The SMART Entrepreneur with Anthony DeNino

with Anthony DeNino

Jun 6, 2025 · 00:41:37

Today's guest is Anthony DeNino, who is a keynote speaker, consultant, and employee leadership trainer. He's known as the SMART guy. It's an acronym for Success Means Acquiring Right Thoughts. Anthony DeNino is the founder and CEO of CORE, which stands for Creating Our Reality, LLC. Clients navigate to Anthony because of his 25 years of success in the private sector, over 10 years' experience as a business owner, and because he creates targeted, customized solutions designed to meet the needs of his client. He specializes in things like mindset, leadership, motivation and inspiration, communication, spirituality in the workplace, and sales and customer service. Welcome to The Total Entrepreneur Mind Body Spirit, where we turn cutting-edge science into practical strategies for entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Dr. John Torrance, Entrepreneur Inc. 5000 honoree and professor of entrepreneurial practice at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management. Each episode, we dive into mental, physical, and spiritual health with expert guests offering actionable insights to help you thrive and perform at your highest level. Let's get started. All right, today's guest is Anthony DeNino. Anthony, so glad to have you. Thank you for joining me.

John, thank you so much for having me.

So first question is, you know, I— you, you're known as the smart guy. So what does that mean exactly?

Sure, sure. Thank you for asking that question. Some people kind of see that and they're like, who does this guy think he is? But SMART's an acronym. And in all sincerity, it's at the heart and soul of what I believe in business as well as a person. It stands for Success Means Acquiring Right Thoughts, because I fully believe that with the right way of thinking and then following a 4-step program, which I'd be more than happy to get into, you will, without exception, be able to create your reality.

And I think that's what everybody wants, right, is to kind of create their own reality. You know, I was reading a little bit about the work you did, and I, you know, you talk a lot about mindset blocks, right? So what are the most common mindset blocks that you see in high achievers, and how can they overcome those in order to, to get to the reality that they're looking for?

Yeah, well, first of all, I think it's most important that we have to be honest with ourselves about The way we're thinking. So, so many times, and I'm guilty of this, so don't let me tell you otherwise, but so many times people struggle with the idea of admitting the fact of, yeah, you know what? I do kind of go a little negative, a little dark up here. So first and foremost, it's the realization of the fact that that's okay, number one. And number two, it's about taking incremental steps towards kind of changing that thought pattern, that thought process. It's nothing that you and I are going to be able to do necessarily overnight, but with a lot of consistent work and a lot of thought and a lot of attention to our thoughts that we have, we're able to overcome these negative thoughts and turn them more into positive and reaffirming thoughts.

Yeah, because everything I've learned or read is that our thoughts have a frequency, right? And it sends information out into the field. But it's important, like, I mean, we're human, right? So everybody has negative thoughts. Like, I should have done this, or I lost this customer because of that, or, you know, the business isn't doing well, or, you know, whatever it is, right? But I think from what I have understood is that the important thing is not to beat yourself up over the dark or negative thoughts, but just to observe them and say, oh, you know, that's just me being human again, and being gentle with yourself and moving on and trying your best to choose a better thought. Is that your understanding, or is that— am I on the right path there?

Absolutely. You hit the nail right on the head with that. And there's so much, especially with entrepreneurs like myself, like yourself, right? A lot of times we're on our own, we're doing our own thing. And while that has so many different advantages, there's also that downtime or the times where you're just not quite as busy as you hope you'd be. And that's the danger zone because then you have time to think. And when you think, sometimes when you think too much, you know, we kind of tend to stray a little bit towards, oh, you know, I should be doing And, and how come this person hasn't called me back? And I've sent this one 10 emails, you know, what's the delay? And you kind of go through that downward spiral. And, uh, you know, one of the things that I've found effective, and I've gone through it myself many, many times, uh, one of the things I find effective is while I work out of my house is to get outta the house.

Yeah.

Ideally be around people that I know or, or go to a networking event. But even if I just go to a local place, sit down, Grab a bottle of water and just do my work there. I observe people, I interact, I think different thoughts, and from there, just kind of just just kind of switches that perspective around.

Yeah, I'm the same way. Just kind of just to get out of the environment for a little bit, right? Different situation or something. Yeah, super important. So so so paying attention to your thoughts, right? And giving yourself some grace with the negative thoughts and trying to turn turn your thoughts into positive ones. That's that's the start. So how do people continue? to create their own reality once they've addressed that? Like, can you kind of walk us through this process?

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mentioned earlier about being smart and there are 4 steps. So, first and foremost, it is that mindset. It is getting ourselves to consistently have that positive mindset to help us understand that we truly are limitless in what we can do, what we can be, what we can become. But thoughts are great. They're very, very important. They're the foundation. But yeah, there are a few extra steps that I've kind of developed to help people get a better understanding about what it is. And second step is all about the emotion. You mentioned the vibration earlier, right? Getting behind those emotions and what it looks like in your mind's eye. To be successful. So, and it's, it's seeing it, but it's also feeling it. It's also having those positive emotions and visualizing, you know, somebody high-fiving you, getting a hug from your spouse, right? Walking into a room and everybody's so happy to see you. You get that emotion, that feeling behind it. The 3rd step is to speak confidently. Now, some people have trouble with this one because we're all a little concerned, but most of us are concerned about coming across as being cocky in the process. It's not about that. It's about taking a situation where, for example, if you have a meeting upcoming and somebody asks you as you're just getting ready to go in, hey, how do you feel about, you know, what you're gonna say today? A lot of people will be like, well, you know what? I feel pretty good. I, you know, it's gonna go well. And, you know, I'm kind of excited about it. And that's okay. And sometimes that's just people not trying to come across as sounding arrogant.

Right.

But what I feel is a better way to handle that is to say, hey, you know what, John? I've been looking forward to this meeting. I'm excited about it. I've done the work necessary to prepare. I'm ready to go. I expect good things to happen. All right? So there's a certain difference. There's a certain energy. There's a certain vibration that goes With one versus the other. And the last thing, and you could do steps 1, 2, and 3 perfectly each and every time, but if you don't do number 4, which is take action, then none of that's going to be successful. We have to take action to forward what it is that we want to create. We have to do the necessary legwork, have those conversations, write that report, write that email, whatever it may be. We have to take action towards progressing to our ultimate goal.

So important, right? I mean, entrepreneurship especially is all about action, right? I mean, you could think it all you want, but it's not gonna happen unless you, you take some sort of action. So you said a few things there. One, I mean, you know, I love the idea of feeling it. And, you know, this is something I've learned too, is that yes, you can think something, but to internalize it is really helpful to feel it, like almost feel like it's already happened. Right? I think that's kind of the key. And then I love what you said about the affirmations. You know, I mean, you know, saying, hey, yeah, I'm really ready for this meeting, or whatever it is, right? Too many times we wanna be humble or have this humility, and we don't wanna, you know, maybe overhype it, or maybe we wanna, I guess, tamp down expectations, right? So we, we maybe don't go in there with the excitement we have, but that kind of affirmation really means a lot. Like just saying, hey, I'm here, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna kill it, you know? And I, and I try to start my day with those types of things, right? I say, hey, you know, only good stuff happens to me. You know, and see what goes from there, right?

Yeah, that's awesome. I love that. But my first thing that I always say every morning when I wake up is, thank you. Thank you for this day. Because we're not guaranteed it, obviously, right?

Yeah.

We all know people or have heard of situations or read about the shocking news of this one passing away or that one. Oh, and they were so young. And oh, they had so much potential, right? I think it's really, really important for us to really not just consciously understand how fortunate we are each and every day, but to really dive into that. Yeah, I wrote a book called The Power of Giving and Gratitude, and I'm so proud to say I'm a published author with that.

Congratulations.

There's so much— I'm sorry?

Congratulations. That's huge.

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Yeah.

And there's so much that goes into giving and gratitude. And, you know, the book itself, it's not just about, hey, you should feel good and, hey, say thank you all the time. There's so much science and psychological studies that go into the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of not just giving, but of practicing gratitude. And really, really, it was such a fun process, and I learned so much in the process. So, you know, hopefully people who've read it feel the same way.

Yeah. So I was going to ask you at the end, but where can people find your book if they are interested?

Oh, thank you. Yes, you find it on Amazon, Barnes Noble, Really all the major ones. You could get it as a book itself. You could download it if you want to listen to it in the car, whatever way suits you. It is available.

Remind us of the name again.

Yes. The Power of Giving and Gratitude. The subtitle is A Path to Creating Your Reality.

Gratitude is such an important practice or emotion or thought, right? And I've read it's actually one of the higher vibration emotions you can have, right? It's just, it's right there with love. So Yeah, like starting your day with that is such a powerful thing. And even, you know, I know a lot of entrepreneurs maybe don't feel like they have a lot to be grateful for when they're in the thick of it, right?

Yeah.

You know, they've got founder or, you know, funders upset with them. They've got customers who are demanding, they've got, you know, payroll to meet, they don't have a lot of cash, and it seems like everything's going bad. But just trying to find something that you're grateful for in the first place is super helpful. Like just saying, hey, I'm doing this thing that a lot of people think about doing, but don't do, and I'm doing it, right? So that, that could be a, I guess, a source of gratitude perhaps, right?

I'm of the mindset that says, you know what, we have to take this moment, be mindful of this moment, and everything forward, right? It's about looking forward. It's about, actually, it's about diving into this moment, but never look back. There's one exception though, I always tell people, and that is when you're not sure How much you've done. Look back to see how far you've come to this point, and quickly you'll realize that wow, you know what? I really have done a lot. I really have accomplished a lot. Maybe today in this moment, I'm not where I want to be. But you know what? With all this work I've done, greater things are happening. And again, that's just the mindset. That's just getting behind it. That's that's feeling good about yourself and about who you are. That just sets you up for so much more success.

Yeah. And it feels good, right? To think about the things you've done instead of the next hassle or the next problem or the next goal that seems completely unattainable. Right. But you just got to knuckle down and do it. Yeah.

Yeah.

So you've got a, you've got a program called XWE, right? And it stands for Execute with Excellence. So talk to us a little bit about that and how it's different from typical leadership training and what would people take away from that?

Yeah, thanks. Thanks for asking about that. Yeah, XWE is something I developed, and it is for both emerging leaders and existing leaders. And, you know, what I go through is essentially what I call a hierarchy of excellence. And my hierarchy starts with the foundation of mindset, right? And obviously, as you and your listeners can tell by now, I'm very big into mindset. That's what it's all about. That's the foundation for everything we accomplish. Also, for everything we don't accomplish. But from there, we dive into leadership and leadership qualities. The thing I always like to stress to not only current leaders, but to men and women, people who are looking to come up and take that next step, is to help them to understand that you don't have to be in charge to be a leader. And what that does is it empowers people. To be a little more aggressive, right? Don't again. It's not about hey, look at me, look how great I am. But it's about taking those steps to let those know those people above you know. Hey, you know what? I'm really excited about where I am, but I want to go a little bit further. It's about helping your fellow employees in the process. It's about helping them to grow. A lot of you know leaders I've dealt with in the past, they have a little concern. They're like well. I don't wanna make my people look too good because then, well, you know, maybe my bosses will think I'm not good enough for this role. And, you know, the thing I let them know is, you know, right here, you're here and they're here. As they rise up, guess what? The more people you help rise, the higher you rise in the eyes of your superiors and the impact that you're having on your company. So don't let that hold you back from helping somebody else succeed. That's just a fear-based kind of mindset. And I get it. You know, I mean, we all have certain fears and things we have to overcome. But that's one of the things I try to do with XWE is help leaders overcome that. But the next step is all about communication. I've always been of the belief, prior to starting my company in 2014, I was 25 years in the business world in leadership, management, sales, marketing, you know, customer service kind of roles. And I've always said that you show me a company that effectively communicates, not just at the leadership level, but throughout the company, up and down, I'm going to show you a successful company. So within XWE, we go into communication strategies as well. And it culminates with 2 last steps. One is setting goals and the idea— excuse me, the idea of setting goals and properly executing them. But the last part, I think, is really what separates this program from a lot. It's the execution part. So what I do is rather than just talking about, hey, this is how you execute a plan, right? Rather than going through those steps, I go through the steps, but I also have the company or the nonprofit ahead of time come to me and say, hey, Anthony, this is something we're struggling with. You know, can you help us with this? And as we get to the end of the program, we execute or at least start on executing the plan to make those positive changes for that company or for that nonprofit. So again, it's not just kind of theory-based or here's some great information. It's actually, you know, things happen, you know, by the time the program ends for that company.

You mentioned, you talked a little bit about, you know, fear-based decision-making, and I see that a lot, right? So it seems like a lot of dysfunction flows from, from fear, right? So fear of running out of money, fear of not hitting your numbers, fear of being irrelevant or being beaten by the competition. So yeah, talk to us a little bit about the differences between— it's intentionality, right? So, and I know you talk about leading with intention. So the difference between leading or decision-making with a fear frame versus a more positive frame.

Yeah. Yeah. And It's something that the longer I do this, the quicker I could evaluate and just see who leads from fear versus who leads from a positive and growth kind of a mindset. And fear restricts. Fear holds back. Fear makes people timid in the process. Whereas when you empower your employees, where you empower your leadership team as a C-suite leader perhaps, when you empower those people and build them up and encourage the dialogue and encourage the conversation, encourage in a respectful way the challenges to maybe to what's being done, that just sets you up for greatest success. Because, yeah, what we've all heard, John, I know you've heard this in the past and I've heard it several times, well, we've always done things this way and it's been successful, right? And that's great, and I say congratulations on that. That said, You know what? 50, 60, 70 years ago, the black and white TV was an awesome invention and is wonderful, right? We still have TV today, but look at the progress we made in terms of the look and the color and the warmth of watching a show. It almost feels like you're there sometimes, like in a stadium or an arena, right? So there's progress that can be made by utilizing, you know, the foundation that you built upon, but it doesn't mean you can't improve upon it. So again, you know, if you're in a fear-based mentality, then you're stuck in the ways of, hey, this is the way we've done things, this is the way it's gonna be forever, and we're a good company. And maybe you're successful and that's great, and I think that's wonderful. However, I feel that I would say respectfully to a client, I feel you're missing out on a lot more, and here's why. And then we kind of just talked through different ideas. I just try to get 'em at that point, Look, let's not go big. Let's not dive in headfirst. Let's try incremental steps towards seeing what I say as being effective for you and your people.

Yeah, it seems like a vicious cycle between fear and stress, right? You're fearing something and then you're stressed about it and then you're more scared about it. Fear and stress serves a purpose, right? It kind of helps us survive in some cases, but we're never meant to stay in that stressful state. Right. So I know you're a certified stress management coach. So yeah, talk about some of your top tools for managing this kind of pressure in a fast-paced work environment. How do people do that? Or what would you recommend?

Yeah. Yeah. So there's a lot of things. And you talk about fast-paced work environment. There seems to be, at least in my experiences, just so much more stress and pressure to get things done and get it done now and make sure it's right the first time each and every time. Right? And, you know, to some degree, that's not necessarily a bad thing because you always want to do your best work as quickly as possible, right? And I get that and I respect that. That said, when you're operating, it's kind of like the fear base versus, you know, the positive mindset base. When you're operating in a way that allows you to evaluate properly and do things still in a timely fashion, But to do things in a way that's more researched, for example, being able to support your opinions with facts and looking at the bigger picture. When you're able to step back and take that breath and see things, a lot of times when we're looking at a problem, we're looking at it— excuse my look here, but we're looking at it right here, right? It's right up against us. But when you step back, you kind of change your perspective. And you see things from different ways. So in terms of the stress and the stress management, what I encourage my leaders and what I encourage my employees is to look at the big picture. It's not always— and there are going to be deadlines sometimes, and you have to hold people's feet to the fires, right?

Sure.

That's just— it's something that's going to happen from time to time. But in most cases, when you have the time to do things in a more thorough and effective way that allows people to breathe and look at it from that different perspective, You're going to take the pressure off them. You're going to take the pressure off yourself. You're going to encourage communication along those lines. You're going to encourage the free exchange of ideas. So, you know, in terms of the stress and in terms of, you know, trying to relieve it, first thing I encourage people to do is to step back. Step back, literally push your chair away if you have to, whatever it is you have to do to kind of give yourself that mental breather and to change that perspective. But another thing I like to do is talk to people about the big picture. Again, we're looking at things like right here, it's so, so important. And it is, right? Your job is important. Running a company is important.

Yeah.

You have people to help and make sure that they grow and learn and are able to pay their bills. And there is that pressure. And that's all granted and understood. But You know, what I tell people is when you give those people— when I tell leaders, when you give people to breathe, the chance to breathe and to step back, you're gonna see greater things from them. It's gonna spark change and it's gonna spark maybe a new and a better idea. Not all the time, but if you give yourself that chance to succeed and take away that stress, or at least limit it, then greater things are gonna happen for you and for your organization.

Yeah, so I mean, like, you know, you talk about giving people room to breathe, but even like literally breathing, right, can be a super helpful stress reduction technique, right? Which actually makes me think about, so when you think, you know, breathing and inspiring or inspiration kind of leads me to spirituality. So how do you help leaders integrate spirituality into the workplace or into their companies, you know, without alienating people who maybe aren't into that or making it feel forced or awkward? Because it could be touchy.

Yeah.

And I feel like we're, we're getting much more accepting of spiritual practices and spirituality in business, luckily, fortunately. But how do you, how do you navigate that?

I have to admit, it was a struggle for me for a long time because here I am and I have my beliefs like everybody else does, right? And, you know, personally, I'm a God guy. I'm a quote unquote spiritual kind of person, not necessarily an organized religion kind of person. That's not to downgrade or denigrate anybody else. It's just my beliefs, right? It's just the way that I feel about things. But I oftentimes struggled with companies, ooh, God, it's a big taboo and you don't want to mention that. You gotta be careful and all that. And really very recently it's realized, you know what though? But that's who I am.

Yeah.

And I have to be authentic to who I am. I'm gonna provide the best service I can to a client when I'm authentic and I'm true and I'm truthful with who I am and what I believe. Now, in terms of navigating it within a company and within an organization, it can be a challenge, right? Because there are so many different— not that there are new and improved beliefs nowadays, but it seems like everybody believes this or that or that or that. And all of a sudden, you have 18 different beliefs.

Yeah.

And, you know, my thought is that while we may not be able to celebrate and acknowledge every single one, is to encourage those individuals, you know, to take pride in who they are and what they do and to be comfortable with that and, you know, fall out of the, you know, the quote unquote judgment zone during that process. It's their way, just like you have your way.

Yeah.

And again, like I said, I'm a spiritual kind of guy. Working very hard to be more mindful and in the moment.

Yeah.

But that said, you have to give people that opportunity to be who they are, like you want to be who you are. It's about taking off the hat that says a lot of times in religion, well, this is what my religion says, so it has to be right.

Right.

Maybe it is. Maybe it is.

But We don't know that.

And it's great to have beliefs and be passionate about something. I'm all for that. But we also have to have allowed people to be who they are in the process.

Yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, I kind of relate to spirituality more like through, you know, when there's some sort of scientific base for it, right? Like it's just the fact that, you know, physicists can, you know, measure the one field that we're all connected through, right? So the fact that there really isn't any difference between you and I, right? We're all part of the same thing. Probably the best analogy I heard was that, you know, if you take the ocean, right? And you take one drop out of the ocean, that drop, it's not the ocean anymore, but it came from the ocean. And when you put it back in, it's going to be the ocean again, still the exact same makeup as the ocean. And I think that's kind of with us, like us with spirit or like what people call God or oneness or, you know, the universal energy or whatever. We're all just little drops from the ocean and we're going to go back to it at some point, right? I don't know if that's kind of similar to what you think or, you know, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it though.

Yeah, no, I think that's a great analogy and I kind of take it even bigger than the ocean. I kind of take it to the universe. We're all particles. We're all atoms. We're all energy, right? And that's kind of, you know, kind of what I believe. And, you know, it's one of mine and so many other people's wishes that If we could just see that from that perspective and realize how, I don't care if you're tall, short, heavy, thin, right? Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, whatever. Doesn't matter. We're all the same.

Yeah.

We look different. We may act different. We might have different beliefs based on who we are or our culture or how we grew up, but that's okay. We're still us. Yeah. And a lot of times it's, it's the me kind of mentality that hurts people both individually and collectively that we have to be careful about.

Yeah. We are much more similar than we are different for sure.

No doubt. No doubt.

So I, and I know you work with athletes in, in addition to business people and, and, you know, athletes just are fascinating to me because there are so many similarities between the mindset it takes to perform athletically at a high level. As it does to perform at a high level in business. So what do entrepreneurs, in, in your experience, what do entrepreneurs have in common with high-level athletes?

Yeah, that's a great question. To me, I, I find a lot of entrepreneurs and specifically a lot of leaders have an athletic background. Myself, I, I played baseball my whole, whole life, played a couple years in college, actually played in a 35 and over men's wooden bat league for until I was 55. And yeah, then all of a sudden, And my back did this and my eyes did that. So it ended kind of poorly, right? But the thing about it is that mindset is very, very similar, I found anyway, to having that drive and that determination to be better, to work hard, to get ahead, right? To execute. And I'll say with baseball, to execute the way you field and your pivot and your footwork. And the way you hit and all the things that go into pitching and the mechanics and balance and all this good stuff, right? The same thing or that same mindset that you put towards who you were as an athlete, if you apply that in the boardroom or in an office or in your home office, in the spare bedroom of your house, that's okay, right? That's great.

Yeah.

If you can utilize that mindset, You are going to do great things. Just like in baseball, right? You're not going to bat 1,000. Your ERA is not going to be zero. You're going to have some bumps and bruises and some rough days. But if you approach it from the mindset of, okay, great, I got knocked back, knocked down yesterday.

That's okay.

What did I learn from it?

Yeah.

And how could I be better today? And then work towards that. So that mindset is very similar to me.

And not dwelling or perseverating on the thing that went wrong because you, you gotta focus on the next thing, right? And I think in business and entrepreneurship, it's so easy to focus on the thing that went wrong, right? The proposal that didn't get accepted, the key hire that took a different job or somebody we lost, whatever, right? It's just so easy to focus on those. And I think focusing on the next thing that you have to execute on, super important.

Yeah. I was just gonna say real quick that, you know, as an entrepreneur, Sometimes we get caught up in, and notice I said we, because I'm very, very guilty of this, of focusing so much on getting that client, that big one, right? I gotta focus on this and I gotta put my attention to this and all. And you do. However, that doesn't mean you stop working on, you know, plans B, C, D, E, all the way down to Z, right? Because the more activity, the more, as they say, irons in the fire that you have, the more likelihood that a few of those are going to hit. So even if you don't get that big one, right, the white whale, uh, even if you don't get that client, knowing that you've worked hard in the meantime on all these other opportunities, well, you know what? It sets you up for even more success because imagine if you do get that big one and now you have 3 or 4 others to work with as well. Man, what a great, you know, time it is, you know, at that point.

And it goes back to what you said earlier too, just like, you know, imagining that, you know, you're gonna get it, right? And maybe you don't, but you've primed yourself for that. Like you've, you've already experienced it in your mind. And it kind of, and again, it goes back to athletes and their visualization. Like I, you know, I talked to a basketball player who, you know, just sometimes imagines doing free throws in addition to doing them. And I thought that was super interesting. I went back and actually found a study where they took 3 different groups of people. You know, one group just imagined free throws, one did, you know, imagine them and did them. You probably have read that too or seen it.

Yeah.

And your, your body and your mind doesn't know the difference between something that actually happened physically in this world and something you just imagined. To, to your body, it's the same. And I find that so fascinating and so applicable for entrepreneurs.

It's, it's so true. One of the things that I reference, so as you know, I'm also a keynote speaker, and one of the things I've referenced in a speech before is, you know, when you talk about the power of the mind, is a study called the Finger Flex Study. And for those who might not be familiar with it, it was basically a study that took 2 groups of participants, one who, who were charged with basically for 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week, flexing their finger, right? The other group was charged with sitting quietly for 15 minutes and visualizing flexing their finger. At the end of the study, they measured the increase in strength from the group that actually did it versus the other group. And the numbers, and I hope I'm quoting them properly now, was a 57% increase in the people who physically did the action. But there was a 34% increase in the people who just thought about it. That's You know, when myself, when you and other people talk about the power of your mind and the power of visualization, that's what it's all about right there. That's just one of many studies. You know, there are a lot of athletic studies as well as track and field as well as basketball. Gosh, it's just, ah, just, just, it excites me to think just how much we could still do with who we are.

Yeah. Like you literally can control the outcomes of some things, right? It reminds me of a student I had, this was a number of years ago, but first day of class and it was a course where we're teaching, you know, we get 'em to write a business plan and then compete in a business plan competition, right? So this kid walks in, he's like, hey professor, how you doing? Just want to let you know that I'm going to win the whole thing this year. Day one, right? And he won. Like literally like 14 weeks later he won. And I remember saying, Seth, did you remember that? And he's like, oh, I remember walking in and telling you I was going to win. He's like, I was a little bit nervous after that because then he had to perform. But, you know, he just had that mindset. This was going to happen, you know? So I think that's so important. Visualization, affirmations, your thoughts, your thoughts matter so much. And if entrepreneurs can really keep that in mind and train themselves to have positive thoughts and good affirmations and actually see the good thing happening, then, you know, magic happens.

Yeah. And the thing about saying something like that, and that was a bold statement, no doubt. Big, right? But the thing about that, and not a lot of people realize that, is what it very sneakily does is it holds you accountable.

Yeah.

Especially as an entrepreneur, a solopreneur, when it's just you, you know, I could do this tomorrow. It's okay, right? Nobody's— it's okay. My wife's still gonna love me. It's gonna be a great day, right? But when you speak those words and you put yourself out there, you know, a lot of people are like, okay, I said this, I believe it. But now I really have to get to work. And, and again, there's that accountability factor that, that goes into it all too.

Yeah. So important for sure. So if, if you could recommend like one thing or one daily practice or one technique for young entrepreneurs who are in the thick of it, what would it be?

You know, there's a lot of great things. I, I'm a very big believer and a big meditator. I, I really enjoy meditation and it is tough. And I've been the guy that's been like, oh no, meditation is not for me. And I can't sit quietly and, oh, my legs fall asleep when I sit in a certain way. And anything I could do to kind of avoid from getting into it, I would do it. But finally, I was like, all right, you know what? I owe it to myself. to really try this. And what I found is, number one, there is no quote unquote right way to meditate.

Yeah.

I used to think that you did have to sit quietly and fold your legs and, you know, do this and, oh, you know, all that kind of stuff, right?

Yeah.

And, you know, I'd often talk to my wife about it and she's like, well, you know what? I kind of feel like I meditate when I'm out on the riding mower in the yard because it's so quiet around me and 2 things about that. One is, how lucky am I that my wife enjoys cutting the grass?

I was just thinking that.

But secondly, she was so right about it. It took me a while to come around to that. So what I explain to people now about meditation is find what's comfortable for you. I sit on the floor, I sit with my back against the wall, I'm upright, and I do the fingers and all that kind of stuff. But meditation could be just sitting quietly at your chair. It could be on a walk in the woods. Right. The trick is to just let go. And for me, I'm not a, wow, I can make my mind go blank for 20 minutes, 50 minutes at a time. If you could do that, wow. I mean, more power to you. But for me, getting back to the spiritual side and the universe and all, I'm more about focusing on things I want to attract in my life. And at the end, I always say thank you. I step aside, let the universe lead the way. I think it was Gabby Bernstein wrote that in a book one time. And I always say thank you for this or something better and just kind of let it out and just go about my day from there. The amazing thing to me, there's a lot of amazing things. One is I'm amazed at how things that that I don't realize have been on my mind, all of a sudden answers just come to me about something I thought about 3 weeks ago I couldn't find a solution to, or yeah, whatever the case may be. But it happens repeatedly. And to me it's just so amazing and I'm just so thankful for it. But secondly is the fact that when I apply the principles of kind of letting go and trusting and doing the necessary work, right? When I talk about being smart, you still have to take action. Same thing applies here. But when I do that, wow, all of a sudden I'm just so much more successful. If not in terms of jobs that I get necessarily, in terms of accomplishments along the way, incremental steps, continuous improvement. Kaizen is what Japanese call—

Yeah.

The art of continuous improvement. That's a goal for me, to continually improve, And to get better each and every day. And meditation helps with me, for me a lot.

It's a great tip. I mean, there's probably few things that have been studied as much as meditation and its effect on our mental and physical health. And I'm similar to you where like when I first started, I was like, oh, this is never going to work for me. There's no way I can do this. But, you know, you start with a minute, then 2, then you find an app that kind of guides you. And then before you know it, you can do it for 5 minutes or whatever. Yeah, like you, it's, you know, I can't just blank my mind out. There's always something popping in, but it's just a matter, like you said, letting it go and then allowing.

Yeah.

And I think that's really important. And I love what you said about, you know, thank you for this or something better. That's something that I've recently learned how to do is just, you know, not ask, not think about a specific thing that I want or need or a goal I have, but more just like, hey, you know, thank you for this amazing experience I'm having and I'm open to the next great thing, whatever whatever that is for my best and highest purpose. And a lot of times it's not exactly what I think or expect, but in every case it's amazing. And I think that's a great tip for people.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. No, I, you know, when you're able to let go of the outcomes and of the results and just trust. And again, this is me. I'm a universe guy, right? Trust in the universe, which is another way of saying for me, trust in God.

Yeah.

Right? When you let go and you trust and you don't worry and you don't focus on, oh, well, I got this call now. So, 3 hours from now, this is going to happen and then that's— and it's all going to fall into place. Oh, gosh. And I said that very easily because I'm so darn guilty of that sometimes. But I'm starting to notice some incremental changes in a positive way about that. So, very happy about that.

Amazing. So, Anthony, if people are interested in learning more about you and your work, where, where could they find you?

Yeah. Thank you. Please visit my website, creatingourreality.com. And there it'll go into the different services I offer. In addition to what we spoke about, John, I'm a keynote speaker. I do that leadership and employee training, but I also consult with businesses, nonprofits, government agencies. You mentioned I'm a stress management coach, a mental performance coach, and, and again, Again, I'm a published author of the book, The Power of Giving and Gratitude. And just very proud to say that by the time this airs, I'll have just passed my 11-year anniversary as a business owner.

Man. All right.

Again, we have to allow ourselves time to celebrate and be thankful and acknowledge the good things. So, very proud to say that to you and to your audience.

Congratulations. That is huge.

Thank you. Thank you.

And yeah, it sounds like you've got quite the toolbox to help people. So, that's amazing. Great.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Thank you so much for listening to the Total Entrepreneur Mind Body Spirit Podcast. If you liked what you heard or heard something interesting today, please give us a like, share a comment, or better yet, subscribe to the podcast. Thank you.