Traditional vs. Transformational Lifestyles | Journey Principles Podcast 012

Welcome to the Journey Principles, where we show you how to go from stuck to unstoppable with life strategies that work. Now, here's your host and creator of the Transform youm Framework, Stephen Scoggins.

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Journey Principles with Steven Scoggins, my buddy, director of connections, Connor Kraft. So happy you're here. Coming to you not live. When you see this, it'll be recorded here from the live event center in Raleigh, North Carolina, city of Oaks. Again, so happy you're here. We're going to jump into today's featured conversation that we've kind of set up for the last week, which when we were kind of talking about what makes successful people tick, what makes them take someone from getting started to getting moving, like so kind of that kind of theology. So we're going to jump into the next piece of thing. As always, I'm going to let Connor tell us what is up for today. So what are we doing?

Yeah, so today we're going to talk about the two different types of lifestyles.

So now you mentioned one of this is one of your favorite lessons. Why?

Oh, yeah. So I just. I think that this one, especially in our whiteboard lesson. So we do a whiteboard lesson about this exact topic, which I believe at the time that this podcast gets released, it will have been released on YouTube yesterday.

Okay.

So if you go on YouTube, find us Journey Principles with Stephen Scoggins. Everything we teach and talk about today in today's podcast lesson is kind of put in a much more clear, concise way on our whiteboard lesson. So we'd recommend you watch that. We'll put that as well.

We do a total deep dive.

Yeah, we do a deep dive. And it's for if you're visual and you want to really see it, because this one's a more visual one. But we're gonna go into the two different types of lifestyles, basically. Last podcast, we talked about the differences between successful and unsuccessful people. One of the big ones was the way that they live their life. We've identified that there's really two different types of lifestyles. One that a successful person operates within and one that an unsuccessful person operates within.

Or I would say someone struggles with success.

Right. So those are the two things we're teaching is what is the difference between those lifestyles?

All right, now, I've taught you this lesson two or three times. So what are the four phases that someone has to go through?

Am I not allowed to look?

You can totally look.

Cool. I'm allowed to look.

All Right.

So I know. So the four different phases are the same phases for both different lifestyles. The difference is the order that they come in. So the phases.

Save the secret. Just tell us the phases.

The phases are outlook, your daily routines and actions, strategic steps.

And outcomes and results. So I like to look at that as your outlook on life, your plan. So do you have a plan and stuff? That's what I meant by daily routines is your plan then. Strategic steps and action steps. So are you actually taking action? What are the actions that you make now?

You've actually applied this to your own life in the last couple of, gosh, year and a half. Right. Would you say that what we're teaching is totally legit?

Absolutely. And then I'd take it further and say that this particular lesson is critical if you want to understand why you felt stuck. So if you feel stuck in your life and you feel like you're living your life like Groundhog Day and it's on repeat, we talked about that. This is probably, if I had to pick one lesson to be the primary cause maybe between this and Grow, which we talked about as well, which is my real favorite, this is probably possibly my number too, because it kind of builds on that, basically. Just stay tuned, guys. This, this, this, this lesson's really awesome.

So what I want to do first is I want to actually break down the problem. You mentioned that people feel stuck and they, or they, they feel frustrated, overwhelmed, and stuck or those are the three top things we hear most often from the people that we're trying to serve. Right? Right. I feel frustrated, I feel overwhelmed, I feel stuck. And of course, there's fear and there's self worth and there's all these insecurities. There's all that kind of stuff around it. This. But when you look at the center, when you dissect it all the way down, you get to the word stuck. Okay. I learned a long time ago that there was a specific way that if you lived your life in a specific way, in a specific order, that you bear a lot of fruit. Now, part of that is something that Steve Myrick told me, and then Susan Batts, who was the one that talked me off the bridge, kind of shared my story not long ago. Now I want to talk about them step by step. Okay, so let me go ahead and walk you through what a traditional lifestyle kind of looks like. And this is a traditional lifestyle. The way we like to say it is actually the one that makes you feel like you're stuck. Right. A traditional lifestyle is the traditional way in which people from the United States and surrounding countries unfortunately go about their daily life that seldom get actual attraction.

Right. The majority of people are living a traditional lifestyle, which is why even though that's the one that keeps you stuck, that's actually also the most common one, which is why it's traditional.

Well, it's because you don't know what you don't know. I mean, I always like to say those who think they're poor always are. Right. So it doesn't matter if you're poor in spirit, poor in finances, poor in relationships. If you think you're lacking, and that's your focus, you always will be. Okay. That's the definition of an outlook. Most people judge tomorrow based on the previous day's results.

So what is your outlook? If you had to really define it? I know you just kind of said that was the definition, but to make it a little bit more clearer, what is your outlook?

Yeah. So your outlook is the lens in which you view the world.

Okay. And that could be based on your experiences up to this point.

Yeah.

And we get into all that. Yeah. Okay, cool. So that's.

Yeah. So you're. It's the lens in which you view the world. A lot of people especially that have a more victim minded mentality, unfortunately have a very, very, very unhealthy outlook on the world. Right. I'm not saying that they didn't suffer through some things and there wasn't some trauma and stuff like that. What I'm saying is they've chosen to stay there. Right. And what makes this so devastating to people, regardless of whether or not it's been trauma or just like you just feel like you're stuck. Right. Is it's the outlook that controls everything else. You know, we talked about in the last podcast about the three legs. Right. The way they think. Right. The way they learn and the way they act or way they live kind of. Right, right. Kind of deal. Right. Well, if you think about it, this is kind of the same way. Right. You have to follow this process. And what I like to think is more of a sphere. Right. So in the whiteboard lesson, I actually draw this out on the board. We're actually going to great detail. And the first thing that I do is I draw a sphere on the wall.

Well, it's a circle.

Circle.

Right.

Well, I guess we could make it a sphere, but.

Yeah, yeah, right. A sphere is like more three dimensional, but. Right. It's a circle.

See, he gets me with semantics all the time.

You have these four steps.

Right. And the order in which you put them together determines whether or not you were going to live in a traditional lifestyle and stuck or if you're going to move towards a transformational lifestyle and become unstoppable.

So do you think it would be a better idea to just go through traditional first and then just list out.

What are the first steps? Yeah, totally. So again, the four phases you mentioned before, outlook, daily routines, strategical plan. Right. And then your overall outcome.

Yeah, actually in order. It's outlook, plan, action, steps, then outcome.

So here. So here's the problem with a traditional lifestyle. First of all, you're starting the process all wrong. You're starting the process on what happened to you up until this date. Right. On your belief systems, your values, your different environments you're in, whether or not you've been laid off from a job, all that kind of stuff. Right. You're bringing, you're essentially starting your new day with the garbage of yesterday and.

You'Re bringing yesterday's problems into today.

Exactly. Which is not wise.

Okay. So the first part or the first step to a traditional lifestyle is you're waking up every day and you bring in all the baggage, all the negative belief systems, all the problems from yesterday, last week, last month, last year, into.

Today'S outlook and the next, the next.

Really, the next, usually negative. If you feel like your life's not going well, you're not going to unhappy.

You'Re not going to attack the world like it could go somewhere. Yeah.

You probably wake up, you may actually watch.

I've actually watched this happen last week. I had a team member that was kind of in that place and they were up for promotion. They had no idea. So we brought them in to sit them down and actually talk about a promotion. They were so negative in the way in which they were approaching the entire thing. We decided to pass on the promotion.

Oh no.

Yeah, right. Because people who are employed people, and on a roundabout way, they want to have people who are productive and optimistic by nature. Not saying that they're not designed to bring up red flags because we do want people that can do that. But you don't want people to be so wrapped up in the negative of life that they completely, completely bypass the positive things that are going on. Right. And that's how powerful this thing called outlook is. Right.

So how many people are driven by their outlook?

I mean, everybody right now that's probably not getting unfortunately any kind of momentum. I mean, everything that everybody's person that we've talked to, that we've worked with over the last five years. Right. Has all started with, you don't understand what happened to me. You don't understand what happened around me. You don't understand why I can't succeed. And we're like, no, we do understand it. I've been there. I've done that. I've got the T shirt, the hoodie, and the sweatshirt. Right.

So these people are taking themselves out of the ball game before they even get up to this plate. Exactly.

Which means they're attacking. All right, so just go back. Go back around the circle. Okay, so their outlook is not positive. It's not focused. It's bringing yesterday into today. And the next step is they do an automatic daily routine action. Right.

Because really, the second step is your plan. But they don't have a plan.

Exactly.

So they skip over the second step, which is a plan, which basically becomes a lack of a plan.

Yeah.

And then straight through to action steps. So really, the order is. Is the order actually. Anyway.

Yeah. So. All right, so this is how I. This is how I. This is how I do it. Okay. Outlook is obviously, for traditional lifestyles, is negative or it's not. It's. It's not launching you forward. Daily activities are automatic, which means that creates a lack of a strategy. You're not using a strategy.

So that's why you have them flipped.

That's exactly.

Because I'm thinking we have to create a plan before you operate on.

And then. And the fourth piece is the outcome.

Okay.

They're getting what they've always gotten. And because they're starting with their outlook, that's what they're always getting.

Right. Because I just want to clarify, in the whiteboard lesson, we mention the lack of a strategy or plan as the second step.

Yeah.

So I didn't want to confuse people, but basically, those two can be kind of interchangeably flipped. But.

Yeah, because they have. Because they're not being utilized.

Because if you don't have a plan. Right. You're gonna just take action. So to recap so far, go ahead. So you have your. You wake up every day with all of yesterday's issues, all of your baggage. You have a negative mindset about. About your. Your capabilities. You're living in the past. Okay. You're waking up. You're like, ugh, another day of this. You're still worried about what happened yesterday. You're worried about all your issues. And then you don't really take the time because you're not focused on your future. You're focused on your past. So what you're doing is you're not creating a plan. So you're basically living by habit. Because when you don't have a plan and you don't, you're not intentional about the actions you take. You're gonna live on autopilot.

Well, and if you live on autopilot long enough, right. The force of habit becomes like anchors, right? It like anchors in and it takes. That's why for some people, it's more difficult even when we teach them the transformational lifestyle, for them to break free. Like, some people really have to work at it because it's become so muscle memory, so anchored in, so deeply rooted in who they've become, that we have to teach them how to unroot that thing, pull the weeds, right. And make that garden grow some more. Okay? So I'd like to think it like that. Look, the greatest mistake I ever made, Connor, the greatest mistake I ever made was living with these traditional lifestyle pieces, okay? I did not know there was another way. I did not know that there was a possibility. I did not know there was a future. Right? Because my influences that were around me were constantly telling me, no, this is all, this is what you were made for. You were made to be a construction worker. You were made to do this, you were made to do that. You were made to live in a trailer park. You were made to struggle with money. You were made to borrow and not repay. Right? My influence in that season of life, that was the environment. And by doing that long enough, if I hadn't had Steve Myrick and Susan Batts and Dave Ramsey and all these. Chris Locurto and all these different people that have been positive influences in my life would still be stuck. Right? That's why this pivoting and understanding the transformational lifestyle is more important for sure.

So wrapping up traditional, so you got the outlook which leads into you don't have a strategy or plan. So you're just living by habit. Okay? Those could be interchanged or whatever, but you're living by habit. You're just doing whatever. Which means, obviously your outcomes and results are going to be the exact same as they were yesterday. Which means, keep in mind, this is a cycle. You're gonna wake up tomorrow. Cause your outcomes and results today are gonna be the same as they were yesterday. Cause you didn't change your strategy. You don't have one. So what's happening is you need to get the same results you got yesterday. And then tomorrow you're gonna wake up and what are you gonna do again?

Same thing you did Yesterday outlook.

You're gonna wake up and be like, well, yesterday sucked because you didn't have a different plan yesterday because you lived by routine and habit and all that. And it's an endless cycle and you'll stay stuck. One thing I wanted to touch on real quick, there's a Warren Buffet quote that I just looked up that I wasn't sure if it was Warren Buffett, but it says it is and it says, they say that the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. The chains you put around yourself now have enormous consequences as you go through life.

That's right.

Now I don't want anybody who feels like, oh, well, my chains might be too hard to be broken. Look, there's a thing, right? The brain is a very powerful thing. So I don't want you to misinterpret that quote. However, the longer that you stay in a negative pattern, the harder it will become. That doesn't mean that there's a threshold where you can no longer do it. I believe human will is insurmountable. However, just keep in mind that's why now is so important. Don't wait till next year, five years from now, to take this seriously because your habits are just gonna get deeper, ingrained. It's gonna be more difficult in five years. Do the work. Now let's move on to the transformational lifestyle.

Yeah. So first of all, one final thing. Look, living an amazing life, it does not happen by accident. It takes a plan. Right? It takes action. It takes mentorship and accountability. Right? If you will do those things, you will learn to win, period. And we want to help you do that. All right? And the greatest way we can do that is to actually tell you the reverse of that, which is actually teach you and explain to you the transformational lifestyle. Are you ready? Ready to jump into it?

I'm excited. All right. This is the right way to do.

This is the right way to do things. All right? And this is gonna make so much more sense because you know when you do things the other way and you get in what you've always gotten, you can't be excited about tomorrow.

Well, right. And hopefully everyone listening can understand how when we just went through that cycle, you can understand why it's a self fulfilling prophecy, right? Because literally it just makes sense. It's a cycle. So how do you do this the right way?

So how do you do this the right way? And you can start where you're at, right? You can start today. Alright? Is you're going to focus on your outcome. What do you want your life to be? What do you want it to be? Who do you want to impact? If you could wake up and do anything in the world, what would it be? Right. You really want to get crystal clear on the outcome you want in all eight pillars. And we like to teach you to focus on the eight, the pillar in your eight pillars, that is the greatest struggle first, because there's gonna be things you're already doing really well, right? There's gonna be other areas that are big struggle, right? But get crystal clear on the outcome you want, alright? Because when you do that, you can move on to the next step, which is creating a strategy to get there and we can help you with that for sure. Alright? Once you have a outcome that you're searching for or you're going after a goal, a goal with what I like to call micro goals within it, okay? You have a strategy from going from where you are today to where you want to go, no matter what the eight pillar is, once you have the area of life.

So if you don't know what the eight pillars are, we have a podcast on it, we have videos on it. That's how we separate the areas of life. So financial life, relational fitness, all that. So we recommend you check that out if you don't know what that is.

Yeah, for sure. Once you got that strategy in place, now you can take a daily action, what we like to refer to as a daily routine. Once you know what actions to take because your outcome has told you what your strategy needs to be. Now your strategy is telling you what you need to do day in and day out for the next 12 to 18 months. Okay? Once you do that, then you have a reinforced and confident based outlook because you're getting results and you're making progress. And you're making progress. See, it's not the ultimate result that tends to make people happy. It's whether or not they're actually making progress, whether or not they're actually taking a step forward and getting, you know, in Dave Ramsey's theology, with the financial debt snowball, one of the things he's trying to do with that snowball is he's trying to get you some early wins. Right? Early wins motivate you to go after it at another level, and then another win makes you go after it at another level and another win makes you at yet another level.

Yeah, I've definitely started to see that.

Which is why we refer to the transformational lifestyle. Unstoppable. Right, right.

It's taking you from stuck to unstoppable. That's it.

Yeah. I mean, it's literally that simple. And I know it sounds too simple and too good to be true, but people, I'm telling you, the reason that you've been stuck all this time you've been stuck in the place, you haven't made any forward progress is because you're simply living the wrong lifestyle.

Well, what's crazy is the thing that I like about this, and that's why earlier when I heard you say this, because I know this content, I went, ah. Because it also clicked for me. I realized that the last step in the traditional lifestyle and the first step are flipped. And so all you're doing that's really different here to live the transformational lifestyle versus the traditional is you go from waking up based on your outlook and focused on outlook first and then ending up with a result, to you wake up. You focus on your future, not your past, and you say, where do I want to go? You start with your outcome that you desire, and then you end up with a positive outlook. Because now you've created a strategy, you've started taking action steps, you're gonna have progress. That progress fuels a better outlook. That's like, wow, maybe I can do this. Then you refine your outcome as you go wake up every day and do that instead. And then you're proactive. Dude, that's it.

Dude, I am so unbelievably proud of you.

Thanks.

I am zonked at the moment.

I'm just trying to learn, bro. So I'm super.

You're doing a heck of a job at it.

So I guess, do we have to teach here?

I think the question people have to ask themselves is, are they ready to start the journey? Are they ready to actually answer the call? Are they ready to start the journey, get clear on their outcomes and like, are they seriously ready? Because you got to get started. And that should be your total mindset. I got to get started. I got to get started. I got to get started. And to get started, all you have to do is do four specific things, right? To actually start to build this and make this reality. We've already talked about them, but I'm going to re go over them one more time before we wrap the show up. Right. First of all, you want to list out all your desired outcomes on paper along with why you want that outcome. Why is it important? Okay.

This could be in any area of your life.

Could be in any area of your life.

All your basically your Goals, your desires.

It's your goals. It's your desires.

This is where you want your life to be.

My daughter, you know, for those of you who don't know, my daughter is an adopted daughter, okay? I met her as a. She was a single waitress working at a restaurant, right? She was pregnant with her first. With her first child, her only child right now, but her first child. And she was terrified. We learned that she had been through a pretty traumatic situation just recently. I don't have permission to share it, so I'm not going to. But she had been through something pretty terrible. And as a result, she was kind of in that zone where she was kind of struggling, right? And something kind of spoke to me and said, children of light. See, children of light. You're a child of light. And she started crying, okay? Now, the reason that's important is because the very first thing that my wife and I began to tell her and teach her was that she had to list her outcomes, her goals, her aspirations and what she wanted. Now, keep in mind, she was working at a restaurant, right? Making basically minimum wage plus tips. She had a baby on the way, father was basically gone, right? Father was kind of a toxic, not great guy, right? And as a result, she felt like she had no potential, no opportunity. But yet one of the things that she wanted more than anything else in the world was to own her own home.

So she had this desire already in her head. She just had no idea how to get to it. And she wasn't waking up every day focused on outcome first. She was focusing on outlook, which had been holding.

So no matter how far fetched, what I'm getting at is, no matter how far fetched you think this is, no matter how far fetched your goal or aspiration is, get it on paper. Because I will tell you that this year, and I want to say February of this year, my daughter bought her first house. Now she put into practice exactly what we're teaching you on a day in and out basis.

It doesn't take her long either.

No, it doesn't take anybody long if they'll actually focus on it. The problem is focused. Remember Dave Ramsey's momentum theorem? Focused intensity over time. Multiply. God's grace equals unstoppable momentum. Yeah, right. Not saying that she's like, not like everybody else, that she doesn't have struggles from time to time or whatever, but if she longs, you pick yourself back up and keep going. You're in good shape. So create your list that will help you create a plan. Start with Your outcome in mind. Work backwards, right? If you need help with creating this plan, feel free to reach out to us. Questionsuryprinciples.com Right. I want to say the Five Principles for a Breakthrough ebook@journeyprinciples.com Resources also has this methodology inside of it, along with a little template to kind of help you use. Right. But make sure you start with your list, create the plan, then ask yourself, what daily action can I take today and every day for the next 12 to 18 months to bring this thing to reality? My daughter, for example, get out of debt, save as much money as possible. Right? Live on less than she made. Okay. Try to find a higher weight, higher income job. Right? All of which she did, which led her to her ultimate goal. Okay, so list, plan, apply daily routine, and then enjoy the terrific results.

The other thing is that if she had let the multiple steps involved, like, oh, well, to get my own house. That doesn't seem possible right now because I don't make enough money because I just have this job as a waitress. I don't have the job with the level of income I need. I need to learn how to budget. I. So I think people, when they have an outcome and it's just in their head, they haven't listed it out. They haven't taken these steps because a lot of people watching, they know what they want, but they're still living a traditional lifestyle. So I want to clarify that.

That's why you have to take action.

Right? And if you have this in your head, though, a lot of people talk themselves out of actually taking this first step to create a plan because they list it in their head, they're like, well, hang on. And they do what I'm saying your daughter might have done, which is basically where she might have had a situation where she's like, okay, I want this house. But I see multiple impediments in my head. So why should I even create?

Focus on the roadblocks. You got to focus on the outcome. Never focus on the roadblocks. Never focused on yesterday.

So don't think about what will stand in your way. Don't think about where you're going. And then create a plan to overcome whatever will stand.

Absolutely never talk yourself out of your future.

Never, ever, ever, Never ever talk yourself out of your future. You have no idea what you can actually accomplish if you simply go after it. So what if it takes you an extra year? Who cares? You still got there.

Another principle that I personally, deeply, believe in is that almost everything has a solution. Almost Every problem. That's a very growth mindset way that I'm. Why I've always been wired that way as since a kid. I've never struggled.

And there's not only one way to solve a problem. We'll get into that in our mindset lessons.

Everything has a solution within reasonable. I mean, I guess there's the one guy who's like, well, you can't find fly. I mean, kind of. We did figure out how to fly, just not with wings, but. But you know, or you can't raise the dead.

Some of those wing suits, they challenge that.

I know. So I'm saying, like, within reason, guys. But I mean, here's another thing. If what you're trying to do has been done before, which most of you, probably 99% of you, it has, your goal is like to buy a house. Your goal is like to become a millionaire. There's been a lot of millionaires. It's doable.

The only difference is, is those people focus on outcomes first.

Absolutely.

That is the only stinking difference. It's changing the way you think, changing the way you live, and changing the way you learn.

That's it.

That's it. Do those and do those well, with consistency, with integrity, with accountability, and measuring your daily activities and you will get there, period.

Yeah. And guys, if you want to help us out, if you want to learn, then just come check out the rest of our.

You guys are more than.

Yeah.

So look, we're running out of time.

Yes.

But I want to make sure that everybody can stay connected to us. So first of all, I want to make sure that you understand that you can ask any question you want. Sometimes we'll answer it here, on air, on YouTube, on podcast, form, blog form, or even within a little iPhone video. Right? Our goal is to get the content that you need into your hands to help you transform every single area of your life. No question is off limits. Right. We want to make sure that you get what you need to succeed.

Send them in.

Right. Because if it hadn't been done for me, meaning if I hadn't had the courage to ask the questions or I didn't have the mentor that was willing to ask the questions, there's no telling where I would be, including not even being here. Right. We care about you, we think about you, we believe in you, and we know that you can get this done. You can do this. Like, don't doubt it. You can do this, and we want to help you do that. So meanwhile, JourneyPrinciples.com resources all kinds of free resources there to help you on your journey. Questionsurityprinciples.com if you want to ask a question. Right. And then if you still want to connect with us, feel free to connect with us on social. There's all kinds of. All kinds of handles.

So. Yeah, one of the things that's so kind of difficult about trying to get people all this content is like a lot of the Steven Scoggins names were taken, so we had to come up with unique handles and all that. So.

Well, you can find me on Facebook at Steven Scoggins. You can find me on Twitter. StevenScoggin.

Yes. Scoggin. No L s. I know it's hard.

We'll try to. We'll try to put that up on all the videos for sure.

And also if you're watching this on YouTube or in the podcast show, clearly.

You found us there.

Yeah. Every single one of these videos or podcast show notes will have all of the connect links in those as well.

And we do our best to put out free content on each of the different channels based on the people that are actually connecting with us and what they're actually asking. So you, you're feel free to ask the questions on the social channels. It's totally down. Totally.

Please engage. Just let us know any questions you have, any concerns, anything you want us to talk about. Anything.

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This is just the beginning.

The beginning's the understatement.

Yeah.

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