Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening,
everybody, and welcome to today's episode of
the Never Peak Project Podcast. I'm your host,
Coach Ranger, Mindset Coach, Storyteller, and
the guy who walked across America one step at
a time. This podcast is about what it takes to
build a life worth remembering and how to step
into the next version of yourself no matter where
you're starting from. Now, I've got a question
for you. What if your breakthrough doesn't come
after success? But before it, what if the shift
happens the moment you decide to become someone,
not when the world recognizes it, but when you
do? In today's episode, we're diving into one
of the most important mindset shifts I worked
through with my clients and one that honestly
changed my life. Be, do, have. We'll unpack how
identity fuels action, how to stop waiting for
permission to begin, and how to step into your
next chapter before anyone else even sees it.
Now, in order to understand this concept, I'm
going to take you back a bit. Not to the day
that I started walking across America, but just
a few days before that. My fiancé, Julie, and
I were sitting in a restaurant in Charleston,
South Carolina. It was quiet, casual, and our
waiter came by, friendly and curious, and asked
us what brought us to the East Coast. I looked
at her and said, that obvious that we're tourists?
And I turned to him and without even thinking,
I answered, We're just visiting. I've never been
to the East Coast, and we're just kind of checking
it out. And Julie kind of looked at me, stared
at me, and in the most loving but, you know,
what are you doing kind of way, sat up, leaned
over, put her hands on the table and said, um,
kind of, but actually we're here because he's
about to walk across the country. And she said
it like it was the most normal thing in the world,
like we were there for a wedding. But inside,
I was squirming a bit. I kind of felt like a
fraud. It was like this wave of doubt rolled
in right when it should have been confidence.
I was just a few days away from starting my walk,
but it felt like I wasn't actually there for
that. But the real wild thing is I had already
become the man who could walk across the country
a year and a half earlier. It was the day right
after one of my coaching sessions with my coach,
the day that I texted Julie and said, I am going
to walk across the country. I started making
decisions from that identity. Once I'd stated
out loud and declared to someone I cared about
that I was going to do the thing, I became the
type of person that can do the thing I wanted
to do. And from that, I decided to act. started
to do. I trained, I saved, I planned, I shifted
everything around this big goal. So that moment
in the restaurant, it wasn't a moment of failure
of belief. It was just kind of a momentary lapse.
I kind of called it pre -performance jitters,
kind of like an actor backstage before the curtain
rises. Like, you know your lines, you've done
the work, but the doubt still whispers. And that's
where having someone so supportive like Julie,
someone who saw me clearly, really made all the
difference. She was able to help remind me of
what I already knew. There's a saying by Alex
Ramosi that goes, we need to be reminded more
than we need to be taught. And I'm just so thankful
that I have someone like her to remind me that
I already am that guy, even if I hadn't taken
the first step yet. So a few days later, when
her and I were at the Atlantic Ocean and I walked
in and I walked back out, I wasn't becoming something
I hadn't already been. It was just stepping back
into what I had already decided long before anyone
else saw it. And I really had what I wanted to
achieve. Now, I was working with one of my clients
post -walk and she said. I'll start going to
the gym once I feel more fit. And I paused. I
reflected it back to her because she had it backwards,
like so many of us do. She was waiting to have
confidence so she could do the thing and finally
be who she wanted to be. She wasn't be -do -having.
She was having -doing -being. It was doing the
opposite. So I asked her, What version of you
needs to walk into that gym today? Now, through
the rest of the session, we uncovered some nerves,
some uncertainty, and realized she already had
everything she needed. She didn't have a six
-pack. She didn't have a perfect plan. She just
had the decision to act from and for her future
self. She didn't need to wait until she was fit.
She needed to walk in as someone who was becoming
strong. So when clients struggle to step into
their new identity, it's usually because of the
sabotaging voice in their head. Now, in coaching,
we use a technique called parts work where we
name that voice and then name the opposite. We
name the sabotaging voice, that inner critic,
and we name the empowered voice who the client
wants to be more like. Now, there was one client
I had whose inner critic was called. The nasty
mother -in -law. It was judgmental, loud, always
in the corner, throwing shade. But her empowered
voice was a stallion. Strong, confident, free.
And that really became her anchor. She had a
little figurine of a horse on her desk whenever
she was working to remind her that she had a
way to access the identity that was already inside
of her, but she just needed that name to lead.
She needed to have that reminder that she was
already the type of person she needed to be to
do the things that she wanted to do and have
the things she wanted to achieve. So if this
message is hitting home, here's how to take action
today. Step one is to name the identity you want
to step in. Is it something confident, creative,
calm? Really just pick a word that resonates
with you. And then... Take one small action as
that version of yourself. Speak up in a meeting,
book the class, send the message, ask the girl,
shoot the shot. And third, find a symbol for
your empowered self. What animal, object, person,
or energy embodies who you want to be? Name it,
anchor it, and find a way to remind yourself
of it. Now, this is really how you stop waiting
and start becoming. So if you're standing at
your own version of a starting line, you've done
the prep, you've made the plan, but you still
don't feel ready, let me remind you, you don't
need to wait to become that person. You become
that person by showing up as them. And if you
want some help sorting through the noise, finding
your empowered voice, naming your next move,
I'd love to talk. Go ahead and just book a free
15 -minute coaching call. Just you and me over
the phone, no pressure, just real conversation.
about who you want to become and how we can get
you there. Go ahead and click the link in the
show notes to schedule it. Check the show notes
for all the details. And remember, until next
time, the best is yet to come. As long as every
single day you make the decisions to never settle,
never quit, and never peak. I'll see you all
in the next one.