Why Strategy Alone Will Never Get You to the Next Level

In this foundational episode of CEO Sales Sessions, I dive into one of the most important facets of a CEO: self-image. The truth is, strategy alone won’t get you to your next level if your internal identity can’t hold the result. I’m unpacking why the way you think about yourself shapes your behaviour, your confidence, your leadership, and ultimately your ability to hit the big goals you say you want. If you’ve been chasing the right plan, the right script, or the right strategy but still feel like something isn’t clicking, this episode will show you where the real work begins.

Stay tuned for more on:

• Why the reason you feel stuck with visibility, growth, and revenue, isn’t your strategy, but your self image
• The powerful lesson behind the book Psycho-Cybernetics and how Maxwell Maltz proved that changing the outside doesn’t automatically change how you feel on the inside
• Why two CEOs can follow the exact same strategy and get completely different results
• How to reverse-engineer your self-image as a woman who already leads with true confidence, converts on sales calls, and scales with intention
• The difference between confidence and self-image, and why one impacts how you show up in content, while the other shapes your long-term growth
• Practical ways to shift your internal operating system so your next-level business, revenue, and leadership become inevitable

I hope this episode sparks a shift not just in the way you approach business, but your entire life. If you know another woman who's scaling towards her dream life, be sure to send this conversation her way.

Gazzy’s Links:
Website: https://www.authenticgazzy.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authenticgazzy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/authenticgazzy
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AuthenticGazzy
Podcast Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GazzyAmin
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authenticgazzy

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to CEO Sales Sessions. I'm Gazzi, your host, former political staffer, turned entrepreneur, and founder of Sales Beyond Scripts, where I build CEOs whose sales feel effortless and profit becomes inevitable. I've spent years in the highest pressure rooms, both in politics and business, and I'm bringing you everything I learned straight to this site. No fluff, no filler, just actionable steps, tough love, and big thinking alongside some of the sharpest COs in the game. Let's get to work. And this episode is kind of building off on that. So if you haven't watched that episode yet, I suggest starting there. So you have a foundation of a goal that is worthy of your time and attention and a goal that is your burning desire. And if you've got that or you've got glimmers of it, this episode is talking all about self-image. And I called this episode why strategy alone will never get you to that next level, because I truly believe that it doesn't matter how good your strategy is, if you haven't worked on the self-image, that part of the work, then you actually won't be able to hit your goals. The first introduction I had to this concept called self-image was when I was introduced this book called Psycho Cybernetic. As you know, I studied Bob Proctor's material and he spoke a lot about this. And that got me really curious. So I started diving a little bit deeper into what is self-image? Because I remember learning this idea that you can only go as far as your self-image has gone. And what that really means is you can't achieve big goals with small beliefs about yourself. Now, when you hear the word self-image, what people think most times is it's an external image of themselves. But what self-image really is, is it's your internal belief about yourself, what you think about you. And why that's important is because if you have a self-image that is, let's call it a low vibrational self-image, or you think not positive thoughts about yourself, your abilities, about your body, about the world around you. And if you are in victim mode and not in growth mode, your self-image is going to stop you from achieving your big goals. So before I tell you a little bit about my story with self-image, I want to tell you a little bit about this book and what the theory is behind what Maxwell Maltz is saying. In one of the early chapters in the book, he talks about, first off, actually, let me pull it back here and tell you who is Maxwell Maltz. I love his background because I think it validates what he's talking about because he is a plastic surgeon. And where he started studying self-image was in this idea that, you know, even when people were having plastic surgery to change the way they looked, they realized that that still wasn't able to produce the confidence that the people were looking for. Like, how interesting is that? So let's just use an example. Let's put this into a real example here. I have a big nose, okay? And like most people in my community, they get a nose job because we were taught to believe that big noses are not nice. And so a lot of people get plastic surgery. No shame or hate around it. But what's important and what Dr. Maxwell Maltz brings to life is that we can't believe that in getting these surgeries, that it will change how we feel about ourselves. So this medical example shows us that the self-image is not about the external. It doesn't matter if you change the external parts. Doesn't matter if you get plastic surgery, you get a new strategy, you hire the best coach, all the things on the outside can change. But if the self-image, if what you think about you doesn't change, then we won't be able to achieve our, let's call it C-type goal, next level goal, stretch goal. So in the earlier episode, we talked about creating that goal. And now I want to talk about creating that self-image, the self-image that is actually a match to where it is you want to go. One of the quotes I want to share with you that Dr. Maxwell Maltz was saying in the book is the self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the image and you change the personality and the behavior. So most people wonder why the behavior or the action or the result isn't what they would desire. And most people are looking for an external solution to change the result. But what we're hearing from Dr. Maxwell Maltz is that it's actually the self-image. If you want to change the personality, like we're talking about gaining confidence. If you want to change the behavior, you want to, you know, scale your business, it doesn't start with changing the strategy around you. It doesn't start by hiring, you know, someone to take the business to the next level for you, even though that's a part of it. It starts with the self-image because the self-image sets the pace of the behavior. So when people say they're not confident, I know that it's not actually a confidence issue. This has to do with their self-image. It is the picture you hold of yourself that your entire life organizes around you. And you cannot outperform it. You cannot outgrow with strategy alone. It has to come to doing this, what I call foundational work. And this is why two founders can follow the exact same strategy and get very, very different results. That just shows us that the strategy was never the variable. It was the self-image of the CEO of the entrepreneur who was the one executing that behavior. So maybe by now you're you're thinking, okay, I know that there's parts of myself that I can think of differently. I really want to share this line with you and I really want you to hear it. Our self-image, strongly held, essentially determines what we become. So if we know that what we think about ourselves determines what we become, you can look at your life and see what was the image that I had of myself that produced this current result. Because when I look at my past life, you know, working in a nine to five career, working in politics, and I think of what got me there, it was my self-image. Or if I even if I think of the relationships that I was in, the money that I was making, the friends that I had, the things I was doing, it was all determined based on how I thought of myself as a woman. And the reality is a lot of us women grow up with a self-image of beliefs that were passed down to us from people whose beliefs aren't even our own. And a lot of us women battle with our self-image because we don't love who we are. Or even if the word love is a stretch for you, I love this line that Dr. Maxwell Maltz has in the book, which I want to share with you right now. On page 11, he says, you must find yourself acceptable to you. You must be content with who you are. And a lot of us don't have that. And a lot of us aren't even intentional about who we are. We've just are a product of all of those beliefs and values that were passed down to us. And in some cases, that really works. And in some cases, it's like, you know what? I think it's time for me to create a new self-image for myself. And I'm not talking about the external. It's not about losing weight or about getting a new wardrobe or about a new strategy. I hope that that's clear. It's about being really honest with ourselves of how do I feel about me first off. And then in relation to our goal, thinking about who do I have to become to achieve that next version? And we can't do one without the other. Because if you don't feel acceptable to you right now, if you're not happy in your skin, if you can't hug yourself, you know, I remember Bob Proctor saying he would like kiss and hug himself because he loved himself. And, you know, sometimes when we see people, they're like, oh, they're too full of themselves. They love themselves. They're overconfident. And we kind of take that as judgment on other people. But for me, the most attractive thing about a woman is someone who feels good in her skin, someone who is acceptable to themselves. And this isn't always 100%, like, let's be honest. I don't have confidence all the time. And that's my, you know, confidence is a mood thing. It's on a day here and there, but self-image is foundational. It is foundational work of who you believe you are and who you want to become and what you think about yourself and how content you are in this skin. And not for other people, not looking away for external validation. Nothing matters more than internal validation, being okay with yourself, being proud and happy in the skin that you are. So I'm calling that step one of this process. Now, when I work with clients, when we set a C-type goal for themselves, the next part of it becomes reverse engineering the identity. And this is actually really fun. This is the fun part of the work. And I say fun, but it also brings up old shit. Okay. I want to be honest with that. Because when we talk about this self-image work, you know, you've heard language around like your old self has to die. I'm like air quoting that because I don't truly believe it's that way. But you have to like shed these layers of these identities that were passed on to us and developed in the earlier chapters of our lives based on what we consumed in the media, in school, from our families, from our lived experiences. And being honest to say, hey, does parts of this self-image have to be left behind? And do new parts have to be added? We're also going to do a fun activity in the next foundational episode together where we go through the stick figure, where I'll really help you map that out in more detail. But for this part of this episode, what I really want you to think of is who you'd like to become. And sometimes inspiration from other leaders can help. And so I remember when I was thinking about what leader I wanted to become, I had to think about what are leaders that I'm inspired by? Who are other women that I look up to? And what are certain elements about their image that I like. Now, this is the external part of it to get inspo, but the internal part of it was I even have pages and pages where I've journaled about the Gazzy that I wanted to become way before I was, I'm air quoting again, her. And I'm air quoting that because I don't want you to think that you're not this version of yourself. When you create the new self-image, it's still that same human, but it's this sense of intentionality of who do I want to become? And so a few resources that I would recommend for that. The first thing I want you to do is like, if you're an audible person, I would recommend reading psychocybernetic so you can get a really deep understanding from a scientific perspective, what is the current self-image that you hold of yourself? I read this book on Audible multiple times. I've been teaching from this book to my clients over the last six years. I highly recommend it as a preliminary research book. If you are looking for the next step, maybe I invite you to do the internal part. Again, there's a few parts to this. And I love to offer different resources because maybe you're at a different part of your journey. And I always like to say to my clients, when I work with you, it's a customized approach. So take what you need. So maybe you need a journal session to ask yourself, who would I love to become? Describe the woman for me. Who is she? What parts of you are asking for full expression? When you think about the CEO that you're becoming, what is she like? What does her calendar look like? What is her wardrobe like? What are her inner chatter moments like? What is her self-image? How does she think about herself? So that we can start getting awareness about this next level version. I like to think of things in terms of frequency. And frequency vibrates at different levels. And this isn't woo-woo. This is science. And so when you think about, you know, that goal that we spoke about in the earlier episode, that goal has a frequency to it. It has a vibration that a certain frequency at that level. And I want you to be honest, the person who has achieved that goal, what is that self-image of that version? Who would you need to become for that goal to be inevitable for you? So when I think of myself and the self-image that I had to curate from the inside out, that I had to write intentionally, that I had to repeat, I am, I am this version of myself. I feel worthy, I receive it, I know that I am her. It began on the inside. And really, I reverse engineered it from my goal. This is why I say these are the foundational episodes for us to work off of, for us to build off of. Because when we talk about strategy, babe, how are you gonna implement strategy? How are you gonna show up online if you think poorly of yourself? Do you get what I mean? Like, how are you gonna speak on a stage? If that little self-image, that little girl is yelling, you're not good enough, you're ex, you're not enough this. So it doesn't matter if I give you the script, if I give you the ad, if I help you practice your masterclass, if I give you the title, that's gonna be it to get the leads. It doesn't matter. I'm telling you because I know this from experience. I see it from the women around me. And this is even what Dr. Maxwell Malt is talking about in the book. The patients could have changed after successful surgery. Their appearance changed, but that inner picture of themselves that stayed the same. That's why we know that the self-image is running the show. The self-image is the operating system. That's where you want to start. Because all of your actions and the feelings and even your abilities, those will always be consistent with what you believe to be true about you, which is that inner image. And that inner image outperforms the outer image. I think that's also key, by the way, because it doesn't matter if you're wearing Louis Vuitton or you're decked out from a stylus. You can look good on the outside. I know women who look good on the outside, but feel not good enough on the inside. This is why I'm saying this is the internal work. And it's not overnight. It takes time. And it also takes love and care and a sense of nurture to work on ourselves. Because as women, we invest in so much in our families, our kids, our aging parents, our businesses, our friendships. And oftentimes we think we can skip over this part. And I can promise you, there is no shortcut to this work. This is the work that you deserve to give yourself time and energy to build rapport with yourself, to build an image, an internal image that you love, beliefs about yourself that you love you. And you know, I love this quote that says your nervous system cannot tell the difference between a real experience and one that is just vividly imagined. And so one of the things that I really loved, once I crafted this image of this leader that I wanted to become, and I built the beliefs that could help me embody that. And I got it from pen to paper, then I try to embody it vividly through things like visualization. Yes, in action as well. Don't think that visualization is your hack to become her. You will have to do the work. And we'll talk about this in the next episode around how to take action from the self-image. But I want you to know that the behavior is driven from that self-image. And so if you want to take more action, it starts with seeing it in the mind first. If you can hold it in the mind, you can see it in your real life. You know, Bob Proctor says if you can hold it in your mind, you can hold it in your hand. And that means if you can start to vividly see this next iteration of yourself, who you would become, then you're one step closer to allowing the behavior to come from this operating mechanism. I honestly just love the topic of self-image so much. And I come back to it time and time again because this is not a one and done type of job. The reason for that is at every level, for every goal, for every next big company goal or personal goal that you're setting for yourself, it will require you to stretch and step into new parts of your leadership and identity that you haven't before. So don't think just because you've done the identity work once or you've become a new version of yourself that this isn't constant work. It's like brushing your teeth. It's like putting on deodorant. Self-image work is daily work. Tap into it daily. And you know, as I always say, my goal for you is to take some inspired action from this episode. I gave you tons of resources, books, activities, ideas, and ways of thinking for you to ponder on. Don't let it just finish off and then run back into your busy life. Take one thing from this episode, action on it. And when you've got something that you want to share with me, or maybe you have a question, I'd love to connect with you on Instagram. I am at authenticGazzy. DMs are the place where I'm always hanging out. Send me a voice note. I'd love to hear from you. As always, thanks for sharing your time with me. I'm so grateful you're here, and I'll see you next week. Well, that brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you for sharing your time with me. I know as a CEO that time is your most valuable asset. So let's make it worth it. What's one thing that you're gonna implement or embody today? Because listening without action is just entertainment. So DM me your takeaway on Instagram at authenticGazzy. I want to hear it, and I promise you I will hold you accountable. And if this episode resonated, share it with a woman in your circle who needs to hear this. And if you haven't already, follow and subscribe so you never miss a Tuesday. I'll see you next week.