Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode
of Vision Pros Live. I'm your host and coach,
Fletcher Ellingson. Today, looking forward to
a conversation with Mr. Tony Schmaltz. He is
the upgrade coach. Love that concept. He has
a podcast also by the same name and a book, which
is called Wake the Bleep Up. And I want to introduce
you now to Tony Schmaltz. Welcome to the show.
Hey, thanks for having me, Fletcher. It's great
to be here. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, like I mentioned
before, I like to start off with something that
feels good. That's what that's what I do in my
coaching curriculum is called the practice of
feeling good. So share something with our audience.
What's going well in your life professionally
and or personally? Well, I am actually just about
finished with my second book and I've got that.
I got a little little. pre -made draft just so
I can have a hard copy to show people. But The
Hitchhiker's Guide to Leadership is the next
book coming out. So that's about done. And then
I've got a flagship course that's also just about
done. Those are both just flying right through
and those are huge wins right now. Oh, congratulations.
That's a big deal, right? It takes a lot of time
and persistence and vision to bring those out
of your head and into the physical realm, right?
yeah big time big time yeah cool cool well hey
tony this is called vision pros live so my next
question for you is what's your vision us usn
uh my current vision is to help at least 10 million
people upgrade their lives through the written
verbal or visual word so whether it's videos
books lives webinars everything i do is to help
10 million people upgrade their lives You know,
this is a concept I absolutely appreciate. The
book that I wrote is called The Practice of Feeling
Good, How to Upgrade Your Thinking and Live a
Feel -Good Life. So there's this common language
that we're using, upgrade. Yeah. It was not an
accident, I'm sure, for you to pick this word.
Tell me what you mean when you say upgrade. Well,
upgrade is to bring yourself up from where you
are now. So wherever you're at now, let's take
it up a notch or notches and make you even better.
And like you said, I love the mindset, the upgrade
mindset part, because every part of my upgrade
your life principles are to upgrade your mindset,
your leadership, your self -talk, your self -belief.
I mean, a little bit of everything. And a lot
of people, they forget about the self. Part of
it, you know, they forget about the self -belief
and the self -talk and will beat themselves up.
And even though they're trying to speak positive
in the world, hey, it starts right here. Yeah,
absolutely. You know, we live in a world that's
largely technological. We're constantly upgrading
phones, watches, right? We're upgrading our laptops.
We're upgrading our currencies. What does it
mean to you to upgrade? Give me an example of
where we might upgrade a very specific area of
our life. And how does that look? What are some
of the technologies or the methodologies, excuse
me, that you would use in order to do that? Well,
one of the biggest things that I work with people
on upgrading first is what I call the power of
language. And that's not only the power of...
Language is how you speak to others, but also
how you speak to yourself. And so a lot of times,
like I was just saying earlier, we tend to beat
ourselves up. We are our own worst enemies. And
when you're so worried about beating yourself
up, then you're just keeping yourself down instead
of bringing yourself up to the next level. So
when you start talking more positive about yourself,
and I work on that through some declarations,
some affirmations. I don't really call them that,
but that's what people recognize. But when you
start speaking that to yourself in the mirror
or out loud and you start creating yourself to
be the person that you were meant to be, start
creating that. You're like, oh, it's like fake
it till you make it. No, it's not. You're creating
yourself to be that person. And when you start
through that power of language, when you start
creating yourself to be that person, then you
can help create other people that way with the
language that you're using towards them. Yeah,
I totally appreciate that. I was having a conversation
about this just the other day. And what I really
want our audience to hear is this key thing you're
saying. And I'm going to summarize a little bit,
but you just tell me if I'm on the right track.
We use language to create our outcomes. Would
you agree with that? 100%. Now, some people listening
to this and may not be familiar with that concept.
They're going to be like, what are you talking
about? We use action to create outcomes. We use
action to, you know, to get things done. Help
us understand a little bit about how we actually
use language to create. Great question. Great
question. Well, one of the things that a lot
of people can do is start acknowledging little
things and acknowledging things, whether it's
with somebody else or with yourself. For example,
in the world today, generally speaking, a person
can do 99 out of 100 things right. But the one
thing they hear about is the one thing they did
wrong. So we start acknowledging some of those
99 other things, especially for ourselves, then
that's going to help you start creating yourself
as a better person. One of the things that I
have a lot of my clients do and that I do myself
is I keep a four square journal at night. And
the first section of that four squares. is acknowledgements
and it's acknowledging everything that you did
for the day and when i say that i'm talking about
even the things people most people take for granted
like hey i went to the grocery store i did two
loans of laundry i picked the kids up from school
you know i did the dishes you know i also made
10 sales calls i mean but we forget about those
dishes we forget those are all things that take
time and that we day in day out take for granted
and when you take a lit make a list of that stuff
first of all every day they're going to get bigger
because you're going to realize you forgot stuff
But then you look at that list and you're like,
wow, I really did a lot today. I want to do more
tomorrow. And so you start creating back to creation.
You start creating that inspiration and that
motivation within yourself. People are like,
how do I get motivated? Well, look at what you've
done already. And that's going to motivate you
to do more tomorrow. Yeah. So what you're what
I hear you saying is we create a sense of motivation
and or inspiration through language. Right. And
I would even go so far to say as we create. pretty
much everything through language at some point
nobody had ever been to the moon and then a group
of people got together and they spoke into the
physical realm the sentence that said we are
going to the moon they didn't know how they didn't
have a plan the technology didn't exist and then
from that declaration they used language to create
everything necessary to get a person to the moon
and back right right and good and i was just
going to say i remember reading about helen keller
and one of the books that she wrote she said
before she had language there was chaos and her
her experience of the world was chaos i can imagine
there was no form there was no there was no uh
order As soon as she got language, she began
creating order out of chaos and went on to create
an incredible life. She was even a vaudeville
performer. She could not see, speak, hear, and
yet here she was on stage performing. She was
an activist, right? She went to college and graduated.
Phenomenal language allowed her to create her
experiences. Well, there's a big distinction
here. Like even your moon example, this certainty
that it was in that declaration you made, we
are going to the moon. That's different than
somebody saying, eh, we might go to the moon
or we're going to try to go to the moon. You
know, no, you said we are going to the moon.
That's like, I will create $10 ,000 next month,
or I will be the best husband in the world next
month, or I will be in, you know, that level
of certainty in that language. Like you said,
when How we speak into our world is what creates
our world. And it's so true. And it's also the
way you use that language. So I love to bring
Yoda into it because this is one that I use with
my coaching friends and my clients all the time
is it's do or do not. There is no try. Eliminate
that word try because it's uncertainty. You do
or you do not. As soon as you start bringing
in that word try, you're giving yourself an out.
You're giving yourself a cop -out statement.
That's something that I actively work on keeping
out of my language. Boy, to our audience out
here, I really hope you just paid attention to
what Tony just said. What he's saying is that
you can speak certainty into existence. I also
want to encourage our audience to hear this.
Consider that you may be extremely practiced
at speaking uncertainty into your life. You may
be extremely practiced at speaking self -doubt
into your life, self -criticism, judgment of
others. I'll speak for myself. I used to be masterful
at all of that. Masterful, right? yep and then
i wonder why i wondered why nothing went my way
okay when i got when i got um keyed into cued
into um the power of language everything in my
life began to change financially relationally
spiritually physically in my health language
matters right It does. It does. And you'll start
to see, back to what you said with the relationships,
you'll start to see the difference in how people
react to you or act around you. These people
that used to be the negative Nellies in your
world, either they're no longer in your world
or they've changed. You're like, wow, what happened
to Tony? What happened to Fletcher? Look at this
guy. I don't want to speak like that anymore.
Now I'm going to, you know, he's bringing me
up and I want to be like that. And it just changes.
It rubs off on other people around you. Absolutely.
Another question for you. You're giving your
life to this endeavor of helping people upgrade
their experience of life. Why is this important
to you? Wow. It's important to me because I,
like you, I've been in those dumps. I've been
down there where everything that came out of
my mouth was negative. I used to wear the victim
card around my neck and just blame everybody
and everything for everything. everything and
everyone about everything that was happening
or not happening in my world. It wasn't until
we actually moved from Washington State to Florida
that I kind of got that kind of wake -up call.
You know, I'd always done well in the corporate
world and worked my way up from the bottom. And
I was known as a positive leader, but my self
-talk was garbage. And we got to Florida. Two
months after we got to Florida, we moved to Panama
City first. Hurricane Michael came through. Category
five. leveled the whole area we wrote it out
worst thing we've ever experienced and it was
shortly thereafter a friend of a friend recommended
i hire this coach and so i did it was first coach
ever hired i was like light bulb went off i was
like what have i been doing And so after working
with that coach for, I think it was four or five
months, I'm like, this is what I need to be helping
others with. This guy's helping me level up.
I need to help others level up just like this.
And so I tried to do it in the corporate world,
but then in the corporate world, they're like,
no, you can't do it unless you do it our way
or this way. And I'm like, okay, so you're not
going to let me really help people upgrade. So,
all right, I'm going to go out and do this on
my own. Right on. And so now you're doing it
the Tony Schmaltz way, right? That's right. That's
right. Everyone calls me Schmaltzy. That's the
Schmaltzy way. The Schmaltzy way. I like that.
And Tony, you've got your podcast. You've got
your books. You are doing your speaking. You're
really going for it all. If someone's listening
to this and they're like, you know what? I'm
really interested in what he's saying. Maybe
their dimmer bulb is kind of going on as well,
right? What's the best way to reach out to you
and either find a book or watch some of your
videos or just connect with you directly? Yeah,
the best way is to go to my website, and that
is TonySchmaltz .com. That has links to everything.
And there's free videos on there, free content,
and links to all my socials where I have lots
of more videos and lots of more content, links
to the book and the upcoming book. So right there
is the easiest, most central place. That's my
central hub that spawns out to everything else.
All right. And that's TonySchmalz .com? That
is. That is. All right. And so, yeah, if you're
listening to this, you're like, yeah, maybe it's
time to upgrade my thinking. Maybe it's time
to upgrade. My financial life, my marriage, my
relationship to self. Yeah, check this out. You
know, there's a lot of coaches in the world today,
and there's good reason for it. Yes. Right? There's
a lot of suffering going on, and there is a lot
of uncertainty. Yes. More uncertainty than I've
ever seen in my lifetime. Right. Right. Especially
in our country. And what's the value of working
with a coach? So the value to your point, the
value is to remove some of that uncertainty because
that uncertainty is is what you're being fed
by everything around you, whether it's TV, social
media, your friends, your family, the news. They're
feeding you that negative garbage and that uncertainty.
And when you work with a coach, you become certain
about who you are and who you want to be. You
remove all that crap off your surface and get
to the inside and learn who this person is really
on the inside. I had to figure out who Tony Schmaltzy
was on the inside, and everybody else needs to
also. When you can get rid of that uncertain
garbage that you're wearing around like a coat
every day and find yourself, most people can't
do that on their own. That's where a good coach
comes in handy. Right, right. if you're a human
being you have at least at some point in your
life really ask that question like who am i and
you know people spend a lot of their life actually
considering that a lot of people you know are
of the opinion like i need to go find myself
i need to go discover who i am i need to travel
to india and sit underneath the boda tree and
you know look for seeking alignment what i want
people to hear is it's way more simple than that.
It doesn't have to be this massive endeavor to
discover or declare who you are. That's right.
But it does take intention. Yep. It does take
accountability, right? And I think that's one
of the things also in the coaching space, like
that's what a good coach will do. It's going
to hold you to account, right? Yep. Yeah, tell
me a little bit about that, about the need and
the value of accountability. So I'm glad you
brought that up. And it's something I probably
should have mentioned before. But you're right.
The accountability is the biggest piece because
so many people can go out there and read a self
-help book, but then not take any action. They're
not going to do anything with it. Oh, yeah, it
sounded good. I could do that. I might do that
next week or I might do that next month. And
then might turns into never. You know, but when
you hire a coach. You're going to have actions
that are assigned to you each week. And then
that coach the next week, like one of the things,
first things I do with a client in the following
week is, okay, let's hear a report. How'd you
do last week? Here's what we, here's what we,
the three things you were going to do. How'd
you do? Yeah. And then we talk about those and
if they didn't get there, okay, cool. What was
more important or how can we, how can we make
this adjustment next time? Yeah. And that's huge
because most people, even in their, in, even
in people's jobs, you typically don't have that,
that level of accountability. You're, you're.
You're living with your blinders on, doing the
same thing every day over and over. And unless
it's right in front of you, you're not you're
not hearing about it. So I'm glad you brought
that up. The accountability is huge. Yeah. And
I think when we learn self accountability at
that next upgraded level, I mean, people really
begin to see significant changes. Oh, huge, huge
changes, especially when people can start to
learn how to get. get out of their comfort zones
you know start taking a little action there's
there's there's tasks one of the things i assign
to clients every week on top of the actions is
i call them schmaltzy tasks And these are literally
designed to get you out of your comfort zone
and not dangerously so or anything. I'm not telling
you to go skydiving or anything. But like one
of them that I always share this one on the podcast
because I don't want to give away my list. But
one of the ones I always share with people is
I say, OK, next time you go to the grocery store
or a department store or something like that,
I want you to walk up to five random people and
just whisper in their ear, I am Batman. Because
you're going to get the funniest look, the weirdest
look. They're going to look at you funny, and
it forces you to be uncomfortable. And then you
can go, yes, or however you respond is up to
you. But the fact that you did that five times
got you out of your comfort zone. And then you're
like, I've had people tell me at the first one
or two, God, it was super uncomfortable. By the
fifth one, I wanted to keep going. Right on.
Yeah, it can feel terrifying and exciting and
elating to get out of your comfort zone, yeah?
Yeah, yes, yes. That's cool. So, yeah, so if
you are looking to work with Tony, yeah, expect
to get out of your comfort zone. Expect to have
a high level of account. Expect to see transformation
in the area of life that you want to. this is
the power of getting coaching uh boy i went so
long without getting uh actual coaching i was
a big reader the self -development listen to
tapes everything and and that made an impact
i'm not going to diminish that that made a massive
impact in all the areas of my life but when i
actually hired a coach it was different why because
i was investing big time in myself And most people
simply don't do that. We'll invest in Netflix.
We'll invest in our cars. We'll invest in our
house. We'll invest in food and vacation. But
investing in us is, for me, the best ROI that
I've ever gotten. 100%. The best. Ever since
that first coach I was talking about, that was
back in 2019. I have always had a coach, if not
more than one coach. And I will never stop. Yeah,
right on, right on. Tony, what a pleasure to
meet you today. Again, I want to invite our listeners
to visit you at TonySchmaltz .com. Get schmaltzy
and get out of your comfort zone. And thank you
so much. Is there anything else that you'd like
us to hear before we sign off here? Yeah, well,
for anyone out there listening, just make sure
you don't let anyone else tell you who you are,
who you're supposed to be. your life you live
it you can decide who you are and who you want
to be so if anyone tries to tell you that you're
you're not good enough you're not this without
telling them to shut up you just don't listen
and go on and figure it out for yourself and
hire a coach because they can help you get there
faster right on right on thank you so much for
being on the show today and now it's time for
you to get out there be a source of kindness
be a source of contribution you do have something
to offer this world and i believe in you Thank
you for being here today. I'm really happy that
you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking
forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes
continue to move forward. This is going to get
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.