Hey guys and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach Podcast. My name is Angela Shurina, I'm your host. I'm your Brain's Coach. I'm an executive coach with 15 years of experience helping leaders on all levels to take better control of emotions, of thoughts and, most importantly, actions to change behavior for a long term so you could create a life experience and achieve your goals and dreams and aspirations and become the person you want to be. That's what we are all about here and, as an insatiable learner and practitioner of what I'm learning, I'm here to satisfy my curiosity learn from the best experts in research and data and based user cases in the world, real-life, tested and science-backed data, protocols, habits and rituals all to produce long-term behavior change which leads to transformation of the self of you, of your life and of your goals and your dreams.
Speaker 1Okay, so today we're going to talk about a couple of practices that I borrowed and got from number one like officially number one executive coach in the US who is now in his 70s. I'm lucky to talk to Marshall Goldsmith that's what I'm talking about over email. He gives me some advice, but he also released his latest book, the Earned Life how to Feel Less Regret and More Fulfillment, which has some of the foundational core practices which he used with his CEO, practices which he used with his CEO or leaders, clients, global leaders to make those awesome people even more awesome. Like you would think, people who are, let's say, ceo of Ford he actually worked with CEO of Ford and a lot of other companies, right? So you think they are global leaders. Do they have things to work on? Yes, they also do. All of us have things to work on and, yes, those people at the top have coaches, like elite athletes have coaches, leaders, elite leaders have coaches.
Speaker 1Actually, coaching is one of the most effective ways to get our game up, to get better, consistently so, and to set up a new level of standard for our life ourselves, our accomplishments, right? So I got a couple of really effective coaching strategies that I decided. You know what really effective coaching strategies that I decided? You know what? 2025, I'm going to put it in practice personally to focus on long-term goals that I'm committed to make happen, like my $1 million consultancy goal, and I'm going to do that, the same with my clients, starting right now, and so I did. I already had a few coaching sessions with my clients where we started implementing this two-step method, which basically can be summed up in this phrase visualize, ritualize, realize which, when done consistently and actually the method itself will ensure its consistency. So, when done consistently, will produce a lot more results that you've ever experienced before. If you haven't done it already, which most people haven't, I'm just now going to be using it consistently and, plus, I also just now learned about this second part that I never actually put in practice. But, to cut the long story short, what's it all about? Besides helping top CEOs become even better leaders and realize that the goals that they didn't get to leave yet, yes, people at the top also have those.
Speaker 1Besides that, the main benefit of this practice, two-step practice, which again can be summed up in this phrase visualize, ritualize, realize which will help you to achieve any goal, given enough time that you have, changing your future into the most audacious, unbelievable one. So this phrase, the main idea of it. It helps you to focus on long-term goals which require hard work and change of behavior, and, very often, change of self, change of you behavior and very often, change of self, change of you Focus. This is the most common question I get and the most people ask themselves, and I ask myself this all the time how do I stay focused, focused on my long-term goals, focused on my commitments, when tempted to do the easier thing, focused on my future, when distractions in the present are so much more appealing? How do I stay focused on this goal of $1 million consultancy and all the work that I need to put in consistently, day after day after day, to get there? How do I stay focused among all the distractions that we have more and more of in our life, among all the easier things that I might be doing? Right, even exercise is easier than working on that goal for hours a day. So how do I stay focused? How do I stay committed? How do I put actions and effort in consistently? Here are two things, again, learning from number one executive coach who worked with leading CEOs globally he's still, by the way, operational 70, and just gets going, and he just recently was named number one executive coach, at least in the US, but because coaching is predominantly the most not famous, but most often used in the US, I'd say probably globally. He is number one executive coach and I happen to be in touch with him, but also has an amazing book, the Earned Life.
Speaker 1But let's get back to what we were talking about. So what's the process of staying focused that I've already put into action, starting today fully? So number one environment. Number one is visualize part. How do you visualize a goal that is not that easy to make visible right, it doesn't exist yet like $1 million consultancy. How do I even visualize that? I can't even really create pictures of it. Yes, I can have like a bunch of people doing consultancy sort of, but how do I visualize it? Well, write it down and put it on a piece of paper, front and center in front of your eyes. I put it where I work on my computer, front and center in front of your eyes. I put it where I work on my computer also, where I do my podcasting, where I do my recording. So it's right now, it's right in front of me and the top of the sheet and if you follow me on Instagram, you can see that it says $1 million consultancy.
Speaker 1And then Below that it says why it matters and it has a bunch of reasons why it's important. From helping my family and my parents, to traveling the world, to working with some amazing leaders, to learning everything I want to learn to make my ideas real All this stuff is important and at the bottom, it also says pain. And for me, guys, the biggest pain of not achieving this goal, of not getting my financials to the very top where I feel like really abundant For me, the main pain is staying small and not growing into the person I feel I can be, not serving people I know I can serve and help on and create positive impact in the world, and not working and being around the leaders that I want to be around like A players who want to change the world and who are changing the world. Like that is the biggest pain for me. And the more I don't have my finances in order to the level where they need to be, the more I'm feeling this pain Every single day. I'm losing on that. It's painful, guys. So that is my biggest pain and that is a sheet of paper that is in front of me and this is the first time, the first year, where I'm going to be seeing it and reading it every single day. Not just the good stuff, but also the pain and having just one goal that's it. That's the only thing that is front and center of my focus. Now, why it's important Visualize, put your goals on the walls, not for the magic of manifestation, but to remind your brain, write down what's important, why it matters, and pain you'll face if you don't achieve it.
Speaker 1Our brain, guys, is easily distracted, forgetful and present biased Visual cues. Keep the future front and center. Your brain always prioritizes what's in front of you, what screams at you, what's visual, what's appealing, what's easy, what's attractive, what's in the present. So your brain is highly biased and there is a reason for that. So if you want to focus more on the future against your present, you've got to make it visual and you've got to put the whys and the pains so you also give yourself strong emotions to do the hard thing when you feel less, a lot less, like doing anything.
Speaker 1So this is the part to visualize, ritualize doing anything. So this is the part to visualize, ritualize. The goals that you have are the skills and rituals and habits that you haven't built. The person who has your goal has to be you, but you changed Because if you already were the person worthy of your goal, you'd already have it. Were the person worthy of your goal, you'd already have it. Every goal is a set of rituals and habits which also change you, and if you don't do those habits and goals, you are a person who doesn't deserve the goal yet and that's why you don't have the goal, because you are not the person who's going to make it happen. And for you to become that person, you need to have those rituals and habits. That's why the second part is after visualize is ritualize.
Speaker 1What are the habits, the rituals? For me it's going to be from 5 am to 1 pm, five days a week, focused on specific aspects of my business. Nothing goes as priority. Before that I'm scheduling all of my clients. After that, everything five days a week, and then six and seven days, actually is not for my days off, but things like meetings that I need to take in the morning or workshops and all the stuff that cannot go in the afternoon will happen there. So that's, for example, one of the rituals that I'm having from now on, and I redesigned my schedule and I removed that availability from my Calendly, my scheduling software. Right, that's how you commit, ritualize. So what are the rituals that you need to do? But here is the thing. But here is the thing A ritual, a secret ritual that I got from a Marshall Goldsmith book, the Earned Life.
Speaker 1It's the daily check-in and it takes like five minutes. So I got this small notebook, the one where you can tear the sheets away out of, and then they're very cheap. This one is very small, it serves one purpose and one purpose only, and in the front there are a set of questions. There are some questions that I got. Most of them I got from again from the book the Earned Life by Marshall Goldsmith. And so the purpose of these questions and I'm going to read to you this question the purpose of them is to have daily ritual of refocusing and seeing where you are with the, for example, effort that you give to your goal. So let me give you an example. So every day after dinner I'm going to spend five minutes and in my small notebook I'm going to write the grade for the questions. So I'm going to have a set of questions. Again. This is from the book the Earned Life by Marshall Goldsmith.
Speaker 1Did I do my best to set clear goals, make progress toward achieving my goals, find meaning, be happy, maintain and build positive relationships, be fully engaged, express gratitude, forgive the previous me, do my best to add value to other people's lives? And I'm going to grade on a scale of one to 10, how did I do on that? What's very important for me, and you can adjust those questions, but these are the questions that Marshall Goldsmith found to be very practical and useful to improve overall quality of life and achievement for those CEOs that he or those leaders that he worked with. So every day, five minutes, I'm going to sit down and grade myself on a scale from one to 10. Did I do my best to set clear goals, to make progress toward achieving my goals? And I'm going to grade myself when am I today on a level one to 10? And I do it after dinner, because the day is almost gone after my dinner and I'm going to grade myself right. And Each week on Saturday I'm going to sit down and look through those seven days before and see where am I trending consistently low and what's the reason? And I'm going to reflect a little bit and how can I do better moving forward. And so every day I'm going to spend five minutes on this reflection and every Saturday I'm going to look at the week and spend a little bit more, maybe like 10 minutes more, on reflection. I'm going to spend them on reflection asking myself, okay, what's trending lower than I'd like to and what's the reason and how can I do better?
Speaker 1And in the book they Earned Life, marshall Goldsmith, he did this experiment I think a couple with a group of those leaders, and they did it only for 10 weeks. And 10 weeks was it? What is it? It's like three months, and the difference it made was profound. And those are not some people top leaders and also writers and people like Dave Chung that's some guy in New York. He actually has quite a Netflix documentary and he manages restaurants in New York City Amazing. But he was also working on the quality of his life, right, and these are the questions that they would reflect on every day. But then every week they would get together for 10 weeks and discuss like, okay, where am I, where is each of us on these questions and why I will learn certain things, and then the group will propose different ideas on how to make it better. But your ritual and my ritual for the year is every day to do this reflection, grade myself on a scale of one to 10 on these questions and then each Saturday, reflect on that, like where am I low, why am I low and what can I do to get better?
Speaker 1So visualize, ritualize and then realize, and really realizing part is going to happen automatically once you start doing this ritualize effect, this checking these, checking ins every single day and once a week, but then also having your goal front and center and the why, the reasons and the pain. What's going to happen if you don't get it? Like, why is this important? You again, not a robot, you need a reason. Nietzsche says he who has a strong enough why will bear almost any. How strong enough, why will bear almost any? How Human beings are meaning-seeking machines.
Speaker 1If you have no meaning and you have just some goal, some number that, for whichever reason maybe your uncle Dave told you to have, or your auntie told you, or some influencer on Instagram told you you should have that, unless it's meaningful to you and you know the deeper reason and you know the pain you're not going to do the hard work, Just not. And if you don't trust me, just try. Try to go after a hard goal. That means nothing to you. Not going to happen. The brain just doesn't work this way. So visualize the goal on the wall, ritualize this check-in ritual, but then, obviously, looking at your goal, what are the things you're going to do? Like, ritualize, I'm going to be working from five to one on this one goal five days a week, and then I'm going to work more, but not from five to one on other days. So visualize, ritualize and realize. Realization part happens after you get this going.
Speaker 1So your homework for today is write down the goal, ideally one goal, because the more goals you have, the more your resources are spread, like you know the sprinkler, kind of like everywhere but nowhere Nobody notices. So one goal is the best. You can put all of your resources there, which also, if it's a good goal, it will amplify everything else. Like, if I have this million-dollar consultancy, guess what? Staying fit is going to be easier because I can hire a chef, I can have all the fitness stuff I've ever wanted to right in my house. Also, relationship is going to get better because you can go on different kinds of dates and meet such awesome people who also make millions of dollars, right. So it's one goal, but it's going to make everything else better, so, anyhow.
Speaker 1So one goal why it matters, like all the reason why it's important in your freaking life, because if it's not, you're not going to do the hard work and then pain. What's going to happen if you don't get it, how are you going to suffer, how are you going to be in pain for years and years if you don't get it? Like that's the kind of goal you can achieve and you can do hard work for, and then put it on the wall. Goal on the wall, so you see it, because the brain is again forgetful, present, biased and distracted all the time. So you gotta work against that. You gotta create rituals, visualize rituals. Right. What are the habits, the things you do every day? Make it a consistent habit or ritual.
Speaker 1And then this check-in ritual five minutes a day, spend on answering these questions. And if you want these questions, either get the book the Earned Life or email me, angela at brainbreakthroughcoachcom. Angela at brainbreakthroughcoachcom, this email is in the show notes and I'm going to email these set of questions to you five minutes a day, and then a little bit more each week to reflect on how did I do this week? Did I do well, not so well? Why not so well? What can I do better? And see how this combination visualize, ritualize, realize will transform your life and will get you so much closer to the most audacious goal you have. And that's about it, guys.
Speaker 1I hope this podcast was super useful. I'm super excited I'm starting all this new with my clients and myself, based on the best practices from number one executive coach in the US, and I'm just excited about how it's going to transform my life and life of my clients. And heck, it's going to be difficult, guys. Just today I woke up and I'm like man. It already feels hard, like working every day for hours on the same goal. It feels hard and then I told myself and it's exactly how it's supposed to feel when you're working on hard goals. That's exactly it. So if it feels hard, it's the right thing.
Speaker 1Let me know if you like these questions, if you perhaps would like to form an accountability group, or if you need a coach to keep you accountable on this reflection practice, share this podcast episode with at least one person. Maybe the person you're going to pair up to keep each other accountable on this reflection practice with at least one other person. Let's make the world better, one person at a time listening to this podcast. Guys, I cannot do this without you Not running any ads not super popular yet so please do share this podcast episode if you find value in it and, till next time, be awesome, do the work. Dream big and visualize, ritualize, realize. Talk to you soon Next one going to be guest episode surprise and have an amazing day, today and every day.