Reinventing Yourself (with Craig Siegel)

Hey, before we get started today, I just want to say thanks for tuning in and if you enjoy listening to the podcast, do me a favor and leave a review. First of all, I'd appreciate your feedback and secondly, your input will allow us to connect with and inspire more people. And with that, let's get started.

Looking back, I know that that happened for me and I had to go through that. I had to really, really, really feel the pain and the darkness to want to see the light. And when I talk about pain, emotional and spiritual pain is far tougher to deal with than physical pain.

This is Reclaim in Advance, a social impact project where we host vulnerable conversations with modern day high performers exploring the lowest points of their personal or professional life, how they recovered and their life on the other side of hardship. My hope is that you'll realize you aren't the only one who goes through tough times and there is a way out. Through these conversations, you'll gain inspiration from the grit and honesty of our guests and you'll learn practical tools and science backed frameworks that empower you to take on new challenges, regardless of how difficult they may seem at first. So if you're ready to join in, let's get started. Craig Siegel is a global keynote speaker, rising thought leader, and former Wall street big shot who left a lucrative job to help people upgrade their mindsets and fulfill their potential. Craig's unique combination of energy, motivation, inspiration and business success has led to the rise of Cultivate lasting symphony which has already impacted the lives of millions worldwide. Craig, how's it going today?

It's going. I'm excited to be here. Let's have some fun.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm, I'm glad to have you here just because we've come to know each other over the last year or so and every time I talk to you, I, I learn something new and something that I, I share with my audience as well. So glad to be getting another chance to do so. But let's just start by explaining who you are. Do you mind introducing yourself here?

Yeah, it's funny, I love this question. My mom still says so. So what do I tell my friends that you do? Exactly. The life of an entrepreneur. So now I'm a coach, speaker, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, best selling author, TEDx, speaker, marathoner, fiance, dog, dad, community builder. I'm sure there's much more in there, but it wasn't always like this. I reinvented myself in the pandemic. Prior to that, I had a totally different identity and a totally different life. I was On Wall street for 13 years, I was making money. As it turns out, there's a lot more to success than just making money. And we'll get into this in a little bit, I'm sure, but I found myself in a really, really dark place. Basically my soul was like exiled. I was just not in alignment. I was a gladiator in the wrong arena. And it got pretty dark for me. And then I stumbled upon running. Beautiful, pure sport, that is running. And the irony there is a couple years back, you couldn't pay me to run. Now I'm literally paying to run marathons. Just ran my seventh in New York City. And that season was so pivotal because I tried so hard at it and it was something that I wasn't good at or natural at, I should say. And I got good. And that kind of led me to finding myself, cultivating purpose, confidence, self belief, and then fast forward the pandemic. What a historic opportunity. I mean, I just looked at this as a moment to just reassess, if not now, then when. And I got quiet for the first time in my life and really just connected and had a bit of a spiritual awakening. I was able to put it all together, identify why I'm here. What I'm absolutely obsessed with, which is personal development. I married that with my gift, my ability to communicate effectively. I started my CLS brand. I didn't want to be the next Tony Robbins, want to be the first Craig Siegel. And I put together a whole vision, kind of like a 10 lane highway, each lane representing a different way to make an impact and also do business. Speaking, coaching, podcast, all the things, book deal, reverse engineered it. And then I got in the arena and I had to overcome. Can you really do this? You're starting a little bit later in life. 35, depending upon who you asked. I might be young, that might be late, but for me, the cost of inaction, the COI was way too high. I would actually rather have died than chosen to go back and be miserable. So I leaned in and the universe liked that. And for the first time in my life, I was in alignment. And so all the things that I said that I am now in is what's transpired over the last three years. And I'd never been more happy, more fulfilled, and quite frankly, I never had more fun.

So right now we're in January 2024 and I'm just curious, what are you excited about this year?

Yeah, what am I not excited about? Right. And it's interesting because when I started cls, my brand in The Pandemic. I just want to make it very real for the listeners because I think this will really resonate. I didn't have a laptop for the first nine months. I didn't have polished content. I didn't even have an llc. I didn't have a business plan. But I felt called, felt a tug at my soul, and I knew this was something that I had to do. And so I leaned in and I started figuring things out along the way. I started building the podcast, obviously, eventually the book deal. We built a huge community and so forth. And so we kind of just completed like the first three year story arc. I picture, like, imagine watching your favorite show and like, the first three seasons are great. They're getting better and better. They don't have the biggest budget yet, and then all of a sudden starts doing very well and they get the budget and they really expand. And maybe not the best example or analogy, but for me right now, what I'm most pumped about is really taking this to that next level of expansion all around. So a couple things that come to mind are infrastructure. I really want to get the organization right. And I'll be honest, like, hiring and finding the right teammates has been a little bit challenging for me. You know, they gotta be the right fit and so forth for both parties. And so we went through a couple employees last year. Now we have a couple that we really, really, really like and we wanna build with so the right infrastructure, systems, processes getting a little bit more organized and then just the next level for everything. Like, for example, our podcast has really exploded. But I started that in the pandemic where everything was zoom. So even just being here in front of you just has me jazzed more in. And also, if I'm being honest with you, because we completed that first three year story arc, I'm really taking some time to think about what is the next three year story arc look like, what would feel good in terms of expansion, and most importantly, how do we make the most impact. So a lot of things that I'm very sure of and intentional and some things I'm still figuring out. Yeah.

What I like about your story is often we think of the constraints in place to pursuing entrepreneurship. Oh, I don't have a website, I don't have an llc. I don't have a business background. And people try to spend time developing that as opposed to thinking about their idea and who they want to help and how to package that instead. So I think it's a good lesson for anyone. And it's funny because I've written a book about how to start a consulting business, and 90% of the people that I interviewed before writing the book who were consultants, they said, look, I didn't have a website when I started out. I don't have anything. I just reached out to my network and said, hey, I'm doing this thing. That's how they grew. So I'm glad that you're removing that artificial constraint to success that a lot of people think is there and it's not actually real.

So.

So I appreciate that, but this is the part I'm always like, how do I introduce this? Right? Because we're about to go off this cliff where we talked about what you're doing right now, and then zoom to the lowest point of your personal professional life that you feel comfortable sharing. So you are up.

Yeah. So first of all, I think that this is a really good podcast and really good theme because this is how you connect to people, right? People see me and you here. Obviously, there's a lot of highs, a lot of success, but it wasn't always like that. It's like the hero's journey, and we fall, we get brought to our knees, we get humbled, and then we overcome it. So that's what makes people connect with us, right? And I think back, like, I'm a bit of a comic book nerd. I think back when I was young and like Superman, right? I was never really able to relate to him because just so perfect, obviously, this kryptonite, but, like, he was like an alien from another place. And just. He's probably one of the most popular, but I just couldn't connect. But then you talk about someone like Batman, essentially, he's a human, very rich human, puts on a suit and fights crime and so forth. I always thought that was relatable. And he's very flawed. And so when we talk about stuff like this, it really helps the audience connect and show them that it wasn't always like this. And if we could do it, so can I. And so to get down to nitty gritty, I think of about four or five years ago, right before the pandemic, right before I discovered running, it was really, really dark. I pivoted from Wall street and I started my own business. We're basically providing working capital to businesses all across the country. Pretty trendy industry, and it was lucrative and it wasn't as stressful. But I knew right away that sometimes change is great change of scenery, but it's gotta be in alignment with who you're becoming. Not Just change to change. Right. And so even though I was at a kind of like a fresh start, I was the owner of the company and had employees, it just. I was waking up on Monday and I had to, like, do a mental workout just to get excited about the day. And just to be clear, I give everything I got to everything I do, but it's very hard to stay inspired when you're not doing things that light up your soul. And so a few years back, a few things happen at once. I just got out of a toxic relationship, which I know now is happened for me, and it was great. And now I'm with my soulmate, my fiance, and so forth, But. But you know how that is when you get out of a toxic relationship. It's never fun. And then also, my best friend, my dad, had just gotten diagnosed with cancer around the same time. He's still battling. My dad's no spring chicken. He's 89 years young. But there was just a bunch of things. And then you take the fact that I was waking up every day to go do something that I didn't really want to do. And for the audience listening, like, you better love what you do because you're going to spend about a third of your life in your career, another third probably sleeping, right? So it's so imperative that you're jazzed about what you do for a living. And I just wasn't. And so I think because of that and the outside stress that was coming in, I started drinking a lot more than I'd like to admit. In fact, sometimes during that time period, and I talk about this a little bit in the book, but. But not often on interviews, I would wake up and start my day off with a morning cup of joe. And it wasn't filled with coffee, if you understand what I'm trying to say. And I was just trying to get through the day. And, you know, I'm definitely not proud of that season at all. It wasn't. It didn't last super long because, thank goodness, I stumbled upon running, or maybe running found me. And I'm so romantic about running because I basically had to stop drinking. I still drink once in a while socially, but at that time, in order to run marathons, which is a stretch for me, is if you reverse engineer it, what kind of cat do I have to become? Disciplined, hardworking, eat right, cut out the booze, go to bed early and so forth. And so I was able to kind of kick that habit. But during that time period that. That brief stint, I would say, you Know, drinking, it was just h. You know, nobody. Whenever you drink and you're in a certain state, you just highlight the state that you're in. And so I was. I. I wasn't like, you know, I wasn't diagnosed depressed, but to me, it seems like I was depressed. I didn't love what I do. You know what? I didn't love myself. And I think that was the worst part. I'd look in the mirror, I didn't like who I saw. I didn't like where I was going. And it's sometimes when you're in that rabbit hole, you think you'll never get out. And. And it's tough. And then little by little, you start cultivating some healthier habits and good things begin to happen and so forth. But I got to tell you, that season of life bringing me back right now, it was dark. I mean, there was nothing really positive about it. Now looking back, I know that that happened for me, and I had to go through that. I had to really, really, really feel the pain and the darkness to want to see the light. And when I talk about pain, emotional and spiritual pain, I imagine you can relate this to brother is far tougher to deal with than physical pain. Right. So the emotional pain and the spiritual pain that I was in during that season, oh, it was terrible. But I also know that it was part of my journey, and it got me to what I'm doing today, which is basically providing a light and showcasing to the world what's possible once you get inspired, get into alignment, find your purpose, double down, and so just bring it back right now. That was a pretty dark time.

So with the. The drinking, I. I had a severe drinking problem.

Really?

Yeah. Yeah.

For.

For years. For years. And it got to the point where I was, like, waking up and drinking as well and then going to work like that. Right. Is that actually Becky?

Yeah.

Yeah. It got really bad. And at the same time, I started doing Krav Maga. I did that, too, but I would go there after drinking.

Oh, wow.

You know what I mean? Like, that's how part of my identity it was. I'm like, I want to be healthy. I want to do something different. Yeah, I'm going to go do this, you know, Krav Maga. But I couldn't go there without drinking. So it's like, wow, man. Like, how addicted are you when you can't even go work out without drinking?

Yeah.

And I talked about this before. Like, I used to not look forward to the day. I was happier at night when it was dark when no one expected anything from me.

Yes.

And I would just get so like anxious when I like heard the birds chirping and the sun's coming up and things like that. And so I know that place and I know a lot of our listeners know that place too. And I know a lot of them might still be in it.

Yeah.

But I'm wondering because to start running, like, I understand you can't be drunk when you're running. Like, shouldn't be drunk when you're doing ka. But was there, was there like a moment that you can think about where you're like, you know what? F this, like, I'm going to start doing better for myself. Like, was there an a person, an experience that you can think, you know what? Like, this is it. And I'll be honest, for me it was going to the hospital because I was like, my blood, my bac was so high. I'm like in an actual hospital. Like they're hooking me up to. They're like, you're. You're like X times the legal limit.

Yeah.

Like, where were you? Oh, I was at home. It's like, geez, you weren't even like at a freaking super bowl party or something. Like, so that was the wake up call for me is literally being in the hospital from, from drinking too much. So I'm wondering if you had hopefully not that bad of an experience.

But first of all, there's so many similarities between us. Every time we get together I learn more. It's awesome. I did Krav Maga for a while too, though not drunk, but that seems like quite a trip in regards to the drinking. You know, it sounds a little cliche, brother, but I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired. And when I, when I literally went for my first run, I was so humbled with the fact that I turned a light, respectable jog into a power walk to finish two miles. And I came home and I was like, whoa. Because I had always worked out, just not really ran. And I was like, am I that out of shape or am I just mentally like not anywhere where I need to be? No mental fitness. And then I started researching literally the next day ran a little further and I just became obsessed with getting better at running because it's such a beautiful sport to me. Because it's really just the Uber's you and it's like you and God. And it's not really opponent per se, unless you're, I guess you're competing. And so I just became Obsessed. And you know what? I have an addictive personality and wasn't always used for the good. Yeah, that's probably why I was drinking more than I should. But as soon as I met up with running, I mean, I just. I changed my obsession from drinking to running. And then that started to open up so many other things. I started to gain a confidence that I never quite had before because I. I started to tell people I didn't have, like, a following. I wasn't like a public figure, but I told people that I was running the New York City Marathon, which was everyone's like, what? I didn't know you ran. And I had to do that for myself. First of all, I was raising money for a charity, so I was doing that. But I had to create exterior expectations because you can drink when no one's looking. Right. But. But you don't want to disappoint other people and so forth.

And so I disappointed a lot of people. You did, as I got fired. Yeah.

Yeah.

So you're more restrained than I was.

But. Well, I had to assume massive accountability by letting people know so that I could try not to disappoint them. And then I just started running. And then, you know, I always knew, just like you, like, I didn't want to drink. I just. I'm not making an excuse. No excuses. But I believe the reason why I was drinking more than I like to admit is because I was so miserable at my career, which should be uplifting. Not to say that it's not problem, especially in entrepreneurship, but like, when you get through a long day at a job that you don't like, you're depleted. You're like, damn, I got to do this again. Like, nowadays, if we have a long day, like we're traveling, speaking, coaching, you're tired, but not depleted. And then the next morning you're re energized. And so I think I was just looking to escape. And when I finally was able to identify what I'm supposed to be doing and what I'm good at and what I'm called to, all my energy just went from that. And the way I was able to get to that was from the running and so forth. And so that's one of the reasons why I think it's very slippery, slow. If you don't like what you do, it just causes a ton of stress and can, you know, not everyone's going to turn to drinking. But I think that's why I was at the time, in addition to the stuff with my dad and My ex and so forth. But, yeah, crazy times.

Yeah. The escape. I can relate to that. For me, I just wanted to go to sleep sometimes too, like, because, like, you have all these thoughts in your head about the day and you're so stressed out and I just wanted to go to sleep.

Yeah.

But now I'm exhausted at the end of the day. But it's a good feeling because I've given so much of my talent, my energy to positive things. Plus exercising. Right. So. So that. That helps. That's really what it was. And it's like, to your point, if you really have to fight that hard to escape your life.

Yeah.

Maybe change your life instead of drinking, you know, like vodka or whatever. So I wish we had this conversation like 10 years ago, but we're here now.

Yeah.

Let's talk about the reinvention formula. What is that?

So that's the book bestseller now, which I'm super pumped about. You know, I didn't do everything right my whole life. Not even close. Over the last three years, we've done a lot right. And humbly, I could say that even if somebody didn't like me. Hard to believe. I know. One thing they probably couldn't deny is that I reinvented myself very successfully. In other words, I had one life. And then pretty quickly I stepped into a totally different identity in life and had what most people consider a ton of success, depending upon your definition of success. There was a lot that went into that. It wasn't just a split moment. I had been studying personal development for 15 years when I got to Wall street, because when I originally got there, I was a fish out of water. I saw all these people producing, and I was very young and I didn't have confidence. And so I turned to YouTube and I started studying like ET hip hop, preacher and Goggins and all these people. I'm my friends now, have been on the show. But I was just so fascinated with. Wait a minute. Personal. You can work on yourself. You can actually upgrade your confidence levels. You can build rapport with people. And I was blown away.

Yeah.

And then I went down the rabbit hole and I used personal development for years to be successful at Wall street at running and approaching a pretty girl at the bar. Because I used to be insecure and so forth. I just didn't think that I was worthy of turning personal development into a career until I realized this is more than just a passion. This is my assignment. And so all the things I studied from Neuro, Linguistic Program, nlp, the Law of Attraction, KABBALAH emotional intelligence, historic figures. All the things that kind of took me on my journey, I put into the book. And I like to believe it's your one stop shop vessel for all the personal development you can ever want to learn about. And then also obviously the exact tangible steps that I took to transform from what I was doing to what I'm doing now. Entrepreneurship, building a brand, building relationships, podcast speaking, all that stuff. But that's just like a byproduct. The juicy stuff is all the mindset work and getting off rock bottom and all the lessons and so forth. And so what I like to say about this book, one thing that I'm really proud of, and you know, everybody wants to be a bestseller and stuff. And I set that as a goal because do a thing, do it well. But it's really just a byproduct of giving birth to something that has a lot of light around it. And you're doing it for the right reasons. You could help people. And so I'm glad to have done both. But the one thing I'm most proud of is that anybody can grab this book and any area of life that they might be in or any season, and they can extract something from it. It's not niche, it's applicable for anybody. There's 41 bite sized chapters. I never liked those really long marathon chapters, no pun intended. So it's very digestible. And no matter where you're at in your journey of life, there's, there's a nugget in there for you.

I'm going to zoom back out. I mean, first of all, thank you for that. And here's one challenge I think that comes with reinvention is there's like guilt from who you used to be. And I'm speaking from my own experience. Maybe I'm incorrect. Right. But so, yeah, today I'm like, I don't know, like eight years sober, something like that. Like, it's been a while, really healthy. But to this day there's still some guilt over the person I was, especially in my marriage.

Yeah.

Because I was, I wasn't useful. You know, I would come home, drink, I wouldn't like clean up around the house. I wasn't like, I didn't want to go out and do anything unless it involved alcohol. And luckily I'm still married, so that worked out well. But I feel like with my wife, like there's no one on the earth that owes her more than I do for putting up with my.

Yeah.

So I use that guilt as a trigger to Just almost like juxtapose against who I used to be and saying, look how far I've come. But I still feel indebted to helping other people. And that's why I. I talk about the drinking. Because there's someone listening right now is like, holy. Like, this guy, too. Like, yeah, me too. And if we hide that, like we used to hide the drinking, then we can't help people. But do you feel any kind of like. Like, leftover guilt from that? Or you're just like. It was a lesson.

You know what?

I appreciate it.

Guilt is one of the lowest vibrations. If you walk around with that, and if you feel guilty all the time, you can end up delaying the life in front of you and manifesting all the abundance. So I try to do my best to focus on life in front of me, not behind me. And ultimately, look, nobody's perfect. Everybody's got skeletons, some worse than others. So I'm not proud of it. But the one promise that I made to myself before I reinvented my life, and just to be clear, it wasn't just a career, like a fiance, a dog. The whole thing really reinvented everything. But the one promise that I made to myself when I was about to lean in is that I'm going to forgive myself. I'm not where I'd hoped I'd been. I'm not proud of everything I've done. I certainly don't approve of it, but I do have to accept it. And once I can accept it, I can kind of shed some old identities and skins, break free and feel liberated and now focus on what happens next. And so when I did that, I literally forgave myself and I didn't try to hurt anyone or anything like that. I was really just hurting myself. But look, everybody's got some stuff, some skeletons and so forth. You can't drag that around because then you won't be good to anybody else. I do like your reframe. You kind of use it as a positive trigger to be even better husband and so forth. And. But no, I don't feel guilty because I know that that was part of my journey. And if I didn't go through that, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now, which is impacting the world in a positive way.

Yeah, I like that. Guilt is the lowest vibration.

One of them.

Yeah. And it's definitely not useful. It's funny, I was talking to one of my friends and just about his past, and he made a very vague statement. He's like, you know, I've done bad things. And I didn't want to pry, but the response I think is appropriate to that is, are you still doing bad things? If the answer is no, then leave that mistake in the past and move forward. Like you're saying. So, yeah, I think this is. This is what a lot of people need to hear, because even if they have gone through the reinvention, there's still that leg, like, lagging guilt from before. But to your point, you got to let that go, or else you can't move forward and help other people and.

Just to stay there for a second, you know what? I should have said this. I held on to that guilt and frequency for way too long. Again, I wouldn't have changed a thing, but because I was holding onto it like I was anxious about the future, depressed about the past. I was anywhere but the present. And I felt so guilty that I was unable to be available for the new downloads and divine inspiration and changed my life. And when I finally agreed to let it go and forgive myself, and that's when all of a sudden, the universe provide opportunities, ideas, divine inspiration, downloads, the right people at the right time and so forth. So anyone that's listening right now, it's imperative that you let that go. And again, I want to reiterate, you don't have to approve of everything, but you do have to accept it so you could take some positive steps forward.

Yeah. I'm going to ask you one more tough question before we go. Sure, it's one maybe I should have prepared you for, but here we go. Is there a favorite quote or story or fable you would like to share with our audience before departing?

I would say this. I don't know if this is necessarily a fable or a story, but I know that there's a lot of people listening specifically to your audience that want to do a lot of great things in the world. And they're listening to you for a reason. They see what you're up to. But a lot of people feel like they're just not worthy of that or it's not in the cards for them. And I think it's time that we make some affirmations that, number one, playing small is canceled. And it's our responsibility to do great big epic stuff. But we have to begin to cultivate and flex that desire muscle. We have to have that desire to reveal our light and to do great things. And I just don't believe that people are here randomly. I don't believe in coincidences. I believe we're all Here for a specific reason. And we should never stop trying to identify what that is so that we can be of service and help people. And I imagine there's some people listening right now that are like, well, that's great, but I have to monetize and I have to pay the bills. I promise you, you'll be just fine. You'll make more money unapologetically than you even know. Do it if you do, for the right reasons. And a quote that I've been really digging lately is sharing without an agenda. In other words, like, you know, people do favors for people just so they could be like, you owe me one or, see, I got you. That's really the ego. But if you just add value or if you do some great stuff or you put yourself out there and you make it not about you with no agenda in return, that's when the universe starts to incorporate divine compensation. Some people call it karma. But great things will come back to you, and it's all out there. We just have to download it. And one of the ways to do that is to work within the laws of the universe. You know, people know gravity is a real thing, but so. So are the rules of the universe, like understanding how to resist the ego and not delay certain things and so forth, and tap into the energy and vibrate at the highest level and really just be a match for the things that you want to desire or want to call into your life and so forth. And just I want everybody to know that if you and I can do it, everyone else can do it, and probably quicker. But it. But it starts with having that unwavering faith and desire and a trusting and a knowing with the universe taking some bold, messy action. You don't have to have it all figured out like we talked about earlier. I don't have a website. I have a business plan. But you take some messy action and allow the chess pieces around the chessboard of life to kind of find their way to you.

Craig, thank you for sharing without an agenda, but can you please share how we can learn more about you and more about your book?

Yeah. So, first of all, I love being here, and I think these conversations are gritty and they're raw and sometimes it can be painful. But if. And if it helps just one person listening say, damn, I've been through worse, or I, I haven't even been through that bad. If he. They could do what, I could do it. I think that's so important. So I love the topics here, anywhere you listen to podcasts, the cls experience anywhere you buy books. The Reinvention Formula if you like inspirational text throughout the week, you join our texting community. Just text 917-634-3796 Text the word Terry so I know that you heard it here and come say hello to the best of my ability. I love to interact and I always like to create a personal connection.

Thanks Greg. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

And that's our show for today. And if you're looking for more tools and tactics to help you level up and overcome setbacks, head over to Terryrice co Reclaim, where you'll gain access to two free resources. The first is the High Performance Playbook, where I share my top performance techniques. You'll also gain access to the Forge System, a program that gives you the framework to create a powerful vision for your life and the daily habits needed to make it happen. And if you're interested in joining the Reclaim and Advance movement, here are a few ways to get involved. First, subscribe and leave a review. This is the best way for us to spread the word to new people. Second, if you have a favorite takeaway from this episode, please take a screenshot and share your takeaway on Social Tag me at Terryrice so I can see it and show share as well. And lastly, this one's pretty simple. Just do one random act of kindness. It doesn't matter how big or small, but this is your chance to start a ripple effect that can have a positive impact on those around you, including yourself. And remember, success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It's the courage to continue that counts. I hope you'll continue on this journey with me and I'll see you next time. Reclaim in advance is hosted by me, Terry Rice. Megan Dom is our Managing director, and our editor is Dan Lardy. Thanks for listening.