Reprogramming Your Mind for Courage with Craig Siegel

Welcome to True Grit and Grace, a podcast designed to empower you to claim your resilience and thrive through life's challenges. I am Amberly Lago, a mindset coach, fitness expert, and best selling author. Each week, I'll dive deep with the world's brightest leaders and elite performers to share tangible tools and practical advice to inspire you to keep your eyes on the prize and forge ahead. So get ready to conquer your fears, heal any trauma, lead with your heart, and elevate your life with grit and grace.

Hey, and welcome back to True Written Grace. I have one of my favorite people on the show today. Every time I hear from him, it lights me up. So be prepared to be filled with a lot of inspiration, joy, and energy, contagious energy. Today on the show, I have Craig Siegel, y'. All. He is a mindset coach, an entrepreneur. He is a breakthrough manufacturer, a performance enhancer, and he's the host of one of my favorite podcasts. It's called the CLS Experience. I had the honor of being on his show. He's had some of the top guests on his show. He speaks on stages, he runs masterminds, he does coaching, he does a. He's got a private membership. I got to speak to his group, too. I don't know if there's anything this man can't do. So, Craig, welcome to the show. I'm so happy to have you here.

My goodness, what an introduction. It's funny because I always take such pride in doing the intros, but it's nice to be on the receiving end. I'd love to take you everywhere I go so I can hear that more than once. It's so great to be here with you today. I woke up today feeling a little bit different. As I text you, you know how much love I have for you. Let's get nuts.

Let's get nuts.

Yes.

I was saying, we were talking before and I was saying I woke up a little late. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I got to get up. I have so much to do. And the next thing I get your text message, and that's why I say it every time I hear from you. I just feel and I think that, you know, if a person is like what I call a puppy upper or a doggy downer is when you see their name on your phone, you're either lit up or you're like, oh, and what do they want? Every time I see your name, I'm like, oh, my gosh, it's Craig. So I'm so grateful for You, Your energy is contagious. Every time I get to talk to you, even get one of your messages, and I'm blown away at what you have set out to do. I know that when people hear your story, it's going to give them the hope, the strength, the inspiration that they need to go after their dreams. Maybe if you're listening to this and you're like, I'm feeling stuck, or I'm not really feeling that fulfilled. I think when you hear his story, you are going to want to go after your dreams. I would like to start off with saying, how did you get to where you are? Because you have blown up. You're doing things that every time I see you, like, oh, my gosh, he's hanging out with David Meltzer again. He's speaking on this stage. He's interviewing Heather Monahan, like, some of my favorite people. And you had a very lucrative job on Wall street, and when the pandemic hit, you decided to leave and really help others with their mindset and their perspective. So what was the catalyst in that? What made you decide to leave this lucrative job?

Yeah. First of all, I love you so much. Like, let me know if you know a good surgeon, because you have to surgically remove the smile from my face. Just speaking to you literally every single time they get together. And I feel the same way about you. When you reach out, my state's immediately elevated. So thank you for the beautiful words. How did we get here? Simply put, I've been on Wall street in Manhattan for the last 11 years. I had two businesses. As a business owner, really anywhere but specifically Wall Street. Amberly, if you're not going 300 miles an hour, you're getting run over. So I didn't have much time to assess or reflect on how happy or miserable I might have been. I was making money. I was in the rat race, so to speak, when the pandemic happened. I closed down my office last March 2020. What I thought would be two weeks, who knew? But at that time, I looked myself in the mirror, and I was like, are you happy? And the answer was, hell, no. And I haven't been happy for quite some time. And I had some personal stuff going on and so forth. So maybe it was a mix of everything. But truth of the matter is, is I was waking up every single day, and it felt like I was going to a job. That's what. Even though I'm a business owner and I have employees, I'm very grateful. It felt like I was going to a job every Day, like, and then I'd come home and, like, I couldn't wait to relax and, like, escape. That's not how life should be. I know that now because now I'm living inside my vision. So forth. And so make a long story short, when I put myself in that frequency, not to sound too spiritual, but I know you love the spiritual stuff. I kind of was asking questions, and I heard the whisper, and I felt that tap my shoulder, and I was like, of course. Since I got to Wall street after college, I've been obsessed with personal development, as I like to say, sharpening the axe, listening to podcast, studying the mindset, specifically neuro linguistic programming, or nlp. Love that stuff. It helped me be super successful in business. It also helped me run four marathons in one year when I wasn't. I wasn't even a runner. Before that, it was all in the mind. So I got off. And I love this stuff. The other thing I did was whenever I would speak to people, kind of like you just mentioned, I would always elevate people's state. I just never thought anything of it. Amberly, when I heard those whispers, it occurred to me, maybe it's personal development. It's not just my passion. Maybe it's my purpose. Literally. The next day on a run, I pulled over in Central Park. I bought the domain for what I named my brand, Cultivate Lasting Symphony. Cls, which is a plan, my initials. And I reverse engineered what this whole vision might look like, and I literally and figuratively hit the ground running. And I could tell you right now, I'll be doing this in some fashion until my last breath, for the very rest of my life.

Well, I can see that it really lights you up. You can feel it in everything that you do. And there's so much that you just said. I mean, it does take a lot of guts to. And it takes being still long enough to listen to those little whispers and. And notice the taps that are. And the nudges to, like, are you really happy? Is this what you really want to be doing? And I think that everybody listening, if you're listening right now, are you really? Ask yourself, are you really happy? But tell us a little bit about the NLP for listeners who might not know what that is and how it helped you in your business, but maybe also with your running and now with being an entrepreneur, what exactly is that?

Yeah, so it's funny, if you asked a hundred people what NLP means to them, you'd probably get a hundred different answers. What it means to me Is it's the ability to reprogram my mind so I can have different outcomes. So, for example, like, all the conditions that we had since birth were just habits that we developed. They're not permanent. There's a big misconception that change takes very long. It doesn't. Once you understand the technology and how to tap into the mindset and reprogram things, like, you can change what you associate pain and pleasure to. You can change how you see your map of the world, which then changes your world, so to speak. Because everybody views the world from their own map, like what they think is possible for them. And it goes back to the movie the Matrix. I look at the movie almost as a documentary. You can change how you look at things, change your perception, and then what you can accomplish completely opens up. And so I did that with both businesses, even though I didn't have a lot of experience, and I figured out the strategies. And most importantly, when I started cls, Amberly, this is going to sound kind of deep, but I had to make it very real for myself because, like you attested to, I did have a lucrative, safe job. Thing is, is I never had an idea like CLS before. I'm pretty decisive. I just. I was so caught up in the rat race once I had that minute in the beginning of the pandemic, and I figured out CLS and what that might look like, it was very important to me to make going back to doing what I was doing, which was miserable for me. I associated that with death. So now that I have this idea, this vision of cls, there's no excuses to take a shot, because you don't fail if you take a shot and you stumble. You only fail if you just leave the bat on the shoulder and don't even take a swing, in my opinion. So I associate going back and being miserable to death. And then from there it was just strategy and tactics. And in regards to the marathons, it was a similar concept. I thought I wasn't a runner by trade because I'd never done that. I realized that it's just my perception of effort in my head or that voice in my head that I can combat and if I could physically, if I'm physically able to, which right now I can't. That's maybe a story for later on in the conversation, but if I'm physically able to run, I'll be able to do it.

Yeah. And, you know, I relate so much to everything you just shared. And I think. I don't know, I think a lot of what you shared takes a lot of grit. And it's really, for sure, like, really the passion, the perseverance. And I was asked in an interview the other day, they were like, where did you think you learned your grit? How do you. How did you learn grit? And I'm like, well, we all have it. But I think, you know, I was born in Texas and I was like, I think it's just part of your DNA. When you're from Texas, you find a way and you don't give up before the miracle. And like you, you found a way, you had a strategy. But I love that you shared. You know, sometimes we stumble, sometimes we slip, sometimes we mess up, but we still take those chances. And man, I remember coming out to LA to be a dancer and I got, you know, turned down, rejected. And I had some. I was like, I'm not going back to Texas. I am making it as a dancer, so I will find another way. So you saying you associated your old job, Wall street, with that is like the death of you. That is miserable. You don't. It was like you had no choice but to go forward. And I think that's important to, to have that association. For me, Texas didn't feel safe anymore. A lot, that's another story, but a lot. Because of what happened in my childhood and stuff, I was like, oh, no, I am going to make it. I am going to find a way. But what do you think? Where do you think that you get that passion inside you because you are so passionate? Where do you think that comes from? What do you think it is in you that made you decide to dive into self development and tap into that passion and do what you do?

It's funny because. And also, I just want to give a shout out to your grandpa with the just keep digging story because every time I think of that story, it always, it inspires me on the spot. And it kind of goes back to what you said about getting gritty. And I think that definitely played a role earlier on in your life as well. In regards to where I get my passion from, it's like the sexy answer would be like, I got it from my dad, right? Like, he's nuts. But. But my parents are really, like, they're more laid back. Like they just had an anniversary. I think it's almost 50 years. Like they're older and you know, they're a lot. I'm a lot different than my family. Look, there's a lot of similarities, of course, but I just had this. This is. I never really publicly said this might sound a little weird, but I just had this burning desire, like a flame, like inside me that I know I was meant to put a dent in the universe. I just was never sure how. And it was cool when after college, I left home and I started making a lot of wealth on Wall street and stuff that was cool. And like, everyone looked at me as the guy who laughed and did very well for himself. But something there was still a hole. It didn't. Like I wasn't fulfilled until now. It all came together. And I believe timing is everything and I don't have no regrets. Like, life, the universe kind of takes us exactly when and where we're supposed to be at the right time. And just this CLS stuff, I know this is it. Like, I know without a shadow of a doubt I'm living inside my vision. And again, I'm still figuring stuff out. That's the exciting part, finding fun in the process, in the journey. But I think one of the reasons why I've had so much success so early on is because I've never been more authentic in my entire life as I am right here now, today, speaking to you.

Yes. And you know what? You have just a gift for being so mindful and being in the presence with whoever that you're talking to and paying attention. And I really, that's really appreciated. And, and it's very noticed. And you go out of your way to make people feel special, but in an authentic, genuine way. And just recently when I spoke to your, your, you have a membership group where you get together in this amazing community and you invited me to come speak to your group. And I knew, I was like, oh, I know this group is going to be on fire. They're going to be passionate. They are going to be like really amazing people. And yes, they were incredible, amazing, kind, passionate, positive and vulnerable and authentic. And you could feel the connection. And so I do think that people are craving that they, they want to feel, they want to see that somebody's real. And you share your struggles. You share that, hey, it's not always easy. And you openly share those things. Like recently you have, you know, you struggled. You just had a surgery on your foot. And is that kind of one of the hardest things that you've been struggling with right now?

Yes. And the reason being is because it's very unique challenge for me. I don't want to say, like, I've always had it easy because by no means have I not, but most of the struggle that I've had has been mental and Internal, like, combating that voice in your head and, like, anxiety and stuff like that. But I was at a speaking engagement with our mutual friend Dave Meltzer while training for the Chicago marathon, which is October 10th, and we were playing a little football on the beach with the boys, and I came down hard on my foot, and I thought I broke it because I never felt pain like that. So I went back home, Amberly, and the doctor's like, you have a sprained ligament. Put me in a boot. Maybe a week and a half, two weeks later, I'm like, something. I just have an intuition. Like, I want to get an mri. He's like, that. I don't really think it's necessary. Like, there's not much. You let me get the mri. Get the mri. Calls me back a few days later. He goes, I think you should come in, like, straight out of a movie, you know? I'm like, just tell me on the phone. I can handle it. Like, is it torn? He's like, actually, the ligament looks all right, but we found a tumor on the bottom of your foot. And then he pauses. And, like, I was shook up because I never saw that coming. You know, that was unexpected. Here I am in a boot telling people I have a sprained ligament. Am I going to be able to run Chicago? So it shook me up. I had a pity party for about 12 hours. I gave myself. And I just had NFL superstar Brian Dawkins on, and he calls it a standing eight count. I want to acknowledge him for that. Gave myself a minute to kind of just catch my breath, feel a little sorry for myself. The very next day, it was tactics and strategies. Find the best doctors in Manhattan. Got the surgery, got it taken out, and I was on crutches for a little over a month. And I just got the stitches out a week ago. Obviously, there's still a big scab on there. It's just been challenging because physicality is such an important component to my life, more so mentally than physically. So.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. You think? I see you guys. If you are listening to this, if. If you watch on YouTube, you will understand what he's talking about or if you see any of his posts. Like, he's got some guns. He usually. He's got a gun show. Yeah, I mean, I know. But what. But working out, and I totally understand that, because that's what it is for me. It's what it does for my mind. I work out. Really? Yes. For health reasons and to get strong and all that, but really, mentally, it really clears my Mind. It alleviates anxiety and stress. It allows me to process things. And so when you can't work out the way that you're used to, I had to learn, okay? I got to figure out another way. And I was moving however I could move, and it was ridiculous at some points, and some people thought I was completely crazy. But you know what? There's always a way to figure it out and find another way of what you can do. But in moments like that, when I've been stopped or, you know, I just got over Covid. This is my first week where I feel like I have my brain kind of back and my strength back. I had my first really heavy workout last night. Night. And in those moments when you're, like, you recovering and you're getting stitches out, and you're like, oh, I want to train for this marathon, and I'm on crutches, and I always. I have to stop and pause and ask myself, okay, what am I learning from this? Where do I need to slow down in my life? Are there any lessons that you learned from this experience? Anything that came up from this experience you want to share?

Yes. And to be honest with you, like, this has been the biggest blessing in disguise of my life because, number one, I started sharing all this information as it was happening in real time with my ever growing CLS audience. I started a new show on Friday. It's called Transparency Hour, where it came on, and I said, they found a tumor in my foot, so to speak. And so. And then there was a moment where after the surgery, that had to do a biopsy, and there was a chance that the tumor could be cancerous. And that's obviously an uneasy feeling. Thank God it came back benign. But, like, as this whole experience was going on, I was sharing it with the audience. And, Amber, they got to tell you. And I don't really have to tell you, because you know this better than anyone, but when you really show your whole hand, like, all your cards to your audience, it makes them relate to you and form a connection with you on such a deeper, intimate level. And I used to show up all the time. High energy, the gun show, this and the other thing. But maybe I didn't do a good enough job of really being vulnerable and transparent as I can. Sharing this whole story with the audience as it's happening has done so much, and it showed me, like, it's like, there's strength in. And courage in being vulnerable. Like, you don't. Like, this isn't a weakness. This is strength. As I'm Going through it, how am I handling it? What are the emotions? What am I doing, so to speak? And so sharing this with the audience has been such a blessing. Number one, it's liberating. I'm not just carrying it on myself, but the audience has formed such a more intimate connection with me as a brand. So just the whole thing has been great. And obviously my faith, because faith grows when you're uncomfortable, right? Not so much comfortable. Just, like, knowing that no matter what happens, like, even when I was waiting for the results, it's going to be okay. So many lessons in this story. That's priceless.

Yeah. And thank you for sharing about the vulnerability part, because it's hard sometimes to be vulnerable. I mean, I. Sometimes my husband's like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe you talked about that. And why did you share that? And he's very private. He doesn't like social media. I think I've talked him into coming on my 100th episode. Maybe I've only been trying for 99 episodes to get my husband on the podcast. Vulnerability can be hard. And I have said before to share from a scar and not an open wound, but I think that you sharing from your open wound is powerful, and that takes such courage. Where do you think you get this courage from? How can someone that is out there that wants to be able to share, but maybe they don't feel the confidence to do so? How do you tap into that courage to move forward and decide to take strategic action or maybe just share with your audience what you're going through?

So the way I did it was surrounding myself with people like you, whom I love and I respect. And I see you doing it, like, pulling the curtain back and being so vulnerable. And I knew, like, in my heart of hearts, like, I should make more of an effort to be more vulnerable. I just didn't know what to talk about because, like, you know, everything is cls right now, but when this happens. And again, I don't want to sound too deep, but I don't believe in coincidences. It just occurred to me to just share my story as I'm going through it, and it's just been so liberating. And for the audience listening, like, there's such strength in vulnerability. And I even made a tagline in one of my memberships, like, vulnerability is sexy. And everyone started posting about it, but it really is because it shows that,

like, well, especially from a sexy beast like you, Craig.

But. But, like, that's awesome. Thank you. But they just. I have Nothing to hide. Like, this is Craig Siegel. This is who I am. Ask me anything. If I don't feel like talking about something, then I'll let you know. But the truth matter is, is I'm doing what I love to do. I'm helping people. I'm connecting with my favorite human beings, like you. Like, it doesn't get better than this. Like, I have nothing to hide. And something that always stuck out to me is, I don't know if you've seen the movie 8 Mile with Eminem, but I'll never forget. Like, at the end, he has, like, a contest, right? And it's like, they do a rap. In the final round, he elects to go first, Eminem, and basically says his entire story out loud. All his flaws, all the things that make him look weak, everything. And then he basically drops the mic and gives it to the other guy. Okay, go ahead. Like, what are you going to say about me that I don't already know about myself? Wow.

I just got goosebumps. Seriously. It's like when you own it and you put it out there, it's like, yeah, I own it. It takes the shame away. That's what. That's what it did for me, anyway. Anything from when I got Covid, whether you're vaccinated or not vaccinated. I was vaccinated, and my husband was like, oh, you know, don't tell. Don't open up that can of worms. Don't tell people you're sick. And I went and posted about it, and I'm like, hey, I'm sick. Does anybody know how to kick this thing to the curb? Because I need some help here. And the amount of love and support and people that were like, yeah, this helped me. This helped me. And that's the thing. When we come together and we share what's going on, the good, the bad, the ugly, we get to genuinely step up for each other and help each other through those experiences. And it's the same with sobriety. I remember I felt like such a victim when I got sober, and I was like, oh, how did a good girl like me end up like this? You know, I was just, oh, my gosh. Such a victim had a pity party. Then I'm like, nope, I need to take radical accountability, own it, and start to make a plan to get better every day. And I see that you do that, and you have. You are exploding. Your brand is exploding. Every time I see you on Instagram, I'm like, dang, he's on fire. He's on fire. I'm curious, what is your definition of success?

Yeah, so it's funny because this is the question that I ask everyone on my podcast. So I love to be challenged right back my. And look, success is different in different seasons of life, right? Like, if you asked me in 2019, Craig, what's your definition of success? I probably would have said, break four hours in the marathon right now. And I think this is more applicable for really everything is my definition of success is making progress towards what fulfills me and makes me happy every single day. And also, oh, I love that. And knowing that I left it all out there on the field. Like, when this thing called life is over for me and I'm not scared of death, I fear not living enough. That's what I fear. So when I get to the end, I don't want to be like in tip top shape, like a car out of the dealership. I want to be used, abused. I want everyone to know I gave this thing called life my absolute everything. So as long as I can have the effort and I'm working towards stuff that fulfills me and obviously helping people, then I'm successful.

I love that. And I just, I like that you're, like, when I get to the end, I want to feel used and abused. And my husband always says, amberly, you just won't die. He's, oh, I'm not worried about you. Like, I got Covid. Oh, you just won't die. God.

That's the name of our podcast episode.

Yeah. Yes, exactly. And my girlfriend sent me a shirt says, not dead yet. But I love that. Living life to the fullest. So I want to know, how do you manage all the things you do? You are just living life to the fullest. How do you manage the business side? Your personal care, personal development, nutrition, health, all that versus downtime. And, you know, how do you get in alignment with everything to where you don't burn out? Because being on Wall street and going at 300 miles per hour and then doing what you're doing now, being an entrepreneur, holy cow. A lot of people think, oh, I'll be my own boss, I'll do whatever. And for me, it's been a lot of setting boundaries with myself and with other people because I could literally work all day and all night because I love it so much. It doesn't feel like a job.

It's work.

It's my passion that I do. So how do you create some sort of alignment or some sort of system for not getting burnout?

Yeah. So just like you Just said, because I absolutely love this stuff. In case you couldn't tell. There's never a bad day. Right. Like, I'm always grateful as opposed to, like when I was on Wall street and I would have, like a crappy day. Like, it's sometimes it was hard to be grateful. Like, I had my health. Yes. But like, I'm still doing something that I don't really love what I'm doing now. Like, even if there's a setback at a particular moment, it's just that it's just a moment in time and grateful. So in regards to that, I'm just so excited and passionate about everything that's going on. You asked about how I do the juggling act. Of all the things, number one, I want to give a shout out to Jessica and Alex, who you met before we went on air. Those are my team members there. As much Cls as Craig is, it's a tripod. And I think it's so important for the entrepreneurs out there or the people that are building a very special brand or business. And you have to be able to delegate and find people you can trust. This is challenging. People always ask me, like, how did you find Jessica, Alex? Like, it wasn't easy, right? Like. Like, trust me, like, when you find people that you know there's something different there, like, they see your vision, the way you do, treat them right, like, do the right thing. Because that type of loyalty and synergy is absolutely priceless. It's very hard to find. I acknowledge that I'm very lucky to have them in regards to everything else, like the personal life and stuff like that. I'm very structured and very disciplined. I have non negotiables. Every single day. I work out, I pray, I do my manifestations, my gratitude, my journaling. Every single day, people ask me, do you ever take off? No. Every single day I'm doing something. I might be at a family wedding or hanging out with my little nephew or whatever the case may be, but at some point I'm doing some sort of Cls stuff. One thing that I acknowledge I need to do a lot better at, and I should probably be asking you, is boundaries. I'm a work in progress. I'm under construction. I'm definitely getting better. Yeah, I'm definitely getting better, but it's definitely something that I need to improve upon.

Yes. And. But you know what? I have this experience. I don't know if this happens to you. When I put it out there, I'm like, oh, I really want to work on my Boundaries. Then I'm just tested left and right. Oh, really work on this one. Work. You know, my phone starts blowing up and I'm like, okay, I'm really going to be testing with the boundaries. So yeah, I think we all, you know, that's, we're all a work in progress and learning. But I love what you said about delegate and I'm a big believer in working on your strengths and hiring your weaknesses. But also you said something earlier about surrounding yourself with amazing people. And that's why I like hanging out with you. And I think that's why it's important too to. I'm a big believer in masterminds. I mean, I have my own mastermind. I have spoken at masterminds. I got to speak to your group. I am a part of a mastermind. So I have invested in a mastermind and we get, I get to go to Costa Rica for the first time in 2022. We're going to meet up and go to Costa Rica. So I think it's really important to surround yourself with like minded people. And yeah, it is hard to find people that you can trust. And I've definitely learned the very, the hard way that, you know, I have hired somebody that came from a trusted resource and maybe they worked really well for that person, but they were just MIA for me I'm like, oh my God, where are they? And so it's really hard. And yes, it's important to treat them right when you do find that person and you treasure them. And for me I always say like, I like that you said it's a tripod. And that's how I treat my team. Like we are in this together. And the most important thing is trust. For me and every relationship is the trust that is golden. But yes, I love that you mentioned that to delegate because people that think, oh, I do it all by myself, I do it on my own. I'm like, no, I know that I can't do it all on my own. I would kill myself.

Yeah. And I just want to acknowledge what you said. Like, I agree so much. Like, don't try to get good at things you suck at. Right. Like delegate to the things that are your weaknesses and then focus on your strengths. I think there's a big misconception. People want to be able to do all the things. And this is something that I had to learn somewhat recently because I always try. I'm a perfectionist. That a type of personality. But I'm working on it. I'm recovering, as I like to say and by delegating and finding other people that can do certain tasks, then all of a sudden, as a unit. Right. Then you can all be firing on all cylinders. So that's so valuable to the audience. You don't have to do everything yourself.

Yeah. I mean, and if there's things that I don't really enjoy doing, I have learned to recognize that and go, you know, I really just want to be outside in nature right now and work on in my head, you know, going over my talk that I'm going to be doing on stage instead of trying to figure out Mailchimp or my WordPress website. That drives me nutty being on. And so I'm like, okay, it took me a long time, but I found good people. And now when I find good people, I make sure that I connect them with other good people. And since, like my graphics design guy, I have to share this, because I'm just so proud of all he's done. When I met him, he didn't have a car. He didn't have a business. He lived in a really sketchy area. He's worked with me for two years. He's built his business up. He moved to a better area. He bought his first car. He now has a thriving business. He's hired employees. And so I help him grow, and he helps me grow. It should be. And that's what I like. I like when working with people, I want to see everybody grow. I want to make sure everybody's in it to win, you know, and that. That goes for my friends, too. I'm like, I want to see them win. I'm going to cheer them on all the way. If there's anything I can do, because there's enough room for all of us to be successful. It's that mindset of abundance, I think, that. And what we focus on. And I can tell Craig that you do focus a lot on gratitude. It really shows in everything that you do and every interview that you do. If y' all want to feel more energy and be inspired by him, you have to check out his podcast, the CLS Experience. And I just want to know some of the most exciting things that you're working on right now that maybe I could learn, we could all learn more about. But also maybe. I don't know if you're speaking at any events. I know you have another mastermind coming up, but what are some of the exciting things that you have coming up?

Yeah, so I'm going to be at an event in Vegas in two weeks.

We have a couple Is that with Ken? Jocelyn?

Yes.

Bradley.

Yeah.

See, but I'm not so want to go there.

I'm just going to be hanging out and networking a little bit. You should totally come.

I have my niece's wedding. I can't come. Should I miss the wedding? I'm just kidding. Marlee, if you hear this, I love you, girl, I would not miss your wedding for a mastermind.

But seriously, I can't wait to see you in person, give you the biggest bear hug ever.

I know I want to see you. And you know, I was just talking to Charlie from Bradley's place this morning actually, and I was like, oh, Charlie, you're going to be having an event out there. He goes, we are. I said yes. With Ken, Jocelyn and Bradley. Ken is amazing. Do you know Ken?

Yes, we connected. He's awesome. A lot of high energy as well.

Oh, yeah, he's amazing. He's got an amazing podcast. He's a good man, a really good man. So, yeah, if you. Well, I'll, I'll be traveling, I won't be around. But one of these days when you're back out here, we are going to

get a hug and we're going to 100%. We're going to hang out, we'll do all the things, we're going to have unbelievable conversation, all of it. Another thing that I'm working on right now, which I've never publicly said until right now, is I'm working on putting on my own huge event called the CLS Transformational Opera. And I'm locking in my first guest speaker right here, right, right now, the iconic Amberly Lago. How you doing? Woo. I love it.

Are you serious?

Yeah. We're going to get the best speakers, all of our good friends in the space. It's going to be the coolest thing ever. We're going to hit every single topic. Most importantly, we're going to serve and we're going to help so many people, millions. It's going to be phenomenal.

Oh my gosh, I am so excited right now. This is so exciting. Thank you. Oh, my gosh.

Well, you were, you were always, you were on the whiteboard. Of course you were gonna be on, but what better time than to even debut the idea and the whole thing that, you know, than on your podcast.

Oh my gosh, this is so awesome. So I, I have a smile on my face. My face is hurting.

We're gonna get the whole, the whole band together. It'd be great.

Oh my gosh. I can only imagine because, well, you Have a lot of good friends that are my good friends, too. And it's so much fun when we get to all come. Come together. So I. I'm excited about that. So that will definitely be in the show notes. Whenever you get a link for that, we can add that in the show notes so people know about that. Or what is your website that you want people to visit to so they can find out more information?

Cultivate lastingsymphony.com. you'll see everything on there. How to work with me, one on one. My mastermind, the membership, which is weekly, which Amberly spoke at, all the things. And then obviously the podcast, the CLS experience. Anywhere you listen to podcasts, that's amazing.

And you know what? Your. Your group was so incredible. I was like, yeah, it was incredible. I so appreciate being a part of that. And then, you know, there's a lot of people before we go. I know we're going to wrap up here, but I just wondered, you know, a lot of people are struggling right now whether it's, I mean, here in California, it's still pretty crazy. And it's tough, you know, with not being able to work and everything, taking a little more patience. And we definitely need a little more resilience. What is your definition of resilience?

Honestly, just getting gritty. And this is going to speak to you. Like, my favorite thing about resilience is you can build it. People think like, you either have to be born resilient and gritty or you're not. That's not true. The way to develop resilience is to keep putting yourself into uncomfortable situations that seem scary, because even if you get knocked out on your butt, you build a little resilience. As long as you get back up and you're willing to try again, you get experience, you build resilience, you build mental toughness, and it force you to get gritty. So being resilient is all about being able to take a punch, so to speak, and keep moving forward. And ultimately, as you continue to do that, that's when all the real growth and all the epic things that life has to offer is. Is on the other side of that uncomfortableness. So build resilience. Look forward to challenges because they make you gritty. And ultimately, you're able to cultivate resilience, which you are absolutely full of.

Mic drop right there. Dang, that was incredible. Yes. And you know what I think it is, too? Reframing failure. I was just talking to a client of mine over the weekend, and she, you know, she was Feeling kind of rejected about something. And I was like, you know what I said? I think growing up and being a dancer and being in the entertainment industry and, you know, because I used to do music videos and travel as a dancer, there was so many rejections. I mean, left and right, like, you're too fat, you're too skinny, you're too tall, you're too muscular, you're too something. I was con, and sometimes it was brutal. And those rejections really helped me learn to, like, let them roll off my back, reframe failure as opportunities to grow. And it's made being an entrepreneur a little bit easy when I don't get a job or I have a speaker's agent, and she'll say, oh, you can take yourself off hold for that event. And I'm like, okay, thanks. Well, we'll get the next one. Like, I don't get caught up in wonder why they didn't like me. Oh, they just don't like me. I'm not good enough. Like, I'm like, just wasn't the right fit. How can I learn from this? And I do ask questions. I asked, what speaker did they go with? That way I can look at that speaker and look at what she offers, and maybe my message isn't clear enough. Maybe I need to get a little more clear on my vision and explain it better. There's always room to grow. There's always room to get more. You know, get our tap into our resilience. So I love your definition.

And also, Amberly, feedback is not positive or negative. It's just neutral. It's what you do with it and how you apply it to yourself going forward. So any type of feedback for the audience listening, like, don't be discouraged if it's negative. That's good, because it means you can improve and learn what not to do the next time out.

That is so important feedback. Yes, it is feedback. And I take it as that. And I'm like, okay, let me take note of that. And some of my biggest failures have been my biggest lessons and blessings because they've really changed my life. So thank you for being here. Thank you for all the positivity that you put out in the world. You're really changing people's lives with your ability to shift their perspective and change their mindset to something really of positive joy, fulfillment, and happiness. And I want y' all to go check him out his podcast. Check him out. Greg Siegel on Instagram. CLS Experience is it CLS Experience podcast on Instagram is your podcast.

We have. Yeah, two accounts. One is CLS experience and then Craig Siegel underscore cls.

Okay. I think all you have to do is do CLS and everything pops up. It's exploding on the Internet. So it's also in the show notes. So if you're out running or something like that, you can be able to find it in the show notes. But thank you. I love you. Thank you for being on the show. And if there's any way I can sneak to Vegas to see you, I'll be there.

I just want to say to you, like, thank you for being such a light in this world. Like, every single time I talk to you or I see your content, I feel the same way about you that you do about me. Like, I'm immediately elevated. You immediately. Like, even if I see a text from you, I have a smile on my face. But it's not just me. It's so many other people that you're impacting. Keep doing your thing and spreading your wings. I love you. And the best part about all this is this is just the beginning of our relationship.

It is, it is. We're going to have a lot of fun. I can't wait for your event. So thank you.

My pleasure.

Thanks so much for joining us this week on True Britain Grace podcast. If you like it, please rate it or share it with your friends. That would help, too. If you're not yet on the newsletter list, come over to Amberly Lago.com and jump on it. While you're there, you can grab a free downloadable gratitude journal. And you might just want to check out my book or even check out my monthly motivational membership. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll

see you next week.