The Arise with Anita Podcast

From Weatherman to Warrior: Jared Sebesta's Journey to Alignment

• Anita Karadalian-Girgis Mindset Transformation Coach & Breathwork Guide

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What if the nagging feeling that you're meant for more isn't anxiety—but your soul crying out for alignment?

Jared Sebesta had it all by conventional standards: a 12-year career as a successful TV weatherman, followed by an impressive role in the financial industry. Yet despite the external validation, he found himself pacing his house at night, unable to articulate the profound disconnection he felt. It wasn't about money or status—it was about alignment.

In this deeply vulnerable conversation, Jared shares the pivotal moment when he declared "I'm done playing defense" and how that simple shift transformed everything. With remarkable candor, he reveals the counterintuitive actions he took after leaving his career—writing four and five-figure checks for coaching and development when most would've retreated into saving mode. "Those seeds don't come to fruition right away," he explains. "That's where most people don't take it to the next level, because fear overcomes them before the fruit gets harvested."

We explore the profound mindset shifts that enabled Jared's transformation, particularly moving from scarcity to abundance. His daily affirmation "I lack nothing" helped him navigate not only his career transition but also profound personal losses, including the deaths of his mother and brother within three months. Rather than seeing these challenges as setbacks, Jared views them as divinely orchestrated opportunities for breakthrough.

For anyone feeling stuck in a "life deferred" pattern always waiting for someday—this episode offers both compassionate understanding and a practical roadmap forward. As Jared powerfully states, "The truth is, you have no lack. There is infinite pie for everybody." The question isn't whether you have what it takes, but whether you have the audacity to step into alignment now.

Ready to stop waiting and start becoming? This conversation might be the permission slip you've been waiting for. Stop waiting for someday and start making bold, purpose-driven moves... Today. 

To connect with Jerrid: 

Website: https://www.jerridsebesta.com/

Follow Jerrid on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/jerridsebesta/

Connect with Jerrid on Linkdln: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerridsebesta/

Listen to his podcast The Breakthrough Effect:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-breakthrough-effect/id1807211899 

Get his book on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Life-Undeferred-Already-Discover-Exciting-ebook/dp/B0DMWDCWV4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1A6FC9G0XL56I&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.lezzWh_9ORD0Qw7DeEzkTg.izhJNBpFk69Ewku9HsC-hn-bzM4Vod8NXLnlg07uyIo&dib_tag=se&keywords=life+undeferred+book+jerrid+sebesta&qid=1754438674&sprefix=jerrid+s%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1




If you felt something shift inside you today… hold that. Honor it.

This is how we rise — one choice, one voice, one brave breath at a time.

If you’re ready to go deeper, download your free ARISE Activation Workbook at www.arisewithanita.com

And if this message landed in your soul, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a woman who’s done playing small.

Because we don’t just rise alone — we rise together.

I’ll see you in the next episode. And until then… stay rising.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Rise With Anita podcast, the space where soul meets strategy and dreams are no longer optional. I'm your host, anita Kurdayan-Gurgis, a transformational mindset coach and founder of the HER Method. This show is for the woman who knows she's meant for more, who feels the call to rise higher but sometimes feels trapped by her old stories, patterns or circumstances. Here we don't just talk about growth, we embody it. We activate the woman inside of you who leads, who creates, who claims her next level. You'll hear a mix of soul episodes from me and interviews with soul-driven leaders, the best in their fields, who live what they teach and rise by example. Each conversation is a catalyst for your next breakthrough. You're not broken. You're breaking through. Let's go ahead and rise together.

Speaker 2:

All right, welcome back to the Rise of the Needed podcast. Today, I have a very special treat with me. We have Jeris Mestep, who is a keynote speaker, bestselling author and founder of the like Undeferred brand, a transformational platform that empowers high achievers to stop waiting for Sunday and start making bold, purpose-driven moves. For over a decade, jared thrived as a public meteorologist. Behind the camera, he felt disconnected, successful by the world's standards, yet unfulfilled on a soul level. So he took the courageous leap, leaving his career with no backup plan, and started to choose alignment over applause. That decision became the foundation for a life undeferred and the catalyst for helping others step into their next level life For clarity, courage and conviction.

Speaker 2:

I had the honor of meeting Jared and witnessing him in action last month in New York City at the CLS Experience, and I knew his message was one I needed to hear. So when we first connected over there, I realized we had something deeply personal, which was the fact that we were both raised by single moms, an identity that has shaped our emotional impact, basically making us practical psychologists from a very young age, growing and how we lead. So Jared is now the host of the Breakthroughs Effect, a passionate voice for fearless leading and, most importantly, a loving husband and devoted father. His mission is bold and deeply human helping others live their life. They know they're meant to Welcome. Jared, I'm so honored to have you on this podcast.

Speaker 3:

Honored myself. Thanks for the introduction. Great to be here.

Speaker 2:

So, before we dive in, I always start off with what is bringing you joy in this moment.

Speaker 3:

What's bringing me joy? Well, for those of you watching this, it's actually summer here in Minnesota, so I'm coming to you, live from rural Minnesota, where the weather is not great about nine months out of the year, and so we're in that slim window of time where the weather's nice. I'm a fair weather guy and so I'm excited about that, and 2025 has been an incredible year. Family's, healthy, I have some incredible things happening, but also some very, very difficult things happening at the same time, and I think that that's what makes life so rich. So, besides that and the beautiful weather, I got a lot of things I'm excited for today.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful. So let's just dive right in. You've not only left one really extensive career, but two. So what was the internal shift that led you to walk away from two successful careers within the TV and financial industry?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, great question. If I have to articulate it, I probably wouldn't have been able to articulate it at the time, especially my TV career. By the way, I worked in television. I was a TV weatherman. I don't know how many TV weathermen you have on this show typically, but I was a TV weatherman for 12 years, worked in three markets, climbed the ladder, was able to make a very successful stab at it for 12 years.

Speaker 3:

But as my TV career grew I felt like it was taking me away from the things I really wanted. I had been married for, you know, a couple of years. At the time. We had a couple of kids and growing family and my wife and I are small town Minnesota kids and to have a to keep climbing the ranks in TV it's, you know, you're going to live in a big city and there are no, there's no normal schedule in TV. It's either like death, morning, overnights, late evenings, weekends, holidays or all the above. And in my heart of hearts I was a business owner, I'm an entrepreneur and we don't like being tied down, and so TV kind of ran the show. It treated me very well. It gave me a plethora of amazing opportunities. I love that I can say that I was a TV weatherman, but it really wasn't fitting where I felt I was being taken and where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do with my life. I transitioned into the financial world. Same thing, great job. Applied my skills, I was able to do business development, utilize my media background to help grow, at the time, a fairly small retirement planning firm into a very large one.

Speaker 3:

And but then, you know, coming out of COVID probably a midlife crisis a little bit, you know, being stuck in old mindsets for decades. What's that? Oh wait, that's exactly right, something does happen when you get into your forties. You know, certainly there's, there's something that happens in your soul. And so you had kind of the perfect storm of like, no, it is time for me to step into who I am Now.

Speaker 3:

I didn't say that at the time when I kind of planted my flagpole in the sand, but I knew something had to shift. And as I started to radically pursue that, the alignment, or I should say the disalignment, between where I was morphing into and my job which, by the way, it was a great job it treated me very well Again, no disrespect to either of my employers and either of my careers. But it was pretty much right here, like it was steadfast and I was growing and expanding and as time went up, there was the separation, and so walking away from my second career was much more. I was much more driven, I was much more focused. This wasn't me stepping away from a career, it was stepping into who I am, and so I use this word, alignment, a lot.

Speaker 3:

I was disaligned. To answer your question plain, it was because of disalignment, and so I love that word, because now I feel like what I am doing and who I'm becoming is now aligned and it's so fun and scary and amazing and scares the crap out of you and it's all of it. But this is the game that I've chosen. And so what am I going to do? Go back?

Speaker 2:

No.

Speaker 3:

Right. And again, that's not that's no disrespect to my employer, but once you've tasted a taste of who you are and what comes of that. And again, it's not just about money, but the truth is that I'm making more money than I was making in any of my careers easily, and so that's coming as a result of alignment. That's coming as a result of stepping into and was there fear and jumps and leaps and double downs and investments All of them but that's what creates that life and alignment that I think so many people are looking for.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful. So, leading to the period of career is you completely changed your life and nutrition. So what would you say? The first few months post-reanimation?

Speaker 3:

The first few months after I quit my job. Well, the first thing I did and a lot of people when they quit a W-2 job, especially, like for me I was 45 years old at the time, had four kids, one income family, and so when I quit my job, a lot of people they'll immediately go into like survival mode, where now they start reclusing, where now they actually hold on tighter. And for me, I just immediately like I had kind of gotten the mindset. By the way, I'm a guy this is true Three and a half years ago I wouldn't buy a $20 book. Like I never went to conferences and you laugh, that's true I would never like. If there was a coaching program out there or a community that was, you know, an app, if it was honestly like 50, a hundred dollars, I couldn't wrap my, I couldn't wrap my brain spending a hundred dollars a month on something that maybe helped me see something I didn't see. Right Now, I had overcome that by the time I quit my job, right, that's, by the way. That's how I got to the point where I did quit my job is because I was evolving in my mind, I was opening my mind to new ideas and I understood that like, for me to get there, I'm going to have to, like, invest in how I think, and so that's going to take me investing in other people, right?

Speaker 3:

So as soon as I quit my job, I started writing like four and five figure checks. I had just committed to writing a book a month prior. You know, I self-published the book and, uh, you know, but, dude, you want to self-publish a book. It costs money, by the way. Just newsflash, if anybody wants to write a book out there, this is like, unless you're getting a book deal which I didn't, at least not yet this costs you money. So I wrote a five-figure check like the week after I quit my job. I immediately doubled down on coaching. I immediately cranked that up. I was spending at that time four figures, like multiple four figures a month, coaching, consulting, feeding in. It seemed like every other Tuesday I always joke. It wasn't like a normal Tuesday unless I was writing like a $1,000 or $2,000 check. I was having to buy inventory for books. I was now an upcoming author, so I needed books on hand.

Speaker 3:

I did a big launch party here in rural Minnesota. I had $2,000 worth of books on the table. I had food. We threw a party. It was on my 46th birthday. I brought in a DJ, a smoke machine, photographer, photo wall. I mean, that party cost me 10 grand and this was all in self-employment world, right. But now I look back and I'm having a phenomenal 2025. It was because of all the energy input back there, right, like there's a lag. What people have to understand is like sometimes those seeds don't come to fruition right away. It's not a one-to-one ratio. You plant a seed, you eat the fruit the next day. It's coming, it is coming, but it might not be the next day, and that's, I think, where a lot of people don't take it to the next level, because they can't. The fear is too great to plant the seed and keep watering, and keep watering until that that seed actually produces a harvest. You know what I'm?

Speaker 2:

saying Absolutely. I think that's actually the phase I'm in. I've planted a lot of seeds but, I, have not yet seen that uptick, and so you get that outside appearance. What are you doing? And it's just like no, I know the vision, I know what I'm creating and it's being built. Trust me on that but right now it definitely looks crazier from the outside looking in.

Speaker 3:

By the way, sorry to interrupt, I had a lot of people being like what are you doing? But they didn't see what I saw right.

Speaker 2:

You didn't have your gossip. That's trap, kill.

Speaker 3:

Correct, and that's also too like that's. We do live in a cause and effect world. I mentioned this in my book. We live in a cause and effect world. You reap what you sow. When A happens, b happens. But we have this peculiar thing called time, and time smears reality, because time stretches out the point between cause and effect. That's where most people don't ever get to that next level, because the fear overcomes them before the fruit gets harvested and they continue to water it. You know what I'm saying? And so that's a lens, that's a set of glasses you've got to look at your life at in that way.

Speaker 2:

All right. So what would you say to people who feel like they have that nudge for more, but they're continuing to postpone the auction or, as you would have put it, continuing to live for a while?

Speaker 3:

Poof-da, or, as you would have put it, continuing to live for a while. Poofta, I go back all the time, in fact, people that have been with me on my journey for a long time. I'm like what is something I could have done or said to myself that would have gotten me to this point faster, myself, that would have gotten me to this point faster? And what I have landed on is that you have to be ready. There's an old adage that says when the student is ready, the teacher appears. The truth is is that there were teachers all around me. They were in my circles, the information was there. What's the problem? I wasn't ready. The heart was not fertile soil for that information, that energy to land on, so to speak. So what made me ready?

Speaker 3:

I talk about in the first chapter of my book. I call it the flight pull moment. It happened right on a road For those of you not watching this but listening, I'm pointing but there's a little road right down from where I'm sitting right now, from where I live in rural Minnesota, and I went on a walk with my wife on New Year's Day 2022, again coming out of COVID two very dark years for me Because, remember, I was playing defense my whole life. I was in a defensive posture and if you remember back then, everything that you heard, saw, smelled and tasted was all negative, and I was that was love.

Speaker 3:

All of it, my whole mental real estate was just tied up in the negative. And I was 43 at the time. I was capped in my career, I was capped in my income and I made a decision on that road. No kidding, I said to my wife I'm done playing defense. This is what I said. I didn't know exactly what I was articulating at the time, but I said I'm done playing defense, I'm ready to play offense.

Speaker 3:

And what was interesting back then, I was on Facebook. I've had my identity stolen since then, so I'm not on Facebook anymore. I can't, they won't let me back on, but I follow people on Facebook. 99% of people on Facebook were talking about all the BS. It was all negative, low frequency BS, political talk, arguing, all the talk, vaccines, masks, the whole. Everything that we hated arguing about was everything back then. But what I noticed, there was like 1% of people that were talking about growth, opportunity, business expansion and no kidding, anita, I said to my wife on that walk I go whatever the crap they're doing or whatever they're thinking. I need to figure this. I need to think the way they think, whatever they're doing. That's what I want to do and this is a true story. There was only one guy in my circle that thought like that Many of them were like other influencers and I had no access to them, right?

Speaker 3:

But there was one guy. His name's Tim and he's a business owner. He's from my hometown and he spoke a different language. And I reached out to Tim like that day and I was like dude, if you give me a half hour in the fall, I'd love to just like chat. And sure enough, he took me up on the offer. We chatted the next day, which was like January 2nd 2022. And he started recommending books and he started. He was the first person to show me that there's a different way and that was kind of the beginning.

Speaker 3:

So, to answer your question, what should people do? You've got to decide, you have to decide. It's kind of like I'm older than you, but it's like our dads would always say you got to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. It's kind of a boomer statement. It's kind of true Like you have to decide, that you've had enough.

Speaker 3:

And when you decide, something in the spiritual happens, I believe, like, like there's a saying, too that says there's nothing more powerful than a person who's made up their mind. When you make up your mind, it's going to be different. You have decided which. By the way, the root word of decide is side C, I DI-D-E.

Speaker 3:

It means to kill, cut off and destroy. When you kill, cut off and destroy the old way of doing something, you then will become aligned in your heart, in your mind, in the spiritual, and then there will be some clarity. That will come once you take action. You have to start taking action. So you have to start with a decision and then you have to start dipping your toe in. And I would challenge you don't just dip your toe in, really try something, really believe it. Yeah, but it's not perfect and I don't know Exactly. You won't know because you're not an expanded enough version of yourself to understand what that thing is. But you will get there if you take the action. So all of that was introduction, to say you have to decide and then you have to take action on it.

Speaker 2:

I haven't even challenged full action Exactly. Whatever you think is not the thing you should do is the thing you should do, because I'm finding that, even with the way I'm growing up as podcasts, it's like the people I'm like, oh, shouldn't have done that. But when I do ask it, they're like, oh, yes, or I settle on that now, but a lot of times it's like yes, and had I not asked an answer? What of a no?

Speaker 3:

so it's like just take the bold action, even if it by comfortable just do do something again for me buying the book reaching out to the person going to the conference, buying the book reaching out to the person going to the conference just start saying yes. I was always a no person. I was going to win by not doing anything and not taking action. I was going to win by playing defense and I just told myself I'm going to start saying yes. And so I started saying yes in 2022. And I said yes to some dumb stuff. Dumb stuff. And you know what I learned from that. I started like signing up for like here's the thing. I'll just rewind the tape. You didn't ask me a question. I'm going to give you the. I just wanted to make money, cause I thought if I made money, like all my fears will go away. So I started signing up for programs that were not even in close to alignment to who I was. But I you know what I get, my. I give that guy a lot of credit. He started saying yes. He started shelling out money when he never did it before, to pursue something so he could become something different. It turned out those things were not it and, by the way, when you start taking action with things that are out of alignment, you won't get anywhere. It will be drudgery, there won't be alignment there. But that showed me that now, going into 2023, the year after I'm going to make some bold moves, I'm going to make some investments, I'm going to say yes, but I'm going to make sure that it's more in alignment. Well then, going into 2024, then it was like the clarity came right and now I'm taking action. Well then, here we are in 2025. Now there's not only alignment, but momentum. Well, it took that action back there that cost me money, or it kind of took me down a path.

Speaker 3:

By the way, stop worrying. Is it should I do this or should I do this? Pick one, pick one. And, by the way, you have the ability to decide which one's right. People live in this dichotomy. I could pursue this business or I could pursue this. Which one should I do? You've already created the mind space that one is right and one is wrong. They're both right, and they're right because you choose that it's correct, and whether it turns into a thriving career or something that you walk away from, do something and you pivot in three months, it doesn't matter, because you've assigned it value, that it is indeed the right decision. So get out of this mindset. I think a lot of people to your point. They don't make the move, they don't take that next step because they're sitting in the valley of decision trying to waffle around. Is it the right move? What should I do? It's too scary. Just pick one, but go into it, the mindset it is the right decision and you can always pivot. You can always pivot.

Speaker 2:

So what are some subtle signs that someone is not just being deferred, but they're also kind of you know they're deferring who they're becoming.

Speaker 3:

The essence of life undeferred is that we don't wait, we don't waste time. For 43 years, I felt like I deferred life right, like it was always. Someday, when you have this someday mentality, like you know, I'm going to do this and then in 2026, I'll do this, and I'm not suggesting you don't have goals and a vision, but, like when we're always deferring life, tears will be some signs. Every year will kind of look the same you know what I mean. Like it's kind of play repeat, like if you're honest, you're not that much different than you were last year. You should be unrecognizable year to year. You should almost be recognizable quarter to quarter. If you're really, if you're really growing and expanding, you are a much more evolved self than you were a quarter ago.

Speaker 3:

So do an inventory. Look at your life, look at how you think, look at the books you're reading, look at how you look at your life, your marriage, your job, your money, your aspirations, your abilities, and take some serious inventory. Are they pretty much where they were last year? If so, you're probably living life deferred. Here's another good one You're not failing but you're not striving, and that's kind of where you've been sitting and while your life isn't like floating in the gutter, and while your life isn't like floating in the gutter, you're also acutely aware that there's more and, if you're really honest with yourself, it bothers you a little bit.

Speaker 3:

What was really haunting me? Before I kind of reinvented myself, I would pace around my house I could not tell you how many nights I would lie awake not sleeping, pacing around the house trying to articulate to my wife what's really going on, and she's like so you're worried about money and I'm like it's not about money. You know what it was Alignment. It was my soul craving out for more. It wants more. That's what your soul has created. It's created to grow and expand and connect. My soul was craving more. I didn't know how to articulate it at the time, but again, to answer your question, how does somebody know if they're living life deferred? If you're really honest, your soul is crying for more and it will come out as discontentment, it will come out as anxiety, it will come off as antsiness, it'll come off as like I go to my job and you have to sell yourself on your own BS. You have to sell yourself. You know, I'm 46 years old, I'm making six figures. Yeah, it's not a perfect job.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

But we have to like sell ourselves on the idea of staying in it. If you ever have to sell yourself to stay in a mediocre situation, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding probably a pretty good sign.

Speaker 2:

I love that and I can totally relate to everything you were just saying. So to dive into the next one, you say we must shift from chasing success to becoming it. Can you unpack that for us?

Speaker 3:

It's one of my favorite words becoming right. We're not in the business of chasing shiny objects. Shiny objects don't bring us the fulfillment and the peace that we long for. Can we agree on that 100%? You know what does Becoming Right, and so when I was caught in defense and fear, lack and scarcity with this you know very limited mindset I just thought chasing a shiny object was going to be the thing, right. That's why. That's why I was like you know what's, what's the fastest way to get rich quick? Like, how can I learn some sort of skill just to make money? And A, it never come to. It never came to fruition because it was out of alignment. B. I think that that was actually God's mercy and compassion not letting that come to fruition because ultimately, the things don't make us happy. It's the evolution of our soul that makes us happy. So this idea of becoming is really what it's all about.

Speaker 3:

When I coach people, yeah, we talk about tactics and strategies, but really what I'm trying to make people do is to evolve into who they want to become. When I'm on stage, I'll share. From stage I'll say hey, you know what I know. I'm here to talk for an hour and I'm up here kind of dancing around. I'm entertaining and I'll tell jokes and I go. Here's a dirty little secret of what I'm trying to do I'm trying to get you to believe something about your life that you don't actually believe is true. Because if I can do that, I won't have to worry about what happens when we walk out of here, because you will see something that's true about yourself that you didn't see before, and then that will actually expand you into the next level. You will start to actually become who you were created to become.

Speaker 3:

That's our default setting. Our default setting is to be the person that we were created to be. Why don't we do that? Well, trauma lies, societal pressures, templates. We feel that we need to fit into right All of the above Things that we say to ourselves, right, and so how do we eliminate those things so we can then become the person we were destined to be? So, yeah, this whole idea of becoming is. It's very powerful to me and, again, if I've done anything right air quotes I've got out of my own way and very, very diligently, aggressively and intentionally tried to unwind this thing after 43 years of winding up, unwind it and actually learn what the truth is so then I can open up my soul into becoming who I was created to be.

Speaker 3:

What are we searching for? I think, if we're all honest, you know what we want. We want peace. That was the number one thing on my whiteboard the last two years of who do I want to become this year? I want to become a person of peace. Making more money doesn't necessarily bring you more peace. You know what brings you peace Alignment, becoming, stepping into I've now stepped into entrepreneurship full-time in the last calendar year. It's scary as hell because there's no guarantees, right, I've got to go kill it and drag it home. I don't eat. That's scary. Ironically ironically, even though there's all this uncertainty, air quotes, I actually have more peace now than I've ever experienced before. Not because my world is so safe, it's because I'm stepping into this idea of becoming so.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I love that word, man. I preach that word all the time. By the way, the phrase fake it till you make it. I don't care for that phrase, but I heard and I should be able to regurgitate who originally said it. I cannot think of the person's name, so I apologize if you're listening, but she said it in a TEDx talk. She said you fake it till you become it. I love that because can we say things about our life, can we do self-talk, meditations, prayers, disciplines that we really don't believe yet, but if we do them or say them enough, we actually embodiment. So again I tie that word becoming to the word embodiment. Who do you want to become? Start to embody that person now. Don't wait, don't defer. Become them now.

Speaker 2:

I love that. That's actually one of the pillars that's on her method that I call. That is the first herb is heal. Second part is embody, and then the third is finally rising to that next level. So I'm all about embodying, and how do we make that gap of who we want to be versus who we are now match. I love that. I love it. What role has pressure played for you in your own life and how do you now view it?

Speaker 3:

Pressure points Is that what you said? Pressure, pressure, oh gosh, what own life, and how do you now view it? Pressure points is that what you said? Pressure, oh gosh. You have like a love hate relationship with pressure, right. So again, if you're searching for safety, you'll never, you'll never seek out pressure, you'll hate pressure. And I'm learning, I'm training my body slowly, my mind and my body, my mind, my thoughts, my actions, my emotions, to actually like that. When I look at my calendar, I wake up and I look at what I got on the books for today. Hopefully I've got some things that are going to make me have to rise to the occasion. Right, and there's pressure there.

Speaker 3:

I do a lot of speaking and I teach public speaking. I teach technique. That's one of my offerings, just because I was coached so much as the talent. I was a TV weatherman, so I was talent, and so our stations would spend money and they would coach and consult us, and so I'm able to teach that to other people. Right, and people always ask me do you ever get nervous? You ever get nervous? I'm like I get nervous every single time. I don't care who I'm talking to, and they're like for real and I'm like well, I'm not nervous, but I feel the levity of the situation. You should be, you should be feeling that and I would. I would say often, like if you look at your schedule or you just do an inventory of your life in the last week, two weeks, and you haven't really been in a situation where you felt any real pressure, you are not pushing hard enough at all. Pressure really is that portal and I've been saying this jokingly, but I'm like it actually is true Like again, pre-reinvention, I wanted my emotions to be a zero out of 10.

Speaker 3:

I didn't ever want to spirit like I was raised in chaos and dysfunction and uncertainty. So I want, I want chill all the time. And now, if my emotions are like 50% excitement, because we should be excited about the things that we're working on, our collaborations, our projects, the work that we're doing, we should be excited. But there also should be like 50% like holy crap, what am I getting myself into? That's actually to me, that's the right ratio 50-50 excitement versus like oh crap, it's not friction, it's not stress, it's not stress, it is something different, it's something. That's something that, that feeling, I get in my chest, where I've got to rise to this occasion, so I have a love-hate relationship with it. I'm learning to love it, though.

Speaker 2:

He's a dying man, then what's the one core belief you have to break in order to be right when this person is lethal?

Speaker 3:

What's the current, what's the one core belief you're going to have to break in order to be right once this person is left? What's the current? What's the one thing I have to break?

Speaker 2:

No, what's one core belief you're going to have to break.

Speaker 3:

Had to break to rise to my next level.

Speaker 2:

Well, to this level.

Speaker 3:

To this level. Yep, I had to level. Yep, I had to. One of the. Remember when I like back in 2022, 2023, I was like starting to read books, one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors he's probably watching Garrett Gunderson. Garrett Gunderson wrote a number of books. He wrote a book called Killing Sacred Cows, and Killing Sacred Cows is a financial book. It's like here's like nine I think it's nine myths that people believe about money that are completely wrong. Now I read the books.

Speaker 3:

I found him intriguing Also too, by the way, I was working in the financial world at the time and the nine myths that he was busting were true. It was like it was everything that I was taught to believe about money. But in the very first chapter, he talks about lack and scarcity, and I had never I never heard that language before but his I think it's the. It's titled there's enough pie for everybody. I'm butchering that, but it's. I'm close. Basically, he's like we have to get out of this idea that there's only so much. Right. The truth is is that there's infinite. There is no lack for anybody. Everybody can have an infinite amount of pie if they want. If you're stuck in lack, there's only. Well, that's the way I'd live forever.

Speaker 3:

Right, I was a hoarder, like I don't mean like a literal hoarder like you watch on A&E, you know on that show but like I'd hoard money because I always lived in lack. Everything had a price tag. I hated spending money. I still do a little bit to this day, but a heck of a lot less than what I did before. I hated spending any money because if that money is gone, if that money is gone, it's gone and it cannot come back. So the biggest one for me that I had to break was that there's enough. I have no lack. By the way, if you happen to know my story, read my book.

Speaker 3:

Every morning I go for a morning gratitude walk, and there are four specific things that I say during my morning gratitude walk. One of the four is that I lack nothing. There's nothing I lack, and that postures me in a position where there is nothing but fullness, abundance and infinite resources for me to tap into at any given time, and the world is working for me, not against me. So that mindset, that shift, that this idea of like and, by the way, it still shows up Every once in a while I go through a season or a day or a moment, and that lack wants to bubble up and I have to remind myself there is no lack, I lack nothing and ironically, it's when I'm going through seasons of growth that I feel the most lack, which is ironic, you know.

Speaker 3:

We could dissect that. Why does that happen? But to answer your question, this idea there is no lack, there is infinite pie for everybody. I need to Google search the first chapter. We should do that really quick. What's chapter? What is chapter one called in Garrett Gunderson's book? It has something to do with pie and the fact that there's pi for everybody.

Speaker 2:

I will add it to the show. Put that in the show notes for everybody. Okay, but you work with a lot of pi achievers who feel misaligned. What would you say is an early sign of a burnout that you helped them identify.

Speaker 3:

A sign of burnout. They are spending their time with misaligned tasks. I got off the phone yesterday with a young lady. She is a holistic health coach. She is so smart and she is so burnt out and within a short amount of time on the phone we were able to really I was able to help her see something she already knew but re-energized her because she knows there's so much more and she wants to help the world in so many ways and she has the full ability to do it.

Speaker 3:

But she was spending so much time doing tasks and being a person or business that does not align with her highest self which, by the way, that's the fastest way to burn out. Spend a lot of time with misaligned tasks. By the way, that's why most people don't like their jobs because they're in a misaligned state. There's nothing wrong with the job. I'm not I'm never poo-pooing a W-2 job. What I poo-poo is a W-2 job that is not in alignment with who you are. Does that make sense? You're spending so much time, effort and energy and bandwidth on something that isn't alignment with your soul and or the growth and trajectory that you were destined to be on.

Speaker 3:

So it's pretty easy when you have a high achiever who should be like cranking, but they're stuck in here, okay. So how are you spending your time? Where's your bandwidth going? Where does your mind go? And, by the way, you probably know this, but as soon as a high achiever gets sucked down in these like lower frequency tasks that are misaligned, boom, your willpower and your desire goes out the window. The lack comes in. So then you're questioning yourself and your ego's flaring up. It's like the perfect storm. And it's no wonder. I mean, I have a very unscientific theory, but and again with all due respect, I think most people 90 plus percent of people they never reach even level two, forget level five and 10. They're just kind of. Again, they're not living bad lives, they're not hurting anybody, but there's so much more because we're just living a misaligned life. So high achievers that are burnt out, it's because they're misaligned.

Speaker 2:

I love how this conversation has literally gone into the direction of like your outcomes of how you're living your life, your outcomes of how you're living your life. We feel that dissatisfaction is from the lack of alignment, because I feel like so many times it's so easy to get the blinders on, especially not W2 life Not that I'm shitting on it, but like you get that blinders on of. Like this looks good on paper but my soul is really craving and crawling out for more. Why am I not living the way that I should be?

Speaker 2:

Why am I not challenged in the way that I should be?

Speaker 3:

So then, how do you to your question a couple of minutes ago. So then, how do you course correct, decide, take action, but warning, you better have the you know what's to handle, what you courage and desire and guts to do it. And that's what separates a lot of people. They don't have that fervor, the audacity to take that to the next level, even if they know that they're living in mediocre land, or life deferred mode as I would call it.

Speaker 2:

You've already touched on this, but after releasing your book and stepping into the more of a public eye, you experienced your identity death. How did that impact you, not just logisticallyistically but emotionally and spiritually, especially during such a defining moment in your groovy yeah, it sucked.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, was that you want more? Yeah, I mean, I I'll give you the cliff notes. But yeah, after launching my book, you know, had a massive wave of momentum online. By the way, I live online. I make my money by making connections online, you know. I mean, I have a virtual business, so I live online and had this massive wave of momentum after I launched my book, which was the point, and two weeks to the day later, I got my identity stolen and it was like the full-fledged, like 10 out of 10 type of identity theft.

Speaker 3:

You know, like social media accounts are hacked, identity money stolen, and it happened throughout the course of the day. I can honestly say and I'm not trying to over dramatize this probably one of the worst days of my life, because it was so. If you ever had your identity stolen, it's, it's demoralizing because you feel so gross, because you're stolen from people and there's nothing you can stop and your phone is dinging with alerts and you can't move as fast as what it's moving. So it was scary, spent pretty much the second half of that day canceling credit cards, bank accounts, putting a hold on my identity, and you know it was December and I live in Minnesota and it's dark, it's just physically dark in Minnesota and that was just such a dark period and certainly a dark day. I did not sleep at all that night, not that and, by the way, just newsflash. Everything has been recovered, except for my Facebook. I still can't find it. If you find it, let me know, because I still cannot find it. I think it's deleted. By the way, there is one of my accounts floating out there. That's not me, don't respond to that. But I did not sleep at all that night, pondering what am I going to do?

Speaker 3:

And a mutual friend of ours, craig Siegel. I got him on the phone that morning. He was the first person I talked to after kind of the dust settled and he just said this is going to be the best thing that ever happens to you and he said it with such conviction. Some coaches and people they're like what do I got to tell this guy, even if it's a lie, just to make him feel better. We say that right, somebody close to you dies and it's like you know she's in a better place. Everything happens for a reason. We come up with these cliches right, and I'm not a fan of cliches, even though there are truth in them. But you know he said he goes. We will laugh about this someday, not today, not tomorrow. Be honored that this happened. We should be flattered by our challenges that God would trust us enough to release this into our movies, right? He said, don't panic, mind you, I play defense, right? So, like I was already panicking, I was already trying to think of you know how I was going to. You know, get on my wife's Facebook and we're going to find these people Because I lived in such lack.

Speaker 3:

This is lack Every moment that goes by that I'm not on social media pushing my brand. Think of my momentum as a needle, like the momentum's way here. Every moment that goes by, what's happening to my momentum? It's getting less right, and so the panic, moment to moment, was increasing that like I'm envisioning myself days going by, I don't have this and now everything I've built is now it's gone. Newsflash when the light shines in your life, it cannot be extinguished. You know what I mean. Like I'm not big enough. Identity thieves aren't big enough to extinguish something as powerful as the light shining through a soul. You know what I mean.

Speaker 3:

I didn't understand that at the time and you know I took Craig's advice, I didn't panic, I sat in it and that was one of the most uncomfortable months. I mean, if you this is true story If you look at my phone, there's a massive gap from December 3rd till like mid January, like four. I only took like four pictures Cause I was, I wasn't like depressed, I just I only took like four pictures because I was. I wasn't like depressed, I just I was just in a holding pattern, just let. I was letting that thing just marinate and I was kind of intentionally just wanting to feel it. I wanted to feel the feels and let that lesson just do its work.

Speaker 3:

Now, when I say I didn't do anything, the truth is I did do a lot. I got on the phone, I started reaching out to people in my contacts hey, it's the turn of the year, I would love to come in and do a seminar, could I come and speak to your employees? And I started drumming up business without my social media accounts. I had LinkedIn, that was it. Social media accounts, I had LinkedIn, that was it. And you know, came into a really, really hot January, like produced a lot of business with not a lot of social media presence, and I was like huh and it had a lot of impact. And then that led into a spectacular February Bam back on Instagram, okay, cool, had a monster March and then had this bus game of April. By the way, back in January, I had no income on the books for April at the time and my income in April went 2X my biggest month at that point.

Speaker 3:

And so I'm like huh, and so I can say now with 100% certainty that that was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it produced in my soul what was necessary for me to receive, that which was waiting for me right. And so I look at stuff like this way differently. I I'm a christian. I don't know where people stand in faith, which is totally fine, fine, but I hang around Christian circles and I had a lot of Christians. I got to tell you I had a lot of Christians when I got my identity stolen. They're like, oh, the devil's trying to take it away from you, satan's coming after you, and I can just tell you that wasn't the devil, that was the divine. The devil, that was the divine Handpicking that particular challenge at the exact right time so then I could receive and become the person that I needed to become in 2025. So I'm so thankful that that happened.

Speaker 3:

We're sitting here at the midpoint of the year. I'm so thankful that that happened. It sucked, but I'm so thankful that it happened. So I just have a different tune towards things that are very painful. I'll just share this personally. I lost my mother earlier this year, on March 16th. I lost my mom and it did not come as a surprise, but it's still difficult when you lose a parent, and, as heartbreaking as it was, I was like and you know, as heartbreaking as it was, I was like. This is confirmation that the journey I'm on is the one that we have just truly scratched the surface, and I'll share this very, very personally. Two weeks ago today, at the recording of this podcast, I lost my brother. He started drinking very heavily again after our mother passed and he passed, most likely due to toxic substances in his body, and so I've lost half my family in the last three months.

Speaker 3:

Heartbroken, sad, absolutely. What an opportunity. What is this going to do If I want to take people deep? By the way, we are in the business of taking people deep, so if I want to take people deep, I've got to go to the depths. So I felt honored sad that my brother passed, sad that my mom passed, but honored, honored that my creator would release us into my movie, not to kill me, not to break me, but to create the breakthrough that I need. So then I can take that to the world, the breakthrough that I need. So then I can take that to the world. So do you have the audacity this goes to you and everybody listening Do you have the audacity to look at your life that way? Because that's what it's going to take. It'll take an audacious type of mindset and consciousness to view the most painful things as that opportunity.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful. I just personally want to commend you because there's not a lot of souls who can actually come through these experiences and really look at it from this perspective of not letting this break. But let me see how deep I can go.

Speaker 3:

That's right.

Speaker 2:

And also I totally am with you on the whole Christian mentality that would have been the devil's call is coming for you.

Speaker 3:

Coming for you. I mean, how are you supposed to thrive? I'm not challenging anybody's theology here, but if you truly live, because a lot of Christians and again I hang out I'm in that camp, just a heads up. But if you truly live, if you truly think I hear a lot of Christians say this and I'm not just picking on Christians, don't hear me wrong but like the world's going to heck in a handbasket and society's down in the toilet. And here's the deal. It probably is, I don't know, but why would I?

Speaker 3:

Why would I live in that? Why would I choose to live in that mind space? Whether it is, it isn't God's divine, I don't even know. Who do we really know? But you know what I'm going to, no matter what's happening out there and I'm pointing to the world I'm going to choose to live that. The world's happening for me, the things that are happening. There is no chaos, there is no happenstance, there's nothing that is not divinely released into my movie with precise, precise, laser-focused precision. So when I have that mindset and then the storms come, they propel me. But if my mindset is the world's going to hell in a handbasket and the devil owns his world, well, how the hell. Am I supposed to thrive in a world that's like that? I don't know. Just something to consider.

Speaker 2:

So what do you hope you leave? Your kids learning Chrissy, what life here, they think and leaving.

Speaker 3:

We have some very deep talks. You know, my biggest thing is I hope that they never hold back, that there is no lack. I have. We have. This is a very high level conversation. I have these high level conversations with them all the time, and, you know, I ask my kids, you know, who do you want to become? You know not just what do you want to do, what do you want to do when you grow up? That's fine, but who do you want to be? That's fine, but who do you want to be. And so, man, you know, if, if I'm gone someday and they look back and they're like their dad was relentlessly pursuing more, not more money or stuff, but like pursuing more of who he was supposed to be, connection with his creator and stepping into that, that would be. That would be what I want to transfer, though, okay, so throwing it back.

Speaker 2:

If you're 25 year old self. Where do you think today, what do you think you would surprise him the most?

Speaker 3:

if I could talk to my 25 year old self, or if if he heard you speaking having all he wouldn't know what that guy's talking about, which a lot of a lot of people say they're like oh man, I wish I could go back and tell myself this 25 years ago. It wouldn't make any sense because that that evolved person, where where he or she was at that time, wouldn't understand this. You know what I mean. That's why, like, I don't get too caught up in like the some people are all about like are we going to make 10, 20 year goals? Like 10 year goals, like you won't eat. Even five years, I won't eat, I won't recognize myself in a year.

Speaker 3:

So how am I supposed to? How am I supposed to understand that? Right, so I would love to go back to my 25 year old self and be like take more chances, don't live in lack, stop like, stop living in scarcity. But I got to tell you I knew that guy because I used to be him. He wouldn't have understood it. He would not have understood that. That's why it's so fun when I have conversations with 17-year-olds, 18-year-olds, 20-year-olds about these things and they actually get it. I'm like oh, wow, like you will blow up because by the time you're my age, you've got 25 years of evolving into abundance and and limitless thinking whole, you will be leaps and bounds above where I am now Right. I mean and, by the way, as you know this, the trajectory when you start to really get a wrap your brain. The trajectory is not linear. It's right.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 3:

So I would love to go talk to him, talk to that guy, but I don't think he would listen to what I'm saying.

Speaker 2:

Fair enough. If there's a woman listening to me who's knowing she's met for more, what's the one thing you tell her to do this week?

Speaker 3:

I would say be very, very. Take heavy inventory of what you're doing and who you are and stop doing things that are not in alignment. Stop pretending that you're somebody you're not. Where are you pretending and what are you tolerating that isn't in alignment with your higher self, and then she will most likely rebuttal well, yeah, but then I got to clean up this mess, this mess and this mess, and then I will do that. And then you and I will say no, no, no, no, no. You do that now.

Speaker 3:

So go through your laundry list of all the things that you need to fix and all of your issues, using air quotes. Who is that person that, when all of those problems are fixed, I'm this person down here. All of those problems are fixed. I'm this person down here. Here's the magic, here's the cheat code you just embody that person. Now, you make decisions as that person. Now you put on that crown. Now. You don't wait, you don't need validation, you just do it.

Speaker 3:

And I got to tell you I've had this conversation with young ladies because, again, I'm part of groups and you know what they say. When I tell them this, they're like well, how do I do that? I'm like that's a really freaking good question. You figure that out. What does it look like for you to embody that person? I can't answer that for you and, again, it takes a ton of awareness and it takes audacity to actually do it. What if you just showed up as that person? What if you just cut ties, decide, decide, cut off, kill and destroy the things that are no longer honoring your higher self? What would happen? What would happen? Well, as you know, the world and the universe and people around you would start to actually prove you correct and actually validate that which you chose, not vice versa, which is where many people not women, I'm picking on women- sit Beautiful.

Speaker 2:

So where can our listeners go to experience the podcast keynotes and programs? I will be leaving everything in the show notes, but how do you prefer them to act in?

Speaker 3:

I live on Instagram and LinkedIn. Again, if you find my Facebook page, please let me know and in my podcast, the Breakthrough Effect, which is just getting started, which is a lot of fun to produce, and if you liked anything by which we talked about here today, you're going to love the podcast as well the Breakthrough Effect, itunes, all major podcasting platforms. And make sure you check out my website, jaredsebestacom that's just my name, jaredsebestacom. I'm always doing classes. By the way you, you just recently logged onto one of my free classes. I do classes about every quarter courses, all sorts of fun stuff, so I've got tons of free resources on my website. Uh, go check it out and make sure you check out the podcast. And, yeah, that's, that's the best way. If I get back on Facebook, I'll make an announcement, but until then, instagram and LinkedIn.

Speaker 2:

And I'm going to hit you as quick. Fire round real quick.

Speaker 3:

Sure.

Speaker 2:

So what's your current mantra?

Speaker 3:

My current mantra. This is the first sentence I say when I walk out the door on my morning gratitude walk this is the best day of my life.

Speaker 2:

Lonely A book that changed your life.

Speaker 3:

Oh man, there's so many Killing Sacred Cows by Garrett Gunderson was phenomenal. The Gap in the Game by Dr Benjamin Hardy. Become your Future Self by Dr Benjamin Hardy a bombshell of a book. I highly recommend that to everybody. The very first book I read no kidding when I decided was Tim Ferriss' book the Four-Hour Workweek. That was the first book that I read. That instilled in me a different way. I read that book and I was so excited and I was depressed. I was fricking excited but I was so fricking depressed because I was like gosh. I am so stuck but yet so exhilarated because it showed me that there's a different way.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful. And what's your daily non-negotiable outside of your morning gratitude walks?

Speaker 3:

My daily routine or daily thing. Non-negotiable, non-negotiable. I have to move my body. I just I have to. I will go bananas. Sitting around all day sounds like paradise for some people. It sounds like a living hell to me. So I've got to move my body. I don't particularly like the gym, but I love how. I just need to. I need to get the energy out. So I have to move my body, whatever that looks like biking, walking, lifting weights, and that is a non-negotiable. In fact, I said to my wife we've been married for almost 20 years I said can you name a time where I just went through a season where I didn't go to the gym? And she's like, honestly, never. And that's not because I'm some some gym rat like guru. I just, I just need that. I need that for my physical, mental, emotional health okay, so one word that describes your current season relentless, relentless, like I, like, I want to be relentless.

Speaker 3:

I I I'm having so much fun growing and expanding and every time I think that I'm putting max energy into something, I'm like no, there's more. And it's not that I'm chasing, it's that the more energy I throw in, the more relentless I become, the faster the expansion goes. By the way, one of the best compliments I get who's doing your marketing? I say I'm doing it, I'm doing it. And they're like what? Now I've got a couple of people in my back corner that are doing a little bit of backend stuff, so I'm not total solo shit.

Speaker 3:

But when people, when marketing people, are coming up to me saying who's doing your marketing? And I say me and they're like oh, fist bump, so that's the now. I'm not going to do that forever. I ain't freaking doing this forever, but, like for right now, relentless, relentless, relentless. Most of the by the way, it's summer right now. Most people just back off, they take their foot off the pedal pound and again it's not the grind, it's not just like panic grind do, but this relentless pursuit of becoming. That's what it's all about.

Speaker 2:

I love this. And final one what is your word for 2025?

Speaker 3:

I already chose relentless. I got to come up with another one, a word. I don't know of the word, but my mindset for 2025 is really every I'm growing so fast that every time that that lower baseline is established, a new baseline is established, then in my mind, the upper rung on that ladder also needs to go up. You know what I'm saying on that ladder also needs to go up. You know what I'm saying. So we're always in this feeling of we're just getting started. We're just getting started. So if I had to say a word, it'd be a phrase we're just getting started. Every time I up level, just getting started. And that's really the mindset everybody needs to have. I don't care how old you are and what you're doing, we're just beginning. We're just tip of the iceberg.

Speaker 2:

Craig says that a lot, but it's been a pleasure having you. I'm so honored and this is such a great, juicy, golden nuggeted episode. I'm so honored to have met you and I'm just I want you to know I'm standing in your corner. I'm so excited for what you're producing in this world and it's been a pleasure having you.

Speaker 3:

Thank you very much. Lots of juicy nuggets in this show. It's been my honor. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2:

So if you guys enjoyed the episode, please like, share, comment, feel free to reach out to both of us on Instagram and let us know your thoughts and what your biggest takeaways were, and until the next one we will be. Please just subscribe and also leave a review. Thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for rising with me today. If this episode moved, you share it. Tag me at Arise with Anita and make sure to subscribe so you never miss a future activation and, if you feel called, leave a quick review. It helps more women find the space and rise into their power. Your next level is already waiting. Now go claim it. I'll see you in the next episode.