decision that you have to make no matter what age you're in. And the ones that just let it happen, like, oh, well, we'll figure it out. And you're not planning, nothing's going to happen. But the ones that do plan and figure it out, like, and get detailed with it and get consumed with it, I always say, what you focus on expands. So the ones that do that, they end up winning. Now, they might not have it completely figured out, but they want a projectile to be better than they were. And that's what this book is about. Definitely appreciate that depth and detail about that. It definitely applies to life. And I appreciate you for doing this interview with me. No problem, man. I appreciate the time, man. You did a good job. And if you ever want to read the book, you know, let me know. I'll definitely get you a copy. Maybe I'll get it for you for your birthday. But don't say yes if you're not going to read it. If you're not ready to read it, don't be like, yeah. Like, just let me know when you're actually ready. Yeah. I'll let you know when the time is right. I got you. All right, my man. All right. Thank you. And good luck. Good luck this week. And I'll definitely get to a few games, all right? Okay. All right, my man. All right.