UPLEVEL Your Tribe. UPLEVEL Your Results! [Friday Bullpen Sessions Episode 30]

Hey, hey, hey. It's Friday. You know what that means? It is time for Friday Bullpen sessions. My name is Andy Neary and this is episode 30. Today I want to talk about getting outside your comfort zone. And this message was inspired by some news that I got late last week that a guy that I had looked up to immensely as a child and still look up to him, he's a great human being. He and his son were involved in a very serious car accident. The good news is they're alive, they're with us. They have a long road to recovery ahead of them, but we are blessed that they are still with us. Amongst that news, I also received news that some colleagues of mine have been diagnosed with some long term illnesses. Friends of mine have lost loved ones unexpectedly. It was just this whole mix of negative emotions. For whatever reason, it got me thinking about my childhood. And this is where I'm going today with today's message about getting outside your comfort zone. You see, I grew up in a neighborhood. When I was a kid, we had about 20, 25 children in the neighborhood and I was one of the youngest kids on the circle. We lived on a, literally lived on a circle. And my sister is six years older than I and most kids in the neighborhood were somewhere between four, five, six years older than I was. And when you are one of the youngest in the neighborhood, here's what typically happens. And if you were also in this spot, you can probably put yourself right back in this picture like I can. You often get picked on a lot, right? You take a beating, not so much physically as you do emotionally and mentally. You know, the older kids are always trying to get you to do things, get you to do things outside your comfort zone to see how far you'll go. But you're also not allowed to sit complacent, right? You can't whine in your Cheerios. You fell down and hurt your knee, rub some dirt on it, get back up.

And you always have to think and play bigger, literally when you're playing with the bigger kids, right? And I also thought about.

In my early teens when I was the bat boy for my dad's high school baseball teams. And I was constantly surrounded by the older guys that I looked up to, right? The juniors and seniors on the varsity baseball team. I was constantly looking up to them. It forced me to think bigger and play bigger. They didn't let you sit complacent even as the bat boy, right? They often picked on you. They tried to get you to do things just outside your Comfort zone, just like my neighborhood. But here I am now as an adult and constantly surrounding myself with older, wiser kids.

Has helped me do the same thing in my business life.

Right? When I think about what has taken me the farthest in my business career, it is the constant drive to surround myself with people who are playing at a level above me, who get me outside my comfort zone, who will challenge me to do things that I normally wouldn't do, and who do not let me sit complacent.

Whether it be a mastermind, whether it be hiring a coach, or just surrounding myself with peers who are going to level me up and challenge me consistently. That has been the single biggest factor in the success of my business career. Early on in my business career, I didn't do that, right? I just surrounded myself with people who thought like me. I surrounded myself with people who let me wine in my Cheerios, people who only validated what I already knew. And so I ask you this same question right now.

Look at where you are today.

And I want you to think about who you are surrounding yourself in your business world, in your business life. Are they people who are leveling you up, People who are challenging you to be better? Or are you finding that you're trying to surround yourself with people who do nothing more than just validate what you already know? You see, early on in my business career, I was guilty of trying to take way too many opinions. But here was the problem with seeking opinions. I wasn't actually seeking opinions. I was actually just seeking people who would validate that I was right. I just wanted people to tell me I was right. I didn't really want the opinion.

And then I also. Then that's what led me to actually surrounding myself with the wrong people. They weren't challenging me, they weren't holding me accountable. They were just whining like I was about their unhappy position in their business life. But it wasn't until I joined a couple masterminds about three or four years ago that I really realized what it meant to level up. You see, I can remember joining the first mastermind and it was industry specific within the health insurance industry. And I remember the day I was asked to join and I said yes. I was scared shitless. Why? Because I immediately thought that I might be the dumbest in the room. This mastermind was filled with veterans, people who have already had massive success in the health insurance industry. And here I was, this kid at the time, 30, what, 35, 36 years old and. And I'm going to join this Mastermind, what the heck do I know?

But looking back, that couldn't have been better. That was the smartest decision I made. It was getting in this room with people who were better than me, who are going to challenge me, who are going to make me think different, and who are going to put me in uncomfortable spots all the time. Massive success is just on the other side of fear. Since then, I have gone on to join multiple masterminds, because every time I join a new mastermind, my goal is to surround myself with people who are going to be better than I am, people who are going to force me to think and do things differently. And every single time, I couldn't have been happier with the investment I made. No matter how large that investment is, it has always paid dividends. It has always given me roi. So I ask you the same question right now. If you own your business, if you're out there responsible for selling, it can be a very lonely world. And are you trying to do it alone, or are you guilty of finding yourself surrounding yourself with people who aren't quite at the same level you are because it makes you feel good. I use the sports analogy. You know, you get these teams that want to play in leagues filled with other teams who just aren't quite as good as they are. Why? Because it feels good, right? You go out, you just pound the crap out of every other team out there, whether it's in baseball, basketball, or football. It feels good to run up the score. But are you actually growing? If you're playing teams every single week that quite frankly suck and they're nowhere near your level of talent, is your team actually getting better? Yes. You're 10 0. You've won by an average margin of eight runs or 20 points on the football field. But are you actually getting better? Or.

Do you want to put yourself in that league where every single team is going to challenge you every single week? Yes. Early on, your record might stink, but every week you're going to get better. Every year, you're going to get better. And when you look back three, five, ten years, you can't believe how good your team has become because of the leveling up on the talent of the field, the leveling up of your competition. That is the same thing you need be. You need to be doing in your business world, surround yourself with a tribe of people, whether it be in a mastermind, whether it be through a coach, a mentor, that are going to force you to do things differently, that are going to force you to. To think differently and to get uncomfortable every single day and quite frankly, most importantly, who are going to hold you accountable for doing the things you said you're going to do. So that is my ask of you today. I'm going all the way back to my childhood and I would tell you the number one factor in my life that has probably helped me more today than it ever has is the ability of growing up around kids who were older and wiser than I was. It made me think bigger, it made me play bigger and it was did not let me sit complacent. And you need to do the same thing right now. I asked myself what would life be like for me right now if I was actually the oldest in my neighborhood? I think it would be a lot different. So again, if you own your business, you're in sales, wherever you are in your business career right now, I urge you to find your tribe. Find those people that are going to level you up. Make the investment in a mastermind, make the investment in a coach, a mentor, whatever it takes. But it's time for you to get better. It's time for you to seek the advice you've been needing to seek. And it might not be the advice you want to hear, but it's the advice you have to hear that is the quickest way you are going to shorten the learning curve to success. So get out, do it today. Find out where you can surround yourself with the right people. And if you are in need, you are in need of surrounding yourself with a good tribe who's all interested in leveling up and having one hell of an experience at the same time. I'm excited to make a huge announcement next week. Be on the lookout for the Complete game Mastermind. If you know you need to level up your daily habits and rituals, you need to clarify that message for your target audience and then figure out the distribution channels to create massive over awareness for your message so you can grow your business. That is the complete Game Mastermind. So giving you early, early warning, early word, be on the lookout. It's going to be an unbelievable mastermind. But until then, do yourself a favor, sit down, figure out where you are right now, figure out who you're surrounding yourself with and go take the time, Take the step to surround yourself with professionals who are going to force you to level up. You will never regret that you made that choice and made that investment. All right, until next time. You know what happens when clarity and confidence collide. Action happens. Go make it happen today.

Hey, I hope you are liking these bullpen session episodes. If you are enjoying them and finding them impactful, please go subscribe to the podcast, give it a five star rating and if you know a of any peers or colleagues that would also find this content to be extremely helpful, do me a favor. Share the podcast with them. I'd be extremely grateful. Until next week, have a great weekend and here's to success.