Early 1970s. Cold day in New York.

Car horns screaming. Steam rising from the streets.

Everything's loud, dirty, and hungry.

A man with only $100 left, stuck in a shoebox apartment. He hadn’t eaten in days, every scrap went to feed his best friend, Butkus. Now both their stomachs were empty.

What do you do when the only one who’s never left your side, is the one you can no longer afford to keep?

Butkus was sold for $40 outside a liquor store.

And that’s where the story of a legend was born.

A hungry, broke man with nothing left but a vision so strong, it would change history.

This isn’t about a man, but about what happens when you refuse to give up your belief that you can make it. That you can become who you’re meant to be.

But most people never experience this breakthrough because they make one critical mistake.

Why Most People Never Cross the Finish Line

How many times have you started something, only to quit when it got hard?

The excitement drains. The process becomes painful rather than passionate. And suddenly, you abandon your vision at the first sign of resistance.

You give up when life breaks you. When the path forward disappears.

I know this pattern intimately. When I started my entrepreneurial journey, I felt that same hopelessness at every roadblock. What kept me going was the same force stirring in you right now, a connection to your true heart’s desire.

The difference between those who manifest their visions and those who don't isn't talent or luck. It's whether you surrender your calling to immediate needs:

• Trading your vision for bill payments
• Exchanging your purpose for others’ approval
• Selling your potential for temporary comfort

Each compromise teaches you to give up before you’ve started.

You associate hardship with being on the wrong path. But it’s like driving down a highway and hitting rough road. The bumps don’t mean you took a wrong turn, they’re just a harder section of the right path.

The destination hasn’t moved. But most people exit too early, mistaking resistance for a sign to quit.

True visionaries understand: physical reality is always the last place to show evidence of your vision. It’s merely the final manifestation of what you’ve already created in consciousness.

Before we talk about the man who turned down $350,000 to protect his vision, I need to show you what it really costs when you don’t. Because most people don’t fail from lack of talent. They fail because they abandon their future when it starts fighting back.

The Hidden Cost of Quitting Too Soon

Imagine you’re working on your dream:

• A business you’re launching
• A personal brand you’re building
• A book you’ve been writing for months
• A skill you’re trying to master

Suddenly, you hit resistance. Progress stalls. Excitement fades. You question everything.

So you abandon it. Back to square one, telling everyone about your next big idea.

Excitement returns. You feel the rush. No more roadblocks. No more struggle.

Months pass. Challenges appear again. You quit. Again.

This cycle repeats until years later, you realize you never reached a single goal. You always quit at the first roadblock.

​

Spiritual Suicide: What You Really Lose When You Quit

This cycle doesn't just cost you external success, it destroys something deeper. Each time you abandon a dream, you're teaching your brain that commitments are optional and obstacles are exit signs. Your self-trust diminishes. Your identity becomes that of someone who starts things but never finishes. The voice inside that says "I don't follow through" grows louder until it's the first thing you hear whenever a new opportunity appears.

And one day, you’ll scroll past someone who made it, with YOUR idea. And you’ll feel that punch in your gut, knowing you could've been the one, if you just stayed in the game.

You think back and say:

Every time you quit, it’s not just the goal you abandon, it’s you. And that's spiritual suicide.

The universe rewards those who hold their vision, not those who had it once, then gave up. And there's one man, both in film and in his own life, who exemplifies this truth more powerfully than anyone I know.

The Underdog Who Refused to Settle

His stomach was screaming for food, but his spirit was hungry for legacy.

Four walls. Cold apartment. No company. Because a few days earlier, he had sold his best friend, a dog named Butkus, outside a liquor store for $40.

He was at rock bottom. In a dark hole.

And the only direction left was up.

His name is Sylvester Stallone.

Days before, he watched the heavyweight championship between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner at a local bar, he couldn't afford a TV.

Ali won. 15 brutal rounds. The crowd roared. Wepner hit the mat, but kept standing back up. Again and again.

Those 15 round, became the inspiration to one of the most iconic movies of all time.

Sylvester rushed home after the game. His pace quickened as the story formed in his mind. The vision was the starting point of something that has lived for us since 1977.

Stallone didn’t just write a script. He wrote a legacy.

That legacy is: Rocky.

3 days felt like a lifetime.

Cheap pen and paper. He barely eat. Cups of coffee piling up on the table.

Each line he wrote felt channeled, not created. He could hear Rocky's voice before it existed. He could see the final fighting scene before a single word was typed.

The cold city outside kept spinning, but he wasn’t in it anymore. He was in the ring. With Apollo. With every underdog who ever wanted more but was told to settle for less.

On the third day, he stopped writing. Looked at the stack of pages in front of him. Held them like something holy.

That was it. Not just a movie.

But a masterpiece.

The Broke Visionary's Paradox

While physically destitute, mentally he was already Rocky Balboa.

The Ali fight was a trigger point for Sylvester, activating a call from within.

Despite being broke, alone and struggling to survive, the feeling and vision was stronger than any external evidence.

In his mind, he already saw himself on the screen while in reality he couldn't pay the rent.

He understood what Neville taught: "To reach a state, you must assume it already exists"

Your darkest moment is often the fertile ground for your greatest vision.

Stallone created Rocky while completely broke.

The $350,000 Test

Stallone went with his fresh script to different studios.

One offered approximately $350,000 for it.

Imagine being broke, hungry and desperate. And one day, being offered more than you've ever earned in your life. Changing your life overnight.

Would you take it?

I've would.

But Stallone didn't.

The studio wanted the movie, but they didn't want him. They had other names in mind for Rocky.

Stallone could feel the physical relief the money would bring. It was enough money to buy fame, but not enough to buy legacy.

And legacy was the only thing his soul was hungry for.

Most people, are tested many times throughout their journey, before they get what they truly desire. The universe present these "final test", asking you how much you really want it.

The manifestation, or the relief?

This has happened for me, many times.

One of them being when I was truly struggling with money, barely enough to eat, and had offer to take a 9-5 job, with the cost of giving up on my dreams.

I would probably not write these word if i had.

I told myself, no matter how long time it takes, I'll trust my vision and keep going. I might not have the money I want right now, but thats because I'm meant for something bigger.

It's like the old sailors searching for land after long voyages. When birds appeared in the sky, they knew land was near, but not yet reached.

The birds were evidence of approaching breakthrough, not the breakthrough itself.

Those $350K were Stallone's birds. The job offer was mine.

What birds are circling in your life right now?

Remember, seeing birds means land is close, but those who grab at birds instead of waiting for shore never complete the journey.

The birds signal you're on the right path, but don't mistake them for the destination.

The Redemption Arc:

Sylvester never gave up on his vision. He didn't quit when it became hard. He didn't choose relief and comfort over his destiny.

The studio finally gave in.

They gave him a tiny budget, small crew, and one shot.

That shot turned into an Oscar-winning masterpiece.

Rocky won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and carved Stallone's name into history.

That $350,000 he turned down?

Rocky went on to gross over $225 million worldwide against a budget of just $1 million. The franchise has generated over $1.7 billion in total, launching Stallone from broke nobody to Hollywood legend worth over $400 million today.

All because he refused the birds and waited for land.

This isn't just about a heroes journey in a movie, but in real life.

How one man, with one vision, refused to let go of the vision from the past, despite no proof from the external world.

When the world said it was "impossible".

His spirit whispered "keep going".

The studios said he was too inexperienced to play the role.

His soul whispered: You’re perfect as you are.

Because when you truly know what you want, you don't ask for permission.

You don’t wait for validation.

You just keep showing up, until the world has no choice but to believe too.

Sylvester bought back his dog later on for $15,000 (after selling him for $40).

When Stallone found himself in that cold apartment with no companion and empty pockets, he didn’t see a reason to quit. He saw a reason to rise.

And that’s the real test, isn’t it?

It’s not about whether your circumstances are hard.

It’s whether you let them dictate your vision.

How to Align With Your Inner Knowing (When Life Tries to Break You)

The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. As Rocky himself reminds us, "It's a very mean and nasty place... it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it."

When Stallone stared at those empty walls, stomach screaming from hunger, no companion by his side, he had a choice. See a sign to quit or see the canvas for his masterpiece.

He chose the latter.

So how do you hold onto vision when life tries to break you?

First, you need to know what your TRUE heart's desire actually is. Not the surface want, but the deeper knowing.

True manifestation isn't about techniques or affirmations but unwavering faith and alignment with your inner knowing, as demonstrated by Stallone's refusal to compromise on his Rocky vision despite desperate circumstances.

Inner knowing doesn't scream. It whispers.

Most people trade it for logic, fear, or safety.

But aligning with it is the only way to manifest the version of you that already exists.

5 Steps to Unbreakable Vision

This is the system I built for myself whenever I faced my own $350K test, the framework that stopped me from grabbing at birds instead of waiting for land:

• Pause the Noise → Stop chasing. Sit still. Listen and surrender back to the present. Your truth lives underneath the overthinking.
• Capture the Resistance → What's triggering fear, doubt, or settling? Log it. That's the block.
• Rewrite the Story → Turn every trigger into a new belief aligned with your End Scene.
• Return to Your State → Use affirmations, vision, and gratitude to feel the outcome as now.
• Track the Identity Shift → Do it for 30 days. Let who you are override what you fear.

But to activate this framework, you first need clarity on what you truly desire, not what you think you want, but what your soul is hungry for.

Accessing Your True Heart's Desire

I've created a powerful AI tool to help you uncover and align with your true heart's desire, the same process that helped me refuse my "birds" and stay committed to reaching land.

This prompt guides you through several phases of deep questioning to reveal:

• What you actually want beneath the surface desires
• Where resistance is blocking your manifestation
• How your body wisdom already knows the path forward
• What your perfect "end scene" really looks like

​Here's the prompt I use​

To use it, simply copy this prompt, paste it to ChatGPT (or any other AI tool) and follow the guidance. It will help you craft your own "End Scene Affirmation", the same kind of vision that kept Stallone going when studios said "impossible."

Your Path Beyond the Prompt

This prompt is powerful, but it's just the entry point to true transformation.

When I faced my own "$350K test" - the moment I had to choose between immediate relief and my true vision - I needed more than just clarity. I needed a complete system to keep me aligned day after day when doubt, fear and external "evidence" tried to break my resolve.

That's why I created The Reality Shift Framework, a complete Notion-based system that goes beyond the prompt to help you:

• Track your daily mental diet for 30 consecutive days
• Instantly capture and rewrite limiting beliefs as they arise
• Build your personalized affirmation vault that rewires your identity
• Live from your end scene until it manifests physically

Most people fail at manifestation not from lack of knowledge but from lack of execution. You've probably read the books, watched the videos, and know the principles. But knowledge without implementation is just spiritual entertainment.

The Reality Shift Framework is the missing link between knowing and becoming.

I'm inviting just 50 people to test this framework before its official launch. Those who join the waitlist will receive complimentary access to the complete system.

What vision are you compromising right now that your future self might regret abandoning?

Remember Stallone standing in that cold apartment - broke, hungry, and alone. He could have taken the $350K for immediate relief. Instead, he chose the $225 million vision no one else could see.

Your path to manifestation might be just one uncompromising stand away.

​JOIN THE WAITLIST​

That was all for this week's newsletter. Let me know what resonated with you by replying to this email. Your stories of persistence and transformation inspire me more than you know.

Until next time,

Tomas

P.S. If you know someone who's standing at their own crossroads - ready to grab at birds instead of waiting for land - forward this to them. Sometimes the right message at the right moment is all it takes to keep going.