The Big Dog Podcast

Letting Go of Yesterday: The Power of Discipline and Staying Present

Joshua Wilson

What if you could let go of yesterday’s triumphs and troubles to truly seize today? Join us as we explore the transformative power of staying present and maintaining discipline in your daily life. We share how past successes and failures should serve as lessons, not as obstacles. A hilarious story about an earwig in a headset reminds us that tiny setbacks shouldn't throw us off course. We also delve into the importance of emotional stability, discussing how avoiding emotional extremes can help you seize new opportunities and ensure continuous growth.

Is motivation overrated? Hear our take on why discipline, not motivation, is the true driver of success. Through my own struggles with technology, I illustrate how perseverance and disciplined effort led to success. We break down why so many of us fail at keeping New Year's resolutions and how you can flip the script by focusing on disciplined daily actions rather than fleeting bursts of motivation. Learn practical tips on living in the present and applying lessons from the past to fuel your current and future endeavors.

In our final segment, we share personal reflections on balancing the chaos of family life with professional aspirations. Listen to relatable stories of overcoming setbacks like bankruptcy and the daily juggle of responsibilities. Enjoy a lighthearted recounting of family dynamics, including a comical episode involving my son's first attempt at making smash burgers. The overarching message is clear: despite life's unpredictability, each of us deserves to pursue success and happiness by showing up each day with a renewed sense of discipline and fresh perspective.

Speaker 1:

You've got to focus on today. You've got to be disciplined about today Now. What does matter about yesterday, the week before and the month before and the years before? Well, the lessons you learned, but you don't have to stop moving forward in order to implement the lessons you've learned along the way. We've got to stop getting hung up on yesterday, though, and so many of you are so focused on yesterday. So many of you have screwed up so many things in your life in the past. You self-sabotage yourself and you don't allow yourself to find happiness, success, great relationships, because you think you don't deserve it because of who you were or things you did. Hey yo, hey, yo yo. What up, logan? Not much. We're actually in the studio together yeah, it's been a minute this has been fun.

Speaker 1:

I had to check the headset for bugs yeah, I did. I did that an hour ago did we tell the world about that?

Speaker 2:

uh, I think so, but I'm not sure all right in case we didn't anyway.

Speaker 1:

We're in a zoom meeting, um staff meeting, for this is like a while ago. This is weeks and weeks ago and all of a sudden, logan starts freaking out and it's all on video. He's's going nuts and apparently this is gross. Our office gets cleaned on the regular, but this did happen, so I'll be honest about it. There was what do they call them? Earwigs.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I called them pincher things, but apparently they're called earwigs.

Speaker 1:

Yeah them little pincher bugs.

Speaker 2:

That junk was in his headset and the earwig went for your ear yep you lost it I thought I was tweaking out because I was like what is that? And I just like kept doing that. And then, like the fourth time it happened, I like looked and there was just a thing walking around the uh headset, so I was stomping on it junk's bad dude.

Speaker 1:

Junk was really bad. It was really bad so gross. So I'm in here digging in my headset making sure I don't have any little creatures hanging out. You know what I'm saying you're just saying but hey, that was in the past so it doesn't matter, right it's over with like over a month now yeah, you're over it, you don't lose sleep anymore about it. Nope, no, the dreams went away.

Speaker 1:

Yep, the nightmares all right, so I've just been from home for a little bit well, at any rate, it's nice to be back in here with you yeah we've had some really cool podcasts drop in the last couple weeks last month and a half a lot of fun guests we've had in a lot of dog stuff, a lot of dog stuff. We've never done a lot of dog talking and we've been talking dogs a lot lately and that was fun. Learned a lot of dog stuff. We've never done a lot of dog talking and we've been talking dogs a lot lately and that was fun. Learned a lot of stuff, had some really cool guests on um, and they absolutely crushed it. So hope everybody out there is enjoying the show.

Speaker 1:

Today, though, I want to talk about something that I'm running into with a good amount of clients and stuff that not on the dog training side, but like coaching clients or clients that work through our media company and we help with, and then also it's a lesson that I'm constantly working with my sales team on, and I think there's a lot of opportunities, opportunities for us to apply this to everyday life, and the comment that I made and I make often, is that was yesterday. And the comment that I made and I make often is that was yesterday. Right, if yesterday was a great day at work, if it was and you were highly productive. Let's say you're, you're in sales or you're a business owner and it just was a top notch killer freaking day. That was yesterday. It's over with, it's gone. Now there's there's today, and you've got to be dialed in and you've got to be focused. You can't be super high on those good days, but the opposite of that is you can't be super low on the bad days either. You've got to understand that we're not in a world, we're not in an economy, we're not in a market where, hey, my business is just going to steady, grow 8% to 12% a month, and it's always going to be like that on the upward trajectory. That's not the world we're in right now and there's going to be more of an ebb and a flow and if your emotions are tied to that roller coaster, you're doomed. You're doomed, you're doomed. You're not going to make good business decisions, you're not going to make good personal decisions. You're not going to make good personal decisions. You're not going to make good decisions in your relationships because you're all over the place and either your team's going to start hating you, your wife is going to start hating you, your husband's going to start hating you, your boyfriend, girlfriend's going to hate you. Kids are going to hate you because they never know what they're going to get Like. You're all over the damn place, and so you don't get too high on the good days, but you don't get super down on the bad days either, because yesterday's over with Today is a new opportunity. Today is a chance to atone for whatever shortfalls you had the day before, or it's an opportunity to do better than you did the day before, even if it was a great day. Today's a new day and a new opportunity. But if you stay living in yesterday, you're going to miss out on every opportunity today. And what I mean by that living in yesterday, living in last week, living in last month's performances.

Speaker 1:

I used to be in real estate back in the day, and when I was in the real estate industry it was always funny to me because you had your top performers and that was very consistent. And then every once in a while, like once or twice a year, the top performers would get beat out right and somebody would come in and they'd have the highest sales that month. They sold the most houses, maybe the most units, maybe they had the highest dollar volume, maybe it's mortgages and they closed the most loans, or they had the highest loan origination fees, or whatever it may be, and then you would never hear from them again. You know, maybe nine months later, but they're not even close to the top. The month following that that top month, and what? These people? I never took these people seriously because all they ever showed was they had potential, but what they didn't have is the discipline right. And so they would crush it one month and they'd live off that success and those wins for three, four, five months Like man. Why am I broke? Well, probably because your lifestyle is based off that one good month you had. It's not based off the average. When you take the next five months off, and your numbers are dog shit, you're basically unemployed. When you average it next five months off, and your numbers are dog shit, you're basically unemployed when you average it all out.

Speaker 1:

But they're talking like oh, I'm a top performer, I'm a top earner, and that's the world they live in and that's what they think about. They're stuck on that. Then they have a down month. Then they have a down month, then they have a down month, they have a down month. Now they're in their head I'm not a performer, I a closer, I don't execute. So they'll get dialed in and they'll get focused and then, boom, have a good month. But they never had two good months in a row because, whether it was high or it was low, they're always living off of that and they're focused off of that rather than seeing every day, every week and every month as a new opportunity to go out there and get it and win again. And so the top, top performers, who are always in your top two, top three, top five at execution, man, they are steady. They might have a little bit of this, but their focus, their discipline, doesn't change. Their focus and their discipline, day in and day out, is steady, right Days there.

Speaker 1:

Almeris said something the other day to somebody that we were recruiting and she goes look, the biggest thing you can, because they were talking about how they're very motivated. And she's like I don't need you to be motivated, I need you to be disciplined. And I was like, ooh, girl, preach, that's good. That's good Because discipline is going to get you where you're trying to go when motivation fails you. You're not always motivated. I know I'm not always motivated, but I'm still going to show up at work, I'm still going to execute, I'm going to still get this done.

Speaker 1:

Hold on one second. Everybody Got to click this little button right here. This doesn't look like it's working though. Little button right here. This doesn't look like it's working though. So that's going to be a minute. Yeah, these phones are messed up. Man, shout out to verizon, you suck. I've been with you forever, forever. We've got so many damn lines. This phone I shouldn't even done this. I shouldn't even taken this on to try to do it from my phone. Junk's whack, logan. Oh, here we go, here we go. I think we're good. Are we going to have success? Oh, oh, success Lunch is on the way.

Speaker 1:

Nice Like that, how you just did that little transition Because I stuck with it. Right, I didn't give up. The phone's got me unmotivated, but I'm disciplined and I know why people got to eat. So I'm going to click clap, click clap until the chicky shows up. Discipline will get you where you're trying to go. When your motivation fails you.

Speaker 1:

Everybody's New Year's resolutions fail. They're not not motivated. They're motivated, but they're not disciplined to maintain them. Right, everybody. Because they're motivated, they're not disciplined. Maybe it's health, maybe it's work. Motivated, they're not disciplined. Maybe it's health, maybe it's work, maybe it's more time with family, who knows what it is. They're motivated by something, but they're not disciplined enough to take action.

Speaker 1:

Discipline will take you way further than motivation ever will. So how do you keep yourself disciplined? You keep yourself disciplined because discipline is about the things that you can control. Motivation is about the things that may inspire you. Motivation is about the things that entice you but really you can't control If you're motivated by the potential outcome of your hard work and efforts. You're motivated by the financial gains, by the notoriety, by the success. You really have no control over that part. What you do have control over is the discipline it takes to take every step necessary that puts you in the best likelihood of being successful.

Speaker 1:

People are like well, I deserve to be successful. You don't deserve anything when it comes to business and life and success. If you put forth the effort, you make good decisions, you're constantly growing, constantly educating yourself, trying to look for ways to improve, learning from your failures, trying to be a better human being. You deserve the opportunity at success. You deserve the opportunity to put forth the effort and take the steps necessary to be successful, but the key thing here is what you deserve. You have to change your perspective. I don't deserve any of my employees. I don't deserve any of my business partners. I don't deserve the mentors I have in my life. I'm blessed and humbled to have the opportunity to work with these individuals and these people and learn from them and help invest into them and pour into them so that I can help them achieve their goals. And if they achieve their goals, that probably helps me achieve my goals. I deserve the opportunity. I don't deserve the end result yet, because if I deserved that end result, I would already have the end result. I don't, but I thank God every day that I have the opportunity to keep striving for it and it's that discipline piece.

Speaker 1:

Now, if I'm in a situation where I get hung up on what happened yesterday, am I going to take the right steps today to get where I need to go? The answer is absolutely not. If I'm 24 hours later, I'm still celebrating a big sales day. Well, if I'm celebrating, then I'm not working. I'm not talking to new clients that need our help. If I'm hung up celebrating, or if it was a terrible sales day or a terrible sales week, and I'm just in my head, why doesn't anybody pick us? Why aren't people answering the phone? And I'm ignoring the fact that we got 50, 60, 70, 100 leads every day coming into us, but I hung up on why the hundred leads from yesterday didn't answer their phone because it's Memorial day and people are hanging out with their families.

Speaker 1:

Am I going to be able to execute on that opportunity I have in front of me now? Absolutely not, cause I'm living in the past. So if yesterday doesn't matter, that means last week doesn't matter and it means last month doesn't matter. You got to focus on today. You got to be disciplined about today. Now, what does matter about yesterday, the week before and the month before and the years before. Well, the lessons you learned, but you don't have to stop moving forward in order to implement the lessons you've learned along the way.

Speaker 1:

We got to stop getting hung up on yesterday, though, and so many of you are so focused on yesterday. So many of you have screwed up so many things in your life in the past. You self-sabotage yourself and you don't allow yourself to find happiness, success, great relationships, because you think you don't deserve it because of who you were or things you did. Guys, I've done so much stupid shit in my life. I've ruined so many relationships in my life. I've made so many bad decisions in my life. Gotta learn from it. You gotta keep working and you gotta keep going and you gotta keep trying to improve.

Speaker 1:

I don't deserve success. I deserve the opportunity to be successful. I deserve the opportunity to impact people's lives. I deserve the opportunity to change my life. I deserve the opportunity to change my family's life. I deserve the opportunity to alter the future of the next generations of the Wilson family.

Speaker 1:

I deserve the chance to do it, but I've got to be disciplined enough to do it, and there's been seasons where I was very hung up on mistakes I've made Long, long time ago. You know, when we went bankrupt, we lost everything. It took me a while to get out of that. I'm not taking opportunities. I didn't feel like I deserved opportunities and it took time opportunities. And it took time. I had to get myself right Not perfect, far from perfect, but I had to get myself right to get my confidence up a little bit, get that internal swagger up a little bit to where I feel like I deserve the opportunity. Now you're given the opportunity, what are you going to do with it? Are you disciplined enough to do something with it? It doesn't mean every day you're motivated. You're not going to be. I already talked about that. That's where the discipline comes in. Yesterday is only worth its lessons. Last week is only worth its lessons Last year and the years before that. It's only worth its lessons. Are you showing up today? The question the recruit asked me yesterday what do you like most about what you guys do? And my answer was because yesterday doesn't matter. That was my answer to her. Every day I wake up and it's a new opportunity. That's it.

Speaker 1:

If I had a bad day with my family yesterday, if I was being a shithead and, you know, grumpy about stuff and didn't have a great day with, with with Devin, cause I was less than kind or understanding or compassionate or I'd been in meetings and talking all day and listening to people all day and I didn't want to hear anything when I got home and I probably didn't communicate that in the best way. Logan's never witnessed that before. Um, no, never, never. It's like I hear you. I just need you to understand. I don't care right, like what the hell? Who says that to somebody? But I said that to devin, I've said that to logan before. Like I don't understand what's wrong with me. Y'all like shit. Like there's moments, okay, but now I've gone to bed, it's the next day.

Speaker 1:

I have an opportunity to be like hey, son, I'm sorry, I'm not really a shithead, I was just, it was a moment. Hey, devin, I'm sorry, I was a shithead. You've been with me long enough to know that I'm not like an overarching shithead, I just had a shithead moment and luckily, because of God's love for me alone, I have a wife and kids who have so much grace for me. They don't make me live in that moment. They let me move on from that moment and try again the next day, right, and that's.

Speaker 1:

That's another thing about like our family kind of as a whole. Like we have teenage kids logan's gonna be 20 in december, kiki just turned 17. They do some stupid shit sometimes like that's just, yeah, yeah right. Like for father's day I said I wanted a blackstone grill and um, we're horrible gift givers in the wilson fam. Well, maybe I am oh logan's pretty bad at this too. If we get something for somebody we care about, it's very difficult for us to not give it to them. So a lot of times, like we're great gift givers, we just aren't good at keeping it.

Speaker 2:

I gave Kiki her birthday gift like months before she forgot about it. Yeah, it was her birthday right.

Speaker 1:

So he re-gifted it and it was hysterical. But if I get something for Devin like, I want to see Devin's reaction, I want to see Devin's reaction. I want to see her response. I'm so excited to give her the gift, or, with the kids, like I've always. Last year we got Kiki a car for her 16th birthday. We had that car for like five days. It was the worst five days ever. It was the worst five days ever because I had to sit here and look at this car and I wanted to get her response. But we waited till her birthday and that was fine. But anyway, I said I wanted this blackstone. Devin and jenna super sweet. They went and got the blackstone for me.

Speaker 1:

Um, got it set up and logan, he is the smash burger king. He's gonna make us smash burgers for dinner on sunday nope, monday, monday. So, um, we get this thing put together. It's on the back deck. Logan's got all his stuff. He's coming in and out with all of his things. The grill is on because we had to season it, so it was hot as all get out. Neither of us have used one of these things before. He uses a griddle in the house when he makes these smash burgers, logan. How fast do those burgers cook?

Speaker 2:

I didn't even have a chance to grab stuff and flip them. They were already cooked. Usually I wait a couple minutes on the griddle.

Speaker 1:

So I'm jumping in, I'm trying to help. He's grabbing buns, he's grabbing seeds. It was chaos, but we knocked out some delicious ass burgers. They were really good. But the funny thing was I was like, son, you got to get some butter, throw that on the griddle when you cook this stuff up. And so I see my son walking through the house with a palm full of butter and apparently it was just what was left of the stick of butter.

Speaker 1:

It was on like a little butter tray. So Logan grabs the butter, goes outside, and my immediate response when I see things like this the hell are you doing? Like what? What are you doing? I got the butter, I'm gonna go put it on the grill, and so I was like son. First of all, that's not enough butter. Why is it just in your hand? So now he goes to the fridge, finds a stick of butter it was wrapped in paper.

Speaker 1:

It was in the garage, in that fridge, not. We don't just keep butter laying in the garage, so it's in the fridge. In the garage he now fridge. We don't just keep butter laying in the garage, so it's in the fridge. In the garage he now has a full stick in paper of butter. Takes that outside, no problem.

Speaker 1:

30 seconds later, my son who's brilliant, by the way is walking back through the house with the butter that was in his hand a few minutes ago, which has definitely started to melt by now, in his hand again. I lost it. I lost it. I just was so shook by the thought process that's taking place in this moment Now. We worked through it. I said some things Logan, it's kind of funny, cause he's just like whatever and kind of fussed at me. And then he goes back to the grill. We don't. These interactions happen kind of regularly between someone in our house. None of us get so hung up on the silliness of yesterday, right like by time. Like we had a great dinner, it was delicious. Tell you good nightnight. Tell you I love you. Love you too, dad, I'll see you tomorrow. And it's the same thing. He and Kiki got into it the other day. It was totally crazy. Kiki fires off, she goes from zero to 100, like that. I don't know where she gets it from, probably her mom. Do you think so too, logan? Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Do you do you think so too, logan? Yeah, do you think it's mom?

Speaker 1:

for sure, for sure. Yeah, definitely devon. I don't know who else it would be. Yeah, it surely isn't me. I'm mr calm, cool and collected on a daily basis. Well, anyway, they get into it. I find out about it, have a conversation like they're not hung up on it. It will become a joke now like we'll rag on each other about it, but the reality is, yeah, she overstepped. She really irritated her brother, but 10 minutes after that had she called and like logan, I need your help with something.

Speaker 1:

We don't operate where we're hung up on someone pissing you off 10 minutes ago, he's there to take care of his sister and do whatever she needs, right? If I'm a shitty dad one day, they're not holding that against me the next day. If they screw something super stupid up, we're going to talk about it and we move on from it. If it ever comes up again, typically it's in a poking fun way, busting balls in our family, but we're not like hung up on it, judging each other, right? I mean, that's just not how it is, because yesterday doesn't matter. We have today together, everybody's healthy, everybody's happy. We're so fortunate that that is the case Everyone's happy and healthy, like we have an opportunity to try again today. Yesterday doesn't matter and it's even if it's good shit, like okay, that was cool, it's a great memory. Something didn't great happen. There was a lesson learned, but we're moved on and focused on today. Allow yourself the freedom to move on. Allow yourself the freedom to just say I'm sorry.

Speaker 1:

Another great example of this Katie Peyton, almaris, devin and I went on a little trip last week and we're flying back. We're coming through the airport and Katie got hung up in security. Katie and I travel together a lot and it is rare that there is not some sort of little issue. That's typically really funny. Well, this particular TSA agent they weren't super cool and it became a bit of a thing for no reason whatsoever. They were giving Katie a hard time about something I chimed in Al. I chimed in Almaris chimed in it didn't help the situation at all and it got pretty stupid. So Katie gets on and goes through.

Speaker 1:

Then they scan my passport. This other lady scans my passport and something pops up and like, can you scan it again? Scan it again. Something pops up and I say hey, could it? Could it be that the thing scanning my picture is is rotated sideways, like should I tilt my head, should it's, and they didn't think that was funny and clearly that couldn't possibly be the issue that I fly weekly, basically, and I've never once had a problem going through that particular part. But there was a problem. This camera was tilted and so it changed my face. So it's scanning me sideways and obviously he's trying to do facial recognition and I thought maybe it was a computer thing.

Speaker 1:

Next thing, I know they get the manager to come over. While this is happening, I I'm fussing at Katie. We're yelling back and forth at each other as she's going through the, the body scanner, and the, the luggage part. So I'm sure we're really making a lot of friends. There was no line in this beautiful little airport we were at. Now there's about 30 people lined up behind me, peyton and Almaris, like Josh, what are you doing? And I'm like man, I don't know. Manager comes over. He's looking at stuff, clicking things, looking at me, looking at my passport.

Speaker 1:

Next thing, you know, the supervisor comes over. This dude comes over with a book. He has a binder and he starts pulling pictures out of this binder and he's like picture and looking at me and asking me to scan my passport again. I'm like wait a minute, are they trying to match me up with somebody in this damn book again? I'm like, wait a minute. Are they trying to match me up with somebody in this damn book? Again? I fly all the time, no issues.

Speaker 1:

So finally they let me through. I get through the scanner. They won't. They make me take my shoes off, to make me take my hat off, to make me take my belt off, all things Nobody ever makes me do Cause I'm pre-check, all right, but I said, sir, I'm pre-check, I don't't, I don't need to take this stuff off, correct? Well, did they give you the blue ticket? Like blue ticket? No, I was just over there with the supervisor, the manager, um, you know, jesus himself, like all everybody, was involved in me getting through the check-in counter. He's like no blue ticket, no pre-check. Oh, sir, here's my boarding pass, I'm pre-check. Sir, here's my boarding pass. I'm pre-check. No blue ticket, no pre-check. I need your boots off, I need your hat off, I need your belt off, no problem. So now I'm taking off all this stuff. And who wears boots on a plane? Me, because I don't got to take them off. So now I'm taking them off. Now I'm sweating. We're in California, where I never sweat, by the way. So I'm pissed off because this is whole situation.

Speaker 1:

I get through the security thing. I grabbed my shit and I start yelling at Katie. I'm pissed off because I just knew that it was her fault that I was getting in trouble with TSA because she pissed them all off. Two minutes later I look at her. I say you know what, katie? I apologize If someone's. If that what was happening to you was happening to me and people started chiming in, I would have lost my shit. I'd have gone nuts. I would have gone nuts. I'm sorry. And she looked at me and says I'm sorry too. We've already moved on.

Speaker 1:

We continue on to the plane. We get on the plane and five minutes after they close the doors and we're getting ready to push back, all of our phones start beeping your flight's been canceled. So we all get to get off the plane and we're trying to figure out what to do. And all the sheep go and get in line at the airport and they're trying to figure out all this stuff. I'm like let's get the hell out of here and figure it out. And I'm thankful. Thankful that we have the means, we have the ability to not be stuck. I'm thankful that for the most part there wasn't a place I had to be that night. There wasn't that pressure. There was some pressure with some of our companions and we got them out earlier. But for the most part it was fine.

Speaker 1:

But here's the point of story. We ended up being in California for another two days. Devin, katie and I, almaris and Peyton. We got out the next morning early. We had a great time. We had a great time.

Speaker 1:

Katie and I totally embarrassed each other in the airport in front of people. I don't do that. She doesn't do that Like front of people. I don't do that. She doesn't do that. Like we were legit fussing at each other. It's ridiculous. I'm so embarrassed by how I was acting. It didn't mess up a single minute of our time. We got out of that airport, we apologized, we moved on.

Speaker 1:

Honestly, it became a funny ass story that we joked about that night the next day, telling other people about it. Poor Devin, she zips right through security, she walks to the other end of the terminal, goes to the bathroom, comes back None of us are still there and she's like what the hell's going on. And then here comes Katie through, here comes me through and it's just freaking tornado and Devin's like holy shit, like can y'all relax? Can you guys chill out? 10 minutes ago, basically yesterday, it's done and over with. What are we going to do with that rest of that time? And we had a great time together. We had a great time together Moving on. There was a lesson learned in that moment, in that situation, for all of us Could have handled it better, could have handled it differently, acknowledged where we screwed up and we just moved on. And if it gets referenced again, it's a joke.

Speaker 1:

So when the recruit asked me what do you like most about what you do? Why do you love it so much? Because yesterday doesn't matter. Whether I was the greatest or the worst, yesterday doesn't matter. I got today to make it right. I've got today to get at bat again and give it another shot.

Speaker 1:

I deserve the opportunity to be successful. I deserve the opportunity to make it right. I deserve the opportunity to put in the work to win. I deserve the opportunity to show my kids how much I love them. I deserve the opportunity to show my wife, day in and day out, how much she means to me and how special she is to me. I deserve the opportunity to go after whatever I want, and so do you.

Speaker 1:

Stop sabotaging yourself. The world's going to throw enough shit at you where you don't need to do it yourself. Life is hard enough. Life is random enough. The stuff I hear about on a daily basis of things people and families are going through and people who are passing away, and accidents that are happening and kids are deathly ill and just tragedies no one deserves those things. It's just life. It's just life. But if you wake up the next morning, you deserve the opportunity to go again. So do you. We're going to catch you next time on the Big Dog Podcast. We love you. We appreciate you. Hope this helps to catch you next time on the Big Dog Podcast. We love you. We appreciate you. Hope this helps somebody. I know it helped me. Son, I'll catch you next time.

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