The Best of 2022 – Part II

Happy New Year! In today’s show, we’re bringing you more excerpts from the best of The Successful Mind Podcast of 2022. These include some of our most-downloaded episodes, as well as our favorite picks.  If any of these clips jump out at you, you may want to revisit the full episode. We’ve provided links to each below.

[1:37]

Episode 527 – Think About What You’re Thinking

When you find yourself experiencing the same problem over and over again, or having the same negative thought patterns repeatedly, ask yourself, “Why am I thinking what I’m thinking?” People who do this have a tendency to live in the past, rather than focus on the future.

[2:59]

Episode 530 – Lessons on Leadership – Part II – Hiring: Humble, Hungry & Smart

When hiring, many business owners tend to hire people whom they like, or people who are just like them. This is the wrong approach. Instead you want to hire the best person for the job on your team.

Think of your company not as a family, but as an elite sports team. As “general manager coach,” your job is to make sure each position is manned by the absolute best. Nobody wants to fire their family or hold them accountable to meeting their KPIs or their key results.

[6:05]

Episode 532: Lessons on Leadership: A Players vs. B Players

In your business, the goal should be to hire A players—people who are above-average, who solve their own problems, and think through solutions before bringing problems to you. By contrast, an adequate player is a B or C player. They show up,  they do what’s necessary, then go home. They’re not hungry. They’re not looking to do more than what’s expected of them.

A deck of cards only has so many aces (“A players”). The reason why many businesses don’t grow is because they spend all their time trying to take a queen, a king, a jack, or a deuce, and turn it into an ace.

[9:02]

Episode 535: A Conversation with Kelly Bandas

I interviewed Kelly Bandas about how and why she used humor in her book, Rookie Mistakes: A Grown-Up’s Field Guide for Getting Your Act Together—a hysterical, substantial page-turner that’s hard to put down.

Her top tip for being successful in your work or business is to “choose something you’re good at but also makes you happy.”

[11:12]

Episode 542: Reverse Engineer Your Vision

When you’re thinking about your goals or a vision for your life—what would you create if you had no limits? People often limit themselves, based on what they think they can accomplish. If they can’t see how they’ll do something, they won’t even let themselves have that vision. Bob Proctor used to say, “Don’t think about what you ‘can’ do. Come from a place of what you truly want.”

We’re taught so many misconceptions around vision—like it should be a financial goal, or a vision board. But really, it’s about painting a picture of where you’re going to be in 3 years. What do you want to be experiencing? What do you want to be seeing and feeling? How do you want your clients to experience you in 3 years? Get emotionally involved with that vision.

[17:25]

Episode 543: Are UFOs real?

I’ve always thought there was life elsewhere in the universe. It seems ridiculous to me that we’d live in a vast universe and we’d be the only form of life out there.

People who follow UFOs have long been discredited and considered quacks. But recently, pilots have even come out and shared their experiences of seeing UFOs (as in the infamous Tic Tac video). They have nothing to gain from going on record and saying these things.

[19:36]

Episode 550: A Conversation with Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann

I interviewed Scott Mann, a retired lieutenant colonel who spent 23 years in the United States Army, 18 of which were as a Green Beret, the US Army Special Forces. He shared his views on the “war on terror,” and how President Bush said it would be a war fought in the shadows. A small group of operators and intelligence professionals would do the bulk of the fighting, so that the rest of the country could go on about its business. Scott says this screwed up a lot of our military people, creating an unsustainable burden on those who fought in that war. We’re seeing this reflected in the mental health numbers now.

He also shared his thoughts on the Vietnam population, and how the U.S. did them so wrong.

[21:49]

Episode 555: A Conversation with Marc Polymeropoulos

I interviewed Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA officer from the Senior intelligence service ranks. He shares his experiences working with the CIA, how he learned a unique style of leadership, and how his career ended badly, due to Havana Syndrome. Marc got physically sick and experienced a loss of cognitive abilities, and unfortunately didn’t get the help he needed from the CIA. Despite this moral injury, he still believes deeply in the organization.

[24:27]

Episode 558: The Hidden Meaning Behind Complaining

What’s the difference between a complaint and verbalizing a problem? You verbalize a problem so that you can find a solution and change it. A complaint is more of a gripe or a whiney energy that you bring to a situation.

It’s like when the server at a restaurant brings you cold soup. You have two choices. You can either complain about the soup to everyone at the table (none of whom can do anything about it). Or you can simply say, “Excuse me, sir, can I please have my soup warmed up? It’s a little cold.” That’s stating the fact and asking for what you need. Most people default to complaining around the table and then not saying anything about it.

[30:02]

Episode 561: Is Bragging in Business Bad?

Many business owners keep themselves well hidden. They do it with the excuse of, “I don’t want to self-promote. I don’t want to brag. I don’t want to seem conceited.” This is a middle class value that has to change once you become an entrepreneur. When you’re working for someone else, you’re really focusing on staying safe, keeping your employment, staying within your role, and not outshining your boss.

As entrepreneurs, we must rise above that mentality. When you share a client win, it’s actually not bragging.

Thank you so much for such a wonderful year. We look forward to bringing you even more great content in 2023!