Positive Mindset Monday | Ep 12: Shark or Goldfish?
The Jon Gordon Podcast
Jon Gordon
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kick off your week with a dose of motivation in this Positive Mindset Monday episode! This time, the focus is on an empowering question: Are you a shark or a goldfish? Explore the difference between waiting for opportunities to come to you and taking bold, proactive steps to chase them down. You'll hear insights on why it's more important than ever to develop a “shark” mindset, one that’s driven, energetic, and resilient, even when times get tough. Discover what it means to seek out success with integrity, work hard, and believe in a sea of possibilities. Whether you’ve been coasting along or you’re ready to attack new challenges, you’ll find fresh encouragement to swim faster, push further, and become the kind of leader who thrives no matter the circumstances. Dive in, get inspired, and make this week the one where you stop waiting and start creating your own momentum.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, this is John Gordon with your positive mindset Monday. So let me ask you a question. Are you a shark |
| 0:08.4 | or are you a goldfish? Goldfish wait to be fed. Sharks go find food. The key to life is to be a shark, |
| 0:18.3 | a nice shark who goes out there and goes and finds food. They're not waiting |
| 0:23.1 | to be fed. They're going out there and making things happen. Right now, we're in a world and |
| 0:27.7 | economy where for years we've been fed. The business has just been coming in so easily that we |
| 0:34.3 | become goldfish. But now you have to go swim. You have to go attack. You have to go |
| 0:39.3 | find. You have to seek. The business is still out there, but you have to go after it. You got to be a |
| 0:45.4 | shark. And that is what will make you successful. During easy times, everyone can be goldfish |
| 0:51.6 | and be successful, but it's during the tough times, the challenging times, |
| 0:55.2 | where the sharks will thrive. So I would encourage you to be that shark, not, again, not the evil |
| 1:01.9 | shark, not the shark that does things with a lack of integrity. No, you go out there, you do things |
| 1:07.3 | the right way, you work hard, You believe in the ocean of possibility. |
| 1:12.0 | And you know that by working hard, swimming as fast and as hard as you can and putting all |
| 1:17.4 | your effort and energy into going to find food that you actually will. |
| 1:21.6 | And when people look at the successful ones, they will look at you because you were a shark |
| 1:27.0 | and not a goldfish. |
| 1:29.5 | Have a great day. |
| 1:30.4 | Have a great week. |
| 1:31.4 | Go be that shark. |
| 1:32.6 | All right. |
| 1:32.8 | Take care. |
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