TEDx Talk: Life Itinerary Design 101

Brandon J. McGill introduces the concept of a lucid dream, where he is aware that they are dreaming and can control the storyline. He shares his own experience of having a lucid dream and designing their life itinerary based on it. The life itinerary is a roadmap for one's life that creates a framework to achieve their goals and purpose. The talk discusses the benefits of having a life itinerary, such as clarity, direction, flexibility, and a healthy relationship with one's inner child. He also emphasizes the role of the reticular activating system in shaping our subconscious thoughts and the law of attraction in manifesting our goals. Finally, Brandon shares how his dream led to a course correction in his life and the importance of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Transcript

Welcome to Life Itinerary Design 101.

Have you ever had a dream when you were aware that you were dreaming?

That's called a lucid dream,

And it can be both an empowering and life-changing experience.

Imagine feeling as if you have the ability to change the storyline and control the dream and shape it to your liking,

Where anything and everything is possible.

That's what happened to me on January 26,

2005.

I was a 15-year-old sophomore attending DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville,

Maryland,

And during my first lucid dream,

I designed my life itinerary.

Now the illustrations you'll see here is my idea to recreate that lucid dream.

And now before I get into what led to that experience,

The science behind it,

And my personal journey afterwards,

Let's first define what that is.

A life itinerary is a roadmap to create the framework to see as much as you can on your life's journey without missing your life's purpose.

Think of it as the table of contents for the autobiography which you are writing every single day.

That night,

I didn't go to sleep with any intention to have such a dream,

Right?

I'm a 15-year-old sophomore.

I'm just going to sleep as a kid.

But my brain was ready to take advantage of this unique opportunity,

Which Steve Jobs has a famous quote which says,

Creativity is just connecting things.

It's taking past experiences to synthesize new things.

And what I synthesized that night was equivalent to a movie trailer based on the next 15 years of my life.

Now I was only able to see the main events,

You know,

As you would in the movie theater.

And those events were playing professional basketball overseas,

Traveling the world,

And creating my own businesses.

But when I woke up,

The experience was so profound.

Imagine a 15-year-old,

As soon as I wake up,

I found a Sharpie and I wrote the date on the wall.

That's how vivid it was.

And at that moment,

My life itinerary was set in motion.

Now what I saw for my future was based on my life experiences and aspirations up until that point.

So if we rewind back to 1999,

I'm a 10-year-old competing at the track and field junior Olympics in Omaha,

Nebraska.

And I actually go on to win four medals at the event,

Which was more than any single athlete at the event,

Including upcoming Olympians,

Future Olympians such as Sonya Richards Ross.

We keep that name in mind because we'll revisit it later.

And competing and excelling at a high-performance sport at such a young age meant that my mind was different.

Right?

I didn't watch cartoons as a kid.

And I was fully ready to travel,

Which set the foundation for now when I grow up.

Right?

I lived in Bali three years.

I view life as a high-performance sport with many locations to visit.

And I'm sure you're wondering,

You know,

Was there anything,

If I could go back,

Was there something that I did that could relive that lucid dream?

Well,

According to medical experts,

Such as Dr.

Mark Benton,

Any form of electronic media used in close proximity to bed,

Whether it's your cell phone,

Your TV,

Or laptop,

Can influence your dreams.

And back then,

There were only two things I watched on TV,

Right?

I wasn't watching cartoons.

All I watched was NBA TV and AWE,

Which stood for a wealth of entertainment.

So if I wasn't watching Kobe Bryant's every move,

I was literally watching shows about exotic places such as Bali,

Dubai,

And the Maldives.

And one day,

While watching one of my favorite movies,

Love and Basketball,

I connected the dots.

I would use basketball as my vehicle to travel the world.

And that brings us to the first benefit of having or designing your life itinerary.

It gives you clarity and direction,

Right?

A personal treasure map,

If you will,

Or a vision board,

As most of us use on New Year's Eve.

And it keeps you focused,

But more than that,

It gives you the confidence,

Right?

Because I saw the next 15 years.

So anything that happens next,

I had the resilience to keep going.

And the life itinerary should be designed to actually maintain a healthy relationship with your inner child,

Right?

When we grow up,

When you see people,

You know,

I'm 33,

So I can say this now,

When you hit 30,

You hit that point in your life when you're like,

Man,

I really had dreams when I was a kid,

And somehow I got into this stream of life,

And it just swept me,

Right?

So the life itinerary is what we use to stay back on track.

But let's break it down even further.

Let's name our inner child RAS,

Right?

You think it's a random name,

But what that stands for is reticular activating system,

Which is a network of neurons located about right here in your brainstem.

And so for anyone here that's seen the movie The Matrix,

If you remember the scene when Neo is plugged in,

For the rest of this talk,

Think that is your reticular activating system.

And out of nowhere,

He learned new languages,

Right?

He was doing Kung Fu.

So that's what we're talking about here.

And this reticular activating system is actually pouring information from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind,

Which people also call your third eye,

Okay?

So that's the science.

Now remember,

It's called television programming for a reason.

Why is that?

You're telling your vision what to program.

So when growing up,

Or nowadays,

It's TikTok,

Right?

That's what you're telling your vision to program.

So you see everyone,

They can do the dances,

Because every day they're programming it.

And so again,

As a kid,

I didn't watch cartoons.

So the content that I was feeding my reticular activating system was highly concentrated in what I would use to design my life itinerary,

Basketball and travel.

Altogether,

You can call this the law of attraction,

Which I know many of you have heard.

Now my favorite book,

Which you probably could have guessed with that intro,

Is The Alchemist,

If you've read it before.

And this book actually speaks about the law of attraction.

And there was a quote which reads,

Remember that wherever your heart is,

There you will find your treasure.

When I woke up that day,

January 26,

2005,

My heart was no longer in track.

The reason this is a big deal is because if you play sports,

As a freshman,

I was on the varsity track and field team,

But on the freshman basketball team.

And I just had some random dream and decided I would try to do this,

Right?

I don't recommend that for anyone.

And now I know we're told we should never quit,

Which is the first thing I did when I woke up.

But it wasn't giving up.

It was a course correction to keep my inner child in the game,

Right?

I was inspired by Kobe Bryant.

I wasn't so much looking to relive standing on the podium as I did as a 10-year-old just 10 years later.

Plus,

In the dream,

I was playing professional basketball,

Not running for Team USA.

Now this is actually where I feel comfortable,

Right?

On the edge,

Booking a hotel or a flight two days before.

And so when I ended up transferring from DeMatha Catholic High School to Suitland,

I had a new goal,

Receive a full scholarship playing basketball,

Right?

Mind you,

I already had offers as a 15-year-old in track,

And now I put that to the side.

Long story short,

I didn't get it,

Right?

And you can imagine I felt,

Did I make the right decision?

I had offers as a 14-year-old for a full scholarship,

And now it's not looking so good.

I ended up signing to play with a small Division III college just three weeks before classes started outside of Pittsburgh in Latrobe,

Pennsylvania.

And this actually brings us to the second benefit of designing your life itinerary,

Is flexibility.

I had to get comfortable being uncomfortable,

Which is my every day now,

Right?

On stage,

I should be uncomfortable now,

But I'm comfortable being uncomfortable.

I kept my focus and made the best of my situation.

I was player of the year as a junior,

But heading into my senior season,

I knew,

Look,

You're coming from a Division III college.

You got to take it up maybe two more levels.

Well,

If you see someone following their dream,

This is what it looks like nine times out of 10,

Because I also didn't achieve that goal either.

Eight games into my senior season,

I suffered a stress fracture in my left foot.

The doctor said my season was over.

And since I wasn't on a full scholarship at a Division III college,

It really meant my career was over.

But remember,

I grew up watching Kobe Bryant,

So I decided it was time for me to turn on my Mamba mentality and play as if I didn't feel any pain.

I was 21,

Young and dumb.

So literally during the week,

I was in a walking boot.

I would go to the game,

Take it off,

And lace up my shoes as if there was nothing wrong.

I ended up finishing in seventh all-time in school history,

But my foot would never be the same,

Even to this day,

Right now.

I didn't let that deter me.

After graduating May 2011,

I still had the dream of playing professional basketball,

Coming from a Division III college with a broken foot.

You have to be insane to follow your dreams,

Literally.

I thought I would get this call at the end of the summer,

But it never came.

But what I did receive was a wake-up call from my parents,

Saying,

Look,

You had a good run,

But now it's time to enter the real world.

And there's nothing worse than feeling like your dreams are being crushed by your parents,

Right?

That's not their intention.

I'm a parent now,

So I can understand what they were saying back then.

But as a 22-year-old,

That's how it felt.

But think about it.

I never told them,

And I've only told anyone this story starting today,

That I had that dream.

So my key takeaway from that is communication unlocks every door,

Right?

If I was to go back and do it again,

I may tell my parents I had this dream,

Because they supported me up until that point.

Why would they stop,

Right?

Which brings us to the third benefit of having a life itinerary,

Accountability.

Just because you may feel,

You know,

You have a broken foot,

I'm coming from a Division III college,

My parents want me to get a job,

But inside,

I knew what I saw.

And so holding yourself accountable is the compass to live life on your own terms,

Which is what I personally define as success.

Now I knew I wouldn't give up,

But I also knew my parents were right.

I needed to start earning some money.

So I decided to move back to Pittsburgh and took a job at Hertz Rental.

It was the last place I wanted to be.

Remember,

I had this dream of playing professional basketball overseas,

And I'm helping you rent cars 45 minutes away from my college.

But when looking at my life itinerary,

It gave me that confidence to keep going.

And I felt,

Although I was lost,

When I would come home from work,

I would literally search the internet,

And I didn't know exactly what I was looking for,

But I knew it needed to be somewhere in the vicinity of Europe,

Right?

And so every day,

I was looking for this needle in the haystack.

And finally,

After two months of working at Hertz,

One in the morning,

I stumbled upon the University of East London.

They were offering full postgraduate scholarships to student athletes.

I said,

That's me.

And so I stayed up that whole night,

Put in my application,

Went into work with no sleep.

Fast forward to September 11,

2012,

I was on a Virgin Atlantic flight headed to London Heathrow Airport.

And once your life itinerary is set in motion,

You begin to see signs,

Just as you would when you're traveling,

That you're exactly where you're supposed to be.

So if you remember the name Sonya Richards-Ross,

She won the 400-meter gold medal in 1999 at an event where I won more medals than anyone else.

Well,

Two months before I arrived in London,

She won the 400-meter gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics.

But I was no longer interested in that.

I saw the connection,

As you do when you start to move along this path.

But Team USA's men's basketball team were using the University of East London as their training camp.

So imagine I'm going into a gym that Kobe Bryant just left two months ago.

This was the first time since the lucid dream that I knew this is exactly where I'm supposed to be.

The following summer,

I went to trial for a team in the top leagues called the BBL in England.

I played well.

And the coach,

He loved my game.

But he said,

Look around.

We have too many players at your position.

I said,

Fair enough.

So I ended up playing with the same club as the previous season,

Except we moved up a division.

And so eight games into the season,

Which was the same number of games I suffered a stress fracture in my left foot in college,

We were 8-0.

And I saw the buzz on social media.

And I started to realize,

OK,

This is one of those moments where you need to come through.

And so we were 8-0,

Going up against the defending champs who were also 8-0.

On your journey as well,

There will be these crucial moments that just pop up out of nowhere.

And so that's why they say,

If you fail to prepare,

You prepare to fail.

Because this moment,

It just happens,

And you have to be ready.

And this was one for me.

Down one in the fourth quarter,

Eight seconds on the clock,

I drive right,

Pass to a teammate,

Praying he passes it back to me.

He passes it back.

I take a quick look at the clock.

Game-winning shot at the buzzer,

Just as I watched Kobe do many times before.

And again,

I knew this was a big deal.

So after you shower,

You're getting on the bus back home.

I was checking for published stories.

And remember that coach who told me they had too many players in my position?

All I did was copy and paste an article,

Send it to him in Messenger,

And then I waited.

Now that team was on a five-game losing streak.

So I knew my chances might have shifted,

Right?

And at 2 a.

M.

,

He responded,

Come to training tomorrow afternoon.

And that's how I got my first professional contract.

I would go on to play in a semi-pro league in St.

Louis,

And then across the world,

Down under in Perth,

Australia.

I finished my career in Munster,

Germany,

Where we won both the cup and league title.

And I was actually conceived in Germany,

So it was a full-circle moment to end my basketball career there.

Mind you,

During this career I played overseas,

I was the only Division III player.

And I was playing with a foot that was never better than 70%.

Before that last season,

I started helping other people who were like me,

Student athletes,

With my company ISR,

So they can extend their careers the way I did.

Because I read a quote that says,

In order for you to maximize your biological potential,

You must move yourself around the world.

And when you move yourself around the world,

You're now able to connect these dots.

And that's what I wanted to help others do.

Now to start the next phase of my life itinerary,

This is,

You know,

Ending 2018,

I'm coming back home to see my parents.

What I did was to tell my inner child,

Look,

The next chapters are going to be just as fun as the last ones.

And so I booked the exact travel itinerary I saw in that dream 14 years prior.

So from January to March in 2019,

I went from London to Amsterdam,

Amsterdam to Dubai,

Dubai to the Maldives,

Maldives to Thailand,

And from Thailand to Bali.

Now remember,

These were the shows I watched growing up.

So for me being in those places,

I almost had to pinch myself.

Because this is exactly how it looked in the dream.

And the fourth benefit of designing your life itinerary is purpose.

Somewhere along the journey,

You're going to figure out what are you looking to be remembered for in this world?

And what is your passion that wakes you up every single day and makes you excited about living today as if it's your last?

And now,

When I moved to Bali,

Two days before my 30th birthday,

I didn't really have a plan.

Mind you,

My 15 years already expired from the dream,

Right?

So now it was time to,

Okay,

That was my thought process.

If I moved to Bali,

You know,

Meditation,

A little yoga,

Maybe I can get the lucid dream going again.

That wasn't necessarily the case.

But what I found was that now that I had been around the world and connected the dots,

That dream I would now see when I was awake,

Right?

Now I can see the signs.

And so if you remember January 26,

2005,

I had a dream that would show me the next 15 years of my life that was largely inspired by Kobe Bryant.

Well,

Listen to this.

15 years later,

On January 26,

Kobe Bryant passed away.

And for me,

It was,

You know,

Like seeing your hero die,

Right?

It's like,

He's 41,

You know what I mean?

Like I get emotional when I talk about this.

But as if that wasn't crazy enough,

The following year,

You know,

After he's remembered for the mamba mentality,

He's remembered for his attention to detail,

And then his retirement led to him being the girl dad,

Which everyone strives to be.

The following year,

I became a girl dad.

And Zaylin Gianna was born in Bali,

Two months premature on August 23,

2021,

Which happens to be whose birthday?

Kobe Bryant's.

So at this point,

You know,

I have to look into this.

So that's why now I studied the reticular activating system,

Because how is it all of these things were showing up in my life,

Right?

And we all can do the same thing.

And you do not have to have a lucid dream,

Right?

We can call that luck.

But we can create our own luck by making sure there's enough storage in that reticular activating system so that when you see something you need to process later in your life,

It's there.

You can take advantage of that moment.

And so in closing,

I chose the name Life Itinerary Design 101 because I think it was the class we could have all used in high school or college that would be the navigation through times like this,

Where we're facing a mental health crisis,

Right?

People are feeling lost,

Unmotivated.

And so I actually want to assign some homework today.

There are three things,

If I had to do it again right now without having the dream,

The first one would be to choose three mentors,

One of which is someone that inspires you the way Kobe Bryant inspired me.

For me,

That's Kobe Bryant,

Anthony Bourdain,

And Childish Gambino slash Donald Glover,

Right?

All of these people have certain aspects that I want to replicate in my life itinerary.

So that's your first assignment.

Find these three people,

Consume their content daily on YouTube.

Next,

Choose one book.

For me,

That's The Alchemist.

I read it every year for my birthday for the last five years.

And what it does is it kind of acts as a annual checkup,

Right?

When I'm reading the book,

I keep that conversation going with my inner child,

Like you had this dream as a 14-year-old,

15-year-old,

You're 33,

And you're still having this dream,

Right?

And so I want you to find a book that you can read every day to keep that relationship with your inner child.

Finally,

Use Twitter,

Right?

I would create another profile and name it your alter ego,

Right?

Mine is Basquiat Marley.

I love Jean-Michel Basquiat and Bob Marley.

So my alter ego in this character is Basquiat Marley.

I would create a Twitter and follow it.

That Twitter is your dreams.

So you're literally following your dreams,

Right?

That conscious information is being poured into your subconscious.

And I would use Twitter as an open journal,

Right?

You make a tweet,

It's timestamped.

And so this is how you train your gut instinct as well as your reticular activating system to where when you see signs and moments like this,

Given a TED talk,

When I need to show up,

I'm prepared.

Even though I've never done this before,

But I've took in the information,

Right?

And so use Twitter as that open journal,

Make predictions.

And I know we hear 10,

000 hours is what we should strive for for mastery.

Well,

I want to suggest 10,

000 iterations,

Because I can sit somewhere for 10,

000 hours and I'm just sitting there,

Right?

But 10,

000 iterations,

I'm looking at this illustration,

I'm saying,

Hey,

The water isn't glistening right at the right spot to show where the sun,

Right?

So the next time we're doing that,

The person and the people you come in contact with are learning about you as you're learning about yourself.

And the last thing is to never forget,

Tonight when you go to sleep,

The adventure of a lifetime is just one dream away.

Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.

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