JJ VIRGIN: Powerful Mind Hacks to Improve Your Life and Business

Welcome to ALI and you'd. The Business success and lifestyle show. My name is Alyson Maslin. My friends call me Ally. I am a serial entrepreneur and here to grow your business. So today we're going to be talking about nutrition, miracles and mindset right here on ALI and you'd. Well, we are so excited. I am excited because I have a dear friend and an expert in all things nutrition and mindset and miracles in business. And so you're going to want to watch the entire show today to the very end.

So.

So let me introduce celebrity nutrition and fitness expert JJ Virgin. JJ teaches clients how to lose weight and master their mindset so they can lead bigger and better lives. She is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, the Virgin Diet, the Virgin Diet Cookbook, JJ Virgin's Sugar Impact, and the cookbook that goes with that as well. And she has a new memoir that that is incredible called Miracle A Mother, Her Son and Life's Hardest Lessons. We're going to talk a little bit about that today, and it's going to inspire you to no end. And it explores the powerful lessons of strength and positivity that she learned after her son Grant had a horrible hit and run car accident. Now, JJ hosts the popular JJ Virgin lifestyle show podcast, and she's been on blogs and magazines and all kinds of stages television all over the country. And also she works with nutrition. In addition to her nutrition and fitness work, she's a business coach and she leads the most premier event for health entrepreneurs in the community called the Mindshare Summit. Welcome, jj.

Thank you. Great to be here.

Yeah. I'm so excited. And so, so JJ is an incredible woman. She has accomplished so much, and we've had the pleasure of really getting to know each other because now we live practically down the street from each other here in beautiful San Diego. So we're going to talk about mindset, we're going to talk about your new direction that you're going, but I want to back it up a little bit because you are all things nutrition and fitness. So can you tell us and the viewers a little of your backstory and how all this started?

Let's see. How far back shall we go, Alison?

Well, when you were little and your mom was feeding you peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, it was Pop Tarts. Yes, exactly.

It seriously was. I was raised on Pop Tarts and Cap' n Crunch. Yeah, well, until my rebelled at age 12. I know it was kind of everybody's food back then. I'm like you, serial entrepreneur. Always have been. I went off to college. I wanted to be a theater actress, but I discovered that I actually can't act. Oh, no.

Well, I don't know.

It could be pretty darn good. But I went and became an English major, so that served me. And then went off to graduate school and exercised fizz and became one of the first personal trainers in the country.

Oh, wow.

That's how I paid my way through graduate school.

Oh, my goodness.

And went into doctoral school in nutrition. So that kind of sparked it all. And then along the way, I had a client who was a business coach.

Okay.

And she said, why are you. Why do you keep going to grad school? And I go, because if you get more degrees, you become more successful.

Right?

Right.

Yeah. No, you spend more money.

Yes. You get more degrees.

Yes.

If you get more degrees, you get more degrees.

Yes.

So I. But who knew? So I was like, well, teach me. But what was interesting is she actually didn't teach me business, which is what I was expecting her to teach me. She taught me the mindset that I needed to be successful. And I remember being frustrated at the time because I just wanted her to teach me how to build a business, how to do marketing, you know? But she was insisting that I had to learn all this other stuff. I had no idea how important that would be for every area of my life.

Right. It's exactly what you needed, and it's. And fostered everything that you did. And we're going to really get into mindset, because I want to talk all about that with you, but, you know, let's talk about nutrition for a second. Because I do think that as basic as it is, because we all have the need to eat to survive. It's one of the things that people struggle with so much. And we've got diabetes on the rise. We've got obesity. And now they're. I was just reading where they're saying they feel Alzheimer's is connected to the gut. So why do you think it is so hard for, you know, why people struggle so much with eating? Right.

Oh, my gosh. There's so much to this question, because part of it is there's so much misinformation. I mean, when you just think about, like, you even go to a bookstore and look at all of the health and diet books, you're like, well, should I be a vegan? Paleo, a pegan? You know, like, what do I do? Right.

Fruitarian.

Fruitarian. Then you go to the store and you look at the thing that says healthy, you turn it over and it's got high fructose corn syrup in it. So it's super confusing to know what you should be doing and then couple that with so many of these things that look like they're health foods are so addictive and hurtful to us. So it is a big challenge out there. And I think the biggest challenge is, you know, whenever you get a confused mind. Right. And we really have a lot of confusion and distraction out there when it actually is pretty simple.

Yeah. And so where does just some basics. Because there's so much I want to talk with you today. Where would somebody start? Because you know what I have found is when someone is completely drastic and they cut all these things out of their life, they can't maintain it, and then they end up going the total opposite and then just putting on a bunch of weight. So how do you recommend someone gets weight?

Well, clearly, that's the case, because look at what's going on with weight in our country. It's, like, now 70% obesity and overweight like crazy.

Wow.

And the challenge is people get desperate and freaked out, and they want to change immediately. And the way you lose £100 is a pound at a time. And the way you do any big change, anything in your life is not drastic. It's simple little things, one at a time. It's the little hinges that swing the big doors. So my favorite thing to do in nutrition is to start by adding. Not Pop Tarts and Cap' n Crunch, however. But think about this. If we can just crowd out some of the stuff, like, if we can go back to when we were kids when we actually got full, and then we didn't have dessert, because kids will do that. No, I don't want dessert. I'm full, Mommy. But if we just start by saying, okay, I'm going to add back in breakfast, which so many people skip. Like, I'll have a. I have a shake every single morning. I have a smoothie. I'm going to add in more vegetables. I'm going to make sure I'm drinking my water. Do you know if all you did was add water into your diet? You are going to improve your metabolism because it increases your metabolic rate as much as 30%.

And you say that, but the thing is, like, I'm never thirsty. It is one of the things that I have had to focus on so much in my life. Like, Allison, drink your water. You know, and I don't feel dehydrated. But, you know, that is, like, the worst thing for you. And so I'm Much, much better at it now. But, you know, it's like you have to create that intention.

You do, because by the time you feel dehydrated, you're done. And so it's. It's. But if you are even a little dehydrated, you raise stress hormones and you start storing fat on your belly. So if you drink more water, it helps you burn off belly fat. So that's a good connection that will make people want to drink their water. You know, it's anything that you do in life. I'm a big proponent of measuring and tracking, because what you measure, you can manage. So if you just decide today, this week is going to be all about getting water as a habit and you're tracking it, then once you've got that dialed so you're used to it, whatever works for you, then you go to the next thing of, like, now I'm going increase my vegetable intake. Now I'm going to work on my sleep. You know, one thing at a time, and all of a sudden you turn around and you're entirely different.

That's such great advice. And it seems so simple, but really just focus on that one thing, get that down, and then do the next. Yeah. So that you actually can stick to it and it becomes a way of life, not something that is just going to be like a quick fix. So what about, you know, behind all of this? Behind all of this really is mindset. And as we were talking about earlier. Right. Because it's making the commitment and then sticking to it. And that's, you know, your confidence behind it in a decision that you make. And you're talking about this a lot with your new book, your movie, and how your life changed. And you even, you know, are incorporating mindset more into your work.

So.

So for those of the viewers that have not heard your story, I would love for you to share that, because I did not know JJ 4 years ago when your son had his accident. But I was on your Facebook feed and I saw you going through this process day after day after day, and I was so inspired. I didn't even know you then. So if you wouldn't mind sharing that.

Sure. You know, and it's interesting because it looks like I've gone down a bit different path. But the reality is I've always put mindset into my programs. I just didn't mindfully do it like I'm doing now. And I asked my community last year. I'm like, if you aren't where you want to be in your health why not thinking that they said, you know, I can't give up sugar or something like that. Right. And the number one reason was not feeling worthy, not feeling good enough. So it really is everything that we come down to how far you're gonna go in business. Right. How you take care of your health, it all will come down to mindset.

Right. So you've been doing this all along. You just weren't talking about it as something on its own?

Yes, it just snuck in. I just snuck it in like that first coach did with me is it just got fed in. But what happened over the last when I got my son got hit four and a half years ago. And I'll tell that story is reflecting back as to how I got through it. Made me realize, oh, that's how I got through it.

Right. You know that you'd been working on all these years before.

Right. So four and a half years ago, right before the Virgin diet's coming out. So this is a super stressful time. I've everything invested into that book. I borrowed money for that book and I'm determined to make this thing go huge. I think this is going to be the big launch pad for my career. So that's happening. I am the financial support for my family. I have two boys, they're 15 and 16. My 16 year old goes out for a walk, gets hit by a car crossing the street. Car was going probably 40 miles an hour. Neighbor came up, saw this woman get out of her car, look back at my son, gasp, get in her car and drive off. This is all he sees. He pulls up and protects my son and calls 911. He's airlifted to the local hospital. When we get there, we find out that he has a torn aorta and it's going to rupture sometime in the next 24 hours. So it has to be repaired to save his life. But he has multiple brain bleeds and the type of surgery he needs is super specialized because they have to do it without a blood thinner. So the only way for this to happen is he has to get airlifted to another hospital. And the doctor goes, he's never going to survive another airlift. Even if he were to survive another airlift, he's not going to survive a surgery. And even if he were to survive both of those, he'd be so brain damaged it wouldn't be worth it. And yeah, and my 15 year old.

That means a lot. Well, because obviously the doctor is not God. Right. And probably trying to protect you, but still, you didn't listen Well, I didn't listen.

And here's a big point here was the neurosurgeon told us he still had brain activity. So I knew he was still hanging on, it wasn't gone yet. And so we're there. And you know, I work with a lot of doctors, so I don't have them up on a pedestal. I know we're all just people. And he was making the decision in the moment and the best he could do. Right. But my son, the 15 year old looks at him and says, so maybe a 25% chance he'd make it. And the doctor said, sounds about right. And he said, we'll take those odds.

And I mean, that just like gives me chills.

It was not the easy thing. One of the things my mentor said early on, she says, don't wish it was easier, make yourself stronger. This was definitely not the easier choice. Right. The easy choice would have been to go with what the doctor said. And I actually went outside that night before he was getting airlifted because this was all happening now, like at midnight. I was driving to LA at 2 in the morning and I really got clear. I was like, what would Grant want? You know, because I didn't want to go through all of this and have him be a vegetable. But I also thought, who am I to play God here?

And then. Plus you would be always wondering. I had to. If I.

What if I. How could you, how could you not do every single thing? And that's. I went outside, I got totally present, which is so important, you know, to just stop and listen. That is one of the things that my mentor said early on. And I had no idea what she was talking about until this moment. It's funny how 25 years later she would say, listen, truly listen. I'm like, what? You know, I stood outside and I truly listened. And it was like, fight for your son. And I went back in and I'm like, that's it. And it just was, that's it. We are going to make this happen. He is going to get through this. It has been a really hard thing.

Yeah. You know, Well, I can just, I can't even imagine, you know, those moments where you're wondering if he's gonna make it or not. And.

And there's been lots of them, you know, it wasn't just that night's moment. There were more nights in the hospital like that. There have been times since he got home being suicidal from a massive brain injury. But it's been very interesting too, because it has been a complete Management of our mindsets, to be able to pull through this as a family. Because a brain injury doesn't affect just one person, affects everybody. But he said to me a couple weeks ago, I said, grant, let's go back. I interviewed him and I said, you know, let's go back four and a half years, and you have the option you could cross the street or not, and what would you do? And he said, I would cross the street.

Wow.

I know.

And so tell. What was his thinking behind that?

He said, I'm a better person now. He was not a great. Like, a great kid before crossing the street. He was bipolar. He put me through. I had one kid who, like, made my life easy, and I'm like, okay, so I've got one of both. And he was always the one that was stubborn, which was good. It was a good thing. He was stubborn. Right. Defiant. And I kept thinking, boy, when we harness this energy to be, like, unstoppable.

Yeah. You really put it in a direction that's. Yeah.

Yes. And now, you know, he went to the other side. Crazy stuff. I. Five years ago, I would. When people talked about near death experiences, I thought they were super cool. I didn't really want to be this close to one, but, you know, I was like, that's interesting. You read the books. Well, he had one and, you know, so he's. He's had these amazing experiences.

Wow.

And he. It is very cool. He is a very interesting person.

Oh, he's going through that. You cannot. There's no way you could be the same person. No.

He's. My. My ex husband just lost his mother today, actually. It's been a long struggle with Alzheimer's, so everyone's like, but Grant said, no, it's great. She's so happy. He's, like, explaining everything that she's going through right now and my experience. Okay.

You know, well, when you face death, you face your own mortality.

My goodness, it's incredible. He goes, I'm not scared of it now. He goes, I'm not scared of that because I know what that is like, and it's just great over there. But I also know it's not my time, and I have things I need to do here.

Oh, my gosh. That's an incredible story. So how did you, like in those moments? And I'm sure there were many while you were in the hospital and everything, and you were working on your book Bedside.

I have pictures of me, Allison. Here I am. So here he is on the hospital bed in a coma ventilator. Tube out of his brain, you know, casts. He had 13 fractures. And I'm sitting next to him with my laptop open, working, talking to him, and we have pictures of this. I go, you know, this is too much.

Yeah, well, I mean, you're just like, you know, in another world. But it probably helped you a lot to actually work on the book and fuel some of that energy. But what, you know, what was it that got you through, do you think?

So after I got through, and honestly, the four and a half months in the hospital were actually easier than the last four years coming back and dealing with what happens when someone comes out of a traumatic brain injury. But everyone started asking, how did you do that? I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. Because that is why. It's just like, good health habits. You've got to have them in you. Because when things like this hit, it's not when you start to think, gosh, I need to have a good mindset now to get, yeah, it better be in you. So fortunately, I'd had that mentor in my 20s, and I'd been a student of personal development, and I'd also had a lot of challenges in my life. And when you really look at people who've done cool things out there in the world, the people that we admire and aspire to, they've all had challenges. I don't know one person out there who's done amazing things and is so evolved because everything was easy.

Yeah, right. Well, because it's those challenges that really push you forward. I mean, when you can face your fears and overcome, it makes you a stronger, wiser person.

Yes.

You know, and what's the motivation if it's so easy all the time?

Exactly. So that's what I started to look at as I started to go, how did I do it? Because everyone was asking, I'm like, how did I do it? Because at first I thought, oh, it was because I was so healthy, because I put my health at the top of the list as I was going through this, because I knew I couldn't come to the ICU if I was sick. Like, I had to be wearing a mask and gloves.

But I mean that alone, because a lot of people don't. They let their health go and they actually. You're so focused on the other person that you lose yourself. So, you know, I'm sure that was a. That did absolutely help.

It definitely was. And I knew that I could not do what I needed to do for him if I was not absolutely on the Top of my game. And so I was literally getting sleep. Eight hours of sleep every night. I was exercising every day. A lot of times was just running up and down the hospital stairs, but it all counts. I was eating perfectly. Anytime someone's coming to the hospital, I told them to bring me food.

Yeah, not the hospital food. That's like the worst.

Grant didn't eat the hospital food either. I had a nutribullet in there. I was making him food. So self care, I thought was the most selfless thing I could do because I knew I needed that to pull off what I was doing. But it's really, when you look at it, Bryce telling that doctor, we'll, you know, we'll take those odds. And then me standing there deciding to fight for him, and then looking at Grant in the hospital in a coma, I remember holding like a couple fingers because everything's bandaged. I mean, he was covered with road rash. He had glass and gravel sticking out of him. I was taking it out for months and saying, grant, you're going to be 110% now. I am scared to death. So I'm not like, yay, you know, I'm like. But I did not want him to feel any fear. Like, I knew we've always been very, very in tune, in sync. So I just said, grant, we've got this. You don't need to worry. We can totally do this. You're going to be better than before. You're going to be 110% thinking, I have no idea how we're going to do this. I don't want him to feel that. But that attitude of feeling that way of being courageous, of coming back over and over and over again, being resilient, all of those. When I started to ask other people about how they did what they did, I went, wow, they are a possibility thinker. They make a decision, go, how am I going to get there? They ask the right questions. Right. They're courageous. They realize that fear is fleeting. You just have to. You have to go through it. Right. And that every time you do, you get stronger and you build your resilience, like building that muscle up. They're collaborative. I knew when I needed to ask for help.

Yes.

And boy, did I. I was reaching out, going, hey, I don't need your sympathy, but I definitely need some support. Whatever you can think of here, that ability to forgive and not hold the grudges, I mean, he was the victim of a hit and run. He's never once been a victim of a hit and run. He's never once been angry at that woman. All of us have forgiven this woman.

Wow, that's incredible.

You know, these were the key things. I was looking around going, wow, everyone seems to be sharing the same. These same things. I wonder if we could teach this. Like, can you learn this without having to go through this? Because the reality is we're all going to go through challenges. We all are. Right, Right.

So you don't have to have such a tragic accident like this. But, I mean, there are a lot of people out here watching thinking, gosh, I would like to just be able to apply these same principles to what I'm going through right now. Whether it's difficulty in my career or my relationship, you know, things like that.

It impacts all of it. There's. There's a couple different things. Either you're feeling stuck, and this is what I hear from people. They're like, I just feel like I'm kind of treading water and I'm stuck and I don't know what to do. And I feel quite often that's because they're just afraid if they're comfortably.

They're in that. Exactly. Well, that comfort zone, that is very uncomfortable. Right.

But not uncomfortable enough to go face those fears. So they need that big purpose to push them through that. Or they just are looking going, I'm just overwhelmed. Like, I don't know how I'm going to handle all these things. And being in the hospital, I'm looking at everything and I go, all right, I need to be really present, and I need to just handle one thing at a time. And for Grant, when I said 110%, it was 1%. Like, what do we need to do today? Right. And that's in our lives. Think about all the stuff that we have to accomplish. You can look at the whole thing and go, oh, my gosh. But what do I have to do today? What's the 1% today? What's the little hinge today?

Because if you think of everything, it does get overwhelming. You get your way out of a paper bag. So I've definitely been there.

We all have been there. I mean, we've all been there like this. The thing with this is it's not that these. You're going to build this mindset and things won't happen to you or you won't be afraid. It's not about being fearless. It's about being massively courageous. It's realizing that every time you lean into fear, you go, oh, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be right.

It never is. It's always way worse in our head. Right.

And. Well, I had to get really clear with Grant and this whole story, though, as I was writing this book and doing this movie, he was so suicidal from the brain injury. And I'm thinking, wow, what if the book, like, I had to get really clear that the book wasn't about his positive outcome. It was about how we showed up during the whole thing and what those lessons were.

Right. Yeah. Well, everyone that is watching this is going to have to read your book. And in the title is Miracle Mindset. Miracle Mindset. A Mother, Her Son, and Life's Hardest Lessons. So you definitely are going to want to get that book right away and we'll give information on that. And so, you know, what are some practices, some mindset practices that you do like, on a regular basis that, I mean, you may not even really have been aware that you were doing it, but now that you're focusing on so much of that with this book.

Yeah, because I had things that I did every single day that I didn't think about, because I did them every single day. Which is, again, a key takeaway. Like, build these now. And they were what saved me in the hospital, and they are what saved me over the last four years. And what's super cool about them is I always look at, what can I do that? It's just like, eating healthy takes so much more time. You know, it's the same. Like, it's the same eating healthy or eating crappy. That's why I never understand this. I go, it's the same amount of time. It's actually less expensive to eat healthy or exercise. I always look at what I can do really quickly. And so what I'm going to describe literally takes five minutes at the most a day. And it's what I did in the hospital every day to keep myself from losing it. Because, as you can imagine, it would have been very easy to get paralyzed from the fear. And people say, don't worry about your job. You'll love this. Don't worry about your job. Yeah, it will be there waiting for you. I'm like, no, it won't.

Well, wait a minute. And I have bills to pay. And I have a whole lot of.

Other people who I employ that will be out of work, too. No, it won't. And then I have all these hospital bills. Not an option. But every morning, and I've done this for decades, I pull out a journal. I physically do this. And that's part of the key of this is that you actually need to do it and write it down. I pull out a journal, and I write down at least three things or people I'm grateful for. And, you know, you might say your son's lying in the hospital in a coma. They don't know if he's gonna make it through the night. And you are going to pull out a journal. And yes, I did. Because had I not, I would have been paralyzed by the fear, because fear and gratitude don't go together. So you've got the gratitude. It's like you're shoving fear out of the way. I could walk through it. And so that was always every morning.

And I love that thought, though. You cannot have the thought of fear and gratitude at the same time.

Yeah. Test it.

Yeah, you really can. And when you're in that place of fear, you forget all of the amazing things that you do have in your life. I mean, even the fact that, you know, if you can walk or breathe or, you know, it's a beautiful day outside, whatever that is. So. Mm. And that shifts you immediately.

So first thing in the morning, it's fantastic. I have it right. I roll over. It's on my nightstand table. It's the first thing I grab. Grab my journal and my pen. Then at night, I would walk out of the hospital, and I'd go, all right. Because that was also. So I'd go to the hospital, it was dark. I'd leave the hospital, it was dark, and I'd be walking out of there. And it was in a really dangerous, crappy neighborhood, and they were fixing the parking lot. So I'm, like, wandering down these streets, and I'm going, what. What was good today? Like, what were the little wins, the little miracles of today? That's where I was looking for that 1% that I could show that he was moving forward. And then during the day, because there were times that just. And, hey, we have these. I think I have these pretty much every day, so. And I bet I'm not abnormal that we all have times during the day where we're freaking out or something's not quite right, where he's just getting irritated. Something. Right.

Oh, yeah. Technology.

Yeah. Today, like, my computer completely froze on, like, multip. Right. But if something is getting to me, the easiest way to get out of that is to take your phone and text someone and tell them what you appreciate about them. So simple. So simple. And guess what? It's a two for one. Because Makes you feel good and them feel good.

Yeah. That's so great. And yeah, because you do, you have to look at this thing that's happening right now. It feels awful, but what does it really mean in the big scheme of things? You know, I think about that a lot of the time too. Like, we're upset about this now, but are you going to even be thinking about this a year from now or 10 years from now?

Maybe it actually is playing out exactly as it should and maybe this is exactly the way this should be and it's all just perfect, right?

Well, like the accident, you would never be thinking, oh, yay, this was a good thing. But here your son is saying, I'm grateful this happened because I'm not the same person.

Now. I really believe we created that. Because the morning, so, you know, he's hit in the evening, at dusk, we're at the hospital, the doctor telling us to let him go. We're overruling the doctor. We finally get him airlifted out at like 2 in the morning. Because they had fined the surgeon willing to accept the case. That surgeon had to get five surgical teams together, find a stent. All this stuff has to happen. We're driving to la, we don't know if we're picking up a body or not. That morning after he got through surgery, I'm holding his hand, I look over at John because he has been my tough kid, and I go, we get a do over. Now, as a parent, were there times you wanted to do over?

Oh, you know, a couple. And my daughter knows that too. She doesn't blame me.

So I look to John, I go, hey, we get a do over and let's make this better, you know, and that's honestly when you have, that's, that's that showing of purpose. And I call this mindset cpr, of having courage, purpose, resilience. We now have this purpose, this purpose that this was going to be. He was going to be better than before. And that gave me so much more courage to show up and do what I needed to do. And of course you do that. Over time, you build resilience. And it was interesting when I did that interview. I have been saying this stuff to him. He has been so dark. And I don't know why I even survived the car accident. I have no purpose. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? And I'm like, of course you have a purpose. You're going to show people what's possible with a brain injury, how you can totally recover and be better and all this stuff. I'm thinking, he's not listening. I interview him and it's like he is the movie. He is saying all of these lessons that I have been saying to him. The whole time he is telling me all of this stuff, I'm thinking, this is too much. So he has become better than before. Because that was all that we put out there. That was the big question we asked. How do we make this so that he's better than before?

Right.

How do we make the best of this situation?

And so everything you have done, he has picked up and internalized. Sometimes we feel like that they're not getting it.

Listening.

Yeah. How he shares with you and he's got his whole life ahead. And I mean, what a miracle. And so tell us about. You've got some other things going on. You have a mindset academy. You have the book and all. Tell us about that.

Yes. So isn't it funny how these things all unfold? So first I write this book mainly because my book agent had to was pregnant with twins and almost lost them. And she used all the stuff because she was with me during this whole time. She goes, all those things you were talking about, I just used them. You have to write this book for everybody. I'm like, you know, yeah. And then as I'm writing the book, I'm like, wow, I really should do a documentary about this. But what was really clear because the book has all the lessons, as does the documentary, but that I really needed to create simple, actionable steps so that people could put this in place. Because what is obvious to me now is that you have to have these things inside you. And once you do, you know, when you up level your mindset, I look liken your mindset to a muscle, which means it's either growing or. But if you grow your mindset, you know, if you're not happy where you are with your business or your relationship or your finances or your health, if you up level your mindset even without focusing on those things, they get better. I had people who'd been in my health programs for years, and all of a sudden they come into this miracle mindset academy because I wanted to prove I took 150 people. I'm like, I want to prove that we can actually build your mindset muscle. And when we do, it will impact all areas of your life. And all sudden they're breaking through weight loss plateaus. Like that is too much. It's incredible. So what I did was create an academy where we bring you into a community. Because I'll tell you what, one of the biggest challenges we all face is the People who we hang out with.

Yes.

Right.

Yeah. Like, you are all. You know, you have these new goals, and you're determined.

They're like, no, we want to keep you down.

Because they're not ready to make that commitment.

Right. And if you do it and they don't.

Yeah.

So we bring them into a really good community with mentors and coaching calls, and then we evaluate. I see. One of the key things that you really need to know always is you need to be able to measure something. And that was what I had to wrap my brain around again. I've been putting this into all my programs, but not in such a specific way, because I couldn't quantify it. And I went, I'm going to have to quantify this in order to teach this. And so I actually created an assessment to look at all those seven areas that I've talked about. And then I train on it with simple exercises. Like, there's an exercise on how to lean into fear, because fear's an emotion that lasts 90 seconds. It's a biochemical reaction. So how do you handle that? So you can show up with courage. So we then work on all of those, and then we apply it. Of course, the first I apply it to is health, because that's my personal hammer. But I also know that, you know, if you don't have your health, you're not gonna be able to do any of the other stuff you want to do.

But if you feel good, you are gonna be more motivated, you are gonna be more inspired. You're just gonna get more done.

Absolutely. So those, to me, are the tricks. The two keys I really look at in terms of health, the pillars of nutrition, exercise, and mindset. To me, those three are the three keys that you have to have. And then we go and we master it into all the areas of your life and the biggest way you master anything in your life. And it's so interesting because I watched this happen to me. The last six months have been really interesting as I put this academy together, because I was writing the book, I was doing the movie, and people kept saying, this must be so healing. And I go, no, it's not. It's actually, I didn't think this through because I am going over this over and over again, and this is awful. This is awful. What was I thinking? Why am I doing this? And then I started teaching that academy, and then I was fine.

Yeah.

And, you know, if you really want to master something, if you really want to go the next level, just go teach someone else. Yes.

And you don't realize how much you know until you teach.

Exactly. Well, it also puts it to the test because as I was going through things and things were scary, I'm like, wait a minute, I know how to do this right. And I can teach and support someone else, and boom, you get out of your own way. So that's the final piece that I have people do, is how start to pay it forward, start to help other people, which is a key thing we should all be doing anyway. Right. It's like one of the easiest ways if you're having a pity party. I did this with Grant. He was in a depressed place and I took him to the hospital and had him talk to the kids in the rehab ward where he'd been.

Right. Oh, I bet that was a big shift. And he probably felt really good to.

Be hugely good about himself doing that.

To pay it forward that way. Well, that's so great. So we're going to put that link below so that people can check out the Mindset Academy. And of course, they need to get your book and watch the movie and all of that. So we'll get you all that information because I've, I've seen the movie and it was just riveting.

Well, and you're in the academy.

I am in the academy. I know. I'm excited about that. Talking about business. So the mindset of business. So awesome. Well, this is so great. So thank you for being here. And just, you know, think about, what is that one thing that you're going to change? What is that one. That 1%, one step that you're going to change with your mindset and with your. Thank you for being here. And just, you know, think about, what is that one thing that you're going to change? What is that one. That 1%, one step that you're going to change with your mindset, with your health. Is it like, I'm going to get. I'm going to give up sugar. I'm just going to do that or I'm going to drink more water or I'm just going to focus on getting through that 90 seconds of fear this week. Right. So, well, thank you for being here. And until next time, next time on Ally and you on Wednesdays at 4 o', clock, get out there and elevate yourself. You are worth it. And one more thing where all the fun is happening. Join us on the CEO Success Network Community and we'll give you all that information as well. All right, bye, everybody. Join Alison Maslin, CEO Success Network Online Community the CEO Success Network for connection, focus, motivation and solutions to your biggest business challenges. Get strategies, tools and inspiration to drive your business forward. Get access to insider interviews with business world influencers only for community members. Get the latest tips and strategies on revenue streams, marketing, sales, team building, time management systems and more. Enjoy monthly group hot seat calls with Alison Private weekly video success tips from top business leaders to members only. Access the CEO Success Network Facebook group where people are connecting and sharing and supporting one another's growth. Share resources, tips, strategies, networking with other business owners. Alison is phenomenal. She is just a fearless leader who continuously gives us everything we ask for. We've gone from two thousand dollar months to hundred and thirty thousand dollars months.

I've learned so much through the past three years working with Alison and I just can't see myself like stopping. I think everybody needs to continue to have a mentor and to work, you know, side by side or you know, constantly be accountable to somebody and take direction from somebody. And I don't, I don't see it ending. You know, people always talk about they want to be part of seven figure companies. I'm now part of seven, eight and nine figure companies. I've been introduced to some of the largest corporations, Fortune 500 companies and it's with Alison's help. She's kind of expanded my horizons and my capabilities and I think that's the most important thing. Where she expands, she makes you know what you can do and be successful. Then Sam.