Episode 32 Body - Ewan

In this podcast episode, the hosts discuss a three-step formula for achieving goals. The formula involves identifying what you want, understanding why you want it, and determining the steps to achieve it. They emphasize the importance of writing down goals and tracking progress. The hosts also discuss the significance of having a strong emotional connection to your goals, as it will help you stay motivated during challenges. They use the example of wanting to reach 100,000 podcast downloads per year as a goal. The hosts believe that having a strong why, such as wanting to help and impact others, is crucial for achieving success. We are live on the Level Up and Live with my co-captain, Ewan Heinemeier. Ready to rumble. Let's do it. Yeah, man. So today we have an exciting episode. I'm super pumped. You fired up? I'm very fired up. A tad nervous. We had our morning run, seven miles, cold plunge, FIDE. So the energy is pumping. Let's go. My heartbeat tells me about 160, 170 right now. It's gonna be fun. So today we're going to be covering the three-step formula. What is that three-step formula, Ewan Heinemeier? I don't know. And that's why we're going to talk to you today. So this is interesting because normally we'll... I like to pitch on his brain and like, how does he do things? And we're going to flip it and use what it is that he would do on me. And there's also going to be something in the show notes for you. We'll mention more of that later. But it's going to be... I'm literally... I just said it before this episode started that I need to download it to do this myself because I don't do this. This is not normal for me. But I really want to do it and I want to see where it goes and where it ends up as far as 2024. What do I want? How am I going to get it? And how do I not trip up? How do I not not get it, right? Let me correct you. So the three-step formula is what is it that you want? And you have to say the end because we're going to give you the key ingredients that come with the formula. So what is it that you want, right? Coming up in 2024, right around the corner. Why do you want that? And then what are the steps? How are you going to get that? That is the three-step formula. So you're like, well, that sounds simple. It's easier said than done. It really is because Sean, before the start of the podcast, he's like, what do you want? And I'm like, I don't know. I said, this is why I need the download because I need to stare at this. But then he asked me a question right after. He said, well, what about this? And I was like, well, I do want that, right? So I guess we're going to kind of not role play. This is real play on what my 2024 is potentially going to look like. And this is going to be an example of one thing that I'm going to be pursuing. But it could be used for all the things. And for me, I really do want to sit down and think, like, what other things do I want to have? Yeah, so like you mentioned, the formula in the show notes, we have it all drawn out. The way I look at it is you're listening to this podcast. And for me, like I've always considered myself a mentor or a coach. So if you've got me in your life, one-on-one, I'm holding your hand through the process. That's what this formula is. If you've got this, you're printing it out, you're taking pen and paper. You've got a mini Sean on your shoulder walking you through the three-step formula to allow you to have 2024 to be your best year yet, right? For me, I've never done New Year's resolutions because most people, they fall through. For me, for my fitness, I have an image in my mind, a vision, and it manifests. I've talked about manifestation before. I don't like that word, but it's like I imagine it and it happens. And it's the same for finances, but it's almost like I wing it. And sometimes I'll ask myself a question like, oh, am I on the right track? So I think adding this in is more trackable. It's more manageable. And if I think about it, I could probably speed up the results. Like if I want to make X amount more, instead of, oh, at the end of 2024, I'll be here. Honestly, knowing myself, this is on the fly here, I know I could probably hit my results by the end of the first quarter. So yeah, let's get into it, man. This is exciting. Yeah. So what is the three-step formula you're in? What do I want? What is it that you want? I remember. You got it, baby. Yeah. All right. What is it that I want? What is it that you want? So here we go. When Sean asked me that, I said, I'm not sure. And then you brought something up that you just happened to know was important to me. And that was how many downloads do we want for this podcast? It's something that's important. Like we're really exploding. We're growing exponentially. And so I like to track numbers funnily enough, even though I don't write down my New Year's resolutions. But he said, what are the numbers? And so I haven't thought about it. So this is on the fly. But I want us to have 100,000 downloads per year. And so to break that down, we'd be looking at about 9,000 a month. And that's on the agenda. That's it? So you write that down. Yeah. You ask the question, what is it that you want? And you're going to find this in the formula. What is it that you want? Question mark. Right below that, you're going to put 100,000 downloads for the Level Up and Live podcast. And you're going to break that down. And so it's more manageable to have 9,000 per month. Because what gets managed gets measured. Yeah. And you pulled that out of me. I could have—because I know that in the back of my mind. Well, I know I want that. So why am I going to write that down? That's something in addition to. But it really is, if it's not written down or tracked, I'm just—and to me, I always hit my mark. Like I know I'm going to do this. But I think I put extra pressure on myself because I'm just willing it. I'm forcing it. But I think writing it down and then managing it, it's going to be much more—let's just say stress relief. There's going to be less pressure on me because I'm going to be able to see, is it working? Is it not working? If it's not working, then I need to pivot and then steer the ship back around. I'm saying all this on the fly, P.S., and it really—it's so ridiculous because logically it sounds—well, duh. It makes all the sense in the world that you would do that. But if it's locked up in your brain, it's a total jungle in there. When it gets out here in the real world, it becomes much more tangible, and there's something I can do with that. I was going to ask, so you were able to pull that out of me, and I'm saying I don't even know what I want. You happen to know that that's something that's really important to me and it's something I'm working on. But if you weren't here to ask that, I might be asking—I would be like, I don't know. So all the people listening, what do you say to them? Because you said if you don't really want it, even though you think you do, you're not going to get there. That's not going to happen. So it's really important that it's something that you really want. What would you say to someone that's unsure? So the second piece of the formula, and this is a beautiful—this is probably the heart and the soul of the three-step formula, is the why. Why do you want 100,000 downloads per year, 9,000 downloads per month? Why do you want it? And knowing the why, this is going to allow you to tie the emotion behind it, which is going to allow you when the times get tough, when the challenges come and the obstacles and life happens, because we're feeling good right now, but we both know tomorrow's coming and we may wake up tomorrow morning going, life punches you in the face and you get knocked down. So if that why isn't strong enough to keep you going through the thick, the good, and the ugly, then it's just not sustainable, and you won't get to your what. You won't get to those 100,000 downloads. So you have to have something powerful behind that, and that's the why. So Ewan, what is your why? Why do you want 100,000 downloads? Why do you want 9,000 downloads per month? Knowing my Enneagram, if you know what that is, it's a personality type. There's nine different personality types. I'm a three, and that's the achiever type, and so it's in my nature to want to achieve and get things, and that can be super unhealthy, it can be healthy, and it can be very healthy. There's average, unhealthy, average, and healthy. In the past, I would be wanting those to subconsciously feel good. Oh, that's my mountaintop. When I get to the mountaintop, I'll feel good. I've learned that does not work. Every time I, in the past, I'd reach a goal, a financial goal, or close a sale or do a deal, I'd be like, man, I'm empty. There's nothing here. On the healthier side, I want that 9,000 because it would mean progress. Our underlying mission is to bring hope, help people, the kind of people that we were when we were thirsty or younger and didn't have people to help us there, so that's what this podcast is about. If we're doing 9,000 a month, that means we're impacting 9,000 lives, and that's 2024's goal. Next year, man, I might 10x that. Maybe it's 90,000 a month. That sounds ridiculous. I'm an achiever type. That's not ridiculous to me. I just haven't figured out how to do it yet. It will happen. Maybe I just jump to 90,000. Let's take it back a step. To me, it's like this why is to help people, and there's no better why to serve others. Beautiful. If you're listening to this, I don't know about you all, but I just felt that. I received that. Here is the cherry on top of the why. You have to believe it yourself. You listening to this, you can believe it all day long that Ewan just said that, but he has to believe his why, his emotion behind that. Whatever it is that your why is on what it is that you want, you have to believe it deep down inside because Ewan's going to have good days and bad days. He's got kids. He's got a family. He's got work on the side. He's got life just like you do. We all get knocked down. Christmas is right around the corner. The pressure's on with presents. The economy's in shambles. Everything's going on around us. This why is the center, is the core, is the heart and the soul of getting you to what it is that you want. Last week's episode, we're discussing the three steps recipe on how to live a healthy lifestyle, how to stay in shape. That's going to be super pertinent to 2024 for a lot of people. It's always weight. I want to lose weight. We're talking about the growth of the podcast, but a lot of people, it's how they look or it's finances. They want to make more money. Those are the two standards. That's what most people are going to end up landing on. When we're talking about why, it's like, why would you want to look good? What are you going to do with the money? Why do you want it? Because, like I say, when things get tough, it's easy to be like, I'm just going to eat this thing and then eat that thing. You end up forgetting your goal by the end of the year and then you're right back to square one. That diet didn't work or I'm not in the shape I want to be, but you said that was important to you at the start of the year. How do you dial people in on that? That's one thing we've talked about. How do you get them to make it the real why? Because the real why is when you push through and get what it is that you want. How do you help people tighten that up to make sure that it's true and not, I just want to look, I really want to look good, but they don't do the things that line with that. It's not the real, it's not what they really want ultimately. What do you say to someone like that? Then there's, to me, the first thing that pops into my mind is then it's not, then you truly don't want it. There's not an emotion behind that. Then there's something missing. You're out of line with integrity. You're out of line with what it is that you want and why you want it. If you're saying these things that you want and you're not getting results, in my mind it's because you're lacking that why, that sustainability, that emotion behind that. To be completely transparent with you, I've done both. I've done it to where I've wanted something, like I've wanted the Shelby Mustang, right? I purchased the Shelby Mustang. You know my story, smiling right now, ear to ear because you know the story. Purchased the Shelby Mustang 18 months ago, I guess almost 24 months ago, and I was like, yes, what is it that I want? I want a Shelby Mustang, so I purchased it. Went down, made it happen. Fast forward two months, I'm driving this Mustang, it's cool, I thought it was going to bring me happiness, I thought it was going to bring me fulfillment, I thought it was going to bring me everything that it promises you to bring you, but to a certain degree it did, but it didn't, right? It only lasted 60 days. Do you remember what the original why, like what was the fake why? I'm getting to that. Okay. So the what was the Shelby, and then I got to two months in when guess what? I didn't have the why. Again, this was 18 months ago, this was 24 months ago, and that's why I'm such a big believer in driving the key formula in, because I didn't have the why. Why did I purchase the Shelby? I literally scratched my head in 60 days and go, why did I have this thing? I guess you did say it. Yeah, sitting in my garage. You did say it was because you wanted to look cool, you thought it would bring you happiness. Yeah, I guess to a certain degree, but it was okay. But that's not a great why, is it? No, it's surface level, and that's exactly what you're talking about right now. So you have to be intentional about this, print it out, write it down, because I've been the guy that's doing what you're thinking about doing, which is, what is it that you want? I want a car, a house, to lose 25 pounds. Well, then you either stick the why, or you come up with a surface level why, and there's no emotion behind it. If I would have spent the extra five minutes, or if I would have had the sheet, a formula in front of me writing this out, I think I would have avoided making that purchase. Well, let's play this out. Saturday, we had a great run at the run club. It was a sprint workout. We went to go get breakfast afterwards, and while we were waiting to get into breakfast, you said, me and Isaiah, little shout out, he's going to be on the podcast later on in the month, you said, I think I'm going to get another Shelby. And I burst out laughing because I know the story already. He sold it because it just wasn't fulfilling him. And I said, and I could tell in his voice, and I know how you've worked on yourself so much, and how you've changed, and how you think about things, that when you get it this time, it's going to be super different. Can you enlighten us on what's the difference this time? Like why would you get it this time, why, versus last time, why? Yeah, because so my why, because I've spent time on it, right? And so I've been able to dissect and reflect on why it is that I want another Shelby Mustang. And for me, it's, I'm in a place in my life, in a different season of my life, and it wasn't like this, but I've visualized, I've manifested, and everything that I'm sharing with you today has gotten me to where I am today. And for me, it's all about the experience, right? People, some people to some degree, you know, spend thousands of dollars on vacations and travel, right? And again, it goes back to the formula, it's like why, what is it, okay, going to the Caribbean? Why, and if there's, well, I want to get away from the madness, you know, what's going on in society back home. That's the problem, there's no emotion behind that, you're just, and so I used to be that guy, and now it's like, now it's about the experience, the presence, the beauty. When you're sitting in that Shelby, and you hear the Mustang crank up, and then when you roll the windows down, and you're cruising, and you hit that 8 RPM, the experience, the feeling that I get. See, I never dissected or reflected on any of these things when I purchased it 18 months ago. You compare that to looking cool, or thinking it's going to bring you something, as opposed to, so that was looking, and thinking, as opposed to what you just said is feeling the joy. That joy, like having it this time around will be so different, and it might be super foreign to someone that's not heard this before, but he had one, now he wants another one, how is it not going to be the same thing? It is so different, it's so different from what we're discussing right now. And if you experience any of that, or you've had things in the past and it didn't bring you what you wanted, there's nothing wrong with having that thing, it was you and how you relate to that thing. So you could say, I want to lose weight in 2024 because I want to look good, and that's not going to last. Let's say there's a good chance it won't, because it's not going to tie in long enough, because you look good, you're going to get feedback from other people that you look great, and you're going to realize that's emptiness. But let's say there's another reason then, you still have the same result, same goal, but relate to it completely different, and it has to be a feeling of joy for yourself, not for any external circumstances. And that why, whatever it is, when you have the choice to eat something that's unhealthy, or go down a path that's not going to serve your overall end goal, you say no to that thing. You stare it down, and you don't do it. Yeah, and then when you work on this, you not only get better at it, but then you get to a place where you're like, do I really have a strong enough why to buy that Shelby again? Yeah. Nope. It was cool at first, and I shared it with them at the breakfast, and now, I haven't even thought about it until you and Ron are up against it. Thanks, Ewan. Well, this is why, because then you would have ended up buying another one, and maybe you still do, because it's still processing. That's why the downloads and the notes, the thing that's in there, it will really help you figure this out, because I know, just thinking this whole time, I know when I write this out, I'm going to know my true why, because it's not just the downloads for the show. There's other things that I'm going to want as well in the back of my mind, that I really need to cross that bridge of, is it really something I want? Yeah, it's a bridge I've got to cross. Because I know myself so well now, I don't need much to be content, and so why am I going to go through the grind or the misery to have this, or to have X, and look like this, or do that, or be somewhere? It's just not that important to me, so no, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to limit it down to the things that really, really matter, because those are the things that bring me joy. I won't need any of those other things, because I'm going to have everything I want over here with the true whys. And maybe those things show up or not, but it's not going to be a focus for my life. So the third and the final step in the formula is the how. The implementation. The implementation. So you have the what, 100,000 downloads, 9,000 a month. You have the why, to impact, serve, help others, level up and live, become the best version of themselves. And then you have the, how are you going to do it, even? That's why I need that download in the show notes. You know me, I'm going to break it down. We're doing all the things right now, funnily enough. I'm doing them all, and it is all jumbled up, all over the place. And I'm good at keeping all that stuff in my head, but I 100% know I need to write it down to execute the game plan and then measure. Or when we do this, what is the result that we got? Because we don't, I don't know. Yeah, this is new territory, which could be scary for me. I'm very excited. I don't mind, if we don't do it, I almost, you know me, I almost don't want to do it so I can figure out how to, and that's the game that we play. Let me give you an example. So, the how on the 9,000 downloads a month. You're doing it right now. You're showing up. You're showing out. My eyebrows just got raised. This is interesting. You're on the podcast right now. You're putting in the reps. We're doing content, free content on our social media page, Facebook, Level Up and Live. We're on Instagram. We're constantly providing value. We're showing up. We're sending out emails. We're sending, we're doing the things. This is the how. This is the action steps. It's so weird. I don't associate it. It's so strange because you're right. I'm constantly, you know what I've been doing? I'm way off in the future and I'm not present. And there's an indicator right there. That is something I want for 2024 is to be more present. I've been talking about that a lot recently and there I just did it because I'm an achiever mindset, so I'm always thinking about how to get this. What do I need to do to get it? And I enjoy it. I love it. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's a healthy version and an unhealthy version. And, you know what, having it written down stops me from having to think about what's coming in the future because I already have planned that out and I just need to look at what needs to happen today, what is happening today, and I can stay present in there. And that's why I need to write it down for this very conversation because I am lost, to be honest. I know I'm going to get my result, our result, but to just, yeah, I'm thinking about this, to just have it played out, it's not written down. And I know we've talked about this in the past, and maybe this is for another episode, but I have a sheet, a weekly design, and I write and it literally has on there what I visualize I want, why I want it. I break this down in my bullet journal. You live by that. And the third thing is the how, like what are the steps, what are the tasks I need to do on a daily basis. And so whether that's build our email list or podcast episode, bringing on guests, these are all the hows. So I'm writing this down. It's in front of my face every single day that I'm looking at it because if I don't know the answer to it, maybe you don't know the next steps. But when you put that pen and paper, just like I do, I look at it every single day, like what I'm talking about with Ewan, then it forces you because when you have that why, remember, this is all for you. When you have that why, you become an unstoppable force. You will figure it out. You're going to break down the barriers. You're going to break down the walls. You're going to break down the obstacles just like Ewan had. Hey, why don't you share a little story? You want to share the story? I'll share the story. What's the story? You could have easily not been over here the last couple weeks because your car. Oh, yeah, the car, yeah. Yeah, but you had your what? Your car broke down, right? Yeah, yeah. Shout out to Walmart. Well, I don't know what the legal primers are. Yeah, I got my old chains there. It came out not working. So he hadn't had a car for like a month, right? So that's the what? Hadn't had a car. So then the second thing is why do I need to cut showing up for the podcast on a Tuesday morning, right? Well, he's had that emotionally compelling nature behind it, right? Because I need to impact accountability. I don't want to let Sean down. He's had all these whys, right? And then the how. How am I going to get over there? Well, I got a father-in-law that's going to let me borrow a car. I got to get over there and then he's going to get it for this. So he's essentially done that formula just in that. So how you do one thing is how you do everything. I didn't even know that that's what happened there because the way and maybe a lot of people are like this. But I know for me when that happened, it wasn't even a I'm not I need to maybe let Sean know I'm not going to make it. It was I was already there in my mind. It was already that's the manifestation. I don't know how I'm going to be there. I'm going to be there. Like there was no matter what that never even entered my mind. And what happened? I was there the next day. You know, I was there ready to go. But you don't have that. Why? Yeah, you're not. That's right. Oh, hey, man, can't make it. My bad. We'll do it next week. That's and that's where you end up years down the road of my bad didn't happen. And then and then you get the result that you never asked for. And you ask, how did this happen? Well, that's how it happens. It just slips slides. No lie. And it's not important. So let this be your wake up call. Yeah. It's been for me a wake up call to on just a small thing. But it's it's you got to get it out of your head. I knew I was talking to my daughter yesterday and she got into it with a friend at school. This girl had said something to her and she didn't want to tell us. I mean, me and her mom, she was really sad in her room. Like, you can tell she said, no, I don't want to talk about it. I was like, OK, well, just get it out. I know that something's bothering you. If you get it out, you'll feel so much better. She was really resistant. And I wasn't pushing her or anything. I was like, but I told her, I was like, hey, you know, when I'm having troubles or anything's in my mind, I talk to my wife about it. I your mom. I learned that if I just get it out of my head, it loses all of its negative power. So she told us. And by the time she told us what happened, the girl had said something to her and we talked about it. And she was so happy and relaxed afterwards, just getting it out. So if there's things in your head, I know this is true. Most of my problems, I start writing them down. I normally can't finish the paragraph because I'm already outfixing it because it's got to get out. So, yeah, I think that's and you do it automatically, man. It's so interesting. You just have always done this. Like, I love it, man. Well, the beautiful thing about Level Up and Live and my awesome co-host here is that one of the things that I always struggle with is like getting everything out to help others. And that's been one of my missions, right, to impact more people versus, you know, if I'm talking to a thousand people, five of them may resonate or understand. But you and what's such a beautiful—we were talking about gratitude this morning and kind of going off topic right now, but we'll wrap this up. So with you, I'm just super grateful because he's able to kind of slow things down and bring a different perspective, right, and shed a different light on things and so we can impact more people. And to me, that's super powerful. And I'm just super excited, super grateful for you, man. Thanks for being here, brother. Right back at you, man. Yeah, we talked about it earlier. He was just telling me how grateful he is, and I'm like, man, all the things you're saying to me, I was so grateful for you for all the things that you did for me at the same time. So it's just—yeah, it's a beautiful thing, and we hope that we're bringing that to everyone out there too, you know, and there's other people that get this. So, man, on that note, Level Up and Live, man. Level Up and Live, baby. Let's go.