#129: Transform Your Identity with Anthony Trucks

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[00:01:00] And Profiting Podcast this week on YAP.

[00:01:03] We're chatting with AnthonyTrucks, a CEO, former NFL athlete, American ninja warrior on NBC author, international speaker, and the host of two podcasts, Aww Shift and Shift Starter. Anthony is the founder of identity shift coaching. And after being given away into foster care at just three years old, adopted into an all white family at 14 and losing his NFL career to an injury, he learned how to shift identities at a very young age.

[00:01:31] And now it's his life mission to teach others how to Make Shift Happen in their own lives. Anthony has been featured on NBC, the CW, Amazon, Netflix, National Geographic and his latest book, Identity Shift: Upgrade How You Operate to Elevate Your Life comes out in September and today's episode. We discuss Anthony's Rocky upbringing, how he first got into football and the major life shift he endured while in the NFL.

[00:01:57] We'll also chat about Anthony's Shift Method, [00:02:00] his advice for creating your ideal persona and how external factors shape your identity. If you've been feeling held back lately, this episode is a must listen. Hi, Anthony. Welcome to Young And Profiting Podcasts. I am super looking forward to this interview.

[00:02:19] I feel like you have such an inspiring story. You are a very positive person. And from the outside, you might think that you had this wonderful childhood given your demeanor and how positive you are, but turns out you had a very different. Upbringing. Yeah. And today, you're a former NFL player, you're an international speaker.

[00:02:37] You're a podcast host, you're a TV personality. You're very accomplished, but let's go back to the beginning. I want to hear about what it was like for you being in foster care. Because from my understanding, when you were three years old, you went into foster care. It was a pretty abusive situation. So let's start there.

[00:02:53] Talk to us about. Was like for you as a child and then maybe bring us to you getting adopted [00:03:00] by your family when you're fourteen.

[00:03:01] Anthony Trucks: Yeah. It's going back at the time, get like that back to future music or something. So we can go back that way. No, but I was given away, my mom essentially didn't want me or my three siblings and social decided that we were better off than the foster care system, which we weren't.

[00:03:14] And so between the, I think six different houses had a lot of different abuse and torture. I was put in chicken coop and forced to chase chicken into earned meals. That was put shopping cards, pushed down Hills forced to lick the bottom of people's shoes. It was really heinous stuff. And this is all before the age of six.

[00:03:28] And then at six years old was placed into my family now, which is still in my current family. But the unique thing is we were really poor and I was the only black person in an all white family. And so we had a lot of dynamics that were just off. And I had struggled with identity a lot just because I didn't know who I was or where I fit or what was family and.

[00:03:44] So I spent a lot of time just navigating the ups and downs of that. My first foster dad in that house was just a really bad guy. My mom eventually divorced him, remarried a guy who only 12 years older than me, who was my dad. Which is a really interesting dynamic and of itself. And so for the next eight years in that family, up until the age of [00:04:00] 14, just had a battle, a lot of where do I fit?

[00:04:02] Who am I, what can I do? I couldn't play sports. My biological mom was just legitimately crazy. And so a lot of weirdness, man. And then at 14, finally, got to go into a court. To stand in front of my biological mom and tell her, I do not want you to be my mom anymore and separate parental rights, which would allow me to then be adopted and then start life.

[00:04:21] So that's the developmental years of my life were just not mattering. So those who are probably listening, going, I don't know how to connect to that. Imagine any time when you felt less than, or like you didn't matter or like you had no, I like you felt like a leaf in the wind, which we all at some point have felt like a leaf in the wind.

[00:04:38] That's how I started my life.

[00:04:40] Hala Taha: Wow. That's so sad. And so just so I can help the listeners understand even more. So while you were in foster care, your mother actually. So he had control over you and your decisions, right? So if you weren't allowed to play sports and things like that. So how did that impact you?

[00:04:56] The fact that you weren't even allowed to do the things that normal kids were allowed to do. [00:05:00]

[00:05:00] Anthony Trucks: Yeah, it's tough because it's just what happens is now you're in a situation where you have to find a way to feel like you matter. There's a shame of what you can't tell your friends that you're going through, but yeah, that you're just not allowed to.

[00:05:10] So I have to watch everybody else play funny thing was football was my game I'm really want to play. And my mom had these parental rights or she could control things. And so everybody was playing football. I wasn't allowed to. So Fridays was the day before Saturday game and all my classmates would have their jerseys from the football teams are part of an eye.

[00:05:27] I have to watch and sit there and hear about it on Monday. And just never actually had a chance to feel that because my biological mom had control. Although she didn't live in a home, she had control what I could and couldn't do. And so that was just, it's like living in a household with two different rules.

[00:05:41] Hala Taha: That must've been so tough. So by the time you got into high school, when did you actually, get to play football as once you were adopted by that new family? Correct.

[00:05:50] Anthony Trucks: I got to be a dire. So when I finally got adopted that's when everything changed, it was a situation where now, like this family was my family.

[00:05:56] And so they had the control to be able to say, I couldn't do anything. So now I can go and play [00:06:00] football. I wasn't good. I was really bad at get the game. I was good at recess. I was good at recess, but then you actually take me to the game. And that's where it got a little bit difficult because I'm not actually able to do with the helmet, shoulder pads.

[00:06:10] So even though I wanted to try this thing was not good at it, which is how we all feel at times we try something new or we want to step into a new space, try a podcast like you have, or I want to be a coach or I want to speak, or I want to take on a new job or a new project or lead something.

[00:06:25] And then you find out really quickly, oh, I don't have all the things I need for. And in that emotional moment, you actually feel a pain of like embarrassment or fear of failure. And most people will find ways to evade. I'll remove myself, I'll make an excuse or I'll self-sabotage and just flat out fail.

[00:06:42] And so that's the kind of direction I was going down. But thankfully, a couple of years later, like I had a moment where woke up, but that was the first entrance into it. My mom had control. I had this feeling, it sucked.

[00:06:52] Hala Taha: How did you get the strength to actually figure out how to get the skills to be able to compete?

[00:06:57] Because that was a short window of time [00:07:00] to, be in high school, get on the varsity team, go to college play football, go to the NFL. You had a lot of catching up to do a lot of people who are in the NFL. Plays starting from when they're four years old. So how did you catch up to your peers? Was that a mental thing that had to be turned on or like, how did you do that?

[00:07:16] Anthony Trucks: I don't know if it was mental. It will. Part of it was mental. You have to get to the point of having an actual sense of self that's rooted in this thing you're doing. And this is for anybody in anything you do. If you want to be successful, you have to believe it's who you are to be successful. Now, how you get there matters, cause you can go there cause mom and dad say, Hey, you're phenomenal. You're great. You can get all that love and appreciation, but for most people and for me. It happens through you creating something like through building it and then looking at what you created and going, wow, that's who I am. I can do that.

[00:07:42] And then it's this realization of I'm better than what I believed. So for me, the football thing was very unique because I didn't have the skillset. Definitely didn't have the confidence. So what I did is I spent entire off season from freshman to sophomore year, trying to do the things a great football player does.

[00:07:57] Cause at first I didn't see myself as that. And when you don't see [00:08:00] yourself as that, you actually feel in congruent and out of character, And mostly, but I feel in-congruent out of character. Don't stay in that same pocket. And the funny thing is when I say out of character, most people hear it as a negative, but the reality is when you're trying to do something great, that's out of character because you aren't that great yet.

[00:08:15] You know what I mean? So it's actually a positive thing to try and do things out of who you see yourself to be. That was the start of it. I started off by, first trying to yeah. Go and lift weights and get made fun of, and run routes and get made fun of and catching footballs and get made fun of.

[00:08:28] But eventually the more you do it, the better you get almost inevitably. And then not only do you have a better skillset, but when you've invested that much time into something, their return is different than what most people believe. Most people believe their return on the investment of time as a skillset, but it's more than that.

[00:08:43] The return on the investment of time is a skill set, but it's also an internal identification as that being who you are. So that's why people who decide, like I'm going to go and box. Yeah. The first few times you're under a boxer, but you get out there 3, 4, 5 years. Yeah. You got [00:09:00] skillsets. But on top of the skillset, you're a boxer.

[00:09:03] That's who you are. There's a different ownership to it. And so that's what I did in that off season. And so what we've all done, we've all actually done this many times in our lives. We just do it haphazardly and we do it unintentionally. But when you actually get to the point of doing it with conscious forward effort, you can create whatever you want in life, because you're creating not just the achievement, but also the transformation into that person.

[00:09:25] Hala Taha: So just if I could reiterate what you're saying that once you actually believed that you were a football player, you became a better football player because you stepped into who you wanted to be.

[00:09:36] Anthony Trucks: I'd say, identify as it. Belief is interesting because belief can be fickle. Some days I can believe in something, all of a sudden can shake that.

[00:09:42] So I was like, you're not going to see a boxer goes out there and he's boxing gets punched in the face and goes, oh, I'm not a boxer anymore. You're always a boxer. That's just who you are. Or I believe I can, I believe I can win this fight. And all of a sudden I get punched in the stomach.

[00:09:53] Maybe I don't believe I could win it anymore. Cause I'm like, oh, this dude's great. Doesn't mean I don't identify as a boxer anymore. I just don't have the belief. I can win the [00:10:00] fights. There's a difference there. But yes, it's in the same vein of what you're saying.

[00:10:04] Hala Taha: Yeah, and I definitely want to get into identity later.

[00:10:06] I know that's a big part of everything that you talk about, but let's talk about you growing up still. Where are you aggressive, going through all of this in your childhood? What was your demeanor like, because you're so kind and positive now, like I've been listening to your interviews, watching you.

[00:10:23] And like I said you don't seem to have a mean bone in your body, but I know that I think you were really aggressive growing up. So how did that. Transition. And what advice do you have to people who feel resentful or have aggression? How can they get over that?

[00:10:38] Anthony Trucks: It's one of those things where so for me growing up, I didn't have much aggression.

[00:10:41] It's odd. Most people think like football is a great place. Cause you were aggressive. You were angry or mean, or I'm like, yeah, that wasn't what was coming through. What showed up as aggression was me fighting to keep my alignment in place. So whenever you believe you are something. God forbid, someone try and take it from you.

[00:10:58] Cause you will fight tooth and nail. If you think of a [00:11:00] lion in the wild that, that they just went, ran and killed that, that carcass. So if someone tries to come and take that, like we're fighting, that's mine. I deserve this, I earned this. So that's where the aggression came from, was me doing the work in the dark so that no one could take what was mine in the light.

[00:11:13] So my aggression came through and it always comes through. Finding this data aligned with what you believe is yours, what you believe should have. It's why those who have say, spend all this time to build a business and someone comes along and says meat. You don't know anything about business? Wait, hold on.

[00:11:26] What'd you say it's somewhere up, right? There's an aggression there. Football was the same thing. I spent the time in the weight room, lifting the weights, running the routes. So when that balls in the air, that's my ball. I deserve this. If you're coming at me, I'm going to tackle you. I deserve this. So the aggression came there.

[00:11:41] Now, when you play a game like football, you have to learn how to activate channel. Then like when I played the game yeah. On the field, it's a switch that you have to become a different persona. We are different identities in different walks of life. Even when I played football on the football field was a different identity.

[00:11:57] That what I'm parenting my young son. Or I'm with my wife [00:12:00] or I'm with my family. There's a different identity and that's okay. It doesn't mean you're a different person, but a different part of you is being shown a different party is being expressed. There's a gentle, there's the kind. So at this point in my life, it's like most people, the only reason I have this persona of I'm a gentle guy and I am a very nice, calm, cool collected guy.

[00:12:19] This is the only identity I need to express. Now, if we're traveling abroad or we're doing something and I'm with my family and somebody comes and approaches, my family you'll find that Anthony that played football, he still exists. I just don't need to express him right now. So it's not that this guy is different or I'm any, nicer than it used to be.

[00:12:36] It's just that I spent more time with this persona and this identity being expressed and that's the same for anybody. And the aggression does come out, but it's. It's also channeled differently. Like when I'm on a stage, there's a certain sense of not abrasiveness, but there is a certain directness that I bring, but it's not the same as football.

[00:12:52] It's just a different level of high flow. And when you can understand that it's okay to have these and we all have these and you can understand each one and bring it out when it [00:13:00] needs to, if a vastly better control of your life and your outcome.

[00:13:03] Hala Taha: So let's stick on identity since we keep bringing up, what is your definition of identity?

[00:13:10] It's a word that we all know about, but I want to hear it from you.

[00:13:14] Anthony Trucks: It's one of those things. It's so here's identity, and this actually has ties into neuroscience and psychology. But if my definition is who you are, when you are not thinking about who you are, As how you just show up in the world and you'd be surprised certain people like there are people, that if someone said, Hey, how would handle this?

[00:13:32] You would be able to answer it because you understand who they are. That's just the nature of it. Good, bad, indifferent. You would be able to like, cause that's you reading their identity. Now, the interesting thing is most people don't know their identity. There's a statement that the love, and it goes, it's hard to see the label when you're inside the jar.

[00:13:50] So we all get the stands of I believe myself as this and we'll list off accomplishments and stuff, but there's a difference of who we actually are, that other people in fact see. And the funny thing [00:14:00] is that version, most people see that one's usually responsible for your success or lack thereof.

[00:14:05] So when I look at this identity thing, I'm not looking at this spiritual philosophical sense of who I see my I'm literally looking. Who are you each day? How do you handle opposition opportunity? How do you show up? Are you a consistent human? Are, do you have habits that are positive? Are you a liar?

[00:14:21] Are you honest? Do you have integrity? Things that would show up in immediate moments without you consciously processing the $20 bill? You see somebody drop? Do you pick it up, put in your pocket and keep walking or do you pick it up and go give it to them? That's the version of that's somebody's identity.

[00:14:35] You're seeing right now in real time and it's distinction. They don't stop looking at it and go, should I drop it? Should I pick it up from my pocket? Should I not? I got to work, right? You're seeing someone's identity. And that little type of concept shows up in how your relationship flows, how your health taken care of how your business runs everything.

[00:14:52] And most of us don't realize it was programmed. When we were kids, it was just teachers, preachers, coaches, other leaders, they just [00:15:00] television news, radio, movies you just like you just absorb some things and started flowing out of that. You haphazardly created this identity and it's showing up now. And so when I look at the shift, it's 90% of us have all gone through life without intentionally creating or controlling this thing.

[00:15:15] That's controlling our lives. And so why did you go back and go, Hey, how about we for the first time, take a look behind the curtain, see what that label says, and then you can read the label and show up differently and then have different things in life.

[00:15:29] Hala Taha: You just mentioned that it's really difficult to understand how people view you.

[00:15:33] What is your identity to your mom, your friends, your coworkers. So would you say the best way to go about finding that is to maybe survey some of these people in your life? Like how do you actually go about finding what people think about you? So then you can reframe who you want to be seen.

[00:15:49] Anthony Trucks: Yeah, that's actually great. There's a method. So we created those called the Shift Method. I say, we it's, I, and then my team, we all put it together. And it's a program that we coach people through everything from executives, to companies, to individuals and [00:16:00] everything in between. And so because everybody has an identity, even businesses do, you can apply the same methodology and there are steps.

[00:16:07] The first steps what's called the C phase and the C phase is that there are ways to engage individuals through questions through certain. Structures and formats, and we call them frameworks that allow us to get a clear picture of who you are both internally and externally from certain people in life, as well as from yourself.

[00:16:22] And it all comes together to show you like this is who you are. And then it's sometimes very hard and oftentimes very hard to see that. But once you see it, now you can give yourself permission to improve. I think that the biggest issue we have in life, the biggest hardship that people have to experiences all the effort, but none of the words.

[00:16:42] They put time, energy, effort, money into something and go, how come I don't have any more money or freedom or free time I'm working so hard. And I go because you essentially were doing things, but you didn't look at what you needed to do. You didn't see what you needed to see about yourself. So it's like climbing a ladder, leaning against the building.

[00:16:59] You [00:17:00] get to the top of the ladder and go, oh, the ladder is leaning against the wrong building. I didn't do my work. Therefore, you didn't make progress. If another one, there's holes in a bucket, you didn't patch your hole. Like maybe you looked at bucket and said, okay. On the bottom of the center, got to put a patch there.

[00:17:13] And I got to put a patch to the top left here, and you started patching holes, but then you that's somebody else's holes in their bucket. So that didn't even relate to you that the orientation, those holes are different for you. So when you can do that properly, now you can actually do the right stuff to make the right progression.

[00:17:28] Hala Taha: So it's funny. I feel like I've been having this conversation about identity with a lot of my guests in different ways. And I guess what I want to ask you is there a need to categorize different elements of your life? So for example, a lot of us focus about who we want to be when it comes to our career or our finances, but we forget about health.

[00:17:47] We forget about relationships and all these other things that. Also priorities and important. So how would you go about thinking about who you want to be in terms of your identity and is there a need to categorize [00:18:00] them or give us your example of your description of your identity so we can understand how to go about it?

[00:18:04] Anthony Trucks: Yeah. So you're at, Denny's in a show and a lot of the scenarios it's going to show up, usually in health, wealth, relationships, your health, physical, mental, all that kind of stuff, your wealth, what am I doing to create income and create wealth and, live my life with freedom and control. And then also like your relationships, like it's going to be, how do you show up in your marriage and your parenting and your brother as a sister as whatever.

[00:18:22] And so all these areas have a different identity and version of you there. They're usually rooted in some of the same stuff, but you have to understand we'll call it what the levers you have to pull. Because most of us have no idea. Like when I talk about actually part of what we do is we architect a zone identity and then just to make sure it makes sense.

[00:18:39] There's a level when we're in the zone, we're just impenetrable. We have confidence. We flow, we're clear, we're operational. We're just, everything seems to move in. The world seems to just fade away and I'm at full speed, right? That's a zone and that's a version of our identity that we have to shift. But most people aren't aware of what's going on, right?

[00:18:54] So that's the first piece of it. But you have to actually craft that you architect that before you can activate in your life,
[00:19:00] but you need to know what the different levers are. Then a light architect. There's six of them and they float in this other pool, which we'll talk about in a second. But the first six, the base core ones are beliefs, thoughts, actions, mindset, habits, and ego.

[00:19:14] And all those are like a Venn diagram, your beliefs, thoughts and actions are the core pieces. And then you have overlapping beliefs and thoughts or mindset, overlapping actions, and thoughts are habits, overlapping actions and beliefs are your personal pride ego. And when you understand all these areas, and then you create the version of your zone identity with these.

[00:19:33] So what does my zone identity beliefs? What does it think? What actions does it take? What are the habits it has? What are the, what's the mindset it has? What are the things that are anchor that's personal pride and attachment to work feels proud that it did this when you can think, okay, that's this level of my zone.

[00:19:49] Now I got to architect the actions that allow me to habitually do things to become that, to be able to not just say, I think that could be a podcaster, but no, I believe my podcaster because of [00:20:00] blank. So when I look at the work I'm doing and how I talk to people, the first part of it is understanding the levers.

[00:20:06] And then once you understand what they are now, you can create something that allows you to pull those levers to where you've actually set yourself up in time. You become that.

[00:20:15] Hala Taha: Oh, my gosh. That's super powerful. I recommend that everybody go rewind that back because he dropped so many gems. So let's go back to your story.

[00:20:22] You had a huge identity shift at one point in your career, you're in the NFL. Then you had a terrible shoulder injury and you found yourself at the height of your career. And then the next minute you were a personal trainer and all that really mattered, I think, was caring for your family. So what was that shift like for you?

[00:20:42] How did you come out the other side? Because a lot of people would have been just devastated from that point and maybe given up on their career where you went on to become a speaker and you went on to do a million other positive things. So how did you get over that hump?

[00:20:57] Anthony Trucks: I did the work I teach at back [00:21:00] then. I didn't know what I was doing it, you can start something out. It's like the first iterations ah, it just sucks. You'd like you tattoo your own leg and then eventually you're doing these amazing, tattoos, same thing. It's no different. I started out by looking at my life and then I go into a lot of different stuff of conversations.

[00:21:15] I had to have ownership. I needed to take on situations, realizing that I was the common denominator in all of my problems, like certain little things, but then you start navigating through it. And what took me, years to figure out I've been able to collapse down for months for people. And they can actually go through the exact same type of process.

[00:21:32] That's way more refined, way more structured, way more detailed. And it's not based on me guessing anymore. It's this is what you do and it guides you through it. So for me, what I did is, actually as I went back and took a look at my life and said what problems do I have in my life?

[00:21:45] Whether it's I caused them or I'm allowing them. And then, whereas my role in these, what are the things I need to work on? And then I gave myself some real big ego pushes and buried what I was like, I can't admit that I suck at this. No, I suck as a dad right now.

[00:21:59] I'm not a [00:22:00] very good husband. Let's be honest. Wasn't right. So when you own these things, then you can move forward. And then it goes through actually like doing research, understanding, like how, who I'm seeing and why, what I'm seeing in their life. Then you put together, it sounds odd. You put together on paper.

[00:22:13] This is the kind of identity I'd like to be. I'd like to be this guy. And this is why it's incredibly important to think about it. I always talk to clients and they tell me their visions and their dreams. And we live in a world with vastly too much information. And people assume that success is on the other side of some skillset or some book or some course, they think that's success.

[00:22:32] What I've found is there are a lot of people with great information, but not the same levels of success. So when you get to it, there's one moment that always seems to rise up in the moment is simple and clear. It's a moment of, I got to get something. But I don't feel like it. And so I make an excuse of I'm tired or it's been a long day or my wife's bugging me or the kids are acting up or the dog is sick or it was windy today, whatever.

[00:22:52] And then what ends up happening is when I have clients that'll come to me and we had something supposed to be done and they didn't do it. And I go why didn't you get it done? They'll give you one of these [00:23:00] excuses. And I go, Hey, remember that goal? You said you wanted to blank. They go, yeah.

[00:23:03] I go the person who has that right now, would they make this excuse? It's a very straightforward at that moment. She'll go. Oh, so it doesn't matter what I know. It's who I am with what I know. That's the key. So this is why identity is such an important piece. So when you start architecting and creating who is that person that wouldn't quit, that wouldn't stop.

[00:23:24] It's not some emotional in the moment I push hard mindset thing. No, it's a tactical. How do they navigate hardships? How do they handle conversations that are difficult? How do they organize their schedule? How do they do X, Y, and Z? And you craft that, what are their beliefs? What are they telling themselves?

[00:23:36] Their thoughts? How has their mindset anchored? What habits they actually have? Not that they want to have what they're doing. Do they get up every morning early? Do they stretch for, they go to sleep? They, eat healthy food. What do they do? And then you start looking at that's what I need to put into my life.

[00:23:50] So then for me, we take that and that's what I did back when I was going through the world's like, how do I do this stuff and make it real? And you just put it into your life, which is [00:24:00] simple, but not because I know a lot of people that have planners with no idea how to plan. It's like I got this cool plan and I don't do anything with it, but that's, you have to put it into your life once you've done that previous thinking.

[00:24:10] Now it has to go into your life.

[00:24:13] Hala Taha: Now and is what you're talking about, your GPS planner, or is that something different.

[00:24:18] Anthony Trucks: For me to be quite honest. And then I was like, all right I guess a lot of people can use it. So then I got like 500 of them made and I shipped them out to my house. And now when people buy them, I just send them out.

[00:24:26] But this, it could be any planner. I just made one that works well with my system. So for me, all the things we do, it always trickles it back to the thinking. Cause everybody thinks and it trickles back to the thinking, then I go, okay, great. Now that I've thought this out, let me make this real.

[00:24:39] There are a lot of people who operate in the world of what I do and they give great thoughts, powerful concepts, great imagination of what it could be. And then you think it's all good, but then no one says, all right, this is exactly how it becomes real in your life. They give you homework sometimes, but like the homeworks that thing you do today, and you're done, it's think about it.

[00:24:56] When I went to school, I had a test to take or homework to do. I [00:25:00] forgot what I did the day after. So how in the world has that become who you are? I realize it has to happen a bitch. There's the method at the end of it gets to a point where I take all of those things and I give you a discipline system.

[00:25:12] It's tied to the planners, tied to planning, but it takes into account all this stuff we thought through well in advance. And now it brings it down to five things. People do every day. You do these five things. I promise you. After 90 days, you will look back and go. I am not the same person. I was 90 days ago and I have more than I had tangibly.

[00:25:30] I did 90 days ago. And the process should feel like a coffee shop moment. Like I used to go to the coffee shop and do like long days, and I remember I'd get there and I'd scroll through my phone for the first couple of minutes and I would look around and then eventually be like, I gotta focus.

[00:25:43] And I would put my head down. And first five, 10 minutes, I'm like focused on the fact that I'm trying to focus. But after a while, like I pop up in three hours disappeared. I'm like, where did the three hours go? Holy crap. I was just in. And when you're in flow with the discipline system in life, it's the same thing.

[00:25:59] It's like the [00:26:00] first day, two days, two weeks, you're thinking about it. But after a while, all of a sudden, some, it just drowns out and you're in flow. You're heading in the zone and then you pop up three months later, six months later and you go, oh, I got a business. That's running. I'm making money right now.

[00:26:14] Or my marriage is great. My relationship's great. I've taken trips. Like I'm in good. I'm in better shape. All these things happened. And it almost seems like it happened unconscious. But it didn't, you just kept doing what you were doing, what you did it with a process of finally crafting who you want to be.

[00:26:29] Hala Taha: This episode of YAP is sponsored by Fiverr. Have you ever noticed how finishing a project is much harder than starting it? We all get these big, shiny ideas. We feel motivated. We write out a plan and milestones, but then when it actually comes to getting each action item done, we fall short fires, come up.

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[00:28:20] This episode of YAP is brought to you by Gusto. If you're a small business owner, this is for you. Running a business is just playing hard. There's endless to do lists employees to take care of and your ever present bottom line. So first of all, kudos to you for staying on top of it. Gusto. Wasn't just built for small businesses.

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[00:30:04] So let's talk about people who struggle being successful. So we all know those people who have goals and then never end up accomplishing them. Yeah. They want to do something. They talk about it all the time, but then they actually don't go out and do anything. So what are some of the big obstacles when it comes to actually achieving our desired identity and how can that means?

[00:30:26] Anthony Trucks: Some of the big obstacles are going to be one having. Just operating off of sheer emotion ah, I'm going to do it. I want to be this, I want to do this. I'm going to quit smoking. And it's yeah, but you got no plan. You just feel like that today. But then tomorrow when it's long day and that smoke will make it feel real good, you go take it, you take it.

[00:30:39] So the idea is like most people, they don't grasp that, that it can yeah. Would be this thing where you operate off of most. You've got to have a strategic plan in place that allows you to understand what you're doing. And then I think that there's other pieces. Like you gotta have accountability.

[00:30:50] You need somebody else who knows what's going on. So when you're weak times, you can push forward and you have to find ways to do things that make you feel like it's [00:31:00] not who you are to do it. And people will say the comfort zone, get out of your comfort zone. And so what that really looks like it's Hey, I got a business to grow in order to grow the business.

[00:31:10] I need to go and ask people to pay me money for this. Now it's easy to sit on a computer and make things on cans on pretty images and post videos that nobody right. But it's very hard for a lot of people to get into a conversation and say, Hey, I did this thing. It'll help you pay me $20,000 for this.

[00:31:28] It's very scary. And so most people like they'll avoid that and they'll find ways to not, and then go home. I'm broke. Yeah. Cause you aren't doing this stuff right. Cause that's out of character. So in order to get there, you must do things that are in the character. Of the person who has what you want most because the person who has $20,000 clients, they're probably asking for them to pay them $20,000.

[00:31:50] It's logic. We don't think of it this way. We always wonder I'm doing the stuff I'm doing the work, you aren't doing the right stuff. And so you've got to start looking at what are the things that are incredibly out of [00:32:00] my comfort zone that are in the character of the person who has a life I want.

[00:32:05] Hala Taha: I think that's totally true.

[00:32:06] I think anytime you're out of your comfort zone, you're actually growing. That is what growing feels like. It feels like being out of your comfort zone. It feels like something new. And you need to get used to being uncomfortable if you want to be successful. So I totally agree there. Okay. So how does the ego play into all of this?

[00:32:23] Because I know ego is a big part of it. I know you have a cool acronym for ego. I'd love to understand how ego relates to everything we're talking about.

[00:32:32] Anthony Trucks: That's the thing. It does. Your ego shows up to protect what the actions who you see yourself to be. And this is the thing is mostly people assume it's always bad, but that ego is actually one of the greatest tools we have for success.

[00:32:42] So my ego, when I played professional football said, you're a football player, dude. So you'd better eat, right? Lift weights, run routes, learn a playbook, tackle people that your ego is attached to the actions to be able to say, see, that's who I am. Now the problem is the ego just protects the identity. It doesn't gauge whether or not it [00:33:00] should protect it.

[00:33:00] It just does. So whenever you're a bad communicator, you're, maybe not the most honest person of integrity, maybe you're a little bit lazy. It will again, protect that identity. And so it shows up in ways to block you. It's, everyone's greatest opportunity, but also everyone's greatest obstacle because whenever you want to grow to the next level, It's going to force you to have to look at yourself and see things that you aren't that great at.

[00:33:22] Give yourself permission to improve in that area. But the ego steps in and says no, I, I don't need any help in this business. I'm okay. It's all her fault. And the relationship that's what's going on, or I'm just too busy to go to my kids' sports games. I got to the businesses here. It's no, man, your ego is protecting the horrible part of your identity right now.

[00:33:38] And the longer you let that happen, the longer you'll sustain this negative feeling of your life, you gotta be able to go in and go. Yeah, I suck at that. Pull the Eagle back so you can go, like I suck at that area. So I must improve. Cause the cool thing is the moment you do that, you actually relieve all the stress because if anybody comes up and says, Hey, you're a bad dad.

[00:33:58] He'd go. Yeah, you're right. I'm working on that. And you're [00:34:00] not a great communicator. You're right. I've been working on that now. What are they going to say to you? So this area that most people step into, they don't realize that the ego they have is their biggest hindrance and their biggest obstacle.

[00:34:10] But if you can learn to take care of it and control it differently and manage it properly, it'll give you all the green lights to create whatever you want.

[00:34:17] Hala Taha: Are there any actionable tips that you can give us in terms of getting over our ego and realizing when the ego is getting in our way and how to get it?

[00:34:27] Anthony Trucks: Yeah. You get to protect your identity which you have in place or push away success. There's. Practical tips are in the moment of it. Whenever you feel like that ball in your stomach, climb to your throat and you get angry when somebody says something, because in the back of your head, you're like, how dare you poke that on me?

[00:34:44] And I've sort example. I got a guy who's a buddy of mine who calls is, Hey, my girlfriend and I are having our arguments, a little prompt conversation. I go, what's going on? He says she don't. She had some issues take place. And she went somewhere. She didn't want to. But she didn't actually say get me some chocolate.

[00:34:57] She just mentioned she wanted, but like her thinking [00:35:00] of it made me think shop. It sounds good. So I went, I got some chocolate for myself and I ate it all and she was mad. Hey Hala. See what I'm saying? How crazy this. Some people think though, unconscious, he wasn't even thinking about it. So he's the chocolate.

[00:35:10] She's mad. Why is she mad? She's being around. She's not being irrational first off. She mentioned somebody, but she didn't ask directly. I said, I know she didn't ask directly, but you're saying it to me because part of you knows that there's something off here. But I said on top of that, you got to realize that you did something off and if you don't, then you're going to do it again and again, because you will protect that part of your identity and whatever it is.

[00:35:29] Or you can pull the ego back. We'll go, look, I messed up. But in that room, he goes, I felt like she was attacking me. I know it feels like that she wasn't attacking you. You just feel bad because she pointed something out that you know is true and you might have to accept that and work on it. It's not an attack.

[00:35:46] It's just, it's an attack on your ego, but not attack on you. And so you'll notice it in the moments where you feel attacked or you feel like there's it. Like you feel like you want to fire back at somebody. Cause it said something to you. But if you learn to listen to [00:36:00] what people are saying, not just how they're saying it, you'll find that the world's trying to give you ways to improve everybody in your life who loves you.

[00:36:08] They're saying things to you because they want you to be, but no one wants someone that love to feel like crap that I know. I've never met anybody where I got, I love you. And I hate you. I'm a kick in the teeth, right? We're saying things that we think in our head like, man, if you just do this, you'd like to be better.

[00:36:21] You could do better, but you're taking it as an attack on your persona. It's typically not. There's obviously moments where there are, let's be honest, there's some sucky people, but the majority of it's not, but we feel it that way. So a tactical thing would be like, when you feel. Stop for a second.

[00:36:34] And question go, why do I feel that is there truth to it? If there is truth to it, can I own up to it and admit it and then give myself permission to improve? Because the moment you give yourself permission to improve, here's a beautiful thing. You release that anxiety because now you've admitted it's it feels bad for a second.

[00:36:51] Then it drops off the deep end. Like I don't feel bad anymore. And you now have an ally. Somebody wants to be there to support you, to help you to love on you. [00:37:00] And you find you actually deepen relationship. So like it should be when you still feel those moments, those should be precursors. That kind of notify you like, oh, egos popping up right now.

[00:37:09] Let me take a look at this.

[00:37:11] Hala Taha: That's such great advice. So I know that you talk about identity shift. You've got three steps to have an identity shift. It's C shift and sustain. Can you walk us through that?

[00:37:22] Anthony Trucks: We've been doing a lot of it just conversation. Look at it like this, see shifts sustain.

[00:37:26] It can show up in what I call like your zone identity, but there's three stages. So the first one C is like seeing your zone legs. If you want to get to the zone, there are things that are lagging behind there, the parachutes pulling on the car. So you got to find out what are the things that are keeping me stuck?

[00:37:39] What are the holes in my bucket? So that's the C phase, the shifts phases, the work it's actually creating. What's called a personalized shift plan. It's from you seeing what you need to work on, and then you crafting an actual plan. To take care of it. Doesn't always mean you're activating and putting in the world just yet.

[00:37:54] Just means you're crafting that plans, like, all right, this is what I need to do to change my life. It's certainty. [00:38:00] That's the one thing a lot of us lack is certainty and the way we do it, you come out of that. You look at a piece of paper and go, dang. If I did this, I would become this. And I would have that.

[00:38:11] I'd have the car, the house, the relationship. So this is what I got to do to become that person that has those things. Then the last piece is what's called a discipline system. It's a system that you put in place around your life, how you structure things, how you plan things, how you infuse stuff into your life, how you keep good boundaries.

[00:38:27] So people don't come and tear down your plan and your process, and you can stay in flow. If you fall off track how to get back on track. This is all part of it. And when you had the discipline system, that's you at the coffee shop, head goes down. I go to work. And then all of a sudden, here's the crazy thing in the beginning.

[00:38:43] It is hard to do. It really is a lot of the things we talk about habits wise that are out of character. It's hard to do, but here's what happens after a while you've been doing it for awhile. It becomes who you are to do it. So where in the beginning, it was really hard for you to do that. It now becomes [00:39:00] harder to not do it.

[00:39:01] Let me explain this. I get, I hope this one we got anywhere in this conversation is where we need people to get. When we're looking for identity shift, let's say, for example, it's cold calling in your business in the beginning. It will be incredibly hard for you to do it, but then you do it enough to where like you get success and you find it's who you are to do it.

[00:39:16] It will be the thing where it's hard for you to not do that every day. And so what happens is when it's that level, it's easy. It's effortless effort. And now it happens. These would get the same, if not more return than you did when it was hard to do, because you could do more of it, it's easy. And that shows up in any place in your life.

[00:39:34] And when you can transition to that shift of this hard stuff is now it's who I am so much, so that it's easy to do. You start accumulating so much momentum that people look at you and think you're magical. No, I just, I made this shift and this is not who I am.

[00:39:48] Hala Taha: And did you go over the last one that the tree step?

[00:39:51] Anthony Trucks: That's actually part of the process.

[00:39:53] That's, what's called a sub framework, but yeah the actual beginning of all of this comes down to I look at like the GPS, like I want to go somewhere [00:40:00] and then I got to chart that path. But most of the time I had to figure out where you starting, cause GPS needs to destination or to deaths and locations where I'm at, where I'm going.

[00:40:08] So we do something called roots and fruits. It's 10 separate sections of who you are that create the tree of life. That is you. And when you anchor these down and you're clear on them, it actually gives you the ability to understand where you need to make improvements in your actual life experience and that weaves into the process as well.

[00:40:24] But that's more of our measuring tool. We start with that, get a clear picture where you're at and we periodically are checking that throughout. So you have this tangible, like numeric base of oh, I see myself making this shift.

[00:40:34] Hala Taha: Got it. Okay. So I want to talk about environment because all of this sounds great, but I feel that if you're not in a healthy environment, it is almost impossible to do anything like this.

[00:40:45] I've been in situations where, for example, I started a company that I know how 63 employees. And when I was first starting my company, my partner at the time was really negative about it and told me that I couldn't do it and told me I was crazy for quitting my [00:41:00] job. And it was really hard for me to actually make that shift into an entrepreneur because I had a lot of people in my life who were telling me you can't do it.

[00:41:07] You're not good enough. Like it's not going to happen. I proved them all wrong, but. I feel like I would have made that shift a lot quicker. Had I just had more healthy environment about that specific topic. So what do we do for in a bad environment? And in your opinion, does it not matter? Can you do this no matter what environment you're in?

[00:41:25] Anthony Trucks: No, that's a big piece of it. So in the roots and fruits, one of it is actually like it's friends, it's family. It's where you place your energy, because the problem is for a lot of people, they think they can do it in a bubble. And then all of a sudden pop out to the world and say, Hey, look at me world, but we're not humans that are built like that.

[00:41:38] We are literally designed. Tom is how we're built from handshakes to eyeballs, to the vote. The fact that I can vote I have a brain chemistry that, that figures some thought out and it puts it into my lungs. I push air through vocal chords, into a microphone, out to your ears. You hear it. And it does something to your brain.

[00:41:53] That's a divine design that's not an accident, so you can't operate in a silo. And so what I've found is you've gotta be around and here's why you [00:42:00] gotta be around people. There's a lot that we don't know. We don't. There's just too much. There's vast amounts of knowledge that we'll never even realize we don't have access to.

[00:42:07] But what I've found is when you're around people, there's this weird there's a great book called Outwitting The Devil it's about harmonizing. And when you around higher-level people you'll naturally harmonize what they think, how they flow. It'll feel like a fish out of water when you're first around them.

[00:42:21] And they elevate your conscious thought of what's possible beyond what you could have thought on your own. And so when you want to elevate yourself, people are like, get around the great people. You're the average of the fight you get to surround yourself with. And I don't believe that to be a hundred percent true.

[00:42:33] I think 90% true. I think you are the expectations of the fight you've used, surround yourself with. And the difference is actually pretty big because if I say I want to make $2 million and I have a half a million dollars right now, you'd assume you got to hang out with millionaires people that have a million dollars.

[00:42:50] And I'm like, okay, but what if none of them want to make more than a million. There's a guy that's side by side and we both $500,000 a year. We both want to make 2 million I'm with him [00:43:00] because his expectations are above the millionaires. Now they may have different information. I may go piece and grab some things, but I want to be with the people that have expectations, the place I want to go.

[00:43:10] So that's the difference. And so that's why environment and community is big because you feed off them, but you also get insights and information that you would never have created in your own brain.

[00:43:18] Hala Taha: Oh, my gosh. I love that expectations. I think that's great. Okay. I want to talk about your new book. Identity Shift comes out in August. Is that correct?

[00:43:27] Anthony Trucks: That is correct. Yes.

[00:43:29] Hala Taha: Awesome. What can people expect from your book?

[00:43:31] Anthony Trucks: You can expect two things. One it's anchoring the concept down. So I wrote it in a way that gets you to get it. If that makes sense. I want people to really embody and embrace it, like digest, that's what identity is.

[00:43:41] And then from there, the concepts go into action because I think there's a lot of good books and teachings that give you the concept and you go, okay. And then you got to figure out what to do with it all. Whereas for me in the book I put in our shift method, like the baseline understanding of it's all inside there.

[00:43:56] And so what happens is you could actually go in and then read through it. And then [00:44:00] now that you read through, you understand. Anybody listening. Now, if you go to identityshiftbook.com and use the code Y, which is the code specific first podcast I give you after you've bought the book, the audio book, the digital book, and a workbook that allows you to increase the cognitive rigor of this, which means you learn it in the book, but then.

[00:44:17] How often we read books and forget 90% of what they were, or as for me, I'm like, I want you to get it, but if you can get it, listen to it, then go apply a couple of different, think through critical thinking, oh, it anchors itself. So now in your subconscious, you've rooted some thoughts of how you're giving yourself permission, how you're taking action, what you're doing, and then you can actually make that shift.

[00:44:35] Hala Taha: Awesome. And I'll definitely stick that link in the show notes. Thank you for creating something custom for my audience. And the last question I ask all my guests, and this is an opportunity for you to share something that you wanted to talk about that maybe you didn't get to is what is your secret to profiting in life?

[00:44:51] Anthony Trucks: Peace. That's it? That's the answer. I wish there was a better one. I think that there's this desire for people to be somewhere at all times. That they're not at [00:45:00] currently. And for me, I found a great way to fall in love with the day and not the destination. And there's something unique about that in my mind, because it's like metaphorically.

[00:45:10] Think about if I was to travel to wherever you're at. I'm just gonna assume you're not where you at. I just maybe ask that you're a New Jersey I'm on the other side of the world or country. That world might as well be the world sometimes. So if I want to go to your house, I leave my house and I, the car to get me as late and it's freezing outside.

[00:45:25] I'm stuck in the rain. And then I get to the airport, my flights delay, and I got to sit next to a baby when I get on. And then I land and then the th the car I get into texting to the wrong location. Then I get to the place, even if their place was amazing and beautiful. I still walk in a frumpy mood, because the journey there, so even the destination being great, doesn't help. But if I leave the house and it's beautiful outside, and limo picks you up early, I get to the airport and they say, sir, we're gonna upgrade you to first-class cool. And I land and I get there as a meal waiting, you got a little sign Hey, let's get some food.

[00:45:52] And we go to the place, even if your house is dirty and not ready to go. Cool. So in a good mood, we'll get it cleaned. There's I got time cause I'm in a good mood and I enjoy the destination [00:46:00] or the journey. So what I'm looking at for my life, I believe is seeking peace and not in a, like a sit in a pillow, but I think peace is finding joy in things that you don't want to do.

[00:46:09] There's things like I had a two hour drive to, and from a podcast this morning to get back to my house in here the whole time I could've been funky oh, I've got to drive two hours. And I was like, I could listen to music and I get to look at the mountains and I get to see people in cars. And I get there.

[00:46:23] I get to hang out with cool people. I get to come back and talk to Hala. My family's here. Like I seek active joy and I find peace in it. Therefore, here's the cool thing. And why it's so important. You experienced the world different because I can only give out what I have. And whatever I give out the world is a mirror reflects back to me.

[00:46:40] If I give out funkiness, cause funk is in me. I get funky back and I hate life. But if I have like peace, I give out peace. The world sees the peace for flexing back to me. I experienced life different. And then I have joy. When I create things. I have joy. When I show up in my business, I make more money because people like to be around me more.

[00:46:56] I'm in a better mood majority of the time. So the world reflects back [00:47:00] positive things. And so for me, that's, what's allowed me to be as profitable and successful in my life is just having more peace and seeking that in the day-to-day.

[00:47:08] Hala Taha: For some reason, another question popped in my mind and that's forgiveness because you having such a crazy life, like you're talking about pieces for me.

[00:47:17] That's how I profit in life. I'm peaceful. And to me, that sounds like I'm not resentful from my past either. And for all that, you could be easily a very resentful person. Knowing how you grew up and different things that have happened in your life. So what is forgiveness? How did you forgive people in your life for what they did to you?

[00:47:38] Because you had a lot of people who did bad things to you and you're alone.

[00:47:43] Anthony Trucks: So I put logic to it. When emotions, high intelligence actually gets low, in my opinion, like we don't think, we don't process smooth. We just, we think in red or we think in whites, just oh, it's all amazing. Right?

[00:47:53] And so I started to think, I was like, all these people have made me feel horrible. And I started thinking like why? And a couple of things have come to light [00:48:00] for me. Like I had a mom that gave me away a real dad who didn't come around, whatever was born ever until I found him later on in life. I've had, things in my marriage happened.

[00:48:07] I've had things in business happen. And what I've noticed for all of them are two things. One. Is everybody was doing their thing. And there might've been one or two people my entire life, but majority of people, they did things for themselves. Not to maliciously hurt me. It wasn't a tactic or employed to try to actively make Anthony feel bad.

[00:48:26] It was like, I'm going to do this thing for me. And I'm doing it for me. Unfortunately, that sucks for him. That's just the nature of it. So I was like, all right, so they didn't do it to intentionally hurt me. Okay where do I take the anger too? And then I go to the fact of if they did it for themselves, selfishly, why would they do that?

[00:48:41] And then to a find that most people just, they didn't get the right home training, man. They would avoid of something that they needed in their life to be able to be who they needed to be for me. And so am I going to get pestered as zebra? Because it has stripes. It's man, I'm gonna carry this anger around when the reality is it's have to have compassion.

[00:48:57] Like my real mom has lived the rest of her [00:49:00] life, knowing she didn't get to do anything in my world and experience me as an adult man with my wife and my kids. She's gonna miss out on that forever. There's a compassion, almost a pity. It's man, that's sad simply because her parents and her world didn't give her the tools she needed to be a present mom.

[00:49:15] Now I'm not saying she's not at fault for some of this stuff because at a certain point you're aware. But am I going to care? I don't need to carry that. In fact I feel sorry for you. Like it sucks. You get there, you get to miss out on this man in my life. And then on top of that, one of the big things I look at is like, when you go off in the world, if you really care about somebody, you really want them to do good.

[00:49:30] And the longer you hold that, that shame and kind of heavy over them, they can't grow out of it. And then on top of that, you go back to that same what you have inside you give out. And if I care that around all day long, that comes out of me and the world reflects it back. And if you're in a relationship and you have trust issues because your mom gave you away with every time that person goes out, all of a sudden you're like, where are you at?

[00:49:51] What's going on? And then you cause havoc in their relationship. And now you're self sabotage and that person feels crappy. And all of a sudden guess what happens in your life? You did it not to [00:50:00] intentionally hurt that person, but they feel like, look, you should trust me. I've done nothing to make you not trust when you're making them feel bad.

[00:50:06] And all of a sudden, now you got to experience that. And it's a weird crappy cycle. That's all these things tie together. So I started looking at logic when I started looking at forgiveness and saying, man, first doctor, they do it intentionally to try and hurt my life. And then if not, like what skill were they not given what was taken from them?

[00:50:24] And what is something that I can have compassion?

[00:50:28] Hala Taha: Super powerful stuff. I'm so glad that we went down that road because I think it's really important for my listeners to understand. Cause I totally agree. Your energy is everything. And what you put out to the world, what you think about in your head, what you're feeling is literally what the world is giving back to you at all times.

[00:50:42] So it's really important to protect your energy. And proactively try to your point, feel joy, feel peace, feel that higher vibration. So you can get that back into your life and get abundance in your life. So I totally agree there. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and everything that you do?

[00:50:58] Anthony Trucks: You go to [00:51:00] anthonytrucks.com or Instagram @anthonytrucks, or go to identityshiftbook.com and grab the book and find out more about me there.

[00:51:06] Hala Taha: Thank you so much. It was such a great conversation.

[00:51:09] Anthony Trucks: Very welcome.

[00:51:10] Hala Taha: Thanks for listening to Young And Profiting Podcast. If you haven't yet, make sure you take a moment to subscribe to this podcast.

[00:51:16] So you can always keep up with our latest content. Anthony gave us such great insight on what identity truly means and how we can actionably shift it. He spent years of his childhood in and out of foster homes. He experienced abuse at a young age. The first shift happened in his life when he started identifying himself as a football player.

[00:51:36] He defines identity as who you are when you're not thinking about who you are. Again, that's who you are when you are not thinking about who you are, your identity is how you show up in the world. And by changing his outlook on his identity, Anthony achieved the ultimate goal of going pro and in NFL.

[00:51:54] Shifting is not about changing who we are. It's about upgrading who we are. The first step in [00:52:00] Shifting is the C step. This is all about clarity to truly see yourself. You have to recognize your life and your experiences. You have to determine what actions you can take to improve your own value. To actually Shift.

[00:52:13] Anthony told us to focus on one daily. It's just in the right direction. After 90 days, that one thing will become a routine. Shifting is all about having a plan to follow through. And the sustained step enables us to have a discipline system to keep our planning and processes alive. Another huge takeaway from this interview was when Anthony talked about ego is actually one of the greatest tools we have for success.

[00:52:36] It can be everyone's greatest opportunity or everyone's greatest obstacle. Most of the time we need to reflect on our ego and see how we can improve ourselves. If we can control our ego, it will give us all the green lights to get where we want in life. If you want to learn more about how to delve into self discovery and transform your life, check out episode number 41 Transformed From The Inside Out with Mark Metry.

[00:52:59] And [00:53:00] that episode, I talk with mark about his journey as a young entrepreneur and how he turned his life from awkward teen to celebrity podcasts, or here's the clip from that episode.

[00:53:09] Mark Metry: So first off, I'm definitely human in the sense of I have insecurities, I have fears. I sometimes try to run away from pain and I don't like it and things of that nature, but also growing up the way that I did and being locked almost in like my own mind for like almost a decade.

[00:53:25] I slowly begin to realize the importance of just enduring something, feeling that pain so that. Your mind almost is depending on your perspective, of course, cause there's a lot of people who do go through the pain, but they never ended up coming out that ended up shifting their perspective and using that pain as a way to build their mind.

[00:53:44] And I know today, like there's no way I could possibly be doing what I'm doing, like speaking and podcast and all this stuff without going through. A ton of social anxiety. And without going through, literally every single day, my brain telling me you're a loser, stop [00:54:00] talking. You shouldn't talk to these people versus now being on a stage and talking to people.

[00:54:04] And my brain still operates in that same way, but because I've seen this happen so often, I'm now able to be like, I literally don't care. What anybody thinks about me or what my brain is telling me, people thinks about me cause there's a big difference. And so it's just a massive grower and obviously I'm still human.

[00:54:22] Sometimes I try to run away from it. But I know like in the long-term it's good. And like I read this quote, "It's like a bad day for the ego is a great day for the soul". And it's basically like when you go through hard times, it's going to suck, but you've just got to realize this is just part of reality.

[00:54:37] This is just part of existence. There's ups and downs, and those downs are going to bring you up. If you're able to shift your perspective and really use it to grow rather than. Oh, this thing, socks or that thing, or like what? I hear a lot of people my age in this complain and blame culture.

[00:54:54] Hala Taha: Again, if you'd like to learn more about an efficient growth mindset and how to transform your life by pushing through [00:55:00] pain, check out episode number 41 Transformed From The Inside Out with Mark Metry. And as always, I want to end this episode with the recent Apple Podcast review. And this week, shout out, goes to Danny365, powerful and insightful podcast.

[00:55:13] Hala is an incredible interviewer and asks really probing questions. You almost feel like you're in the studio with them when she chats with her guests. Thank you so much, Danny, for listening and for taking the time to write us a thoughtful review. I'm super happy to hear you feel the intimacy of the conversations.

[00:55:31] I try to know everything about my guests, so they feel comfortable in opening up and knowing that I fully prepared for the interviews. And of course, I want to give a big kudos to my assistant producer and lead researcher Gretta. For all her hard work and supporting me with these episodes, she prepares bio's and brief's and facts and questions.

[00:55:50] And then I do my own research as well, and it makes for a really great dynamic duo. So shout out to Gretta and shout out to Danny365 for leaving us this amazing review. And if you [00:56:00] want to be featured on Young And Profiting Podcast. Please remember to like, subscribe and give us a five star review on Apple Podcasts.

[00:56:07] That is the number one way to support us at Young And Profiting Podcast. It's a free and effective way to show your support. So please take a moment, write us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. And if you don't have access to Apple Podcasts, you can try Castbox, PodBean. Wherever you listen to this show should be fine.

[00:56:23] And go ahead, share Young And Profiting Podcast with your friends and family on social media. Absolute most favorite thing. When listeners take a screenshot of their app, listening to the end of the show, then they upload it to Instagram, tag me @yapwithhala, and then let's chop it up in the DM's. I would love to connect with you.

[00:56:42] You can find me on LinkedIn as well, and we are so thankful for our listeners. Thank you again for tuning into another wonderful episode of Young And Profiting Podcast. Big thanks to the YAP team. Always. This is Hala I signing off.