Ep #512: Best Year Yet

You are listening to The Life Coach School Podcast with Brooke Castillo, episode number 512.

Welcome to The Life Coach School Podcast, where it’s all about real clients, real problems and real coaching. And now your host, Master Coach instructor, Brooke Castillo.

What’s up, beautiful, gorgeous friends? How are you? I’m amazing today. It’s actually Sunday and it’s halftime with the Chiefs/Ravens game. And I was so inspired, I had been writing about this podcast that I wanted to write. And I just told Elijah, I’m like, okay, I’m going to go record this podcast during halftime and then I’ll be back out.

So I grabbed my Diet Root Beer and I am in my makeshift office in my brand new condo in Miami. I just moved to Miami. I’m in a condo. And it’s such an amazing day today because it’s beautiful, gorgeous, sunny, 80 degrees. Everyone else in the country is freezing. And it’s windy in a way that is making these hawks, there’s probably about 15 hawks just floating on the wind, like in the air. It’s the coolest thing.

So I look out my window, I’m on a very high floor, 40-something floor. And I just look out the window and there’s just hawks floating all around. It’s beautiful. And then I have a bay on one side and the ocean on the other side. So this view that I have while I’m recording this is ridiculous. So fun. So inspiring. Such a great space to be when I’m talking to y’all.

So I wanted to talk to you about having the best year yet, this year. We have brought in many new people, like hundreds of people, into our Get Coached Scholars program that are brand new to our work. And I was just talking to the coaches about it. We were just talking about how amazing it is to have people that are brand new to our work because the impact that this work has on their life is so inspiring to watch. It’s so fun to watch.

And I was talking about how this has been my best year, so far, yet. It's insane. If you take in like December and January for business and for me personally, it’s the best I’ve felt in a long time. It’s amazing. And I’ve talked about in a few previous podcasts where I really have had a year of travel and I was working while I was traveling, but my focus was not really intense in business. I had a CEO running the company, so I wasn’t as focused on my company.

And this year, I’m not doing much travel at all, although there’s some caveats to that that I’ll explain later. But I’m not doing much traveling at all. I’m really spending this year focusing on my business in a way that I haven’t done in a long time. And it just feels amazing. I have taken over all of the classes that are taught in Get Coached. I’m doing all the coaching there. And it’s a lot of coaching, it’s a lot of amazing connection with my clients. So that’s been so fun.

But then I’m also teaching all my alumni classes. So I’ve been able to reconnect with my coaches in a way on a consistent level that I haven’t done before, because I’m also teaching them a class called the High Earner Experience. And that’s really for my 100k to a million dollar coaches who are really interested and focused on increasing their revenue and creating wealth and becoming a high earner, it’s important to them.

And what we mean by a high earner is someone who creates and contributes so much value to the world, that the exchange on that is increased revenue. And so we’ve been talking a lot about what comes along with that commitment. What comes along with that desire and how we are socialized, especially as women, to not talk about making money, to not desire to make money. Definitely don’t talk about when you’ve made money or if you are successful making money. And how we villainize people, especially women, when they achieve wealth.

And so we’re talking a lot about what comes along with wealth creation, what comes along with making money, and how important it is to break through belief systems if you want to have increased success and increased financial abundance.

It’s crazy, I have been talking to a lot of people. I think we have the most 100k and million dollar earners that we’ve ever had. Like, obviously, it makes sense, they’re cumulative. As we keep growing, as our business grows, as the years go on, we increase the number of people who have had incredible success.

One of the things that we decided to do this year with our coaching company is to have all of our masterminds be virtual. We offered a mastermind last year and there was the option of whether to be virtual or they wanted to come in person. Most people wanted to do it virtually, which surprised some of us. So we decided to make the whole event virtual, but one of the things that kind of took away from was these financial rewards that we would give to people when they made 100k, people when they made a million dollars in coaching.

And although, of course, money isn’t the only thing that matters in business, it is definitely one of the things that does. When you’re building a business, money is one of the things that keeps you in business, right, to make revenue and to focus on revenue. And I really believe that having money goals as a human is a great way to explore your own evolution and explore your interaction with the world and your belief systems and all of that.

So this high earner experience has been very interesting. I am one class into that and I am seriously loving it. We got some amazing feedback from it, so I’m excited. I’m considering doing a high earner party for everyone who is in that group, so that’s super exciting.

But I digress. Let me get back to, I mean, I’m having the best year yet. So I think I’m trying to share what that means for me and what that’s about, what that has been so far. We did a launch for the last best year for Get Coached, that was insanely successful. We are currently in the process of launching a brand new certification that we’re calling Tools Certification, which is a certification that certifies you in my tools and in the knowledge that you have learned the tools in a proper way in order to be able to use them with your clients.

And so that certification is brand new. That’s going to be a prerequisite for our practicum. So it used to be that you had to sign up for the whole thing, and what we’ve kind of done is broken it up into parts. We’re now doing where we have this tool certification where you can come through and just learn the tools and get certified in the tools.

But if you want further training from us, you can also continue on for our full practicum certification where we do coaching and we give you feedback and we demonstrate coaching and we spend a lot of time helping you hone your coaching skills. And the way that we’re doing that this year is, for me, very old school.

I had a discussion last year with the members of my team, and what I told them is I really want to get back to screening everyone who comes through coach training. I want to make sure that everybody who signs up for coach training and commits to doing that practicum program knows exactly what they’re in for, knows exactly how much work is required, knows exactly what we’re promising, what we’re not promising, and I can work with them really individually to help them become the best coach they can possibly become.

And so that is why we’ve decided to offer the practicum in-person this year. So everyone’s coming to Miami. And we used to, when I first started out, we used to do all of the coach trainings at this Holiday Inn Express that was in my town. I had my little kids in the house and I would get help with the kids or my husband would help with the kids and I would jump in the car and drive down there and teach coach training all day and then come back and spend time with my kids and have dinner and all the things.

And so I wanted to kind of create that. So I’ve been working with my assistant, Buffy, and we’re trying to figure out where we can do that in a similar way. What was so great about the Holiday Inn Express is there were like all these restaurants right around the way, the hotel rooms were super nice but not expensive, and we could spend the entire day in the room in a small group situation, coaching our faces off.

Those of you who went through training like this, you know what I’m talking about. Five days with me coaching all day, every day will literally change your life because you’re not only just learning how to coach, you’re also experiencing coaching. Because we don’t role play, we actually coach on real issues that we are all going through.

And so that is coming up in April, the practicum. You have to have had Tools Certification in order to get into that practicum. So make sure if you’re interested in that you go to the website, find out more. But I’m so excited about it.

We used to do it all the time and they just kept growing bigger and bigger, so we decided to limit the amount of people that we are going to let into the practicum. It’s application only. We’re going to do smaller groups this year, which I’m super excited about. I’m super excited about going back to that original format.

The other thing that I’m doing is teaching, I’m recreating all of my business courses that I had taught for my coach training. Everything that I have in there is awesome and great and teaches you how to build a business. It’s how I built my business, but I just felt like it was time for a refresh and a redo. And so I am recreating all of those courses right now.

And so, I mean, you can imagine I’m creating this new practicum, this new tool certification, this new, I’m calling it The Life Coach Business Course. That Life Coach Business Course is only for my alumni. That’s only for people who have gone through my coach training. So don’t try and find that on the site, that’s only for alumni.

And what’s cool is it doesn’t matter when you went through training. You could have gone through it 10 years ago. You could have gone through it last week. You get access to this brand new training that I’m creating. And one of the things that’s really cool about it is I’m doing it with a focus group of my coaches who are at different stages of building their businesses.

And so we’re taking all the input from the people who are actually out there in the field doing this work and getting real life examples, real life feedback, real life struggles, real life successes that we’re going to be able to now weave into those business courses that I’m teaching.

And then, of course, I am here recording podcasts, creating new content, coaching all of my classes. So you may be asking like, why is this happening?

Oh, the other thing I’m doing is I’m doing masterminds. I’ve set up some masterminds at my condo here, at the penthouse. It’s very inspiring here, right? You have the view of the ocean. It’s gorgeous. It’s a high rise. So I feel like just being up above in the clouds with the hawks, being able to have a huge 360 vision of your environment is a really powerful way to create your goals and your dreams and your vision.

So I’m doing masterminds with select students at the penthouse as well. So this is what I’m up to. And this is way more work than I’ve done in a long time, but I’m so energized by it. I know that many of you can relate to this. When you are doing work that feeds your soul and supports your life and supports your mission and your goal in life, it’s really powerful.

And I think, for me, I have a different juice about it after having created so much success. It’s a very interesting phase I’m in in my life, just a very beautiful space to be. And one of the things that I wanted to share with you is why I feel so inspired, why I feel so excited, and why I have so much energy for this year, for this life, for what’s going on with me is I decided to ask myself a question.

And if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a long time, you understand that I believe in this idea of a primary question. A major question that you can ask yourself and the answers will provide you with thoughts that will create new feelings, new actions, and new results in your life.

I got this original idea from Tony Robbins, and he teaches this concept that everybody has a primary question that’s always going through their mind. And my primary question used to be, way back in the day used to be, why can’t I lose weight? Why can’t I lose weight? Why can’t I lose weight? And as you can imagine, a terrible question.

It provided me with tons of evidence as to why I couldn’t lose weight. Well, let me explain why you can’t lose weight. You have a slow metabolism. You’re lazy. You overeat all the time. Like you’re not good at this. You’ll never lose weight. Right? All these negative thoughts. That question brought up all these negative thoughts and all this negative evidence.

And when you have a primary negative question you are going to get, in my life there were negative results. So you change the question. How can I enjoy losing weight? How can this be the last year that I ever have to worry about this? That’s what I changed my question to. And I had an amazing year, amazing success in weight loss, learned so much about myself, my body, hormones, everything that I was able to create new solutions for myself in my life.

And so this year I really wanted to come back. A couple years before I had been really burnt out. My team was really burnt out. I was really burnt out. We needed some space. We needed a break to kind of just focus on delivering quality to the students that we already had.

And so basically what we did is all my operations people, you know, my CEO, everyone was really working hard in the business to deliver. And we weren’t working so hard to grow so fast. We weren’t pushing. And so that was really what we needed. What the team needed and what I needed to kind of rest.

And I think that’s a really important thing to remember. So your question may have something to do with rest. You need to know when you need to break, take a breath, reconvene, take care of yourself. But I really came back from that year, even though I had been working all year, I came back from the year and approaching this year, the end of last year to this year with a brand new energy.

And it’s because I asked myself the question before the year started: how can I create the most value that I’ve ever created in a year? Such a good question. How can I create the most value that I’ve ever created in a year?

And when I started asking myself that question, I started coming up with so many amazing ideas. So many awesome, exciting ways that I can increase the value that I offer to everyone in my life. The people that are in my personal life, the people that are in my business as my employees, the people that are in my community as my students, as my clients.

And so I have just been coming up with idea after idea after idea. Podcast ideas, content ideas. I’ve been getting ideas from my team, from the people that work around me, close to me. And they have great ideas too, so there’s just this great, amazing energy when you ask yourself how to create value and celebrate the value that you create, even before it’s been delivered.

Now, if you listened to the podcast last week, it was so good. Cayla talked about how important it is when you’re creating value, that that value is really determined by the people receiving it, right? They really determine whether it’s valuable or not. And this is true in business. If you want someone to hire you, the value isn’t based on what you think is valuable. The value is based on how much they value it.

And so it’s had me in this very like giving space, this very offering space. Like what can I give? And, for me, that’s just the most powerful stance, the most powerful energy that I have. And I do think it’s probably messed up, it’s probably from some kind of trauma where I was such a people pleaser my whole life that that feels normal for me. But it also feels like an evolution of contribution for me too. It’s like, what can I do?

I remember I read A Woman’s Worth and A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson many years ago. And one of the things she said is the only thing that could be missing from any situation is what you aren’t giving.

And I have since kind of adjusted that in my mind because I think you can get into trouble in relationships when you believe that. When you’re just constantly giving and people aren’t satisfied and there’s never enough that you can give to somebody else if they’re trying to get something from you that is not yours to be able to provide for them, like happiness or success or something like that.

But I do think when we feel any sense of lack, that giving immediately makes you feel amazing. And so, for me, creating a bunch of abundance in my life has been extraordinary. And this level of creation is like on a whole new set. And, of course, the more value you create, the more revenue you’re going to generate in your company. That is how the math works. That is how energy works. That is how money works.

But for me, that’s not, I mean, I’m doing a lot of stuff in my business this year for free because I’m just in value creation mode. And so a lot of the things that I’m creating, I’m not even charging for, are part of our current curriculum, part of our current programs.

And so what is the question that you want to ask this year? What is the question that you think will have you having your best year yet? When I’m thinking about creating value, I’m not just thinking about creating value in my business.

I’m thinking about creating value on the pickleball court, because you know that’s what I spend most of my time doing when I’m not working. How do I create value in my relationships with my family? With my friends? With Elijah? With everyone? How do I create and give the most value I can?

So for you, what is it? Is it how can I love more than ever? One year I had a question with the person I was dating, it was how can I love this person more than anyone’s ever loved them? It was such a great question. How can I lose weight for the last time?

How can I pay off all my debt this year? How can I make more money this year? How can I finally start my business this year? How can I be more seen, put myself out there in a way that feels authentic and joyous and fun and exciting? Come up with an amazing question for yourself so you can have your best year.

Now, the way that I presented it in my podcast here to you was I shared the evidence of that question, right? So when I ask a question, how can I create more value, I start thinking about all these ways I can create value. Well, I want to give extra help for my beginner life coaches, for the life coaches that are just starting out. How can I create the most value for them?

So I’m creating a whole course for my brand new beginner life coaches. How can I create more value for people who are already making hundreds of thousands of dollars but want to take it to the next level? They want to start doing more groups. They want to leverage their time more. How can I create value for them?

How can I create value for people who want to join coach training but are not necessarily wanting to go through the whole practicum, they just want to learn the tools? And then I create that course, right? So you see, those are all the results of my thoughts, my feelings of excitement and motivation and the actions of actually creating the courses.

One question created so many things, right? It’s like the last best year, 5K certification, practicum, Life Coach Business Course, doing all the coaching in Scholars, masterminds at the penthouse, extra help for beginners, 100K and million dollar life coaches, the high earner experience. That’s, what, seven things? Thinking about the high earner party.

All of the things that I am doing right now in my business that are creating a tremendous amount of momentum in my business but also in my energy, in my life, in my success is because of that one question and showing up and delivering on that one question. You can borrow my question but I do think that you have to pay attention to how the question feels for you.

So I think this is actually really interesting. I think if I had asked myself that question a year before, I would have been like, I can’t. I just can’t. Like I’m not in the motivational space for that. So it wasn’t an appropriate question. It was like, how can I recover from being burnt out? How can I help myself reset, regroup and re-energize? That was a question that I had.

And for many of you, if you’re trying to have a soft year this year, that may be the right question for you. And you need to do that regardless of what anyone thinks you should or shouldn’t do. This isn’t about anybody else but you. People have opinions on how you should live your life, don’t I know it, but that’s not about anybody but you. You get to decide what you want to do.

And this year, that question really turns me on. So that’s why I say you could use my question if you want but just make sure it’s the right year for that question. I was just talking to my girlfriend, Kris Plachy – By the way, I’m all over the place in this podcast this time. I know some of you love it when I do this, but stay with me.

So when I moved here to Miami, I was a little bit worried about where I’m going to walk because I’m in Sunny Isles, so there’s a very busy street and then I’m surrounded by water. So I thought I was going to have to walk on the beach, which walking on the beach is really good for your health. It’s really good for your body. It’s really good for your muscles. But it’s not as meditative for me because walking in the sand requires so much more effort. And when I walk on a trail, it’s just a different experience for me.

So I was like, am I going to be able to find a trail in Florida? I was not convinced. But I will tell you, six minutes from my house today, I drove to this park six minutes from my house today. A huge park with canopy trees everywhere. Lush canopy trees that create tons of shade, trails for days. I was like, I have died and gone to complete heaven.

So anyway, I digress. I was talking to Kris Plachy, my girl, about our businesses. And I asked her, I said, is this like a big work year for you? Are you wanting to dive in? She had a really rough year last year, some struggles with some things. And so she’s like just dialed in. So excited. So motivated.

Every time I talk to her, she’s got so much energy, so much focus, so much, I don’t know, enthusiasm for life. It’s so fun to talk to her about work. And so I’m like, it’s really interesting. And she works with people, she works with other entrepreneurs, other women founders who have million dollar businesses that are trying to build teams and trying to create success in their business without getting burnt out, all of the things.

And she says that she feels like a lot of her clients are in the same boat. Everyone, it’s kind of like time to dig back into business, really focus on business, really make some magic and some exciting things happen in our companies by giving as much and creating as much value as we can.

And so I was really excited to hear that. I was like, oh my God, that’s so great that it’s not just me that’s doing this. This feels so right and so exciting. And so she did tell me that it might have something to do with numerology, which I love. I’ve worked with a coach that’s a numerologist and I just find it fascinating and exciting. So maybe it’s all about being aligned that way.

But whatever it is for you that you want to focus on, come up with a primary question for the year. I know that many of you come up with a word for the year, but what about a question that you could ask yourself every single day? How can I create the most value I’ve ever created this year? Idea after idea after idea keeps coming to me. What your question is for you will give you energy and excitement for what you can create this year.

So, my friends, let’s make this the best year yet. It already is for me. I’m going to keep going. Talk to you soon, bye.

Hey, if you’ve ever wanted to work with me as your coach, now is the time to do it. You can join me in Get Coached in Scholars by going to thelifecoachschool.com/join. This is going to be the best year ever. It’s your turn to change your life. Let’s go.