The Undeniable Level Up

Hello and welcome back to The Undeniable Level Up podcast.  Last week we discussed the importance of Obeying the Law…of Attraction.  We covered the Seven (7) laws that make up the Law of Attraction, as well as the Seven (7) actions that you have to take to activate the Law of Attraction.  If you missed that podcast, you might want to pause now and go give that one a listen as you'll need to understand the law of attraction if you're planning on manifesting your dreams. 

By the way, how many of you have found that purple donut?  

So today, we are going to discuss how to manifest your dreams.  We'll define  "manifestation" and discuss the Seven (7) steps to manifesting your dreams.  

Q: So what is manifesting or manifestation?

Read Quote: Angelina Lombardo, author of 'A Spiritual Entrepreneur', told OprahMag.com that, "…manifesting is making everything you want to feel and experience a reality…via your thoughts, actions, beliefs, and emotions."

The very first step in manifesting your dreams is letting go of past resistance and future worries.  You have to begin focusing on the NOW and being present in the moment.  You cannot manifest your dreams if you are harboring anger, sadness or regret from your past.  Focusing on those negative thoughts only breed them in your current situation.  What you think about, you create.

Additionally, you can't live with a lack mindset or a worrisome mindset about the future.  If your thoughts are focused on not having enough, or losing what you have, you will manifest that reality.  

Focus on the NOW and become present.  

Q: Have you ever found a past or future worry keeping you from achieving your dreams?  How did you overcome it?  How do you become grounded in the NOW?  

The next thing you need is the ability to find clarity in your dreams.  How can you manifest your dreams if you can't mentally envision, see or speak about your dream in details.  It's not enough to say, "I want to be rich," or "I want a great job".  Being rich or having a great job is different for everyone. 

Be specific in your dream.  I want $15M in my account by the time I'm 45 years old.  Or I want a job as a Director of Operations for Amazon.  Once you have the goal in mind, then create clarity around getting to that goal.  I am going to make $15M by starting my own company that sells seashells by the seashore, or I'm going to get that Director's job by completing my MBA and starting as an Area Manager at Amazon and working my way up.

Until you have clarity, your dreams remain in the wish realm and guess what, Fairy God Mothers, Leprechauns and Genies don't exist.  Wishes don't come true.

Q: Have you ever manifested a dream that you had?  Have you ever had a dream that you weren't able to manifest?  Why didn't you manifest it?  What are you manifesting now?

The next thing you need to bring your dream into reality is confidence.  Believing in your ability to achieve your dream is critical to actually achieving it.  And that means recognizing your limiting beliefs.  

If you haven't had the opportunity to identify your limiting beliefs yet, then I invite you to tune into Episode 5 of the Undeniable Level Up podcast where we talk specifically about destroying limiting beliefs.  And this is important in eliminating self doubt and negative self-talk.  This alone, can keep you from achieving anything you set for yourself.

Q: Has lack of confidence ever stopped you from achieving a goal or realizing a dream?

Next is for you to expect your dream to come true.  Expecting it, means you believe it.  If you don't expect to see those zeros and commas in your bank account, you will begin to doubt your dream, you'll begin to doubt yourself.  You'll begin looking for a Plan B, and a Plan C and D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O P.

Q: Has doubt ever kept you from manifesting a dream?

Now it's time to plan.  Planning is one of the critical steps for manifestation to take place.  Not having a plan keeps your dream in a dream-state.  You cannot start a race without understanding the route and where the finish line is.  

When planning you have to take the 5 steps to successful planning.  These include:

1. Where are you beginning from?
2. What are your key objectives?
3. What are the steps that will take you from one objective to the next?
4. Execute the plan.  This means you have to take action.
5. Review and adjust your plan

Q: Have you ever created a plan so perfect that everything worked out exactly as you planned them?  What worked?  Did you have to adjust the plan?  Did you learn anything?

Step 6 of the manifesting your dream is actually Step 4 of creating a plan…take action.  Applying action to your dream allows co-creation between you and the universe and solidifies your faith and belief into the dream.

Q: What has been your most defining and greatest commitment towards action in accomplishing an objective towards a dream that you are working on manifesting?      

The final step in manifesting your dreams is to practice gratitude.  This means that you must be thankful not only for the endstate of your achievement, but also for the lessons learned throughout the process.  Often we achieve our objectives, and become re-focused on the next objective but forget to be thankful and grateful for what we have manifested.

Q: What are you most grateful for?

Read quote: Walt Disney was known to say, "If you can dream it, you can do it."

It's time to level up and begin manifesting the life of your dreams.  If you're ready, then I recommend you purchase the Manifestation Planner Toolkit from Mystigalplanners.com.  Neha Shah has designed a printable PDF that will allow you to begin manifesting your dreams today for than $12.00.  This planner comes in three (3) sizes with 13 dedicated pages focused on manifesting your dreams.  

The link is provided below.

Additionally, if this podcast touched, moved or motivated you in the slightest, then I ask that you hit the subscribe button on whatever platform you are listening to us on, and please leave a review.  We want to know how we are doing and where we can improve.

Reviews help in our placement and make our content more available for others to find and listen too.  There is someone out there that needs to receive this message and you can help them by leaving a review.

Additionally, you can support this podcast on our Patreon website, the link is also provided below for bonus content, videos, live discussions, mastermind group access and additional content.  

If you not ready to level up, don't visit our Patreon.  This is only for those who are ready to embrace the discomfort of the grind and the hustle, those who are excited about being successful...

Welcome back to episode 7 of the Undeniable Level Up Podcast.  Last week we discussed how to become a Goal Digger.  

No, not an individual who uses relationships to acquire wealth.  That's a GOLD digger.  We covered how to set SMART goals, the importance of putting your goals in writing, in order to create intent, and we challenged you to set intentions for 2021 and not another wishy washy new year's resolution that you know you'll forget about before Valentine's day.

Today, we are going to talk about obeying the lay…of attraction.  Yes, the Law of Attraction.

Read Quote: Napoleon Hill states, "Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true."

(Discuss the quote)

Q: What is the Law of Attraction?

The Law of Attraction is the ability to attract those things into our lives by focusing our energy on it.  In 'Think and Grow Rich', Hill states that adding emotion, such as love, and faith, that is, believing that you will have what you are thinking about, enhances and amplifies the law of attraction.

Q: What are your thoughts on the Law of Attraction?

Now, I don't believe that you can just think of something, let's say a new job and then all you have to do to get it, is sit around the house until the Universe delivers it to your front door.  Why?  Because you are missing intent.  Without intentions, your desires are just wishes.  Intentions come from your actions.  Your actions make your desires a reality.

Q: Have you ever experienced the Law of Attraction?  What actions did you take to manifest your desire? Were you surprised?

There are seven (7) laws that make up the Law of Attraction.  These laws are:

• The Law of Manifestation - This law states that what we focus on will manifest in our lives.  This includes wealth, status, and success.  

(Play a audio clip from Drake)

But it also includes sickness, disease and death.

(Play an audio clip from Tupac)

Q: Have you ever manifested a desire, whether good or bad?

• The Law of Magnetism - This law states that we all have a frequency that attracts others who share our energy and our frequencies.  We attract what we are.

Q: Have you put negative energy, be it through words or through actions and had bounce back unexpectedly? 

• The Law of Unwavering Desire - This law states that if we waiver in our desire towards that thing that we want, it will NOT manifest.  You have to believe that you will have it and have no doubts.
• The Law of Delicate Balance - This law states that we must be in balance in to benefit from the Law of Attraction.  This comes from eliminating a lack mindset and having gratitude and appreciation for what the Universe has already manifested in your life.  When you are out of balance, and operate from an obsessed or desperate state, you are unable to apply the Law of Magnetism and achieve the high frequencies required to apply the Law of Attraction.

Q: How do you practice appreciation and abundance in your life?

• The Law of Harmony - This is the law that governs the Universe's balance.  By tapping into the balanced energy of the Universe you are able to apply the Law of Attraction
• The Law of Right Action - This law states that what we say and do will be returned to us.  Many call this law Karma.    Our energy is returned to us with the same intent that it was sent out into the universe.

Q: Have you ever experienced Karma?

• The Law of Universal Influence - This law states that our thoughts, our feelings, our actions and our words not only impact us, but they impact our family, our friends and even strangers.

 So how do you take advantage of the law of attraction and manifest the life of your dreams?

Read:  Sinem Gunel provides us with seven (7) actions that you can take to activate the law of attraction allowing you to manifest the life of your dreams.  The first is:

• Get into a state of constant positivity.  This is the frequency state where manifestations are created.

Read Quote: The Dalai Lama says, "In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision."

Q: How do you get into a positive mindset, especially when things are going wrong?  Are you always positive?  

• Do things that you love doing.  Do things that feed your WHY and your values and create passion in your life.  These activities drive up your frequencies.
• Start journaling.  This allows you to practice gratitude and abundance.

Q: Do you do any journaling?

• Meditate. Focus on your blessings and the amazing things that are going on in your life.
• Be compassionate to yourself.  Forgive and love yourself.  Allow yourself to make mistakes and grow from them.  Don't be so hard on yourself and change your self talk so that it's positive/

Q: Do you experience any negative self talk now or in your past?  How did that affect you?  Did you overcome it?  Are you still dealing with it?

• Proof is in the pudding.  Start small and prove to yourself that it's possible.  Here is a simple exercise:  Everyone listening, we are going to do an easy test. Think about a purple donut.  Imagine eating this purple donut.  Imagine tasting it.  Enjoying every bite.  Create a feeling of love towards the taste of this purple donut and develop faith that you will see and have this purple donut.  Now every day ask the universe to bring you that purple donut.

If you are following all the Laws of Attraction, you find this purple donut.  When my daughter, Cecilia, attempted this small experiment, it took her a few weeks, but she found her purple donut.

(Play audio of Purple Donut podcast)

• Everything begins with intention.  You must take action.

Read quote: Tony Robbins says, "The path to success is to take massive, determined actions."

If you're ready to Level Up and begin using the powers of the Law of Attraction, I encourage you to begin by creating a vision board.  There are many ways to do this.  You can create a digital vision board using an app ironically called "Vision Board".  You can also make a traditional vision board by attaching pictures of images that represent your desires.  

I have included links for both options.  When doing this, dream big and don't only imagine the images on your vision board, but visualize achieving your desires.  If you're envisioning a luxury car, feel the soft leather of the and hear the roar of the engine.  Feel the acceleration and feel the smooth gear shifts.  Smell the new car smel...

Hello again and welcome to the next episode of Level Up, the podcast that focuses on leadership, self improvement and continued growth throughout our everyday lives.  I'm Jose, your host and I am joined by my co-host, and the CEO of All-American Lumping LLC, one of the fastest growing national 3PL Logistics and Freight Handling companies in the U.S., Crystal Garcia.

Last week we discussed "Defining Success"…how we define success for ourselves.  What that looks like for us as individuals and we also touched on failure and what that looks like as well.  You can't have one without the other, right?

Today we are going show you how you can be a "Goal Digger".  Not a Gold Digger.  But a GOAL DIGGER 

So first thing's first, what the hell is a GOAL Digger?

Read Excerpt: Neffi, a blogger posted in the Buzz Blog that…

A “GOAL digger” …is someone who is ambitious and clear of the things they want. Goal diggers have dreams, goals and aspirations for independence, success, and their version of happiness. They “dig in” and do the work to become the person they strive to be.

Being a “GOAL digger” is all mindset. It’s the basic of setting goals for your life and doing what it takes to achieve them. Whether they are goals set in your education, your career, your personal life, or some other area. You are setting goals for whatever it is you desire that will define success to you. Tackling obstacles and burdens that may get in your way, being determined, persevering, sometimes a little suffering with blood, sweat, and tears.

A GOAL digger never stops working towards their goals.

What have you done to get better today?

Q: What do you think about Neffi's definition of a Goal Digger?

Goals provide you with direction, purpose and motivation.  They are the destination in the your mental GPS that allows to see where you want to go in life or business.  Without goals, you're just aimlessly moving through life, business is just one sale after another without any true purpose.  This can be frustrating if you are trying to achieve something specific.

This typically ends in frustration, disappointment and in severe cases, depression.

Q: How did you overcome that obstacle and how were you able to double your earning potential in just a few months?  

Q: Have you ever tried to achieve something without having a specific goal in mind?  What happened and how did that play out? 

One of the three critical criteria for being a Goal Digger, is that a Goal Digger sets VERY, VERY SPECIFIC goals.  The more specific the better.  A vague or wishy-washy goal is nothing more than a desire.  A lot of people have heard about SMART goals, SMART being:

S-Specific, M-Measurable, A-Attainable, R-Relevant, T-Timebound

1. Intro: 

Sage from Sage & Sol reading from 'Think & Grow Rich' by Napoleon Hill.

Hello and welcome to the Undeniable Level Up Podcast.  Last week we discussed the difficult topic of "Failing Forward".  We covered how to best learn from failure, avoiding shifting blame in order to garner the greatest learning opportunities, how to encourage excusable failure in your teams to drive innovation as well as how to avoid lethal failures.

Today we are going to cover destroying limited beliefs and we have Sol, co-founder of Sage & Sol, joining us via Zoom from the Lover's State of Virginia.  Hello Sol, and welcome to Level Up.  

Now I first learned about limited beliefs through the Sage & Sol podcast, I believe it was Episode 15, Identifying Limited Beliefs.   

Wow, that was a very emotional experience for you.  A link to the Sage & Sol podcast has been provided for our listeners to check out that podcast and learn how to identify their potential limited beliefs.  And when we selected this topic for discussion, I told Crystal that we had to have you on. 

So what is a limited belief?

(Allow Sol to answer this question)

Read Quote: Mary Kay Ash says, "Don't limit yourself.  Many people limit themselves to what they can do.  You can go as far as your mind lets you.  What you believe, remember, you can achieve."

Limited beliefs are false beliefs that prevent us from pursuing our goals and desires.

Limited beliefs are beliefs that we hold about ourselves that prevent us from following our desires or dreams.  They stop us from being our best selves and limit our happiness.  These limited beliefs can be beliefs such as I am too old to pursue a career in music, or I'm not interesting, or I'm too shy to speak publicly.

These beliefs become our truths and eventually cause us to act in accordance with those beliefs.

Q: What are some limited beliefs about yourself?  Where do you think these beliefs originated from?  Have you overcome these limited beliefs?  How do you avoid slipping back into that mindset?

Limited beliefs do not only apply to how we see our selves.  We can also have limited beliefs about how we see and experience the world.  This includes thoughts such as rich people are either born rich or they get lucky, all relationships end in divorce, money is the root of all evil.

These types of beliefs about the world can stunt your professional growth, limit your ability to accumulate wealth and even impact your relationships.

Q: What are some limited beliefs that you've held about the world?  Do you still hold these beliefs?  How did you overcome these beliefs? 

Limited beliefs also apply to life in general and can impact what we experience in our lives.  We can fantasize about how life should be and create a limited belief that reflects that fantasy, such as happiness is being married, 2.5 kids and house with picket fence, or success is a fancy title with a six digit salary.  

We can also talk ourselves out of accomplishing goals and objectives by saying things like there's not enough time in a day, love doesn't last, all people are selfish. 

Q: What are some limited beliefs that you've held about life?  Do you still hold these beliefs?  How did you overcome these beliefs?

So how can you overcome your limited beliefs?  

Read: Mark Manson provides four (4) questions to help you overcome a limited belief.  The first is:

• Ask yourself, "What if I'm wrong?"
• Ask yourself, "How is this belief serving me?"
• Create alternative beliefs
• Test those alternatives to see if they might be true

Q: How have you overcome your limited beliefs?  What was the hardest part of changing your mindset? Are you still challenged by limited beliefs?

Read Quote: Louise Hay says, "If you accept a limiting belief, then it will become a truth for you."

It's time to level up and identify where you are holding yourself back from achieving greatness, from living your best life and being the best version of yourself.  I encourage you to:

1. Write down a list of your top limited beliefs, whether they are personal, limiting belief's about life or limiting beliefs about the world.
2. Identify what instilled this particular belief
3. Determine your new positive belief
4. Look for evidence to support your new positive belief
5. Imagine the worst case scenario and how you will overcome it
6. Recite affirmations

Give an Example:

1. I'm too old to go back to school and get my degree
2. This belief stems from the fact that I have college aged kids that are in school and going back to school makes me look like I'm backsliding
3. My new belief is you are never too old to learn and grow
4. Other people my age 

I want to thank Cecilia for joining us today and sharing with us.  It was great having you on.  Cecilia, where can people find you and listen to your podcast?

Life is already too short and challenging enough that we don't need to make it harder by creating beliefs that limit our ability to achieve and succeed.  It's time to break those limited beliefs and create beliefs that serve us in a way that allows us to be our very best selves.

Sage & Sol Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sage-and-sol/id1515222096%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20

Sage & Sol Blog - Uncovering and Conquering Limited Beliefs
https://sage-sol.com/limited-belief-how-to-uncover-and-conquer/

And we are back with another episode of Level Up.  Last week we discussed "Defining Success".  We covered where we get our definition of success and how we personally define success?  We also covered what we can do to be successful?  

Today we are going to discuss failing forward.  This is a big topic and not easy to cover.  No one likes to admit when they have failed.  Through discussion, we will be covering how to learn from failure, how to focus on the solution and not point the finger, how to encourage innovation and creativity by embracing failure, avoiding failure by learning from the failure of others and finally, the consequences of ignoring failure.

Quote: "Fear of failure is often the toughest hurdle to jump in leadership" -John Maxwell from the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast.

Q: What are your thoughts?

There are many ways to learn from failure.  In the military we used the After Action Review, or the AAR.  It's a methodical process that allows participants of an exercise or a mission to give three ups and three downs and then a list of recommendations to ensure next quarter's exercise or the next mission goes better.  In business, there's the post-mortem, or some other type of formal review process that allows the business to assess what went well, what didn't go so well, and what we need to change in the future in order to improve.

Seems like a great way to learn from our failures right?  Well, not when we get stuck in the blame game.  Our default behavior is to assign an effect to a cause.  Psychologically, we can't help but point the finger.  Whether it's to explain what or why something happened, to attack someone, to defend ourselves from others, whether they are pointing the finger at us, or whether we are having difficulty assuming responsibility for our mistake or failure.  It is always easier to assign blame for a failure.  Way easier than actually diving into the problem and resolving the root cause of the failure.  It is almost instinctual to assign blame to failure.  

Q: Have you ever blames someone else for a failure that you experienced?  What has been one your biggest personal failures in business or in your personal life?  Did you blame someone for that failure?  Have you ever been blamed for a major failure?  Was it your fault, how did you react?

Failure is the "School of Hard Knocks".  Who would we be without the life lessons taught through our failure.  It's how we learned to walk, to ride bikes, to dance, to build and to succeed.  Failing allows us to build upon our character and feed our values of honesty, integrity and honor.  Failure is our greatest and oldest teacher.  

Failure gives birth to courage and shows us the power of perseverance.  It encourages creativity and risk taking and highlights an individuals enthusiasm and motivation.  Failure encourages exploration and instills resilience.  Accept failure and look at failure as a step in the staircase to success.  Welcome failure, as it is often necessary to learn what is required to be successful

Q: What is the toughest lesson you have learned through failing?  What has failure taught you?  Have you always seen failure from the perspective of learning and growth? How do learn from your failures in business?  How do you teach your junior leaders and subordinates not to fear failure?  

Quote: "The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate" -IBM's Thomas Watson Sr.

Not all failures are created equal.  The Harvard Business Review provides a spectrum with "lethal failures" on the far left being those that are based on violating a prescribed process, law or rule.  This is the extreme side of failure and is not just blameworthy, but will result in serious repercussions such as fines and potential jailtime.  This is followed closely with inattention to details and overestimating your own ability to do a job.  On the far right, and opposite lethal failure you have hypothesis testing and exploratory testing, which simply put is trail and error and typically involve little to no risk.

The middle of the spectrum includes task challenge, process complexity and uncertainty.  These are areas where you can encourage risk taking with the right level of engagement and management.  

The goal when encouraging failure is to establish an understanding of a lethal failure versus an excusable failure and then encouraging those excusable failures.  Failures that have limited impact on the business or your personal life.

Q: Have you ever experienced or known someone who has experienced a lethal failure?  How have you encouraged your employees, your team mates or business partners to take risks and exposure of excusable failure?  How do you develop this in your team?

Often times, it is possible to learn from the mistakes and failings of others, therefore avoiding making the same or similar mistake ourselves.  We can learn from our parents, our friends, business partners, entrepreneurs and people we look up too.  If someone has done something similar to what you are planning, it would be foolish not to use their blue print and avoid repeating their errors.

Q: What lessons have you learn from others that prevented you from making the same mistake?  How do you use other people's lessons to improve your chances of success?

When we ignore our failures, we find ourselves doomed to repeat our mistakes.  Repeating a mistake is a pattern that turns into habit and creates a failure loop.  

Q: Have you ever found yourself in a failure loop?  How did you escape the loop?  What forced you to change?  What did you learn from the process? 

Although there are a number of lessons to be learned from failure, there are  always lessons learned in succeeding and in achieving success as well.  I actually prefer those types of lessons.  We should all be trying to learn from the mistakes of others and using effective planning and preparation to avoid failure and the tough lessons that come through failing.  

If you're ready to level up and maximize learning and growth through failure, then I encourage you to purchase the book, "Failing Forward" by Dr. John Maxwell.  For about $14.00 you can learn how turn mistakes and failures in advantages and learning opportunities.

Additionally, if you are looking for resources for your operations or business to improve on how your organization is conducting after action reviews and post mortems, then I have provided a link to a resource guide from Vanderbilt University that provides a simple but effective method for rapid post-project or post operations assessment so that you can begin learning from your mistakes and failures.

Try to learn your lessons from your success.

As we wrap it up, the bottom line is that success can be measured in more than one or two ways.  Money, fame and titles aren't true measurement of success unless they are goals that you've established and achieved.  True success comes from identifying ...

Intro: 

Hello and welcome to the next episode of Level Up, the podcast that focuses on leadership, self improvement and continued growth throughout our everyday lives.  I'm Jose, your host and I am joined by my co-host, and the CEO of All-American Lumping LLC, one of the fastest growing national 3PL Logistics and Freight Handling companies in the U.S., Crystal Garcia.

Last week we discussed "Living Your Values".  The dangers of not living your values, how to identify your values and how to ensure that you are in fact living your values and not someone elses.  Great discussion and hopefully gave our listeners some insight into what is important to them and how they prioritize their lives and how they make decisions.

Today we are going to discuss Success.  What is Success?  How do we define it for ourselves?  What can we do to be successful?  

Read Quote: The late Coach John Wooden, who coached UCLA Basketball team to 10 NCAA championships in 12 years defined success by stating, “Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

Definition: "Success is the achievement of something that you have been trying to do".

Q: What are your thoughts?

Success is not measured in the balance of your bank account.  Success is not measured by who accepts you and who doesn't.  Success is a state of mind where you are able to be self-satisfied because you have given your maximum effort towards achieving a goal or an objective and therefore have achieved it.

Q: In your life how have you defined success?  

• Defined by others
• Defined by society
• Defined by the values of the different groups that we navigate throughout our lives

Q: Have you always been successful? 

• When have you failed and why did you fail?
• If you've always succeeded, how have you always succeeded?

Q: What has attributed to your concept of success?

• Friends / Family / Co-workers / Peers / Superiors / Leaders / Society

Q: What things do you do to ensure that you are successful?

• Thinking big
• Planning
• Never quitting
• Ensuring your goals and objectives align with your WHY and with your Values

Read Excerpt: In the book, "Think & Grow Rich", by Napoleon Hill, Napoleon states:  "One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat."  See page 149 as well.

Q: To understand success, we must also understand what failure is.  How do you define failure?

• Quitting too soon
• Poor planning
• Poor execution

Missy Yost, Business owner and Lifehack blogger list 19 different definitions of success.  Not all of these will resonate with listeners, but maybe a few will.  They are:

• Success is always doing your best
• Success is setting concrete goals
• Success is having a place to call home
• Success is understanding the different between a need and a want
• Success is believing you can
• Success is remembering to balance work with passion
• Success is taking care of your needs
• Success is learning that you sometimes have to say no
• Success is knowing your life is filled with abundance
• Success is understanding you cannot keep what you don't give away
• Success is overcoming fear
• Success is learning something new each day
• Success is learning that losing a few battles can help you win a war
• Success is loving and being loved back
• Success is standing your ground when you believe in something
• Success is not giving up
• Success is celebrating small victories
• Success is never letting a disability hold you back
• Success is understanding that you control your destiny

Success can be measured in more than one or two ways.  Money, fame and titles aren't true measurement of success unless they are goals that you've established and achieved.  True success comes from identifying a goal or objective, creating a plan to achieve that goal, revising the plan when you encounter temporary defeat, and eventually achieving your goal by giving 100% towards achieving that goal.

 As a call to action I would like to invite our listeners to purchase the book "Think & Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill.  The link is will be attached to this podcast.  "Think & Grow Rich" It is a great read, and although dated, because it was originally written in 1937 and has some skewed perspective that was relevant at that time, the principles in this book remain sound today in terms of how to achieve success in life.

Additionally, I encourage our listeners to make it a habit to:

1. Set specific SMART goals 
2. Create a plan to achieve that goal & revise as needed
3. Pursue that goal until you have achieved it

It's time to stop defining success by the definition of others and to begin understanding that success is defined by what is important and valued by our values, our WHY and by what is important to us.

Napoleon Hill, "Think & Grow Rich" for $7.96 on Amazon @ https://amzn.to/36EGi65

Welcome to the next episode of Level Up, the podcast that focuses on leadership, self improvement and continued growth throughout our everyday lives.  I'm Jose, your host and I am joined by my co-host, and the CEO of All-American Lumping LLC, one of the fastest growing national 3PL Logistics and Freight Handling companies in the U.S., Crystal Garcia.

We aired our first podcast last week for those of you who haven't had an opportunity to listen to it, we discussed "Finding your WHY".  We discussed the importance of find your passion in what you do and the reasons why you do it.  

We had a pretty emotional experience sharing our Whys and how we found our passion in helping and developing others, providing for our families and shared a few of our war stories about how we discovered our Why while serving in the military.

Read Excerpt: Live by Your Values & Everything Else Will Fall Into Place

By: Claire Hodgson

That was an excerpt from a blog on Tiny Budda Blog and can be found at www.tinybuddha.com, by Burn the Corset Founder, and blogger Claire Hudgson

Today we are going to discuss the importance of Living Your Values.  This is a topic that I believe is very important, whether you're a leader in your family, a leader in your community or a leader in business and that applies to the entrepreneur as well.  We are going to cover the dangers of not living your values, how to identify your personal values, how to identify whether or not you are living those values or just pretending to, and how to apply your values in your day to day decisions.

So, first, I'd like to ask:

Q: What did you think about the article?

 
So why are living by your values so important that we would make it one of our first podcasts?  There are often many sets of values that we are all exposed too.  Your family values, religious values, your work values, and most important, your personal values.  These can all be completely different or they can have similarities.  The more they are the same, the more you are accepted in that particular group.  The more that your personal values are different, the less you are accepted by each of these groups.

Your core values remind you of what's important.  When you know your values, you make decisions that allow you to support and live according to what you know is most important to you.

Your values help you make decisions.  If you know your personal value is honesty, you won't go around telling lies.  Obviously, Pinocchio had a problem with that one.  When you make decisions that align with your values, you can sleep at night, your not conflicted and you live life with no regrets.

Your values allow you to live your life aligned on your life's true path towards happiness and success.  If family is your strongest value and all of your actions align with providing and building up your family, then you will be happy and content.  If your family cant stand you because you treat your family like crap, then you will be miserable and unhappy.

Finally, living your values will ensure that you live your most authentic self.  People who say they value hard work but are constantly over sleeping and leaving work early can be labeled as a phony or a fake.

Q: Are your life and values aligned?  How do you know?

Now there are some dangers and pitfalls associated with not living your values.  Many of the choices that we make are based on our values and if we do not know what are values are, or are living by someone else's value we run the risk of living a unfulfilled and unhappy life.  

Our habits, behaviors and relationships are based 99% on our values.  The problem is that when we are unaware of our values, we slide into default mode.  Default mode is our auto-pilot.  It's very similar to the state of unawareness that makes take your "Go to work route" on a Sunday when you are supposed to be going Walmart.  You find yourself auto-turning, auto-stopping, auto-cruising.

This can be terrible when you're getting into a new relationship, or applying for a new job.  It can wreak havoc on your health, based on you eating or exercise habits.

Q: Have you ever made a decision that you later realized was not aligned with your personal values?

So some of you may be asking, "How do I identify my personal values?"  

First, identify the times that you have been happiest in your life.  What were doing, who were you with?  What about that experience made you happy?

Q: What is one of your most happiest moments?

Secondly, identify when you were most proud.  What made you proud?  Who shared in this experience with you?  What about the experience made you proud?

Q:  What is one of your most proudest moments?

Third, Identify when you felt most satisfied.  What made you feel satisfied and fulfilled?  What about the experience made you feel satisfied?

Q: What is one of your most fulfilling moments?

Fourthly, identify one of your most upsetting and/or frustrating moments.  What made you upset?  What about that experience made you frustrated?  Who were you with?

Q: What was one of your most upsetting, disappointing or frustrating moments?

Lastly, Determine your top values based on your happiest moments, your proudest moments, your most fulfilling moments, and your most upsetting or disappointing moments.

Q:  What are you top values?

I've worked in many value-driven organizations.  Organizations such as the military and Amazon, just to name two.  These types of organizations drive the importance of their values and encourage decision making based on their values.

Q: How have your personal values impacted your career and your business?

Army - Loyalty, Discipline, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, Physical and Moral Courage 

Amazon - Customer Obsession, Invent & Simplify, Ownership, Insist on High Standards, Frugality, Earn Trust, Delivery Results, Fail Fast, Disagree & Commit, Are Right A lot, Learn & Be Curious, Think Big, Hire and Develop the Best, Bias for Action

All-American Lumping - Service, Honor, Integrity, Respect, Loyalty

Your values influence how you act, they influence the decisions you make and in business, corporate values can influence the decisions and behaviors of you and your employees.

Q: Have you ever done something at work that was aligned with your personal values that did not align with your corporate values?

As we wrap it up, to summarize, our values drive our actions. It drives our behavior.  Our habits and our relationships.  If this podcast is the first time you've even contemplated your personal values, the I encourage you to do our Call To Action at the end of thi...

Quote: "He who has a why can endure any how." -Frederick Nietzshe

Finding your why is an important first step in achieving the goals and desires that you are most passionate about.  Your why will give you courage when your afraid, strength when you feel weak and motivate you when you begin considering throwing in the towel.

A sense of purpose allows you focus on those things that you find valuable.  As humans, we are driven to do more than survive.  We can easily become frustrated and disillusioned when we feel our contributions are insignificant.  This doesn't mean that your contribution has to be earth shattering or life changing.  Value can be found in the simplest forms, such as raising a family, getting or staying in shape or service to others.

When you're inspired, you're driven by a feeling that's deeper and more profound than obligation.  Typically something that inspires you is selfless and outside of yourself.  It typically has a bigger picture impact, but it doesn't have too. 

As an entrepreneur, I've been approached by people who have wanted the financial independence of running their own business.  A lot of times they don't know what they want to do or what they're good at.  I always begin these discussions with a basic question:

Q: If money was no object, what would you do with your life and why?

The major benefits for knowing and understanding your why include:

 • Provides clarity in life
 • Infuses your goals with passion 
 • Creates focus in your life
 • Creates resilience
 • Improves the integrity with which you live

Q: What is your inspiration?

People who do what they love and do what they are passionate about have a tendency do it well.  These talents and skills are honed over a lifetime of practicing and/or doing.  Typically we find joy and pleasure in doing those things that contribute greatest to what we value.  Asking yourself the following questions

Q: What are your innate strengths?  What have you always been good at?

Q: Where do you add the greatest value? 
 
Q: How do you want to measure your life?

When making a decision to do something, if you are unsure if it supports your why, conduct root cause analysis by asking yourself Why 3 - 5 times or until you reach your root cause for the task.  For example, if you wanted to lose weight you could ask:

Why#1: Why do you want to lose weight?  
A: Because I want to live a healthy lifestyle.

Why#2: Why do you want to live a healthy lifestyle
A: Because I don't want to get sick or die prematurely

Why#3: Why don't you want to get sick or die prematurely?
A: Because I don't want to leave my family with my support or burden them with medical or funeral costs.

Why#4: Why don't you want to burden them with medical or funeral costs?
A: Because family is important to me and I love my family.

Q: What gets you out of bed in the morning and keeps you up at night?

CTA:  To learn more about how to find your why, I recommend reading the book 'Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Finding Purpose for You and Your Team', by Simon Sinek.  You find it and purchase it on Amazon at the following link: https://amzn.to/3rfRcaj