Your Thoughts Your Reality
Welcome to "Your Thoughts, Your Reality with Michael Cole," the podcast that shines a compassionate light on the journey of veterans battling through life's challenges. Michael Cole, a Certified Elite Neuroencoding Specialist, dedicated to guiding military veterans as they navigate the intricate pathways of post-deployment life. Join him as we delve into the profound realm of Neuroencoding science, empowering these brave individuals to conquer universal battles: procrastination, self-doubt, fear, and more. Together, let's uncover the strength within you to re-engage with families and society, forging a new path forward.
Your Thoughts Your Reality
Empowering Veteran Reintegration: Joseph McClendon III's Journey from Celebrating Success to Transforming Lives through Belief and Support Systems
Reflecting on a milestone journey, we are thrilled to welcome back our mentor and dear friend, Joseph McClendon III, a distinguished neuropsychologist and ultimate performance specialist. With Joseph by my side, we celebrate the 100th episode of our podcast by sharing the invaluable lessons we've learned along the way. As we reminisce, we also express our heartfelt dedication to supporting military veterans and their families, inspired by the legacies of our fathers who served in the military. This episode promises to inspire and encourage those looking for ways to contribute to meaningful change in the lives of others.
Transitioning from military service to civilian life presents a complex set of challenges, and we tackle this topic head-on. Through a personal story of my father, a Vietnam War veteran, we highlight the enduring impact of military conditioning and the struggles veterans face when these ingrained responses clash with civilian life. We examine the critical importance of robust support systems to help veterans navigate these internal battles and avoid isolation. Our discussion aims to provide insights and tools for veterans and their families to foster reintegration and wellness.
Empowerment is key, and our conversation underscores the transformative power of self-belief, gratitude, and small daily actions. We explore practical techniques for overcoming limiting beliefs and celebrating personal victories as a way to foster a positive mindset. Joseph and I share strategies for recognizing and replacing unhelpful thoughts with productive ones, creating a ripple effect that strengthens family bonds and uplifts those around us. Join us in this heartfelt discussion as we explore the significance of celebrating success and the profound impact it can have on personal growth and community wellness.
Welcome to your Thoughts, your Reality with Michael Cole, the podcast that shines a compassionate light on the journey of veterans battling through life's challenges. Michael is a dual elite certified neuro encoding specialist in coaching and keynote training presentations dedicated to guiding military veterans as they navigate the intricate pathways of post deployment life. Join him as we delve into the profound realm of neuroencoding science, empowering these brave individuals to conquer universal battles procrastination, self-doubt, fear and more. Together, let's uncover the strength within you to re-engage with families and society, forging a new path forward.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello, hello everybody. So first of all, I have my mentor, you know my Invicta buddy, joseph McLennan III, on today. I just want to give a brief intro and we're going to dive in. Joseph is a renowned neuropsychologist, has spent decades mastering the science of human behavior and brain optimization. He's, of course, an ultimate performance specialist, known for guiding high performance, like Academy Award winners and Olympic athletes who their peak potential. I can go on for days with this guy. I'm just saying Founder of the Neuron Coding Institute, my chosen tribe, that's for sure. He's a New York Times bestselling author, global speaker and mentor. Again, the man, the myth, the legend, here today with us celebrating our 100th episode. As people know that Joseph's been on for the 50th. They challenged me, they said Joseph will come on when you do 50. And Joseph said I'll come back on. So, of course, first person I thought of I wanted to celebrate with was Mr Joseph McClendon. Joseph, thank you for being here with us.
Speaker 3:Listen. It is my absolute pleasure and thank you so much for being on your show, especially in that it is your 100th anniversary. I know how important that is and how much of a milestone that is, and, most important in all of those hundred, the amount of people's lives that you've changed and people that you've helped. So it is my honor, my pleasure and thank you so much for what you do.
Speaker 2:Thank you, man. I really appreciate that. You know I was reflecting Joseph and we'll get into this in just a second, but you know I have in my computer, of course, I have all my episodes with thumbnails and all that stuff and I was looking through on, you know, the ripple effect that we're creating right doing the show, but really all the different guests and how much I've learned from each of them, how much they've impacted my life, just as you've impacted my life, and it's really just that gratefulness of wow, this is absolutely amazing that we're here, but what a blessing for myself as well, you know.
Speaker 3:Well, again, my pleasure and, as you know, we're here my personal belief is is that everyone's purpose is to reach out and help other people help our other, our fellow, our fellow man and or woman, and in whatever way that we can. And the niche that you have chosen and that you're doing is so overlooked and so many people don't really even consider it. And for you to consider it and for you to do what you do is really something to me, and that is not just admirable, but it is necessary right now to make a difference in people's lives. Yeah, amen, thank you for saying that. And again, I do this both to honor my father and all the, and that is not just admirable, but it is necessary right now to make a difference in people's lives.
Speaker 2:Amen, thank you for saying that. You know, and again I do this to honor my father and all the other veterans and their families you know that are so often forgotten.
Speaker 3:Yeah, mine too. My father was a veteran as well. He was a I'm even going to say a war hero from the Vietnam War.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to say mine. War hero from the Vietnam War, I'm going to say mine as well. They may have known each other.
Speaker 3:Yeah, maybe so.
Speaker 2:They may have known each other. Yeah, I've got all his medals Whoops, wrong side Back there with his flag and all that fun stuff. So, again, thank you for being here. So I want to just start off with just saying this I'm a little sad and I know I have Joseph McLennan on here to help me with this, right? So if there's anybody that can get me through this, this is our last episode. This is the 100th. The season is ending. Season one is over. Oh, hold on, though, right, season two is about to start next week, so I'm celebrating that. I'm sad, but quickly I can get myself out of that. So everybody, stay tuned again. 100th episode, season one ending. Uh, and we are about to to start the second season, so hang on for another hundred. Let's go, joseph, we can, but no, please, you're gonna.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was going to say that the way I look at things like that when seasons end and so on and so forth, seasons are just what they are. There's always going to be another one coming, and I look at it as voyages. You know people talk about this. Life is a journey. Yeah, life is. It's from cradle to grave, but in between there we have voyages, and voyages means you disembark from one place and you arrive in another place, but you had adventures all along, and as soon as you arrive at another place, what do you want to do? You want to take another voyage, and that's what's going to happen.
Speaker 3:So you've had a successful voyage and learned a lot of things, impacted a lot of people's lives, and you at the very least and I know you are should be proud of yourself and be proud of the things that you've done and think about the lives that you've impacted. And I love what you said the ripple effect versus just okay, you do something once and people go. Yeah, but the ripple effect, because if you change that person's life, then they're going to impact somebody else's life, and so on and so forth. So congratulations on the completion of this voyage and the readying to disembark on your new voyage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not even unpacking, that's a good idea.
Speaker 2:I'm not even unpacking you were already going, yeah, so let's get started. Just before we do, I just want to remind everybody on the top right-hand corner of your screen there's a blue QR code that takes you to empowerperformancestrategiescom For people listening on the podcast forums. Later on again empowerperformancestrategiescom Check that out. We have multiple free e-books that I've written for both families and veterans, as well as there are trainings and Facebook groups to be part of a community again for families and veterans separately, so that we can be part of the mission. Move this forward. Let's all join in and let's kick some butt with this. Be part of our community. With that said, joseph, shall we dive into BS? Let's go. One of my favorite subjects is BS. I just got to say it Redefining beliefs. How would you define a belief system and why is it critical to reevaluate and rebuild, always during periods of reintegration or transition or something like?
Speaker 3:that. Sure, I like to work back to front. A system is something that, whether it is a program system or whatever, it is a set of behaviors, it is a set of physical things that we do and it's a set of. It's a syntax, in this case, a syntax of thought. A system is something that you have a system for tying your shoes, you have a system for driving your car. You do the same thing over and over again and, as a result, it becomes automatic with you.
Speaker 3:So a belief is nothing more than a feeling of certainty about something, and they can be conscious and unconscious, and they can be made to be unconscious. I'll give you an example. We all have a belief. Every single one of us has a belief, has a feeling of certainty that our feet are going to stay planted firm on the ground, that if we drop an ink pen, it's going to go down. We have a belief that gravity always works and it's not something we think about all the time. It's in there. Now. We had to learn that as children, as babies. We had to learn that when we fell over and things like that, and that programmed us, if you will, to have that belief, that we have that certainty about it.
Speaker 3:And so, when it comes down to the systems that are in us, we have ones that serve us and we have ones that don't serve us. We have, we have ones that cause us to move forward and we have ones that cause us to move backwards. And all of them, every single one of them, is powerful, and when they become unconscious, when that's when it becomes a belief, there's nothing we can do about it. It's just that we don't think it through, we don't go. Okay, I should do this. You never go. Okay, I can tie my shoe.
Speaker 3:It's just a feeling that we have, and it's the same with everything else in our lives. So when we have negative beliefs, that system goes in play over and over again and we do the same thing over and over again. And to answer your question, why it's so important to change those, it's important because if you want to go what that sign says there go further, faster in our lives. If we want to feel better, if we want to make more money, if we want to have better bodies, if we want to be happier, if we want to be healthier, whatever it is, then a great deal of time, if not all the time. We need to change our belief systems about what keep us in place from not having those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and I love that. And let me go a little further with you with that, of course, because I think it's, you know, important. You know, you know we have, we have a table and we have beliefs. Right, here's our belief and we have our support system. Like, like Joseph was saying, you know you have the legs of the table or chair changing your belief system, whether it be a enabling or disabling belief. You break that one of those out, remove one of those and you put an enabling belief in there and you have a couple of those. All of a sudden, your table's supported differently and your belief system starts to change about that event or that belief. Would you agree?
Speaker 3:with that. I would agree with you 100 percent. And I look at it a little bit different. I think that's that's spectacular. Look at it a little bit different. And that is what does the table stand on? The table stands on us on a solid floor, and so all of these legs that you're talking about, those that you're talking about that support that table. Those are important to keep that table, you know, stable, level or whatever.
Speaker 3:And the foundation that all of those beliefs sit on, the number one belief that we have that affects everything. The foundation is the belief that we have about ourselves. That is our psychology, our psychology. And so whenever I approach anything you've been around me for a long time, You're a neuro encoding specialist yourself you know that the one thing that we go after is find out what people want, find out what they believe and find out what they, and in that conversation they're going to somehow reveal how they feel about themselves. And then then we can go in there and help them change that. And especially in the work that you do, you know people have. They come back with a belief about themselves and, by the way, that can change through times. They can change through a significant emotional event, and if that can change for the negative, it can also change for the positive and we can deliberately do that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and you know you talk about that. I love the foundation that you talked about as well. Thank you for making that point. You know, I love the foundation that you talked about as well. Thank you for making that point. You know, when we have that belief system and again, we're veterans, you know, are conditioned to go and do things, whether that be action, you know, combat, or just security, or whatever the case may be, they're conditioned, you know very well. Well, guess what? You can also condition yourself when you reintegrate into society and civilian life again, and by redefining those beliefs and so on, would you?
Speaker 3:talk about that for a minute. Yeah, absolutely. First off, that's a very, very good point, because that the military does that. It's indoctrinating you into having a belief that you do what you're told. And this means this, that means that and you rehearse over and over again, which is the simplest way of creating a belief. You do something over and over again until it bleeds into your nervous system, your unconscious mind. It becomes who you are.
Speaker 3:The challenge is that they're like you said. We can change that leave military duty. There's very little, if anything at all, most of the time nothing at all that is done to, let's just say, decommission those beliefs that you have. And so when we come back into society, we still have those beliefs underneath. And the challenge is life out there in the real world does not A require those types of beliefs and, as a matter of fact, they conflict with those beliefs as well.
Speaker 3:And I'll give you an example my dad I'll never forget this. My dad served in the Vietnam War and he was there for two years and it was at the. Unfortunately, I had to change my beliefs about this animosity and resentment for the armed forces for a while, because my father spent served 26 years in the Air Force and his last two years they sent him to Vietnam. He was in his 40s and Vietnam, you know he was close to retirement and that was a I'm not going to say a young man's war, but you know, most of his constituents, people that were around him, were in their 20s and they were younger and he was a I'm not going to say a young man's war, but most of his constituents, people that were around him, were in their 20s and they were younger and he was there and he was bitter about it, quite honestly, and when he came back he had also been conditioned to.
Speaker 3:When you're in a battle situation, there's certain things that you do, and we lived in a place called Lancaster, california, which was only about 20 miles from Edwards Air Force Base, and Edwards Air Force Base was where they tested all of the experimental airplanes and things like that, and there was always planes taking off and I grew up and so did he raising us. I grew up in every Air Force base that we went to to sonic, sonic booms, and sonic booms were. You know, when an airplane breaks a sound barrier, there's a boom, boom out there, and so we're used to them. And the day we picked my father up from the airport. I'll never forget this.
Speaker 3:My family had three sisters, my mom and myself and my dad, and we're all. We picked my dad up from the Air Force. We all you know, are from the airport and we're all hugging him and everything we get in the car we drive home. We're walking up the walkway to the house, all of us, the whole family, and there was a sonic boom and my dad, without hesitation, took us all out, knocked all of us to the ground, the whole family. My mom was pissed, but sisters were crying.
Speaker 3:All of us were scared and my dad was crying and the reason he was was because when an explosion happens, you hit the deck and you take everybody down, and he was saving his family because he was conditioned which is, by the way, that is a trigger to a belief that he has that when something that happens, it's danger and everything.
Speaker 3:And he was. He was mortified that he did this with his family because it didn't. He didn't, you know, gently push us over. He took us all out and he explained later that, you know, through his tears, it was only the only one of two times I've ever seen my dad cry that he realized that he'd hurt his family. One of two times I'd ever seen my dad cry that he realized that he'd hurt his family and he also realized that he was hurting inside, that he was conditioned in a way and he was resentful for that and everything and there was nothing that was ever done to rid him of that and he spent, you know, a long time until I was able to help him years later to help him mitigate that.
Speaker 2:I was going to say I know a guy yeah, I was going to say I know a guy yeah, that's fantastic and it's overseen, because a lot of veterans and I won't spend a lot of time on this they don't realize the conditioning is still there until later on when it really rears its head. And I want to say something. It may have seemed at the time horrific all those things, but if your dad didn't have that experience he may not have changed and gotten some help. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Oh no, doubt, no doubt, no doubt. And unfortunately and I love my dad unfortunately, the help that he got first was drinking alcohol and that, by the way, as you know, I'm preaching to the choir on this a lot of people, that's how they cope with what they don't even know is inside. It's just that feeling. It's like I don't fit or something's going wrong here and everything. Drug abuse, alcohol abuse, you know, any kind of addiction that is going to immediately take them out of that pain that they don't even know that they're feeling. That's what they lean towards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And you know that's the downward spiral, right Is, you're not dealing with that emotion, you're not dealing with that concern, issue, challenge, let's call it, and the downward spiral happens. And then usually it's isolation and unfortunately that's why the suicide rate is so high. The numbers's, the numbers are staggering. I won't get into it right now, but the numbers are staggering. So you know, I always say everybody you go to the military or you're even starting to have that reintegration process, reach out, start a plan. You know, start creating that plan so you aren't going into solitude. You do have people around you, a support system, a plan for your future. Find that fulfillment so you can move forward in the right ways coming out. And you know Tina Parker, I know, you know Tina Parker, she's a great friend of mine as well. You know she's one of the first people that said man, if I had a plan coming out, everything would have been different.
Speaker 3:No doubt, and that is why and why I admire you so much, michael that blue QR code up in the upper left hand corner. That is a way to be part of a community of people that are like minded and people that have gone through things like that, because people can help each other. Sometimes it's just like, oh, I'm not alone, this person is going through it as well. So you know, that means that I'm not alone and I can get some help and together we can do something together, because that's the other thing In the military. You know you're with a group of guys and group of women. That is your tribe, that is the people that you're with, and then when you leave that you're all alone. You're without that tribe, you're without people that are like you, that have the same types of experiences and that can weigh on you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that is one of the things that I see. One of the main things is there's five or six patterns that you see. Stories are different, patterns are very similar. That I've seen from everybody that I've talked to and worked with. When you get out, if you don't have that tribe because a lot of people know someone's last name or call signs or whatever the case may be and this was very big in the Vietnam era that they got out and they had no connection with these people anymore absolutely and then you're trying to reintegrate and you know your family is grown and changed and different, just like you are, and finding that skill set for communication, slowing things down and putting intent on on reintegrating in the right ways was was lost. It still is. That's why I'm so passionate about what I do.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And we've talked about the Vietnam War. Well, there have been other wars. There's the Iraq War, all the things that are going on as well, and as well even people that don't go to war, the military itself is still designed to indoctrinate you. Indoctrinate you to follow orders, to not think outside the box, Just do what you're told, and all those things and that messes with people. I worked with somebody a while ago who was an artist, like myself, and in the military. They had a tough time in the military because they were an artist, and then, when they got out of the military, they had this dual thing going on. It's like I've got to follow orders. I got to do this, but I also want to be a musician, I also want to be an artist, I also want to do these things.
Speaker 3:And that conflict, that inner conflict, causes that person to not know which way to go and feel empty. And I hear people say this all the time. My son actually asked me about it. His girlfriend said something about it. I just want to feel something. Well, when people say that, the truth of the matter is, what they really mean is they don't want to feel how they are feeling, they want to feel better, that I just need to feel something and I will say that we never stop feeling something.
Speaker 3:And to get people clear on the feelings that they're having are fueled by their beliefs, by their beliefs about who they are, what they're capable of, their self-worth, all of those things. You know me, the definition of one's psychology are these three things. Number one the conscious and especially unconscious thoughts slash beliefs that we have about ourselves first. Secondly, our beliefs that we have about other people and then, thirdly, our beliefs about we have about our environment or the world around us. That's what constitutes our psychology. And the number one thing which affects all the others and everything else around us how we feel about ourselves.
Speaker 3:Am I a good person? Am I a bad person? You know? Am I worthy, am I capable? Am I stupid? Am I smart? Am I too black? Am I too white? You know all this stuff. It can be maddening If you even think about it.
Speaker 3:You know, here you and I are talking about this and we're kind of exposing that and getting people to go, but we don't sit down and go. Am I this, am I that? It's just this system that's going through our heads all the time and that's just how we are, and then that system makes us go either into our sympathetic nervous system, which is fight or flight, and or a parasympathetic nervous system, which is chill. And guess which one we're going to go to readily. We go to our fight or flight when danger shows up or something doesn't feel good. But fight or flight is only designed to get us off the dime, it's not designed to keep us there, and so what we do is, when that shows up any kind of uncomfortableness or anything, our nervous system goes well, we got to get out of here, let's find something else, and then we immediately, or very quickly, will move to something that makes us feel better, even if that something that makes us feel better harms us in the long run.
Speaker 3:You know somebody that smokes weed or drinks alcohol excessively, or something like that. They're smart enough to know that this isn't good for me. They're smart enough to know that in the long run this is going to hurt me, but in the short run it gets us out of that pain. And that's where a lot of people do that seesaw back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. They wake up and they feel terrible. I didn't do this, or I did this or I did this and everything, and they don't do anything about that feeling in the moment, the moment, so they resort to doing something that doesn't serve them. Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:And you know, I think I like to talk about limitations because that kind of brings us right into that right. So you know, what would you say? Limitate? Let's talk about again more specifically for beliefs, right, limitations with beliefs. So how do you know that you're having these limitations and you're in I call it the spin cycle, where you're just, your mind is just going. What are some thoughts on that? And, of course, we want to move forward, but that's what we're about is how do you get out of that? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Awareness is always the first step. Matter of fact if you're listening, write that down. Awareness is always the first step. Matter of fact if you're listening, write that down. Awareness is always the first step. Aware of what, Aware of how you feel, because that is the telltale sign that something is good and doesn't need to change, or something needs to change, If at any time in your day, and as neuroencoders, we have processes to help people do that.
Speaker 3:And I would say that one of the things that I would suggest to anybody listening right now first off, seek this man out, Hit that QR code, Seek him out and find him, because he's got so many processes and so many things, and that's the answer. By the way, it's process over knowledge. You can know something, but if you don't do something about it, nothing's going to change, and he's going to help you do something about it. And so one of the things I always suggest to people is to observe you, Even if it's just for an hour or a half hour. Observe you. Observe how you feel about things, how you're going through the day. Are you going through the day like? Are you going through the day like, what about this? Any pain?
Speaker 3:And when I say pain, I mean emotional pain. Even as simple as uncomfortableness is a signal. We call it an action signal to do something about that pain. And again, without going into it and Michael is an absolute expert in helping you do something about that feeling and not just push it under the rug, because that's what drug abuse or alcohol or anything I know I keep coming back to that, but it can be anything, anything that is not serving you, that takes you away from that. That's what it's designed to do, is to get you out of that pain. So instead, oftentimes and it's not about just stay in that pain it's observed that that pain is there.
Speaker 3:And when I say pain, I mean emotional pain. It doesn't feel good, I feel uncomfortable, I'm embarrassed, I'm whatever, I'm even shyness, things like that. Right, I'm unwilling to do that and you're suffering from you know, we'll go into it in a minute the toxic 10, the things that hold us back in our lives, Observe that and go oh, isn't that interesting, Isn't that interesting that I feel that? And then, from there, now you're aware that that is there and then you can do something about it, Then you can approach it in a way that you can not only squash it but replace it with something that is preferred. That's the whole. Foundation of neuroencoding is to program oneself so that we automatically default to our chosen best beliefs and behaviors. And when that happens, it starts to be automatic so that when something shows up, consciously or unconsciously, we automatically default to what I call optimism Right.
Speaker 2:I absolutely love that and you know so many people don't realize that there are these skill sets, techniques, tricks, hacks whatever you want to call them nowadays that can help, and you're not going to go and do it one time. You know you're not going to go and walk into the gym and come out looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know it's just not going to happen. So you know there is the skills, or the techniques are again. Joseph is so well known for assassinating complexity. Thank you, sir. But when you can assassinate complexity and you can do something simple, the only hard part is being courageous enough to take that action and do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 2:Yeah enough, courageous enough to take that action and do it. Yeah, I would agree. Yeah, and the last what have I been? I've been playing with you, joseph, for you know, a year and a half, two years now, right, and I mean there are so many changes in my life where something is just, oh man, I can't do that. I would have said years ago, right, or yeah, I'm too old, or all these things right. And by doing these exercises and so forth, literally you can make changes like that and you can make processional changes as well.
Speaker 3:I look at it like this If you work on one thing, it's like that. I saw a great video the other day, michael. That was spectacular, and the video was this guy. He had dominoes and the first one was only this big and the second one was like this big and they were made of stone, you know, or something very, very heavy. And the next one was this big and it got down to the last one was like six feet tall and like this wide and it was huge. And then he said watch this. And he tipped the very first little one and it knocked over the bigger one, knocked over the bigger, bigger, bigger one, until finally the one that was, and it had to weigh, I'm sure, six, 700 pounds. When he hit that one, that one knocked over. And I look at it that's the way that it is.
Speaker 3:When you work on your beliefs, your unresourceful behaviors and all those things, you notice them what they are. That's the little one. You don't have to feel this big, you know, huge, unattainable and daunting thing. You work on the little one as it begins and it has the effect on doing this one, this one, this one and it has the genuine effect of affecting how you go through lives. You're underlying your foundation of how you go through your lives and you become and I'll elaborate on this a little bit what I call optimistic. Optimistic doesn't mean that every just mean that every cloud has a silver lining and every glass is half full. Optimism around here means options, that you see more options.
Speaker 3:In that moment you go, oh, I could do this. I could do that. When danger or frustration or any of the toxic 10 show up in your life, it causes you to go oh, wait a minute. Oh, I caught myself. I'm doing that, I could do this. I could do this Because we, in 99% of the time, we have a plethora more options good options and better options than the ones that are sitting in front of us that are challenging us. Said differently, when we are in our sympathetic nervous system fight or flight you got two options fight or get the hell out of there. But when you are able to shift that make it automatically become optimistic, you can go. I can do this, I could do this. I have done this before. I've done this. I could do this. I could do this. Somebody else did this no longer your brain and your body is not flooded with cortisol and the adrenalins and all those things that keep us in that unresourceful state and keep us feeling like we're fighting or running away.
Speaker 3:We now have dopamine, oxytocin and all the things that make us feel good going through our system. Endorphins make us feel good and we go, oh, I could do this, and we tend to move in that direction. It feels better and here's the greatest part about it go oh, I could do this, and we tend to move in that direction. It feels better. And here's the greatest part about it, michael, is that once we do it and, as you know, and we acknowledge ourselves and reward ourselves for having done something different and taken ourselves out of being unresourceful, the nervous system says, hey, let's do it again next time. So it's that domino effect again. It's funny you brought that up.
Speaker 2:I literally just watched that video and it was absolutely fantastic Because this thing literally, guys, it's this small compared to you know, six feet tall and 1,200 pounds, or whatever it was, you know. But when you start that momentum, it's amazing what can happen.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:If we can I was giggling dying back here because I just watched that video. We can. Just, I was giggling dying back here because I just watched that video. Um, so can we talk about, uh, just really quick, uh, finding your success, patterns or your success um, I want to say patterns, um, because again I'm big on patterns. So finding it. And then, you know, I think we have to end off on celebration, don't we, joseph?
Speaker 3:It's always end on celebration, you know me. So, yeah, there's a few simple processes that you can do. I'll share with everybody one that you can do to do what you just said there, Michael, and that is to find your, let's just say, empowering or your beliefs that serve you, and that is this. Now, this is from the Bible as ye seek, so shall ye find, and I am not going to claim that I improved the Bible. I am, however, going to say that I added something to it that, let's just say, helps you go further, faster, and that is this as he seeks, so shall he find. That's obvious.
Speaker 3:If you go looking for your car keys, you're going to find them. Nine times out of 10, you're going to find them. The journey in which you're looking for them we're not going to find them Nine times out of 10, you're going to find them. The journey in which you're looking for them we're not going to go into that right now is to remember, to reconnect your unconscious to your conscious, Because when you find them, what do you always do? You go oh, okay, that's where they were. Of course, that's where they were.
Speaker 3:And in that moment you've got that connection, okay, and the process of looking for something. My personal belief is and this is what I've added to it as he seeks, so shall out there that is always there is going to make itself more prominent. It's going to make itself known in terms of your beliefs. So if you're looking for the great things about you and I'll give everybody a really quick exercise to do that If you're looking for the things that you've been successful at before, then guess what. You will continue to look for them and those things will find you in your brain. So the exercise I like to give everybody is this Just do this for five minutes every day for 10 days and it'll blow you away. And that is to get out a journal and just list any and everything that you are successful at.
Speaker 3:Michael, you said it Simplicity is the key. You know we call it assassinating complexity. Complex things make people go into fight or flight and overwhelm and things like that, and they don't do it. But if you make it simple, then everybody can do it. So you don't have to understand how this works. Just do it, look. And, by the way, most people write down. Okay, I graduated from high school. I, you know, I bought a car, I won this, I won that, and you'll run out of stuff very, very quickly if you're only looking at the fantastic stuff.
Speaker 3:I didn't say just. I didn't say look at all the great stuff. I said look at any and everything you've ever accomplished. You tied your shoes this morning, you brushed your teeth, you took your shoes out, because what that's doing is causing your brain to look for what's great about you.
Speaker 3:Look for what you've accomplished and then, when you're done and I will segue into and out of celebration for a second so we can end on that when you're done, celebrate, give yourself some sort of credit, pat yourself on the back or whatever to teach your nervous system to go oh, let's do that again. And then guess what happens, even when you stop I just said for five minutes. When you stop, I just said for five minutes when you stop your brain is gonna keep on looking for it and it's gonna start showing up. It's looking for you. You've got a lifetime of good deeds, you've got a lifetime of successes and unfortunately, our belief systems encase us to make us only look at the bad things Not only, but for the most part and we forget about those things. You'll be amazed at how many things you'll come up with. That alone is going to start to program you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fantastic, absolutely. So just we're at the end of the show. My dear friend, thank you, you know, for being here. Of course I know you have some some A factor going on and some other things. How do people reach out to you and get involved?
Speaker 3:in neuron coding and that kind of thing. Yeah, there's two ways. You can go to my website, which is my name, josephmcclintoncom, and then on there there's several different things that you can look into and different things that we gifts that we have for you and things like that, and or you can go to neuroencodingcom. Neuroencoding is all one word N-E-U-R-O-E-N-C-O-D-I-N-G, and you can also find me on Instagram, which is I am and my name, joseph McClendon. I'm all over the place, I'm everywhere you are. You're international, my friend, that's for sure we do. I don't know when this is going to air, but, yeah, if you go online, you'll find out the events that we have. We have an A factor which is the abundance factor, and then we have tomorrow, which I don't know, I'm sorry, this weekend we have something called impact, which we're going to teach you how to, not just as a speaker, but how to impact people that are around you in a way that causes them to to default to their to their best as well, my friend, it's airing.
Speaker 3:Now we're live. Oh, we are. Well, I didn't know. All right, well then is it saturday? Yeah, saturday, we've got an event. Go to my instagram. I am joseph mcclendon, uh, and I click on the profile and you'll see it right there. It's going to be again. It's not just about, uh, you know, you being a speaker. It is about you being able to impact people on your friends, your family people impact them in a way that causes them to move in the direction that they want to, and that, you, being a speaker. It is about you being able to impact people around your friends, your family people impact them in a way that causes them to move in the direction that they want to and that you want to help them move in that direction as well.
Speaker 2:And I know you and we work on ourselves before we work with other people generally, and I know how important that is, and we don't teach theory right. I mean, all the things that I teach and you teach you do we do right. So you not only can impact other people, but you can start with yourself, which is fantastic.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much and I do want to just touch lightly in these last couple seconds that we said we were going to do it and I touched on it a little bit. Celebration, celebrate yourself. Celebrate how amazing you are. Celebrate any and everything that you do. I don't care when you poop today, turn around and go. I did that. That was me patting myself and it sounds silly, but it starts to teach you, it starts to build a belief system in you that you're amazing. Become your own best raving fan. Amen.
Speaker 2:I Amen, I love that. Can I just say? You know, when you celebrate and it feels goofy, smile and giggle about it and laugh about it. It literally helps it sink in even faster and you're having fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's science. It's not just silly stuff, it's science. The brain releases endorphins, dopamine and oxytocins, which is the feel good juices, and your brain is always going to go what just happened before? I got these feel-good juices? Oh, I did this, this, this and this, and it wants to do it again.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. With that said, my friend, can you give us three tips to get better into their families, further, faster?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. Number one appreciate yourself. Just like I said before, appreciate yourself. Number two appreciate those that are around you others. Be kind and do everything that you can. Appreciate any and everybody that's in your life, even the ones that are, let's just say, a little bit flaky. They're there for a reason. Appreciate them.
Speaker 3:Number three is make a ritual of gratefulness Every morning when you wake up. Take just a few minutes and just in your brain, go through your brain, because, remember, the brain learns through repetition. Go through your brain and go. Okay, what am I grateful for? I'm grateful that I'm still on this side of the dirt. I'm grateful for this that happened there. I'm grateful for my wife, my kids, my husband, anything like that. These are things that remember. I call it human physics the more we anything that a human being does over and over again, they get better at it, and so when you do those three things, you're going to get better at them. Your brain is going to continue to do that. It's the little domino that hits. The next one, the next and next one makes it bigger and bigger.
Speaker 2:Absolutely love it, joseph. I just want to say, just before we go here, thank you. Time is the most precious resource we have as human beings. We don't get it back. Thank you again for coming on here and spending some of your life with us, spreading amazing information and continuing that ripple effect that, if we keep going, we'll create waves. I just want to thank you for that.
Speaker 3:It is my pleasure, my friend 100 episodes.
Speaker 2:Holy crap, really. Yeah, the last thing, joseph I love being part of your tribe, joining the Neuron Coding Institute and becoming a dual elite. You know, certified neuron coding specialist, and it's changed my life, the people around me, you know, at 51 years old, I said what do I want to be when I grow up? I like that. And here we are. So you know, dreams do come true. I've got this man on my show twice. The podcast is over 95,000 downloads at this point.
Speaker 3:Wow, spectacular.
Speaker 2:Dreams come true. So just take a little bit of an action every day. Consistency, like Joseph, preaches and says all the time yeah, I learned. Well for you, my friend. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3:My pleasure, my friend.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:And on that note, we're out of here. Thank you for joining us on another insightful journey of your Thoughts your Reality podcast, with your host, michael Cole. We hope the conversation sparked some thoughts that resonate with you. To dive deeper into empowering your thoughts and enhancing your reality, visit empowerperformancestrategiescom. Remember your thoughts shape your reality, so make them count. Until next time, stay inspired and keep creating the reality you desire. Catch you on the next episode.