452. Q&AF: Dress Code, Breaking Bad Mental Habits & Stepping Into Greatness
REAL AF with Andy Frisella
Foreward
Fair warning, Andy Frisella is not for everyone. Unlike some other personal development and motivational influencers – his podcasts aren’t inspiring in the sense that you hear some heart-felt feel good story that makes you feel hopeful about your future. His messages are typically fairly intense, direct and evoke some self-reflecting and soul-searching. They make you take a look in the mirror and reevaluate. These podcasts aren’t for everyone, but if you are someone who can take constructive criticism and someone who isn’t afraid to be real with yourself and take accountability, he is a great listen and a powerful motivational speaker. You must also be okay with cussing. Lots of cussing.
Review
This podcast from Andy Frisella was one of his fairly common Q&A formatted episodes. Every now and then, Andy will field questions from his listeners, pick out a few, and give his answers on an episode. This particular episode touches on a few interesting topics related to speaking things into existence, methods to breaking bad mental habits, and the steps to take to be prepared to so-called ‘step into greatness’.
The first question was from a small, local gym owner that was curious if he should give his employees a dress code to start the new year to give a more professional look, even though they weren’t a very big gym. My favorite quote from Andy’s response that really sums up his answer is ‘you act asleep, before you fall asleep’. Most everyone has heard the phrase ‘Dress for the job you want, not the job you have’, and this is essentially what Andy is telling the gym owner. If you have something that you want to do or be, the first step to obtaining that thing is believing that you can do it and/or become it. One reason that people have a hard time implementing this practice is due to what is commonly known as ‘Imposter Syndrome’. Imposter syndrome is the internal psychological experience of feeling like a phony in some area of your life, despite any success that you have achieved in that area [1]. Some people think that they shouldn’t be where they are or that they don’t deserve to be doing what they are doing – so wouldn’t it be criminal if they went even further and dressed/acted like they were something even bigger? The truth is even the most successful people in the world suffer from imposter syndrome. Some of the most seemingly confident people in the world don’t really have the confidence they portray at all times, but you’d never be able to tell. One important thing to remember is that who you are now, is a byproduct of your most recent actions. If you want to transform yourself, if you want to reach some seemingly unattainable goals, if you want to take yourself or your business to the next level… Remember – You have to pretend, before you become.
The second question of the podcast was related to breaking mental habits caused by undesirable thought patterns. Andy tells the person asking the question that they had already accomplished the first step in breaking bad mental habits, or habits in general – becoming aware of the habit. The first step to overcoming any bad habits – whether mental, physical or behavioral – is recognition. Once you recognize that there is a negative habit formed, the next step is to start focusing on your ‘productivity pivot’. The ‘productivity pivot’ is when you start catching yourself in the moment when you come to a fork in the road between the ‘right’ thing to do and the ‘wrong’ thing to do, and you win the fight and take the ‘right’ path. This is where real change begins to happen. When you come to a decision where the devil is on one shoulder and the angel is on the other, or the “bitch voice” and the “boss voice” according to Andy, and you can tell the devil to shut up, that is when real change starts to happen. The best part about figuring this out is that the more you start to ignore that devil on your shoulder, the less it tries to talk to you. Find your productivity pivot – tell the bitch voice to shut it.
The last question of the podcast was a young nineteen your old boy who asked what the best tip/hack was for finding your purpose and preparing to ‘step into greatness’. A quote from Andy that summarizes his response is ‘Let the cake bake’. The big point in the answer(s) here was to not rush the process, start early, let compounding do its job and that when the time comes to ‘step into greatness’, you will be prepared. The best time to start preparing is yesterday. Spend time beefing up your “boss voice”, callous your mind (shoutout to David Goggins) and focus on building the best version of yourself. Like I have mentioned before… All big changes are just a summation of small, incremental changes. If you start today, focus on developing discipline as your superpower and religiously work on just bettering yourself, you will be ready whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Remember – you have to pretend before you can become, beef up your boss voice, and let the cake bake.
References
[1] Cuncic, A. (2022, November 17). What Is Imposter Syndrome? Retrieved from VeryWellMind: https://www.verywellmind.com/imposter-syndrome-and-social-anxiety-disorder-4156469
