Hey guys , welcome back to another episode of your Brains Coach podcast . My name is Angela Shurina , I'm your host . I'm your Brains Coach , also Executive Coach with more than 50 years of experience around the globe working with some badass high performers , now transitioning into corporate training and coaching and consultancy , on a quest to build $1 million consultancy in 2025 . Guys , I would often hear these days when I talk about my goal that you know , like , where you are and what makes you think it's possible . Like , don't you want to go for something more realistic ? And then I remind myself of this fact when most people decided for themselves that they are comfortable at a certain level and anything beyond that is impossible for them . But guess what ? There is this saying if you decide , you're right , or if you decide you're wrong , you are right , meaning whatever you decide for yourself , if it's out of your reach , then it's going to be out of your reach . If you decide , this is a must and I'm going to make it happen , you're going to make it happen . I mean , there are things that , outside of laws of physics and more like magic Like , for example , believing that you can lose weight while eating more calories , consuming more energy than your body actually uses Not going to happen , just not in this universe . We have certain laws that have to be respected . The same in business there are many rules and laws , but I know that where I am and where I want to be , the journey is totally doable . And there are people who did bigger things that I'm planning to do . But again , what you think is possible for you , you think is possible for you , that's going to define where you're going to end up , not what somebody else thinks about possibility of your goals .
Speaker 1I want to share with you a story . Yesterday we had a coaching . He was really proud of himself , the transformation that he went through , and he was saying oh , you know , I'm doing better than anyone in my bootcamp class . That I enjoyed . That is amazing . And we celebrated that . That is amazing , that is a great transformation . That is a lot of effort and work put in . That is , you know , worthy of celebration . But then , as any good coach would do , I challenged him Well , now that you reached this milestone and you're doing better than anyone in your bootcamp class , what's your next comparison ?
Speaker 1Who is going to be your fitness inspirational role model ? Because here's the thing who you compare yourself to is going to become your normal and anything outside what you consider your normal is going to be a struggle and most probably you're not going to maintain it , not because it's impossible for you or someone else , but because you decided that that is normal . When you level up your goals , you got to make sure that you level up your social comparisons . Who's your new normal ? And comparing yourself up that is the process never feels comfortable . You're going to feel inadequate . You're going to start asking yourself these questions like why am I not there ? What's wrong with me ? What am I doing wrong ? Sometimes even you might have this thought where am I dumber than these other people who got what I want ?
Speaker 1Comparing yourself down to people who don't have the results you have , comparing yourself to people who you are ahead of the game from . Comparing yourself to old college buddies , your high school buddies who just never shoot for anything big . And hey , I want to emphasize here that being on any level is okay Fitness level , relationships , business level but is it okay for you ? You want to define what is okay and normal for you and what you want to create in your life . Any desire , any goal , anything is okay as long as you decide that that is okay for you , and shooting for something that feels less , that you want less than you're capable of , something that feels less that you want less than you're capable of , that , I believe , is not okay .
Speaker 1So when I say , when you compare yourself down to somebody who's struggling , who's not shooting for anything big , I don't mean it in any negative way . What I mean is we often do that to make ourselves comfortable , to make ourselves feel better , and I guess that's okay sometimes to make yourself feel comfortable . But if you want to grow , if you want to level up in 2025 , that's not something . You want to be stuck in this , thinking this , comparing down and thinking , well , I already achieved more than these people , so I'm pretty good , you're pretty good , no matter what you achieve . But is this enough ? Is this the end of growth for you , or do you want to level up ? And that's the challenge , and that's why I ask my client this question Okay , now that you've got this fitness level and you want to go further ? Okay , now that you've got this fitness level and you want to go further ? You say that you want to go further .
Speaker 1Who's your next comparison ? That can be someone in your real life , if you're lucky enough to have that . That is the best . So maybe join some cycling club or some sailing club or whatever club you want to join . That is the best where people are fitter and more badass than you are . So if you join some bootcamp and outdid everyone who's there , then maybe it's time to join a new bootcamp or a new fitness social club . So if that's in real life , that's amazing . But also don't forget that we live in time and in an era where you have this beautiful thing , social media , this beautiful thing , internet , and you can find your aspirational comparisons anywhere around the world . There is no lack of people putting their profiles online with all their workouts and amazing physiques or businesses and telling you all about their stories , their transformations , what they're figuring out and shooting for their results . Find your new role model as soon as you outdo your old one .
Speaker 1Here is an interesting study . I don't remember the source , but you can Google it very easily or chat . Gpt Research indicates that sitting within 25 feet of a high performer can boost an individual's performance by 15% . Just by sitting by proximity to a high performer can boost an individual's performance by 15% . Just by sitting by proximity to a high performer you're going to boost your performance , whereas the proximity to a low performer can lead to a decline of 30% . That reminds me of a phrase that I absolutely loved from Brad Jacobs , the how to Make a Few Billion Dollars guy that's the name of the book , and the saying is an empty seat is better than a bad fit . An empty seat is better than a bad fit .
Speaker 1What it means is who you allow into your cognitive mental space , especially who you compare yourself to , but also your physical proximity . That's going to mean a lot about who you're going to become . Make sure that who you compare yourself to , who is your peer group , whether that's in real life or on social media in your mind , who you compare yourself to , that's your future , because you define that . That's your normal and your brain kind of works like a thermostat . If that new normal is above you , you do a lot of things to reach that new higher level . If that level is beyond you or below you , then your brain also going to adjust your actions and you're going to scale down to that level . That's the beauty and the curse . The beauty because you are in control of this process . You can choose who you compare yourself to . You can choose your social comparisons and inspirations , and the curse is most people are so sloppy with their thinking habits that they always slide down , not up . Maybe also because it requires a lot of work and your brain wants to save energy and not do a lot of work . That's also a reason . But remember again research indicates that sitting within 25 feet of a high performer can boost an individual's performance by 15% , whereas the proximity to a low performer can lead to a decline of 30% .
Speaker 1You know what I noticed in my personal life when I was struggling with my fitness levels , with my physique , with how I looked . You know what I did ? I would always compare myself to people around me who and I was already better than 90% of people . You know most of the people are overweight or obese , with a ton of diseases , especially after the age like 35 and 40s , and that comparison was not helpful to me . But then , once I started comparing myself to people on social media who are in their 40s and 50s and absolutely crushing their fitness , looking and performing better than I do when I'm 10 years younger , I'm like yeah , I'm not there yet .
Speaker 1And whenever I find myself in a place where I lose that motivation , or I feel tired or I feel like it's too much . Whenever I find myself in a place where I lose that motivation or I feel tired or I feel like it's too much , whenever I feel that you know what I do , I go to my social media and I look at profiles of those people and I'm like they're doing better , they are older , they transformed their bodies , they struggled and they still did it and that's who I want to be like . And then I immediately get my motivation back and I make the choice , I take the action that leads me closer towards my growth versus scaling down . And just , you know , it's okay to be normal , it's okay , but is that what you want ? That's the most important question that you want to answer . What is it you want ? Create the comparisons , people who occupy your mental space accordingly . And so the exercise I did to my clients . Back to my client , I told him okay , we are soon going to be entering 2025 .
Speaker 1You want to work in different areas in your life fitness , business , specifically , relationships with your peers , upgrading your peer group so it inspires you , right ? So you want to work on all of these goals . Now your homework , your home assignment , is for each goal , for each area where you want to grow , pick up one , maybe two inspirational people that you're going to look up to when your own motivation fails you or you want to take it easy . Those are the people that's going to be occupying your mental , emotional space and whenever you feel like it's getting harder to push yourself , look at them and they're going to push you . And the same assignment I have for you guys and for myself what it is you want to grow up in , where do you want to level up ? Where do you want to get bigger ? Shoot for the moon , shoot for the stars , whether it's business , your fitness , your relationships , your health , whatever that is , what do you want to shoot for ?
Speaker 1And then , for each goal , choose one , two inspirations that you're going to look up to that's going to occupy your mental , emotional space when things get hard or when you stumble , when things will feel impossible , just look up to them and maybe even reach out on social media the beauty of our world . You can reach out to almost anyone today and , with the right amount of persistence , you can actually get a reply . So , guys , where do you want to level up and what are your inspirations in real life ? On social media , maybe public figures , and there is nothing you can't do if you decide that that's a must and you create the systems and social comparisons that pull you up , not down . I hope you found this tactic , this tool , useful and gonna apply it from now on .
Speaker 1Human beings are funny creatures . We do care a lot whether we understand it or not , believe it or not , say it or not . We do care a lot about our social comparisons and how we compare to those who we compare ourselves to . So use this tool and don't forget guys to help others to grow and level up and shoot for bigger things . Share this podcast episode with at least one moon shooter , someone who wants to go big and shoot for the stars , someone who you might connect with to level up together . Nothing like stretching yourself to your next level goals . Nothing like connecting with like-minded people who also do not believe in the impossible , but believe the word impossible says I am possible itself . So share this episode with at least one other moon shooter . Go for big stars together and , till next time , shoot for the stars , upgrade your comparisons and have an awesome day . Chat soon , dream big and compare even bigger .