Get ready for something TOTALLY different on this week's podcast… As you know, Gay and Mike like to go off the beaten path and get out of our comfort zones sometimes.Well, this week they went WAY out of their comfort zone and talked with an amazing young woman, Christine Marie Quigless, about something they never thought they'd be discussing on a podcast - women's periods!Not our usual topic, but hear us out… Christine has dedicated her life to helping women have a better, easier monthly cycle. She's written a book all about the science and psychology behind it called, “Ending Period Pain the Easy Way.”And here's the cool part - what she's discovered can teach us guys a LOT about ourselves too. The same principles of tuning into your body's wisdom apply whether you're a man or woman.Christine is so passionate and articulate. The story of how she met Gay and ended up speaking with him and Mike is pure conscious luck in action. She's on a mission to change women's lives, and the insights she shared have opened my eyes in all kinds of unexpected ways.So come with an open mind and get ready for a fun, frank conversation about something that affects half the human population. Not only will you learn a ton, but you'll be thoroughly entertained. Christine has so much heart and her enthusiasm is downright infectious. Mike and Gay were cracking up through parts of the convo. (Let's just say she does NOT hold back. The girl's got no filter and they loved it.)Check out this week's podcast and let us know what you think. Curious to hear your reactions to this one!Key Takeaways:(03:20) Podcast highlights helping women with period issues.(06:42) Multiple surgeries, pills, pain, seeking solutions.(10:13) New book, ebook, audiobook on program offered.(15:40) Struggle to be understood, found unexpected perspective.(19:08) Sister's feedback inspires women to find purpose.(22:11) Holistic approach to body, self-awareness, and empowerment.(24:43) Rest is essential for rebuilding and healing.(27:28) Addressing bodily discomfort through life coaching methods.(34:20) Living on a mission transforms attitude towards menstruation.(42:36) Reject masculine energy, embrace natural essence, empower.(45:18) Evolution impacts work schedules for both genders.(48:21) 2022 women in the workplace report: "The Great Breakup."Additional Resources:Get Christine’s Book here: www.BigLeapPodcast.com/CMGet Christine’s Audiobook here: www.BigLeapPodcast.com/CMA

Mike has something super special for you in this week's podcast episode — a fascinating conversation about luck, opportunity, mindset and manifesting positive outcomes with two unconventional thinkers.Gay and Mike sat down with Stuart Lacey for a fascinating exploration of luck.You're going to absolutely love hearing Gay and Stuart dive deep into what luck really means, how to cultivate it in your life, and their unique formulas for manifesting more luck.These are two guys who have thought more about luck than almost anyone Mike knows. Gay literally wrote the book on Conscious Luck and Stuart's new book is called "The Formula for Luck." So they've got some profound wisdom to share.They covered things like: The key mindsets and behaviors that "lucky" people have in common Practical techniques to help you maximize serendipity and flow How to quickly recover when things don't go your way The role of empathy, connection, and community in enhancing luck And much more! Mike had so much fun geeking out with Gay and Stuart on this topic. As three naturally curious people, they got into the metaphysics, neuroscience, and social dynamics behind luck and good fortune.So whether you want to understand luck on a theoretical level or learn how to have more of it in your own life, you're going to find tremendous value in this episode.Jump in and let Mike know what gems you uncover!Key Takeaways (03:48) Developing a luck mindset through conscious thinking (09:24) The nature of luck and manifestation (13:14) Luck, mindset and decision making (23:36) The neuroscience of luck and flow state (32:22) The formula for manifesting luck and personal growth (45:04) The importance of self acceptance and gratitude to open yourself up to new opportunities Additional Resources Find out more about Stuart and get a copy of his book by visiting: www.FormulaForLuck.com Get Gay’s Book, “Conscious Luck: Eight Secrets to Intentionally Change Your Fortune” HERE Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!  

This week, Gay and Mike go deep on how to overcome anxiety, fear and other crazy emotions that can hold you back from your next level of success and happiness. As many of you know, Mike went through some intense personal challenges earlier this year that triggered severe anxiety and fear in him. He's not ashamed to say he completely lost his mind for a bit! But with Gay's wisdom and support, along with some deep inner work, Mike was able to regain his center. In this episode, Gay and Mike share openly about our own journeys conquering fear and anxiety, including a terrifying THC reaction I had that sent me to the hospital! You'll hear amazing insights like: Why you have to get fear out of your head and into your body to resolve it  Tools to interrupt your anxiety patterns and reframe what they mean How to turn your greatest fear into your greatest source of power Real life stories of people who overcame extreme adversity  Action steps to make friends with fear and unlock your blocked genius! Trust us, this episode comes at the perfect time. If you're like us, you've probably noticed there seems to be more fear and anxiety swirling around lately than ever before. People are freaking out about all kinds of stuff - the state of the world, the economy, you name it. We also talk about how fear can actually be harnessed as rocket fuel for your next level. You just have to learn how to dance with the bear, as Gay likes to say. So if you or someone you care about is struggling with fear, anxiety or feeling blocked from your potential, do yourself a favor and have a listen. Key Takeaways: (04:32) The recent trend of anxiety fear and addiction in older adults (12:08) Gay talks about his fear of dying and loss of mobility after his major fall (17:48) Mike tells a CRAZY story about losing control after his experience with a 100mg THC gummy (34:50) Managing fear and anxiety through body awareness (47:05) How to face and overcome your fears  Additional Resources: Get my new book Punch The Elephant Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

Mike has a juicy new episode today that you're going to love.Gay and Mike have an honest conversation about the biggest money mistakes they've made over their careers, and some of their biggest wins and lessons learned.Mike confesses some horrendous investments he has made early in his career that lost half his investment and Gay shares how a stupid fear and mistake cost him $10 million (yep, you read that right) in potential gains on an early Tesla investment.They also share what they'd do differently if they had to start over today. Here are a few key points: Invest in YOUR genius first - the ROI will be huge. Surround yourself with superstar mentors and coaches (Mike still invests ~$250K a year in his own coaching!) Create "unfair advantage" through your network and personal brand Play the long game - have patience and discipline They get super honest about family money dynamics, like trying to "coach" their own kids. Let's just say hiring and firing your own offspring is...complicated!Whether you're new to investing or an old pro, Mike thinks you'll find this episode motivating, insightful and entertaining. Have a listen and let's hear your key takeaways!Key Takeaways (03:37) Gay’s first Big Leap into investing (06:23) The three traditional ways to invest (16:31) Jackie Kennedy and a colossaly dumb stock market mistake (21:59) Never outsource your money movement (27:00) How to invest in your own genius (45:01) What does it take to get to a wealth mentality? Additional Resources Get my new book Punch The Elephant Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

If you want to take your coaching business to the next level (without being replaced by Ai), you need to listen to this week's Big Leap podcast.Gay and Mike covered some mind-blowing strategies on how to leverage Ai as a coach to be more efficient, effective and EXPAND your capabilities (not reduce them).This was one of Mike's favorite episodes because it was totally improvised and unscripted. Just he and Gay riffing on how to practically apply Ai as a coach TODAY.They built prompts in real-time, created content together, designed original artwork and even wrote client emails!You'll get a ton of value from hearing Gay learn new AI tricks—and how you can put these tools to work immediately in your own business.Gay also shares his personal insights on: Why most coaches fail within 5 years (and how to avoid it) The key skill 90% don't learn until their 50's (that makes the difference between average and world-class coaching) Boundary myths most practitioners believe (and the surprising truth) And much more! The key to Ai is understanding how to prompt it. Mike shared his exact prompts, formulas and favorite tools with Gay so you can swipe what works!Want to know the craziest part? This technology is available to anyone right now for FREE or dirt cheap.If you want to learn directly from one of the legends in coaching and personal development - AND - get priceless tips on integrating Ai into your daily work, growing your biz faster and impacting more people… don’t miss this episode!Key Takeaways (02:39) How to be a better, more effective coach and expand your capabilities using Ai (06:40) The most essential thing coaches need to know and do in order to thrive in their personal and professional life (10:39) Continuous learning and emotional intelligence are two of the most important things to consider (15:59) Writing an outbound email using Ai (23:58) How to create an image using Mid Journey (38:36) How to write a book in a day Additional Resources Download Mike's free Ai Superpower Accelerator Toolkit here: Ai Superpower Accelerator Directory by Mike Koenigs The writing tool we used: https://claude.ai/ The image we created together: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1007004968148025484/1130646893240786984/mikekoenigs_a_professional_female_business_coach_sitting_alongs_2ee3cafc-3410-43e3-aceb-f759ff83e80c.png Click here for the prompt that created all of this.

Gay and Mike just finished an incredible podcast with their dear friend, Arielle Ford, about her debut novel “The Love Thief” and they can’t wait for you to hear it!Arielle is one of the world's leading experts on love, relationships and the greatest manifester Mike has ever known. She's written numerous bestselling non-fiction books like “The Soulmate Secret” and “Turn Your Mate Into Your Soulmate,” but this is her first foray into fiction - and what an adventure it's been!In this episode, Arielle takes Gay and Mike behind the scenes of how this book came to be.It all started with a crazy idea from her husband, Brian, involving aliens and operatic singing! But soon, the characters began “talking” to Arielle, almost driving her crazy. She found herself acting insecure for the first time in her career, constantly seeking reassurance from friends about her writing.Eventually, Arielle surrendered to the muse and let this wild story download through her. The result is a juicy tale of love, betrayal, spiritual awakening, and sweet revenge. Part Eat, Pray, Love, and part Dirty John, Arielle calls it "a romantic, spiritual thriller with a surprise happy ending."Mike won't give away all the details, but let's just say one of the characters was inspired by HIM! (It won’t be hard to figure it out.)Mike and Gay were fascinated and inspired to hear about Arielle's creative process. Even though writing this novel was torture at times, she learned a ton about herself along the way.And you have to hear her vision for the audiobook (something she hopes to turn into a Grammy-winning production). Just like her manifesting powers, Arielle's imagination knows no bounds!Whether you're an aspiring writer, novel lover, spiritual seeker, or just a fan of Arielle's work, Mike highly recommends giving this interview a listen. Arielle's joy is contagious. He knows you'll be inspired.Key Takeaways (04:09) Arielle never wanted to write a novel and how it came about (09:31) The moment Arielle thought she was schizophrenia because characters started “talking” to her (13:19) The process of writing the book (23:09) Her dream for the audio book and winning a Grammy! (34:46) The spiritual practice of channeling characters and storytelling (45:05) Who is the perfect buyer of this book? Additional Resources Get Arielle’s New Book, “The Love Thief” and your bonus content here: http://www.thelovethief.com Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience! http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Mike is really excited about this podcast episode today.Why? Because he and Gay are diving DEEP into a subject that he's been living, breathing, obsessing over, and teaching for months now. Can you guess what it is?That’s right… they're talking about Ai and ChatGPT.Gay and Mike go down the Ai rabbit hole, exploring the potential of this rapidly-evolving technology, particularly for coaches, healers, and writers. How can Ai make our lives easier, better, and more enriched? They'll unravel this mystery.In the last few months, Mike has spoken about and taught Generative Ai for Executives to thought leaders like Tony Robbins, Peter Diamandis, and Dave Asprey and their thousands of patrons. Mike has even traveled to Spain to speak to a billionaire about integrating Ai into his 60 different companies.Needless to say, Mike has been DEEPLY immersed in this transformative technology, and he has some really cool insights to share with you!Mike has always been a problem-solver, a translator of the complex, and that's what he's bringing to the table today. He promises to break everything down so it’s super simple to understand AND implement.They'll discuss how Ai can act as your 'perfect first draft' partner, helping you think more clearly, ask better questions, and become a more empathic listener. It can revolutionize your speed of learning, doing, and achieving.It all starts with learning how to think in Ai so you can tell Chat GPT exactly what you want. Imagine communicating with a three-year-old who knows almost everything but remembers almost nothing.It’ll push you to face your limitations until you realize the only thing limiting you is your imagination. And once you get the hang of it, you'll see why Mike says you can practically bend time and access just about any wisdom and knowledge.This is more than just a conversation about Ai, though. It's a conversation about our future, our potential, and how we can evolve to keep pace with our creations. Get ready for an engaging, enlightening, and thought-provoking journey into the world of Ai.It's worth every minute, and as always, Mike can't wait to hear what you think! The future is here, and it's incredibly exciting!Key Takeaways (04:17) Learn how to THINK in Ai (imagine a 3-year-old that knows almost everything but remembers almost nothing) (14:07) How to consume 20 - 30 minutes of content in under an hour (17:45) How to get to a new place in creativity with Ai (24:28) How a coach or advisor can prosper by using Ai (29:52) How to write a script in the voice of Steve Jobs (37:07) We’re just months away from the first high-quality, completely Ai-generated movies Additional Resources Download Mike's free Ai Superpower Accelerator Toolkit here: Ai Superpower Accelerator Directory by Mike Koenigs Get Mike's new book, Punch The Elephant - https://sales.mikekoenigs.com/ Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience! - http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Mike has an extraordinary episode for you today, one that is a soul-touching testament to resilience, recovery, and the human spirit.Gay shares a remarkable and deeply personal account of his recent adventure – a harrowing, yet enlightening experience following a serious accident.This episode isn't just about a physical healing journey; it's a spiritual odyssey filled with profound insights that arose from an unexpected ordeal. Those who struggle with imprints that command and control our lives, sometimes without us being aware of their presence, can relate to Gay's story.Gay talks about an unfortunate accident that had him immobilized for weeks, forcing him to pause and look within. In these solitary moments, he uncovered deep-seated imprints from his early life. This episode is an exploration of how a painful physical experience can bring to light life-altering realizations about self-worth, existence, and mortality.Gay’s candid narrative is nothing short of a modern-day hero's journey, a testament of grace and growth in the face of adversity.Get ready for a roller coaster of emotions and a treasure trove of wisdom. You'll learn how even the most challenging situations can help us grow and heal in ways we never thought possible.No matter what stage of life you're in, this episode will resonate deeply and offer a fresh perspective on dealing with personal adversities and unconscious mental imprints.Gay's story will inspire, motivate, and change the way you perceive life's unexpected turns.Key Takeaways (02:27) The worst pain Gay ever felt in his entire life (10:08) Early primal things arising from the past (17:59) Passing out multiple times in PT (28:44) How the accident affected Gay’s feeling about mortality (36:06) The birth of a new book Additional Resources Get Mike's new book Punch The Elephant - https://sales.mikekoenigs.com/ Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience! - http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Are you ready to redefine your business realm and discover what happens when you let go of drama?This week, Mike and Gay are stepping into the genius zones of Diana Chapman and Jim Dethmer, two extraordinary leaders doing groundbreaking work in the business world.They'll delve into the art of "Ineffective Training," a profound exercise designed to crack open your consciousness, and the enlightening distinction between "Stories and Facts."They'll also unmask the roles of the "Victim, Villain, and Hero" in our daily narratives and discuss the 'Big Three Payoffs' of saying NO to drama. It's a revelation you don't want to miss!Additionally, they'll explore the vast ocean of "Word of Mouth" marketing, unveiling the messages that resonate best and making some pretty large splashes along the way. Be prepared for some massive Aha moments.This episode is a veritable buffet of wisdom, so grab your notepads, jot down these gems, and gear up for some instant transformation. Whether it’s in your business or personal life, this episode is designed to impact, inspire and help you step into your zone of genius. Happy listening!Key Takeaways (05:10) Meet Diana and Jim and how they created The Conscious Leadership Group (11:24) How the book “15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership” came about (14:40) How to create a functional COO (22:14) What it’s like working with Diana and Jim (25:14) The concept of the “drama triangle” (30:57) The power of authenticity and sharing your truth Additional Resources Learn how to work with Jim and Diana at Conscious Leadership Group Get Jim + Diana’s Book, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

There's an incredibly special treat for you in today’s episode…The hilariously charming Kevin Nealon! You've laughed at his comedy for years, and now you're about to fall in love with his art. You’re going to love this one!Mike and Gay dove deep into the evolution of an artist - exploring how Kevin constantly reinvents himself, from his comedic roots to his newly discovered artistic prowess.The episode covers a ton, but keep your ears sharp for Kevin's 'Big Leap' stories. The leaps he made in his comedy career and the creative leaps into the world of art will give you a profound insight into his evolution as an artist and a human being.And wait ‘till you hear the tale of how he met his wife. It’s laugh-out-loud funny!If you're an artist, a comedian, or just a human being trying to evolve, Kevin's words will strike a chord with you. His experiences remind us that evolution isn't just natural; it's necessary - especially in the areas we love the most.Get ready for an exciting ride with Kevin Nealon. You’re not going to want to miss this one!Key Takeaways (03:05) Kevin’s first Big Leap (06:47) The evolution from the grind to ultimate freedom (11:03) Kevin’s book, “I Exaggerate: My Brushes With Fame.” (15:01) Kevin’s process for creating a caricature (22:54) What Kevin finds funny these days Additional Resources Get a copy of Kevin’s BOOK on Amazon Check out Kevin’s WEBSITE Kevin’s Instagram accounts:@kevinnealon@kevinnealonartwork@sukiyeagley Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

If you're looking for a dose of wonder and inspiration, you're in the right place.In today’s episode, Gay and Mike are diving deep into the art of staying open and how wondering can lead to infinite creativity.Gay shares the details about how he stays open and keeps that space of pure consciousness alive and working for him at ALL times. They'll also share their own personal stories, including a hilarious tale of Gay's experience in the Zen monastery of an LA traffic jam, and a connection he made with Ram Dass himself.But what really stood out to Mike was Gay's discussion of the “third way of manifestation” where we tap into a space of pure openness without any content. A deliciously limitless space where intuition and creativity flow freely, and the universe has no choice but to reveal itself to us in all its glory.So if you're ready to tap into your infinite creative muse and experience the wonders of the universe, tune in to their latest episode of The Big Leap.And who knows, you might even discover some new ways to beat LA traffic or find the key to connecting with extraterrestrial beings!Stay open, friends.Key Takeaways (03:03) Kafka said what?? (A surprising quote) (06:39) The Zen Monastery of an LA traffic jam (08:40) Mike’s personal form of meditation + the art of being open (11:48) A party a James Cameron’s house (27:09) Openness is like a relationship with a Muse Additional Resources Get a copy of Mike's NEW BOOK, Referral Party HERE! Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

Today, Mike and Gay are talking about a term that Gay invented to describe the slow leeching of joy from an activity or from life. 😳It’s called “Rusting Out.”We all know what burnout is, but Rusting Out is a different beast entirely. It happens when you resist the call of your genius and go through the same motions day after day after day.That sounds like a slow, painful death to Mike.Gay shares some real-life stories about how rust out affects even the biggest artists who struggle to get on stage and sing the same song for 30, 40, or even 50 years. Can you imagine doing the same thing day in and day out for that long?But don't worry, this episode isn't just about the doom and gloom of rusting out. Mike and Gay also tell you how to avoid it and keep reinventing yourself.They'll share their best tips for breaking out of your routine and doing something new every day, even if it's as simple as brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand or taking a new route to work.So don't rust out, friends! Listen to this week’s episode and start busting out of your comfort zone. You never know where it might take you.Key Takeaways (02:04) What IS Rusting Out? (05:18) The biggest soul killer (09:44) The same damned thing over and over again (22:14) How Bonnie Raitt and Tony Bennett reinvent themselves (24:34) What is the brain looking for? Additional Resources Get a copy of Mike's NEW BOOK, Referral Party HERE! Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

Reinventing Yourself at Any AgeLots of people go into midlife without opening up to find out what their real genius is for THIS stage of their life.One of Gay’s mentors said, “Every Breath You Take after 50 is a choice between creativity or stagnation” and that’s what today’s episode is all about.Mike and Gay are talking about Surfing the Leading Edge and why it’s so important when making big leaps in life.They'll tell you about a woman named Christine Marie, who has created a program based on the Big Leap principles and her own research to help women with issues like PMS and endometriosis (something she struggled with herself, but was able to find relief through her program).They'll also get into the challenges that people face as they get older, especially in the entertainment industry, where ageism is a real issue and share stories of actors and actresses who have overcome those challenges and found success later in life.Mike spent a little bit of time talking about a project that's really lit him up recently. He's been co-authoring a book with his 20-year-old son, Zack. They've found a really creative way to collaborate together and Mike says it’s been a lot of fun.This one is a really inspiring episode that Mike thinks you’re going to enjoy. Give it a listen and let him know what you think!Key Takeaways (02:25) Gay’s “Surfing the Leading Edge” Day (11:20) Mike’s Upper Limit Problem (20:49) Looking on the brighter side (29:56) What lights Gay up at 4am in the morning (39:24) Look at what lights YOU up Additional Resources Get a copy of my NEW BOOK, Referral Party HERE! Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

The Evolution of A Renaissance ManWhat do you get when you combine a comedian, a sprinter, a filmmaker, an archer, and an entrepreneur all in one?You get Steven Sashen, and this week, Gay and Mike had the pleasure of picking his brain.One of the things that Mike loves about Steven is that he is a first-principle thinker with a wild background and an absolutely fascinating story.Today they'll delve into Steven's mindset, how he approaches problem-solving, and his guiding principle for making a living and having as much fun as possible.They also talked about some of the Big Leaps he's made in his life, from being a professional stand-up comedian to running a software company to accidentally starting a footwear brand with his wife that has grown to over a million customers worldwide.The thing Mike found most impressive about Steven was his willingness to look at any situation with a clear-eyed perspective and seek the truth. His insights and perspectives are something we can all learn from, and Mike thinks you'll enjoy hearing them.Tune in to The Big Leap Podcast for an insightful and entertaining conversation with Steven Sashen.Key Takeaways (05:08) Steven’s Big Leaps and Backstory (15:27) The inspiration behind Xero Shoes (22:34) It’s really easy to make a million dollars (28:52) The first principles that Steven lives by (35:45) Working as couple has been the best thing Steven has ever done Additional Resources Check out Steven’s website: XeroShoes.com Get a copy of Mike's NEW BOOK, Referral Party HERE!

From Beethoven to Bach…Do you ever have a hard time getting your creative juices flowing? It’s okay… It happens to the best of us.No worries. Mike and Gay have you covered!In today’s podcast, they're diving into the world of creativity and sharing their own personal examples of how they approach creativity every day.You'll walk away with a step-by-step recipe for accessing your creativity and some cool facts about the sources of creativity used by Beethoven and Bach. (Hint: It involves the number 60.)Plus, you'll also get to hear about Gay's 60 Bean Cup of Coffee Ritual and Mike's barista class in Costa Rica.So, get ready for some rapid-fire ideas, a little bit of caffeine, and a lot of inspiration. Tune in to the latest Big Leap podcast now and make more big leaps by inspiring your own creativity!Key Takeaways (01:31) What do Gay and Beethoven have in common? (03:20) Costa Rica, Coffee and a big mistake! (13:40) A Practical Process (18:07) The Ambassador Method (20:16) Precursors to Creativity Additional Resources Get a copy of Mike's NEW, #1 SELLING BOOK, YOUR NEXT ACT! Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

We've just wrapped up a time of year that tends to be super busy and STRESSFUL for a lot of us. You’re probably feeling burnt out and in need of some rest and relaxation, right?Well, you're in luck because in today’s episode, Gay and Mike dive into the Art of Conscious Resting and Intentional Vacationing ...and it's not just about lounging on the beach with a cocktail (although they're all for that, too!)Gay shares his personal experience of discovering the power of deep rest on a trip to Maui, and how it changed the way he approaches vacationing. Mike and Gay also discuss the importance of finding balance and taking the time to recharge.They'll also delve into the concept of moving at the right speed for your essence and how it can improve your relationships and overall well-being. (A concept that has changed the way Mike is having conversations with his wife.)So, put down the to-do list and take a break to listen to this episode. Your mind (and body) will thank you. And you may even learn a thing or two about finding your own perfect way of Conscious Resting.Key Takeaways (02:04) How Gay discovered DEEP REST (15:04) The recipe for Intentional Vacationing (22:46) An intentional trip to Portugal (27:40) Setting expectations with your partner (30:02) The right travel partners Additional Resources Check out Gay’s favorite place to stay in Maui, the Fairmont Kea Lani (https://www.fairmont.com/kea-lani-maui/) and Monkey Pod (https://monkeypodkitchen.com/) for the best fries in the world! Get a copy of Mike's NEW, #1 SELLING BOOK, YOUR NEXT ACT! - https://yournextact.mikekoenigs.com/NextActDownload/ Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience! - http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

This week, Gay and Mike discuss the T word… TIME.How do you manage your time? How do you define time? How are you saving time?Over the years, Gay and Mike have tried (and failed) many different time management techniques, and have figured out what works for them.  For example, Mike has a hard and fast “No A-Hole’s” policy, and Gay has a “No Bad Energy Rule.”Similarly, they both hate scheduling and planning, and Mike absolutely can’t STAND doing “homework.” They'll reveal ways of getting around that stuff if you’re so inclined.Lastly, they'll give you the tips, tricks, and tools you need to find your perfect time management plan.Believe it or not, Mike ONLY uses the calendar app on his phone. Wouldn’t it be nice to get rid of all the other apps you have to plan and manage your time? Listen to the whole episode to find out how to become your best “you” by managing your time and energy.P.S. This is the perfect holiday episode because they'll tell you how to say NO to negative energy — maybe that odd cousin you have to see at Grandma’s house?Key Takeaways (02:08) What even is time management? (05:00) Mike’s hard and fast rules on managing your time (11:31) Spend 99% of time in your superpower or your genius zone (15:15) Finding your niche and staying there (22:19) Start the new year on a mountain (34:15) Our body is our best indicator (35:50) Only my calendar and me (48:30) Say no with a smile on your face Additional Resources Get a copy of my NEW, #1 SELLING BOOK, YOUR NEXT ACT! - https://yournextact.mikekoenigs.com/NextActDownload/ Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience! - http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Tell Us What Your Next Big Leaps Are…Today’s episode is a special one… Gay and Mike are talking about what THEIR next Big Leaps are.They're both big believers in reinventing yourself on an ongoing basis, but there’s a question that Mike has been wanting to ask Gay for a while now….How do you move past “STUCKNESS?”Being stuck usually means holding yourself hostage to old, crystalized fears. It's a mistake to think that you get rid of all of that stuff as you grow more enlightened and in love with life.Right now, Mike's BIGGEST fear is not evolving and growing. It’s something he's been struggling with lately.But as usual, Gay’s advice and insight helped him work through it and figure out exactly what’s been going on.Things got a bit raw, but Mike was able to experience a few genuine transformations, and he can guarantee that if you watch the whole episode… you’ll experience the same.You’ll also get to hear about Gay’s next Big Leaps as a 77-year-old guy towards the end of his life.All that and more! Get started by listening to the podcast.Key Takeaways (05:13) Mike’s Biggest Fears (12:03) Gay’s Healing Algorithm (18:20) A Complex Pain in The Ass (22:19) FOMO (30:50) Gay Reveals His Next Big Leaps Additional Resources Subscribe to The Big Leap Podcast - https://bigleappodcast.com/ Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience - http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Time management is OUT, Self-Management is IN!That’s what our guest today teaches. Gay and Mike could not agree more after spending time with her and learning her techniques.Her name is Sophie Chiche and she’s going to teach you how to “Do more of what works and less of what doesn't… and how to know the difference between the two.”In other words… GET MORE DONE IN LESS TIME!From the very practical things you can do in the next 10 seconds to the deeper inner work we all need to tackle.They’ll cover things that you've never thought of before when considering time management and productivity, like the fact that it can be done in a soulful way that honors the essence of who you are as a human being. It’s SO good that we probably shouldn’t really call it “time-management.” You’ll also hear about Sophie's journey as an entrepreneur. From being an overweight French woman who came to the US, completely reinvented herself, found success and made millions. It’s quite a remarkable story and one you’re not going to want to miss.Key Takeaways: (05:42) Sophie’s journey from 350lbs growing up in Paris to a huge entrepreneurial and weight loss success in the US.  (09:38) The biggest difference between being an entrepreneur in Paris vs. being an entrepreneur in the US and how she started “Shape House.” (15:29) Productivity is about being present…. NOT multitasking! (21:22) Elon Musk, Charlie Munger and Aristotle all shared this same belief. (26:11) Sophie walks us through a typical client challenge. Additional Resources: Use Discount Code LEAP to get 15% off Sophie’s Course HERE. Learn more about managing time with Sophie by visiting www.QuitManagingTime.com Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

Grief is something that touches every single person in the world. Unfortunately, no one can avoid it. But how do you cope and rebuild in the aftermath of loss?Today's guest, Dr. Sherry Walling, is going to talk about grief and some surprising ways that you can deal with it. She’s written a very special book called, Touching Two Worlds: A guide for finding hope in the landscape of loss. It touches on things that will have you more emotionally engaged than anything you’ve ever read.It's partially a memoir, written about Dr. Walling’s experience of losing her father to esophageal cancer and her brother to suicide within six months of each other. It’s a big immersion into grief, losing people she loved but at the same time, growing her career and raising her children in the prime of her life. This idea of touching two worlds is about her experience going back and forth between the world of aliveness and the world of grief along with some suggestions for the reader to help them deal with their own personal grief. This was an absolutely fascinating and healing conversation for both Mike and Gay. Key Takeaways: (04:09) Gay talks about the personal grief he’s currently going through.  (07:56) Mike tells us about his family and dealing with losing his parents. (11:06) Psychedelics as a tool for grief. (18:23) The body's reaction to grief. (25:58) If we don’t release grief it gets stuck and Circus works. Additional Resources: Order Dr. Sherry’s New Book and find out about her Circus Events. Subscribe to The Big Leap Podcast. Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

“There's nothing better than a remarkable person who writes a remarkable book that can affect you in remarkable ways.”Welcome to Part Two of The Books that Changed our Lives.This time, Mike and Gay are focusing on different types of books than they did in Part One.Some may surprise you, including Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Poetry, and Fiction, that can take you to a completely different world.And as usual, Gay always blows Mike's mind, so he ended up buying a whole bunch of new books before they ended the episode and now Mike has a gigantic reading list to tackle. (They're all linked below.)Key Takeaways (01:28) Let’s talk about fiction! (One of Gay’s favorite genres) (04:07) The Single Book that started Mike’s multi-million dollar career (09:51) The Power of Poetry (11:28) The Wizard Academy Experience (13:56) The thinking of 100 different geniuses shaped humanity (15:04) The Four-Hour Work Week was a Game changer Additional Resources Here are all of the books Mike and Gay talked about on this episode: 100 Years of Solitude Watership Down Info Marketing 10 Poems to Change Your Life The Wizard Academy Books: The Wizard of Ads Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads Magical Worlds of the Wizard of Ads Genius The Four-Hour Work Week The Big Leap Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It Subscribe to The Big Leap Podcast: https://bigleappodcast.com/ Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” ― Charlie Tremendous JonesAre you a big reader?Is there a book or two that, after reading, completely changed your entire life?That’s what today’s episode is all about. The books that changed Mike and Gay's lives.Gay and Mike are both BIG fans of books (and have written quite a few themselves.)In fact, Gay decided at an early age that he wanted to be a writer. He just knew that there was something extraordinary about putting words down on paper.Growing up, to Mike, books were so magical, and the thought of being able to write a book seemed impossible.Mike can remember the first time he met an author… He literally thought of them as a movie star!When he started to get deep into reading about personal development, he wound up meeting his now wife, Vivian, in Greece. She had written a book, so Mike was SUPER impressed.On that same trip, Mike was introduced to Arielle Ford, Debbie Ford, and a whole group of authors. It felt to Mike like fame oozed off of them.Mike thinks that there's just something really romantic about the notion of being an author that he won’t ignore as they go through their list of authors and talk a little bit about not just the books, but the person behind them.Today they'll tear through seven books each, including a few Mike had never heard of before (that he ended up buying while they were recording!)Let’s dive into The Biggest Books That Shaped Us and Why.Key Takeaways (05:36) Find out what Gay’s #1 book is. (08:39) The book that shaped Mike’s brain at the right time in his life. (11:57) The book that taught Gay a lot about spirituality. (15:06) One of Mike’s “weird” books. (17:36) The book that Gay really likes to recommend to EVERYone. Additional Resources Subscribe to The Big Leap Podcast: https://bigleappodcast.com/ Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Today, Gay and Mike are getting really raw and diving into a heavy subject… Taking Responsibility for Your Own Life.They talk about how to get a teenager to take responsibility, and their own personal struggles with family members experiencing Dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.They'll also get into the internal struggles they have when they know they're not taking responsibility, lying to themselves and stuck in their addictive ways.Taking responsibility for your own life is one of the BIGGEST challenges that any human being will ever face. Needless to say, it’s a complicated beast.In the different stages of our lives, taking responsibility often means different things, so we have to deal with it in different ways. For example; how do you go about taking responsibility for the lives of the people you care about when they can’t or won’t?Gay and Mike know it's not a sexy subject, but they want to show you how radically cool it is, once you really understand the dynamics of it.Full disclosure… part of the reason why Mike asked Gay to do this episode is because Mike has a 19-year-old son who’s going through some big challenges right now.He went off to an expensive college that Mike and his wife are paying for. They told him up front what their expectations were. He didn't meet those expectations and now he has to live with the consequences—and he REALLY doesn't like it.Mike would bet his left arm that anyone who’s raised a teenager is shaking their head YES, right now!Mike knows you'll love this episode and he's positive you'll have some comments. It's going to touch home in all kinds of ways.Key Takeaways Mike talks about the struggles of raising a teenager in college (03:41) Mike and Gay discuss the difference between Responsibility and Fault or Burden (12:34) Gay gives us his best advice on negotiating behavioral issues with teenagers (20:28) “The act of taking responsibility for your life lines you up with the creative forces of the universe.” Gay explains (27:48) Gay tells us about the big turning point in his life (30:36) Additional Resources Subscribe to The Big Leap Podcast: https://bigleappodcast.com/ Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Some of Mike and Gay's most POPULAR Big Leap episodes have to do with operating and staying in your Genius Zone, which of course came from Gay’s book, The Big Leap.But Mike believes that today’s podcast is the BEST one they've ever done.If you've ever wanted to find a way to spend all your time doing the thing you LOVE to do, the thing you're BEST at, the thing that makes you lose all track of time… then you're going to love this episode!Another really juicy area they get into is, how do you know if you’re an addict? (This is by FAR the best rabbit hole they've ever gone down!)So let’s dive into The Five Steps to Finding and STAYING in Your Zone of Genius! Ask Yourself; “What do I most love doing?” Cultivate a state of wonder or live in your wonder questions. Find what you do that provides the greatest positive outcome per time spent. Find what you do that makes you lose track of time while you’re doing it. Spend as much time per day as possible operating in your Zone of Genius. BONUS: It’s just as important to RE-commit as it is to commit. Listen to all of the steps in much more detail by watching or listening to the podcast.Key Takeaways What do I love doing most? (03:45) How to live in your wonder questions (04:48) What do you do that provides the greatest positive outcome per time spent? (13:36) What do you do that you lose track of time while you’re doing it? (16:00) Gay explains what addictions are and how to know if you’re an addict (20:13) How much time per day are you operating in your zone of genius? (26:20) It’s just as important to recommit as it is to commit (30:18) Additional ResourcesGet on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Should You Write One Too?Should you write a memoir or why should you write a memoir?Gay just finished writing his memoir, which is coming out very soon. It's called “Loving Life. Tales of My Wondrous Journey.”In today’s episode, Gay and Mike are talking about four of Gay’s most interesting chapters, including: His secret birthday wish Adventures in non-ordinary consciousness (which involves some psychedelics) Thrown off the bus at the border And celebrating his big brother Gay actually reads from these chapters. They’re not only interesting adventures but they're also things that make you think—and he’s hoping to inspire people to learn more about themselves.Gay thinks the main value of writing or reading a memoir is seeing life from another person's perspective and asking yourself, “How is that like me? Or how is that different from me?”That's an incredibly valuable thing because the unexamined life is not worth living.Gay says, “It wasn't until I started wondering about the bigger aspects of myself in life that I really developed something that I now call happiness. Unless we have self knowledge, there's no possibility of being happy because you don't know yourself well enough to give yourself loving, compassionate understanding that I think heals us in life.”They also talk about how Gay went about writing the book and how you might go about writing your own memoir. Even if it’s something you’ve never considered, maybe you'll be given good reasons to do it.Mike learned A LOT about Gay and how he thinks in this episode, and they think you're going to learn a lot about the way you think—plus enjoy the entertaining storytelling.Key Takeaways My Secret Birthday Wish (05:14) Adventures in Non-Ordinary Consciousness (15:36) Thrown Off The Bus At The Border (42:51) Celebrating My Big Brother (47:36) Mike & Gay discuss the process and advice for writing your own memoir (53:06) Additional Resources Subscribe to The Big Leap Podcast: https://bigleappodcast.com/ Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

You Probably Have More Life Ahead of You Than You ThinkToday Gay and Mike are interviewing one of their heroes. Someone whose wisdom they have great respect for, so needless to say, they've been looking forward to this one for a while.His name is Chip Conley. He’s a New York Times bestselling author and the hospitality maverick who helped Airbnb's founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand.He’s also the founder of the Modern Elder Academy, where a new roadmap for midlife is offered at a beautiful oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico.In today’s episode they'll talk about where you’ll find the greatest level of purpose in your life—plus Chip explains attaining versus attuning and atoning.Chip tells them that “You probably have more life ahead of you than you think! If you're 54 and live until you’re 90, you’re exactly halfway through your adult life. When you know you have that much life ahead of you, it's time to start planning and doing the things you've always wanted to do, and make the Big Leap.”Chip is a big believer in the fact that resilience alone will just wear out your knuckles. It buys you time, but adaptability buys you a future. Having the courage to be adaptable, creative, curious, and the willingness to make mistakes along the way. The biggest mistake you could ever make is not even trying.Key Takeaways Chip talks about moving from Attaining to Atoning (06:03) Chip explains how he got into the boutique hotel industry (08:24) Chip talks about how he navigated interfacing with millennials when he ran Airbnb at age 52 (13:04) Chip talks about what motivated him to start Modern Elder Academy (20:31) Chip explains the Modern Elder Academy’s mission and purpose (25:40) Additional Resources Check out Chip’s daily Wisdom Well Blog: http://www.MrBz.com/WisdomWell Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

The guest today is lifelong entrepreneur, Bill Moses, the co-founder of Kevita and CEO and Founder of Flying Embers.Today he’s going to share some of his Big Leaps, including the one that saved Kevita when everyone else wanted to throw in the towel because it looked like they might lose it all.He’ll tell Mike and Gay about his ideas for creating alignment, building trust, and aligning values and drive. Surprisingly, it's nothing obvious.You'll also learn what Bill's genius zone is. It’s an amazing skill that if you’re able to duplicate it and spend most of your time in this space, great things will happen for you, too.All things that every entrepreneur needs to know.You'll find out what Bill's daily practices are that keep him centered, and a really cool gadget he uses that gives him more energy and keeps him at the top of his game.Bill says, “You could never expect the unexpected, but you could envision it, and you can make it a reality with a lot of hard work and daunting conviction.”Bill is living proof of this statement, so let’s dive in and learn from a master.Key Takeaways Bill tells Mike and Gay about the major Big Leap that turned Kevita around when it looked like they were going to lose it all (22:56) Mike asks Bill, “What keeps your fire going after a big exit and keeps you in the game?” (26:10) Bill answers Mike’s question, “What is your Superpower or Genius Zone?” (31:26) Mike asks Bill, “What is your biggest personal or professional upper limit challenge that you routinely find yourself bumping into?” (34:41) Bill tells Mike and Gay what his “perfect hero’s journey” looks like within his companies (39:01) Additional Resources Connect with Bill on LinkedIn: http://www.MrBz.com/BillMosesLI  Check out Bill’s latest beverage company, Flying Embers: http://www.MrBz.com/FlyingEmbers Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Today we’re talking with Kyle Cease, a New York Times Best Selling author who has the unique gift of being able to merge comedy and personal transformation.He’s what would happen if Eckhart Tolle and Jim Carrey had a baby!Kyle believes that “for us to really grow, we almost have to let go of everything—and that less effort equals more magic.”In other words, if we surrender a little more and take more of what Gay calls "Big Leaps," we can transcend the parts of us that are creating out of fear and instead create amazing things.Mike is a huge fan of stand-up comedy, so he asked Kyle what his thoughts were on the evolution of comedy—plus what his creative process is.The answers he gave were so different from what Mike thought they were going to be.You'll also hear how Kyle managed to get himself a gig at the Dolby Theater (the theater they hold the Oscars in!) That and a lot more in this episode…Key Takeaways Kyle describes exactly what he does and his Evolving Out Loud Events (03:32) Kyle tells Mike and Gay about his first Big Leap (07:02) From full-blown stage fright and panic attacks to complete transformation (10:00) Kyle explains the 2 different voices that we all have (17:42) Mike asks Kyle about his relationship with comedy and how it shifted (20:47) Additional Resources Check out Kyle’s upcoming Evolving Out Loud events: http://www.MrBz.com/KCwebsite Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Today, Mike and Gay are answering a great question that Gay came up with several years ago:How to Come Up with Your Top Five Life Goals These are arguably some of the most powerful questions you could ever ask yourself that ended up being in a book that Gay wrote called, “Five Wishes.”The process is super simple and can be done no matter what stage of life you're in. Once you answer them, you’ll have a great advantage and be on the right path.If you're not following your own life purpose, you can bet that you're following somebody else's,so it's a good idea to figure out where you want your life to be focused.You're going to walk away with a lot of clarity about what you want to do after listening to this episode. Key Takeaways The origin story of how Gay came up with his process (03:07) The question to ask yourself at the end of your life (08:58) How Mike came to terms with his own mortality when he had Cancer (12:45) One of the main causes of stress and discomfort (18:38) What inspired Gay to write his book (39:02) Additional Resources Get your copy of Five Wishes. Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience! The Big Leap is a podcast dedicated to helping its listeners achieve their maximum level of contribution, love, and abundance, and discovering their genius.It is brought to you by Gay Hendricks & Mike Koenigs. 

Mike and Gay take The Beatles: Get Back documentary and dive into it.The documentary was produced and directed by Peter Jackson, and it is an absolute masterpiece. Both Mike and Gay learned a ton about creativity and collaboration during it. Their goal is just to pick it apart and talk about their favorite spots that had the most impact on them. They also open a great discussion about what you can learn from it for your own creative processes.This episode was on the loop for weeks and months because Mike was a massive Beatles fan. He listened to their music, both as an engineer and a musician, and he affirms he thinks they're one of the most incredible bands ever to exist. You will respect them more after listening to this episode as creative collaborators.Key Takeaways What we learned about The Beatles and their creative process (04:48) Is this the essence of the universe? (10:58) How the people involved in The Beatles' production left their mark (14:00) The role of publishing in the music business (17:37) How we are going to apply the insights we got from The Beatles: Get Back (25:27) Additional Resources The Big Leap To learn more about The Big Leap Experience, TEXT BL to +1 (858) 434-5316 or go to www.BigLeapPodcast.com/Apply Watch The Beatles: Get Back The Big Leap is a podcast dedicated to helping its listeners achieve their maximum level of contribution, love, and abundance, as well as discovering their genius.It is brought to you by Gay Hendricks & Mike Koenigs. For more episodes, follow us on your favorite podcast app!

Some of the things discussed here you have not heard before.Mike and Gay will be talking with Jim Selman, a living legend in the coaching industry.Jim is the person who coined the ideas of corporate coaching and executive coaching (and first used the term in print). But this is not only a history lesson. We will disclose some unique tactics and concepts that will change how you see the world and approach personal transformation.You have the opportunity to shape, create, and design your future, but this will only happen if you take charge of your present and work your way forward intentionally.This episode is not your average coaching discussion. These ideas have been polished through literally thousands and thousands of hours of corporate and personal transformation, working with real people.Are you ready to take control of your future?Key Takeaways Applying the term coaching to executive transformation (02:39) Jim’s best advice for entrepreneurs (06:31) The book: Living in a Real-Time World (11:39) What transformation is at its core (23:09) Come from where you want to go (27:24) Additional Resources Apply to the exclusive Superpower Accelerator Program Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience! Join us: paidforlife.com/mastermind Get your copy of Living in a Real-Time World Learn more about Mike Koenigs The Big Leap is a podcast dedicated to helping its listeners achieve their maximum level of contribution, love, and abundance, as well as discovering their genius.It is brought to you by Gay Hendricks & Mike Koenigs. For more episodes, follow us on your favorite podcast app!

Mike has been married to Vivian for 21 years. Gay has been married to Katie for 42 years.Both couples have built successful and fulfilling relationships, tested by time. For both, their marriage has been their priority, the key to their success, and the primary source of happiness. So backed up by that experience, Mike and Gay will dive deep into the mechanics of love.You will learn how Gay and Katie, when they first got together, within months of meeting, sat down at a fireplace and made a commitment to five big concepts. Five big ideas that they've held true to. These non-negotiable principles have given them immense intimacy, power, and love to create that flow we will be talking about.Mike and Gay will also uncover: How the flow of love works between couples  What they do to maintain the flow of love with their couple What messes up that flow, and how to get back into it again You're going to learn a lot in this episode!Key Takeaways What the flow of loving energy between couples is (02:10) The Five Big for Gay & Katie (03:45) “Nobody had ever made their relationship itself, the hero” (11:11) Wake up every day saying, “how can I create happily ever after?” (26:35) Additional Resources Apply to the exclusive Superpower Accelerator Program Learn more about Mike Koenigs The Big Leap is a podcast dedicated to helping its listeners achieve their maximum level of contribution, love, and abundance, as well as discovering their genius.It is brought to you by Gay Hendricks & Mike Koenigs. For more episodes, follow us on your favorite podcast app!

In this episode, Mike and Gay interview Stephen M.R. Covey about his new book Trust and Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others, as well as his leadership legacy, vision, and current projects.The world has changed all around us in all the ways we know. And yet our style of leadership hasn't kept pace with the changing world.We're still too rooted in the old model, what we might call Command or Control. It’s a more advanced and sophisticated version of it, but it is the same in principle.We haven't shifted the paradigm of how we view people and leadership. And until we shift that paradigm, we won't lead in a new way. We invite you to join Mike & Gay as they dialogue with Stephen M.R. Covey about his new book Trust and Inspire. This book presents a new way to lead, created for a new world that requires it.Key Takeaways The whole idea behind Trust and Inspire (01:34) How Stephen’s leadership changed through writing this book (03:08) How to “trust and inspire” Gen Z generation individuals (07:45) Two inspiring stories about leadership in action (18:08) Why is the concept of “stewardship” a core part of your book? (25:09) Readers, keep this in mind when first going through the book (37:20) Additional Resources Get your copy of Trust and Inspire Apply to the exclusive Superpower Accelerator Program Learn more about Mike Koenigs The Big Leap is a podcast dedicated to helping its listeners achieve their maximum level of contribution, love, and abundance, as well as discovering their genius.It is brought to you by Gay Hendricks & Mike Koenigs. For more episodes, follow us on your favorite podcast app!

Gay & Mike meet Kirsten Vangsness, the Criminal Minds star, and actress, who talks about creativity, trying new things, as well as some of her exciting personal projects.Gay loves mystery shows! With his wife, he started to avidly watch Criminal Minds. And rather immediately, this one character kind of jumped out at them — Penelope Garcia (portrayed by Kirsten).They ended up watching the show primarily because of Kirsten. When they eventually got introduced to her, it really blew Gay’s mind that she was doing a lot of unusual projects and different things at the same time. Gay wondered, where does she get all this energy and creativity from? Today we will have the opportunity to discover that and a lot more! Throughout her career, on her road from a “starving artist” to TV star and producer, Kirsten has always tried new things and started fresh projects. We’ll learn more about this wonderful woman and what drives her to do what she’s passionate about.Key Takeaways How did Gay & Kirsten originally meet? (03:05) Kirsten’s beginnings as a theater actress (08:53) Her big leap into a network television show (13:13) “Can you still feel Penelope in yourself?” (22:23) Performing vs producing? (26:03) Kirsten’s Agenda & other personal projects (29:39) Additional Resources Visit Kirsten’s website Check out Kirsten’s YouTube channel The Big Leap is a podcast dedicated to helping its listeners achieve their maximum level of contribution, love, and abundance, as well as discovering their genius.Brought to you by Gay Hendricks & Mike Koenigs. For more episodes, follow us on your favorite podcast app!

What are your limiting beliefs, behaviors, or habits that cause you…To fear…To not take action…To be Unwilling to receive?In this episode, Gay unlocks some of his deepest thinking around this topic and Mike gets to be his real-life guinea pig. Today you’ll learn how to look at your life as an unfolding series of opportunities and go beyond your upper limits.You’ll figure out the fears that are keeping you from receiving and how to remove those barriers without working any harder. Life changing stuff, right? Click the play button for the details.How do you produce more results without doing more work?Open your mind to a counterintuitive idea.More of anything is all about letting go of trying to get more customers or grow your presence in the world and focus instead on increasing your ability to receive. But how do you do that in the laziest possible way?Listen for the full blueprint, and to hear Gay giving Mike some great recipes that he uses on the fly—and you can too.

For Gay and Mike, the last 2 years have been the most profound times of growth and learning in their lives.In this episode of The Big Leap, they're going to time travel through their own personal Big Leaps from 2021, and some of the Big Leaps they expect for 2022. More importantly, they invite YOU to reflect on what your Biggest Leaps were in 2021, and what you're up for in the next year. Mike would love for you to reach out and share what YOUR Biggest Leaps in 2021 were and what Big Leaps you’re planning for 2022.This is a SUPER fun episode, so get comfy, grab your favorite beverage and Listen now. Mike guarantees you’ll be inspired.Let’s start with some of Gay’s Biggest Leaps from 2021:Gay celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary last year with his wife, Katie, by taking trips to both New York City and Maui.He also had an unexpected Big Leap in the form of what the investing world calls “a liquidity event,” which is when a big investment you’ve made gets bought or sold by a major firm, resulting in a cash windfall.Gay and his wife, Katie, live in Ojai, California and about 15 years ago, they heard about a company called Ojai Energy Systems that was building an environmentally friendly battery. They loved the idea so they invested.A few months ago, a big conglomerate made a bid on Ojai Energy Systems. Next thing you know, they get an email asking to buy ALL of their stock at a great price. Unexpected liquidity event = a big financial windfall.As a rule, Gay and Katie try to invest in anything promising that's local. One of their missions is to help local entrepreneurs get a foothold in the world. Some have been flops but some have gone on to be super successful.For instance, they invested in the Ojai company, KeVita (the popular Kombucha drink) years ago when they were just starting out. KeVita recently sold to Pepsi, and Gay was able to reap the benefits of another liquidity event.Gay and Katie are now in their 70’s. They made their fortune a long time ago and now they’re having fun giving their money away. They created a grant, helping 380 needy families in their area, and made a donation to the local toy shop so kids get gift certificates for awesome toys.Gay says this was one of the most satisfying things they did all year long.Gay has been writing his memoir and a few mystery novels which are his greatest CREATIVE leap of 2021 that are continuing into 2022. Both are flowing super easily but you’ll have to tune into the whole episode to hear about these in more detail…As for Mike… He did things a little differently in 2021…Mike and his wife, Vivian, celebrated their 20th anniversary last year. They decided to focus on as much “happily ever after” as possible. It’s a question Mike asks himself all the time… “What does happily ever after look like?”For Mike, an aggravation-free life = a happily ever after life. That means he says NO to anything that will cause him any aggravation whatsoever.Mike had a VERY big opportunity (that could have been very profitable) come to him last year that he decided NOT to do, because he absolutely knew it would’ve caused him NOTHING but aggravation. In the end, it just wasn’t worth it. Wrong people. Wrong place. Wrong thing.Mike also had his first significant liquidity event last year with a couple more in motion. It’s exciting because there are things he invested in over 15 years ago that are now paying off. One of the things Mike's most excited about is the property they bought in Mexico on a giant strawberry field. He's building a recording studio there and calling it “Strawberry Fields Studios.” (He's always loved the Beatles.) They're also building a regenerative farm so they can be both food and land independent.This was a huge leap for them. In the past, Mike has avoided real estate like the plague because it's always felt overwhelming and scary. Another Big Leap is with their only child, Zak. He is now in college at CU Boulder. Vivian and Mike are empty-nesters and it’s been a pretty big change.So what were your Big Leaps in 2021 and what do you expect your Big Leaps to be in 2022? Go ahead and send Mike a message. He will personally see EVERY response and he really wants to know!

Do you remember the Bozo the clown toy? No matter how many times he got punched in the face, he bounced right back up.That’s Entrepreneurship in a nutshell.If you’re an Entrepreneur you NEED to expect that you're going to hit turbulence now and again but knowing how to recover is KEY.Our guest, Dave Colina, founder of O2 Water, is very familiar with this concept.He has the grit, the guts, the determination and the hustle it takes to be successful AND he is operating in one of the hardest industries to succeed and make money in… The beverage world.Dave is going to tell you a unique story about his product and the stuff that matters most. This is your opportunity to learn about an industry that has huge upsides and how to build a business like this. Listen to this episode because it doesn't matter what you do for a living. You're going to learn something today.Mike met Dave through a show that he was involved in called “Elevator Pitch” with Entrepreneur Magazine. (Think Shark Tank in a 60 second pitch)He was a contestant on the show and as he stood on stage, Mike fell in love with who he was right away. His immediate reaction is “this guy's got grit.” He's the kind of person that investors want on their team because he's not going to let anything stop him.Gay and Mike know this first hand because they’re both investors in CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) products. Gay was an early stage investor in Kavita Kombucha, (which sold to Pepsi for $225 Million a few years ago) and Mike was an early investor in Bullet Proof Coffee and Good Idea Beverages.The business of Consumer Packaged Goods is really, really, really hard and the Big Leaps that founders need to face are very challenging. Case in point, when Dave was launching O2 water and on his way to his first big Crossfit event he discovered that his manufacturer gave him hundreds of slime contaminated cans.Rather than turn around and cancel, he spent the night squeezing 720 cans to eliminate the bad ones and the event went on flawlessly.Despite all of the challenges, Dave has persevered, made an amazing, HEALTHY product, found HUGE success, puts relationships (over profit) first and gives back to his community.Tune into the whole show to hear more incredible stories about Dave’s journey and learn how you too can Get Back Up After Being Knocked Down.

Hey look… SQUIRREL!! Did you look?! Mike knows he would have. He has major ADHD and is easily distracted.You?It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do or how successful you are. It happens to the best of us.The important thing is not what distracts you, but how quickly you can recover from those distractions to get sh*t done.We all know how easy it is to waste a lot of time with distractions, but what if you could reel it in and put that time into something that brings you freedom and joy? Things that could grow your business and improve your lifestyle.If you feel like your brain has a million squirrels running around inside, this episode is for YOU! Make sure to listen or watch on YouTube. Mike has always been super, super ADHD, but he's learned enough about his brain over the years to treat the “challenge” as a creative gift. People are always telling him that they can’t believe how much stuff he gets done. However, he knows in his heart of hearts, that if he would have focused on just one thing, he'd be richer than he is.He's not unhappy. It's more that he's learned to accommodate his lack of focus. He's interested in A LOT of stuff. He likes doing a lot of things, loves lots of relationships, but when the rubber needs to meet the road, he'll get stuff done to reach the finish line. In this episode Gay and Mike share five key systems they've developed that not only work for them, but Mike teaches and incorporates them in his advisory work with clients to make sure they’re focused and get what they want.Here are the steps to move yourself out of distraction quickly: Make a “to-do” list daily: From 1 - 10, starting with the thing you want to do LEAST. Doing this every day helps set your priorities and stay organized. Both Gay and Mike are big 3x5 card and white board users. (Mike carries them wherever he goes!) Yeah, there are more modern / digitized ways to keep track of the things you need to accomplish in a day, but they've found that the 3x5 card method really works, and lots of uber successful entrepreneurs use the same method. (Watch the show to see how this is done.) Anchoring + Grounding Exercise: First thing in the morning, take a big, deep breath and get totally into your body. Relax through your fingers and toes, all the way to the top of your head. Then, imagine shooting roots out of your legs and into the center of the earth. Imagine these roots grabbing the earth's core like bird feet, tightening and holding the center, but flexible, like a palm tree. Take another big deep breath, get super aware of your surroundings, then ask yourself what emotions or feelings you want to experience today. Hone in on your Genius Zone: The more you focus on your “genius” and doing what you most love to do, the easier it is to protect against distractions because you've got more to protect. You're protecting your genius. Decide what the price of your freedom is, decide who and what you want to attract and get really, really good at saying NO to the things you’re no good at or don’t want to do. Wait until the last minute: This one might feel counterintuitive, but it works for Mike. He tends to procrastinate, but the pressure of a deadline and HAVING to finish a project in time really gets his creative juices flowing. He's found that if he waits until the last minute to start / finish a project, it takes him less time to complete than if he starts weeks before. A Healthy Lifestyle: Sleep until your body wants to wake up, take healthy supplements, meditate, get outside and connect with nature, intermittent fasting (this has been a game changer for Mike—his brain works better on an empty stomach), cut out sugar, caffeine and gluten. Don't worry too much about what distracts you, measure the time it takes you to get back. The quicker you can get back to whatever you're supposed to be focusing on is the key.Listen to the whole episode to find out why Gay thinks distractions are a POSITIVE thing, plus how they’ve been able to buy their freedom, work because they want to and because it gives them an outlet for creativity, connection and impacting others. Tune in here now and share with someone you love. 

Our guest, Laura DiFrancesco is a REAL renaissance woman.She’s a true Polymath who’s had a great deal of successes and taken a lot of incremental risks along the way.Most importantly, she's got a POWERFUL commitment to learning.Today’s episode is all about learning how to think and behave like a Polymath by studying the questions she asks herself. You’ll learn the value of covering a lot of territory in yourself, opening up to those multitudes of genius and letting it express itself in many different ways.Listen to and Watch this episode to find out How to Install a Big Leap Operating System in Your Mind.Laura grew up in Chester County, PA on a farm with her sisters and parents.From a very early age she was shadowing her parents at board meetings (both of them are entrepreneurs) and doing tax returns by the time she was in fifth grade.Her dream was to become an entrepreneur.In order to do that she triple majored in international business, finance and real estate at University of South Carolina.She did that in three years before getting her JD and MBA at Villanova, went to work in corporate law then started her own businesses and practice.She’s accomplished all of this and she’s only in her 30’s! One of Laura’s seeds of genius is her FULL BELIEF in herself. One of her deepest core beliefs is whatever she is drawn to, she can do in some fashion. Everything from getting dirty on the farm to putting in 200 hours making her own evening gown for Miss Pennsylvania, USA.It's the idea that no matter what sparks her interest, she can do it because she has faith in herself and faith that the universe will support her in her journey.She follows her passions and that's what's led to so many of the Big Leaps in her life. Laura has “Jane Street Law,” which is her corporate law firm specializing in negotiating multimillion dollar transactions for all types of businesses and companies. She also owns, “Flourish” a co-working space and her latest Big Leap is an educational platform through her personal brand.Her intent with the educational platform is to inspire others, whether it's sharing what she knows about law, business, lifestyle, design or any number of her passions.She also has a new program called The Vault, which is a 24/Seven access to a legal mentor.It's as if you had a personal Google for all the legal concepts that you need in business with tons of video lessons, glossaries, guides and checklists. Everything that you need to be successful in your business.Don’t listen to all the so-called “experts” telling you that you need to “niche down.” SO many of us are multi-passionate and it’s VERY possible to find incredible Success as a Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur.Don’t forget to check out Laura’s new program www.LauraDiFrancesco.co/The-Vault

You know how you watch your favorite movies and TV shows over and over again because they’re SO GOOD?That’s the idea with today’s REWIND episode!It’s one of the most downloaded episodes of all time and Mike and Gay thought you might want to revisit it this week.How well do you read your body to know what’s really going on?How much time do you feel you stay in your Superpower zone?What % of your day or life do you feel STUCK? Like you’re just not going anywhere? Like nothing has changed, moved forward, or inspired you in a REALLY long time?What if you could access an unbounded source of creativity inside of YOURSELF at any given moment? What if you could use your own natural body resources to feel good ALL the time?Imagine being able to use your body as a dashboard that tells you exactly what's going on in your life.Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs produced a new episode of The Big Leap that they think you’re going to LOVE — Especially if you’re interested in learning how to turn ON your deepest creativity. They include a very practical process that Gay uses to get unstuck.They'll also talk about a big distinction between your zone of genius and your zone of excellence and how to get yourself there AND a really practical tool that Mike only uses with his $50,000 Superpower Accelerator Vision Day clients. (And how he activates energy to get in sync, and create together!) It's a never-fail process!Gay describes something he calls your “emotional dashboard” and how to read your body in ways you may never have done before. It’s something that’s had a massive impact on Mike. It’s a Superpower Visualization you'll be able to start using today. Something we all need help with is how to open up and let more of our true creativity emerge. There's a difference between ordinary creativity where you're using your creative skills to do things for other people and true creativity where you're using your skills to do things for other people that benefit yourself. Gay says the antidote for getting unstuck, doing what you’re good at, and drawing on your genius is inviting people into the fourth genius. This gets you past The Big Leap and into your Zone of Excellence, where you’re doing stuff you’re good at. When Gay is working with a private client (in addition to visioning) he spends a lot of time beforehand creating a space inside himself for connecting with that person, knowing something about their journey, and making space for that. Dedicating himself to serving them is incredibly important.When Mike is working with high-end Superpower Accelerator clients, he always asks them to go out into an imaginary future a year from now, look back at where they are now and ask themselves, what will it take to get to this other place. Sometimes the act of simply shifting them out of the present and looking back at where they are now is enough to kind of pop into the SuperCreativity Zone because Mikes thinks our creativity is sitting there waiting to be invited. So what are some of the resources and tools for pulling out your inner genius? What are the techniques that they've used with their highest-level clients over the years to activate that center and get them in the right fit space? You’ll have to listen or watch this episode to find out AND to hear some powerful questions that you can use to elevate your relationships with people you care about and how you can elevate anyone you come in contact with.

Mike and Gay's guest, Troy Lavinia, says there is a lot of work we can do to help people see the intersection between entrepreneurship and spirituality.The world is changing and growing really quickly.We’ve never been more inundated with information or more stressed.Yet SO MANY of us have an incredible desire to do something creative or entrepreneurial AND are super open-minded to spirituality. This episode will show you how AND how to take it further.Listen to this episode to learn how you can operationalize spiritual principles to create great organizations and LIVE IN "EASY WORLD".Mike and Gay don’t do a lot of interviews on the Big Leap so when they do, it’s always with someone really special.Gay has known Troy for over a year and has been really impressed with the way he goes about his business.His company is Mosaic Research Management, and they’re what's called an “expert network.”Essentially they’re a matchmaker between investors at institutional investment firms. For example, they may have a client who is a hedge fund analyst and thinking about investing in Nike. They may end up taking a $100 million position in Nike, so they really want to do their homework. They'll read everything there is to read but they also want to talk to “on the ground sources”. Troy’s company might go find the former CFO of Nike, who understands that business and its drivers, or they might find competitors of Nike who can talk about on the ground competition. They put those people as advisors in touch with their clients for one on one telephone consultations. By speaking with those industry experts, their clients get more knowledgeable about the business, fortify their investment thesis, and have more conviction in their investments. Then, about a year and a half ago, they started a subsidiary business, which is recordings and transcripts of those calls. With the permission of the experts and analysts, they’re recording and transcribing those conversations and putting them in a library so that you can go in and read them. So if you're an analyst who wants to do the research on Nike, you can go in and read the interviews that other analysts have done about Nike to get smart on that company really quickly. They’re advertising and monetizing this subsidiary through a subscription.There is SO much more valuable information on this episode including Troy’s first Big Leap that involves his concept of MIDNIGHT PIZZA. (You're not going to want to miss this… it’s life changing!)PLUS you’ll learn about creating great organizations through spiritual principles and operationalizing them AND how to start living in “EASY WORLD", where everything IS easy.

We have a special treat for you this week! We’re REWINDING one of our most popular episodes of all time.We know you’re going to love revisiting this very special episode. ENJOY!Do you ever wonder… what’s the point? Why am I here? What am I really meant to do? What’s my PURPOSE?!Maybe you’ve been there, done that, know it’s time to reinvent yourself but you don’t know how to start, where to begin or feel as though it’s too late or too hard…What would you give to be able to FINALLY figure out what your life purpose is OR your “next purpose”?You are not alone. Many, MANY of us have struggled with the very same questions and it can be SUPER frustrating, anxiety-filled and frankly, pretty depressing.Don’t worry… Gay and Mike are here to help guide you through the process and figure it out.Today on The Big Leap podcast, Gay Hendricks is going to tell you about the moment he finally figured out what his life purpose was and how it’s affected every moment of his life since. Needless to say, it was a major turning point.Mike is going to share some of his big leaps and some of the reinventions that he's gone through throughout his life because for him, he hasn't had just one big leap… he's had a bunch.Their goal is to give you the tools, resources, and guidance to get you to where you want to be, so let’s dive in!The moment Gay figured out his life purpose happened at a time where from the outside, it looked like he had it made. He had jumped to a “new level” in life, (but as he points out in The Big Leap book,) oftentimes when you have a big upsurge of love, money, or fame, it trips old mechanisms inside that bring up fears and then you shut yourself back down.Since Gay was 15 years old, he wanted to be a university professor but didn't know exactly what he wanted to teach. When he was 22 he was bitten by the psychology bug, got his master's degree in counseling, then his Ph.D. from Stanford, and landed his first job as a university professor at the University of Colorado. He had made his dream come true.And yet, a week before he was supposed to start his new job, (he had already moved to Colorado, rented a cabin in the woods, and was having a great time communing with nature) he had a panic attack when he realized, “Oh my God, I know all the textbook stuff but I don't know anything in my heart about what it takes to have human beings transform their lives.”In graduate school, he learned dozens of different marriage counseling techniques, and dozens of different anxiety treating techniques but he never had a real person sitting with him where he did his own, natural work and had them change. That’s when he knew there was something missing.Then he had a once in a lifetime experience. Standing out in the woods, he said out loud to the universe and himself, “what is the essence of human transformation?” What is it that we do that darkens ourselves rather than enlightens ourselves? He stood there for a while and felt the question rather than trying to work it out in his mind… then the magic happened.He got this amazingly powerful roar of energy through his entire body and mind that seemed to come from the ground up. It was like a freight train of white light and it felt good. Like a rolling wave of energy that passed through him and after it did, he realized that it had answered his question.The information it left behind was this; the thing we do wrong as human beings that keeps us stuck, is we resist what's going on inside ourselves and the feedback that's coming in from the outside. We take a stance of resistance towards the world and out of that stance, our experience gets rougher. Life starts to treat us more harshly, simply because we closed down that part of ourselves. We’re not open to learning. It's this defensive posture that keeps us stuck.He realized that the only way to transform is to let ourselves be exactly where we are and love ourselves for being there. Instead of judging or shaming ourselves, we simply need to feel where we are, and then love ourselves for being there.So that’s what Gay did. He simply wandered around the woods for a while loving all the parts of himself that he’d never been able to love before until that moment.He ended up in a beautiful state of being, both open to himself and the world around him. It was this magical moment of being completely free of his programming and having no expectations of the future that left behind a meta-tool for transformation in him.That’s when he started to work with people, encouraging them to feel their way into where they were rather than trying to talk them out of it. To feel and understand why they might be depressed or why their anxiety is a natural thing to have. It's the act of opening up, accepting ourselves, and loving ourselves as we are that opens up the space to move into something new.That was the moment that changed everything for Gay. It led to a more precise definition of his life purpose.Listen to hear about the many Big Leaps and reinventions throughout Mike's life that lead Mike to discover who he  is, what he was great at, where his value is, and most importantly… HIS LIFE PURPOSE.

Imagine being able to solve ANY problem or challenge that comes your way, effortlessly. Entrepreneurs LOVE to express themselves creatively and invent new things.One of the best ways of doing this is with Collaborative Experiences.Today, Mike and Gay will show you how to use the power of shared consciousness to make miracles happen with ease and clarity.They'll talk about collaborating and how to get the most out of working with someone else. Mike is also going to introduce something he calls the “Reverse Mastermind.” (It's a really powerful way to get decades of wisdom from super smart people with improv.) This is a BIG topic and really worth paying attention to because when collaboration goes well… magic happens!Listen or watch this episode to learn the ART OF COLLABORATIVE EXPERIENCES.Gay and Mike agree that, “You get to success as much by saying no, as you do by saying yes.”Learning how to say an enlightened, “NO” is one of the hardest things to do, but once you do, your life will get infinitely less cluttered.Gay has had experiences in the past where he didn't do enough emotional due diligence with folks he started collaborating with, so when stuff came up, he didn’t know how to deal with it.Consequently, he’s spent a lot of time learning how to spot and say no to things that are going to be trouble later on.Here's the best thing he’s learned about collaboration:“The more I can be in touch with the things that are driving me, being aware of my intention, of things I'm afraid of, of that inner world, the more I'm open. It becomes easier for me to collaborate with other people, because I'm open to them.” You know the old saying, “Never love another person, unless you love yourself first.” That goes way beyond loving relationships. It applies to business, too. The major thing that goes wrong in business almost never has anything to do with business. It's not because of a clash of the numbers or budget. It’s because one person has dug into some old issue that goes way back into the recesses of their early life and an old trauma explodes into drama.Mike recently hosted a mastermind group called “Fishy Business” where he created the concept of REVERSE MASTERMIND.He asked everyone, ”How could we make this experience an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10?” They went around the room and one person said, “I would love to find a way to invent something, and collaborate together. Something we all walk away with.”It created a higher level of thinking in the group for everyone to find opportunities together.The BIG IDEA here is Shared Consciousness.Humans actually share consciousness. It’s just a quirk of our minds that makes us think of ourselves as individuals.If we can let go of the idea of our individuality, our ego, and own that other part of ourselves that's connected to everything in the universe. It's a much better place to collaborate from and helps us understand ourselves better and certainly helps us open our hearts and minds to other people.

Imagine being able to open your consciousness so that your deepest fears recede into the background, allowing you to contact your creative essence.Would that ability CHANGE your business, your relationships, your LIFE forever?When it comes to your fears… the problem is never what you think it is.When you open up to your feelings and find a place of clarity and “pure consciousness”, suddenly everything comes together. (and FAST!)The reason we don't get to that state of pure consciousness is because we're unwilling to face and feel the things that are in the way. There's no problem that can't be solved with 10 minutes of sweaty conversation, but sometimes that sweaty conversation has to be with yourself.A perfect example comes from a conversation Gay had with Ed McCracken, the founder of Silicon Graphics years ago. They were $100 million dollars apart on a deal with a movie studio, running up against one problem after another. “The problem is never what you think it is.” Ed assumed the problem was money but it turned out the REAL issue was the guys they were doing the deal with were afraid they didn’t like them.They were from such different cultures that they were afraid that they disapproved of their culture.Fortunately, Ed's wife was very familiar with meditation so they got everyone into a room together and into a meditative state.They opened up to their feelings about it until they got to a place of clarity and shared consciousness. Instead of arguing about numbers, they went underneath the whole thing and suddenly the deal came together.The $100 million dollar thing evaporated and they got the deal done in 20 minutes. Once you understand these concepts and start doing the practices, you go into a nonlinear place, where something you think should take a year to accomplish, can be done in two or three weeks. It speeds up time because it eliminates barriers that you didn't even know were barriers, and it eliminates problems that look like intractable recycling problems.One of the ways to speed up time is by SLOWING DOWN YOUR MIND.

What if you could grow your business by having a BLAST connecting with like minded entrepreneurs?Imagine coming away from a fun, life-enriching event with multi-million dollar deals.That’s exactly what happened for a few of the folks at an event Mike recently hosted.Mike's wife, Vivian, called it “Fishy Business” (You’ll understand why in a moment.)This is a MASTERMIND, but on steroids…In today’s episode, Mike and Gay will share exactly how the GREAT ones are run.They'll tell you how to get the most out of them, and how to change your thinking to open yourself up to huge, BIG LEAPS. Listen or watch this episode for all of this and MORE.Imagine being with a bunch of people who are further ahead of you in life, consciousness, business, health, whatever it is that you'd like to be MORE OF.They're positive, they follow a structure, and have a specific method for sharing information. In the mastermind that Mike just led, he invited eight business owners to “Fishy Business”.Mike loves fishing and helping business owners get more out of life so he combined the two.They flew down to Baja, Mexico, stayed at an exquisite hotel, ate amazing food, fished and shared their biggest challenges, insights and opportunities for a few days.It was super chill. No one was rushed.It felt more like PLAY than work.It was like meandering into something you weren't necessarily intending or hadn't thought of before, but because you were in the right place with the right people… magic happened.One of the members called it “strategic stumbling.” Mike LOVES that. This episode will illustrate how attending or hosting a mastermind can completely transform your life and business. More importantly, you’ll hear some of the best strategies for getting huge results and how you can do the same.

Imagine that you had a certain type of client that you wanted to reach with your business.What if, instead of marketing to hundreds of thousands of people…You could find just ONE person, who, with their recommendation, could bring you all the clients and followers you could ever maintain for the rest of your professional career.How would that feel?For many people, marketing is a major challenge.Today Mike and Gay are going to show you a new way to think about marketing. A paradigm shift.It fits in well with the kind of principles and ideas that Gay teaches in The Big Leap.It’s something Mike calls Ambassador Marketing, and it's how to find an ambassador who will influence the most influential people to grow your business, support a cause, or create momentum and impact. Listen to this episode for all of this — and MORE.Ambassador Marketing is a model that makes marketing really simple, saving you time and energy. Think of it like a bullseye with 4 concentric circles inside:Your IDEAL Client. (Who do you want to be a hero to?) Affinity Group (What groups do your ideal clients belong to?) Influencer (Who are the influencers inside the affinity group that you can connect with?) Ambassador (Someone who could introduce you to influencers who in turn influence multiple affinity groups.) Instead of doing complicated marketing, like Facebook ads, email marketing, social media, webinars, sales pages and funnels…The Ambassador shares your story and their TRUST in you. BOOM! Results.This episode will expand your thinking and mindset so that you can grow your business in a whole new, heart-opening way.

The world wants YOUR unique genius!The sooner you figure out your GENIUS ZONE and get it into the world, the happier you’ll be.Today's guest will help guide you on your Genius Zone journey - he did it..Scott Donnell created the Hapbee (includes a discount code).It’s a unique product that can CHANGE YOUR STATE OF MIND.Gay and Mike both have one and it’s a life changing device.They'll talk about consciousness, entrepreneurship, Big Leap lessons, operating inside your Genius Zone and Scott tells you how to get the attention of mentors and stand out. And Scott will share how the Hapbee works (it’s very cool - and has improved Mike's deep sleep patterns dramatically).Listen or watch to find out more about this radical, revolutionary device that actually lets you CHOOSE how you feel. The simplest way to explain the Hapbee is that it’s “digitized drugs.”The technology is 18 years in the making with $80 million invested, 38 patents, and 15 doctors and scientists on the team. There are certain types of compounds in the world that are called non-covalent, meaning they’re free ranging electrons in the body. There's no chemical bond. Some physical drugs are covalent and need to be physically present to create the chemical bond to change the protein receptor shape to cause an effect. But what if you could trigger a stimulant, suppressant or hormone, using the free range electrons?Imagine if you could resonate in your body the same magnetic signatures of caffeine, melatonin or CBD. Things that help you sleep better, focus, be more productive, relax or alleviate lower back pain.Einstein had the idea first then came Richard Fineman and quantum physics. He had the string theory that talked about all things being connected on a subatomic level through noise and sound. They said, what if we could record the electrostatic surface potential of certain compounds and play it back on your body? What would happen?Scientists found a technology called magnetometers that the Navy has been using for decades. They’re the world's most powerful electromagnetic frequency recorders used to figure out where nuclear subs are within a 2000 mile radius. So they bought a few back in the day. It wasn’t a business decision, it was more science nerds having fun and the only reason Scott found out about it was because his uncle did their taxes in 2005.People like Mike Butters and Dr. Ferguson were geeking out working on faraday cages, seeing if they could get a reading and magnetic signature of certain compounds and that's how it started. Scott invested in the technology 15 years ago because they were trying to help cure cancer (and still are,) but he didn't necessarily want it for the technology. He thought, what if there's an easy way to go to the consumer market as a general wellness product? The board of the parent company said we're not app builders or consumer product people, we're scientists. So Scott got to work building it out as a wireless product that connects to an app and plays a host of different signals that can help you be more engaged, productive, calm, relieved or have better sleep. They’ve sold 5000 Hapbees since launching last October and people are LOVING IT.That’s not to say that they haven’t had their fair share of bumps and bruises along the way. When they first launched, they had a bunch of trolls come out of the woodwork saying things like “there's no way this works, where's your science, this is crap!” They got hit really hard and their competitors paid trolls to make YouTube videos against them.It was before anyone actually tried the product and before anyone knew the science behind it.Over the last year they’ve been backing the science, showing the high end reviews and studies that they’ve done internally and externally and getting it out to the public.Since then there’s been a HUGE interest and tons of celebrity endorsements. They’re now partnering with people like Dr. Gundry, Dr. Drew, Dr. Molly Maloof and Dr. Z just to name a few.People like Ben Greenfield, Dave Asprey, Suzy Batiz, Joe Polish, Dan Sullivan and Mike are BIG fans that have given public testimonials about the effectiveness of the Hapbee.Tune in or watch the whole episode to hear about how Scott has successfully built several businesses and why having great MENTORS and belonging to like-minded, entrepreneurial groups and masterminds have been integral to his success .Make sure to visit www.Hapbee.com/BigLeap to get a discount on your own Hapbee.

How do you GET and STAY inside your creative Genius Zone?Gay and Mike will show you how to do it effortlessly so you can stay there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.They'll also share the distinction between true creativity and ordinary creativity, plus Gay has a unique way to access creativity through something he calls “the genius move.”This is a continuation of the last episode with the release of Gay’s new book, “The Genius Zone.”  If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, what are you waiting for? You’ll get a free 15-minute affirmation audio meditation. Then listen to or watch this week’s episode for more insights on getting into your creative genius zone. After working with 1000’s of different people over the years, Gay has discovered one thing that really surprises him.We get dozens if not hundreds of opportunities on a daily basis to open up to our genius.In the Big Leap he calls this the “upper limit problem.” A lot of people shorten it to ULP.In the new book, The Genius Zone, Gay coined a new term to replace an “upper limit problem.” He calls it an “upper limit opportunity”, or ULO.An ULO is like a sign that says “speed bump, slow down” rather than plowing right over it at 60 miles an hour and rattling your teeth.We get little moments in life, which look like upper limits, but they're really invitations to let your genius shine through.It might sound trite to say to BE IN THE NOW, but a lot of times we get into situations with certain expectations and those expectations either get met or they don’t. Either way you go in with a certain energy that doesn't allow the open spaciousness of possibility where you could have something different occur. Gay goes after making the most of every individual moment so that if you have an interaction with somebody that you're not looking forward to, for example, the thing to do is to open up and wonder, “What am I expecting here? What am I afraid is going to happen?” The moment you can do that rather than going into a situation with fixed expectations, you open up a whole new way of relating to the world. Another important point in the new book is Gay’s distinction between true creativity and ordinary creativity. From the time Gay was 19 until he was 23, he was a disc jockey at a top 40 radio station. The whole time he worked there he was using his creativity but using it to serve someone else's vision.He made good money but he couldn't wait to get out of a job where other people were telling him what to do. He loves serving his own vision.The moment you begin to say “what do I want to create in the world, how do I want to employ my genius for my own goals and visions?” That's the magic moment. Even entertaining those questions begins to send a new surge of creative energy through your body.In his travels, one thing he’s noticed is that people everywhere are suffering because they don't have an outlet for their creativity. They’re suffering just as much in Beverly Hills as they are in Berlin or Bombay.Everywhere in the world, it’s exactly the same kind of suffering… not being open on a daily basis to your creative genius. One of the legacies that Gay wants to be known for is helping people open up a conversation with themselves about what they really love to do and how could they express that in the world.He’s been around the world 37 times and he’s seen a lot of people who are not doing that because of economic circumstances or because they're one of 28 children.There's so much suffering on our planet because of lack of connection to our creative expression and Gay wants to make sure that he’s spoken to that passionately during his time here on earth.Listen to the whole episode to hear about three more important moves in the book.One is a new way to access creativity by asking yourself something Gay calls a WONDER QUESTION. The other he calls the GENIUS MOVE. (This is something he asks people to spend an hour mastering and it’s so much easier than you might think.) We end the episode with something he calls the POWER OF COMPLETIONS and you’re not going to want to miss it!We’ll also talk about an opportunity we call “The Big Leap Experience.” It’s an opportunity for people to get into their Genius Zone and learn the moves that allow them to stay there for 90 days. This is SO exciting because in all the years that Gay has been working on The Big Leap and Genius Zone he’s never done a big training or mastermind on it.Gay and Mike have been working on this training together for the last year. It's going to require people to take a stand for themselves because to put yourself in that kind of an environment is extremely transformative. It's profound and we've both got a lot of attention going into it. This the first and last time that Gay will be doing something like this in this format. It’s a ONE TIME ONLY EVENT.To find out more information about The Big Leap Experience, TEXT BL - +1 (858) 434-5316 or go to www.BigLeapPodcast.com/Apply

Today we have a SUPER EXCITING episode.The Genius Zone completes a way of thinking that The Big Leap started.  How to overcome your upper limit problems so you don't keep running into your self imposed glass ceiling.  How to open up a conversation with your own inner genius, what you most love to do and what makes your biggest contribution in the world.  After a 10 year long process, Gay’s new book, The Genius Zone, is FINALLY HERE! If you’ve followed Gay’s work, you know that he’s most famous for his book, The Big Leap. The Genius Zone is a sequel to The Big Leap, and continues the work Gay presented.We’ll talk about what’s different about the new book and why Gay has continued to evolve and develop.Make sure to listen to the whole episode and when you buy a copy of Gay’s book, you’ll get a free 15-minute audio meditation of key affirmations.People often ask Gay how long it took him to write The Big Leap. He thought about it for 30 years and when he finally sat down to write it 12 years ago, it took him a year to write.His work has continued to evolve over the last 12 years having worked with thousands of people and he began using different techniques that were more time efficient.Since we live in a much faster paced world, we need to get results quicker. As he began to use these new tools and techniques, he realized he had to write a sequel to The Big Leap so after 10 years of thinking about it, he sat down this past year, and wrote The Genius Zone. The book is about how to make the moves that allow you to LIVE in your genius zone rather than just poking your head in from time to time. It's kind of like hawks. Gay oftentimes sits in his backyard and watches the hawks fly over head using so little effort because they know how to ride the wind currents. They look like they're doing nothing but they make big, swooping turns by making tiny adjustments.The Genius Zone is the equivalent. It shows you how to make the little adjustments you need to make from day to day that keep you in your genius zone ALL THE TIME.Another big topic that Gay talk about in the book is overcoming negative thinking. It doesn't matter where you are in your life, we all suffer from it and if you don't think you do, it's probably because you're not paying attention to it. The breakthrough moment is when you find a way to stop a train of negative thought in its tracks. The second level is to stop them from appearing all together.The way to stop yourself from negative thinking is to realize that your negative thinking is pointing the way to a genius moment that's trying to break through. The fact is that 99% of your thoughts, (especially worry thoughts,) are recycling loops left over from situations in life that never quite got resolved. Roots that can sometimes go back to before you were born. A good example that both Gay and Mike have struggled with in the past (and Mike's embarrassed to say, his not so recent past) is limiting beliefs around money.Both Gay and Mike were both raised in households that didn’t have a lot and that carried over to our adult subconscious. Recognizing the pattern is half the battle but the moves that Gay covers in the new book help you bring that negative thought stream to an end.Tune in to the whole episode to hear more about how to get out of your negative thought loops, plus how IMPORTANT it is to pay attention to your breathing and learn about something Gay calls LSD breathing.Make sure to be on the lookout for our next episode. It’s a follow up to this one about getting into your CREATIVE genius zone. They’ll talk about how to spot and find opportunities and staying in your creative zone using some of the strategies from the book. They’ll also talk about an opportunity they call “The Big Leap Experience.” It’s an opportunity for people to get into their Genius Zone and learn the moves that allow them to stay there for 90 days. This is SO exciting because in all the years that Gay has been working on The Big Leap and Genius Zone he’s never done a big training on it.Mike and Gay been working on this training together for the last year. It's going to require people to take a stand for themselves because to put yourself in that kind of an environment is extremely transformative. It's profound and we've both got a lot of attention going into it. This the first and last time that Gay will be doing something like this in this format. It’s a ONE TIME ONLY EVENT.To find out more information about The Big Leap Experience, TEXT BL - +1 (858) 434-5316 or go to www.BigLeapPodcast.com/ApplyGet a Copy of Your Genius Zone Book www.GeniusZoneBook.com When you do, you’ll get a free 15-minute audio meditation of key affirmations.

What are the top five albums that changed your life?What about your top five books? Movies? People?Gay and Mike share what THEIRS are and they’d love for you to share yours with them.You’ll also hear the reason WHY these are their top, life-changing choices.Gay says his “top 5’s” are all about genius and the people behind them releasing their pure creativity into the world. We want EVERYONE to get in touch with their OWN genius so that we live in a world of pure genius.This is a really fun conversation that we know you're going to enjoy, so make sure to listen and watch this episode. Let’s start with Gay’s top 5 albums: The first Elvis Presley album (the one with Heartbreak Hotel.) Abbey Road by The Beatles. Nashville Skyline by Bob Dylan.  Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. (Gay learned how to dance listening to this one) Barcelona, by Freddie Mercury.  BONUS ALBUM: The Third Symphony by Henryk Gorecki. All of these albums came at significant points in Gay’s life and hold a special place in his heart. Here are Mike's top 5 albums while I was growing up: The Wall by Pink Floyd. On the Threshold of A Dream by The Moody Blues. The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking by Roger Waters. Synchronicity by The Police. Joe's Garage by Frank Zappa. BONUS ALBUM: Kind of Blue by Miles Davis Mike doesn’t have big specific favorites anymore. He's a variety junkie. We recommend looking up Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. There are definitely albums that you may have forgotten about. Maybe it’ll inspire you to re-listen to some of your forgotten favorites.Tune in and watch the whole episode to hear the rest of our top 5 lists including concerts, books, and people. We’ll give you a hint… some of them include Jimmy Hendricks, Led Zeppelin, Tinker “Tailor Soldier Spy” by John le Carré, “Awaken the Giant Within” by Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, and Darren Hardy.Gay and Mike can’t WAIT to hear your top 5’s! Make sure to send them a message. They read them ALL!

Have you ever messed up, (whether it’s in your personal or business life) and thought, “oh geez, I really screwed up. I have NO idea how I’m going to recover?!”Gay and Mike have both created quite a few messes in our business lives that we’ve managed to clean up.Today they're going to talk about how to turn colossal messes into successes.They have a special guest, Scott Jeffrey Miller, author of a brand new book called Marketing Mess to Brand Success.He’s an expert at turning messes into success and FILLED with all kinds of great ideas. There are 30 challenges that he talks about in the book. One of them is about storytelling and he has a great story about an interview he did with Matthew McConaughey. You absolutely want to listen to and watch this episode. Gay said reading Scott’s book was the highlight of his week. He was amazed at how much of Scott’s heart and mind he put into the book.Scott worked at Franklin Covey for a long time. He's had the opportunity to see every imaginable mess, both internally and with his own clients. Right now he’s in the middle of one of the hardest things in the world to do: his own book launch. He was the Chief Marketing Officer for Franklin Covey, (where they sold 50 million copies of their books) so he’s been through 30 book launches over the last decade. “What worked last year isn't working this year and what's working this year isn't going to work next year.”He says the key to a book launch right now is being extremely agile, writing a great book and taking responsibility for all the marketing. (Because the publisher isn’t going to do it for you)His biggest advice is never rest on your laurels. As they always do with our guests, Gay and Mike asked Scott what some of his “Big Leaps” that got him to where he is today. Here’s what he had to say:“Quitting a seven figure job in the middle of a pandemic and going out on my own as an entrepreneur. That's the biggest leap I've ever taken.”Last November, after a year of negotiation with the board and the CEO, he left his shares on the table, and left the company amicably. He’s still an ambassador for the company and hosts their podcast but he left a seven figure job, opened up his own brand, and never looked back.Another major leap happened 25 years ago when he moved from Orlando to Utah as a single Catholic boy. He also moved to Chicago where he knew no one and again to London where he knew no one. “I'm not fearless, but I’ve got courage in excess.”He wasn't raised to take risks, in fact the complete opposite. Go to school, then college and become an engineer, doctor or lawyer. Scot never did that. He was always a salesperson / marketer / author.He’s not quite sure what gave him the courage to be a risk taker other than always wanting more. His father always said he wasn't worried about him because he had “champagne taste on a beer budget,” so he was always confident he would figure it out. Plus he had a great work ethic instilled by parents.He realized young that “if it's gonna be, it's up to me,” and that's been his motto for most of his life.This is Scott Jeffery Miller, Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs in our studios, connecting by Zoom!Scott’s new book, Marketing Mess to Brand Success is a really great one and it includes a set of cards that have the chapters on them. It’s such a great marketing tool!Here are Mike's favorites from his “30 Challenges to Transform Your Organization’s Brand (and Your Own)” #8 - Lots of Stuff Won’t Work #3 - Stay Close to the Cash #4 - Become the Leader of Business Development #9 - Don’t Only Do What You Know and Like Best #23 - Leverage Your Promoters #25 - Build and Model Consistent Brand Standards #28 - Develop Your Storytelling Craft You’re going to have to Tune in and Watch the whole episode to hear Scott go into detail about Mike's favorite challenges PLUS he’ll tell you his favorites and WHY. This book and the challenges are a major game changer and you’re not going to want to miss the story about Matthew McConaughey!

What are your Big, Upper Limits challenges?What are YOU doing to block your reception?If you can start to understand this, your life will get better in every way. For instance, how do you eliminate the static from your reception so that you’re able to increase your flow of abundance, love and good things in your life?How do you fine-tune your “receiver” better?Gay recently worked with a very high-value individual who received a lot of everything very suddenly, including money and immediately her fears and old patterns kicked into high gear. In today’s episode you'll find out how they worked through those challenges super quickly. (Her challenges were making her physically ill and causing repercussions in her relationships.)Mike and Gay will take you through several steps that YOU can apply to your own transformation AND your clients, removing the blocks and barriers stopping you from receiving abundance. There’s nothing better than a transformation story, PLUS you’ll get an inside view of how Gay’s brain works which is really cool, so make sure to listen to or watch this very special episode.Gay had a client who is pretty blessed. She was born into a wealthy family and things went well in her life so that she had always been in a prosperous mode.She made a passive investment about 10 years ago then recently the company went public. Suddenly she went from a very comfortable existence to having millions and millions more dollars than she had ever had before. It's a good problem to have, but in her case, it pushed every upper limit button that you can imagine.She got a sinus infection that wouldn't go away, she and her fiancé had a big blow up and her high-end SUV was totaled.Suddenly something seemingly good happened and then boom, boom, boom, all these systems started to fall apart. As she and Gay began to work on the problem, he could see how she had shut down in one area of her life which was, “how much love are you willing to receive?” He also uncovered that while she was shutting down in this area of her life, she was also shutting down in other areas at the same time. So when this big surprise happened with the stock that she'd owned for a long time, it pushed all of those buttons and she went into a cosmic nosedive. What he found during their time together was that her big windfall triggered things that went back to her birth. She was born into a complicated Middle Eastern situation with princes and very wealthy associates that were connected through family. At birth she was disowned by her father and raised by her mother and grandmother. As they continued to dig, they got down to the simple moment of her not feeling like she deserved to be here. Partly because she was a woman, and partly because her mother had fallen out of favor with the Father. We ALL have those same kinds of triggers. We may not have them with Saudi princes and millions of dollars, but we've all got disturbances in our ability to receive. It's an unconscious decision made that you’re not worthwhile.Gay was able to help her let go of a lot of those early decisions of, “I don't deserve to be here, I don't deserve love, I've landed in the wrong family, I've landed in the wrong body.” The only way you clear these types of things up is by shining the light of consciousness on them. You can't uproot them from your body or hypnotize yourself and make them go away.You simply have to open up and accept them into the wholeness of yourself and that releases the old unconscious beliefs. Your old unconscious events only have a grip on you because you haven't let go. They thrive on you trying to fix them and make them better. What actually makes them better is accepting them and shining the light of consciousness on them just as they are.Gay calls this the “Einstein Algorithm.” (We did a whole episode about this.) Einstein said that the best way to understand relativity, is that a minute on a hot stove feels like an hour, and an hour with your beloved feels like a minute. When you're with your beloved, all you want is to receive the goodness of the moment but when you're sitting on a hot stove all your systems want to shut down and that makes time crawl. With that in mind, make your life a big, explorative journey, looking for those upper limits. Be on the lookout for them. Don't shun them, don't move away from them. Make your life about uncovering them.Mike's question for Gay was “how do we become a great patient for opening up to receive and being able to identify what's going on in the first place?” because for Mike, in the past, he didn't realize when he was experiencing anxiety or depression until he was in it because it's not a normal occurrence for him. A lot of people Mike knows will either be in denial of it or they hit a slump, or as is the case today, we're all coming out of one of the strangest moments in human history, a grand pandemic. How do you tune up the receiver and open up to the upper limits once we identify it and don't deny it or push it down any longer?Gay says we can accomplish this by making a commitment to be more aware of our upper limits.Let's say you're driving on the freeway with a pair of dark sunglasses on so you can't really see what's going on around you. If you take off the dark glasses you can see cars that are half a mile away. The same thing happens once you begin to open up your awareness and expand your ability to receive. Just the act of opening up it makes it easier to see the things that are coming at you.You’ll be able to see things that trigger you but you see them out there on the edge of the clearing so they won't seem as scary.Make a commitment in this moment to be willing to spot your stuff quicker so you can move through it more nimbly and don't beat yourself up if you don't see them until they're right upon you because that's how you learn.The quicker that you can shift to learning… that's when the real progress happens without getting dinged all the time.To hear more stories and techniques to open up YOUR receiver, including a very simple, grounding exercise you can do right now, wherever you are listen now or Watch.

You’ve heard the terms NFTs and Cryptocurrency.Does stuff like this scare the hell out of you?Are they just a COMPLETE mystery?Are you under the impression that only techies are capable of understanding and profiting from them?We're here to tell you that’s just not true.Today, Gay and Mike are are going explain NFTs and Cryptocurrency in super simple terms and show you some really interesting ways they can be used.This episode is all about how creative people like artists, writers and musicians can use them to earn money, monetize ideas and intellectual property without getting hurt in the process. Mike will give you practical, tactical, real world examples AND Gay and Mike will actually invent an NFT together and talk about how it can be used. They’re really excited about this new evolution of the way human beings can be creative. Whether you end up buying cryptocurrency or not, after listening to or watching this, we promise you’ll walk away with a whole new way of thinking.(of course, we’re not giving financial or investment advice. We’re not financial advisors and don’t pretend to be on TV or the Internet…blah blah blah)Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency is a mechanism of storing wealth and being able to exchange it quickly. Bitcoin is the most popular one. You can buy Bitcoin and store it in a digital wallet, it's protected and then you can convert it back into fiat cash. Unlike gold, where you want to move it, it's going to be super heavy. Cryptocurrency is virtual. It's not necessarily tied to traditional fiat currencies.We're used to the US dollar being the most trusted currency in the world because it's standardized, fungible and existed for a long time where cryptocurrency is brand new. As of right now, it's hovering around $38,000 per Bitcoin. When we recorded this, it was at $60,000. Folks who bought it in the beginning and held on to it are multimillionaires right now. The way everything is tracked as to whether or not someone owns it or not, is using something called the blockchain, which is a distributed ledger. It is encrypted data that says when you buy it, it belongs to you. That ledger gets replicated to LOTS of computers, making it very difficult to forge.What about NFTs? What are they? It stands for “non-fungible token” and basically means a way of verifying or validating that something is an original.Here’s a real life example. Mike has a friend who recently acquired the last known unreleased video of a very famous musical artist who died some time ago. They’ve packaged the video as an NFT. What they’re doing is setting up what are known as smart contracts. The smart contract says that every time this video gets watched, the owners get paid a couple of pennies plus they’re allocating a certain percentage of that to the trust of the deceased artist's family.NFTs are going to change the way music and books generate money for creators.Here’s another example. Let’s say there's a very famous musical artist that is going to be doing a big concert. They could create NFTs of digital art that will be plastered all over the stage during the concert. Instead of going to a traditional organization that would fund the venue they could go out to the fans and say, “you can buy a piece of art for a certain amount of money, and you're going to own a percentage of the concert.” When people buy tickets to the concert, you'll get a certain percentage of that. In addition, your art will be visible during the entire concert, you will own that and be able to do whatever you want with it when it ends. There is an enormous amount of power and wealth being created in cryptocurrency.  Gay says, “remember where Bitcoin and NFTs come from which is the inexhaustible, infinite supply of human creative intelligence so make sure you take a stand for the evolution and growth of your creative intelligence today.” The possibilities for cryptocurrency and NFTs are endless and I am TRULY EXCITED about the future. To hear Gay and Mike spontaneously create their own NFT LIVE on the spot, listen or watch. Bitcoin! If you don't have bitcoin or a crypto wallet, here’s how to set one up and get some for free. Check out The Big Leap Podcast homepage where you can sign up and get on the waitlist for our upcoming Big Leap Year Experience. 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably heard the term “Algorithm.”What IS an algorithm? Think about it like a computer program. It’s a set of instructions that you follow in order to get a certain outcome with a certain input.Today Gay is going to tell tell you about two algorithms that can completely change your life. (Neither of them have anything to do with computers. We’re talking HUMAN algorithms)One is called the Epictetus algorithm, and the other is the Einstein algorithm.These algorithms will benefit every relationship you're in, including the one with yourself. You'll learn how to execute both of them to make your whole world look a lot different and genuinely BE better in every way so make sure to listen. Each of us needs a really simple way to do two or three big things in life. One is, how to feel good INSIDE by learning how to let go of the things that bother you so you can slip back into an easeful, centered state of being. The second is learning how to get in a flow of useful communication with other people. This is where Gay’s two human algorithms come in.The Epictetus algorithm has to do with letting go of trying to control things that are not within your power to control.The Einstein algorithm has to do with opening up and loving the things that are hardest to love, thereby releasing an enormous amount of creative potential.Epictetus lived about 2000 years ago, (around the time when Jesus was teaching in his part of the world.) and was running a pagen school in Rome. He taught things like physics and biology rather than theology. It was where all the smart kids went.Epictetus was an ingenious teacher who taught these aphorisms that his students collected in a little book best translated into “The Art of Living.” If you don't remember anything else about Epictetus, remember, this… he’s the guy that came up with the idea that's in the Serenity Prayer. The first line of his book goes something like this. “The secret of happiness is knowing that there are things you can control and things you cannot control.” If you apply that idea to any situation that you're stuck in, it’s a simple way to get a good flow of creativity going. When people think of things they don't have any control over, they're worrying about things that happened in the past or might happen in the future, or what somebody thinks of them. We have no control over any of these things. When human beings get tied up, in trying to control things that are not within our power to control, we turn on the stress chemistry in our bodies. Our muscles get tense, our heart beat speeds up, our mind fills with unproductive ideas and we generally make ourselves miserable.If we can get in the habit of asking ourselves, “what am I trying to control that's not actually within my power to control?” you can “unhook” you from a lot of the wear and tear on the stress machinery in your body. The moment you let go of trying to control it, your body relaxes and you open up a new space for creativity to move through. Gay’s new book, “The Genius Zone, (out in June this year,) talks a lot about the Epictetus algorithm. There are a set of processes in the book that will enable people to do this thing he calls “unhooking.” The moment you unhook, you free yourself and once you get good at it, you can execute it in a split second. It's a very useful thing to know. Gay calls the second algorithm, The Einstein algorithm. When Einstein was asked to explain his theory of relativity to a junior high school student he said, “a minute sitting on a hot stove goes by like an hour, but an hour with your beloved goes by like a minute.”What Einstein was saying is that if you can be with your fear, or your anger, or sadness, without trying to change it or make it go away… JUST BE WITH IT, that's the magic moment in which love enters the equation. It's the moment where you open up and love something as it is instead of censoring or being afraid of your fear, or your anger, or sadness, or another person's anger or sadness. It's that moment of accepting it as an equal that's the essence of what Einstein was trying to get at.To hear more about Gay’s Internal Algorithms and a tool he calls “one of the most powerful things any human being can get good at doing.” PLUS a really cool story about how he was one of the first people to mountain bike through Tibet interviewing Lamas, listen now. 

We all have regrets… When you look back on your life, are there opportunities you wish you had taken.... Or NOT taken, whether it was personal or business?Some of those missed opportunities may have been blessings in disguise because some of the best deals you will ever do are the deals you don't do. This concept will change your life when you understand it so keep reading...Gay and Mike will explain the concept completely, plus Gay shares a story about one of the deals he did when he was in the movie business, and how one big thing turned to a giant mistake. You’ll learn how to read your body and mind to reprogram your brain to start paying attention to your “failure points”, even before they happen to prevent yourself a lot of aggravation in the future.In the “Big Leap” book, Gay talks about “the upper limit problem,” which is our tendency to sabotage ourselves when things start going better than we know how to handle. Especially if we haven't built a structure for how to have more money, or fame. If those things happen, often times we find a way to push ourselves back down.When Gay first heard the term, “some of the best deals you'll ever do, are the deals you don't do,” from his entrepreneur friend, Jerry Jones, he was 40 years old and had just started flexing his entrepreneurial muscles.At the time he had done deals that overrode his internal system because the money looked good or he felt that working with a colleague would be okay. Those situations turned out to be disastrous. He learned the hard way and often reminds people that in business, hiring mistakes are one of the most costly things you can do but never forget. Sometimes the mistake is hiring YOU to do something that you're not good at. A lot of times, creative entrepreneurs do things that are not in their “zone of genius” once the business starts succeeding.In retrospect, Gay has made colossal mistakes and done things he wishes he hadn’t. A few years back, Gay had a very successful movie business called “The Spiritual Cinema Circle.” They were thriving, had investors and were making great money. Gay got the bright idea to start a book publishing company. It wasn’t as successful as the movie business and it got Gay thinking “what is it we do when we are successful that distracts us?”He discovered one of the things is we launch another project rather than going ALL IN on the one we already have. Instead of putting all of our attention into where you are right now. Don't try to do two (or more) things at once. You have to know what your limitations are. Generally speaking, the only way to find that out is by consulting the “Holy Temple” of your body. Figure out what lights you up and makes you feel good and what bums you out. Your body will ALWAYS tell you that information. In other words, when you contort yourself to accommodate and do stuff that is out of character, that's when you get yourself in trouble.Mike knows without a doubt about himself that his best creativity happens when he's collaborating and performing. If 99% of what he does is creating new things, innovating and collaborating by performing. It needs to be deadline driven. That's where he's going to do his very, very best.The bottom line is… KNOW THYSELF. Get out there, do a bunch of work and figure it out.Gay and Mike highly recommend taking a couple of personality tests like the Kolbe and Enneagram. They will really help you figure out your personality type so you can focus on doing the thing in YOUR zone of genius.Having some internal standards is really useful. For example, Gay had a person come to him with a well funded, great idea but there were some integrity issues. Little things. He was derogatory towards Gay’s wife and was rough with one of his cats. Those things stuck with Gay so he decided to decline, even though the money was great, the project was great, and it was an area he really cared about. Later on he was glad he didn't get involved because it crashed and burned. The key thing for whatever you're doing, is to find out what your internal references are, that go off and trigger you not to do something or to do something. That information is all there… you just have to learn how to listen to it.To hear more methods to help you avoid self sabotage and build your self awareness and success, including stories about how these methods have helped some of our celebrity clients and friends, tune in and Watch. PLUS we come up with a great idea for a future episode that involves interviewing celebrities that’s going to be fantastic. 

One of THE most valuable commodities a person could ever possess is TRUST.You can’t put a price tag on it. It’s absolutely invaluable.Every human being needs to know how to build it and keep it… in both their personal and business relationships.Gay and Mike are going to deconstruct building trust in all of those areas.  What prevents someone from trusting? What blocks trust? How to reclaim trust when you've lost it.They’ll do some deep thinking about managing our trust traumas and demons, and what prevents us from asking for what we really want and think we deserve.Through the lens of marketing, the hardest thing to get from anyone these days is their attention and a commitment of time. In order to get both… you've got to earn your potential clients trust.This episode is FULL of super valuable information that will benefit all areas of your life so do yourself a favor and make sure to listen or watch us on YouTube.Human beings go through a developmental stage of being very vulnerable in the first six months of life before we can learn to crawl and move around on our own in the world.Margaret Mahler said that in the first six months of life, you're establishing trust. It's a time of union. The second six months of life is about exploration, so if you don't have a very good time of it in the first six months, it's hard to go into that exploration stage.Margaret Mahler's point is that throughout life, we create the same situations in our grown up relationships. Oftentimes we have trust issues, because in the process of two people getting closer to each other, one or both people have done something that betrays the trust of the other person.Over the past 40 years Gay and his wife Katie have been working with couples who need relationship help. Recently they worked with a couple where the man had an affair and it ruined their trust when his wife found out, but in the course of working through things, she revealed that she also had an affair at one point and that started a cycle that had serious ramifications.The only way that Gay and Katie found to REALLY heal when there's been a breakdown of trust is through absolute open-hearted honesty.Most people say, “here's what I'm mad about, here's what I’m hurt about, here's what I'm scared about,” but when both people can exchange freely what's really gone on with them during the period of time that they've lost the trust, then trust can be rekindled. Short of that is very hard to do.We can all sense when things aren't going well in relationships. We can feel when the vibrations are off and a lot of us unfortunately deal with that by tuning out those vibrations and pretending things are okay or by digging into them in a way that alienates the other person.It's one of the big challenges of life. To openly acknowledge who you are, what you are and what you're feeling in the most vulnerable way possible. That's what human beings need to do to reestablish trust.Think about larger society and things that have happened in the world that caused us to have trust issues, (with our politicians, our fellow humans, and all of the things that have gone on with the pandemic,) all of it has brought our trust issues front and center.Who do we trust? Do we trust the CDC? The government? The police?Gay says that our solution always has to be open hearted honesty, with ourselves and the people we care about.From a marketers lens, Mike has his own mechanism for how he's built trust. He's always done his very best to operate with the highest degree of integrity because he never wants anyone to say, “Oh, you manipulative son-of-a-gun, I saw what you did there.” He wants to be able to say that everything he put out there came from a genuine place and he didn't seek to manipulate or trick anyone to do anything.Mike knows the rules of engagement in order to gain trust and move towards an offer, so he can't say that he doesn't have that in mind, but he's always upfront about it first.One of the favorite things Mike ever did onstage years ago was when he said, “I'm going to give you the most valuable thing you could ever receive from me in this marketing conference. I'm going to teach you how to make a product and how to sell it. Then I'm going to make an offer and a whole bunch of you are going to jump up and run to the back of the room before I even tell you the price because the bonus alone, far exceeds the value of the product.”Then he asked, “how many of you want to see that by show of hands?” Everyone raised their hand. Mike proceeded to deliver on his promise. Before his “close” and announcing the price, he showed a great bonus. People stood up, ran to the back of the room to buy the product. In less than an hour, he sold over $500,000 worth of products. The audience was amazed (to be honest, so was he). He was really honest upfront and he explained everything, every step of the way. He would say “here's what I'm doing and you're probably feeling this, raise your hand if you're experiencing this.” There were a lot of suggestions embedded, but it wasn't intended to be manipulative. He would say, “I know what you're feeling because it's designed that way.” We're mechanical beings. There are certain things that make us trust and honestly is one of them.Mike truly believes the only way people come into a state of deep trust is by showing up reliably. Trust is built over time, by showing up and being there and being present. Even if you're physically there and not present, people pick up on that.There’s much more to the story than this - and lots of “nuance” in the stories Gay and Mike share.Listen or Watch to hear more ways that you can connect deeply with people in your life and business and build the most satisfying and unbreakable trust. It’s one of those episodes you’re going to want to share with everyone you know. ❤️

Q: How do you truly get what you want out of life?Q: How have the MOST successful people in the world gotten to where they are today?A: By ASKING outright for what they want.It can be really scary to ask for what you want… out loud… to other human beings… whether it’s money, love, sex or anything else.Maybe it feels pushy, selfish or arrogant, but it really is the only way to achieve your biggest goals and dreams.When done properly, from a state of wholeness and alignment…it’s EMPOWERING.Gay and Mike tackle the big question; “how do you ask for what you fear the most?”We call this meta marketing. It's how to approach marketing from a state of wholeness and alignment. When you are “lined up,” the world falls all over itself to give you what you most want. If you're not “lined up,” you can ask for what you want until you're blue in the face but you won’t get it.We’ll show you a new way of being and marketing your true-self in a world that's constantly changing. It's all about how to get in touch with and overcome the upper limits that you have about bringing yourself forward into the world and being successful.Gay also provided two huge questions that will put you in a state of wonder plus a four letter acronym, F.A.C.T. that helps you overcome any challenge that stands in your way, including the things that you fear most.Virtually everyone Mike has ever coached has had a problem with asking for money (or love or sex or…) and the number one thing that prevents them from asking is usually rolled up in old trauma and self esteem.Gay has seen it time and time again as well. Several times a month he does a two-hour, big leap intensive where he works with a person one-on-one. Something that he sees all the time is people who have had some success in the world, maybe making pretty good money, but they haven't taken that big leap to where they think they could go if they were really bringing themselves fully into play.50 years ago when Gay was working on his Ph.D in psychology, one of his professors asked him if he wanted to be a university professor or go into private practice? He had no desire to sit in an office all day seeing client after client so he told his professor he wanted to go the University Professor route BUT, what he was even more interested in was marketing and figuring out how to get the incredibly important information about psychology out to the general public.His professor looked at him like he had 3 heads. This was before guys like Deepak Chopra were on PBS doing what Gay calls “rock and roll psychology.” In other words a psychology that goes out and earns its own living in the world of media.Today there are SO many options and a tremendous amount of information right at our fingertips which has made two things happen. It’s made more people want to market themselves and bring themselves forward but it's also made them come up against their fears.Fear originally came from a physical threat but since there are no more saber toothed tigers running around, most of the things we fear are of our own manufacture. We fear rejection and that energy goes into our body as if it were already true.One of the key things is to find a new way of being with your fear, so that you no longer fear your fear. In other words, you welcome the fear as a set of information that's trying to flow in rather than something you need to pretend isn't there or get rid of. The energy of fear is also the energy of creativity in potential so if you can welcome your fear rather than try to shut it out, it gives you key information about what needs to happen to move you to the next level.What keeps people stuck is repeating the same old patterns. If fear comes up and they don't have a tactic for getting through the fear, it keeps repeating and pushing the same old doubts to the surface.Gay uses the acronym FACT to help people get out of the “fear trap.” F is for facing whatever the fear is. You need to be willing to face it in your mind as well as in your body. A is for accepting something as it is before we can begin to change it. Accept something to the point of even being able to love it as it is because love is the direct antidote to fear. The more awareness and love you can bring to anything you're scared about, the more it dematerializes, and turns into the energy of excitement. C is for choosing. It's hard to make a choice when you're scared so if you can unhook the energy of fear you’ll make better decisions. T is for taking action. This one is self-explanatory. What we're really talking about is being in a state of alignment with ourselves, where our mind and heart are lined up. Where we’re lined up with our chosen purpose and our highest intentions.Coming into a state of alignment, overcoming and breathing into and being with the fears that are behind all of those upper limits is the most direct thing you can do at any given moment in order to break through to that place where you're being guided with the pure flow of your creative intentions.To hear more about the SECRET to becoming a fully aligned human, truly getting over your fears and being able to ASK FOR WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST, tune in here and watch us on YouTube then share it with the people you love. ❤️

Can you believe it’s been a YEAR since the start of the pandemic and lock-downs?We’ve all heard the devastating stories about loss but if you’ve been paying attention, you would have noticed a lot of uplifting stories too.Stories about growth and change and opportunities that never would have happened without this past year.We think one of the most difficult things we’ve ALL had to deal with during these unprecedented times, are the emotions that came up.Feelings of loss, anger, anxiety, fear, guilt… and possibly excitement and joy.This episode takes a deep dive into the feelings that came up last year and what you can do to dive down into them so you rebound with a whole new wave of creativity in your life.Mike asks Gay for specific techniques and processes you can use right now that will allow you to let things go and be able to stay in a creative space.Things that will make you a clearer headed person and allow you to get through any pandemic, (whether it is real or imagined.)This episode is super helpful for anyone, no matter what your situation, so let’s go down the path of dealing with pandemic feelings.Grief and anxiety can be a springboard for creativity. A way to turn what some people perceive as a negative into a positive and looking around… there are many people who’ve had incredible breakthroughs during the pandemic.Let’s get something straight first. Mike and Gay are not trying to put a positive spin on anybody’s authentic feelings and they don’t want to talk anybody out of their feelings.What they want to do is open up the possibility for talking ourselves into our feelings. The first step is to acknowledge the depths of grief, anxiety, fear and anger. If you can open up to them, acknowledge and feel them, they are direct paths to creative solutions.We all need to open up to the multitudes of grief, sadness, anger, excitement, joy, everything because ideally, what we want to do is use it as an opportunity to grow into a new level of creativity.Where a lot of people get stuck is they don’t acknowledge the authenticity of their feelings so they operate on top of a whole bunch of stuff that’s unexamined and unexplored. Then whatever you create out of that is going to oftentimes bring up the very opposite of what you’re trying to create.The last time there was a major pandemic was the early 1900’s with the Spanish Flu. Millions of people indeed died worldwide. After that, things took a very positive turn in the sense of an explosion of new ideas… hence The Roaring 20’s. (On the other side of that, things went haywire, like the antecedents of what would become Nazi Germany.)The point they’re getting at is that oftentimes a deep depression is followed by an explosion of outward activity. What they want you to do is use this explosion as an opportunity to enhance your best ideas and use those new ideas to make contributions to the world around you and increase your presence.Just know that this isn’t going to last forever. Everything Is temporary.This pandemic as a giant pressure cooker. If you had relationship problems, anxiety, or anger before, this was a multiplier and there wasn’t a place that you could escape to. You were left with just YOU and possibly a dark underbelly was exposed.What is the recipe for taking all these negative emotions and converting them into something you can control? How can you create a transformational, Big Leap moment right now?The prescription is based on what Gay has seen people do to change their lives over the years. Number one is to feel and love what’s real instead of trying to change it or pretend it isn’t there. Just BE WITH IT and learn to love it as it is. Learning to love your anger, your fear, your grief. Let down the barriers to simply feeling and appreciating it as it is.This is your side door to the universe. Your way into the creative flow of the universe. Simply let go of all the stuff you don’t have control over… especially feelings.A lot of times what happens when we’re growing up as we learn faulty ways of trying to control our feelings. Either by screwing down the lid on them and pretending they aren’t there or by acting them out in dramatic ways instead of simply being with them, appreciating them and communicating about them in a straightforward way.Worldwide, people need to come down out of their heads and experience what’s real in their bodies and hearts.To hear about some of the ways that Gay and Mike have coped over the last year, including a SUPER helpful, physical technique Gay shows Mike that you can use NOW to help you LET GO of the difficult things, tune in here and watch them on YouTube then share it with everyone you love. ❤️

No one likes the thought of getting old.Your body starts to break down… becomes more fragile, a lot more aches and pains, less flexibility and unfortunately… worse SEX.What if we told you it doesn’t need to go down like that? … that there was a way to feel 20 years younger than your chronological age? … that sex could be BETTER in your 70’s than it was in your 30’s?These sound like really big, (maybe unrealistic) claims but Gay and Mike have both experienced these things (well, Mike’s not in his 70’s) and today they’re going to share their secrets with you.They’ll talk about the art of the “breathgasm,” what “conscious eldering” is all about and transcendent sex in your 70s. They’ll also cover dealing with regrets, something called Gyrokinesis and a magical substance Mike found that is SUPER effective for getting rid of your aches and pains and helping you feel and look younger – and it’s cheap!If this all sounds exciting or if it scares the hell out of you, you’re going to love this episode. Keep listening or watch us on YouTube.Gay is 75 years old and has been engaged in conscious living and conscious loving his entire adult life. When he turned 50, he started thinking about what he could do to have a great elderly life and it’s working like a dream.What is conscious eldering?When Gay was 50 he heard an interview with the Dalai Lama, who was 58 at the time. The Dalai Lama said that he was beginning to turn more of his attention to his death and to making the most of what he had left.Up until that point, Gay hadn’t given any thought to his death consciously, so he started thinking about how he wanted his elder years to be and came up with a broad framework that he and his wife Katie, sat down and talked about.They made the decision to refine their lives so that we were only doing what they most loved to do and were only doing it with the people they loved the most. At the time, they were running a big operation so they started refining and “right-sizing” their business and life. Getting rid of a big office building, selling a few of their homes, a lot of their “stuff,” and employing less people, therefore reducing their stress levels immensely.Gay went out of his way to create a life and job that he would never want to retire from. His life is now full only of things he most loves to do.He says every breath you take after 50 is a choice between creativity or stagnation. When you get into your 50s, you’ve probably got a pretty good life. You’re making money, you have great friends, and a home, but if you don’t make the jump to what’s regeneratively creative in you, then life won’t be pretty in your 60s and 70s. The GOOD NEWS is that he knows people can feel happy, vibrant, creative and alive into their 80s because he’s seen it with his own eyes.Mike is 54 years old right now and he’s definitely noticing aches and pains when he wakes up that he didn’t notice before and he doesn’t like them. It can be a massive distraction that affects his focus and ability to deliver value to his clients. Historically, these things get worse with time but he has discovered the miracle of peptides.Mike broke his collarbone 12 weeks ago and was in the most unbelievable pain. He was doing research on pain management and discovered peptides. Peptides are basically little proteins that get activated when they’re injected or injested. We’ve got tons and tons of peptides but they activate different parts of your body. Mike found one called BPC 157 that has pretty much relieved ALL of his pain AND healed his 30 year old gut issues. It’s miraculous.There are tons of other peptides that help with many different health issues. Mike has found that the injections are the best option. You can buy them online and they’re really cheap. He buys his from a place called www.peptidesciences.com (FYI, he’s am not a doctor, nor does he play one on TV 😉This is his own personal experience)Transcendent sex in your 70’s.Gay says, “If you think sex was good in your 40s 50s and 60s, just wait till you hit your 70s!” He and Katie have had some of the most transcendent sexual experiences they’ve ever had since they’ve been in their 70s.“Just know that there are treasures to happen later on in your life that I had no idea were available.” – Gay HendricksThis revelation caught Gay and Katie by surprise. They’ve been together for 42 years and always had great sex, but what’s been happening in their 70s, he says is a direct result of all the breathing and body work they do.Gay has written several books on breathing including, (what was at one time,) the world’s best selling breathing book. He developed a breathing program and began teaching it in his seminars. He believes that the breath work he and Katie have done prepared them for what is happening in their 70s.Several years ago they started having these things happen when they made love that he calls “breathgasms.” In other words their breath will synergize together and then they’ll amplify and get bigger and bigger. It’s different from a physical orgasm and that was a surprise. When the first breathgasm happened, he didn’t think much of it. Then it happened again and again and now it happens every time.To hear the rest of the juicy detail about breathgasms and transcendent sex in your 70’s listen now and watch on YouTube. Trust us… you won’t regret it!

The definition of collaboration is: “a working practice whereby individuals work together for a common purpose.”When collaboration is great, (whether it’s business or personal) it’s just about the best thing you can do with the lights on. 😉When collaboration goes badly… the results can be disastrous.Today Gay and Mike are going to tell you about the collaborations that changed their lives… for better or worse.They’ll give you a “checklist” on how to create great relationships and collaborations that are profitable. Ones that allow you to express yourself fully, and prevent you from falling into dangerous pitfalls that they’ve both lived through.More importantly, if you’re currently in a challenging collaboration, we’ll show you how to get out of it, so get comfortable and make sure to listen or watch us on YouTube.One of the great things about a profitable collaboration is, if you match with the right person, you can build an amazing business, create profound wealth, and expand your consciousness dramatically.On the other hand, collaborations can reach a point where they don’t make sense any longer.Maybe you hit a point of resentment, or overlap of talent, or one partner is taking too much. Whatever that challenge is, you know it’s time to retire the relationship.Early on in Gay’s career he experienced a bad collaboration with the co-author on his first book.One day he was sitting in the back of his daughter’s classroom when she was in the first grade. He noticed the teacher ate up a tremendous amount of time getting the children centered and in a learning place after they’d come back from recess so he wrote a little book called “The Centering Book.”He developed a partnership with another writer named Russell Wills who had some really interesting educational stuff from an anthropological perspective that he wanted to have in the book. Gay took him on as a co-author and ended up giving him half the royalties. 😫Russell turned out to be a person with the inability to keep agreements and it drove Gay nuts because he’s a very precise guy. After many attempts to get his stuff into the book, Gay had to take a weekend of his life writing a few chapter using Russell’s notes. The book ended up being 98% of work Gay had to do himself.They ended up maintaining a modicum of a friendship but he certainly never hired Russell for any other projects. Gay calls this a “persona interlock” and a case of bad hiring.Collaboration is an art form. In contrast to his awful, first co-author collaboration, Gay has written 10 books with his wife Katie, without a single cross word between them. They adhere to the principles they teach. Talking honestly, sharing feelings,and if somebody’s got something they’re angry about, they talk about it.One of Mike’s first collaborations was both the best and worst he’s ever done and it had to do with blurry lines.In his early 20’s he met a guy named Dean Hyers. At the time Mike was writing video games and animation. Dean and his brother were making feature length science fiction movies.  They hit it off immediately and became like brothers. They decided to make movies together and created “Digital Cafe.”We were one of the very first digital marketing agency agencies in the world.Along the way, they met another young producer / director so they decided to collaborate together. What ended up happening is there was jealousy, because the other guy was a director and Dean was a director. The other guy was a writer and Dean was a writer. They had different styles and just weren’t compatible.Mike ended up being the linchpin between them. All he wanted to do was keep the peace. Mike hated confrontation and didn’t know how to manage it. He did his best but both of them talked about each other and the tension grew and grew. It left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth but there is a happy ending. They sold the business, they made a movie and Dean and Mike are still friends today but they don’t do stuff together anymore.Here’s a checklist that Gay and Mike feel make for great collaborations that produce monumental products: A Basic Structural Agreement: Create “swimlanes.” Get VERY clear on who’s going to do what and agree that each person takes responsibility for those actions. This way you’ll avoid the “blame game” and it’s not a race to occupy the victim position. Find a third party tiebreaker: Find a person who doesn’t have skin in the game, like you but can help you sort through things if you do get stuck. If you negotiate your own business deals, you’re going to get screwed. Someone WILL figure out how to manipulate you. Never do battle on someone else’s battlefield. Find the cause of the pain: It’s generally going to be a rules violation surrounding integrity issues, or perception. Don’t do anything that doesn’t make you feel good: There’s an illusion that you’ve got to stick to something because you’ve got an agreement and if you don’t do it’ll be bad. That’s a total myth. The number one thing you’ve just got to listen to is, “if it doesn’t feel good, just don’t do it.” It takes an enormous amount of courage but if you don’t you’ll end up living in the world of “what if?”

Remember watching sci-fi movies 10-20-30 years ago like The Matrix and Bladerunner and wishing the gadgets they used existed?Here we are in 2021 and they’re not far-fetched anymore.Does the thought of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) replacing the need for human interaction scare the 💩 out of you?There’s no need to freak out…  you just need to change your framing.These tools can enhance your creativity, business and income in a BIG way WHEN they’re used properly.That’s what this episode is all about. Becoming a better “augmented human” with virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence and why it’s should be so important to you. Today we’re going to give you a sneak peek into the future.Gay and Mike are endlessly fascinated by the idea of using these tools to help us get our messages out there and connect better as human beings. We’ll explain how we’re using virtual reality in our businesses and lives, plus something really cool we’re doing right now and how you can participate too. If this piques your interest even a little then you’re not going to want to miss this episode.Even as a graduate student, Gay was interested in how he could use technology to deliver his message to more and more people, (yet retaining the very important human element.) He was looking for something different.At the time, things like PBS and cable TV were just getting started and he became one of the first people to teach a psychology course on cable TV. He loved it because he could still interact with people. He was living in Colorado at the time and could be sitting in the studio and have people ask him questions from a ranch out in the middle of nowhere, where otherwise they’d never be able to get in the same room with him.When he launched “Spiritual Cinema Circle” (it was like Netflix for spiritually uplifting films) one of the most exciting emails he ever received was from somebody who had walked miles in Pakistan to get to a US aid library so they could watch the Spiritual Cinema Movies on DVD.That’s why he started writing books and making videos. He wanted to make it EASIER for everyone to have access to the messages he wanted to share. When AI started to come about he had a sense that it had a lot of potential, but he confesses that it was a bit bewildering to him. (That’s where Mike comes in)If you haven’t realized it already, AI is already around us in every possible way.Like the fact that anytime you get on any social media network, content is being recommended to you. Apps like Uber, DoorDash, Amazon etc. are constantly paying attention to huge volumes of information and personalizing it just for you.Maybe you’re a creative person that needs to write articles, blogs or website and social media content but you have writer’s block (it happens to ALL of us) There are websites like Headlime that can write just about anything for you just by typing in a few descriptive sentences.The AI researches and pulls down information from hundreds of thousands of other websites, analyzes them, figures out best practices, then writes copy for you based upon some very vague inputs.Another example is a website called Writesonic that can write 10 Facebook ads in 30 seconds just by typing in a brief description of your product and promotion. You can either copy and paste the option you like, tweak it or ask it to try again and it will write 10 more. Copysmith will write Google Ads for you… We could go on and on but as you can see… there are endless possibilities available to you right NOW.All of these websites are either free or super cheap starting at around $10 a month.Here’s where it gets more interesting. Microsoft recently got rid of their writers. They’re using AI to write all of their copy for articles now. On one hand, that can sound super scary… but only if you’re thinking through the limited lens of “what’s going to happen to humans?”If you think of AI as a CREATIVE TOOL that can make your life easier and allow you to work in your Genius Zone, then the sky’s the limit.There are literally tons of affordable AI tools out there right now that can design 100 different logos for you, write a blog or a fiction piece or even design a chair that’s shaped like an avocado, if that’s what you want.One of the things that humans are great at, is coming up with a problem that needs to be solved. AI is not going to do that any time soon, but AI does have the ability to use hundreds of years of wisdom and accumulated knowledge that you couldn’t possibly store or interpret, or execute rapidly.The way Mike sees it, the future of the human / AI relationship is for humans to do the first 1 – 5% and the final 1 – 10% of the work and the bots to do everything in between. As a creative, he doesn’t want to touch the middle stuff anyway. Mike likes inventing, creating, innovating, then polishing or adding something. That’s what a great producer does. Mike thinks we’re moving into the era of the creative producer in virtually every industry.The net result is we’ll be able to create much more abundance and opportunity.If any of this interests you and you’d like to learn more and immerse yourself in it, Gay and Mike are doing something really special called, The Big Leap Year. We’ll show you how to use and access these tools in a way that’s practical and tactical, and powerful from a personal and self-development POV. Whether it’s your personal, business, or spiritual life, we believe there’s a way to bridge all of those worlds together. Check out The Big Leap Podcast homepage where you can sign up and get on our waitlist.

What is LUCK? Is it something you have or something you make?Do you believe that some people are born lucky? (You know who we’re talking about… the people who “good things” seem to happen to… ALL the time.)Is it better to be lucky or work hard?Today we’ll answer those questions and give you some great examples of how to relinquish control and allow luck to show up in your life, plus a different way of thinking about what luck really is.We’re not talking about gambling luck. It’s more about opening yourself up to manifesting opportunities, receiving abundance and getting out of your own way.Gay has been an “accumulator or wisdom” since he was a kid. Over the years he’s been fortunate enough to have incredible business mentors he’s been able to learn from. One of whom was Jirka Rysavy, the creator of Gaia. (the major media company that Gay sold his business, Spiritual Cinema Circle to when it got too big for him to run.) One day he asked Jirka what he learned from his many years of entrepreneurial life?Jirka said, “I always ask people, when they sell me a company, why did you go into business for yourself?” Invariably, they say, “I went into business for myself because I wanted more free time.” That’s always the funniest thing he hears because if you go into business for yourself, what you’re not going to get is more free time, in fact you can count on the complete opposite.Gay and Mike are both big believers in work / home “balance” but you need to realize that if you’re going to go into business for yourself, you’ll require a passion that transcends anything else. Without it, it’s very hard to succeed. Almost impossible.Here’s where the interface comes in. Do you allow luck to support you or do you think you have to work really hard? If you think you have to work hard, that takes you down a path that requires more and more situations in which you have to work harder and harder.What Gay and Mike want people to do is learn how to steer the boat from the back. If you can learn to ease up and be more open to positive energy and the support that’s being given to you in any moment, then you’ll have a much easier way to do the work, even when it looks hard.Last week Mike went out for a long walk with a good friend of his, Darren Hardy. He was the editor of Success Magazine for a long time and the most disciplined, diligent human beings Mike’s ever known. Just like Mike, he freely admits that 99% of the time, if it does not have meaning, purpose and an outcome, he does NOT do it.Darren says he’s reached the point where he doesn’t have an upper rung to go after any more. He has more money than he’ll ever be able to spend, he’s accomplished more than he ever thought possible and he’s distilled the wisdom and knowledge of some of the most successful people in the world. (i.e. Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey)To this day he writes all of his own copy and webinars, etc. He is a machine. He’s spent his entire life crafting and creating a massive empire and his internal chemicals fire and reward him for that extraordinary work.When Mike looks at Darren, he couldn’t possibly say for a moment that his success is a result of luck and doubts he’d say so either. Any “right place, right time” was a matter of figuring out how to strategically get there and not wasting a second. When he focused on it, it happened. He’s absolutely obsessed with success, achievement and meaning.Other super successful people spend a lot of time pondering, manifesting, meditating in order to create an atmosphere where luck enters in and they open themselves up to the unknown.Darren exists in the known. He would rather have precise predictability than any unknown. His life has been about eliminating unknowns.Hard work. Focus. That’s Darren.Gay on the other hand has spent much of his life manifesting luck, being in the right place at the right time and creating situations where luck shows up, as if on command. He makes himself open to being supported by unknown forces in the universe.There’s much more to this big idea… To hear more strategies on relinquishing control and allowing luck into your life listen now and make sure to watch us on YouTube. Don’t forget to share this episode with the people you love!

As a business owner and entrepreneur, 90% of your time is spent selling your product or YOURSELF to potential clients. (We don’t buy from people we don’t like or trust.)How do you do this effectively and still like yourself at the end of the day?WITH YOUR VOICE.Your voice and “persona” can convey confidence, sincerity, knowledge, love, connection and influence to your audience.That translates into sales and happy clients.Sounds simple enough, but what if you don’t like the sound of your own voice?What if there was an easy way to change your voice so that you felt confident speaking or selling to any audience, big or small?What if we told you that finding your TRUE VOICE could change the way the world perceives you and therefore change your entire life for the better?Today, Gay and Mike interview the world’s greatest vocal coach, Roger Love. He’s coached some of the most famous, award winning, singers, actors and speakers on the planet (think Selena Gomez, Bradley Cooper, Reese Witherspoon and Tony Robbins) and he’s here to tell you that you are NOT the voice you were born with.Roger says that some of the sounds that come out of your mouth work with your communication and relationships and some don’t. Today he’s going to show you how to change the ones that don’t work so when you open your mouth, people will understand and appreciate the best of who you are.This was SUCH a fun episode for Gay and Mike and one that you really need to HEAR or watch on YouTube to get the full effect.When Roger was 16, he decided he wanted to save the world. He knew the only way he was going to be able to do that with his skill set was one voice at a time. For 17 years, he only taught singers. (people like the Beach Boys, Earth, Wind and Fire and Luther Vandross)Then speakers like Tony Robbins and John Gray started coming to him wanting to work on their speaking voices and that led him to where he is today. 50% of his clients want to sing amazingly. 50% of his clients want to be incredible speakers, influencers and presenters.“We live in a world that believes that communication is word-to-word based. If you had the right words, you’d have a great conversation, start a relationship or complete a business deal… if you only had the right words.” But science has proven that the words you say are not effective in the way you should communicate with people.The way the brain processes spoken information is first, for emotion, then for logic. Words by themselves have no emotion. You have to attach sounds to the words. Roger has spent years helping people stop speaking from word to word, and become in control over sounds like the pitch, the pace, the tone, the melodies of their voice, so that others will really understand how they feel when they speak and showcase the best of themselves in every communication.Roger doesn’t work exclusively with celebrities and singers. When he’s training a superstar singer to sing, he’s helping them sell more tickets and t-shirts, but when he’s helping someone find their speaking voice… it changes their life because it actually influences the way that everyone perceives them.People need to know that everyone needs a voice makeover. You’re not “trapped” with the voice you were born with. Most of us hate the way we sound when we hear ourselves on a recording. In fact one of the most popular hashtags in the last 10 years is #ihatemyvoice. We grow up hearing the way our parents and loved ones talk to us and mimic it but it doesn’t have to be permanent.Think of it this way. Actors create characters for the roles they play but they’re not that person in real life, are they? Most of us have a work voice and a home voice and we all know what happens if you bring the work voice home to your family… It’s not very well received 🤣Early on, Roger thought his job was just to teach people how to have great voices. Then he realized that was a small goal and he could use voice to help make great people. His goal is to help people use their voices to achieve the next level of success that they want, both personally and professionally, giving them the ability to communicate emotionally because the people that communicate emotionally, are the people that are remembered and believed.They say that people don’t remember what you say, they remember the way you make them feel and you’re only going to make them feel things with the sound of your voice, not the words.Roger firmly believes that the sounds that come out of your mouth, make you happy and healthy or unhappy and unhealthy and those same sounds are making the people that listen to you feel the same way. He’s trying to make a difference in the world by changing it one sound at a time and to that end he’s generously offered a $50 gift certificate towards his voice coaching to our listeners.There is so much packed into this episode, it’s impossible to get it all in here. Tune in here now to hear some amazing stories about Will Ferrell, Bradley Cooper, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Neil Young, Steve Martin and Michael J. Fox, just to name a few then share it with everyone you know! And don’t forget to go to Roger’s website to get a $50 gift certificate towards your own voice coaching.

Hey look… ->> SQUIRREL!! 🐿 🐿 🐿Did you look?! We know we would have. 🤣 With major ADHD we are easily distracted. You?It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do or how successful you are. It happens to the best of us.The important thing is not what distracts you but how quickly you can recover from those distractions to get stuff done.We all know how easy it is to waste a lot of time with distractions, but what if you could reel it in and put that time into something that brings you freedom and joy? Things that could grow your business and improve your lifestyle.If you feel like your brain has a million squirrels running around inside, this episode is for YOU!Mike has always been super, super ADHD, but he’s learned enough about his brain over the years to treat the “challenge” as a creative gift. People are always telling him that they can’t believe how much stuff he gets done. However, he knows, that if he would have focused on just one thing, he’d be richer than he is.He’s not unhappy. It’s more that he’s learned to accommodate my lack of focus. He’s interested in A LOT of stuff. He likes doing a lot of things, lots of relationships, but when the rubber needs to meet the road, he’ll get stuff done to reach the finish line.In this episode Gay and Mike share five key systems they’ve developed that not only work for them, but they teach and incorporate them in their advisory work with clients to make sure they’re focused and get what they want.Here are the steps to move yourself out of distraction quickly: Make a “to-do” list daily: From 1 – 10 starting with the thing you want to do LEAST. Doing this every day helps set your priorities and stay organized. Both Gay and Mike are big 3×5 card and white board users. (Mike carries them wherever he goes!) Yeah, there are more modern / digitized ways to keep track of the things you need to accomplish in a day but they’ve found that the 3×5 card method really works and lots of uber successful entrepreneurs use the same method (watch the show to see how this is done). Anchoring + Grounding Exercise: First thing in the morning take a big, deep breath and get totally into your body. Relax through your fingers and toes, all the way to the top of your head. Then imagine shooting roots out of your legs and into the center of the earth. Imagine these roots grabbing the earth’s core like bird feet, tightening and holding the center, but flexible, like a palm tree. Take another big deep breath, get super aware of your surroundings, then ask yourself what emotions or feelings you want to experience today. Hone in on your Genius Zone: The more you focus on your “genius” and doing what you most love to do, the easier it is to protect against distractions because you’ve got more to protect. You’re protecting your genius. Decide what the price of your freedom is, decide who + what you want to attract and get really, really good at saying NO to the things you’re no good at or don’t want to do. Wait until the last minute: This one might feel counterintuitive but it works for Mike. He tends to procrastinate but the pressure of a deadline and HAVING to finish a project in time really gets his creative juices flowing. He’s found that if he waits until the last minute to start / finish a project, it takes him less time to complete than if he start weeks before. A Healthy Lifestyle: Sleep until your body wants to wake up, take healthy supplements, meditate, get outside and connect with nature, intermittent fasting, (this has been a game changer for me. My brain works better on an empty stomach) cut out sugar, caffeine and gluten. Don’t worry too much about what distracts you, measure the time it takes you to get back. The quicker you can get back to whatever you’re supposed to be focusing on is the key.Listen to the whole episode to find out why Gay thinks distractions are a POSITIVE thing plus how they’ve been able to buy their freedom, work because we want to and because it gives us an outlet for creativity, connection and impacting others. Listen now and share with someone you love.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Man, all of these super successful entrepreneur, millionaires have it so easy. They must have made all the right choices to get where they are.”That is a MAJOR misconception. We don’t know one successful millionaire or billionaire who doesn’t have a crazy story about “getting there.”Mike and Gay are successful entrepreneurs.Between the two of them they have about 80 years of experience and have both made over 100 millions dollars combined, and helped thousands of people.But it wasn’t without lots of bumps and bruises along the way. They are, by no means, “perfect,” and have made loads of mistakes on their roads to success. (Some of them REAL DOOZIES!)That’s what this episode is all about. The mistakes they’ve made and what they learned from them. This is a VERY revealing episode. They get into some deeply personal stuff that they’ve never talked about until now. You’re going to want to hear this.So if you’ve ever felt like you have to be “perfect” to be successful… keep reading and make sure to listen or watch on YouTube.Let’s start with big personal mistakes… Gay has been married to his beautiful wife, Katie for many, many blissful years now but it wasn’t his first marriage. And the fact of the matter is, he’s done a lot of work to NOT consider his first marriage a giant mistake but rather a giant blessing. (Truth be told he says he’s only about 75% there even though it happened 50 years ago and he still has arguments with her in his head!)Gay’s grandmother was a huge influence in his life and died when he was just 22 years old. At the time, he didn’t realize how emotionally devastated he was by her death. He was super intellectual, overweight and wore thick glasses, completely unprepared for a deep relationship but ended up marrying an older, wealthy woman. It was doomed from the start.He was working his way through college as a disk jockey on the radio, promoting and managing bands and making tons of money, until one fateful winter storm changed everything. He lost it all, was flat broke and emotionally devastated.Left with nothing but his marriage, Gay realized he had gotten into the relationship to distract himself from the grief of losing his Grandmother. Needless to say the relationship ended and Gay found his true calling (psychology) changing his life forever.For Mike, growing up, he hated the town he was from (Eagle Lake, MN) and ONLY cared about getting as far away from it as possible. When he turned 18 and was finally free, he enrolled in a technical school and took off in my crappy little car with NO BRAKES. That didn’t work out so well. His dad rescued him by loaning him $1,100 to buy a 1976 Honda Civic.Mike had never done any kind of drug in my life up until he left home but shortly after he tried smoking weed. His first experience was mind expanding but his SECOND was… devastating. He ended up in a mental ward having a full-blown nervous break-down with my parents and a priest thinking he was somehow “possessed.” Yikes!Long story short… Mike’s parents never beat him up about it, he learned from it and ultimately got his act together. That experience could have killed him… but he didn’t let it.Since then he’s had a bunch more potentially devastating experiences that could have ended Mike (including a divorce from my high-school sweetheart and stage-4 cancer) but it’s all about taking those experiences, LEARNING from them and doing something different.To hear more stories about their biggest mistakes including how poor business decisions and partnerships cost Mike millions PLUS a pretty cool story about how Danielle Day Lewis changed his “out of control” life by spending 2 years as an apprentice to an Italian shoe cobbler, listen now and don’t forget to share this with someone you think will benefit from these stories.

This might sound harsh but… WE KNOW you love being lied to.How can we say that with confidence?Because things like Nxivm, Scientology, politics, elections, cults, and SOCIAL MEDIA all exist and thrive in our world today.But WHY?! Why is it that human beings love being lied to so much?What is it about us that makes us want to believe things that aren't true?Today we’re diving deep into this absolutely fascinating subject about the human psyche and why we’re constantly looking for the easy way out by believing in (sometimes outlandish) lies and allowing ourselves to be controlled and manipulated by others.This is an awesome episode. Gay and Mike had a blast with this subject.One of the things that bother Mike sometimes about podcasting is the notion of being “authentic.” He knows just how important it is to be authentic and have deep, meaningful conversations but sometimes he catches himself performing instead.The god’s honest truth is that he's afraid of revealing too much or that he won't be liked or he'll lose an audience but in reality, the fastest way to grow a great audience is by being super deep and authentic. Bottom line… it’s scary and HARD to let your guard down, be real, be open, be authentic and THAT contributes to why so many of us allow ourselves to be lied to and conned even though we know deep down, something isn’t right. It’s easier to believe the lies.Gay recalls a situation a few years back when he was contacted by Kripalu (the famous yoga and health center). Their guru had gotten involved in some sexual improprieties with other members of the organization and ran off with millions of dollars leaving the place in a real mess. Gay, along with a couple of other therapists, were invited to come and work with the community of about 150 people.They were extremely traumatized because they had been living inside this lie. The Guru had not only conducted these improprieties, but he also asked members not to talk about it. A few of the women who were involved were sworn to silence but finally, one couldn't take it anymore and came forward.What Gay really started wondering after meeting with these bright, yoga-practicing, super healthy people was why is it that a group of people like this would create such a situation in their lives? So he asked them that very question, but sadly, what was left behind was a group of people that were suddenly thrown out into the real world not knowing what to do because they had been living in this contained community.A psychologist named Leon Festinger, back in the 60s and early 70s, at Stanford University, did a number of studies on cults. At the time, there was a big “end of the world” cult in the area so Festinger had a few of his graduate students, join and infiltrate the cult. The day came when the cult leader said the world was going to end and obviously, it didn’t but when it was announced that the leader was wrong, about a third of the members quit and the rest became even stronger, true believers. So what happened with the true believers? Why did their faith become stronger? Why wasn’t their illusion shattered?In Mike's opinion, the number one thing that drives followers in religion, politics, social media, etc, is HOPE. People will buy hope forever. Leaders oftentimes do what they do for sex, money, power, whatever, but it's also the fear of loss of hope.Here's what we have found. When our identities get involved we'll stop at nothing to protect our own self-perception of who we think we are and that includes managing and maintaining a lie. When someone falls into the hope sold by an individual and they get their own identity wrapped up into it, and they have propagated a lie, that lie becomes part of their identity as well.Mike thinks in the case of the re-election, Trump followers, for example, are so invested that their identities are invested too. (Think about how many people who have cut ties with family members and friends because of it.) As soon as your identity is wrapped up in something, you've both, lost power and power can be gained over you and that's where manipulation comes in.Ultimately what it comes down to is a real hunger for some kind of identity. For the person who doesn't feel any organically, most likely, somewhere along the line you were traumatized or interfered with in some way, so you dissociate yourself with your body. If you don't do something about that process of dissociating, you allow yourself to be manipulated.Listen now to hear more incredible stories about cults, politicians, lawyers, and celebrities PLUS Gay and Mike exploring the age-old question, “who am I?” Don’t miss this episode, and remember to share it with someone you love!

Can you believe it’s 2021 already?! (Although I gotta say… good riddance, right! I’m glad to see it go and start fresh)If you haven’t listened to The Big Leap Podcast, this is your opportunity to get caught up because today we are REWINDING our most popular episode “Everything You Need to Have a Big Leap Year.”Let’s start the New Year off right. NEW YEAR, NEW YOU!!What if you were able to overcome your barriers to happiness and fulfillment?What if you had a clear path for achieving your true potential and attaining not only financial success but also success in love and life?What if this was YOUR YEAR to take the big leap, make ALL the changes and make them STICK for good this time??!This week on The Big Leap, Gay and Mike are going to give you EVERYthing you need to have a Big Leap Year!We’ll cover a 5 step process that Gay and Mike developed to help you have that “Big Leap Year” including one of a concept called “The Mary Kay Formula,” PLUS… ways to increase your longevity.There are a lot of examples in this episode that are all grounded on their own personal experiences and working with people so everything we’ll share has been kitchen tested, bedroom tested and boardroom tested in every possible situation you can think of.Gay spends about 30 hours a month doing interviews with various podcasts and radio programs talking about the concepts in the big leap. From those conversations, a lot of people have asked him, “how do I get started if I wanted to turn this next year into my big leap year, how would I go about doing that?”And as he’s worked with many people over the years, he’s come to see that there is no substitute for willingness and commitment. Anytime you entertain any kind of change the first thing that happens is a sense of willingness and that gets you in the door of whatever needs to happen but it’s commitment that makes things work.Unless a person can put themselves on the line and say, “this is what I’m willing to do, this is what I committed to doing,” there’s very little magic that’s going to happen.Therefore, if you’re going to create a big leap year for yourself, you have to begin by cultivating a really good sense of willingness and commitment IN YOUR BODY.Ask yourself, is this something you really want to do? Do you actually want to transform your life? Do you actually want to live in the genius zone? The goal is to get a whole-body yes. That’s how you know you’re committed.There’s so much more to uncover in this episode like the genius behind The Mary Kay Formula, how Mike taught himself programming at age 14, was writing software for vehicles and meeting with GM executives by age 18 and how being open and “coachable” is SUPER important to bringing your Big Leap into being.

Mike's friend Brian Tracy once said, “Your life is changed by the books you read and the people you meet.” What do you think about that?  The movies you choose and the books you've read, also say a lot about WHO YOU ARE.  And listening to other people talk about the books that have moved them, can give you a whole new window to yourself AND a new opportunity to learn how they think.  So what are the movies and books that have completely changed YOUR life?  Gay and Mike share the big books and movies that changed their lives. Gay admits that he frequently asks people, “what's the best book you've ever read?” and that question has led him to amazing recommendations and some of the best books he’s ever read.  Sometimes asking the simplest of questions can be life-changing and result in some of your Biggest Leaps. With 4 years of experience as a therapist Gay is a master at asking breakthrough questions. It’s one of the many reasons we love listening to him.  Mike believes that life imitates art, (movies and books in particular,) especially in the modern, pop-culture world where things happen so quickly and people emulate what they see.  Remember the 80s, when Madonna’s music and popularity completely drove fashion of the era? The same thing happened with heavy metal and grunge. These musicians were crafting a narrative and amplifying their superpowers.  There are SO many ways to craft messages that entertain, educate, and allow you to connect with people and they're right there in front of you all the time. But how do you tune your brain to think through the lens of being a storyteller because THAT is how your ability to influence and persuade will be amplified dramatically.  So what are some of the books and movies that had huge impacts on their lives?  For Gay the first one is called “The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment,” a little, gray book next to the cash register that caught his eye while checking out of a bookstore in Palo Alto, CA around 1970. It cost about 95 cents.  This book changed his reality. It's only about 80 pages long, but it's 80 pages of some of the richest, most amazing life-changing ideas he had ever come across. It’s the first place where he ever formally saw someone talking about the transformative power of love. The whole premise of the book is to save yourself a lot of trouble and just love as much as you can from wherever you are, don't make it any more complicated than that.  That became a touchstone for Gay because as he worked with more and more people, he came to see that a lot of what gets people stuck is that there something in them that they haven't learned to love yet. That's what inspired him to write his book “Learning to Love Yourself,” years ago. To this day, he sees that love is often the only dimension that needs to change. If you can love something more or get more love around a particular issue that you have, that's the single, most powerful, efficient, life-changing thing you can do.  Mike's story also starts many years ago when he was in a very dark place. He was going through a very painful divorce and his business was $250,000 in debt. Nothing was working right. He was living in an illusion and he felt as though he had to maintain the illusion to maintain trust with his employees to save the business.  Along came a good friend who introduced him to Tony Robbins. He ended up doing some Tony Robbins events and reading ALL of his books and getting really immersed in his material. Tony interviewed Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer which sent Mike on a path to get a book called “Manifest your Destiny,” by Wayne Dyer. He listened to the series at least four times and the big takeaway from the book that still to this day resonates deeply is the question “who do you need to become in order to receive all that you desire?”It comes down to taking responsibility, and everything you've ever desired already belongs to you and you belong to it. The only thing separating you from it is time. The exercise in the book has to do with becoming attractive to that which you desire. It's not about getting things. It's not about having things. It's not about buying things. It's not about manipulating.That concept changed Mike's life dramatically.Fast forward a couple of years later, Mike had the opportunity to travel to Egypt and the Great Pyramids with Wayne Dyer, and Deepak Chopra. By then, he had immersed myself in so much of the material. That specific trip changed the course of his entire life, so much so that because of it, he wound up meeting his wife, Arielle Ford, (godmother to my son, Zak) and that trip is actually responsible for Gay and Mike meeting as well!To hear Gay share a REALLY cool story about meeting the “king” of Togo, Africa in an elevator in Cairo, Egypt, listen now! Talk about a great real-life event that would make an awesome movie that ANYone would want to watch! You’ll also learn about more books and movies that inspired both of them to take Big Leaps and can help you do the same.

Mike Koenigs hates “How Pies” (if you’re from Minnesota like him, you’ll get this joke right away). If you grew up in the country like him, cow pies aren’t fun to step in. Especially the warm ones.  “How Pies” are the stinky things you step in every time you ask yourself “how do I do this” and when you get frustrated and procrastinate, you do nothing at all.  What if you could solve ANY problem you’ve ever had by asking a NEW question? Not “How do I do this?” But “Who can do this FOR me?”  And if your first response is, “yeah, but I can’t afford to pay anyone to do it for me…” Instead, ask yourself the ULTIMATE question - “what if I could create a collaboration with the right WHO to do this for me where both parties win?”  If you find yourself procrastinating because you get stuck in “How Pies”, you’re in for a real treat.  Today’s guest on The Big Leap is Dr. Ben Hardy and he's the author of the new book, “Who Not How,” which sold over 100,000 copies (125,000 as of two days ago) in the first month and is a bestseller on the Wall Street Journal list. Today you’ll hear a fascinating story that ties “Who, Not How” and writing a bestselling book with a collaborator into two places, plus Gay says ONE WORD that completely changed the way Mike thinks about copywriting and creating content and books. And - if writing a “best selling book” is on your bucket list…you’ll love what Ben has to share. Today you’ll hear a fascinating story that ties “Who, Not How” and writing a bestselling book with a collaborator into two places, plus Gay says ONE WORD that completely changed the way Mike thinks about copywriting and creating content and books. As Western thinkers, we're very individualistic. We go through the public education system and are trained to think the same way. We're trained to focus on what “I” can do. We have to develop every single skill ourselves and are tested and graded against our peers in a competitive environment. We don't work with our peers on a test and then together, create a better result… Instead, we're all tested on the same thing. We compete against each other to see who gets the best grades, and the people with the best grades move on. We're trained to think in terms of how “how do I accomplish this goal? What do I do?” Me, me, me, me me! Two of Dr. Ben’s mentors, Dan Sullivan and Dean Jackson spent a lot of time thinking about procrastination and that ultimately led them to think about when you start imagining a bigger future; if you stopped asking how but started asking who can help me do this, or who can do this for me, then all of a sudden, it frees you from the burden of having to do it yourself and leads you to develop a much bigger vision. Most people’s imagination is capped by how much they can do themselves. If you're not teaming up with anyone then you can't accomplish as much. In the case of Dan Sullivan, (co-author of “Who, Not How”) he didn't have to spend any of his time writing the book because he had Dr. Ben do it. He had a “who,” who was already an expert on book writing, so his vision for his future got a lot bigger. Rather than asking, “how can I get this book out there, he just found a “who” to do it for him.” One massive breakthrough that Dr. Ben had while writing this book as the “who,” is that Dan Sullivan fully allowed him to just be the who! Meaning he let him BE the writer without any outside forces or influences. It was Ben’s book. Dan established the rules for the content and let Ben do his thing. It’s Dr. Ben’s AND Mike's opinion that a lot of leaders have problems because they micromanage their “whos.” They’re obsessed over making the who do the how their own way, rather than letting the who do it their own way.Dr. Ben had a lot of freedom writing this book but it took him a long time to actually realize he had that freedom. For a while, he was trying to write the book that he thought Dan wanted him to write but at some point he realized… I’M the who and I need to write this book. No one else knows how to do it. He finally took ownership of that in his head, which allowed him to write the book he wanted to write.THAT was a really profound moment for Dr. Ben and it allowed him (when he hires people) to let them take full ownership of what their job is, rather than him telling them how to do it.Here’s something else super important: Ben gets all the money from the book. Dan only cares that the book drives business to Strategic Coach in terms of adding members. His singular focus makes this easy. The books pay for themselves. That’s another one of Dan’s big ideas, a “Free Zone” which we’ll cover in another episode!Here are a few other major take-aways and breakthroughs from Ben’s journey in writing this book: Mentors: You need to learn from someone who’s already been where you want to go. Someone you admire and trust. For Dr. Ben, it started with his Grandfather Rex who was “the moral structure of his life and always pointing him in a positive direction.” He’s had many others including his church mission presidents, college professors, Ryan Holiday, (who has written multiple best-selling books), and mentored him while helping him get his book agent and first book deal, Dan Sullivan, Joe Polish, and more recently Tucker Max, as a writer and a thinker. Collaboration: The basic premise behind “Who Not How.” Collaborating with the right “whos.” In the case of this book, Dr. Ben worked with a few “whos,” including Tucker Max who he met at a Genius Networking event to negotiate a 10 book contract with Hay House and edited the book. Living in the FLOW: Being more fully absorbed in what you’re doing. When you're in a flow state, you're operating at peak performance, not inhibited by 1000 different things and dealing with decision fatigue. (the idea that the more decisions you have to make in a given amount of time, the more stressed your willpower will be, and the more you'll make poor decisions.) Delegating: Offloading your decision fatigue to let other people make some decisions for you. There are only a certain amount of ‘big picture’ decisions that you should be making. For example, during Dr. Ben’s last book launch, he did 250 podcasts to promote it but he hired someone to book and schedule all of his appearances so all he had to do was show up and talk about the book. To hear about Ben’s one HUGE, mind-blowing idea (based on an old idea called, “1,000 True Fans”) that was responsible for GETTING OTHER PEOPLE to sell about 75,000 copies of his new book in two weeks, PLUS… the ONE WORD that Gay said that completely changed the way I think about writing and creating content, listen now!

What kind of donkeys are you smuggling?  Confused?? Mike was too when Gay asked him the same question. To explain…  Back in the middle ages, there was a donkey caravan that would come to the same border crossing every week. The border inspector would go through the caravan each time looking for contraband but he could never find anything. Week after week, for 30 years, the same man with the same donkey caravan and the inspector could never find anything. When it came time for the inspector to retire he finally asked the man, “you’ve got to tell me what you’ve been smuggling all these years!” The man replied… DONKEYS.  The moral of the story… the man was smuggling something in a way that nobody ever thought of because it was so intrinsic to the story that was being told. No one ever suspected that it was the donkeys themselves that were being smuggled!  Today on The Big Leap, Gay and Mike are going to talk about how to turn your life into a movie that someone else would really want to watch, especially YOU.  They talk about sharing your Big Leap message within movies, TV, novels, and more because both Gay and Mike have done just that. Gay has written many books, including a novel, (some of which are slated to be on TV or in movies) and Mike has done a feature film and written 13 books.  They’ll also talk about not only thinking about your life through a completely different lens and growing your message and what it is you're doing in the world.  The takeaway from the donkey story is that everyone that is creative and wants to market to the world is smuggling donkeys in one way or the other.  For Gay, the reason he started writing mystery novels 10 years ago was to work in relationship themes that he wanted the world to know about. Maybe it was something about self-esteem, or the Big Leap or the Upper Limit Problem. He is “smuggling donkeys” by writing stories, and making movies around things that have big ideas he wants to “smuggle” to people who might not ever read a self-help book or pick up a copy of an Eckhart Tolle book.  For Mike, he is in the business of inventing “donkey smuggling” strategies for people to elevate and amplify their message. He teaches people how to tell transformational stories that allow them to get their message out, get more attention, and package their products and services so that they're seen as the premier authority in their area of expertise.  What he's actually doing is teaching people how to value themselves, how to release their attachment to old traumas and identity challenges that prevent them from being worth more, and accepting and receiving more. That's the deep psychology of it.  It doesn't matter if you're a billionaire… you've got self-worth issues. Chances are you're not telling effective stories that connect with an audience. You're probably talking about yourself too much. That’s been a thematic message that Mike helps people hack in order to get more attention and be seen as is a transformer.  To hear more about how you can “smuggle donkeys,’ and turn your life into a movie that EVERYone wants to watch, listen now!  If you prefer video, click here to watch the episode on YouTube!

Do you ever wonder… what’s the point? Why am I here? What am I really meant to do? What’s my PURPOSE?! Maybe you’ve been there, done that, know it’s time to reinvent yourself but you don’t know how to start, where to begin or feel as though it’s too late or too hard...  What would you give to be able to FINALLY figure out what your life purpose is OR your “next purpose”? You are not alone. Many, MANY of us have struggled with the very same questions and it can be SUPER frustrating, anxiety-filled and frankly, pretty depressing. Don’t worry… Gay and I are here to help guide you through the process and figure it out. Today on The Big Leap podcast, Gay Hendricks is going to tell you about the moment he finally figured out what his life purpose was and how it’s affected every moment of his life since. Needless to say, it was a major turning point. Mike is going to share some of his big leaps and some of the reinventions that he's gone through throughout his life because for him, he hasn't had just one big leap... he's had a bunch. Their goal is to give you the tools, resources, and guidance to get you to where you want to be, so let’s dive in! The moment Gay figured out his life purpose happened at a time where from the outside, it looked like he had it made. He had jumped to a “new level” in life, (but as he points out in The Big Leap book,) oftentimes when you have a big upsurge of love, money, or fame, it trips old mechanisms inside that bring up fears and then you shut yourself back down.  Since Gay was 15 years old, he wanted to be a university professor but didn't know exactly what he wanted to teach. When he was 22 he was bitten by the psychology bug, got his master's degree in counseling, then his Ph.D. from Stanford, and landed his first job as a university professor at the University of Colorado. He had made his dream come true.  And yet, a week before he was supposed to start his new job, (he had already moved to Colorado, rented a cabin in the woods, and was having a great time communing with nature.) he had a panic attack when he realized, “Oh my God, I know all the textbook stuff but I don't know anything in my heart about what it takes to have human beings transform their lives.”  In graduate school, he learned dozens of different marriage counseling techniques, and dozens of different anxiety treating techniques but he never had a real person sitting with him where he did his own, natural work and had them change. That’s when he knew there was something missing.  Then he had a once in a lifetime experience. Standing out in the woods, he said out loud to the universe and himself, “what is the essence of human transformation?” What is it that we do that darkens ourselves rather than enlightens ourselves? He stood there for a while and felt the question rather than trying to work it out in his mind… then the magic happened.  He got this amazingly powerful roar of energy through his entire body and mind that seemed to come from the ground up. It was like a freight train of white light and it felt good. Like a rolling wave of energy that passed through him and after it did, he realized that it had answered his question.  The information it left behind was this; the thing we do wrong as human beings that keeps us stuck, is we resist what's going on inside ourselves and the feedback that's coming in from the outside. We take a stance of resistance towards the world and out of that stance, our experience gets rougher. Life starts to treat us more harshly, simply because we closed down that part of ourselves. We’re not open to learning. It's this defensive posture that keeps us stuck.He realized that the only way to transform is to let ourselves be exactly where we are and love ourselves for being there. Instead of judging or shaming ourselves, we simply need to feel where we are, and then love ourselves for being there.So that’s what Gay did. He simply wandered around the woods for a while loving all the parts of himself that he’d never been able to love before until that moment.He ended up in a beautiful state of being, both open to himself and the world around him. It was this magical moment of being completely free of his programming and having no expectations of the future that left behind a meta-tool for transformation in him.That’s when he started to work with people, encouraging them to feel their way into where they were rather than trying to talk them out of it. To feel and understand why they might be depressed or why their anxiety is a natural thing to have. It's the act of opening up, accepting ourselves, and loving ourselves as we are that opens up the space to move into something new.That was the moment that changed everything for Gay. It led to a more precise definition of his life purpose.Listen to hear about the many Big Leaps and reinventions throughout Mike's life that lead Mike to discover who he  is, what he was great at, where his value is, and most importantly… HIS LIFE PURPOSE.

Have you ever looked at a super successful entrepreneur and thought, “man, they’re so brave and fearless to be doing what they’re doing. They must have so much support!”  MOST successful people will tell you that it’s not rainbows, unicorns and kittens. There are plenty of bumps, bruises, self-doubt, fear, haters, and mistakes along the way.  But if you want to succeed you have to push past all of that and become UNDAUNTED.  Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs are excited to share a very special guest with you today on The Big Leap podcast. Her name is Kara Goldin, she’s the CEO and found of HINT water, and just released her first book, Undaunted on October 20th. (Gay and Mike have both read it and you’re going to want to pick up a copy, asap...hint hint.)  HINT is the largest, non-alcoholic beverage in the country that doesn't have a relationship with Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, or Snapple.   Where did the title, “Undaunted,” come from? Kara looked in the rearview mirror at what she had been through in building her company and realized that a lot of people would say, “you're fearless, you don't have any doubts or doubters.” That's when she knew she needed to write this book and share her stories because her journey absolutely had doubts, (from both herself and others) failures, and fears. But Kara says, “we need to learn about those in order to really get out of the gate and break down the walls in our own lives.”  As Gay and Mike always do here on the Big Leap, they asked Kara what some of her biggest leaps were that got her to this point in her life and career.  Her first Big Leap was when she hopped on a plane, (uninvited) to try and get a job at Fortune Magazine. She marched into the HR office and shared a letter she received from the editor, (a Dear John letter saying, “if you're ever in the New York area, let us know”) that she took very literally.  She didn’t get the job at Fortune Magazine but it led to her landing a job at Time Magazine, which never would have happened if she hadn’t taken that first Big Leap.  Another major, Big Leap was, of course, starting the HINT water company. She had no beverage experience and had never been an entrepreneur before. BUT… she was a consumer of the product that she wanted to be on the market and just decided to go for it. “I think sometimes Big Leaps are not allowing yourself to focus too much on how big of a leap it is or else you won't do it.”  After her amazing corporate career, Kara was starting her family and wanted to focus more on health. She had gained weight, developed terrible adult acne, and her energy levels were very low. She was drinking a TON of diet soda so she decided to give up her addiction and start drinking plain water. She quickly knew she wouldn’t be able to stick to plain water because it was so boring. That's when she came up with the idea for HINT.  As mentioned above, HINT is the largest, non-alcoholic beverage in the country that doesn't have a relationship with Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, or Snapple. They’ve done things very uniquely in building the company, including the fact that 55% of the business is direct to consumer.  In the end, all of her previous Big Leaps ended up coming together. Kara always says, “the dots always eventually connect.” Sometimes you don't know how they're going to but they always do in the end.  To hear the rest of Kara’s story and more about her new book, “Undaunted,” tune in here! If you prefer video, click 

Are you under the impression that you have to be “perfect” to be a successful entrepreneur?  Are you stuck in Analysis Paralysis, Perfectionism or maybe even Imposter Syndrome?  Our next guest is here to tell you that’s just NOT true.  Start now. Start messy. Make mistakes. Learn from them, but just START.  Today on The Big Leap podcast, Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs have a special guest for you. His name is Neil Patel and they’re really excited for you to meet him. They’ve respected Neil for a very long time. He’s a BRILLIANT marketer, entrepreneur and SEO expert who’s built an amazing personal brand for himself.  But today they're going to be doing something a little different. They're not just talking about marketing stuff… they're also talking about the Big Leaps that got Neil to where he is today. Keep reading to hear about his path to success.  Neil freely admits that he made a ton of mistakes in the beginning, but because of this he’s learned what NOT to do then eventually… what TO DO. “When you start off your career as entrepreneurs, the early years is where you typically make the majority of mistakes but when you do something long enough, you get decent at it.”  One of the main premises of the Big Leap podcast is asking guests what their Big Leaps were that got them to where they are today, so of course they asked Neil that very question;  Neil decided that he wanted to make money and be an entrepreneur when he was just 16 years old, (instead of focusing on school and college,) so he went after it by trying to figure out how to make money on the internet. Looking back he knows that if he never took that leap at such a young age he wouldn’t be where he is now.  Another big concept of the Big Leap, is something Gay calls the Upper Limit Problem, which is how you transcend barriers to get to where you are.  At the beginning of Neil’s career, location was a big barrier that he had to overcome. There were a lot of “tech” opportunities happening in San Francisco at the time but not so much in LA, where he is located. Zoom and Skype weren’t really around so it was very hard to start a business, whether it was raising venture capital or hiring employees in a virtual or web based environment. It was a huge hurdle early on. Nowadays, that problem doesn't really exist. You don't even need an office for most businesses.  Curious as to what Neil’s personality traits are that have both helped AND hurt him on his journey to success? He’s admittedly very persistent, stubborn and does whatever he wants. If he believes in something, he goes for it and doesn’t care what people say, never giving up. (which can be a bad quality sometimes because he’s lost a lot of money because of it.) He’s also very analytical and data driven, constantly thinking about numbers. It’s something he can’t turn off. Neil admits he’s a really terrible manager too but luckily technology has evolved to make things a bit easier these days.  A quality Neil possess and practices that we really admire is his ability to say NO. He’s not afraid to say no to something that might look like a giant money opportunity if it doesn't feel right. He's not attached to the money outcome and that’s a skill a lot of entrepreneurs need to develop.  To hear how Neil discovered the “key to success,” (it’s not what you’re thinking) PLUS his evolution as an innovator and creator, his process for creation and where he gets his inspiration and motivation from, tune in here!  We’d love to know what your Biggest Leaps have been? - would you text “BL” to (858) 434-5316 and share yours?   If you prefer video, click here to watch the episode on YouTube! 

Do you feel like you’re trapped? Stuck?  Like your life is going absolutely NOWHERE?  Like you’re wearing cement shoes, completely and utterly STUCK in every aspect of your life? (Money, relationships, health, business...)  How much would you give to be able to escape that paralyzing feeling or situation and actually be free?  You’re in luck because today on The Big Leap podcast, Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs will give you everything you need to get UNSTUCK. Getting both your own mind and helping a spouse or partner get unstuck with you. Plus Gay will teach you about your two personality types.  Learning about your two different personalities can save you a lot of pain by knowing what elements of both personalities are and how they show up in relationships. Grab a notepad because there’s a lot of juicy stuff in this one!  Every single human being needs to know how to get UNstuck. Both Gay and Mike have had their trials and tribulations with the issue... and they still do. It's part of the human experience and okay to get stuck. Everybody does now and again.  The question is, what resources and tools get you unstuck?  What Gay has found over the last 40 years of working with many different people is that some are actually unconsciously committed to staying stuck and have a vested interest in keeping themselves unenlightened.  Let’s talk about the two different personality types. (Once you understand them it makes it a lot easier to forgive yourself for being stuck.)  When we come into this world, for the first six months or so, the only thing we have to do is to exude being. We usually have people around us that when we smile at them, they smile back. The whole intent of the first six months of life is to make friends, to bond, to get close to another human being or “union.”  The second six months of life you start “individuating.” You begin to crawl. You crawl away from your mother or father, you crawl into another room and then crawl back to home base, so it's about exploration.  We have these two things called “union” and “individuation” that will go on throughout your life. Some of us are more inclined to “union.” We like to hug and get close to other people. Some of us are more about individuation. We don't like to be hugged too much and spend a lot of time by ourselves. Most of us work out a combination of union and individuation.  Number one is largely based on what can I do to get recognition and positive input. For the first six months of life we learn to smile and giggle and make people like us because that's the intent of personality. Personality number one is the outgoing part of us.  With personality number two, there's a failure of personality. With number one you smile at your daddy when he comes home from work then one day, he's in a bad mood, growls at you and swats you across the rear. Suddenly there’s a failure to please and then the intention shifts. Instead of an intention to be outgoing and connect in a positive way, you decide this is “not a safe place for me.” I have to be careful about personality.  The intention of personality number one is, “what do I need to do to get positive recognition.” When that fails, personality two kicks in with a very different intention, which is, “how can I avoid pain?”  What happens when we get stuck is that personality number two gets a grip on us and we don't know how to get out of it. This show is dedicated to how to get out of the grip of personality number two, and get back into the flow of personality number one again.  You’ll love yourself more. Others will too.  To hear all about our resources, tools and tricks to move forward and get you unstuck, tune in here! You won’t regret it.

Imagine if you could completely and totally connect with God. What if you could experience the deepest most profound sense of love, connection and bliss you have ever imagined? Mike's done it and he can tell you what he’s about to share could be both uncomfortable and VERY controversial, so fasten your seatbelts and keep reading... Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs have a real doozy episode for you this week on The Big Leap podcast... This is Mike's most vulnerable episode and public share to date. Here's what Mike had to say. "Three months ago, I wouldn’t consider publicly sharing this - but it’s too important not to. A few weeks ago I was invited to join in a very sacred ceremony led by several medical doctors and shamans on ancient Native American grounds in the New Mexico desert. It's an experience called 5-MeO-DMT. This is a psychedelic of the tryptamine class found in a wide variety of plant species, and at least one toad species. What was it like? Terrifying. Awe-inspiring. Beautiful. Pure love. A direct connection to God or creator. Out of body. Complete elimination of a sense of self and ego. Melting away any emotional and physical pain. A rocketship to pre-creation. In the “mind” of God. Before matter, time, space and light. Then... I woke up to a blood curdling, primal scream of emotion. Of love, fear and awe. That scream that woke me up… It was ME. It was as if my “animal” was reuniting with its spirit. All of this happened over a period of 25 minutes. Imagine pouring an entire planet into a thimble. That’s what that scream was - the human brain and body simply cannot contain a universe that’s billions of years old in it’s “container.” Intellectualizing this experience is a disservice to something very ancient and very sacred. As I sobbed and laughed and cried and laughed some more, I never felt so much divine love and connection than in that moments that had just passed. It was the most profound experience of my life. There's a tremendous reawakening and resurgence of psychedelics, entheogens and other plant based materials that is attracting the world’s leading scientists, physicists, astrophysicists, doctors, quantum scientists and the medical community. If you do some research, you’ll find major colleges and hospitals are investing heavily in using psychedelics to reduce or eliminate mental illness. Tim Ferriss donated $3mm to the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research and Imperial College London. I don't regard 5-MeO-DMT as a drug. It is a profound sacrament and if there was ever something that was divinely created it is this. Despite the world’s governments and leaders creating the “War on Drugs” and associating “drugs that kill you” (alcohol, tobacco, heroin, cocaine and much of the pills that are consumed) with “drugs that can save and change your life” (5MEO, psilocybin, MDMA), this is ancient. Amazonian natives have been using entheogens, so did the Greeks, Egyptians, Vedics and other cultures for millennia. When I was 18, I tried smoking marijuana and it sent me into an absolute pit of terror that to this day I still have massive trauma associated with it. I stayed away from all substances. But to my uneducated mind that didn't know the difference between a recreational drug and something that's deeply spiritual, like 5-MeO-DMT… I didn't have the ability to discern and I didn't want to trigger an old trauma.So what was I looking for? Why did I decide to partake in this kind of medicine?There wasn't any ONE reason. I wasn’t seeking anything really.I really wanted to explore what I was hearing about the substance and trust me… I did my research. I kept hearing people like Joe Rogan and Tim Ferris talk about it for years. I met Rick Doblin through a friend, the founder of MAPS, which is an association that does profound work on the benefits of psychedelics and how they help soldiers with massive PTSD and women who survived horrible captivity and rape, walk away and not require medication or additional treatment.This year, I felt as though I had reached a point in my life where I was psychologically prepared. I had been feeling much more love, connection and depth in all of my relationships. I had reached a state in my masculinity of understanding what courage, emotion, deep connections, authenticity and being fully present and vulnerable REALLY meant. I felt like this was the next step in my journey of growth as a human being.The setting was a big factor too. It took place on Native American grounds in New Mexico underneath a massive, multi-centuries old cottonwood tree. I was supervised by doctors who are very, very experienced in the substance, so I felt like I was in good hands with proper care before and after.The entire experience lasts (depending on the person and the dose) between 15 and 30 minutes (compared to other plant medicines like Ayahuasca, that can last for hours). It’s very, very fast and most people who experienced it in this space said it was like a rocket ship.Now WHY am I sharing this with you? Why is it so important?Because after the experience, I happen to believe that a TOOL like this one could actually bring more people together.More compassion.More empathy.More understanding.More connection.It’s a tool.And I’ll go on record that the sense of compassion, oneness and connection it provides would create a KNOWING that we are all part of the divine.And if the world’s leaders, politicians and change makers could experience this ancient gift…There would be more peace on this planet.There’s more to the story!To hear more about the MOST profound and enlightening experience of my entire life, tune in here!Whether you agree with using these sacred, ancient tools or not… you can’t argue that it’s not a fascinating subject and hopefully you’ll learn a little something too!”

Have you ever thought to yourself, “celebrities have it SO easy! They’ve got the money, the fame, the friends… it must be so nice to have everything handed to you.”  But how did they get to celebrity status? Was hard work involved or just dumb luck?  Holy COW, do Gay and Mike have a super special treat for you today!!  Meet Milana Vayntrub. You may know her from the movies, “Ghostbusters” or “Mother's Little Helpers,” “Love” on Netflix, the hit TV Show, “This is Us,” or as Lily from the AT&T commercials, (frankly… she’s everywhere!) and Gay and Mike got to chat with her this week.  This episode is super cool because they got deep AND shallow, they got weird and they got real. They talked about creativity, self sabotage, procrastination, and a little bit about succulent gardens, PLUS Mike and Gay were able to give Milana a little life advice too!  Gay and Mike really admire the profession and craft of acting… especially the folks who do it well. They felt like they got inside the mind and heart of Milana, getting to know her on a deep soul level. Seeing the world through the eyes of this brilliant actor was one of the most moving parts of today’s interview.  You're going to walk away with some really, really good ideas.  Of course, we are very interested in “Big Leaps,” here on The Big Leap podcast and Milana didn’t disappoint. She has taken some VERY big leaps in her life, had major pivot points and catapulted herself to different levels by doing so.  Milana is from Uzbekistan, (part of the former Soviet Union) so she comes from a long line of people who have taken big leaps, a migrating Russian Jew. Her first big leap was coming to America when she was two years old, because even though it wasn’t her choice, it instilled in her a sense of adventure, that change is okay, and that with risk comes upward momentum.   Milana has parents who taught her how to work well under pressure and if she really spent time looking for something, she’d find it. This is the kind of mindset that was instilled in her, early on in life that informed a lot of her decisions later.  Her mom put her in acting class when she was five or six years old, even though she didn't really speak the language but Milana was naturally outgoing and liked mimicking things on TV. Her mom was not afraid to take risks so going on auditions as a kid was another Big Leap taken early in her career and life.  About 10 years ago a friend advised Milana to attend a Tony Robbins event. They told her it would change her life… and IT DID. It was a moment that reinstalled the idea of taking big risks and when she realized that her industry, (acting, writing, directing) has a lot of gatekeepers and systems in place that makes it so that you constantly need to be asking permission to be working… it didn’t work for her.  It was actually after one of Tony’s seminars that she realized she needed to start creating her own work and that she had a lot of limiting beliefs around why she shouldn't or couldn't. So she started a YouTube channel, which was just her and her friend making videos on her couch, inviting friends over and being idiots together, but in a way that totally launched her career!  She created a web series called, “Let's Talk about Something More Interesting,” and started inviting friends. Then she got a little bit of traction and started inviting fancier friends. Eventually she had Bob Odenkirk, BJ Novak and Matt Damon on her couch. Through that she got the attention of a great manager who got her a great agent and helped her get work all over the place.  Believing in herself and realizing that she could do hard things was a MAJOR Big Leap for Milana.  Milana confessed during our time together that if she had ONE wish for YOU,

Imagine being on your deathbed years from now, looking back at your life, and having the satisfaction of knowing it was a COMPLETE success.  What would be the number one thing, above all else, that made it great?  That’s the question we ask and answer in this episode of The Big Leap.  Gay and Mike are going to examine a really powerful subject through the personal lens of some of their own biggest leaps.  Gay and Mike have both had moments in their lives without which neither of them would be here and certainly wouldn't be as successful. They're going to be exploring in detail what made those possible and how you can use those templates to make big leaps of your own, this week on The Big Leap podcast.  Let’s talk a little bit about Gay’s book, “The Big Leap” and the intention and purpose behind it. Especially for those who aren't familiar with the basic backstory because it will provide a great frame for where our biggest leaps came from. They're going to turn back the “wayback clock” and craft lessons and learnings to design and develop your best Big Leaps.  The Big Leap is about two major concepts:  * The Upper Limit Problem: The tendency to sabotage ourselves when things ARE going well. There are four or five basic fears that come up when people start becoming more successful. Your ability to negotiate through those fears allows you to step into what Gay calles “The Genius Zone.” * The Genius Zone: Organizing your life into your Genius Zone, where you're actually doing what you most love to do while simultaneously making your biggest contribution to other people.  In both Mike and Gay’s experience in working with hundreds of people over the last few decades; people are only happy when they are fulfilled themselves while providing the space for others to experience fulfillment at the same time.  It’s impossible to make a great life out of just the intention to be happy. If you make an intention, not only to create happiness for yourself, but for other people too… if you can make your life be about your own success AND providing success for other people… that's life at its best.  Gay’s life purpose is to expand every day of his life in love, creativity, and abundance while inspiring other people to do the same. It's been his purpose since he chose it in 1977 and it’s very fulfilling for him because it's part of HIS Genius Zone.  He spent about 20 years collecting examples of how people sabotage themselves, then move through it and break free to get into their own genius zone. The Big Leap book is the result of that research and out of the 46 books that he’s written, this is the one that brings in the steadiest daily stream of “thank you for writing this book.”  To hear more personal stories about where their Biggest Leaps occurred including Mike working through some of his biggest traumas and fears and how he built false stories around some deep, multi-generational wounds about running out, not having enough or being enough, listen to this episode! We’d love to know what your Biggest Leap is - would you text “BL” to (858) 434-5316 and share yours?

What if you were able to overcome your barriers to happiness and fulfillment? What if you had a clear path for achieving your true potential and attaining not only financial success but also success in love and life? What if this was YOUR YEAR to take the big leap, make ALL the changes and make them STICK for good this time??! This week on The Big Leap, Gay and Mike are going to give you EVERYthing you need to have a Big Leap Year! We’ll cover a 5 step process that Gay and Mike developed to help you have that “Big Leap Year” including one of a concept called “The Mary Kay Formula,” PLUS… ways to increase your longevity. There are a lot of examples in this episode that are all grounded on their own personal experiences and working with people so everything we’ll share has been kitchen tested, bedroom tested and boardroom tested in every possible situation you can think of. Gay spends about 30 hours a month doing interviews with various podcasts and radio programs talking about the concepts in the big leap. From those conversations, a lot of people have asked him, “how do I get started if I wanted to turn this next year into my big leap year, how would I go about doing that?” And as he’s worked with many people over the years, he’s come to see that there is no substitute for willingness and commitment. Anytime you entertain any kind of change the first thing that happens is a sense of willingness and that gets you in the door of whatever needs to happen but it's commitment that makes things work. Unless a person can put themselves on the line and say, "this is what I'm willing to do, this is what I committed to doing," there's very little magic that's going to happen. Therefore, if you're going to create a big leap year for yourself, you have to begin by cultivating a really good sense of willingness and commitment IN YOUR BODY.  Ask yourself, is this something you really want to do? Do you actually want to transform your life? Do you actually want to live in the genius zone? The goal is to get a whole-body yes. That’s how you know you’re committed. There’s so much more to uncover in this episode like the genius behind The Mary Kay Formula, how Mike taught himself programming at age 14, was writing software for vehicles and meeting with GM executives by age 18 and how being open and “coachable” is SUPER important to bringing your Big Leap into being.

What IS consciousness? What does it actually mean? “Consciousness refers to your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environments. Consciousness is your awareness of yourself and the world around you.” (Your awareness is subjective and unique to you. If you can describe something you are experiencing in words, then it is part of your consciousness.)  What if you could harness your consciousness to be your best-self and live the life you’ve always DREAMED of?  This week on The Big Leap, Gay and Mike show you how your consciousness is actually your most important product and how to work with and refine it to make your goals and dreams come true faster.Why is your consciousness your most valuable product?Most good businesses are in a constant state of refinement. (think about the thousands of people that sit in rooms at Apple or Google and work on tiny little refinement of a very big machine.) We want you to think of your consciousness as your biggest product, your most important asset because it's the thing that everything else depends upon. We need to be in the process of constantly upgrading your consciousness. When Gay was young, he needed thick glasses and was very, very overweight. This is the story of how a slip on his head changed his life forever. When he was 24, he weighed 320 pounds, (today he weighs 180 pounds, and has for many years) smoked two or three packs of Marlboros a day and was in a bad relationship with a horrible job. He hadn't created anything of real value or made any big contribution to the world by age 24. He was beginning to feel a lot of pressure, especially with his weight because his father had been incredibly overweight and died before he was born. Somehow Gay was living out his father’s life who died at 32, was very obese, smoking heavily in a bad relationship.  He had a moment that same year that shocked him into a different state of consciousness. The way his unconscious chose to do that was to arrange to have him slip on the ice and slam down really hard on his back on an icy road in New England.  He didn't knock himself out but he had what he calls “An Out of Hendrix Experience” because it knocked him out of his normal way of seeing the world and for about two minutes he laid there on the ice, shivering, but out of his usual state of consciousness. In that moment something happened that affected the rest of his life.  He landed about six inches from a jagged rock and as he was realizing, “wow, if I could have died in this moment… what would my life have been?” He realized it would have not been a very interesting movie to watch and in that moment he had the experience of being able to see himself all the way down to the center of his psyche.  He understood how he ate to deal with his emotions when he was lonely, scared or in any kind of emotional upset. In that moment he felt into a state of pure consciousness (consciousness without any stuff on it.) He realized that's our birthright. That's what we get as human beings and as he was laying there, Gay made that same commitment to experience that state of pure consciousness every day of his life going forward.  As he came out of that experience he felt himself thinking, “Oh, no, here I am in my old body, I still weigh over 300 pounds, I want a cigarette and I’m still wearing glasses,” and feeling really sad for a moment. But he had made the commitment of always feeling that state of pure consciousness, so he began to think of his whole existence and refining that consciousness so that there wasn't anything in the way of that showing up out into the world. Over the next year by keeping a focus, he lost more than 100 pounds and quit wearing glasses. That ONE moment changed everything because in that moment ...

Most people think that “charisma” is just something that you’re born with. It’s not something that can be taught.  That’s where you’d be wrong… Charisma CAN be a learneed skill!  But how do you develop it? What do you have to let go of in order to open up to the kind of charisma that makes people really want to be around you, even if you’re not there?  That's precisley what Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs are talking about this week on The Big Leap. They’re also going to cover something they are both super interested in and that’s how you can turn ON your charisma for the stage, meetings, video, and sales all while remaining absolutely authentic and true to who you are.  And yessssss….this works virtually, on Zoom, Skype or whatever your favorite virtualized platform is...  Understand that all the world's a stage and you have to become an embodied being and great entertainer if you want to influence people and create massive impact.  They’ll give you some very fundamental principles and share some great stories from their professional and personal lives, plus Gay and Mike discuss who they think some of the most charismatic people that have ever lived and deconstruct their core character attributes.  Gay and Mike are both super fascinated and interested in the idea of “celebrity” and people who have that “it factor.” You've heard it said many times before, when a famous actress or actor walks in, they suck the energy out of the room. You could feel them the moment they walk in. They’ve both witnessed it.  Our goal is to understand exactly what “IT” is and if it’s possible to cultivate and replicate it.  Mike knows how he can activate his and Gay definitely has the ability to charm and seduce as well. But how do you turn that special thing on? Cultivate, curate and express it?  “It Factor” has to do with not only what you're putting out into the world, but who you are inside.   Gay shared a great story about charisma about his good friend, Leonard. Leonard went to a party with his wife who is a nurse supervisor at a big hospital. They were going to meet a lot of people that his wife knew but he didn't. He made the decision ahead of time that instead of saying anything about himself at the party, he was going to listen to people and reflect back to them what they were saying. He put his attention on listening rather than talking.  He “actively listened” to person after person at the party. Somebody would be talking about something they were very enthusiastic about and he’d say “Tell me more!”  Here's the funny thing that happened. Leonard is not the most charismatic guy in the world. You wouldn't pick him out of the crowd but on Monday after the party people kept coming up to his wife at work and saying, “your husband… he really has something! He's so charismatic.”  This was all based on a conscious move that Leonard made. He was helping people reveal their magnificence rather than talking about his own magnificence and as a result, they then projected that back onto him.  The big question is… can charisma be taught? What do you have to do to learn that kind of thing?  In this episode you'll learn what you need to do to bring forward your natural charisma plus more of Gay and Mike's personal stories! 

Do you have a problem asking for help or support? Does it feel shameful to ask? Do you feel like you’ll be looked down on if you do?  Here’s the thing… EVERYone needs help to move forward and grow sometimes. Whether it’s in business or life and there is NO shame in asking for it.  In reality there is always someone out there that knows more than you and can teach you something that will help you. (In return it’s your job to do the same thing for someone else. Pay it forward baby!)  Humans are meant to be a part of a community, connect with one another and lift each other up. Not spend all of their time alone and only looking out for #1.  This week on The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs are talking about pride, fear of asking for help and not feeling like you're far enough along. It’s something they think everyone's dealt with at some point in their lives as both of them still struggle with it sometimes.  Another really, REALLY cool topic they get into on this episode is epigenetic trauma and how it manifests, plus Gay’s love of gold, (where that came from and why he's still stuck on it) AND you get to hear a couple of celebrity stories from Gay (who’s had the good fortune of working with plenty of celebrities who had reached their upper limits with worthiness and what he did to get them through those difficult situations.)  One wonderful story is about Bonnie Raitt. A lot of people don't realize this about Bonnie, but for many, many years before she broke through into the national fame she has now, she was a club performer. She mostly played blues, worked a very small niche and always had plenty of work.  Then suddenly there was this moment where she became a national star. But just before she reached that level of fame she did something interesting. She asked for support telepathically. She visualized herself standing in front of the audience at the Grammys, thanking specific people for their help and their support. She started with an expression of gratitude for the support she was going to receive.  She kept working with that visualisation and suddenly... BOOM. You can't prove whether these things are directly responsible but there’s no arguing with the fact that not long after that, she was getting massive support from Capitol Records and has gone on to win over 14 Grammys.  The fear of asking for help and support sometimes starts with just sending out this message to the universe getting REALLY specific and visualizing yourself at that place.  One really important thing you have to ask yourself if you're not getting the support you want, is "why am I putting out a message that says, don't support me? Why would I be broadcasting to the world that I'm not interested in support?"  A lot of times you can go underneath that old programming but even if there's no good reason for it, just opening yourself up and saying, "okay, I am now available for support. I'm now willing to be supported, and then begin to look at how you receive it or repel it."  You're either defining your life through receiving support or defending against support because the universe is falling all over itself trying to support you, if you'll just let it know you're supportable.  The secret is… are you willing to receive all that the universe wants to give to you and are you open to receiving more than you could possibly contain in your vessel? Are you willing to receive it even if you don't think you deserve it?  The “I don't think I deserve it” thinking is part of one of those old upper-limit programs that gets installed in us early on.  Tune in to this episode to learn how to dismantle your old programming for good and open up to support and incredible growth, PLUS more fun celebrity stories! 

Do you feel STUCK in your life, business or relationships?  What does it REALLY mean to be stuck?  What if FEAR was actually the source of your stuckness?  What if you had a super simple map that could help you get out of the fear and “stuck” mode SUPER quickly?  On this episode of The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs get into four types of fear, what they mean and how they keep you in that cyclical, stuck mode.  They’ll also dive deep into the types of being stuck you could be, (one of the most challenging being business-partner stuck, which is a combination of relationship, business and money) AND they’ll share a very practical map that Gay has developed over the last 30-40 years of consulting his massively stuck clients to help them get UN-STUCK.  You'll also learn what Gay calls a “10-second miracle,” which is something you can do in 10-seconds to get things unstuck and moving again. (This is the result of his $25,000 question.)  Something Mike's noticed with a lot of people he's worked with, especially those in their reinvention stages, who have had massive financial and business success, is that they'd rather be stuck than deal with the fear of not being as good as they once were or being compared to others.  One example is Eddie Murphy. (There's a lot of conversation about him right now.) He was at the top of his career, left to have a family, made a bunch of rotten movies and a ton of money but now he's out doing stand-up again. He's been open about the fact that he wishes he would never have stopped stand-up because it's so hard and now he's going to be compared to the way he was at the height of his career.  That's one side of this but the other side is people who are stuck in a place where they just don't pull the trigger. They'd rather stay in a place of confusion, overwhelm, and not going anywhere. We've seen this over and over again from a professional perspective.  Usually what you feel stuck about is not actually what you think you feel stuck about.  A lot of times what you have to do first is simply acknowledge that you're stuck and that's hard to do for a lot of people but it's VERY important. Oftentimes, when you're feeling stuck it's because there are old programs running from way back, one of which is, “I don't deserve to be here.” A lot of people when they're feeling stuck, haven't really chosen to be here.  When you choose to be here that means you're open for business 24 hours a day to whatever needs your attention. A lot of people aren't willing to make that kind of commitment. They'd rather stay in a kind of a low, low grade mediocrity all the time.  Gay recalls an experience he had with a client a few years back who was really stuck. The client was really depressed because things hadn't been going well. He was classically stuck to the point where his voice even sounded slowed down.  Gay talked to him for a while, just listening. When he asked if Gay had any suggestions to help, this is what he said. “On your way home today, were you thinking about everything that’s going wrong?” The client said he had been thinking about all of it for the last couple of days and that's why he called because he couldn't figure out a way to get unstuck.  Gay asked there was anything else that caught his attention on his way home. The client thought it was odd that he asked because when he was coming up to his condo he passed an elderly lady that he knew and lived below him. He noticed that her front porch was cluttered with leaves and it occurred to him he could clean it off, then he forgot about it.  Gay told him to go down stairs right now, take your broom, clean it off, don’t tell her you’re doing it then come back up and talk to me. When he got back on the phone he sounded totally dif...

Do you ever feel STUCK? Like you’re just not going anywhere in life? Like nothing has changed, moved forward or inspired you in a REALLY long time?  It almost feels like you're actually going backwards sometimes?!  Whether it’s in your business, relationships, health, finances or creativity, it really sucks feeling this way.  What if you could access an unbounded source of creativity inside of YOURSELF at any given moment? What if you could use your own natural body resources to feel good ALL the time?  Imagine being able to use your body as a dashboard that tells you exactly what's going on in your life.  Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs have an episode of The Big Leap they think you’re going to LOVE. Especially if you’re interested in learning how to turn ON your deepest creativity, plus a very practical process that Gay uses to get unstuck.  They’ll also talk about a big distinction between your zone of genius and your zone of excellence and how to get yourself there AND a really practical tool that Mike only uses with his $35,000 superpower accelerator vision days clients. (and how he activates their energy and get in sync. So they create together!) It's a never fail process!  Gay’s notion of your “emotional dashboard” and thinking about how to read your body in ways you may never have done before, is something that’s had a massive impact on Mike. It’s a superpower visualization you'll be able to start using today.  Something people really need to be doing right now is learning how to open up and let more of their true creativity emerge. There's a difference between ordinary creativity where you're using your creative skills to do things for other people and true creativity where you're using your skills to do things for other people that benefit yourself.  A lot of people get stuck in what Gay calls, the big leap, zone of excellence, where they're doing stuff they're good at, but they're not drawing on their genius. He’s spent a good bit of his career creating the space that invites fourth genius.  When Gay is working with a private client (in addition to visioning) he spends a lot of time beforehand creating a space inside himself for connecting with that person, knowing something about their journey and making space for that. Dedicating himself to serving them is incredibly important.  When Mike is working with his high-end clients, he always asks them to go out into an imaginary future a year from now, look back at where they are now and ask themselves, what will it take to get to this other place. Sometimes the act of simply shifting them out of the present and looking back at where they are now is enough to kind of pop loose the creativity because Mike suggests that creativity is sitting there waiting to be invited.  So what are some of the resources and tools for pulling out your inner genius? What are the techniques that we've used with our highest-level clients over the years to activate that center and get them in the right fit space?  You’ll have to tune in to this episode to find out AND to hear some powerful questions that you can use to elevate your relationships with people you care about and how you can elevate anyone you come in contact with. 

What are you afraid of? I mean, what REALLY terrifies you to the core? Is it dying? Being alone? Not being “enough”? Running out of money or even worse… not being useful or loved?  Living in a constant state of fear is really not living at all.  What if you could get out of fear FOREVER, though? How would that change your life? What would you do with your time? How would you spend your money?  Would you go skydiving? Tell that person you love them? Build that business? Make the move into the home of your dreams? What’s the biggest risk you can imagine taking?!!  Without FEAR your life and possibilities are ENDLESS.  On this episode of The Big Leap podcast, Gay Henricks and Mike Koenigs discuss the fear of death and how it has a direct relationship to how connected to openness and your creativity can be. They both come out of the same toothpaste tube. Most people are scared of their own creativity because you have to go through a layer of fear to get to the good stuff and the biggest chunk of fear has to do with the fear of dying.  We're not just talking about dying like when your physical body disappears but the death of old ideas that you have about yourself and the death of your ego. (the little ball of activity that goes on in your brain all the time about survival and succeeding)  But it’s important to get comfortable with the idea of death.  Gay says “you can't avoid the void.” At some point you have to open up to the void, because that's where your creativity is coming from and for many people, “void” means death so getting comfortable with dying in every moment actually opens you up to living in every moment.  Do you love deep thoughts and ideas?  Mike's going to share something here that he definitely never talked about publicly. Recently he chose to participate in a psilocybin experience in a ceremony with a group of people. He had never done “magic mushrooms” (psilocybin) before because he was terrified of doing it.  Mike slid into the primordial ooze and felt a profound release and relinquishing.The biggest thing that came into his mind as he oscillated between the physical and energetic realms was, “wow, what an old familiar place. It felt like forever.”  So as he's becoming part of the forever and he can remember emerging out of it feeling, this is so beautiful to come from forever and still have retained his identity in between. He didn't go so deep that he lost all of who he was, which was the fear of death.  Death is something he's no stranger to. Seven years ago cancer nearly took his life. He became as comfortable as he could then. This was different. It was beautiful.  No wonder why there’s so much scientific proof that psilocybin is being used to defeat anxiety, depression and addictions in study after study. Every major university and hospital has either opened a research branch to study psychedelics or is partnering with another.  And, in case you didn’t know this, “Mario” and Nintendo wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the fact that the founder took and used psilocybin regularly to inspire and invent his games. Now you know why the mushroom was a character in every game.  It seems to Mike that his experience with psilocybin was like walking away from his ego, becoming part of this bigger thing where he felt like he was part of creation or God (or whatever your belief is). He remembers feeling very safe. It wasn't like there was a loss or a true death going on. It was just a movement. It felt very normal and natural. He imagines that's part of creativity and feeling part of the whole.  Gay recalls a conversation he once had with his friend, Ram Dass (author of “Be Here Now”) about death. He said, “It's absolutely safe. Just let yourself know it's absolutely safe.

What if you could control your creative state at will and innovate on demand no matter what? Do you have that level of control?  WHAT IS CREATIVITY? Are you under the impression that only artists, musicians, actors and photographers possess creativity? Well, we’ve got news for ya’... it’s not true.  Each and every one of us is a highly creative being and believe it or not creativity is essential in building successful businesses, relationships, bank-accounts and lives. Maybe your understanding of the word “creative” is a little skewed? Here’s what it truly means to be creative:  CREATIVITY IS TAKING HOLD OF AN IDEA, SUGGESTION OR INSTINCT, PULLING IT TOWARDS YOU AND HAVING THE COURAGE TO EXPLORE IT TO ITS END-POINT WITHOUT PRECONCEPTION.  Inside this episode of The Big Leap podcast is a whole new way to look at your creativity and how to open up space for more of it to flow through. Gay and Mike will talk about how once you get that space opened up, it becomes an easy thing rather than something that causes you stress or pain.  Gay also reveals specifically how he gets into a creative state, how he meditates and also when he's most creative and Mike shares his own process as well. Gay also gets into is how he oscillates between creating his books (46 to date) and doing novels and screenplays.  Also, SPOILER ALERT... Gay and Mike are going to design an event in real time, so you're going to see how they collaborate and create together and how you can model that as well.  Gay has worked with a lot of people in theater, music and movies and something he’s noticed is that oftentimes they are wildly creative but don't know how to channel it. A lot of times they’re the kind of people who have 15 creative ideas that they couldn’t possibly ever act on them all.  He thinks that creativity is the reason a lot of people fall into addictions too. They don't know how to turn off wild creativity so they use alcohol or drugs to tamp it down.  The reason we say you're a lot more creative than you think, is because your thoughts are what's keeping you from opening up your creative space because the space to create doesn't have anything to do with thought.  Thought is a subset of creativity but the actual thing that's happening that's incredibly important about creativity is turning nothing into something. In other words the place where space suddenly becomes material. Let's call it alchemy.  Creativity is scary to a lot of people. The idea of opening up to your own individual genius can be really scary because in a way, you do have to go down through layers of fear to access your real creativity.  It’s one thing to create from your ego. Sure, you can make millions of dollars with your ego and build gigantic skyscrapers, but at a certain point everybody wakes up (hopefully before they're on their deathbed) and says, “wait a minute, did I leave myself behind in the process?”  Oftentimes the answer is yes.  Getting out of your way is SUPER important but first, you've got to be willing to say no to everything else in life and asking yourself, “what do I really want to do?” “What do I really want to create?”  Listen to this episode to hear Gay and Mike's perspective on clearing the SPACE to be creative AND listen as they create and design an event together in real time! 

What if money flowed to you so easily and often that it almost seemed unfair? What if you had such an amazing relationship with money that you were able to give it away freely without ever having to even THINK about what your checking account balance was? It’s 100% possible but there’s something you need to understand first. Money is not evil or only for the greedy, the 1% or those born with a trust fund. Money and wealth is a GOOD thing that’s meant for EVERYone and meant to be shared. BUT WHAT IF WE TOLD YOU THAT YOU ARE THE ONE BLOCKING YOUR OWN WEALTH FROM COMING TO YOU? This week on The Big Leap podcast we’re going to cover our personal wealth building strategies plus how much your attitude and inner energy creates your NET worth as well as your SELF worth. Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs will get into some transformational moments that we’ve had around money, the notion of “the seasons of money,” slowing down to create opportunities for income and wealth and a few philosophies that have enabled me to completely change my investing strategies.  Plus Gay talks about how to go from poor to rich without ever having the budget or a business plan based his own experiences. Money is like religion or marriage or any other BIG THING that has a vast amount of energy bound up in it. People either define themselves by resisting that energy or opening up to it. Gay shared a memory about when he finally opened up to the energy of money. He caught himself (in his head) having the same conversation about money that he heard growing up. He was about 35 years old at the time and had the realization that he was replaying the same old story of, “are we going to have enough money to get through to the end of the month.” A conversation that was always around when he was a kid. A month didn’t go by without somebody having that conversation out loud. Once he made the realization he changed the conversation. He wanted a different life and a better relationship with money.  Gay and Mike have both had several breakthroughs when it comes to money. For Mike it sometimes felt like he was drowning or barely keeping a float because he was blowing through it SO fast. He didn’t have good saving skills and certainly no investing skills.  To make things worse, he was raised in the environment of “perform a task and get paid,” versus wealth accumulation and an investor mentality and more importantly, the notion of never creating a job for yourself when it comes to earning money. (A big concept they'll also cover on this episode)  But once Mike finally got his head above water it was a euphoric, dream like state. He felt ALIVE for what felt like the first time!  Tune in to this episode to hear the rest of their conversation and learn more about the energy of money and how to make it work for YOU.

Are you ALWAYS in a rush? Does it feel like you NEVER have enough time to get everything done? Are you in a continual state of stress and anxiety because of time-related constraints? This week’s episode is all about how to quit being a victim to time and take back control. It's about how to double your productivity in half the time. Gay and Mike are are HUGE fans of getting more stuff done in a shorter period of time AND doing it consciously. Gay shares a story about getting out of his “victim” relationship with time. When he was in the first grade he got a wristwatch for Christmas and became obsessed with it. He would go so far as to spend a lot of time at the Western Union Club (which was the reference point for what time it was) trying to get his watch set exactly square on that time. Needless to say, he’s been concerned with time for a long time. He went to extremes trying to manage his time, trying ALL of the different time management programs out there. But over the last 20 - 30 years he’s switched to something much more simple. He calls it Einstein Time. Most people have a victim relationship with time. They think time is their enemy and there's not enough of it. (or if you're bored, there's too much of it!) Any complaint you have about time is trying to control something that is not actually within your power to control and the more you try to control your time, the worse the problem gets. There's no way to have enough time to do all the things that you don't really want to do anyway. Mike's personal relationship with time has changed dramatically over the years. His trap used to be typical “entrepreneur time.” He would prioritize other people's stuff unconsciously before his own. It's because so many people have a negative self-image or feel a sense of duty or loss if they don’t take on other’s agendas. For example, reacting and responding to texts and emails immediately because he thought, “if I don't do this, then this will happen.” He was fearing a loss of opportunity. Abandonment. Fear of loss. He became someone else's slave. He got stuck in the minutiae. Changing your victim relationship with time needs to involve the way you speak about time. Saying things like, “I’ve run out of time,” or “I don’t have time to do this,” is coming from a place of scarcity. Einstein Time goes in the opposite direction. Einstein had this great image of the theory of relativity. He said that “a minute sitting on a hot stove feels like an hour and an hour spent with your beloved feels like a minute.” So what's the difference? When you're sitting on a hot stove you're contracting AWAY from your experience, trying to get away from where you are and of course, that never works. The more you're trying to escape from your current experience, the more you're creating time as a kind of a binding thing in your life rather than a liberating one. On the other hand, when you're with your beloved, the reason an hour goes by like a minute is because you're completely open in your cells to experiencing everything that you can possibly experience. You're wide open and because of that time disappears. What we need to do is harness that insight and here's where to start. Start monitoring every time you speak from the victim position regarding time. When you catch yourself saying, “I don't have time for that right now,” or “I wish I had time for that,” change it to, “I'm not willing to make time for that right now.” It puts you in the ownership position of time and anytime you can get into the ownership position, the better off you are because now you’re coming from a place of power.  A lot of people approach Gay by saying, “I know you're very busy but would you…” and he always stops them at this point and says, “I am absolutely not very busy. If I were very busy, I would consider that a terrible way to live but I'm willing to make some time for us to have this conversation (or not willing) to make time for us to have this conversation.”That's being in the ownership position. Wouldn't you rather be a producer than a consumer of time? When people ask him if he’s too busy he says no because we are ALL where time comes from. It’s just that most of us haven't claimed that space yet.

Do you feel as though LUCK is a myth or something that only happens to other people?  What if luck was something you could manifest into your life on a regular basis by doing a few simple exercises or a simple shift in mindset?  What would your life be like if you doubled your luck? Tripled? Quadrupled?  Money? Love? Connections? Lifestyle?  Is your BS meter flashing right now? Most people's would be.  Gay and Mike share some really exciting strategies in this episode of The Big Leap podcast. It's all about what you need to do to express your genius in the real world AND how to dedicate a new part of your body, (that you may not have even discovered yet) to become an attractor field for good luck.  They'll cover what Gay calls “the eight different pathways to get and create luck,” how to open yourself up to pure consciousness and finally, how to find your lucky tribe which is one of the most powerful ways to manifest and create opportunity in your life.  By the time you finish listening to this podcast today you’ll be able to look in the mirror and say, “I'm the luckiest person I know.”  Need proof that mindset changes EVERYTHING? When Gay was a kid he was very obese. He had issues with his glands but none of the medical specialists could ever figure out what the problem was. By the time he was in his 20s he weighed over 300 pounds and one day he slipped on the ice, fell down and had what he calls a “Hendricks Experience.”  He knocked himself out of his ego. It was a great moment of reinvention because it was in that moment that he realized he didn’t want to be fat for the rest of his life. So, he made a big shift that year, forgot what the doctors told him and took control of the situation himself.  For a year he ate only things that felt like they fed his new body rather than his old body. He learned to eat fruits and vegetables and healthy things and within a year he dropped more than 100 pounds.  It was a huge breakthrough and massive LEAP in claiming his own life rather than trying to live someone else's life and a great example of one of the eight different pathways to get and create luck.  He stopped thinking of himself as a victim and started thinking of himself as the owner of his life and then became luckier. He shifted his limiting beliefs. Some people get there through a big leap in their minds and some people get there through a big leap in their emotional life.  Listen to this episode to hear the rest of “the eight different pathways to get and create luck,” plus a ton more inspirational reinvention and transformational stories.

What if you could control and amplify your LUCK? How would that change your life and business? How much more money would you make? How many more exotic vacations would you take? What celebrities would you meet? What kind of cool car would you buy? How quickly would you get through the line at the DMV?!?!  Gay Henricks, NY Times Bestseller and co-host on my new The Big Leap Podcast, says you CAN control your luck and multiply it too! In fact, he has developed a system he started using 60 years ago called “Conscious Luck.” It’s been a driving force in his life and the subject of his new book titled, “Conscious Luck: Eight Secrets to Intentionally Change Your Fortune,” which came out last week.  When Gay was 14 years old his school was doing a fundraiser and sold tickets to a movie. During the movie, all of the kids put their movie stubs in a bucket and they did a drawing to see who was going to win a wristwatch. He was sitting next to his friend Clay who leaned over and he said, “watch this, I'm gonna win this drawing.” Sure enough, they pulled Clay’s name out and he won to watch.  Obviously, Gay was shocked and asked Clay, “how the heck did you do that?” Clay said, I always win these kinds of things. I decided I was lucky and ever since I always win. Well, Gay thought that was a very enlightened thing for a 14 year old to say but later on he thought, wait a minute, why should I go around thinking of myself as an unlucky person? It's just as easy to think of myself as a lucky person. And that was his first entry into the “luck” aspect of life.  After that, Gay reinvented himself as a lucky person at 14 years old. Ever since then he’s been very interested in the relationship between good luck and hard work and how those two come together.  Fast forward to today and having worked with hundreds of incredibly successful people, entrepreneurs and business owners, Gay has asked MANY of them... do you think of yourself as a lucky person? Almost every single one of them said YES.  So he asked Mike the same question… Do you consider yourself a lucky guy?  The short version is yes. TODAY Mike considers himself a lucky person. BUT he feels like his luck comes from preparation and relationships. In other words, he's created his own opportunities for luck by being present for when more opportunities could happen.  To Mike, the belief that “everything happens for a reason” is a bunch of BS. Stuff either happens or you control it. As Mike's grown a little bit older, he's realized that the more he pushes to try to control everything, the less successful he is. The more he relaxes into it, the more success comes. The more he pays attention to his feelings, trust and steps away from control, the more lucky he's become.  Gay say’s there are a number of pathways to luck. One important example is having luck worthy goals. In other words, you've got to give luck a good reason to visit! You really want to have the highest quality possible goals for yourself and once you've come up with those high quality goals, start opening up to support those.  There are SO many incredible transformational life and mindset tools that are really going to change your life in this episode. For example, is it really possible to manifest luck? (hint: Gay thinks so!) How to completely CHANGE your luck and Gay’s process for getting into alignment. (SUPER important for manifesting!)  Enjoy!

This podcast is about those turning points -- the single decisions in life and business that changed everything because the difference between stagnation and success lies in the decisions you make in the moments that matter.