A Virtual Road Trip with Tony Suriano, author of Direct Your Life or Someone Else Will

A stranger who asks “What time is it?” every ten minutes. A vintage Honda Goldwing pickup that ends with a spear on the wall and a text to family “just in case.” Then a simple confidence exercise that changes everything: introducing yourself as who you are becoming. Our conversation with filmmaker, actor, author, podcaster, and magician Tony Suriano goes from funny road-trip chaos to practical, grounded life advice you can use immediately.

We talk vintage cars and first-ride freedom, then follow Tony through a wild stretch of travel that includes trains, buses, hitchhiking, and buying a classic motorcycle on the road. Along the way, he shares what those moments taught him about reading people, trusting your gut, and staying aware when a situation feels slightly off. If you love road trip stories, motorcycle travel, and real-life “how did I end up here?” moments, you’ll feel right at home.

Tony also opens up about his creative path, from early directing and acting gigs to finding his way onto the set of The Irishman. We dig into identity and confidence, including how his friend Chad pushed him to stop dabbling and start owning the words “I’m an actor.” We even get a quick hit of wonder from Tony’s magician past, including a Houdini exhibit performance that lit up a stranger’s face with pure joy.

Finally, we unpack Tony’s upcoming book, Direct Your Life Or Someone Else Will, and the core framework behind it: self-awareness, alignment, action, and learning through failure. If you’re searching for motivation, personal development that doesn’t feel cheesy, or a creative “life design” approach that borrows from filmmaking structure, this one is for you.

You can find information on Tony and his book at Direct Your Life Or Someone Else Will | Tony Suriano Book

Listen to a live speech by Tony: https://youtu.be/nIAuqfULntE?si=XRsNVey5pstbk5Hm

Find Tony on Social Media @TonySuriano

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Tony Suriano

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy. I'm your host Dan, and each week we'll embark on a new adventure, discovering memory and life lessons of our incredible guests. From everyday travelers to thrill seekers and everyone in between, this podcast is your front row seat to inspiring stories of passion, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness. So buckle up and enjoy the ride. Well, I'm on a virtual road trip today. New friend. I literally met him about two weeks ago, but I will say I feel like I've known him a lifetime already. So I'm excited to have Tony Soriano on with me today. He is a film director, 80 plus credits. He is an author, book coming out, direct your life, or someone else will. He's a podcaster, and oh, he's a magician. So we'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Welcome to the show, Tony. Thank you so much, Dan. I'm excited to be here. Hit me with whatever you got. This is gonna be a fun conversation.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

I want to give you a couple minutes. Maybe we're riding up on an elevator in a big tall building. But tell my listeners who is Tony Soriano.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

I am a man that loves my wife. So if you're listening, care bearer, I love you. First. And uh second, I'm a creative. I love challenges and I love making things with my hands. I like shooting things with my camera. I enjoy magic, as you mentioned. I've been a magician since I was 12. I met a guy in an airplane and uh he taught me magic for three hours. It was really cool. I'm all about trying to tap into the better me because I know I have a jerk side in me sometimes. And when that side comes out, I don't like it. So I'm always trying to do better, be better, and uh feel better. I should have added you are from California, but now you're in Cincinnati. It's a great relief. You know, you go from crazy traffic to not so much traffic, so that's a big deal.

First Car Freedom And Motorcycles

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Let's get started. And this is Dan, the road trip guy. First question is always tell me about your first car or tell me a funny car story.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

All right. This takes me back. My very first car, I gathered all the money I could. I looked, I searched. I was always into classic things, vintage things, and I found a 1962 Mercury Comet with little fins. And I convinced my dad to take the drive an hour and a half away in this place called Bakersfield. And I bought the car and I drove it back alone. And you should have seen my smile. I felt free. It was like this American dream happening in real time. I had this bigger steering wheel on the side of the car. You would see these blue Japanese wave type things. They look like scales or they look like bubbles or Japanese waves. It was all white, other than that. And that was a fun trip because it didn't break down. You know, it's an old 1962, and it got me all the way home. And for the next couple years, I learned how to work on cars because it was simple, right? I didn't want to get too advanced with the newer cars, but it was simple enough to change my own oil, you know, and and feel what it's like to have some patience and some more challenges, learning some new things. It was it was I should have hung on to that. Yeah, I you know, I let it go because I had a couple motorcycles at the time and I was getting a new car for a road trip. So I just had to let it go. But you know, funny story, that car in the San Fernando Valley, it started to get known because it was very wild looking. And I didn't get it like, oh, I want significance. I did want to feel like I was in a time capsule. And I used to turn on 50s and 60s music all the time driving that. But people would yell stuff at me like, Oh, I like your bubbles. It was just really funny. Motorcycles, so now you had a motorcycle. Tell me about the first motorcycle. Well, the first one was a Honda Shadow, and I didn't want to tell my dad he was a motorcycle rider, but he he bailed when he was 27 and then never got another another one. But I didn't want to tell him I was in college and I used some of my scholarship to buy a motorcycle, and it wasn't that expensive, but I used that and I drove back, showed up to my dad's house, and he's like, How'd you get here? He's an Italian. How'd you get here? Where's your car? Oh no, I came with that. What, the blue Lincoln? No, no, no, the motorcycle. He said, The motorcycle? What? What are you crazy?

SPEAKER_01 4:38

That's good. Well, I think you mentioned to me a motorcycle trip, so we'll get to that one. But maybe that is your epic road trip. Tell me about an epic road trip in your life.

Hitchhiking To New Orleans And Trust

SPEAKER_00 4:48

I've had several, but what comes to mind, and it is with a motorcycle, it's with a train, a bus, and hitchhiking. So it must have been 2010, and I went to this seminar for real estate and for financial investing. I had a little money, so I got there, I took a train, showed up, I knew one person there, chatted with him, and I got to know this other guy, and I wanted to continue the trip. So I met this one guy and I hitchhiked with him back to New Orleans, New Orleans. And it was the strangest ride, I tell you. Every 10 minutes, he would ask me what time it is. He'd like turn to me and be like, what time is it now? I'd look and I'd say, Oh, it's 10-11. And it was just this weird thing going all the way across. It was seven hours or something. And I went to New Orleans, I stayed in a hostel, I met some really great friends, hung out for a week there. But it got really interesting when I decided to buy a motorcycle, a Honda Goldwing, 1980. I'm a vintage dude.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

I gotta ask you how old you were when you had a Goldwing.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Late 20s or something like that. Yeah. Most Gold Wing riders, you know, are a little bit older. I just wanted a classic, again, somewhat of a classic, and I wanted a comfortable one. And I put speakers on it. I mean, I made it mine. The funny part of the story is, and there's a lesson in here, I'm sure. I called this guy. I said, Hey, I'm interested in your motorcycle. And he he said, All right. He was kind of like spoke fast and kind of had this like happy, aggressive voice. And he said, Okay, look, give me a deposit and then I'll pick you up at the train station. And I was like, Okay, internet deposit. And I talked with him for a while, and I just had to go with my gut. I I trusted him. I sent him a little deposit and I took the the train ride. And then when I showed up, I waited. I'm not kidding you. It wasn't two hours for the guy. It wasn't four, it was around six hours. Luckily, I brought a book and I like reading. So I was hanging out there. I'd he'd call me every and be like, oh, I'm coming. Don't worry, I just had to do this thing. All right. I'm just sitting there. Finally, he c he comes in and I notice that this is the guy. We get in his car, and the first thing he does is he like punches me on the shoulder and is like, man, all right, well, I'm glad you're here. We're gonna go get your bike. And I was just like, wow, this guy reminds me of my stepdad. And I was ironically wearing my 1984 leather jacket from my stepdad. So we went down to his little place in Tampa, Florida. It was a little, let's just call it, it was ghetto, but it was interesting. So I went there and he asked me, he said, Well, we need to change the oil, but it's late. Listen, why don't you crash at my place and I'm gonna go sleep in my girlfriend's house, and then tomorrow morning I'll come over, we'll change the oil, you go on your way. And it was late because he showed up so late. You know, what are you gonna you have to change the oil, he said, and it's dark. The funniest thing, I I don't know if it was just my gut or my my lack of uh travel experience, but I just said, all right, sounds good. He's like, Yeah, get whatever you want in the fridge. Blah, blah, blah. Bye. And you know, I'm there. Now I look to my right and after he leaves, and I see like this spear for diving, you know, those big divers. Yeah. Uh-huh. And then I look around, I'm, you know, this place is a little disheveled. Look in the fridge, I don't want anything from that fridge. Then I look on the wall and I see all these pictures. He told me he was a previous wrestler. And I see pictures of him and Hulk Hogan in wrestling uniforms, and there's like not one, there's several and all this memorabilia. And I was just smiling and just thought, this is such a funny, interesting situation. I laid down that night. I texted my sister, and I said, Hey, listen, if you find me dead with the spear through me, uh, this is where I am, this is what happened. And to wrap that bizarre story up, the next morning he called me or I called. I tried to get in touch with him. He finally got back to me, said, Hey, can you can you uh feed the cat when you leave? I'm like, When I leave, aren't you gonna come and help me with the oil? He's like, Well, that would be really later. And I've already paid him and I have the contract already. I'm like, this is weird. Okay. I go get oil, I change the oil myself, I feed his cat, I lock the door, I go on my way. As a filmmaker, this sounds a little like a film. Did you ever make one about this? That's funny. I have not yet, but it's definitely logged. And I I like to derive lessons through experiences. And if I had to pinpoint the lesson there, it was it's really important to know how to read people. Because if I wasn't half decent at reading people, I could have been in hot water. And I thought at the time, you know, with the turnout, I read that guy pretty well and I had a funny story now to tell you.

From Short Films To The Irishman

SPEAKER_01 9:40

A great story. I might not have mentioned in the intro, you're an actor also. But really want to talk about your dad's an actor. What point in your life did you go, this is what I want to pursue?

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

I what what does that path look like?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah, the path. The path. I was a little bit of a dabbler, and that was probably not a smart thing to do. But dabbling meaning I would watch my dad and my uncle and my godfather, they would be acting and they're professionals and they make money. And I would say, Oh, I want to be like that. And this is at a young age, and I I thought about it. I that's probably why I pushed and changed high schools and got into a little play program, which which made me really nervous, but I just wanted to push. But I didn't ask my dad, hey, I want to do that. What do I do? Do I need to do this, this, this? I just assumed that maybe if I'm ready, he would tell me or someone, or it would just happen. So years passed, teenager, early 20s, and by early 20s, I was already directing little short films and playing with a camera. I would put myself in front of the camera. I put it online, but I wasn't sharing it that much. I wasn't showing it to everyone. And I was maybe every now and then going on to an audition that was not really like a high-level one. It was just something I found online. It wasn't through an agent. I didn't have an agent. That happened for a while. Um, but when I was 24, I did have my first paid acting acting experience, and it was through my own means. I found a a place that would accept me to pitch a commercial for them, and they had the option to buy it. And I was the actor, the director. I asked my friend to help with some things, and they bought it for$7,500, and that was the beginning of my directing career, but technically also my acting because I was I was in the the commercial. You're doing it all. Yeah, I mean, you know, there was it was part ego and then part real excitement because I loved filmmaking. I still do. I love tweaking things and trying to get it how I see it in my head onto the camera or or the computer eventually. But from there, you know, I had a lot of ups and downs. I moved like 12 times the next four or five years, just a lot of more adventures. Then finally, my dad got the call to and he got a part in the movie The Irishman. It's a Martin Schwarzese film. And I've heard about it coming out in the last two or three years before that it was probably gonna happen. And but we didn't hear anything, and finally it did. And I said to my dad, Oh my gosh, can I come? This would be amazing. I would love to come. And he's like, Yeah, I can't ask those questions. Sorry. So I went anyway. So I went to New York and I tried to find the production office and where they're filming and all that. And I actually I happened to know one of the actors' assistants. So I called him. I was like, hey, I'm in New York. I haven't talked to you for a while, but oh, my dad's in the film, but he couldn't ask anything. How can I get on set? Is there any way? So I eventually got on set. And it was an amazing experience. I learned so much. We're gonna go back and watch now that we know we watched it, but uh we didn't know you. So yeah. Um it was that's cool. It was fun. It was a fun turnout. Um if if anyone listening wants to hear the whole story, probably can search search me or something on YouTube and and I have a speech where I'm sharing about the whole journey because it's it's quite a crazy journey.

Owning The Words I Am An Actor

SPEAKER_01 13:12

I'm gonna put a link to that because I was we watched it yesterday, Linda and I did, and it was uh it was very cool. Well, speaking of that, I I don't recall if he was a mentor or just a guy you ran into, but somebody really poured some positive thoughts into you about being an actor. I think his name was Chad, if I recall correctly.

Magic As Confidence And Connection

SPEAKER_00 13:32

My good old friend Chad. So up until the point I met Chad, I was floundering about doing some directing and just, again, dabbling acting, just on my own, my own style. I never had the confidence to say, I'm an actor, let's do it, hey agent, let's do it. I just didn't have that. There's many reasons why, but at the time I met Chad, I didn't. But I was a writer. I felt confident about writing scripts and I and directing. So I met Chad, we got to know each other, and Chad's a left-handed, crazy writer like me, and he's a magician like me. And we hit it off. And over the months and and the years of getting to know each other, he he said, Tony, you're an actor. Why aren't you pursuing it? What are you what are you doing? And I was like, Yeah, I I love it. I know I act, I do some things here and there, but you know, I'm directing. He says, Listen, try it out. The next person you meet, just say, Hey, I'm Tony, I'm an actor. And he said, Listen, seriously, say, hi, I'm Tony, I'm an actor. And I really respected Chad and his ambitions and his straightforward directness. So I tried it and I started saying that. And I also added a director sometimes, and that felt good because I didn't usually start conversations like, oh, I'm Tony, I'm a director. You know, I didn't say that. And it really helped me embody that role and the the the fun that it is when you are pursuing that. And it helped me just bring the confidence so I didn't have to like be loud about it, but I could be quietly confident about it. And that's that's what happened over time. You spoke life into it, basically. Yes. I I believe in writing things in life, into the life, and then speaking things if you can speak with with this blessed vocal cords, you know, you and I have. Yeah. Uh but there are many ways to embody it. And that was one of them.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Magic, take me on that. Was were you just fascinated as a kid with magic? Have you done it professionally? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Yeah, I've pursued magic professionally for a period, but most of the time it's just been fun to do, and it helped me break out of my shell. And it it did a lot for me. Right now, I I put it on the back burner while I'm doing other things. I've been writing this book. It's coming out soon, and then directing. There's just a lot, you know, you can't do everything at once all the time, or you'll have none.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

What's your favorite magic trick that you ever did? Is there one, or is that kind of like, you know, I'll tell people tell me and then we go, hey, it's like all my children. I, you know, and I don't I know you don't have children yet, but uh soon you will, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Yes, I will. Um and I would I can't wait to perform magic for this new child. I do have a moment. I haven't shared this for a long time, but in Los Angeles there's a museum and it's called the Getty Center. And they had a Houdini, one of the most famous magicians. Sure. He had his exhibit, and I took a date. And back then I didn't ask girls out, but this time I was starting to break out of my shell. I asked her on our first date, let's go to the exhibit. We walked around, and then at the end I got this surge of magic and confidence, and I gathered the group of the tour, and I was like, excuse me, guys, uh, and ladies and gentlemen, I think it's fitting for some magic to happen at the Houdini visit at the exhibit here. Sir, uh, pick a card. And I eventually had their card picked, put back into the deck, and then while I was seven to ten feet away from them, I had another person come over here and I named the card, and then they tried to find the card. They couldn't find the card. And then I said, Yusa, could you come over here and just check your pockets or something? Because I feel like there's some energy floating that way. And this this guy that was 10 feet away from me walked over, he looked around and he felt his back pocket. Something was in there. He pulled out the card and his face, I'll never forget, he lit up with joy and wonder. Then I thanked everyone and and we took off.

Direct Your Life Book And Steps

SPEAKER_01 17:28

That's cool. We used to, when I was growing up, we grew up in small towns in Kentucky. But once a year, we would have a magician come for school. This was an elementary school, and he would perform. And I always thought that was just so cool. I love magic, yes. Yeah. She mentioned a book hanging on your wall back there, I guess. Isn't that the cover?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

That is the cover back there, yes. This is m my direct your life set where I do my podcast, Direct Your Life, and film other content. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

But the book's titled Direct Your Life or Someone Else Will?

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Yes. Take back control, and make your life better than any movie. Okay. And when's this book coming out? This book comes out. Well, the the launch date is set to April 30th as of now. April 30th. Sometimes things shift in that world, but I'm pushing to stick with that right now. Uh the pre-orders are open. Who's going to want to read this? Everybody? No, no, not everyone. I urge you, if you're interested, to go to directorlifebook.com and check out who it's for and who it's not for. But I'll tell you, it's not for spectators that want to watch from the sidelines. It's people that are ready to step in the arena and actually direct their lives. It's it's not for dabblers like how I used to be dabbling in acting. Let me just pretend that I'm I'm going in it, you know. I used to do that to protect myself and to protect my ego. I didn't ask people to help me on my film projects because if they failed, it would just be, oh, it's just me, no one knows. But if I asked people to join my project and it failed, then everyone knows. And that's when your ego kicks in. So that's the dabbling mind. And if you're gonna live a great life and direct your life so you can be a better person to be around, you can't dabble, you can't be a spectator, and you need to, you need to step up. And inside this book, I have cinematic stories, they're personal, but I utilize them. It's a me story with a you meaning, so you could attach and remember them with some of the steps and lessons that I bring about on how you can make your life more fun, more playful, and keep the curiosity. So have you been writing this book in your mind for a long time? That's a good question. All of 2025, I worked crazy hours on this book. And then there was a couple months, I did nothing, and I got distracted, and uh the perfectionism part of me came in, and then I killed it, and then I went back and I worked as hard as I could into 2026, finished it about a month ago. But I think I've always wanted to write a book, and I think a lot of people, you can ask anyone, and most likely they're like, oh, I thought about it once or twice. And it's a fun thing, but a lot of people we we might feel like, well, I don't what do what do I know? Like, what message do I have? But I believe that most people have a message, and whether they want to write a book or just do something different or go out and help people in their own way, like it's important. So I realize, wait a minute, I've had a crazy life. Maybe I could pull some messages and and package them that are memorable and and can impact someone. And I really believe it will impact people to help, again, make their life better than any movie. And that's a big claim, but I know that I've given all I can in the book. I give 15 steps, the specific beats that actually make a great film, and I've shifted it so you can apply those beats to your life. So you will have the steps, and it is possible to make your life better than any movie. You got to put in the work.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

I love it. Can't wait. Linda's already ordered her copy, so I'm good to go. You have a podcast also.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

It's how often does that come out?

SPEAKER_00 21:24

You've beat me for sure. I saw you're pretty scheduled. You got your weeklies. I was on this grandiose idea of having two a week, and I did it for four months, then it was a we every week, and then I skipped a few maybe four weeks, and then now it's just randomly. I'm getting back on track though. And the reason was for the bigger, bigger dream, which is getting this book out to the world. Like I said, if you try to do too many things at the same time, it's tough. And then you get watered down material. So I didn't want to do that, just push for a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Yeah, you know what? As long as it keeps Coming out. That's what I talked to a couple of podcasters. They're like, just keep them coming. Don't worry about it. I had a run there for about a month. I have one every week and uh I fell off last week. So now I've got you. I've got one more uh that I need to edit down and uh I've got plans for another one. So I'm doing better in 2026. Good.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

It's uh it's a lot of work. Yeah, and people appreciate you putting this content out there because we need to consume good content and less crapt tent. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

You know, my belief everybody has a story, and that's that's all my podcast is about is getting other people's stories. All right. So you did mention your godfather. Um, don't want to do any name-dropping here, but who's your godfather?

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah, I I'll I'll share. I'll first I used to not ever tell anyone this, and I don't know exactly why, other than I just didn't want the spotlight on me growing up. Yeah. But then eventually, I was well, I was always proud of my godfather. I've always looked up to my godfather. He's taught me so many things. And my godfather is Joe Pesci, the gangster himself. From all if you haven't seen any Joe Pesci movie, you just need to watch two first. And that is Goodfellas, and then Casino. And then after that, you should probably watch Raging Bull. So that's uh that's been a fun, interesting uh life of lessons whenever I've been around Joe.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Imagine today you could take a road trip with anyone, living or deceased. Who would it be? Where would you go? What would you talk about? Several guests lately have wanted to take a bus, so you know, do whatever you want to. Oh, that's funny.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Yeah, I I'm not a bus guy. No, you're a motorcycle guy. Yeah, motorcycle and spacious SUVs. The you know, the first person that came to mind, and I'll just go with it and let's explore it. James Dean passed away in 1954, and I always grew up watching his old movies and wondering what it's like, and and I knew he was into cars and experiences and all that. So I think it'd be fun to go road tripping with him currently, because then he would be he would be learning all these crazy new things we have in 2026, and I'd be the tour guide. We would talk about just how everything changed and how people have changed but still have the same problems in a way. And I have a funny, a funny little side note about James Dean. I grew up on the street that he lived on. Wow. Okay. Isn't that wild? Like that is kind of crazy. Yeah, it's Sutton, it's Sutton Street in Sherman Oaks, California. And I remember when I bought my motorcycle, I used to go down the street and I would just feel like, wow, I'm I'm riding the trails, you know, of James Dean. This, this was, he was doing this. And he had a life. He was a person. It's just so interesting and magical. And what a what a wild turnout, right? Yeah. What are you gonna drive? What am I gonna drive? Definitely classic car. You know, my dad had a 57 fair lane, white and red. And I would like to drive that. I'm but uh maybe it would be upgraded with I don't know if they had air conditioned at that in that model, but it would be great to have air condition, maybe an extra set of something in there, you know, get some modernness, but where you don't know it's even there.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

I like it. That would be a fun trip.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Yes, what's on your bucket list? What a great thing to ask, because I gotta say, so many people know what they don't want, but they don't think about really what they do want. I'm gonna start with experiences, and I'm gonna go back to the experience with my wife because she's experienced a lot of great things with me since she moved from the Philippines here, and that's how we got married. But there's been a few years, whether it's a project like this book, where I I was kind of grounded and we couldn't go out and do a big experience that year. And I would love to take her on a balloon ride with dinner, candlelight.

unknown 26:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

That would be really exciting. Yeah. And it's doable. It's it's I just have to do what we all forget is so easy, is to just schedule it on the calendar, but far enough out so we can prepare for it and then look forward to it. You must do that. And you can even do that here in the beautiful Midwest. Yeah. That's that's what comes to mind with the bucket list. Uh I would like to give you one more, but I did ride across the country with a motorcycle, and that was amazing. It was solo. I learned so much about communication, confidence, and just my self-awareness. But I would love to do that with a really close friend. I have never done a long road trip on motorcycles with a great friend. I think that would be really fun. Just the tripping across the country with a good friend and someone that's adventurous, where you're not having to cater the trip. You know what I mean? Yeah. That'd be fun.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Hey, you've written this book, direct your life, someone else will. Leave my listeners with some life advice. How to live a wonderful life, a better life, a great life.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Well, I first would say, I I want to quote, qualify myself to even mention that. At this time of my life, even with a lot of adversity the last few years, that I won't go into detail, I would say 90% of the time, I'm happy and I'm fulfilled, and I'm chasing something that is coming to fruition and lighting me up like a Christmas tree. So if you actually want a playful life, a curious life, a life that feels like it's not just a grind, you don't want to just grind for the goal. You want to enjoy the journey, right? So I think first comes self-awareness, which will then help you decide are you in alignment with what truly matters to you? And that could be with relationships, career, home life. There's so many things that that applies to, but it starts with awareness. And once you really get a little bit in alignment, you don't have to be perfect. You need to just get excited that you're here, that you have a chance, another day, and you can take action. And that's that's the equation. Awareness, get excited, take action. And then from that action, you're gonna fail, but be proud to fail because you'll have feedback from failure and you'll learn and you'll grow more than succeeding. And success is great too. But I believe if you take the actions and you take the lessons from it, you will gain more confidence. And then there's a loop. I call this the director's loop. You know that? And I believe if if you're listening or watching here and you feel a little out of alignment, do a little journaling, go on a long walk without your phone, have some solitude and actually ask yourself, what do I want? What lights me up? And then get excited and take some action and learn and get that confidence up, and you'll just you'll be more fulfilled more often.

Where To Find Tony And Final Thanks

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Great advice. Uh, we live in a noisy world, and you can get distracted easily. Um, people can place their dreams on hold. So, yeah, I think that's great advice. Tony, this has been an absolute pleasure for me. Me too, Dan. Yeah. But before we go, how do people find you, the book, uh, your podcast?

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Whatever you want them to find. Thank you so much for having me and and having this wonderful conversation. You have great questions. People out there that want to pre-order this book or find out more about me, go to directyourlifebook.com. That's where you can pre-order the book. If you want to check me out on the socials, it's at Tony Soriano. You'll find all the links you need somewhere amongst those. I'll keep it simple.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

All right. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Thank you, Ditto. Uh, I hope we have a part two.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I hope so. Okay. Thank you for tuning in to Dan the Road Trip Guy. I hope you enjoyed our journey today and the stories that were shared. If you have any thoughts or questions or stories of your own, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out to me anytime. Don't forget to share this podcast with your friends and family and help us to spread the joy of road trips and great conversations. Until next time, keep driving, keep exploring, and keep having those amazing conversations. Safe travels. And remember, you can find me on the internet at dantheroadripguy.com.