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176. Cast Your Votes · Impact Ready

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  Welcome to Impact Ready, a show dedicated to helping you elevate
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  your impact in the world. I'm Steph Safra, your host.
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  Let's explore the power of showing up with intention and
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  energy each day. This is for those who seek to
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  make life truly meaningful. Get ready for impact.
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  Hello, welcome to the show. Today, in this episode, we are
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  going to talk about voting, but not voting in the next election.
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  Voting for your future self. I I often talk to clients about
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  the idea of identity. Specifically, one of the things
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  that we work on is embodying the identity of the person that you
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  want to be now rather than waiting for yourself to somehow
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  magically become that person in the future.
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  Obviously our experiences and our circumstances will play a
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  role in shaping who we are, but often we'll say things to
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  ourselves like this. I'll be a real leader when I
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  have a higher title in my company.
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  I'll be a great spouse when I find that right person.
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  I'll be healthy when I can lose this extra £50.
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  I'll be a musician when I play over 75 gigs.
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  The problem with those scenarios is that often we don't prepare
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  or practice being the real leader or the great spouse or
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  the healthy person or the musician or whatever it might
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  be. And so when that time comes that
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  the event we've been waiting for arrives, we're not ready and we
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  don't actually embody that identity, not in the way that we
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  could. So I want to argue for something
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  else. I want to make an argument that
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  we can actually step into the identity of the person that we
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  want to become before we hit any of those milestones or those
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  perceived necessary achievements that we have in our minds.
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  I remember one of my mentors early on in coaching, she said
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  to me, if you're going to be a coach, you have to fully claim
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  it. You have to embody the identity
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  of being a master coach if you really want to do this.
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  And that's who you want to be. And I didn't actually fully
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  understand what she meant at the time, but I sure as hell do now.
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  I had to start acting and thinking like the identity I
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  wanted to become. And she was saying this because
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  we had been talking about how the coaching world is becoming
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  more and more saturated. And she was saying, if you are
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  going to leave your mark, if you are going to do what you want to
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  do, you have to fully claim it and embody that.
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  James Clear talks about this in his book Atomic Habits, which is
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  everywhere, and you've probably read it.
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  And if you haven't, I don't know if you've been under a rock, but
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  this guy's everywhere. And he talks about casting votes
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  for the type of person that you want to be.
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  So every action you take is a vote for the type of person that
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  you wish to become. And he says that the most
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  practical way to change who you are is to change what you do and
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  reframe this idea that your future self is way out there
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  rather than right in front of you.
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  Instead, think about it this way.
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  Every time you write a page, you are a writer.
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  Every time you practice the guitar, you are a musician.
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  Every time you go to batting practice, you are an athlete.
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  Every time you encourage your team or your colleagues or your
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  employees, you are a leader. And every time you choose to
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  perform a certain action, every time you act out a good habit or
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  a bad habit, it's a vote for that identity, that future
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  version of you. And this is an idea that I love.
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  James Clear says that when you think about identity this way,
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  there's great news. And the great news is that you
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  don't have to be perfect. Who doesn't want to hear that,
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  right? Because in any election, they're
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  going to be votes for both sides.
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  You don't have to have a unanimous vote to win an
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  election. You just need a majority.
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  So it doesn't matter if you cast a few votes for bad behavior or
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  bad habits. Your goal is to simply win the
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  majority of the time. And I love that it takes so much
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  of the pressure off to be this perfect version of yourself,
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  which we know is an illusion anyway.
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  So throw that out the window and just say I need to win the
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  majority. I love this idea of casting
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  votes for the version of the person that we want to be.
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  Back to what my mentor said to me about coaching, I didn't
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  exactly know what it would look like to be a master coach in her
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  words, and I'm still learning every single day.
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  But at the time I thought to myself, well, I can start to
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  take actions like 1. And so I would ask myself in
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  this scenario, what would a master coach do?
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  How would a master coach deal with this client situation and I
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  think about this in terms of being a business owner as well.
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  How would a successful business owner forecast, how would they
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  self manage in this situation or in terms of a leader, how would
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  a great leader handle this conflict, etcetera.
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  Every behavior, every habit that I align with those identities is
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  a vote casted for those identities.
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  In my Next Level Nutrition group, we have a virtual group
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  coaching meeting every Monday. And oftentimes in those meetings
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  you will hear Sarah and I say, envision your future self.
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  Who do you want to be? And then we talk about the
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  behaviors that align with that future vision of you.
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  It's like casting votes for that identity.
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  And we remind people that every time they meal prep or they go
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  to the gym, or they do a strength training session or
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  join a group fitness class, or they choose Whole Foods over
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  processed foods, whatever it might be, they are casting votes
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  towards their identity of being a healthy person.
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  And this is so powerful for people to make that shift.
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  When we identify with who we want to be and align our actions
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  and behaviors around that, you oftentimes see more success.
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  You see more sustained long term results.
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  You see better outcomes. The shift starts from the inside
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  and then the behaviors and the habits and therefore the
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  outcomes start to match. And there's so many ways to cast
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  votes for your future self. To start, ask yourself the
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  question, what would blank kind of person do and insert the type
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  of person that you want to be. Do you want to be a calm parent
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  or a compassionate leader? Do you want to be steady under
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  pressure? Do you want to be a thoughtful
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  friend? Do you want to be a power couple
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  with your spouse? I mean, the possibilities are
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  endless, but it's about you aligning with who you want to
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  be. You can start stacking wins,
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  start doing the things that that kind of identity would do.
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  Every time you do something that matches with who you want to be,
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  that's a vote, that's a win in your favor.
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  That's evidence and confidence in who you are becoming.
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  And then of course, surround yourself with people who emulate
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  the behaviors and the values that you want to align with.
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  Because we know that when you spend time with people or in
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  groups or clubs or organizations and the behaviors that you
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  desire are considered to be normal, you get to soak up those
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  behavior. It becomes more commonplace for
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  you and it's a lot easier to start to behave in a similar
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  way. More evidence of wins, more
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  votes casted for the person that you're wanting to be.
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  So the question today is, who do I want to be?
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  What is the identity that I want to embrace and embody?
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  Because when you know that you can start casting your votes and
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  that's a really powerful way to make impact in your life.
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  I hope that this episode helps. I hope it spurs on some thought
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  for yourself and the identity that you want to step into
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  because the time is now. You don't have to wait.
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  The time is now. I appreciate you being here.
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  Thank you for listening. And as always, thank you for
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  being ready to Impact Team. Thanks for listening to Impact
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  Ready. I hope today's episode inspired
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  you to own your impact and recognize that you are powerful.
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  By elevating our energy and awareness, we can create
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  exponential change in this life. If you enjoyed today's insights,
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  share them with a friend and subscribe to the show for more.
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  I truly appreciate you. Thanks again for being here.