The Biz Dojo

S3E20 - Discovering coaching, unlocking inner wisdom w/Justin Perkins (Part 2)

December 16, 2021 Justin Perkins Season 3 Episode 20
The Biz Dojo
🔒 S3E20 - Discovering coaching, unlocking inner wisdom w/Justin Perkins (Part 2)
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This week in The Biz Dojo, we are joined by Justin Perkins, Founder of New Edge Coaching... and Seth's personal coach, for a two-part conversation. This is part 2 of a very special 2 part conversation with Justin - be sure to go back and check out part 1 for some incredible stories as well!

In this second half of the conversation, we dive into Justin's path to coaching as a career. It's an incredible journey, and provides a backdrop for the three principles of mind, consciousness and thought. We explore the psychology of action (or inaction) in personal growth, and how to approach the concept of coaching for anyone just starting to explore - whether a coach OR a coaching client! 

This is an incredible journey for anyone starting a coaching practice, actively coaching or being coached, or just anyone interested in better understanding their own inner wisdom, and how simple insights can change your world.

You can also visit us at the links below to join the discussion:
Website      |      Facebook      |      Instagram      |      LinkedIn      |      Twitter

Check out Newsly (https://newsly.me) and use promo code B1Z2021 to get a free month of premium description.

The Biz Dojo - Podcast, Production & Professional Coaching
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JP Gaston:

Hey, you should be listening to us on the news ileap. Just visit newsleave.me to download today and listen to the entire internet, including podcasts like this one. You can also check out our conversation with founder Jani season three episode eight.

Voiceover:

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Seth Anderson:

So JP, I guess we're just doing two part episodes now. thing. It's very thing.

JP Gaston:

We're trying something different this time, though. We're releasing a Thursday episode. What is this?

Seth Anderson:

This is this is I don't know, we we try new things we you know, we're not just stuck in one format. And, you know, again, very similar, I would say to the Jamie smart interview where we had just like an hour and a half, which felt like a lot to put out at once. And the conversation kind of had like two distinct parts, you know, there's sort of part one, which hopefully you've listened to. And if you haven't already, you can kind of you can go back and listen to part one of the episode where Justin shared some amazing stories about his journey. We talked a lot about bikes, and bikes chases,

JP Gaston:

very much a theme of bicycles involved in episode one.

Seth Anderson:

Yeah. And we had some laughs It was, it was awesome. And then I would say in this episode, we got a little more philosophical, you know, around the three principles mindset, coaching, and I don't know it just felt right to kind of divvied up into into two parts.

JP Gaston:

Yeah, one of the cool things in this episode is we got to find out what it's like to live in the land of a Seth Anderson mentor.

Seth Anderson:

Yeah, Mama stuff coming in hot with the What's the hardest part about mentoring? So listen to the episode, you can you can hear Justin's feedback, but I don't know. I feel like if, if I asked you that same question, there might be a different,

JP Gaston:

maybe there may be a different response. But you have never asked me that question. So

Seth Anderson:

I don't plan to be perfectly honest.

JP Gaston:

There's some truth that we don't want to uncover.

Seth Anderson:

Yeah, so though, Justin, for those of you who haven't picked up on it by now, I've been working with him for about a year now. And

JP Gaston:

but that also means you haven't listened to the first episode. So again, go back, listen to the first episode. And then

Seth Anderson:

we wanted to do like a little rewind sound, but I don't think that actually applies here.

JP Gaston:

It'll just take you back to the start of this episode. We'll get stuck in an infinite loop. Unless you're

Seth Anderson:

listening to this on a cassette tape. With Oh, yes,

JP Gaston:

probably not win which case we will play a sound when you need to turn decide be.

Seth Anderson:

Anyway, a lot of fun. This is the second half of our episode, Justin Perkins, amazing coach based in while he wasn't, he wasn't Colorado when I started talking to him. Now based in Germany, this was like,

JP Gaston:

when you started talking to him, while it's not like he was in Colorado at the start of the episode, and by the end he was in it might have been I don't know,

Seth Anderson:

like this has got to be like our sixth or seventh international interview at this point, which Yeah, yeah. Very cool. So yeah, let's, let's dive into it. So you've got this journey. And, you know, within the last couple of years, you've made the pivot into coaching. And I think that's where we wanted to kind of take the conversation is, you know, when did you know that? You wanted to get into coaching? And then how did that pivot occur for you? Because I think a lot of people talk about it. But you went all in, and just want to kind of pick your brain on that a little bit.

Justin Perkins:

Yeah. So I'm going to kind of start in reverse order. Just to give give you a sense, and your listeners a sense of what all in sounds like, the way I would describe what I do is this is my this is my end zone run. This is my to the grave profession. And I know that deep down now, flashback maybe 15 years ago, I actually was interested in in coaching. I was really lucky to go to this credible leadership training program with a guy named Sandy Wilder, who used to be a soccer coach at the college. I Gone to he was not my coach, but I was on the college soccer team there. I was introduced to him and ended up doing this incredible leadership workshop with him. That inspired me to go on a vision quest, which was a solo in the wilderness for three days, four days, I did a couple of those. And this guy really impacted me in a big way, at a fairly, you know, delicate transition in my life, I just gotten married, you know, finances were really tough. And I really wanted to do what he did. I just couldn't see how to make it happen. And I remember asking him at one point, I was like, Can I please like, come to one of the meetings you do with these executives. And, you know, he very gently said, you know, you're not ready yet, basically, like, you're not experienced enough. And the way you handled that was, was awesome. So I kind of channeled that into the idea of being a vision quest Guide, which was way before its time, I'd done this incredible training in California, where we learned how to take people out into the wilderness and support them in a solo, where, you know, profound, profound things happen when people slow down to that degree. So I was very entrepreneurial, and tried to make that into a business, but it just was, it just wasn't gonna happen as a realistic source of income. It was up there with trying to be a musician, JP, I can see all the instruments. I know that feeling so well, which, which I also was trying at that point, by the way, so, so didn't write, you know, it kind of got tabled. And I decided that, you know, I needed to just kind of get into life and learn how to make serious money and, you know, get into a career. So the door got closed on that for a while. But I'm glad it did. Because over the next decade, plus, I got to have kind of this Darth Vader experience where it was really learning. And when I say that, I mean, you know, and akin Skywalker started out as very pure, like, you know, and but when he went deep into the dark side, and ultimately that he was the one powerful enough to defeat the dark side. So that's what I mean by the Darth Vader experience. So I had this journey that was just, you know, full of highs and lows, but off the charts learning curve, between having a full time day job and ultimately starting a side hustle. Now all of that experience, the highs and the lows of that were the perfect preparation for me to actually then hang a shingle as code. So the impulse really started, you know, over a decade ago, I shut that down. But then rediscovered that flashforward, my business had run out of cash, the day job was getting a lot harder. So the market had shifted a lot. Our sales were dropping, the relationships on the team were tense, it just was not fun. The way it had been for many years. So I was really stressed like redlining was stress, and, you know, probably probably having anxiety attacks, panic attacks. And one of my investors at all a moment not company, this credible guy named Jason birth. And Jason had been an entrepreneur, he started a very forward thinking school, outdoor education. Just an incredible guy, I met him through the internet through a website that we'd raise money on called circle up as an angel investor platform, so didn't really know him that well. But he was one of the handful of people who reached out to me when I gave my investors an update and said, hey, you know, things are not going as planned here, folks. And so, you know, we're tightening our belts, and we're trying to figure this out, but might not end well. So he reached out he said, Hey, I know a thing or two about stress. If you want to talk to somebody, you know, me call. So we ended up having some really intriguing conversations. And it just, you know, when you're in the middle of a perfect storm of like, everything falling apart, having somebody who's not part of your drama, is really, really helpful. And there's a difference I've learned between, you know, going to a friend for advice or going to your board members for advice. And then having somebody who's actually dedicated to your well being who's on your side, and will listen to you without judgment. So Jason showed up is that guy for me? And within Gosh, over a period of few months, I talked to him maybe six times. And I just started to feel better. And what he taught me about how my mind works, was the most leveraged information I've ever come across. And as a result of that, my own wisdom and my own common sense and my own well being started to come back to the surface. And so from that place, I got myself out of the hole. Now ultimately, the business didn't make it. You know, there were 50 Angel investors and two and a half million dollars lost. You know, the day job didn't get a lot better, but I was able to kind of keep keep my family together, keep the finances together, it really wasn't that bad. But what changed inside of me was so profound it was, you know, something I couldn't stop thinking about. So after about a year of, of conversations with with Jason BIRF. This years back to serendipity, Jason had recommended that I do this, this fun little game, this course, that a coach named Michael Neal put together. I think it's happening right now, actually. And it's called Creating the impossible. So having kind of gotten, you know, sucker punched by life, and getting the wind knocked out of me for a while. That was just what I needed was like to remember how creative I am. So I'm playing this game. And every day, there's a great prompt. And Michael Neal used to be a comedian, and he went to clown School. And in clown school, they have a rule that when the red nose is on, you have to say yes to everything. So on Red Nose Day, which was the theme of the prompt that day in creating the possible 90 Day program, I happen to have a conversation with Jason. I said, Jason, I'm curious about this coaching thing, like, that was pretty incredible. I feel so much better. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I feel my confidence back to know how to handle myself and my situation. Not there yet. But I know I got this. This coaching Dean's incredible. How, how does want to do this? So they I think for context, this is about maybe 2018, round about February. So I kid you not Jason says, Well, you know, it's funny, you should ask. My wife just cancelled in going to a coach training program with my mentor, a guy named George pranskey happens to be the pioneer of this field called the three principles that the Jason had coached me from. And he said, I've already got the Airbnb booked. Want to go? Well, I had to say yes, it was Red Nose Day. So two weeks later, I find myself in La Conner, Washington, just 9090 minutes north to Seattle, and, you know, cute little home boutique hotel, and this little port town. And I'm there with maybe 100 other people, you know, coaches and practitioners of varying flavors, therapists and coaches and all these people who are really interested in how the mind works. And George pranskey and his wife, Linda was leading this, this training program, they do a demo a coaching demo. And they invited somebody to come up on stage. And there was a guy who was a chiropractor who, seven years earlier had lost his license because he accidentally hurt somebody. Now, this guy had totally lost his confidence. And he was at the point where he was just getting his license back his chiropractor. And so he volunteered to, to go on stage and, you know, see if George could help him out. So I watched George shoes is this character, he's I think he's from Massachusetts has a really heavy Boston, you know, kind of Massachusetts accent speaks very slowly, very academic and is, you know, in his speech patterns. And I watch him have this this conversation. It's very ordinary. And yet, the way he's asking questions, is very unusual. And I found that my jaw started to hit the floor, where it was like,What is he doing? You can ask people that you can be that direct. But what I watched was basically a miracle happen. And I know that sounds ridiculous. I would have thought that was ridiculous until I saw it. But I watched this guy shift very viscerally from being completely hopeless, caught in his thinking, you know, feeling guilt, beating yourself up totally judging himself to relaxing just enough to see, you know, like his eyes light up and to see the human being come back to the surface, out of that made up illusion out of that story that he'd been consumed by, you know, for years and I could really relate to that because of that feeling of guilt, you know, it's kind of followed me around for a long time. And I just, you know, it touched me so deeply. I walked into the other room after watching that. And, you know, what I realized was it was the first time in my life that I felt like I really saw true wisdom in action. And it touched me so deeply. I remember sitting in this room. No, I think it's important to say here, like, I hadn't thrown the baby out with the bathwater on a spiritual level. So I'd kind of kissed any notion of spirituality or religion goodbye, about a decade earlier. But something happened, it was hard to explain. And I'm, I'm in the next room, you know, feeling like a person might feel on psychedelics. And the colors on the wall are moving the, I'm looking at these beautiful paintings. Everything's just kind of soft around the edges. And I was listening to this beautiful Violin Concerto that my wife had sent me. Really, really magnificent experience. And I just hadn't felt that good for maybe ever. And I just knew in that moment, that this I had to figure out how to do this, I had to figure out how to do this. So it's just been on a nonstop learning learning curve ever since that moment, I sneak into the bathroom to you know, take five extra minutes to learn more

Seth Anderson:

about coaching. So at that seminar is that when you were first exposed to like Sidney banks and and that, well, better, did you know a little bit

Justin Perkins:

about? So through Jason Burb, I learned about the three principles. But up up until that point, or even, you know, even for a year after that, I had a hard time listening to Sidney banks without falling asleep. And then for context, so Sydney, Sydney banks is a really fascinating character in history. He was an ordinary Scottish immigrant to Canada. He lived in one of the islands off the west coast, and ultimately ended up on Saltspring Island. And in his 40s, he, you know, was pretty insecure. He was an orphan as a kid, worked as a welder, I think one of the local Mills, and he and his wife had gone to a seminar on an island, Cortes Island, where there's a retreat center that today is called Hollyhock. The while he was there, they were there at some sort of couples counseling session. And back in the 70s, they still like take sticks and beat on pillows and, you know, do all kinds of interesting therapies where they yell at each other and say the worst things about each other. And somehow that was supposed to be helpful. So he was miserable at this seminar. And the story goes, he was talking to a therapist, who's their psychotherapist. And this, this therapist, they were walking on the beach, and he made an offhand comment to Sid banks. Instead, it said something like, gosh, I'm so insecure, you know, he'd experienced so much insecurity in his life up to that point. And, you know, the story goes, therapist said, You're not insecure, said you just think you are. And that triggered? What apparently was an enlightenment experience. You know, it's worth kind of looking up the story in full detail. But long story short, you know, this ordinary welder with not a ton of education. I mean, he had read a bit, but no, it was no, no means a psychotherapist or a philosopher. And, and he just kind of saw the whole game in one fell swoop. And as a result of that, he started helping people in very profound ways. And a couple of years later, this couple of psychotherapists had had that said, including George pranskey, who's giving the seminar. And then George, and many others ended up studying with said, and learning, you know, as best they could what he had seen and understood, and then they started to help people too. So that was kind of the the genesis of this teaching that came about. And it took me a while to sort of, you know, be be able to even say that out loud because of my skepticism of spirituality and religion. So what I've learned is that there's a scientific aspect to all of this, which we can all sort of empirically experience within ourselves. So, for me, what I realized was one of my advantages was that I was a skeptic. And what I love to do is to help people learn basically how their minds work through empirical evidence that they experience themselves. So anyway, that's how that's how it came to be. And, you know, I think, Jason Berg for introducing me to, you know, what I would consider a new a new paradigm or a new field of psychology, but it's also got a, you know, a spiritual dimension to it. And by that I mean You know, sort of by spiritual I mean, not necessarily religious or I mean that in the way that it's mystical in the sense that it's really hard to understand, it's still in the realm of mystery, just like half of science is still in the realm of mystery. So that's, that's kind of the genesis of what I stumbled into.

Seth Anderson:

And maybe, you know, just for the folks listening, and I think we, we jammed on it a little bit with Jamie smart, who was actually was on the show a few weeks back, and I believe he coached anchor shoe you ended up, I think, moving to at some point. So there's a coaching circle comes into play. But what are the three principles? I guess? Like? How would you describe them?

Justin Perkins:

So in its simplicity, the three principles are mind consciousness and thought. Now, those are just three words or a metaphor, right? So it's a way to kind of describe what's happening on a psychological level. So if you think about gas firepit, as a metaphor, the energy of that flame is essentially powered by the gas that's in the tank. So that's basically the metaphor of mind. So you could call that, you know, whatever, whatever mysterious force powers life that enables us to breathe without thinking about it makes our hearts be gills cuts. There's some life force. So that's, that would be considered mind, the gas going through the tube would be like, thought, if you think about a, you know, condensed propane tank, that gas can only go one direction. So it goes from inside the tank out. The flame is ignited in the metaphor by consciousness. So thought is made real by consciousness. And so that's the attempt to explain what happens in our psychological experience, is that our thought, whatever we think, is made real by the force of consciousness. So the reason it's called three principles is that the idea is that these are the fundamental scientific forces of nature, that essentially power our human psychological operating system. Another way to compare it would be like the force of gravity, you can't see gravity, but you can point to it working by empirical evidence of flight, or no, if you drop a pen, it's gonna fall to the earth repeatedly. So what's really helpful when people start to understand that we're essentially walking around in an agreed upon construct, where it appears as if the outside world is causing us to think or feel certain things? That's actually an illusion. And that was the insight. And the value add that Sid banks had was to see that? No, it's actually an inside job. And we are experiencing life, to the degree that we're clear, or the quality of our thinking is clear. And the missing link that he describes in this brilliantly simple book, called the missing link, is that thought is what's causing us to have feelings, not the other way around. So the prevailing paradigm that we all grew up with is that, let's say you go to a movie, and you have an emotional response to the movie.

Unknown:

Well, you would said the movie made me feel, fill in the emotional blank.

Justin Perkins:

Everyone, you stopped to think about it for a second, you've got 100 people in a movie theater. Every single one of those people is feeling something different. So you can kind of look at examples all over your world, kind of like the teddy bear example that Jamie smart uses. You know, a kid associates feelings with an object, the teddy bear. But every adult knows that the teddy bear has no power to make the kid feel anything. It's the kids feelings. It's the kids emotional system that makes them feel something. So that's the idea that the three principles when people get a sense of that truth of the matter that's going on the paradigm kind of rearranges itself, the logic rearranges itself. And that's what I experienced my world was to see that any bad feeling I had in the middle of a perfect storm. Let's take for example, one of my investors was very upset with us losing money when the business failed. I really looked up to this guy. So I had created a whole story that led me to very extreme feelings of really panic, because I'd let this guy down So those thoughts and the quality of that thinking led me into a panic attack. Now this guy was 3000 miles away. So how in the world could this guy caused me to have a panic attack. And when I saw that, when I saw that it was thought, creating me to feel that deep sense of fear,there was this beautiful moment where I was free when I saw how thought was creating that. And within about 10 minutes, that cleared up. Without intervention without medication without meditation, it was seeing how that operating system was working. That demystified the whole experience of the panic attack. So that's, that's a taste of, of kind of what it's like. And what I really loved about this journey is just how ordinary it is. It's just natural. And essentially, it's like, the more people relax, and look towards enjoying their lives, which at the end of the day is Sid banks message over and over again, the less drama they will experience.

Seth Anderson:

Couldn't agree more. One of the things you said to me when we first started working together that I think, was, was felt, well, that felt a lot different than the coaching I had experienced in the past. Like I think, I think a lot of the coaching I had experienced up until we met was behavior based, sort of outside in, and then you said something to the effect of your inner wisdom will be greater than any advice I can give you, among many other things. But that like, that stuck out to me is like, what does that mean? And once I started to like wrestle with that, and play with that, it's like, as a coach, you'll create a space, you may give me some insightful feedback based on your experience, but at the end of the day, it's me tapping into what's inside, that, you know, creates the energy to, to make a change or make an impact or whatever. And I don't know, it's such a simple statement, but it absolutely has changed the way I think about everything. And whether that's coaching or life or whatever, like being a coach or being a recipient of coaching, and I don't know, where did where did you pick that from? Is that something that you just kind of? Is that an insight you gathered along the way that you kind of verbalized in your own unique way? Or is it something you got from one of your coaches? Or where did that come from?

Justin Perkins:

It's actually a good example. Because I think initially, it's something that I heard. And so conceptually, I understood that. But as a coach, I think, especially when you're learning how to coach, it's really fun to give advice, it feels good, sometimes it's helpful. But where I really started, understand that was actually after a coaching call that went wrong. So I had heard it for a long time. And I'd seen it in action. But when I really understood it was when I got caught into sort of an intellectual battle with a client who wasn't actually very open and was very much caught in the ego and super, super intelligent, super smart. And it got into this dynamic to where he was looking to me for advice, and didn't understand that the role of the coach is really to help somebody see their own wisdom. So when I saw that in action, what I realized was that as soon as I went into trying to give advice, it didn't land. The way out was to then flip that around and say, instead of looking to me for advice, what are you going to do about it. And that is a really powerful difference, because it puts the responsibility back into the clients court, which is ultimately where it has to be. Now the other the other piece of that was, I noticed as an entrepreneur, I tried to outsource my wisdom to my advisors, my CEO, had hired my partner. And what that did was actually led to some bad choices because as the entrepreneur, I had ideas and vision for certain things. For example, if I'd followed my gut earlier to sell the product online, I kind of knew how to do that. Because my advisors didn't have experience with the internet the way that I did, they couldn't see it. But I thought they were smarter than I was because they were my board members. So I deferred to them instead of trusting my own wisdom as a result of that and many other decisions like that. The business went the way it went. I'm not blaming Being the advisors and blaming the misunderstanding that I could have made other choices had I trusted my own wisdom. So to me, those two very visceral examples helped me to understand the value of seeing every human being as a wise being. And the role of the coach to essentially be an objective party that's not involved in the drama of any individual's ego, but essentially, to be so balanced, and so present, and so loving for the end to see that in themselves. And that at the heart of it is what happens in coaching. I was listening to a podcast with with Byron, Katie, I hadn't listened to a whole lot, but is actually recommended by by my coach, I've had the pleasure of working for a year with this incredible coach named Karen Davis, who is had a massive impact on me, you know, everything across my world is has changed and turned around. So she was sharing this podcast where Byron Katie is working with these three women who are, you know, in very dramatic, traumatic situations. And Katie made this really wonderful comment she goes, isn't it funny, that I get the credit for pointing you to your own wisdom you already knew inside of you? Isn't that funny? And I just love that.

Seth Anderson:

Well, I think it draws on. You know, I think another point, when we first were getting to know each other that you brought up was that when you get a coach, I think a lot of people at least I thought, like I'm making this investment, and Justin, like Justin's my coach, he's gonna help me figure out who I am and what I want, but really, you're making an investment in yourself.

Unknown:

And it's,

Seth Anderson:

it doesn't sound like a big difference, I don't know, it's a big difference. Like, once you realize, hey, I'm making this investment in myself to figure out who I am and what I want. And, you know, the coach, whoever that is, is going to create the space and, and you're kind of like a rickshaw bike, like, you're, you're taking, you know, you're helping me get from point A to point B, but, I mean, I'm the one, you know, that has decided that I need to go there. And I have the map. Like, with me, I don't know, that metaphor probably needs some work. But at the end of the day, making that that mindset flip from I'm investing in myself to I'm investing in someone to help me think is very important to get the full value out of a coaching experience, at least it has been for me.

Justin Perkins:

Yeah, I would totally agree with that, in my experience. And, you know, you'd mentioned going all in and, and that's what I did, when I decided that, you know, this is, this is the, the end zone profession for me. There was no doubt about that. And as a result of that, you know, coming up with the resources, and what might look like really risky investment to somebody who doesn't quite understand that, to me was a no brainer. I've invested more than anything in my life in coaching, because it was the first time where I put a stake in the ground for myself. And I was lucky because I had the contrast of raising money raising capital for a business idea for a product. And what I realized was that at the end of the day, angel investors were also investing in me as much as they were in the idea. But the mindset I had there was trying to outsource a lot of that I was, you know, outsourcing the leadership to a CEO, outsourcing my wisdom, being extreme, but you know, outsourcing my wisdom to a board and outsourcing my investment to investors, when I drew a line in the sand and said, This is where I'm going, I'm going to be a coach. And I'm going to do this at a high level, you know, just like I would be an athlete, and that's where things really started to line up in my world. And that was the tipping point, that decision to really invest for the first time 100% and trusting myself. That's changed everything.

JP Gaston:

What, what strikes me in the conversations I've heard about coaching is how easily people defer decision making processes to others for them, and it like it's it's in every part of our lives people let like and and it's what marketers try so hard to tap into, like how can I make this person think that this is the in the best interest for them and feel like they are the ones making the decision because that is the most powerful marketing tool ever. And yet, it's so hard to get individuals to think about that in terms of coming back within themselves and influencing themselves and creating their own, like internal rituals and internal reflection. It's, it's just, it's crazy how, how much we differ and how willing we are to defer that decision to someone else. or something

Justin Perkins:

else? Yeah. Why? Why do you think we do that JP such a good point.

JP Gaston:

I think it's easy. And a lot of times, it's, it's not necessarily even a conscious decision. I think it's easy to sit on the couch and watch a commercial and just think, Alright, I need to, you know, I need a coke or I need to go and I need to, I need to buy this happy meal, because it's gonna make me feel happy. And we don't spend enough time. And we say meditation and people instantly get turned off. But that that self reflection that time with yourself to actually think about like, what is my body telling me forget what the TV tells me? Or what some marketer somewhere tells me like, What is my body? What does my mind trying to tell me that I need? Yeah, that's a great point. That's 45 pages of notes already. It's like,

Seth Anderson:

wow, this could be like a whole podcast season, I think. But I actually have a, you know, maybe just to pivot slightly. I have a question from Mama Seth this week. And we've been delinquent on this last couple of weeks. So Justin, we've been doing the segment, as I'm sure you've heard questions from my mom, and her question, hard hitting. So Justin, what has been the hardest part about mentoring Seth, I love how she jumped to the difficult part. And also what has been the best part. That's the afterthought. Wow,

Justin Perkins:

I'm going for the jugular.

Seth Anderson:

Coming in hot.

Justin Perkins:

I'm going to say this very honestly, there has been nothing hard about coaching says, what I have really enjoyed is there's this great book that my coach just published called, How to be a great coaching client, or how to get the most out of coaching is the title. And it's her 10 years of best practices of her investment in her own learning to be a masterful coach. So it's essentially saying, okay, half of the equation of coaching is to be a great coaching client, the responsibility and this kind of goes to what you're saying JP, you know, the responsibility when a human being takes responsibility, not blame, because stuff happens, and we have to respond. But when a human being steps up, and takes responsibility for the way things are, creativity shows up. And there, I've had this mantra, I don't know where I got it, but it's been my experience, there's always a way, there's always a way, you just have to look for another angle. And there's always a way, I don't know how that works. But there's always a way. So what I really appreciated about working with Seth is he just so intuitively, I'm saying this in the third person, you're right in front of me. But that the Anderson is just been an absolute joy to work with the, you know, he he very naturally picked up even before this book was written in the key traits of coachability. So you know, it's kind of a universal statement for everybody. It's, you know, openness to learn. It's taking insights and putting them into action right away. So I mean, it's not a surprise to me that you and JP have been so creative with your podcast, and your business and iterating and trying all kinds of experiments over the last year. I mean, look at what you guys have accomplished from, you know, shoestring budget, and nothing into this incredible world class podcast, it's attracting some incredible speakers. So it's, it's willingness to try experiments, it's showing up open, it's, you know, kind of this, this sense of devotion to the craft. And the results of that are just so fun to watch. And so so for me, it's just been one of the highlights of my life to to get to witness the changes that you've experienced.

Seth Anderson:

Thank you very much. That's the best performance review I've ever gotten. So I appreciate it.

JP Gaston:

I feel like the hardest part is that there isn't a bike in this you

Seth Anderson:

know, bite, it's bite now. Yes, zero

JP Gaston:

bias.

Seth Anderson:

That's good. What are you working on? Justin in terms of personal development? So I know I believe you were talking about a couple sessions ago, you just took a course. So what have you What are you working on developing personally and how have you been feeding your mind lately?

Justin Perkins:

There are two two really profound experiences I've had lately. So actually went back and did a a two day intensive retreat with the first coach. I wish I worked with Jason birth. He lives in Crested Butte, Colorado and has this you know, beautiful ranch in his wife, her coaches, she works with horses, they're just amazing people there. So they have a little company called Blue Dot coaching. And I just had a hunch to before my trip to Germany to hire Jason and and create a retreat for myself and boy, that was That was incredible and spend two days with him and a lot of solo time, now surrounded by nature and going for walks. And I found that that took my game to another level through actually looking deeper into, I would say myself, but taking the time to really slow down and listen to myself, and really just pick up on the nuances of of life. In this case, he really helped me see more clearly how, when we focus on our story and the content of our story, often that's a false place to look. And where change happens. And I, you know, I would say that you've picked up on this intuitively, not too many people drop as much weight as you have, or, you know, go cold turkey on alcohol the way you have. So on an intuitive level, when people change, it's because they're not focused on their story, they're focused on essentially the possibility going back to before where creation comes from. And it's kind of like hitting a reset button on a computer, you go back and kind of cycle into the formless space of you know, who we are. And from there, you can make better choices of the behavior that follows. So that was two of the best days of my life spent so far was getting to see that dynamic more deeply. And that really prepped me for a, you know, very challenging, yet fun set of circumstances to navigate as I basically closed up shop in the US and moved my family over to Germany. The other workshop I did was these two coaches and consultants, Ken Manning and Robin Charvet. They've really pioneered an incredible change management approach in working with businesses. So one of the reasons I love this work is my passion for my work would be to help create sane cultures, within companies, I had the privilege of doing 800 deals in my 10 years as a salesperson, and you know, sitting across the table from hundreds, if not 1000s, of companies, nonprofits, I worked in government organizations. So I've seen a lot of organizational situations, and most of them are not good. And so one of my passions, the lever I see is to really focus on excellent leadership, help to create stellar leaders who understand people on a deep level, understand themselves on a deep level, are committed to service are committed to impact. And then they model that through their own behavior, and who they are and the way that they show up in their families. And in their work. They don't see any disconnection between those two worlds. And then with simple frameworks helped to create structures and systems that reinforce the way that human beings actually operate in a healthy and sane and balanced way.So that's kind of my below the surface mission is starting with leaders can hopefully have a ripple effect through the culture of their businesses, as well as their families. And that's already happening on a small scale. So Ken and Robin have taken that to an organizational scale. And they have a company and have written a book called invisible power, which is taking what they call the Insight principles, or the three principles. And they've developed a wonderful training program to help people understand that. And then they're teaching companies and they've worked with some of the Fortune 15 on how to essentially create and innovate any problem around any problem through a better understanding of how the human operating system works. So I just did their training, which was this seven day journey, which was super fascinating. No learning from everything about how the ego works to, you know, feeling some profound insights to know watching the impact of a group of strangers shift and create a culture and a couple of days that, you know, had a rapport so strong, we could have solved any problem on Earth. So I'm really excited about that kind of work. And so I read a lot about leadership and do a lot of deep dives into looking for the connecting points across wisdom traditions. So the the field of inquiry I have is pretty broad, you know, everything from spirituality to the book that my dad sent me before I left for Germany. My dad used to JPL you'll appreciate this. My dad was a radio guy, and was In the voiceover business for years, and used to read books on tape for business executives. So we have a nice connection around, you know, business stories. So he sent me a great book called, it's your ship. And I'm reading that right now. And it's about this Admiral in the Navy, who developed a really profound and simple leadership system over the years and had some remarkable results in literally an aircraft carrier type environment. So that's, that's the gist. So it's a wide Gambit. And I actually really just kind of follow my, my interest in my desire in a very serendipitous way. And lots of cool connections happen that

Seth Anderson:

that's awesome. So if someone has been inspired by this conversation, how can they learn more about there's no, no, there's no for all the people who've been super inspired by this conversation. How can they connect with you and learn more about what you're up to Justin?

Justin Perkins:

Yeah, thanks. I really appreciate you guys having me on. And so it's a real pleasure to share some of this stuff. So my contact, you can reach me through my website, which is new edge coaching.com. You can email me through there, or I'm on LinkedIn as well. And we'd be happy to connect with people

JP Gaston:

or just send a tweet to Richard Branson. Or send

Seth Anderson:

Awesome. Well, thanks so much for joining us, Justin. Really appreciate you. And happy holidays. And hope all goes well with closing the house and in Germany.

Justin Perkins:

Thank you guys. back atcha and we'll have to meet up in the house. And

Seth Anderson:

yes, I mean bestow Joe on location. Thanks, Justin.

Justin Perkins:

All right. Take care, guys. Thank you.

JP Gaston:

Hey, thanks for listening. Have you ever thought about how to unlock your own potential and what a coach could do for you reach out anytime we'd love to set up a free discovery session with you to see if coaching is right for you. And if we're the right coaches, just send an email coaching at the biz dojo.com