Stepping into a MINDSET Built for GREATNESS with Arvin Anderson [Bullpen Sessions Episode 41]

Arvin Anderson, welcome aboard.

Yes, I'm excited to be here.

Andy, if you can't tell already, if you're listening to this and you aren't ready for energy, you might want to turn this off.

In fact, where we're going to go with this one today is a topic I love talking about. When you enter a room, either bring energy to it or you suck the energy out of it. You have two choices. So if you are up for bringing energy to the room, you are going to want to listen to this. So, Arvind, let's, let's level set, man. If you don't mind taking me maybe a couple minutes. For the audience who has no idea who Arvin is, tell us a little bit about your background, where you come from and what makes you tick.

Oh, man. Who the hell is this Arvin Anderson guy anyway?

I warned you folks.

I mean, I was born and raised in the entrepreneurial world. My dad was an entrepreneur, so I was just always in that space. I mean, even at the. I think I started working for him at the age of eight, just working in his business and just kind of being in that world always. So I've always kind of just had that entrepreneurial mindset and grown up in that experience and born and raised in Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska, which was an amazing place to grow up because of a. It's just absolutely incredible to live there. But just the small town community where it's, you know, the, you're able to create such deep relationships with people. You know, like everybody knew everybody and you knew everybody on a very intimate level. Yep. So it really just, I grew up in the experience of deep human connection, which has always been an incredible, incredibly high value for me. So when I ventured out of Alaska and moved out to Las Vegas, it was a completely different world out there where, you know, building human connection like that on a very intimate level was challenging. Something that I always kind of, kind of longed for the entire time I was there. And I got out of entrepreneurship and worked for corporate America for a while, worked for MGM Mirage, which was a, it was a cool experience. I learned a lot. I mean, every experience we have, we learn lessons, right? So you come out of, I come out of that experience seeing what it would be like to live a life under that umbrella. And I just wanted more for myself. Like, regardless of what my life was, I wanted to be in control of it.

And coming out of that space, I fell into real estate and then also simultaneously fell into CrossFit and started building businesses in both of those areas. And then just really fell in love with CrossFit for a long time and built a thriving CrossFit business out there for seven years and then evolved out of that into really wanting to start working with more of a high performing, more evolved mindset. I really wanted to seek out those people that were really ready to do whatever it takes to get to that next level, but was really struggling to figure out how to do that on their own. And so in order for me to figure out how to really put myself in a position to coach people at a high level, you know, I had to follow that path first and fell into the world of masterminds. Yeah.

And we're going to. We're going to go there today. We're going to go two places that are favorite to yours and favorite to mine. Mindset and mastermind 100%. But I want to go back for a second. When you said, you know, you were an entrepreneur by age 8 because you were working for your dad, your dad was an entrepreneur. You know, when I hear those stories, honestly, I get a little jealous because I grew up in a family. We weren't entrepreneurs. My parents were both teachers, amazing teachers, but it just wasn't an entrepreneurial mindset type of environment. So at age 8, if you can think back that far, were there lessons you took as a kid watching your dad be an entrepreneur that you think have helped you today?

Ooh. I'll tell. You know what's interesting, it's the first belief that shows up for me that's actually not a belief that serves me at this stage was my dad worked constantly. Like, he would work long hours and he would be at the store until midnight, and then, you know, come home and then we wake up in the morning, he was already back at work. So I really started to ingrain that belief that in order to be successful, you have to just grind and work constantly, and you got to sacrifice everything in your life to make it happen. And I really, like, pursued success for a long period of my life with that belief. If I wasn't grinding it out, like, I wasn't earning my success and it wasn't going to manifest for me, that was the biggest one I really had to break.

That's a really good point. That's a really good point. Because I think it's funny, entrepreneurship has become, let's call it. It's become really cool in the last five years. Right. And what's interesting is I think I watched some people, even people I know, they go from the corporate world to entrepreneurship and the reason they want to leave the corporate world is they hated the corporate grind, but all they've done is now they're in the entrepreneurial world and they're still grinding. And it's like, what did you actually trade? You're still slaving away 16, 17 hours a day. And like you said, it's almost like I feel like some people are addicted to that.

Yeah.

Like, to be successful, it has to be a struggle.

And so I'm glad you brought that up because I think people are addicted. You know, we both know Gary Vaynerchuk. He's been guilty, he's been accused for a long time of saying, grind, grind, work long hours. And he's now coming back saying, that's not what I meant, but I think it is. People believe that to be an entrepreneur, have success, it means no sleep and all work.

Yeah. 100%.

So.

But you're right. Like the playoff. Yeah, go ahead.

Oh, no, go ahead, go ahead.

The playoff. Gary Vee. And that's the important part. Right? Is like. But he loves it.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like, he loves that side of it. So if you love it, that's one thing. But if you're doing it from a really low energy kind of place and a low vibration feeling like, well, I have to do it this way, otherwise it's not going to work, well, then you're just coming from a very low vibration and going to create results that reflect that.

Yeah. And vibration is such a good word because a question I've always wanted to ask you. And we're going to get into the mindset masterminds, I mean, and Arvind and I met in the Fast Foundations Mastermind. My question for you is this. Arvin, I've known you for what, a couple years? And you are just a super high energy dude, which is so cool to see you light up a room. Have you always been that way or was it kind of stepping into that person, maybe finding your passion that made you just step out into the ARVN we see today?

Mm. You know, part of it is influence. Right. And there's been parts of that that's come out of me unintentionally, just as growing up in life, you know, my dad is kind of like that way, like you can walk into a room and light up the room, you know, And I was fortunate to be raised by a mother that just constantly instilled praise into me, you know, and really just like helped me believe in myself and believe things, like anything was possible.

Really. Just gave Me just unconditional love constantly. She still does, which is phenomenal. But it was like when you talk about the energy that you bring into a room, you know, and it's.

I didn't get very intentional about it until I lost it.

You know, until I hit that moment in life where it's just like everything had fallen apart and I was just in the darkest time in life that I've ever been, ever. I've never felt more alone, more defeated, more isolated that I did in that period of time. And coming out of that, that place, you know, really asking myself the question, you know, who do I want to be moving forward? Yeah. You know, like, who is the man that I'm going to be coming out of this and being hyper intentional about becoming that man? And then it became down to just a very intense year long immersion of me working with Amiri, who was the coach that changed my life. We worked together every week he come to my gym and we spend two hours and we would just do hyper intentional state work. Whether it was either visualization or breathing work or like peak state work, which we did a lot of, a lot of certainty, a lot of confidence, really shifting into the different states that we embody as a person and then conditioning it over and over and over and over again. Then it was just, you know, like, how do you want to show up? What kind of energy do you want to bring in the room? What kind of presence do you want to have and conditioning that behind closed doors before that door opened and it was time for me to walk in.

You know, you bring up something I want to talk about because we're going to get again, we're going to get into the masterminds. And one thing I love about masterminds is accountability. And you talked about the energy right now, let's face it, you and I are having this conversation on June 30th and a lot of people got knocked to the ground, right. And there's a lot of people who are not in the best frame of mind. You know, the mindset may be trending towards pessimism over optimism, hopelessness versus versus gratitude and hope. What advice would you give that person right now who is sitting in that position? Are there a couple tips, couple strategies you would want to give that individual?

Yeah, 100%. And it's one of those things. It's like you can tell people what to do, but are you actually doing it? And anybody that knows anything about mindset, I mean, it comes down to simply like, what are you focusing on?

Where's your focus going? Are you focusing on all the things that could go wrong? Are you focusing on problems? Are you focusing on what might go wrong in the future? Are you focusing on how you can go out there and serve people? How you can create value where your opportunities are? Are you focusing on the people in your life that love and support you? Are on focused. Are you focusing on all the things that are incredible about you as a human being? Like, where is your focus?

Yep.

Because that's what you have complete control over. Most people are just like, yeah, I get it. I get it. Yeah. But are you doing it right? Because if you don't like the way you feel, then it's simply because of what you're focusing on.

Yeah.

So be intentional about changing it.

That's awesome. Because it's taking action, right?

Yeah.

It's about, you can take all the coaching you want. You can read all the books you want, take all the courses you want, join all the masterminds you want. If you're not willing to take action or not willing to focus on the right things, none of it matters. And so I want to ask you. I didn't. I didn't tell you I was going to ask you this question, but I want to ask you this. You did something during the FAST Foundation Mastermind that I was so. I admired the hell out of man, just to be totally honest with you. But you had set an intention that you were going to sell the CrossFit business, you were going to sell the house in Las Vegas, and you were just going to backpack around the world. And this, I mean, we're talking, what, 12 months ago?

Yeah. Like, and I remember when you, when.

You, when you set that intention and I, Even in my head, I have to admit, maybe in the back of my head, I'm like, yeah, Ray, whatever. And then all of a sudden, dude, house is sold. Business sold. Arvind is a nomad.

Tell us a little bit about the journey you took to Bali. And if you don't mind more maybe towards what did it do to you from a mindset perspective.

Man, it's. It gave me freedom. It gave me freedom.

You know, it was. I asked myself that question, you know, like, that was the power of the mastermind. It was getting clarity on what I needed to let go of, but more so having. Having the love and support from each and every one of you guys to support me through making the most challenging decision I've ever had to make in my entire life. Because I wasn't. I did. I wasn't Capable of making it on my own, or at least I didn't feel like I was. I don't think we're meant to. But asking yourself the question, right? Like, everybody says, like, oh, I want all these things. I want all these things. Like, all right, great. Are you willing to let go of everything? Like, will you let go of everything? And I'm not just talking, like, material things like your beliefs, your fears, your identity. Are you willing to let go of everything and stand in that vulnerable space of transition for however long it takes in order for you to truly step into the person you want to be and create the life you want? And if you instantly answer yes, you're not doing the question justice, like, to sit there and reflect on that and really, like, tune in to that inner knowingness of you and ask yourself with absolute honesty, you know, are you willing to do that? And when I really dug deep into there and sat with that question, it.

In a very, like, vulnerable and courageous way, it was just like, in a trembling way, I was just like, yeah, I am, man. Like, I want it.

I want it just as badly as I don't want what I have.

Well, that. That's just it. And. And I think, what. Observing that journey of yours from afar, and correct me if I'm wrong, once you made that decision, based on what you just said, once I realized I wanted it as bad as I didn't want the other option.

Shit just kind of started falling in place. At least it seemed like it. And so if you don't mind kind of just walking through, because this is such an important lesson, you said you've got to stand in it and go, am I willing to get vulnerable enough to take the appropriate action? Because once you do, guess who's listening. The universe. And it starts putting the right things in your life to make the right stuff happen. So tell me a little bit, like, once you made that decision, what happened? Because I feel like so much fell in place for you, man.

It did. I mean, it's a. It's incredible how much your life can change in a year. Like, when I look back, like, you're saying, like, it was just, you know, a little over a year that you had that CrossFit gym. I'm like, man, that feels like an entire lifetime ago. Yes, I was an entirely different person. Like, my whole life was so different.

It's just like, I can't believe it's been that short amount of time. Like, when you do. When you. When you let go and you set your intention, like, in the moment, sometimes it feels like it's not moving at all. But when you can look back in the span of a year, it's like, holy cow, man. Did that move fast, and did it grow radically, radically high?

Any lessons you learned. Any lessons you learned on your journey to Bali and just traveling overseas?

Yeah, man, it was.

Perspective was huge. Like, to go to these different places of the world and see poverty at a level where you expect everybody to be unhappy, because if you live that way here in the US you'd be miserable because you're told you're miserable if you're poor, right? Like, you're told you're like, you can't be happy unless you have these things. And so I just remember just being, like, really humbled by, like, walking around. Is this, like, you expected to feel and see pain? And it's like, you didn't. You didn't see suffering? Like, no, man. Like, they're so happy. They're so happy over here. It's like, wow. Like, you can just be so happy with just because you choose to be.

Like, it's one thing to read about it and hear it and think it, but I got to see it. I got to experience it, like, happiness and joy with what we would consider nothing.

Do you think that's helped you today? Again, it really hasn't been that long ago, but do you think it helps you today even when, you know, we all have those bad days, Right?

Does it.

Does it help you put things in perspective and go, man, there's a lot to be happy about, even on. Think about what we're going through right now, right? COVID lockdown, racial injustice. Does it give you that added little ounce of energy to say, hey, you got a lot to still be grateful for?

Absolutely, man. I mean, part of the practice I've had over these last few years is being very intentional with how I'm feeling. So it's like, if I feel any kind of tightness in my body at all, like, immediately I just. I start to breathe it out. You know, I always want that body to feel light and just really, like, shift that focus, right? Like, what can I be grateful for right now? Like, seriously, like, for real? Like, what can I honestly be grateful for? Like, I'm thankful just to have this conversation with you. I'm grateful that I know you. You're an incredible human man, and it's.

Well, thank you. And this is why, you know, I always tell people to be on my podcast, you have to have one. One trait, and that's an abundant Mindset. And that's why you're on, man. And I'm going to get you lit up here, because here's where I want to go with this. You learned a lot, you know, traveling the world. It's so right. People can be dirt poor, but they're happy. In fact, I can't. I think it's. Shoot, is it Bhutan? I can't remember which country it is in Southeast Asia. That actually, instead of their gdp, like ours is monetary, theirs is happiness.

Yeah.

They base their country's level of success literally on the happiness of the country, which is absolutely phenomenal. So you come back, you and I are still in the Mastermind together, and we're about to go all things Mastermind. This is where I need you to light this audience up, man. You are now working with people like Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi. I mean, people that you and I a year ago, we're looking at. Like, they're up in the stratosphere. Right. But here's where I want you to go with this story. When you applied for the one of these positions, how many applicants were there? About six. Tell a story. About 600 and some. They were only taking, what, less than 10. How did you mentally get through that process to where you became a finalist and ultimately where you are today?

That's a. Oh, what a story. Right? It's interesting. Like, what kick started off that whole journey when I sold everything is I went to Australia and I went to Date with Destiny with Tony Robbins. It was just like that was my first step. Like, if I'm going to create the next chapter in my life, there's nobody that got me through this process better than Tony. So I went to there, and I came out of there like a fireball, man. Like, clarity and drive and passion and love and all the things that you need to go out there and create. And part of that experience. I bought their course, kbb, which teaches people how to create masterminds. And being in that, being in part of their community, which, you know, at the time had 25,000 people in there. They put out auditions to be part of their speaker speaking team. People that have gone through the course, completed it, started to implement the things that they taught. They wanted them to speak on behalf of the company and their experience. So I auditioned for that. There were 600 people that auditioned for it and shot it in, man. It was just like on the spot, random video I just submitted. Like, when I was just feeling it, I was like in the middle of running. I was in Toronto at The time for a different mastermind that I was intending. And I was running down the neighborhood. I just felt like inspired, you know, I just had like this powerful insight that I just wanted to share. So I just stopped. I was sweating. I was still breathing heavy. And just like submitted this video. And then they narrowed it down to 50 and I made it to the top 50. I was like, oh, this is awesome. So then we had to teach something on the next one. It was a longer video and I just did my thing on there and submitted it. And then next I was in San Diego at the time, and I remember I was at this Airbnb and I was laying on the couch and I was just kind of resting in the middle of the afternoon, which I don't even normally do. I just was. And all of a sudden this email pops up and it was just like, boom, you've made the live finals. I was like, oh my God. Jumped off the couch. I'm like, what is happening right now? This is crazy. And so they had the live auditions out here in Scottsdale. So I came out here and there was 24 of us that came out here for the auditions. And then I ended up taking the top speaker spot from the live auditions, which was incredible. I mean, it was literally like all the conditioning I had done in the last few years of really being intentional about my state and about how I want to show up in this room and lessons that I learned from the people that I've been around about, you know, just to how to hold presence in a space like that, you know, and play the long game and experience. I wasn't trying to win in the first 10 minutes. I knew this was a long. It was a three day experience, right?

Yeah.

It's like, show up powerfully but just like be present and just like trust, you know, like trust yourself, you know, let's.

Let's unpack that for a second because I want. I think there's such a teaching moment here that's so important and I don't want to overlook it. Number one, I'll even go a step farther back if I remember. Didn't you only audition because somebody you knew said they were auditioning? You're like, oh, I'm going to do that.

Yeah. Another woman in the group that I had been talking with on different things, so she asked me, she's like, hey, I'm an audition for this. Will you, will you take a look at my video and give me some feedback? And I'm like, audition for what? And she was totally that I'm like, I didn't even see that. I was like, well, if I'll look at it, but I'm going to audition too.

Here you are. Ended up being the top one. So 600 applicants. Okay. Think about anybody in business today that has a goal. 600 applicants. Your goal is to get to number one. We could say that's some pretty big odds.

Yeah.

What would you say from your conditioning, putting yourself in peak state mindset? What were some of the lessons or things you took away from that, that allowed you to go from there are 600 of us to here I am standing on top of the mountain.

Yeah. You know, for one thing, Andy, the whole process, for me, I was just having fun, you know, enjoy the journey. Yeah. I didn't take it too seriously. Like, if I didn't get picked. All right, whatever. I was doing other things, but I was like, how cool would that be? You know? And so, yeah, I gave it my best, and I showed up as my best self. But I had fun with it. You know, the whole process was enjoyable. And I do want to drop, like, a little seed because, you know, I love that we can have this conversation about, you know, the universe, and, like, you put your mind where you want it to be and things will manifest for you. And I love that you brought out how this whole experience started was she reached out to me and told me about it. You know, that's the universe. Like, presenting this opportunity.

Yep.

Because we can fast forward that a little bit, and it's. Yeah, I got the top speaking spot. And then shortly thereafter, I do a podcast with Dean and him, and I just had a great conversation. And, you know, a week after that, he invited me out to Scottsdale and had a conversation about, you know, they were building the coaching and training department of KBB and asked me if I wanted to be a part of that. And, you know, that was almost seven months ago. And, you know, here I am today. You know, I'm the director of coaching for Tony Robbins and Degrassiosis, KBB and Mastermind Company, which is. It's. It's mind blowing. Right?

I love it.

Like, it's. It's. I'm doing everything that I want to do. You know, a year ago is like, what do I want to do? Like, where do I want my focus to be? Yeah. Like, I wanted to be out there coaching. I want to be out there spreading this message, our mindset. I want to be a mastermind environments. I want to be around high performers. I want to build a team. I Want to be in the room with people like Tony and Dean. And it's just like I knew what I wanted, but I had no idea it was going to show up in the way that it did.

Correct.

And so when it showed up in this vehicle, it's like at first, like I didn't realize it right away and then I started to see all the things I was doing. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is exactly what I asked for. This is exactly what I have.

That aha moment, that epiphany.

Yeah. Oh man, it was such a beautiful moment. So cool.

Well, if you don't wouldn't mind and if you're cool with doing this, would you now that you are the director of coaching for kbb, would you mind taking a minute describing for the people who have no clue what KBB is, would you mind taking a minute to talk about it and what it is and what you're doing?

Yeah, a hundred percent. KBB is knowledge broker blueprint, which is we basically use this course in our training programs to teach people how to extract their expertise and put it in a mastermind type environment so that they can teach other people the things that they know to help them move the needle in their lives farther and faster than they would on their own.

That's awesome. So if somebody wanted to.

Can anybody join that kind of course? If somebody wanted to, to learn how to do just that, what is the most appropriate way to start that process?

Yeah, I mean the best, easiest, I mean the only way to start is to get into the course. Right. So you buy kbp, which gives you the blueprint, the A to Z step by step process of how do you actually create a mastermind and launch a mastermind.

Got it. Cool. Well, let's talk about that because you and I met in a mastermind and I think we can both agree fast foundations changed our lives here. You are now focused on masterminds. If I were to ask you simply arvind, what are the top two or three things that make masterminds so impactful? What are they to you?

Man, there was such a relief to walk into a room of like minded people. You know, I think every single one of us walked into that room feeling like the imposter. Like I was like, man, everybody's got everything figured out except for me. I just kind of snuck into the room and as soon as they figure out that I don't have it all figured out, you know, they're going to look at me and be like, what are you doing here? You don't get out of here. But no, like, you walk in, it was just like. And everybody started to share, like, what their experience was. And it was like, oh, my gosh, I'm going through that too. That's exactly what I'm going through. And it's just like, yeah, this is what the experience is. What you feel is like your unique experience is actually what we're all feeling. And when I was able to connect everybody like that and realize that we're all just doing our best to figure things out, man, it just, it just. It was liberating. It was liberating. And then just to have the connections, you know, it's just to have you guys that we can call at any time and you just get it, you know, Because a lot of times the people in our lives, yeah, they love and they care about us and they want to support us, but very few of them are actual, you know, entrepreneurs or in this space where they understand what this experience is like. So to have those, to have you guys to be able to lean on and get perspective, because you get it, it's just so incredibly valuable.

What about the accountability? Do you feel. Do you feel accountability? For me, I think, you know, I've been a part of several masterminds in the last five years, some good, some average. But the ones that have excelled are the ones that have absolutely held me 100% accountable to make sure the big promises, the big goals I'm setting for myself that I'm taking action on. Do you feel like especially fast foundations? We just talked about the big one. You just did. Where do you view accountability as part of a mastermind?

Oh, it's. I mean, accountability is essential to success. But what's so unique about the accountability in a mastermind is it's too twofold, right? It's like you have the respect of the person running it and you have the respect of your peers. And it's just a heightened sense of accountability because you don't want to let those people down. And, you know, I remember, you know, when we were in Fast Foundations, you know, Chris pushed me to take a scary action and he could tell I was hesitating a little bit. And he's like, arvin, I'm going to tell you right now, if you don't do this, I don't even want to know you, bro. Like, don't call me, don't text me, don't email me, don't sign up for my masterminds again. I don't even want to know you. Either you step up and you do it, or I don't want. I don't want you around me. Right. Like, I don't want that kind of person in my circle. And I respected that. You know, I'm like, hell, yeah, I wouldn't. I wouldn't want me around me either.

But I did it, you know? Scary shit, but I did it. Yeah, it was. But it was. You needed that. You needed that push.

Well, and you bring up such a good, important point. I mean, I felt the same way. I remember having a conversation with Chris before I even joined, and I go, man, I have no idea if I'm even a fit for this. Like, I don't know if I qualify. I don't know what your requirements are, because I didn't see myself even at that point. Maybe I didn't even see myself as an entrepreneur. And then you do walk in and you're like, I'm going to be the dumbest in the room.

And they're going to find out. I don't actually know.