Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Dr. Jeff Spencer: Ultimate Goal Setting for Entrepreneurs | Leadership | YAPClassic

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

Dr. Jeff Spencer, fueled by resilience and drive, rose from a childhood marked by poverty and parental neglect to achieve his dream of becoming an Olympic cyclist. He defied the odds through mentorshi...p and relentless discipline, ultimately becoming one of the most sought-after performance coaches for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and elite athletes. In this episode, Jeff shares his Champion’s Blueprint framework for setting R.I.G.H.T. goals, mastering focus and preparation, identifying blind spots, and executing like a high performer through all five stages of goal achievement. In this episode, Hala and Dr. Jeff will discuss:  (00:00) Introduction (02:56) Becoming an Olympian Against All Odds (06:59) How Mentorship Fuels Elite Performance (10:38) Why Champions Need a “Corner Man” (15:47) Why Success Is Both a Path and a Process (19:27) Aligning Goals with Mind, Body, and Soul (22:16) The R.I.G.H.T. Goal-Setting Framework (29:33) Spotting Risks and Blind Spots in Goals (39:47) How Legacy Drives Long-Term Performance (50:58) Taking Inventory of Your Resources  (56:00) The Stages of Goal Achievement Dr. Jeff Spencer is an Olympic cyclist turned elite performance coach, author, and international speaker. With a career spanning decades, he has coached luminaries including Tiger Woods, Richard Branson, U2, Dave Asprey, and dozens of top CEOs to accomplish their most ambitious goals. Known as “The Cornerman,” Jeff specializes in helping champions and high performers achieve clarity, resilience, and legacy-driven success. His proprietary method, the Champion’s Blueprint, offers a proven model for goal achievement and long-term fulfillment. Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at Shopify.com/profiting. Indeed - Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/PROFITING Mercury - Streamline your banking and finances in one place. Learn more at mercury.com/profiting OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first 6 months at OpenPhone.com/profiting. Bilt - Start paying rent through Bilt and take advantage of your Neighborhood Benefits by going to joinbilt.com/profiting. Airbnb - Find a co-host at airbnb.com/host Boulevard - Get 10% off your first year at joinblvd.com/profiting when you book a demo   Resources Mentioned: Jeff’s Book: Turn It Up!, https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Up-Perform-Lifetime-Paperback/dp/B002BN10CG  Jeff’s Website: https://www.drjeffspencer.com/    Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals         Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap  Youtube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting  LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/  Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/  Social + Podcast Services - yapmedia.com   Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new    Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship podcast, Business, Business podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal development, Starting a business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side hustle, Startup, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth mindset, Networking, Time Management, Problem Solving, Decision Making, Leadership Skills, Strategic Planning, Mindset, Time Management, Team Building.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Today's episode of Yap is sponsored in part by Airbnb, OpenPhone, Shopify, Mercury, BILT, Indeed, and Boulevard. Hosting on Airbnb has never been easier with Airbnb's new co-host network. Find yourself a co-host at airbnb.com slash host. OpenPhone is the number one business phone system. Build stronger customer relationships and respond faster with shared numbers, AI, and automations. Get 20% off your first six months when you go to openphone.com slash profiting.
Starting point is 00:00:28 Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you grow your business. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash profiting. Mercury streamlines your banking and finances in one place so you can focus on growing your online business. Learn more at mercury.com slash profiting. Start paying rent through BILT and take advantage of your neighborhood benefits. Go to join built.com slash profiting to sign up for BILT today. Attract interview and hire all in one place with Indeed.
Starting point is 00:01:00 Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com slash profiting. Terms and conditions apply. Boulevard is a world-class technology with a personal touch built specifically for appointment-based businesses like yours. Get 10% off your first year subscription when you go to join BLVD.com slash profiting to book a demo. As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes or at younginprofiting.com slash deals. of our incredible deals in the show notes or at young and profiting.com slash deals. Yap Gang, do you want to become a creator entrepreneur? Maybe you want to launch a course or a mastermind and teach your expertise. If this sounds like you, then I invite you to join an exclusive webinar presented by Teachable, Slay Your Six Figure Sales Funnels. The webinar
Starting point is 00:01:41 will cover everything from branding and crafting your offer to building a six-figure sales funnel. And I personally will be conducting this special 90-minute session. This is something that would cost thousands of dollars if I sold it in a course, but you get it for free thanks to Teachable. I'll teach you how to create content that not only connects you with your audience, but also works behind the scenes to bring in steady income, even when you're not online. I learned what works from real experience. Last year, my courses made over $500,000 and I'll be breaking down my step-by-step process for creating an effective sales funnel.
Starting point is 00:02:14 Get a live training with me in person. Sign up now at yapmedia.com slash event. That's yapmedia.com slash event to join Teachable Slayer Six-Figure Sales Funnel Webinar. Again, it's June 18th at 11 a.m. Eastern. If you want the link easily, check out the show notes, but again, it's yapmedia.com slash event to register and learn everything you need to get started as a creator entrepreneur.
Starting point is 00:02:38 ["Spring Day"] Young and profiteers, most people set goals but never achieve them because they're chasing the wrong ones or following the wrong process. In this YAP Classic, I sat down with Dr. Jeff Spencer, who's a former Olympic cyclist who beat the odds overcoming a troubled childhood to become a coach to some of the world's top performers like Tiger Woods, U2, Richard Branson, and Dave Asprey. Jeff's success isn't just inspiring. It's strategic. He developed a system called the Champions Blueprint which outlines exactly how to set
Starting point is 00:03:18 goals that align with your mind, body, and soul, and then execute them with world-class focus and consistency. In this episode, Jeff unpacks his Right Goal framework, reveals how to avoid goal-killing blind spots, and explains the five stages that every top performer moves through on their way to what he calls the winner circle. If you're ready to go from intention to execution and show up like a champion, this episode will give you the roadmap. Without further delay, let's dive in with the legendary Dr. Jeff Spencer. Take us back to your teenage years.
Starting point is 00:03:53 What were you like? How did you stay on track with your lofty goal? And what inspiring stories can you share about accomplishing your Olympic goals? Well, first and foremost, I got the self-start gene. I don't need any motivation whatsoever. I just get up and I make things happen and I show up every day and I faithfully execute the one or two things that have to go right to move me forward. And that's the way that I've always done it. And it's always served me really well. So that would be, you know, first and foremost, you know, the other side of this as well is that, you know, I had three amazing angels
Starting point is 00:04:24 in my life that made up for the lack of mentorship that I got at home because my father was virtually a non entity. The S was my mother, they certainly didn't get in my way, but they were not there to support me. So I was really lucky. I had an amazing cycling coach that actually chose me to be able to train with his group of Olympic champions and world champions. And I was like 11 and they were like in their mid to late 20s.
Starting point is 00:04:50 I mean, they were the top of the pile. And he said, you know, winning is a learned skill and I want to teach you that skill. And I want you to be around the conversation you need to listen to now so you know exactly what it's like. And if you have it within you to be able to become this, then our conversation will awaken something that's already within you to be able to make that happen. You know, which it did 10 years later.
Starting point is 00:05:13 I just had amazing mentorship and I had people say the right thing at the right time to naturally harness my abilities to be able to manifest that first and foremost goal of mine. That's super cool. Why do you think they saw so much potential in you? I mean, you were just 11 years old. Did you have great natural ability?
Starting point is 00:05:30 Was it just your mindset? Why did they take a liking to you, you think? I think it was everything, actually, because I was a self-starter. I'd show up on time. I didn't need to be told anything. I would always show up well-prepared. I would work really hard.
Starting point is 00:05:43 I would ask really good questions. I was always respectful of the opportunities in front of me. And also, I did have the physical ability to do this. There has to be a blend of mentality, being able to stand in front of leadership, to be able to take constructive criticism and advice, to be a student of the discipline, all of those things I naturally had and that endeared them to me to be able to share with me what the secrets
Starting point is 00:06:11 that they used to become the standout performers that they were and I deeply appreciate their acknowledgement of that within me. Yeah. So something that I want to touch on is the fact that you grew up pretty poor and that must have been difficult when you were trying to accomplish this goal because I could imagine that it costs money to fly places, it costs money to stay at hotels if you're competing. So talk to us about how you kind of scrapped through even though you didn't have the financial means.
Starting point is 00:06:37 Well, I never saw that as a limitation. I actually saw that as an opportunity and a strength because I saw the other people put way too much confidence in their equipment, you know, staying in the best hotels. You don't need a four season to become Olympian. You can sleep anywhere. You just have to decide you're going to show up and get the job done. So I actually felt that I had a huge advantage in not having the financial means to do what other people did. I was able to find a way forward. And because of my natural verve and my natural enthusiasm, people were really willing to be able to support me
Starting point is 00:07:12 in ways that I couldn't support myself. Yeah. So I read that you actually had two mentors when you were growing up. So the first one was your cycling mentor, and he helped you become an Olympian. And you also had a second mentor, which was sort of like a Renaissance man
Starting point is 00:07:26 that you met when you were 18. So tell us about the later mentor that you met who was more of a Renaissance man and what he taught you. Well, I met him through a very interesting series of coincidences, ha ha. I think it was very deliberate and it was providence actually. And he chose me. I was an athlete. First and foremost, I had Olympic ambitions. I was well on my way. And he chose me. I was an athlete.
Starting point is 00:07:45 First and foremost, I had Olympic ambitions. I was well on my way to becoming an Olympian. And he chose me to be his apprentice because he developed a whole new type of art glass sculptor, but he hadn't found anybody that he felt that could be trusted with supporting him and creating his masterpieces. But he chose me, and it wasn't because of my artistic ability,
Starting point is 00:08:06 but I did have a lot of artistic ability because my father and my mother were both extraordinarily creative. But the most important thing that that mentor showed me, he was 76 and I was 18 at the time, so it's a very unlikely pairing. But during our lunches and during our breaks, what he would do, he would read poetry to me. He would read the great philosophers. He would share with me classical music. He said, I need to fill you up on these other aspects of life. And he was correct because I had the ability to be able to absorb that. And
Starting point is 00:08:46 because he brought the heart and soul to my athletic prowess, I now had these two other assets that just made me a better performer in every way possible. So that was the incredible brilliance and opportunity that he brought to me, the finer points in life that I certainly did not have access to otherwise. Yeah. Well, that's super inspiring. So today, you are one of the most prominent mentors in the world. So you've coached greats like Tiger Woods, Richard Branson, and you've been lovingly
Starting point is 00:09:20 dubbed the Corner Man. So I'd love to understand how you got that name and tell us a bit about the work that you do with your clients. Well, I didn't actually choose that word. That kind of the word chose me through what other people said about me. And the genesis of that is, you know, the Rocky movie.
Starting point is 00:09:38 And, you know, Rocky was someone that had talent, had ambition, had capacity to be able to become the perennial champion of the world, but he couldn't take himself there. And there's all sorts of different advisors. You have coaches, like when I work with you too, Bono had his voice coach, but the voice coach didn't know about the rest of his life, so it was like, well, I hope the rest of your life
Starting point is 00:09:58 doesn't get in the way of my voice coaching, because I know I can do my part well, but I don't know about the rest of it. And so it's very similar also with mentors. You can have like a life mentor, you can have a business mentor, but they don't know about a certain percentage of your life. And to me, what Rocky had was the old guy
Starting point is 00:10:17 making in his corner that had seen everything and it helped people in many different areas become their own champions. And that's what I and why people call me the corner man because of my experience, my age, where I've been, what I've accomplished. There's nothing that I have not seen in life, and there's nothing that I haven't participated in or guided people through at the highest level of performance. And so therefore, I have a basic competency in virtually everything. So I can meet people exactly where they are. And because of that totality,
Starting point is 00:10:49 I can select what has to go right when to be able to get the most progress with the least of time and effort and expense to move as quickly as possible towards any and every ambition that a person has. And that's why they call me the corner man because it's the rarest of all advisory species. I love that.
Starting point is 00:11:08 I love that nickname. And so you were really big at like coaching sports people I think at first, and then you moved into business. I guess my question is, what is the crossover between what you learned as an Olympian and business, which is what you focus on a lot now? Well, I mean, you have to be your own champion of both of those. In becoming your own champion, it's a presence of being. It's not a technical difference. So whether it's locker room or board
Starting point is 00:11:35 room, there are technical differences, but yet the us, the champion that needs to show up and make really good decisions consistently to make sure that we get ourselves into the winner circle, that remains consistent. So I don't see that there's any distinction whatsoever. Like for example, I don't know what pencil sharpener to use, but we can find an expert to tell us that. But I can tell you about you, the leader of your own life, CEO of Uink, what it is that you need to do and how you need to show up to be able to manifest the things that have to go right for you to be able to evolve into and demonstrate and manifest your talents and create the legacy that you're capable of creating. Yeah. So one of the questions that I have for you is, do you look for certain qualities in your clients? Like you were just mentioning how you were a self-starter since you were young. I am the same way.
Starting point is 00:12:25 You know, there's different personality types. There's people that need like accountability and there's people who can self-start. So are there specific qualities that you look for in the people that you mentor? 100%, you have to be coachable. You have to show up on time. That has to be your natural set point.
Starting point is 00:12:42 You need to be able to do things that are unconventional. You have to learn to transcend your natural set point. You need to be able to do things that are unconventional. You have to learn to transcend your fear and the beliefs that you have that are no longer serving you well. You have to be a really great teammate. You have to be fearless about investing in yourself and your bigger future. And you have to have a certain amount of innate talent
Starting point is 00:13:03 as well and you have to be able to hold reality as preeminent rather than trying to tell yourself the stories that you want to hear. You need to be able to look at what reality really is. And with all of those elements that I just described to you there, if a person has those, then it's only a matter of time before they manifest whatever their goals that they have for themselves. Yeah, I totally agree.
Starting point is 00:13:24 So I want to switch gears a bit. I read that your dad was a genius that died homeless on the streets of New York City. And the last time you ever saw him was when you were 13 years old. So you guys obviously had a totally different type of life and made different decisions and choices. So talk to us about your father
Starting point is 00:13:43 and what example that he, like, what did you learn from his story and how did you then apply that in your life? Well, I mean, it's always a tragedy when you have a genius that can't manifest their genius and lives the life of desperation and dies really being a statistic and an example of what you should never be
Starting point is 00:14:03 and what you should never emulate. I mean, that's tragic in and of itself and certainly a great loss to me as well. But the real take home from this is that he was missing two things. Number one, he did not have a roadmap that showed him where he was and what that meant and what to do to be able to move forward towards next. And if we don't have that roadmap in, we don't have the second part of this, the sound counsel, that can help us interpret the reality of what it is that we're facing and considering, because a lot of the things that we believe to be true aren't, and we can't make them take us to where we want to get to by design, they can't do that inherently anyhow. So therefore, two things,
Starting point is 00:14:48 there has to be sound counsel in your life that can help shortcut your learning curve to eliminate the risk of succumbing to preventable problems, but also having a state of readiness to recognize and seize opportunities that could exponentially catapult us towards our bigger future. And then there also, again, there needs to be a roadmap that can identify where we are in process so that we don't misinterpret things as being something that they're not. So for example, in any highly aspirational goal
Starting point is 00:15:19 there's always a segment in the pursuit of that goal I call the daily grind. It's going to be hard. It's gonna be really hard. You may actually find yourself wanting to quit, and you may actually unfortunately talk yourself into it one step before you have your breakthrough. But if we think that there's not supposed to be hard because it means that there's something wrong with us,
Starting point is 00:15:39 that we couldn't make right decisions, or we chose it on the other side, that's complete mythology. But we wouldn't know that unless we had someone that really knew what the process was, because our human mindset, those things that naturally occur to us to be true, it is not always our best friend, because it does oftentimes talk us into doing things based upon what we presume it to be when it's actually not that discredits us, that actually talks ourselves out of performing and playing the game that we're capable of.
Starting point is 00:16:11 He was missing those two things. Yeah, I love this. This is such a great transition into your champion's blueprint. So I want to read a quote that really parlays well into what you just said. So you've said in the past that success doesn't come from will, talent, or tactics. The winners know something that everyone else doesn't. They've discovered that success is both a path and a process. So I thought this would be a great place to start. Why is success both a path and a process? Well, it's actually to learn behavior. And all of the prolific achievers of history have always taught us what to do when, if
Starting point is 00:16:46 we're a good observer of what that is. And many times what they're suggesting is contrarian to pop culture. So for example, in pop culture, it's like, well, just get started, fail fast. Well, I'm not so sure you want to do that. I think there needs to be a basis of readiness that's appropriate that reduces the risk of a premature stall because, I mean, if you fail too fast too early, you may think you're not capable of doing it. It's just that you were too quick to make a judgment on something that wasn't true. So I really feel like there is so much mythology that surrounds the conversation of really how is it that we get from concept of greatness and
Starting point is 00:17:27 manifestation to the actual three-dimensional manifestation of what's actually possible. And so the champion's golden rule is do the homework and the test is easy, meaning that first you prepare and then you perform. A lot of people think, most people are dismal about their preparation. They start way too fast, way too unprepared, that sets themselves up for unnecessary failure or lack of confidence in self. So I feel first and foremost,
Starting point is 00:17:56 we have to recognize the fact that anytime we have an ambition of any sort, the first thing you always wanna make sure that you do is prepare well. Don't kid yourself. Make sure that the way that I see it, what history has revealed, is that there's five important steps that we should go through to make sure that we're properly prepared before we even start pursuing the goal, which would be the second half of that. Yeah, it's funny. I'm smiling because what you said reminded me of what up and coming
Starting point is 00:18:23 podcasters often tell me. I'll talk to them and they'll say, oh, well, I don't study for interviews. I just wing it. And I'm always thinking like, how do you think that that's gonna go? Like you're obviously not gonna be successful if you don't prepare.
Starting point is 00:18:36 Yeah. I'm just like, well, no wonder you have 10 downloads. What, you know, it's, again, that's part of the mythology of this. I mean, there's so much mythology that's around our decision-making in terms of achievement. I mean, I think it's one of the most important disservices ever to listen to some of the advice out there
Starting point is 00:18:54 because it can't possibly take you from where you are to where you want to get to. Just don't say it. Yeah, totally. Okay, so you, like I mentioned, you have this famous framework, It's called Champions Blueprint. It has many steps, so we're not going to be able to cover all the steps in detail, but I am going to highlight some of my key takeaways, some of your key principles. And it's broken down into two parts, which you sort of alluded to, preparation and performance.
Starting point is 00:19:19 You talked about the golden rule. First you prepare, then you perform. Is there anything you wanna mention at a high level before we talk about your takeaways in terms of preparation versus performance? No, I mean, first off, they both go hand in hand. They're both two separate halves that can join. If you wanna be a prolific achiever and consistently achieve your highest goals, you absolutely have to follow that rule
Starting point is 00:19:45 because if you cannot follow that rule, then just prepare yourself to take 10 times as long to get to where you wanna get to if you get there at all. It just isn't gonna happen. Yeah, okay, so in terms of the preparation section of your blueprint framework, the first step is to clarify goals that align with your body, mind, and soul. So I thought this was super interesting and unique because I've never heard anyone bring in
Starting point is 00:20:08 the soul and spirituality when it comes to goals. And I talk about goals all the time on the podcast. So let's start there. Why do we need to make sure that our mind, body, and soul is aligned with our goal? When you have that alignment, then you have a unification self-issue as an entity that has a level of belief and confidence that you absolutely must have to be able to be confident in pursuing the goals that are in front of you. And if you do not have that alignment, you're always going to be second guessing yourself.
Starting point is 00:20:40 And if you're second guessing yourself, you're going to be reluctant to make decisions promptly and accurately. You're going to shy away from going all in when you need to go all in. You're not going to be conveying to other people a presence of being where they believe that you're worthy of following or supporting to manifest your bigger future. None of that is going to happen because that is the byproduct of making sure that we have the most important goal of all time.
Starting point is 00:21:08 It's not the smart goal. It's not the big, hairy, audacious goal. It's do we have the right goal? And when we do have the right goal, and there's a very specific criteria that I use with my clients that's very vigorous that allows us to look at, number one, is this the right goal for me at this time, yes or no?
Starting point is 00:21:27 If it's not, then you maybe don't want to pursue it because the timing may not be correct. So I just cannot emphasize enough the importance of making sure that you select the right goal because when you select the right goal and you have that unification of mind, body and soul, it gives you what I call the trademark word, gokus. Kind of a funny word, but gokus means goal focus,
Starting point is 00:21:50 meaning that you have the ability to focus on the things that must go right to move your goal ascension from where you are to where you want to get to. There must be daily progress through that level of focus. But then you must also have a peripheral awareness of what's happening around you progress through that level of focus. But then you must also have a peripheral awareness of what's happening around you, because you may be gifted with a better idea
Starting point is 00:22:13 to adjust the trajectory of your goal to a bigger better that can be gifted to your consciousness, but if you're too hyper-focused on the action steps, you may miss that. And also in the periphery, this is where blindsides start to form. They could wipe us off the face of the earth or create an untimely stall that may end up in our inability
Starting point is 00:22:33 to manifest the goal that we're in pursuit of. So there has to be this continuous unique blend of goal-focused to get stuff done with a simultaneous peripheral awareness of better options and risks that we should be avoiding. Yeah, so you mentioned this very lightly, this concept of the right goal. So a lot of us have heard of these like smart goals, right?
Starting point is 00:22:57 But you say you have a different framework for goals. It's called the right goals. It actually stands for some things. Can you break down what a right goal is? Yeah, well, a right goal is a goal that aligns the mind, body, and soul because it exposed itself to a variety of different questions that should be asked and answered in the affirmative
Starting point is 00:23:18 if it's the right goal to pursue. There's all sorts of smart goals that you shouldn't be pursuing, actually. So the R in right stands for relevant. You really need to take the time to ask yourself, is this goal really relevant to me? And why is it relevant? Put the pen to the paper to be able to create a body of evidence as to why this is relevant. Because the relevancy creates a certain level of personal commitment and insistence that you do achieve the goal
Starting point is 00:23:47 if you have confirmed it to be relevant. The next thing is indicators, the I in right is indicators. There must be adequate indicators there that assure you that the goal again is worth pursuing. Indicators like, do I get enough notoriety coming back from this? Does this give me enough credibility? Does this provide the income that I need
Starting point is 00:24:09 for me to be able to pursue this? So there's a number of indicators that we do need to name, that we do need to hold accountability for, because again, when we have vetted this through a purposeful process, then it allows us to have a different type of relationship to our goal. I think people have way too casual a relationship with their goal.
Starting point is 00:24:30 They're not in love with it. They're not gonna fight for it like they really should. The G in right stands for gravity. I mean, what is the emotional gravity and grit that the achievement of this goal avails you of? What are you gonna say about yourself once you've achieved this goal? Are you of. What are you going to say about yourself once you've achieved this goal? Are you going to have a greater trust in your ability
Starting point is 00:24:49 to be a manifestor of what your talents are and your ability to contribute to humanity? Well, if it brings out level of gravity and it gives you that type of grit, well, I certainly think that it's a goal worth pursuing. The H in right stands for humanity. You know, I think personally that our goals need to have a big slice of humanity attached to it. Like, how is this actually impacting people, places, and things on this planet like right now? Because if that isn't answered in the affirmative, then we just kind of don't have that level of commitment
Starting point is 00:25:25 that's necessary to stay in the game and keep pushing when the goal gets tough. And every goal is going to get tough, and there have to be certain things that are there that allow us to stay in the game to move beyond that. And that's why the idea of grit is extremely important. The H is the end humanity, why humanity is really important and then the team right is time is this the right time to be pursuing the goal yes or no. Do you actually have the time to pursue the goal yes or no. Does the time from where you are to go completion suit your sensibility yes or no. deliberately taken the time to scrutinize the goal that you're proposing to pursue through that line of questioning and you've answered this in the affirmative,
Starting point is 00:26:10 then you have a level of commitment within self that will absolutely 100 percent guarantee that you will find yourself in that winter circle. Yeah. I really like that framework because I feel like it really makes sure that you stay motivated. You kind of cross off anything that could deter you or exactly cause you to quit or something midway. So I think that is a great framework to follow. This episode of Young and Profiting is brought to you by Mercury, the modern business banging experience that has truly changed how I manage our finances at YAP Media.
Starting point is 00:26:47 Running a business means juggling a million things, and for a while, banking felt like something I just couldn't keep up with. I'm not a finance person. And I remember how frustrating it was dealing with all these complicated systems, hidden fees, and how long it took to just do simple things like sending money or tracking our spending.
Starting point is 00:27:03 It was definitely not ideal for me, and I was wasting a lot of time. Switching to Mercury has changed everything. Mercury is a go-to banking product for over 200,000 startups, small businesses, and e-commerce brands. It's designed with a sleek interface and transparent pricing. No hidden fees, making it simple to manage your banking, capital, and credit all in one place. I log into Mercury every single day.
Starting point is 00:27:27 With Mercury, you can accept payments, send invoices, and pay vendors, plus enjoy free domestic and international USD wire transfers. You also get instant access to virtual credit cards that you can track and lock to specific merchants, earning you 1.5 cash back on every purchase. Mercury streamlines your banking and finances in one place so you can focus on growing your online business.
Starting point is 00:27:49 Mercury is a technology company, not a bank. Check show notes for details. Deposit $5,000 or spend $5,000 using your Mercury credit card within your first 90 days to earn $250 or do both for $500 in total rewards. Learn more at mercury.com slash profiting. That's mercury.com slash profiting. Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, column NA, and
Starting point is 00:28:17 Evolve Bank and Trust members FDIC. The IO card is issued by Patriot Bank member FDIC pursuant to a license from MasterCard. Learn more about Cashback, Working Capital Loans provided by Mercury Lending, LLC, and MLS ID 2606284. Yap Gang, running a business today means your customers expect instant responses. We live in 2025 after all, people want to hear from you anytime anywhere and as my company started to scale keeping up with all the communications with our clients turned into a total nightmare. Important calls would get buried in personal messages, teammates would double up on replies and we would look sloppy and our messy system was costing us real business.
Starting point is 00:29:00 That's why a professional streamlined phone system isn't optional anymore. It's essential. That's where OpenPhone comes in. OpenPhone is the number one business system that helps you streamline and scale customer communications so you can stay laser focused on growing your business. Everything runs through an app on your phone or computer so you don't have to carry around multiple devices. You don't have to mess with an outdated landline. It works wherever you're working. And what I love the most about OpenPhone is that your team shares a single number and collaborates on calls and texts like a shared email inbox. That means any teammate can jump right in and pick up exactly where the last person left off. So your response times are sharp and your customers are
Starting point is 00:29:38 happy. And say goodbye to voicemail. Voicemail is so outdated, nobody likes to use that anymore. OpenPhone has an AI agent that will handle all your after hours calls. It will answer common questions, capture leads, and make sure that you never miss a customer even if your team is off the clock. So whether you're one person operation, drowning in calls and texts,
Starting point is 00:29:57 or you have a large team that needs better collaboration tools, OpenPhone is a no brainer. See why over 60,000 businesses trust OpenPhone. OpenPhone is offering my listeners 20% off your first 6 months at openphone.com slash profiting. That's O-P-E-N-P-H-O-N-E dot com slash profiting. And if you have an existing number with another service, OpenPhone will port them over at no extra charge. OpenPhone. No missed calls. No missed customers. Open phone, no missed calls, no missed customers.
Starting point is 00:30:30 Hello, young and profitors. If you've ever shopped online, you probably found something you loved and you added it to your cart, and then you totally bailed at checkout. And that's why I get excited when I see that purple shop pay button at checkout, because it makes buying so effortless. You can just buy with a click.
Starting point is 00:30:44 But what you might not know is that that button is the telltale sign that the store is powered by Shopify. And there's so many good reasons why successful businesses use Shopify. Shopify isn't just only about creating an amazing online store, an amazing shopping experience. They are the number one converting checkout in the industry. It's no wonder that 10% of all e-commerce in the US
Starting point is 00:31:07 is powered by Shopify, from household names like Mattel and Gymshark, to brands just getting started, like maybe your new brand. What makes Shopify stand out is how it lets you tackle all the important tasks in one place, from inventory to payments to analytics and so much more. Now, we've been using Shopify at YAP Media for years now, maybe four
Starting point is 00:31:26 years, and I would never switch platforms because it's got so many built-in tools. Social media and email campaigns are there. I can set up chat functionality. You can do anything with Shopify. They've also got global selling tools that help you reach customers in over 150 countries. And if you have an in-person physical store, they've got an award-winning point of sale. And so your online and offline sales are in one place, giving you a seamless experience and view of your business. With 99.99% uptime
Starting point is 00:31:56 and the best converting checkout on the planet, you'll never miss a sale again with Shopify. Stop seeing carts going abandoned and turn those sales into $1 per month trial period Sign up sales into $1 per month trial period. And start selling today at Shopify.com slash profiting. That's Shopify.com slash profiting. Again, Shopify.com slash profiting.
Starting point is 00:32:19 So let's talk about the need to be super clear with our goals because a lot of people have very wishy washy goals. They're vague, they're more like dreams. So maybe you can walk us through examples of what a good goal is versus one that's not so clear. Well I think the goal clarity it goes back going through the right goal criteria because if you're answering in the affirmative all of those because you're taking the time to really answer the questions as they're intentionally provocative to hold you accountable for being able to
Starting point is 00:32:50 stand behind what you're proposing to do. And as I said earlier, I think a lot of people are way too casual. They look at the goal as the giver of something to me later, like the home, the house, the security or whatever. But you know, it has to be more than that to be able to stay in the game and to be able to stay in belief and to stay in commitment when the inevitable challenges always surface within a goal. And if you do not have that, then you cannot have
Starting point is 00:33:18 and do not have the conviction necessary to do what has to go right in critical moments where you may be doubting yourself or even questioning whether you should continue to pursue the goal itself. Yeah, and previously, Jeff, you were mentioning how you need to have peripheral vision. You need to be aware of your surroundings. You need to be aware of the different risks
Starting point is 00:33:37 that are going on. So talk to us about the importance of knowing the risks or potential blind spots associated with our goals. Well, the blind spots are things that we cannot outrun, and every one of us has got them. I can only tell you that, and that's why I feel like there's an important space to be held for some corner man type of accessibility
Starting point is 00:33:59 to make sure that we're seeing everything that we need to see without the presumption that we know everything, because that's a catastrophic perspective that unfortunately has taken a lot of people unfortunately out of the game that they could have won had they had the insight to see what their liabilities and their risks are. And a point I want to make here is that no prolific achiever in any discipline does not look at it through the eyes of what can go right, what can go wrong, what are the probabilities? And there's a certain category of person that feels, well, you know, if I cast doubt on this, then I'm drawing doubt into reality and therefore I'm short-cutting myself when
Starting point is 00:34:42 I should not be thinking about anything that could be adversarial to me in this process. And I can tell you, that is absolutely unadulterated garbage. I don't know anybody that's a prolific achiever that does not always take a full and thorough inventory of what the probability of risks are so that they leverage themselves against success. They don't de-leverage themselves
Starting point is 00:35:06 in favor of failure. I've never seen that, complete mythology. Yeah, and it's interesting that you say that because like you said, some people think that they can only think positive. And if they go and think about the different ways that things could go wrong, they think that that's negative thinking,
Starting point is 00:35:21 but that's really just preparing. And it doesn't mean that you are a negative thinker. It just means that you're preparing ahead. And you can be positive because you're thinking of the solutions ahead of time, so that if you hit that obstacle in the moment, you'll know what to do. Can you talk to us more about that, about what kind of mindset you need to have through all of this, and how thinking of potential risk is not actually negative thinking?
Starting point is 00:35:46 I would first, I would say, let's not use the word mindset because mindset makes it sound like there's a rigid set of things that if applied guarantee an outcome, that's not true. That's like, oh, I'll just think good thoughts and somehow everything will backfill and manifest. That's not true. It's all about actions and the things that are done.
Starting point is 00:36:05 So I kind of look at this through the eyes of the champion's mind, meaning the champions have a mind, meaning that the mind is like a three-dimensional entity that has the capacity to look at, think, evaluate, collate, transmit, share, and store information in a very thoughtful way that represents reality. And that's the way that all the prolific achievers do it.
Starting point is 00:36:28 They look at the way that I advance things forward is not a way of thinking. We're taking action on the evidence that we see in front of us, that history has informed us that if we execute this, then it will take us here. I think that's the most important thing. We begin to forget that aspirational achievement,
Starting point is 00:36:48 it's actually a verb, it's not a passive noun. It's a presence of being, it's the actions that are taken. Therefore, I just suggest that we take the time to really look at the relevance and the sources that we refer to to get our information about what it sources that we refer to to get our information about what it is that we should be doing. Because many times what we think it is
Starting point is 00:37:12 is not what it is at all, but it sounds good to our human mindset. It's touchy feeling nice, but historically it can't necessarily deliver on what we hope it to be. And that again, why I feel it's really important that we have the right level of corner man influence as we're learning the process of achievement,
Starting point is 00:37:33 which is actually, it's a learned skill. It's not something that we're born with. Yeah, so as we're trying to determine all the different risks with our goals, what are the questions that we should ask ourselves or ask our mentors in order to find out what those risks could possibly be? Well, I think there's a set of things that we should be looking at. You know, number one, given an opportunity, you have to look at, well,
Starting point is 00:37:55 how are you perceiving the opportunity? Are you looking at it based upon what you believe you stand to lose? Well, then if that's the way you're doing it, don't do it. Because that's not gonna take you to where you wanna get to. There has to be a vision of what the outcome of the manifest goal will represent to not only us, the individual, but our legacy and also what this will say and mean
Starting point is 00:38:23 to other people viewing it and what the impact on humanity in the planet at large will have. I do feel that we need to look at that in advance to measure the probability of how that might be answered with our achieved goal. I think that that's really important. The other thing I would say is that don't try to be perfect. You know, perfect doesn't get you to where you want to get to because then you're obsessing on all the things that could go wrong,
Starting point is 00:38:47 where it shouldn't be that. You should be looking at the one or two things that have to go right to keep things moving forward. I mean, that's what the champions do. They prepare, what do I need to do right now that has to go right that everything else is dependent upon? So it becomes much, much simpler. I think the idea of fear also is another
Starting point is 00:39:06 side to this. I mean people think well I have to be fear free before I get started. Well no you don't. I mean generally anybody that has high aspirations is gonna have a certain level of fear like you know when I work with you two and you know before they go on stage I mean yeah they all had butterflies. It's like well look Bono you don't need to have butterflies because you're Bono. Well he did have them. Okay well he just knew what to do with it. It was a sign of biologic readiness. So a lot of how we're interpreting our experience and my experience is that it's not done correctly. So yeah, we should be observant of the fear, but recognize it's our
Starting point is 00:39:39 friend to be able to put in our highest level of physical output, there has to be a certain level of fear present. Otherwise, we're going to be asleep at the wheel. But we should also realize that you can apply what has to go right despite your fear. So again, that's another point of mythology that I think that is really important to be mindful of as well.
Starting point is 00:40:01 Yeah. So we're talking a lot about being prepared. And let's say we do all the things that you mentioned. We have really clear goals. We take a look at the different risks and the blind spots. And we feel very prepared. What are the ways that some people blow it in their big moment, in that moment of reality,
Starting point is 00:40:18 where they should have done what they prepared for, but maybe they go with their gut instinct or something? Yeah, well, I think you said it right. They go with their gut. They let their emotions take over. So they go back and they do what didn't work the previous 10 times, you know, because they get afraid about executing what has to go right. You know, I see this all the time. As a matter of fact, I have a white paper that I did when people go to my website to opt in. It's called How Not to Blow It Just Before You Win. It's a 27-page document that I put together because it's that important to me.
Starting point is 00:40:49 They start to change everything. Before they execute, it has to go right. So again, I feel like this can be pruned back to the simplicity of, do you know exactly the one or two things that have to go right, like right now, for everything else to be able to move forward? And if you can name those two things and you know go right, like right now, for everything else to be able to move forward. And if you can name those two things,
Starting point is 00:41:07 and you know what those things are, then as you execute those, then the next things that need to be addressed will then reveal themselves. So it's really much simpler than we make it to be, but when the fear takes over, we start to believe in what didn't work in the past, and it's certainly not gonna work now.
Starting point is 00:41:24 But we have to actually prepare ourselves by preparing through simulation the readiness to be able to execute correctly when you have to go correct. It would be the same thing like in a podcast. I mean, you just don't show up and turn the microphone on. I mean, there's a very deliberate readiness process that you go through that allows you to control the pacing and the outcome. You're not leaving this blindly up to circumstances
Starting point is 00:41:51 to deliver on the highest promise possible. I just really feel like your confidence is demonstrating to yourself that you can do it because you rehearsed it and then you realize when I have to execute this in real time, I'm not gonna deviate from what I know needs to go right. Yeah. And I have to say, every time I deviate from my plan, I screw up too.
Starting point is 00:42:10 Like it's normal. You know what I mean? Like I did it a few times already on this podcast. I'm like, why didn't I just stick to what I wrote? Right? That's how it goes. And you live and you learn. So let's talk about legacy. Legacy is really important. And a lot of people think that legacy is something that happens after you learn. So let's talk about legacy. Legacy is really important.
Starting point is 00:42:25 And a lot of people think that legacy is something that happens after you die. And it's just like however your life turned out, that's your legacy. But you say that you should think about your legacy from the start. Talk to us about why that's important. Whether we like it or not, every one of us
Starting point is 00:42:41 is going to leave a legacy that will be available to everybody on this planet to look at and study for all of eternity what we deal with our time and what we do with our talents. And there are no redos on that. You know, once it's over, it's over. And I feel like we really need to think about this idea of immortality. I know that that doesn't occur to people, but, you know, once you get into your late 40s, you start thinking about stuff like this. But there's something that transcends us that lives on, and it will impact people.
Starting point is 00:43:17 And that is what we did. Because what we did, you can't go back and erase that. You can't modify it at a certain point. And I really feel like at the end of the day, we should walk off the field for the final time saying, there's nothing more that I could have possibly done in this creation to make any further contribution because I had the courage to show up and do what I was called to do faithfully. And wherever that goes, I'm okay with that. But I certainly didn't leave anything on the field. I gave it everything that I had. And I feel that that's a really important statement that we all
Starting point is 00:43:58 have to reconcile it at some point in our life, generally, you know, in the second or the end of the second half here. And here's what I would say also, is that my greatest achievement is the adoption of our daughter at the age of 10 from Columbia. We adopted a 10-year-old from Columbia at the age of 10. I was 58. I was at the height of my career at that time. And I was called to make the decision that I was gonna raise our daughter. And our daughter, number one, she didn't speak English. We didn't speak Spanish. We had no language. She had no school.
Starting point is 00:44:35 She had PTSD and ADHD from getting beaten up and worse for the first 10 years of her life. It's your fricking nightmare. Every second of her life was your worst nightmare. And I chose to raise my daughter at the height of my career. And it's like, I don't feel like I gave anything up. People say, well, look what you gave up. No, I didn't give up anything. You know, our job was to manifest our human potential, not just like to save a life. And what I did give her and what I learned from this was more worth anything that I've ever previously done
Starting point is 00:45:13 at all because I learned that you can love anybody. You don't need a special reason. You just show up and you do it. It isn't a two-way street. Make it a one-way street. You give without any reciprocation or reciprocal expectation whatsoever. I also learned to trust the process. I'm basically fearless because when we adopted her, it took everything that we had to be
Starting point is 00:45:39 able to provide for the extraordinary needs that she had to give her a chance to get herself back into the game of life. And I didn't save anything for my retirement for 10 years between 58 and 68 because my commitment was to raising our daughter and do whatever was necessary. And I also realized that you always have enough energy to do anything on behalf of others or if you're called into service there's always going to be enough energy. You know, where the energy gets sparse is where we're doing everything in our own self-interest, or we're in such fear of loss that we kind of worry our life and our energy away. And the other thing that I will say is that if you think
Starting point is 00:46:19 anything you say and do as relates to this topic of legacy, when we adopted our daughter, man, she'd never been hugged, never been loved. She used to wrap her legs around me and bury her head into my chest and I'd just hold her, you know? And it's like she hung on my every word. So what I want to say to everybody is that if you think what you do and what you say and how you show up doesn't matter, adopt a kid. Because everything that you do in life does have some level of impact
Starting point is 00:46:45 that calls people to something. And when you take the high road and you're manifestly committed to that, where there is no negotiation on that, your life takes on an entirely different level of purpose and meaning. And the last thing I'll say about this is that you never withhold the possibility of a miracle because
Starting point is 00:47:05 that's what it took us to be able to help our daughter get to a point to get beyond what she did not ask for in life that was imposed upon her by other people. And so that's why legacy is important to me because at the end of the day, we do have an immortality that will be there, that will say something of tremendous value to people. But please don't make it like my dad. My dad was the genius that could have, but didn't. And he can't go back and redeem himself. His moniker, his tagline is, don't be like me.
Starting point is 00:47:43 It's tragic for me to have to say that, but we do make our own choices. And you know, if we can't do it for ourselves, let's just make sure that we do it for other people. So other people at least have a template they can look at that's inspirational to them to be able to step into the unknown with confidence and certainty, with a certain amount of reckless abandon
Starting point is 00:48:03 to what we think that we probably need, which you probably need to get rid of if you're gonna live the greatest life possible. So that's kind of what I would have to answer the legacy question with. Beautiful response and what a nice story. What is the name of your daughter? What's her name? Ken, K-I-N.
Starting point is 00:48:21 And how old is she now? She'll be 24 in October. And how's she doing now? Just curious, like what is she up to? Well, again, she's a miracle because, you know, I knew that when she graduated from college, she didn't speak any English. We didn't speak Spanish. There was no language. I mean, think about that. Come to America at 10 and you don't have any language
Starting point is 00:48:45 and you don't have any school. What are you going to do with that? And so because she has a beautiful brain, God put a beautiful brain inside of her and we saw that and we knew that our job was again to manifest the potential, not just save a life that we did, what we had to do so that she could live her life with the normal crap that all of us have to deal with day in and day out, but find your way beyond the stuff that you
Starting point is 00:49:10 didn't ask for. And so we couldn't be more proud of her for what she has done, but have been gifted with the opportunity to play that role in her life. Hey, app fam. Let's talk about being smart with money. opportunity to play that role in our life. Hey, app fam, let's talk about being smart with money. And I mean really smart. If you're a renter, you should absolutely be taking advantage of built. Think about it.
Starting point is 00:49:34 We're already racking up points on groceries, travel, dining out, and basically everything we spend our money on. So why aren't we earning points on one of our biggest monthly expenses? Rent, of course. That's where most people are missing out big time. With built, paying rent finally pays off, and I'm here for it. There's no cost to join, and just by paying rent,
Starting point is 00:49:54 you unlock flexible points that can be transferred to your favorite hotels and airlines, a future rent payment, your next lift ride, and so much more. When you pay rent through built, you unlock two powerful benefits. First, you earn one of the industry's most valuable points on rent every month. No matter where you live or who your landlord is, your rent now works for you. Second, you gain access to exclusive neighborhood benefits in your city. Build's neighborhood benefits are things like extra points on dining out, complimentary post-workout shakes, free mats or towels at your favorite fitness studios,
Starting point is 00:50:27 and unique experiences that only BUILT members can access. And when you're ready to travel, BUILT points can be converted to your favorite miles and hotel points around the world, meaning your rent can literally take you places. So if you're not earning points on rent, my question is, what are you waiting for? Start paying rent through BUILT
Starting point is 00:50:44 and take advantage of your neighborhood benefits by going to joinbilt.com slash profiting. That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T dot com slash profiting. Make sure you use our URLs so they know that we sent you. Again, that's joinbilt B-I-L-T dot com slash profiting to sign up to BILT today. Yeah, fam, in this world of entrepreneurship, timing is everything, especially when it comes to hiring. One bad hire can set you back weeks, while the right one can take your business to the
Starting point is 00:51:13 next level. That's why finding the right people quickly starts with Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on all these different job sites because Indeed sponsored posts help you stand out and hire fast. With sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so you reach the people you want faster. And it makes a huge difference. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have 45% more applications than non-sponsored jobs. One of the things I love about Indeed is that it makes hiring so fast because I get quality
Starting point is 00:51:47 matches instead of wasting time going through unqualified resumes or scheduling interviews with people who just aren't the right fit. I really wish I had used Indeed earlier because it would have saved me so much time with my hiring process and so much stress. Plus, with Indeed Sponsored jobs, there's no monthly subscriptions, no long-term contracts, and you only pay for results. How fast is Indeed? Plus, with Indeed Sponsored Jobs, there's no monthly subscriptions, no long-term contracts, and you only pay for results. How fast is Indeed?
Starting point is 00:52:08 In the minute we've been talking, 23 hires were made on Indeed according to Indeed data worldwide. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your job more visibility at indeed.com slash profiting. Just go to indeed.com slash profiting right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed
Starting point is 00:52:28 on this podcast. That's indeed.com slash profiting. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Hey, YAP Gang, I'm so excited to tell you about Boulevard, a platform that's absolutely transforming the self-care industry. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to book a facial or hair appointment, and
Starting point is 00:52:49 guys that's pretty often, only to get stalled by an outdated booking system. It turns me off so bad as a customer, and as somebody who's built a business from the ground up, I know how important every client interaction is. If I'm having a hard time booking, I feel like I won't like the service that I'm going to get, and first impressions matter. It's so important to make sure that you have an easy way to schedule appointments. That's why I highly recommend Boulevard. If you're running a self-care business, whether it's a salon, med spa, or barbershop,
Starting point is 00:53:17 you know that creating exceptional client experiences is everything. Boulevard is truly the gold standard when it comes to software for self-care businesses. This isn't just another booking system. It's a world-class technology with a personal touch built specifically for appointment-based businesses like yours. Think of it as the apple of scheduling software, sleek, intuitive, and powerful. With Boulevard, you get effortless online booking, built-in payments, appointment reminders, personalized client profiles, smart marketing tools, detailed reporting, and so much more all in one easy-to-use
Starting point is 00:53:50 platform. See why top beauty and wellness brands are switching to Boulevard to empower their teams and grow their businesses. Right now, Boulevard is offering new customers 10% off your first-year subscription when you go to joinblvd.com slash profiting to book a demo. Again that's join J-O-I-N BLVD.com slash profiting to book a demo and get 10% off your first year subscription. That's join BLVD.com slash profiting. So let's move on to the last step in preparation which is around resources. I think this is very
Starting point is 00:54:21 important often kind of neglected. So what should we consider when we think about resources? And aside from the obvious stuff like money. Well, resources are extraordinarily important and an inventory should be taken of the resources before you actively start pursuing your goal because an adequate resource inventory is directly tied to your level of confidence. And as you're confident and you trust in your preparation, then your anxiety drops. And as your anxiety drops, you're going to be a much better performer. Your timing is going to be superior, which is what we need to be able to get
Starting point is 00:54:58 our goal aspiration launched correctly to gain initial momentum, to gradually pick up the steam where we get into belief that we can actually do it that transforms to knowing that we could do it to being able to complete the goal itself. When I look at the resources that we need, and it doesn't need to be enough for the entire project, it needs to be enough to get started with responsibly. So we need, what do we need? Well, we need time and energy for sure. We need, uh, what we need materials and supplies. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:55:36 We need skills and knowledge. Yep. We also need a team. We got the right team. Yep. Do we have a plan? Yep. I mean, do we have, you know,
Starting point is 00:55:46 the financial resources to at least initially get this started? All of those have to be answered in the affirmative to again be in trust. And when we're in trust, again, anxiety drops, confidence is up, and that's the way that you want to always actively start pursuing your goal. I have observed though that many people are extraordinarily deficient and lacks in their attention to resources. They feel like, well, if I don't get going now as quickly as possible, then it means I don't trust the universe to provide when it should. Therefore, the universe is going to take away from me that privilege. It's not going to support me because I don't have enough faith in it or somebody's going to jump
Starting point is 00:56:28 in line. So I got to get going now because I'm afraid that I'll get pushed to the back of the line. I mean, none of that is true. That's all mythology. But yet that's the way the human mindset thinks about this type of stuff because it's basically a catastrophizer. And that's why when we do our homework, again, you know, do the homework first, then the test is easy. Why we always want to do that so that we can check off and trust that we have adequate resources to get started, something most people don't do. Yeah, and I feel like most people, especially young people, they concentrate more on getting like investment and money rather than focusing on building their skills.
Starting point is 00:57:05 Oh gosh, yes. And learning. I've noticed this a lot with people around my age and younger. Yes. So do you wanna talk about the importance of getting skills before you start your task? I do, I do.
Starting point is 00:57:18 It's like I've always said that you can never have enough skills and you also need a lot of space to be able to create in. And kind of my suggestion to people is that you're only as strong as your toolkit is of skills to be able to be applied. And you must have a minimum amount of skills that should be vetted accurately before you start pursuing your goal. You must also have adequate space and flexibility to be able to absorb some of the unanticipated consequences
Starting point is 00:57:56 that always shows up. Like it always takes us twice as long and maybe costs twice as much as you think that it's going to. And I'm just gonna suggest that you don't try to have a budget where everything has to go perfectly for things to go right. I don't like that.
Starting point is 00:58:11 I like the idea of some elbow room for the unanticipated things that may be arising. And as long as we kind of hold that sacred, and I will also say that there are points in our life where things are moving right along that don't require us. I mean, I guess there's always the opportunity to jump in and screw it up. You know, there's no shortage of that.
Starting point is 00:58:35 But when things are going too good, sometimes I feel that's where you want to ride the wave and don't try to tinker with things or push things too fast. But when you're in that situation, kind of clean things up as much as possible. Clean out your garage, throw away stuff, create space for better stuff to land because it certainly will. And if you have opportunities that want to find their way into your life, but there's no place to land because your life is too cluttered with junk, then it's going to move on.
Starting point is 00:59:02 And so I'm just suggesting that you continually kind of weed the garden. You prune all the stuff that's extraneous to your life that you don't need so that there's space to land and that you always be thinking about, what is the skill that I need next for this forever changing world that will be capitalized on by those that have the readiness that the others don't?
Starting point is 00:59:25 I love this conversation. We're getting so many good tips around how we can prepare for our goals. But I wanna talk about what happens when we actually start taking action. You've got phases like the honeymoon phase and the daily grind phase, which you mentioned earlier. Can you talk to us about the different stages of performance
Starting point is 00:59:43 and what we need to know? Yes, I feel that we need to have a clear understanding of what the different stages of progress that we will be going through from starting to pursue our goal to the achievement of our goal. The very first phase of this is what I call start. And when we get to a point where we have the preparation readiness and we know it because it's been vetted, it's extremely important that you have a thoroughly vetted
Starting point is 01:00:17 and rehearsed starting procedure to make sure that you get out of the gate cleanly and you hit an early objective that confirms that goal, progress is now up and running and underway. Like let's say you take a horse in the Kentucky Derby that's favored to win, well, it trips out of the gate because it hasn't practiced its starting procedure, then the horse that should have won gets last.
Starting point is 01:00:44 And it's exactly the same thing for us. So please make sure that you have a well organized and rehearsed starting process that ends in a certain achievement. An objective that demonstrates that goal pursuit now is actually formally up and underway. Can you give a concrete example of that? I can. Just to be super clear, yeah. I absolutely can.
Starting point is 01:01:07 So let's say that the initiative of a goal launch would be to have our first five figure month, $10,000, right? So that's the target. I mean, that's not the goal, but that's the first target because we know that if we had 10,000 a month, this is for real. It's like we're no longer talking about this, like this is for real. And why having that target and declaring that target in advance is important is because when you hit it, it confirms that the preparation was correct.
Starting point is 01:01:41 It also confirms that the leadership that created the preparation processes were correct and should be followed. It also gives the team confidence that we can actually do this. You always wanna start off on a positive when that doesn't need to be big, that confirms that we're actually in process and moving forward.
Starting point is 01:02:03 So once we've hit that liftoff point, then we move into what I call the honeymoon phase. And the honeymoon phase is where, okay, now we hit this liftoff, we have this confirmation, we're now at 10,000 a month. This means that it's going to be smooth sailing to the winter circle.
Starting point is 01:02:21 Well, hold on a second, it doesn't really mean that. It means that we've just gotten out of the gate smoothly. And so the honeymoon phase is that when everybody's hyper excited, then they go out and they become very sloppy and relaxed about scheduling. They don't look at their policies. They may start overspending certain things.
Starting point is 01:02:38 You see this in startups all the time where they're not even making any money and then they're going out and spending all this raised money on stuff that doesn't matter because they already think that they're in even making any money, and then they're going out and spending all this raised money on stuff that doesn't matter, because they already think that they're in the winter circle. So, you know, it's a complete abuse of the honeymoon, but we know that when we're in a honeymoon, there's always the opportunity for reckless choices
Starting point is 01:02:56 that can really hurt us. And that's why I suggest that you just be mindful that at some point, the honeymoon is gonna wear off because they all do. And when the honeymoon wears off and you feel like there's a loss in momentum or enthusiasm, that doesn't mean that it's the wrong plan or you can't do it, that's supposed to happen. It means you're now living in reality.
Starting point is 01:03:17 It's actually something that you actually wanna see because that level of enthusiasm cannot carry you forever. It's not possible. So we need to be aware of that because we're not aware that the honeymoon is supposed to wear off when the motivation drops and we all think, oh, bad plan, bad management. Maybe I should get out while I have at least some resources left. Really bad idea, misinterpretation of the circumstances completely. What I will say also is that the next phase of this, once we get beyond the honeymoon phase and
Starting point is 01:03:48 we have our reality check where we reconcile things, we get things back on track, then we may think, well, okay, now we've made this huge correction. Now I know we can do it. Well, you kind of don't because the next thing coming is going to be the daily grind. And this is where your plan is now facing reality for the very first time. Prior to that, it's been a conjecture, a hypothesis or a presumption, but it's never been fully tested. And we know that whatever the weaknesses are
Starting point is 01:04:19 in our preparation will surface during the honeymoon phase. That's what it's for. It's supposed to reveal to us what we don't know that we need to know so that we can get it. It's not a sign that we were behind or it was a bad choice, even though people will oftentimes misinterpret it as that and quit prematurely. It's something that we have to anticipate showing up.
Starting point is 01:04:44 So for example, I would say, okay everybody, you know, now that we're through the honeymoon phase, I just want to say that the daily grind is now in front of us and just know that there will be difficult moments that show up. It's supposed to be hard. This is going to reveal to us what we need to learn. This is our friend. I'm glad it's here. It helps us get prepared in a way that we cannot lose, but let's not misinterpret this as something that we did wrong or incorrectly or we can't do it. You can see how easily people misinterpret situations unless they're informed that this is going to happen. So here's the promise in the daily grind phase.
Starting point is 01:05:21 If you're looking at the right metrics and you've got the right plan and you got the metrics to confirm that you're making progress, you're going to get up one day and you're going to get up and believe that you can do it. Like, you know what? I really now believe I can do it. If he can do it, then I can do it. There's no difference. But then we need to go from believing we can do it to knowing we can do it. it's different. So when I was working with Dave Asbury at Bulletproof, helping him build Bulletproof, I said, look, Dave, we both believe that Bulletproof can be really big, but we need to now know that we can do it.
Starting point is 01:05:56 What do we need to do to go from believing to knowing? He said, well, we need more inventory and we need more people at the higher levels in the marketing department So well, what is it gonna take to do that? Said probably a couple million dollars. So, you know, you know all the guys in Silicon Valley you go up there and raise that Let's get this done So he did it got it done And at that point Dave and I both knew that the bulletproof is gonna be worth hundreds of millions of dollars
Starting point is 01:06:21 Which it proved itself to be and we did kind of declare what it is that we needed to get to take us from belief to knowing. That's a really essential step here. And then please everybody listen up. Then there's the final step that puts us into the winner's circle. Once you know you can do it, I can only say that there's always time to screw it up.
Starting point is 01:06:41 And this is how people screw it up. Until you get to the winner's circle you're not there yet and if you trip before you get there don't cross the line then you don't win. So when you see that it's possible and probable that you're going to be able to achieve your goal don't try to speed up to try to get to the finish line faster to enjoy the chocolate cake and the champagne waiting at the finish line because it's never over until it's over and I've seen people trip at the last second and screw things
Starting point is 01:07:13 up never did eventually get past the finish line please do not do that or don't try to control things so much thinking that you're being safe because sometimes when you slow things down way too much you start to daydream. You think the safety is in the speed, it's not. If you're going too slow and you start to daydream then you're at equal hazard as if you're going way too fast. So don't change your pace. Keep your pace, be vigilant, keep your eye on the ball, keep executing what has to go right until you're way beyond the finish line. Once you're beyond the finish line,
Starting point is 01:07:45 then you can celebrate in victory circle. So as long as we're aware that there are these five different steps and stages that we go through from active pursuit of goal to arrival in the winner circle, and we can name where we are and we know what that means, then that's our safety net for sticking together and working together as a well-organized, coherent team that can get things done most efficiently and get us into the winner's circle with least time and effort and expense.
Starting point is 01:08:12 This is great. I have a question for you. Yes. Do you think that every goal is possible or do you think that there are some signs that should be like abort mission, you know, you should stop, you should quit, or do you feel like anything is possible with the right preparation and plan? Well, I think again, if we look at plans and preparation,
Starting point is 01:08:35 that's not really reality. What it is, it's our best estimate about what we presume reality to be and what we presume the path to get from where we are to where we wanna get to is, it's not reality. You know, reality is when our plan meets real time. And at that point, then we can make the adjustments necessary to carry momentum forward.
Starting point is 01:08:56 So I think we have to be really mindful about that, that plans by their inherent nature are designed to change and goals that we have are meant to be modified based upon the reality of the opportunities that present themselves in process, but The human mindset that I said that human way of thinking that doesn't serve us Well, it will make us think well if you've declared a goal you have to keep your word by maintaining you've declared a goal, you have to keep your word by maintaining the original goal as stated, otherwise you're going back on your word. And that's not true at all. Never. Because all the greatest goals always happen like by accident, or there are a bit of a deviation that comes off
Starting point is 01:09:38 something that we presume to be true, but now we found out that it was slightly different. But we had the courage to recognize that we were being gifted with a different direction that could take us through a bigger, better, faster that we could not have conceived of in advance. So that's how I would answer that question. And I do feel that if you find yourself being in blind faith, doing something with the hope that it will take you to the finish line, don't do it.
Starting point is 01:10:03 Because unless there's a body of evidence that confirms to you the probability of moving forward will manifest the completion of the next step, then I would suggest that you don't do it. Because I feel far too often people believe that I'm a person of my word, therefore I have to stick rigidly to something that I declared.
Starting point is 01:10:24 And if I don't do that, then my word can't be trusted. That is absolutely not true because the plan and what you propose to be true was an estimate based on a presumed reality. And if the presumed reality is like, don't do this like now, then I would suggest that you heed that. And I do feel that in our lifespan development, there is a natural period of our life where we are big dreamers.
Starting point is 01:10:50 But my hope is that we don't invest too much in a dream that has too many reasons that are informing us to see they're not the right time to pursue it, or we're not properly prepared, or maybe there's not the right fit because we don't have the assets actually to do this. So I'm a little bit kind of cautious on all of these absolutes.
Starting point is 01:11:13 I feel that they need to be tempered with an interpretation of the reality as it currently exists at the moment of time while you're making decisions. That was exactly what I hoped you were gonna kind of go off on because I feel like people are so attached to that one outcome. I wanna be a famous NBA player.
Starting point is 01:11:34 And so few people achieve that goal, but really maybe they just wanna be somebody who inspires other people of their ethnicity or something. And it's really not about playing basketball. It's the impact that they're making on the world. Yeah. And I have something to say to that, if I may, is that like, my definition of a champion is a manifest or gifts. Like if you're manifesting your gifts, then you're a freaking champion, in my opinion,
Starting point is 01:11:58 because here's what I do know is that there's only one of us in all of creation. There's never going to be another you. I mean, all of creation. There's never gonna be another you. I mean, think about that. There's seven and a half billion people on this planet right now, and there's only one of you. And what that means is that each and every one of us has a unique capacity to influence humanity in a way that nobody else can do it.
Starting point is 01:12:18 The question is that, can we live within that and can be okay with that? Because here's the reality. Some people are meant to have the aspiration of influencing a billion people. Yeah, there are some people that are not meant to do that. They can't even think about that. They want to look through a microscope, an electron microscope, and they want to influence a nano. They can't think in terms of billions. Does that make it any less significant? No, it does not because everything that happens is the product of every other thing that's happening
Starting point is 01:12:50 in the world simultaneously. So I think we're the problem because we assign the value to what we believe to be true that I don't think represents what it really is. Like, for example, a teammate may enable the team star to get the MVP, but was the MVP more valuable than the person that gave the MVP what they needed
Starting point is 01:13:19 to do their job correctly? You can't say that that's true, it's not. You know, every one of us, I think that we should look at team as like a linkage rather than a hub with spokes. It's a linkage where each of the links in the chain, someone that possesses that spot, and their unique contribution contributes
Starting point is 01:13:42 to the integrity of the whole. Therefore, the output capacity of the team is a sum total of all the parts, which you can't really separate one being more important than the other because in a certain sense, it's really not. And I feel that far too often the rule is people dramatically discount the value of what they do because they're comparing themselves
Starting point is 01:14:03 against everybody else's yardstick. And I don't think that we should be doing that. You know, there's only one of us and if we take ownership of what we're best at, we're passionate about what we're doing and we're giving tremendous value to humanity, we're honoring our gifts, we're showing other people what's possible, we're saying thank you to those people that helped us while we're creating those things that are unique to us. To me, man, to me, that's the champion. The champion is not the hyper achiever that mows everybody down in the process to get what he wants.
Starting point is 01:14:30 That's a self-serving narcissist, in my opinion. So there's this whole other definition that I think that we need to encourage each other to pursue, which is our uniqueness and our unique gifts. That is super inspiring, Dr. Spencer. This whole conversation has been amazing. So I'm gonna wrap the interview up with a couple questions that I ask all my guests and then we do something fun at the end of the year with them. So the first one is, what is one actionable thing that my young
Starting point is 01:14:55 and profitors can do today to be more profiting tomorrow? I would say what is the skill that you need to build that you don't have but you need? Okay. And what is your secret to profiting in life? I can be absolutely explicitly clear on this. Number one, the reason why I made an Olympic team, I showed my art in the best galleries in New York City, why I've worked with some of the greatest political achievers of our time is that I was fearless in showing up and answering the call when me, Jeff, gets the insight
Starting point is 01:15:33 and I get the calling to show up and do something. I'm fearless about doing that. And so I'm not particularly ambitious about creating something to grandstand and showcase myself, because I don't care about that. I do though care about that. I do though care deeply about being able to answer the call that if I have been called into service to do anything
Starting point is 01:15:52 like adopting my daughter, I will show up faithfully and fearlessly to execute that to the nth degree. Amazing. Well, where can everybody learn more about you and what you do? Well, probably the best learn more about you and what you do? Probably the best place is T. Me. Champions experience. You know, that's my telegram.
Starting point is 01:16:16 And that's where it kind of posts what I'm doing and what I'm up to. That would be by far the best place to go to see where I am and what I'm up to next. Awesome. We're going to stick that link in the show notes. Thank you so much, Dr. Spencer. It was a pleasure. Well, I can't say enough for the opportunity. Be well. Remember everybody, there's always room at the top for the best. Be well. We'll talk soon. you

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.